Semana 2

I decided to write this week in Gray. To those of you who know me... you might guess why...London is gray so it seems only natural that the font color of this weeks posts be gray. I can't believe I've only been here two weeks. It seems too long yet to short a time. Long because of work and the ever so busy task of finding a flat to live in, but short when I think of two weeks in the states and what I did in that span. So anyway this past week I have spent working and dedicating myself more to the flat hunting I so weakly avoided the first week. I've seen a total of 4 flats so far ( not counting one which I was supposed to see but the people who were supposed to show it to me were not there.) Basically I travelled for an hour to an area I had never been before to see a place that wasn't shown to me. But oh well all part of the fun learning experience I guess. So BEFORE that long unsuccessful trip I met up with a friend from Bolivia Adrian Guachalla who I hadn't seen in five years. One of the perks of travelling is that you can always catch up with old friends who you haven't seen in years and reminisce and catch up on the past x number of years- this is exactly what Adrian and I did. He is currently in London working at the Royal Opera house (pictured below) and he is actually a theater friend who was a fellow Jellicle Cat in the Philharmonic production I was in as well as my undertaker of a "husband" in Oliver. From way back in my musical theater days. (which should tip you off Adrian is also my gay musical theater friend which is why husband is in quotes:).. So Adrian and I went over to the royal Opera house and on the way saw the infamous Square and great Covent Garden Market along with other theater houses. I of course was like a kid in a candy store and loved the hour and a half walk along narrow alleys and crowded streets. You can see some of the traditional pictures of that nice dry Saturday.

So those are some pictures of a lovely touristy Saturday... and the font gets more gray and cold because come Sunday....

I got a taste of the typical London day. It was rainy from the first sun ray and gray till the first touch of black hit the night sky. I must say it is not the best environment to be out and about getting things done. Things like finding a place to live. BUT after a nice Saturday evening I decided I HAD to make myself get out and look for a place. SO today I left my flat around 10:30 ( I must add that the time change happens a week earlier in the UK so I woke up at 11 and thought I was late so headed downstairs to my office to print out a bunch of flatshares from the websites and to call a couple of places to set up viewings. So I saw three places. The first was small but very nicely decorated. It would be a small room with my own bathroom however living with the owner a 34 yr old lady who was very interested in my lifestyle and the fact that I was staying for more than 6months (which has been a problem in my search). The second was waaay tooo small but nice living with two other girls an Australian who works in event management for a Hotel and a British girl who was a bit mean looking and pretty bossy- I named her the head of the flat. But it was just waay to small and made me think of living in a matchbox.. so onto the 3rd. I was feeling disillusioned and exhausted since I had been in the general area sine about 1:30 and my last appointment was at 5. So I headed to the flatshare that was actually looking for a 4-6 months stay. As I looked at the beautiful Victorian entrances I thought this is a place I could see myself living in. However the catch is that the place is a room living with a young couple. They are very nice but they are an older couple looking for someone to rent a room from them. The flat is old but it had a personality and it had a great Victorian feel to it with a modern decorating touch and also gave me the comfort of not having to lie to the owners/flatmates about the length of my stay in London. So now I feel like Goldilocks but I am still not 100% satisfied with either three... and I don't have much more time. I have given myself the personal time limit of this week to find a place and know that it's gonna take some work But by next weeks blog I hope to have a place locked in so that I can finally feel like I'm actually living in London. Here are some pictures of my rainy Sunday in case you wanted to take a look at the area I'm looking at.

Me using one of the AP phones :) A Rainy Fall Day- Pretty Church by flat #3 - Outside Flat #2

So that was my weekend. Besides a crazy Friday night out meeting one of Danica's friends from Fiji who is a great guy Spencer and his friends from an MBA program here in London. The night was fun but the most interesting part about it was an Australian friend I made Kate who turned out to be a great girl who has been living in London for 3 yrs and is 23 and friend with the "Americans" in the MBA program. She gave me some good London advice and gave me her card to go out later so that's nice.. starting to make some friends :) I also met up with Spencer again on Sunday and met his lovely girlfriend from Wales. She is half Greek half British and a great person as well. We went and got Burritos which were delicious after a week of eating potatoes!! ( I had no money for the first week I was here since the bank still hasn't given me a pin number and it takes 3 days for a check to be processed here) But that's a whole different story... anyway it's 1 am and I have to get up for work tomorrow morning since Emirates Airlines sent us a Brief at 5:30 Friday night expecting a plan before noon YAY- the joys of what to expect in the thrilling world of AdSales!

