Catching Up

When I logged in just now, I realized it's been almost a full month since my last post. Whew. I've been travelling again (as much as I love to do it, I hope that's it for a while...)-most recently, I've spent two weeks in the Dominican Republic for my annual Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip.

It was a blast (as they all are), and I'll post photos this weekend and properly post on the trip, but I wanted to at least post a quick check in while I had a few mintues to catch my breath.

In reality, there isn't much of 'London Expat Life' to catch up on...My flatmate & I are going to host Thanksgiving at our flat this year the Friday after for some of our American Expat buddies and non-American friends, and we're all counting the minutes until the election results start rolling in late Tuesday night (London time..). A bunch of us are going to get together and stay up until the wee hours with fingers crossed. We figure that depending on how the East coast lines up-particularly Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina determines whether we stay up all night glued to the returns postings, or we'll get to bed around 3a.

Just think. This time next week, we could have a new party at the helm. Fingers crossed!

Back Home

Or did I just leave home? It's hard to tell. Either way, I just returned to London after being in the US for almost 3 weeks. Parts of me are happy to be back, parts of me aren't.

Regardles, it was great being back in the US. I got to attend two great weddings, visit with friends, do a ridiculous amount of shopping (my luggage weighed over 200 pounds on the way back-and only weighed 70 going over!), eat some yummy, cheap food (god, I miss good sushi for under £30...), finally saw the sun (in both LA and Seattle!), and in general, had a great time.

Simon was there for half the trip as well, and while I was at work during the day, he puttered around town & had fun. It was kinda interesting-coming 'home' to him after the end of the day. Makes me wonder if this is a glimpse of what it could be like. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but the reality is, I am. We've hit the all-important 6 month mark two weeks ago, and it's hard not to think about this stuff. Anyhoo, enough about him.

The one bummer about this trip unlike the last one? On the last trip, I already had this trip booked-I already knew when I was coming back to Seattle. Not this time. Yes, I'll go to North Carolina for Xmas-and I'm looking forward to it-but, the next time I'll be in Seattle is completely up in the air. boo.

The Taxman Cometh

Well, the info I've been holding my breath for basically since I decided to go to London has finally arrived: How much tax do I owe the HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs)-the equivalent of the US IRS.

Keeping in mind that I only had 1 month of income before the end of the 'tax year'-yes, the UK's tax year (for whatever stupid reason. sorry. there was judgement in that statement) is April 1-March 31...my tax liability?

£9.50

Yep. £9.50. That wasn't a typo. Now, admittedly, for the one month, I am considered in the lower income tax bracket, and I had extra deductions I likely won't always have-but, this does also make me believe my post-tax income is going to be much better than I thought. The one downside? Unlike the US where you can adjust your withholding throughout the year, you can't in the UK. 'They' calculate your withholding based on your income and without regard to your deductions. How clever. 'They' get to keep hold of my money for a full year before I get it back. So, though it means my monthly 'income' won't change during the year per se, I am led to believe I will get a huge, fat refund come this time next year.

A big, fat whew after this.

Yea!

It's Complicated

First off...I am a slacker. It's been two weeks since I last blogged. Yes, I've been busy-flight to LA. Wedding. Flight to Seattle. Simon arriving, another wedding in a few days...but, that's still no excuse. I'm a bad, bad blogger. And, I promise once I get back to the UK & can upload photos, I'll fully catch up on what's been going on.
Especially when, there's actually something to blog about-I've just been too busy to do so!

I think I may have mentioned that Simon is in the Financial Services industry. In London. He's in IT, but nonetheless, he's only ever worked for Financial Services companies. A year ago, this point wouldn't have been worth mentioning. Given what is going on in the US/UK/world... economy/financial sector however, it bears mention. I don't think he would seriously mention it, but while Simon is here in Seattle with me, I think he is a little nervous about what awaits him when he returns to London next week.

So, he kinda dropped a bomb on me last week right before he came over: "Do you know how I could find out more info about the UW MBA program? I'm thinking about going to check them out while I'm in Seattle. I need a Plan B." Now, Simon contemplating an MBA program isn't anything new to me-but UW as one of those schools certainly is new. I'm trying not to get too excited at what this means *exactly*, but it's hard not to. Unless something massive changes in London in the next 8-10 months (read: I get a new job making £100k a year in London...), I don't think I'll stay there in perpetuity. If Simon & I are still together, well, things are clearly complicated. Do I stay in London? Do I stay in London with Amazon? A different company altogether? Do I come back to the US? When? With Simon? Do we break up? on and on and on. It makes my head hurt. As I've said numerous times this week, 'It's Complicated.' But, Simon deciding to get an MBA at UW (say..oh, starting in 2010), suddenly uncomplicates a *lot* of things. At least in the short/mid-ish term. I don't think I want to live in London long-term. I don't know if Simon would want to NOT live in London long-term. So, the question of where we do live (if there is a long-term we) is complicated.

