Engagement Photos

I swore I wouldn't turn my blog posts into 'wedding-this' and 'wedding-that' posts, and would try to focus on the Expatriate viewpoint of said impending nuptuals.  Hopefully, this qualifies.

Last Friday, Simon and I had our engagement photos taken by an Aussie named Damian that I met at social function a few weeks prior.  We decided to go with Damian because, when I was just throwing out a few ideas/thoughts to him, it quickly became apparent that he 'got it'-and even easily improved upon the ideas that I had for the photos.  I wanted the photos of Simon and me to be reflective of our relationship-which has largely hinged on 'London.'  As much as I sometimes moan about "London", I do also clearly have "London" to thank for something great in my life.  Yes, Simon.  I'm talking about you...

So, in keeping with that premise, we settled on two locations for the shoot-the Mews we live on (we can't take any credit for how lovely it is, but we do recognize it's a beautiful Mews), and Tower Bridge.  (here comes the Expat-viewpoint part...).  Never in my life did I think I'd be so fortunate as to have these beautiful photos of me taken on Tower Bridge.  It was surreal when we were there taking the pictures, and three days after getting the proofs from Damian, it's still surreal to see Simon & I on the bridge at sunset.  I can't take any credit for how amazing the photos look-that's all Damian.  We just stood there & did what we were told! :)
Well, without further ado, here are a few of the pics. Hope y'all like them as much as we do!

Awww..

Tube Musings

I have now been commuting to work on the Tube for 3 months-it's the first time I've had a daily commute on the Tube since moving to London (suck it, First Great Western! I so do not miss you...).
I can honestly say that the novelty has worn off.  I don't doubt for a minute that it's still the best way to get around London, but the daily commute has forced a few observations about humans-some funny, some perplexing-that I'd never noticed before on my weekend journeys on the Tube. To wit:

• Why, oh why, do men have to sit on the Tube with their legs spread sooooooo wide?  Truly gents, is this your sad way of trying to say to the world: "Look at how much junk I have between my legs, world!  The only way I can possibly sit here comfortably without crushing my man-bits, is by spreading my legs obnoxiously wide to give it the space that is needed!!"
• Tourists:  Dear tourists, for the love of god:  Stay off the Tube during rush-hour.  The museums don't even open until 10am, but yet you insist on clogging the tube when there are hundreds of thousands of us trying to get to work.  Nevermind the fact that the Tube can't even cope with the strain of Londoners using it during their commute already, now you have to overload it even further-with your prams, backpacks, and maps spread wide.  Don't even get me started on stopping in the middle of the stairs, elevator, or platform-for NO APPARENT REASON-while the rest of us have to stagger around you so we don't run over you.
• The urgency of your need to get from point A to point B via the Tube is directly proprtionate to the likelihood that the Tube will be slow, delayed, or simply suspended due to signal failure, an ill person on the train, or even a body under the train.  Go figure.
• One must acquire Tube Face as early into their journey as possible.  Tube Face is the way making the world think that you are lost in thought, in your own world, or simply not paying attention-largely so you can appear to be ignoring the crazy person next to you-or made to not feel like you should give up your seat to someone who needs it.  But the reality is: you're still paying attention to every little thing going on around you.  Hopefully, no one notices you blinking, or your ruse is up.
• Just like death and taxes being inevitible, it is also inevitible that you will end up sitting next to the smelliest person on the Tube when you have your choice of seats.  Just the other day, I took a seat inbetween two men-one of which smelled of dead cow due to the leather jacket he was wearing.  The other, smelled of ash tray and booze.  Lovely.
• If just one more person tries to barge on the Tube while there are still those of us trying to get off, I may have to commit to a random act of violence.  Wait.  Until. Everyone's. Off.  Thank you.

I've observed on more than one occasion-and even commented in my blog-that Living in London is turning me into a rude asshole.  (For the record, I don't think it's "London" doing this to me, but rather life in a big city.)  Unfortunately, I can't help but think that my new commute is going to make me even ruder asshole.  I fear for loosing my humanity; but, in the grander scheme of things, I guess I've really just traded my road-rage from when I was driving in the US to Tube-rage.  I suppose it's just the difference of having an anonymous shell of a car around you versus the face-to-face confrontation of public transport.

Good times.

The Lighter Side of London LIfe

When I moved to London 28 months ago (28?  Really? wow), my exposure to British TV was limited to seeing re-runs of Benny Hill when I was a child, and catching a few episodes of Coupling on BBC America-which is *fantastic*, by the way, and makes Friends look a bit 'simple' in comparison.

