Giving Thanks in Britain

Many apologies for my lack of updates – things have been wonderfully busy, but before next week my first visitors arrive, I figured I should catch you all up on what I’ve been up to.

The week of Thanksgiving was just like any other week – I had one coworker wish me “Happy Thanksgiving”, but beyond that and a phone call home to see how the turkey turned out it would have passed without a mark had I not stumbled into a Whole Foods the weekend before and picked up a few ingredients that inspired a whole meal.  My sole American friend here – Karen – came over with Louie and their dog Buffy on Friday night to celebrate, and I did what I could to Americanize my British shopping.  Our meal consisted of a baked chicken, gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberries – topped off with a passable apple pie and pumpkin cookies (yes Megan, those pumpkin cookies!).  After stuffing ourselves, we settled in to finish off the wine while Karen and Louie introduced me to some British pop culture courtesy of YouTube.

On Saturday, I spent the morning reading until heading out for a long walk to meet up with my coworker Jon and some of his friends to watch some German football and have some German beer (his friends are Berlin fans).  They all had plans for the evening, so after the game I wandered around Covent Garden with all the tourists and ended up buying a discount standing ticket to the ballet (Manon) showing at the Royal Opera House.  I was a bit underdressed compared to the rest of the audience, but it was so amazing to be able to see a great performance like that on short notice for so cheap! 

Sunday, I headed out towards an area of London I haven’t explored before – the Northeast part of central London.  I stopped first in Spitalfields Market, where fashion designers sell their creations 6 days a week, and a surprisingly vast selection of unique foods… I ended up with a Caribbean-Mediterranean fusion wrap that had more flavor than anything I had cooked in weeks!  After that I proceeded up to Columbia Street Market, a very local market that sells flowers every Sunday morning.  It was fantastic – the sellers were shouting and competing for business, and even though it was cold, there were swarms of people clamoring for fresh flowers.  I had planned on buying one bouquet, but I ended up with that plus two Poinsettia plants and a miniature fir tree.  I just couldn’t help myself from getting into the Christmas spirit.  I hadn’t thought through the getting home part, but luckily the bags held up for the full 40 minute walk!

At home, I turned on some Christmas music and decorated a bit before going for a quick run in the last hour of daylight and concocting a soup out of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  It was a great weekend and made me feel a little more at home here.

Friends and Culture

This past weekend I decided to take advantage of the not too cold and SUNNY weather in London and get outside as much as possible!

On Friday, I grabbed a last minute ticket to one of the smaller musicals showing in the West End.  I got a front row ticket to “Crazy for You” – a classic Gershwin show.  I was right up in the action – so close that the lead made a side comment to a few people in my row when he slid a little too close to the edge during a dance number and I had to tuck up my feet when the dancers came through the aisles.

On Saturday I met up with a former coworker from Chicago who is living in London with his wife and 4 year old twins and all of us went to the Natural History Museum.  The kids were so adorable and were extremely excited about the volcano and earthquake section of the museum – especially the room that shook!

Kensington Palace

Crown worn by Princess Margaret

After the twins tired out, we grabbed a quick snack, and after they headed home I went to the nearby Kensington Gardens to walk around.  I was impressed how green everything was still, and saw some of the friendliest squirrels I’ve ever seen in my life.  When I studied abroad in London, I never made it to Kensington Palace to visit the state apartments, so I made sure to head that way to see them.

The palace is currently under construction, so instead of the traditional tour, the state apartments are currently hosting an art installation/exhibition that was completely different than anything I had seen before. In addition to seeing the rooms and decoration, they were set up to tell the stories of seven of the princesses who have lived there since it was built in the late 1600s.  It was a bit surreal, especially when there weren’t many other people there, but beautiful and interesting all at the same time.

On my way to the Tube, I caved to temptation to do my grocery shopping at one of the few Whole Foods in London – inspiring a Thanksgiving meal later this week.

Sunday morning, I headed to one of the further out London buroughs, Stoke Newington, to have brunch with Karen – one of my college roommates who has lived here for a few years.  As usual, it’s like no time has passed since the last time we hung out, and unsurprisingly I ended up with some great book suggestions.  I’m so excited to be able to say “see you soon” to Karen and actually mean it!

St. Paul's Cathedral

I couldn’t waste the rest of another warm-ish and sunny-ish day, so I headed to the South Bank area of London to get some culture breaking up a walk along the Thames.  I popped into the Tate Modern museum to see the current large installation.  Previous installations I have seen are a 500 yard crack in the floor http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/dorissalcedo/default.shtm and 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unileverseries2010/default.shtm.  The current one did not disappoint to be completely different  - an 11 minute silent film projected on a 40 foot tall screen created and edited with no digital help.  

Parliament

I ended my jaunt at Royal Festival Hall – they were displaying the 2011 Press Photo winners, which showcased the best - both beautiful and disturbing - photos taken of news events in the past year.  The place was packed, as it also was the Jazz festival weekend, so I got to enjoy some music while I took a break to eat dinner and read some of my new book.  

Westminster Cathedral

Big Ben

I finished my walk by heading to the cathedral - passing the London Eye, Parliament and Westminster Abbey along the way.  Everything was lit up so beautifully I couldn’t help but take a few photos!

Thanks to everyone who has been reading, sending me emails and comments - it makes me feel not so far away from my family and friends!  

Happy Thanksgiving!

London Eye

Prague

Old Town Square

Last weekend I flew to Prague to visit my friend Marina. We worked together a few years ago in Buenos Aires, and as luck would have it, she has been living and working in Prague for about 6 months - and we were able to meet up in the short time we overlap in Europe!

I flew in early on Saturday morning, and Marina was kind enough to meet me at the bus that dropped me off near the city center.  After dropping off my bag at her apartment, we traipsed over the entire city - giving our legs at 10 mile workout!

