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