Since being here, either on TV or or via DVD, I've been exposed to a few other shows that are also outstanding in their own right, and for anyone contemplating a move to the UK, here's a lighter look at some 'cultural research' you can partake in before arrival...Woefully, I'm rubbish at figuring out how to embed video in my blog, so a linked list (where a good link was available) will have to suffice-but if you go to YouTube, Hulu, or just do a search on the interwebs, you should be able to find a few clips.  In no particular order...

• Green Wing-one of the first shows on DVD I was exposed to when I move here, this medical comedy did things that were cringe-worthy hilarious, and the character of Sue White is honestly one of the most memorable characters I've ever seen on TV.
• Spaced-I've been a fan of Simon Pegg since I saw Hot Fuzz in the US a few years ago.  When I found out he had written & starred in a 'Singles' type of UK TV series in the late 90s, I had to watch it.  Loves it.  Loves it even more since Simon (my Simon) used to hang out in the area of town, Crouch End, where the show is set-and can point out random things about scenes of the show!
• Little Britain-I realize this series has crossed the pond (jumped the shark?...) and a Brit-American version was run a few years ago on cable. It's crap. Must. See. The. Original.  And then begin to say, 'computer says no' at work to the confusion of your co-workers.  This is sketch comedy at it's best.
• The Mighty Boosh-Season 3 in particular (my personal preference; everyone has a favorite, it seems...).  Another series that seems to have crossed the pond-I recall seeing a few random episodes advertised for some cable channel-super late nite-when in Seattle last year.  Absolutely hilarious.  Just thinking the words 'crack fox' makes me giggle...and I have a wee crush on Noel Fielding.
• Mock the Week:  it's a panel comedy/news commentary show.  Sorry.  I know that seems confusing, but I know of no other way to explain it.  Frankie Boyle (one of the *best*-though most offensive-comedians I've ever heard) made the show what it is.  This program is a perfect way to quickly get up to speed on what's going on in British news-and pop culture-all while laughing your arse off.  I love this show so much, I've applied for tickets to the studio audience.  Fingers Crossed!

Unfortunately, except for Mock the Week, all of the other shows are now off the air-unlike US TV, where shows are run into the ground-and usually on life support before they're cancelled, Brit TV (though woefully, just the good shows, it seems...) likes it short & sweet.  Two to three seasons is a good run.  Except for Mock the Week, all of the shows above were before my time, but I found them thru other people.  The least I could do is pass the suggestions along, and pay it forward.

Any other expats have any favorite Brit shows worth mention?

My name is Kristina...and I'm a hoarder

Simon & I are making a trip back to the US in mid-August to pick up the engagement ring and take care of some wedding planning.  For every trip I've made back to the US since I've been here, I've made a 'grocery list' of items I want to pick up while I'm there.  Some of the items are simply 'American' and I can't find here (like grape jelly or Kraft Mac & Cheese).  Other items are simply waaaaaay cheaper in the US (Aveda products), and I'm all about saving a few pennies.

While beginning to contemplate my grocery list today for this upcoming trip, and giving *serious* thought to getting not one, but two jars of jelly (I plan to start taking my lunch with a bit more frequency to save some $$, and even at my age, I still love a good PB&J), it dawned on me:  I am a hoarder. 

To wit:  there's currently a jar of jelly in the fridge now that's not quite half full, plus a new/never opened jar in the garage as backup.  And, I'm contemplating buying two more?  Oh, and Q-Tips.  They sell them here (even the brand that I prefer), but I only buy them in the US.  I've currently two boxes (750 count, each...) sitting up in my closet.  That's 1500 Q-Tips.  Even at my current usage of 2 a day,every day, it will still take me 2 years to use all of them!  And, I'm contemplating picking up another box in August?  I need help.

I was never like this when living in the US. Yes, I'd stock up on things if there was a sale, or if it was something that I'd run out of with regular frequency, but I never once kept a stash of anything that would last more than a year. Muchless two years!  At least not intentionally.

I know we all have things we can't live without, but the way that I've started hoarding makes it seem like I'm not going to be back in the US for at least a year-when in reality, that's not happened yet, and isn't likely to happen for a while.

Sadly, it's not just jelly and Q-Tips that I seem to be this way about; I won't list everything I've hoarded since I've been here though-it's just too sad, and you'd seriously believe I had a problem. Which, I guess I do.

