it's worth mentioning

August 2, 2011

One year exactly since I left London.

It was quite a year, and it's been quite a year.

heck yes

I get to see my grandparents more since I moved nearer to family when I came back from London. I don't mind summertime at their house and the pool either.

an england remnant

I needed a band-aid the other day. I dug around looking for one, reached down into the bottom of the bag and fished out - a plaster!

"Band-aids" are "plasters" in the UK, and they are always blue because apparently it's the law or something. I don't know but I only ever saw blue ones. Health and safety.

this past year

2010 was more of the most notable years I've had to date. Mostly, I moved a lot and spent way too much time digging through boxes. But I consciously made the decisions I did and I stick by them. I do hope there's a bit more stability in 2011, though.

Here's 2010 in review with pictures from each month.

January
I got back to the UK just before New Years, and my American roommate and I spent the holiday with some great friends in Sheffield, England.

While we were there, besides freezing (because Steph and I are both from Florida), we got to see the Peak District, York and lots of countryside. Then it was back to work in London.












February

For my birthday in February I got an awesome package from my friend, Hannah, a teacher living in Taiwan.

January and February, and even into March blend together in my memory. They were dark, cold, and short days. The outside was so cold but when underground on the tube it was hot with all the people.






March
We climbed the Fire Monument. I'd been planning to go up the monument for a while and one day we just did it.

My favorite part of being in London was just roaming the streets. The monument is right over London Bridge on the north side of the Thames. Of course, they give you a certificate for climbing all the stairs to the top.

Before I went to London, I didn't know they had a massive fire in 1666.








April
I finally understand why in books and movies people love to rave about spring. I was so glad to see color and blue skies again, even if it was still cold.

In April, I did a lot of exploring on my own around the city.






May
We went to see a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. If I had remembered my Shakespeare, I would have remembered how gory Macbeth is but it was fun all the same.

If you are willing to stand for the performance, you can get five pound tickets.






June
I think June was my happiest month in London. It got warm and sunny. I got a nice sunburn in Greenwich Park the first Saturday we had great weather.

In good weather, everyone comes out to lie in the sun and have picnics. It gets really crowded and you have to claim a spot of ground. It's like the beach.

I finally felt comfortable with the city and how to navigate around my favorite places... I actually had favorite places. I had found some good friends outside our little team, and there was weekly frisbee at the park.






July
July was a little more manic but cool. We had good, even hot, weather.

At the end of the month, Steph and I went to Nice.We had been planning this trip for a while. With all of Europe so close by, it was hard to decide where to go. My only stipulation was it had to be on the Mediterranean.So we went to Nice and I saw the Mediterranean for the first time!

Then one of our teammates got married. She let me make the cake - such a scary job- and she asked me to be a bridesmaid.

July was also really scary though because I was getting ready to leave some great people and a nice situation and I wasn't sure what I was going to come back to in the US.






August
In August, I travelled all over. But I was mostly in Florida.

I counted- 4 different cities in August, 9 different hosts - 7 days was my longest stay in one place. 2 weddings.

I was job searching. My friend Kristi was getting ready to go to Norway. At the end of the month, I left Florida, my home area, and went to Maryland.






September
I got offered a job in Maryland and decided to go for it. Instead of going back to the familiar Florida, I decided to take the challenge and relocate. I took the job. Besides my family, I knew no one. I spent a lot of time on skype and the phone with friends.






October
Nothing says diversion like a sibling getting married. My older brother got married to this wonderful girl. We all went down to Florida for the event.

For me, it was awesome to be back in my home state, feel the warm sun. But especially to see friends, some I hadn't seen since before London.





November
Really cold and working hard at settling into a new job. I had to get warmer shoes, especially since I had to paperclip-rig them.







December
Two of the best times I had in the fall was when I had friends come up to DC. I went down to the city twice for the weekend to see old friends from Orlando.

domes

Six months ago, St. Paul's Cathedral, London.




























Now, Capitol building, Washington, DC.

(No, I'm not living in DC, just near it.)

looking back to london.

If I were to write about my experience of the United Kingdom from a sociological perspective, it would contain certain motifs. These would include toast, neon yellow vests, health and safety, and rain.

commute: then and now

Then.












Now.













Then: London, UK.
Now: Maryland, USA.

this time last year.

I had just become arrived in London, UK.

I had been waiting so long to see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

(photo by my old roommate, Stephanie)

last night in london.

last night in london, august 1.

little time left.

Back to America soon.

on the lead up...

Nice, France for four days. just returned today and not sleepy enough yet

Wedding cake baking. holy cats! what i have i gotten myself into/this is going to be awesome!

Wedding. yippee

bring back to the states.

when I go back to the States, I want to carry on the English tradition of not only offering guests a cup of tea when they arrive, but also, always sending them away with a cup when they leave.

They used to have to arrange when to return the china cup, but now guests leave with the tea in a to-go cup.

Just kidding. They don't do that.

places that got pictures.

snow in january


world cup advertising


canary wharf

there goes my handshake.

I am proud of my handshake. And I like shaking hands. It's a personal, jovial touch to interacting with people.

Recently, in an interactive role-play, my English friends let me know that they wouldn't offer a hand shake in a situation where I did. "It's very formal," they told me. Oh.

Not quite finished with my Jeremy Paxman's The English: A Portrait of a People, I am moving on to Kate Fox's Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior.

Fox is an anthropologist who, like Paxman, is herself English.

She says, in general, "There is no universal prescription of handshakes on initial introduction- indeed, they may be regarded as too "businesslike" - and the normal business practice of giving one's name at this point is also regarded as inappropriate (Fox 39)."

Got it. No handshakes and don't start off with names; ease into it. Glad I am learning this two weeks before I leave.

night-time reading.

It's never too late to study your surroundings (and its peoples).

monmouth coffee

This place is near Borough Market, by London Bridge. It is always in the top 10 lists of London's best coffee.

On Saturdays, there is a line that goes out the door and down the street. A guy comes out with a stack of cups, taking everyone's order.

it's not worth bragging about.

maybe just noting.

I went and got a curry with friends last night after service. Being not English (or Indian), I asked my friends to advise me, because I don't know much of anything about what is good.

Something like chicken madras looked good, and I think I said so. And there was something else, but I was afraid to mispronounce it around knowledgeable people. At the last minute, I spotted a cheaper option that sounded nice.

Chicken Vindaloo.

My friend yelped when he found out. Apparently, that's top-tier for spicy. It was time to ante-up.

I didn't sop up the sauce, but three glasses of water, all of my naan bread later, and I managed to finish all the bits of chicken and potato, I think without visibly sweating.

Either brave or foolhardy.

i know it's a silly goal.

My travel card is for zones 1 and 2 on the London underground. It's my goal, whilst I am here, to either go into or come out of every tube stop within these zones before I leave.

To give you some perspective, I'm less than half way.

can't blog right now.

The election results are coming in, and as invested as a barely-informed outsider can be, I can't wait to see the results.

It's looking like it may be a hung parliament. Ooooh.

We should know in the morning.

feet around the uk.

I am not an avid photographer, if you know me, and I never really do photo projects. This one started casually and was months in the making. Finally, it's finished enough to show someone. Be merciful.

this is what i heard.

They say, to be proper Cockney, one has to be born within hearing distance of the Bow Bells of Bow Church in the East End of London.

I've been to the Bow stop before, but I haven't sought out the church yet.