Goodnight all! Besos y abrazos-

Nat

One week in

Hello all! As many people have advised me, (Kellie :) I have started my own blog in order to keep everyone up to date with the many happenings in my life. So far not too many except for the London move which has gone pretty smoothly. I am now in London, cold rainy, gray London. And I'm enjoying it! I must say arriving to city where everyone drives on the opposite side of the street and huge two story buses drive speeding down tiny narrow streets was fun and scary at the same time. Needless to say it took some adjusting. I am now in one week in and still adjusting. As we travellers know it takes a bit to get into the speed of things in a different time zone, let alone a different country.

So in an effort not to bore you I'm going to highlight the events thus far.
Upon arriving into London Heathrow, I walked the miles and miles to customs in which I got questioned for 20 minutes on why I was staying for only 4 months when my work permit stated I was allowed in London for the next five years? (this was my first lesson that perhaps I should have lied on the form) anyway after showing actual evidence that I was indeed allowed in the country, I got let through the shiny gates into the regal city. I then walked another couple of miles to baggage claim and exchanged the thoughtful $100 my parents gave me as a parting gift into the measly 54 pounds that I had for the next week. Gracias mamita!

I decided to exchange money at the airport in case the driver which had been arranged for me wasn't paid. Then I began to panic thinking perhaps 54 pounds isn't enough for such far a drive! I did just get picked up by a very formal driver who probably smelled a whole lot better than I did at the time and definitely looked a whole lot cleaner than my airplane hair, swollen eyes, look I was wearing. Anyway, the driver was nice and spoke all of three words as he stuffed my overstuffed suitcases into his silver Mercedes Benz. - "Where you goin?"

I began to panic yet again as I was sure if my company was nice enough to hire a driver to pick me up at the airport, they for sure were nice enough to tell him where to take me. Luckily I had memorized Turner's address by heart as I had sent dozens and dozens of e-mails to HR and my new team before arriving. So I asked the nice smelling man to drive me to Westminster- Little did I know I was asking him to drive me all the way from the outskirts of London to the very center of the city. Either way, I began thinking as we drove through green pastures that London was different than what I thought, I didn't expect to see much green except in the countryside. I thought all I would see were overly fashioned teens and ridiculously posh women prancing around in the latest (not to be worn by Americans just yet) fashion. However as we drove for the first 20 minutes I began to think of my experience in London as a quaint almost provincial experience.

I was woken from my daydreams by loud honking and traffic as we entered London's center. I began to see the big tall red double Decker buses and got excited to see a different London a busy, crowded London. I thought ok this is probably a more realistic idea of what's to come. And I was ok with the busier non provincial side of things. All the while I kept dodging cars that seemed to be driving way too close to ours and kept doing double takes on cars passing by which seemed to have no drivers in the driving seat, of course I had to remind myself to look in the passenger seat for the driver. (something I'm still not used to)- I kept thinking I could never drive in London!

So anyway I was dropped off at work and found out that no one was expecting me but the security guards with a keycard to the flat I was to stay in and keys to the door on the 6th floor (two floors above my office). The nice young security guard helped me with my overstuffed suitcases and showed me in to my new home for the next several weeks. (Pictures below...) It's a nice- bigger than I expected- flat for one person. With a great modern kitchen including washing machine ( all kitchens in London seem to have their washing machines in their kitchen-) and dish washer- which give the plates more of a slight spray than a wash. Either way it's home and it's been great. Right in the center of London. I wake up and walk the two floors to my desk and sit there and work my little tail off for usually 10 to 12 hours trying to figure out the best way to take care of the numerous tasks at hand, then I walk the two flights back up to my nice flat and start the endless search for my semi permanent flat. It's been a lot harder than I thought, but I have a lead on a couple and will most likely be viewing some tomorrow.

As I head on to my great quests, I thought I'd post a couple of pictures to help with my descriptions of my flat and London in General. :) Until my next London Adventure

Love and miss you all! As they say here in Lodnon-Ta!

Nat