Well, admitting I have a problem is step 1.  I think I need to go figure out what step 2 is... :)

World Cup Fever

It would be border-line irresponsible of me if I didn't post at least once about the World Cup while living in London, wouldn't it?
For anyone who has been living under a rock or in a cave for the past week-or, outside of the UK from the looks of the US newspapers I've been reading online-England is in the throes of World Cup Fever. Has been for several weeks now, even though the official games just kicked off (no pun intended) a week ago.  I'll refrain from any game by game commentary-that's already been covered 7,000 ways to Sunday by everyone else, I'm sure.  Instead, just a few general observations about the differences between World Cup in England versus World Cup in the US.

• Life as we know it grinds to a halt on the days that England plays.  Yesterday evening (6pm), I was one of 15 people in my gym (only 2 men, both of which were trainers, and simply had to be there)-a time & day in which it's normally packed.  Why?  England played at 7.30pm. 
• Want to go to your local and have a pint?  Better not on game day.  Especially if said local has a TV.  You're better off to stay at home, as it will be too crowded, noisy, and drunk.
• A good England fan is delirious with excitement leading up to an England game.  And, then quickly starts to bash the team during a game, the minute something goes wrong.  By the end of the game, a good England fan will be downright despondent at having ever thought England could win anything-nevermind tie a team that truthfully they should have crushed-and are basically ready to dis-avow God and Country.
• The tube stations become fully staffed with British Police.  In the US, on a major sporting day, we'd see extra cops on the roads to stop drunk drivers.  In London at least, there are extra cops in the tube stations.
• In the US, as a female, I never thought that anyone (men) was surprised when a female had an intelligent observation to make about a sporting event.  Here, if a female makes an intelligent observation about a sporting event, men treat it as a sign of the second coming-the shocked look on thier faces says it all.  Loves it.
• I've had more people than I can count ask me if I was pulling for the US or England-particularly during the US/England match last week.  I never once entertained the thought of pulling for anyone other than the US, and can't help but wonder if an expat living in the US would have ever been asked that same question (regardless of their country of origin). 
• There's just no escaping World Cup Fever.  It's everywhere here:  tv, radio, print, references on tv shows, the Top 20 chart is populated with 'England Fooball' type songs, and even if you're a brand that would never before have associated yourselves with Football (food, beverage, cars, finances, you name it..), suddenly you're mentioning 'England World Cup' in your advertising.  Even as recent as 3 days before the US/England match last week, I struggled to even find one US newspaper (well, online...) in which World Cup was even the front-page story.

I'm sure there are dozens more differences between what's going on with World Cup here in England versus the US, but those are the ones that come to mind off the top of my head.

Anyone else have an observation they'd like to share?  Drop a comment!

Lisbon, Portugal

OK.  Time for a proper travel catch-up.  From the previous post, it's obvious that I went to Lisbon 2 weeks ago, but aside from the engagement part, I didn't actually comment on Lisbon, so I'll do so now..

Having been to Porto two years ago, I had at least that mental standard of what to expect, but actually expected more from Lisbon-as both a larger, and the capital city.  On some level, Lisbon didn't disappoint (*massive* protests in the main part of twon we were in on the Saturday we were there), but at the same time, I can't actaully say I liked Lisbon as much as Porto.

We got there on Friday evening, and basically dropped our stuff off at the hotel & headed out for dinner and drinks.   Lisbon is surprisingly hilly-shockingly so, in certain parts of town.  And, the area we wanted to get to required either a 15 minute walk *straight up* a hill.  Or, a cute 3 minute trolley ride.  We opted for trolley. :)  We then wandered around the Barrio Alto area looking for a place to eat, and I was struck by how much it reminded me of  'Restaurant Row' in Brussels-restaurant after restaurant for several blocks in any direction, and hosts were outside trying to get you 'come sit down. try. you willl like.' 

Instead, we headed a few more blocks off the main path and ended up at a place called Artis.  WOW.  Our first meal pretty much set the standard for the rest of the weekend-how could it not, when one of the tapas dishes was "aguardente flambeed sausage"?  We were barely the 3rd table in the house when we got there at 9p, but by 9.30p, the place was packed, and every table-including ours-had ordered this visually stunning, and very tasty dish.  Yum.  We also ordered a bottle of Vinho Verde-the white wine that Portugal is known for.  Double yum.  We'd go on to consume a fair number of bottles of this wine over the course of the next 3 days.

After dinner, we went and found the Solar du Vino do Porto.  Effectiely a port-wine bar.  After my trip to Porto, I've really come to appreciate port, and to go to a place and be presented with a 20-page menu with nothing but port wine is pretty exciting.   Some for as cheap as 1.80 EUR for a glass, up to 30 EUR.  Simon & I had a few ranging from 1.80-7 EUR, and they were all simply delicious.  By now, it's pushing midnight, and as Friday was a regular work-day for us, I was getting tired.  So, we headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Saturday started out with a quick trip to the pastry shop across the street of the hotel for breakfast.  Two croissants, two coffees, and a bottled water for 5.40 EUR (about $5) .  And it was also delicious.  THIS is why I love Portugal!  I will say...our food all weekend long was really good, and every meal made us marvel at how cheap-but fantastic-the food is.  It's very similar to the food we've had in Barcelona (also amazing), but about half the price.