Astronomical Clock

To get to the historic town center, we walked through Marina's neighborhood as well as the main shopping area off of Wenceslas Square.  The Old Town Square is home to Tyn Church, as well as the Old Town Hall (from the 1300's) - which has probably one of the more famous Prague sights - a beautiful astronomical clock that is quite the scene at the top of the hour!

We grabbed a delicious lunch of traditional Czech food - we both had a fantastic potato-mushroom soup in a fancy bread bowl, then continued on to the Charles Bridge and it's many statues, and up the hill to the Prague Castle.

Charles Bridge

After visiting the castle and the cathedral inside, we sought out the Church of Our Lady of Victory and the Infant Jesus of Prague.  The church had a different name on our map, so it took going into a few shops, cafes and even a hotel to figure out which street it was on, but we found it and walked in to an English Mass!   http://www.pragjesu.info/en/

View from the castle

We did a little shopping and headed back to Marina’s apartment to drop off our bags, then went to a late dinner at an Italian restaurant that Marina had heard excellent things of – and it lived up to its reputation!  It was starting to get really cold, but we walked the whole way back to her apartment and then both crashed!

On Sunday we grabbed breakfast at Marina’s favorite café – they had delicious croissants and coffee, so I was happy as well, then headed into another shopping area with smaller independent stores.  After that my quick visit to Prague was coming to an end, so we took the scenic route to the bus and I was back on a plane to London in short order.

Me and Marina with the Castle in the background

The First Work Week

I came to London expecting my life to be a little quiet while I settle in, but my first week at work ended up being pretty eventful!

I began the week meeting my Accenture co-worker Jon at Starbucks. As usual, always slightly awkward to  sit someplace by yourself trying to guess who is the person you are there to meet!  But it was great to have him walking me in the first day.  He was able to introduce me to a few of the people we would be working with over the next couple months.

As you may know, the department I've come to London with works with large non-profits and developing country governments. Many of the people who I've met in Accenture who signed up for this program do it because they want to give a little back.  That aspect was driven home as soon as I got to my desk - just outside the window is a large mural with pictures of kids from around the world, and it says,

"What are you doing today to inspire dramatic change for children?"  

Talk about motivation to do your very best every day!

By Wednesday I was starting to feel settled in - and the whole city was buzzing over a planned protest by students over tuition increases.  Last year a similar protest turned violent and some damage was done to buildings.  This year, they were much better prepared-  for 4000 protesters there were 4000 police, and the helicopters were hovering over central London all day. The protest ended by late afternoon and by the time I left work the police were shutting down for the day as well.

On Thursday, I ran into a former coworker, Ryan, on the sidewalk on my way to work - a midst the thousands of people who cross that corner every day and I see one of the few people I know in London!  We were able to walk most of the way to the office together and catch up.

Later that day I had plans with another Chicagoan who happened to be in London visiting her husband's family.  It was surreal to see them in a place where I expect to know no one!  We met at a place chosen by her husband, which just so happened to be 2 minutes from my apartment.  Both Jeremy and Meghan were jealous of my central location and view :)

I ended the week by buying Michele, my HR person, a drink - she worked really hard to get me set up with this group, and it was the least I could do for her!  Next week I'll hopefully get to meet some of the other wonderful people in the group who have made this trip possible.

Looking back on the first week of being in front of the client, it has been really exciting to jump right in - getting to know an organization while learning new skills every day!

Settling in quite nicely

After staying up late the first night to unpack, I slept in a bit on Saturday but still managed to get all of my grocery shopping done and cook a decent meal before heading off to see a play in a small theater above a wine bar.  It was the premier of a new play that was set in Kenya.  It was an unconventional look at people who go to Africa to make a difference.  http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2011/production-fanta-orange.php 

I had to borrow this picture of the market building to show a sunny day in London.

On Sunday I decided to get out and stretch my legs a bit, so I got out my maps and walked to and from the office to get my bearings and see how long my commute would be on Monday morning.  Turns out it's an exactly 30 minute walk - just the perfect length of time in the morning.  The most interesting (and almost most direct route) takes me through the main part of the working city, past St. Paul's Catheral and both Accenture offices, and finally through the daily meat market!  It's funny to see butchers and crates of beef stacked just a few feet away from where I'm working - and makes me glad I'm not a vegetarian.

My morning walk without the pallets of meat.

http://www.smithfieldmarket.com/content/market/fascinating-facts

In the evening, I went to church at the Cathedral - there aren't any Catholic churches very close to my apartment but was able to get an easy bus there.  Afterwards, a Young Adults group usually goes for drinks at a local pub called The Windsor Castle, so I joined them since I hadn't socialized all weekend.  They were extremely welcoming and I will probably go whenever I can.






http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour.php

  

Arrived in London!

I made it to London late last night after an easy and empty flight. I have already unpacked and went shopping today to get the essentials.

I have set up a few ways you can get in contact with me while I am gone:

Skype- user name curlykatie83
UK cell phone - email me for number
UK landline - email me for number
iPad texting (free for you and me!)- (636) 542-4627

The time difference between London and Chicago is 6 hours.

Here are a few pictures of my flat:

Kitchen

Living Room

View from my flat

If you can't see above, click here for video on YouTube

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Flying out Friday

I received my visa this week and my flight to London is tomorrow!  I also was able to get a corporate apartment reserved, so I will be set up there as soon as I get in - it's a 20 minute walk from where I'll be working, so I won't have to commute too far either.

I know I haven't had a chance to tell everyone goodbye, but I'll be pretty easily accessible.  My plan is to post here at least once a week, but I'll also have Skype (curlykatie83) and a phone (number TBD).