Since our time was limited in Lisbon to just a few days, and we wanted to cover as much ground as possible-but knowing that walking from one part of town to the other could a)take ages and b)kill us because of the hills..we opted to go on one of those hop-on/hop-off buses.  I'm not ashamed to admit that we've done these buses now in Paris, Barcelona, and Lisbon.  And though it screams 'unimaginative tourist', if the weather is good it is the easiest and best way to see a city.

We got off at one of the waterfront stops to go have a wander around a few of the touristy things.  Ship Rock (I think that's what it's called?) and a castle.  After a few hours, we hopped back on another tour bus and passed by the Monestario do Jeronamo and then headed back into the main part of town, where we got off and went to grab a bite to eat for lunch.  After lunch, we were planning to have a walk back to the hotel for  a lie-down and freshen up before heading back out for the evening (it was pushing 4p...), but on our way back to the hotel, that's when we encountered the protesters.  It was peaceful and well organized-I'd say well over 10k people turned out.  From what we could eke out on the signs-and later when we were talking to our server at the beer garden we went to, I think they were mostly Labor/Trade Unions protesting Capitalism. 

Well, since we couldn't easily get back to the hotel because of the protest, we turned around and headed back down to the heart of the city (and back downhill!) to a beer garden in an area that reminded me of Las Ramblas in Barcelona-but without the scary street people.  We thought we'd gone far enough to get away from the protest, but instead...for the next 2 hours, we had a front row view on the street, as every Union group in the protest came by us!  From time to time, some of the protesters would come to the beer garden, have a seat-and a beer-and take a break.  Then, they'd grab their signs, drums, whatever they were carrying & join the protest again.  It was all good family-fun. :)

Anyhoo, after dinner that nite, we went back to the port-wine bar for a few more tastes before calling it a night.

We decided that Sunday would be a more relaxed day.  After breakfast we headed in to town to go to the Contemporary Art Museum (free before 2p on Sundays), and then caught a trolley over to the Monestary. 

We'd only passed by the day before & I really wanted to go in.  But, man, the queues were enormous-as were the crowds-and neither Simon or I had the patience for it!  So, instead, we went around the corner to a pastry shop that's well known for selling "Postres do Belem" (Belem is the part of town we were in...), and we bought one and grabbed a spot on the steps at the Monestary for a quick snack.  By now, it's pushing 1p-and it's blazing hot outside.  Not wanting to get fried to a crisp, we decide to head back to the main part of town & eat an early lunch under the shade.

Another lovely meal-and another lovely bottle of Vinho Verde, and the plan to again go back to the hotel for a lie down gets tossed aside when we walk by the beer garden.  A few pints (well, technically, Litres-as each glass was one Litre) and 3 hours later, and we decide to go up to the Barrio Alto area for a little tapas and a drink before having full-blown dinner.

The rest they say, is history.  Little did I know, but Simon had been walking around all day with his faux-ring in his pocket to propose to me at some point in the day, and after arriving at the tapas bar, and getting settled with our order, down on one knee he goes.  Sneaky bunny.

We're Engaged!

I've been quiet the past month-largely due to work and travel, so hopefully, this will make up for it. :)

Simon, the sneaky bunny, proposed to me last Sunday when we were in Lisbon for the Bank Holiday weekend.  I knew it was coming-we'd already set a date (crazy, I know, but the venue we wanted books up fairly far in advance), but I still didn't expect the actual proposal for a few weeks more.  But, Sunday nite, while we were having drinks and tapas in the Barrio Alto area of Lisbon, he got down on one knee next to our table (mind you, in shorts on a cobblestone street) and asked me to marry him.

I said YES!

A few pictures of the place we were at..

I'll post more about the actual trip later, and catch up on a few other posts, but I wanted to get this one done before more time passed.  I hope not to become one of those women who does nothing but talk about their wedding, so I'll try not to be one.  But, in keeping with the spirit of my blog, if there's anything notable about planning a wedding-as an expat-I'll pipe up.  We're planing to get married at McMenamins Edgefield-one of my favorite places in the world.  But, it's on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon-8 time zones away.  I'm sure there will be some interesting expat-life-tidbits to emerge from this, if anything!