I'm a huge fan of keeping it simple. So, the fact that there doesn't really seem to be an obvious, easy answer here is difficult. Yes, we've only been dating 6 months. But, I'm not 22. Neither is he. Not that everything needs to be figured out by next week, but things are going to need to be figured at some point-and preferrably, not 6 months from now. oy.

Norway. Hm.

As I alluded to earlier in my post about Crazy Travel several weeks ago, Simon & I went to Norway this past weekend. The airport we flew in to was about 120km outside of Oslo, so instead of going thru the effort to go to Oslo (we flew in Sat morning & flew out Sunday nite. a 2.5 hour bus ride to Oslo just didn't make sense), we opted to stay in the tiny, quiet town of Sandefjord where we flew in to.
If you're looking for a quiet, low key, relaxing weekend, Sandefjord is your place. If you're a city-boy like Simon, well...that's a different story. On foot, we actually managed to see the entire town (or what was worth seeing) is less than 5 hours-and that included going to the Whaling Museum and wandering in shops. Wow. Which, it's a good thing it only takes 5 hours-the town closed down at 5p on Saturday, and from what we could tell on Sunday, didn't open back up either! :)
And, let's talk about cost. I knew the Scandinavian countries were 'expensive.' But, I thought that after London, I'd be prepared. Wrong. Two beers in the pub (the *one* thing that was open Saturday nite past 6p...) cost $26. Yep. $26. That's not a typo. Thank goodness the hotel provided free breakfast and dinner-eating there was the only way we could afford the beer! :)

Super nice, friendly people. A huge thumbs up there. The scenery is pretty (not stunning-which that could just be a function of where we were at..), but it reminded me so much of being in Alaska-both the landscape and the buildings-function over form-that I didn't feel like I was actually seeing or experiencing anything new. Odd.

I doubt I'll ever go back to Norway-unless I'm suddenly inspired to join the jet-set winter ski group. But, at the very least, I guess I can now say, 'been there, done that.' Not exactly the reaction I like to have after travelling somewhere new, but it's the truth. Hm.

On the Outside Looking In

It seems that over the past few weeks, the talk has turned to US politics; whether I'm talking with US friends in Seattle or here in London, Brits, Germans, French...you name it. Obama versus McCain seems to be one of the more popular conversational topics.

For some of my non-Amercian friends here, I'm beginning to feel like the US Spokesperson for International Politics. Which is an unusual position to be in-though, admittedly, I could probably do a better job than Bush! :)

It goes without saying (or maybe not...), that most folks I've met over here are very, very pro-Obama-and even the media has picked up more favorable stories on him than on McCain. Actually, I can't say I even recall a favorable story on McCain. In fact, the story I read this morning on Palin's daughter referred to her boyfriend as a 'redneck' in the title of the article. hah!

But, I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on the reality of what's going on with the elections by not being in the US: is Obama just as widely and favorably received in the US as he is abroad? Does McCain's choice for running mate seem as odd in the US as it does outside? I hope I'm not living in some pro-Democrat abroad bubble that is just going to get shockingly burst come November.

Though I can say for certainty that the one thing I don't miss about being in the US right now are all of the ridiculous TV commercials!

A Crappy Weekend

Monday was a bank holiday for us-the last until Christmas. So, I was greatly looking forward to a nice, quiet, fun, relaxing 3 day weekend. Simon and I were supposed to go to a friend's place for a BBQ on Saturday nite, and in general just enjoy hanging out.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. While at the gym on Saturday, some jackass broke into Simon's locker (along with 5 other unfortunate souls) and stole his wallet, keys, and cell phone. Were it not for the fact that Simon's gym is walking distance to my place-and we were planning on him coming over around 5p, he would have been absolutely stranded there, as his money, credit cards, ATM, and Tube pass were all in his wallet.

So, instead of a lovley, relaxing evening with friends, we were on the phone from 5p-7p getting cards canceleld, reporting the phone stolen, and trying to track down anyone that would be able to contact his landlord to get a spare set of keys.

Fortunately, Simon's 'landlord' is his best friend's wife (Herbie & Shalma), but without his phone, the only phone number Simon could remember was Herbie's mom. So, we called and left a message. Then, I scoured the internet looking for any way to contact Herbie. I emailed him through facebook, you tube, djhistory.com, and even the estate agent that is selling their house. yeesh. Luckily in the end, Herbie's mom got the message, and Herbie called us back-agreeing to meet up clear across town at 8p to get a set of keys to Simon.

So, we dashed off to the nearest tube station to cancel his old pass and buy a new one, and then went clear across town to meet Herbie before then going to Simon's flat to have the locks changed. The robbers stole his keys and he couldn't remember if there was anything in the wallet that would indicate his address. Better to be safe than sorry, though. Locksmith finally arrived at 11.30p-and at a cost of £130, we were done. We weren't planning on staying at his place-Simon had nothing to eat in the pantry, had left his contact 'stuff' at my place, and I didn't bring anything with me except my purse, so we turned back around and proceeded back to my place. Clear across town. Two busses, two failed attempts at getting on the tube (it was too late...), and a £20 taxi ride later, we arrive back at my place at 1a to grab a bite of 'dinner' before falling into bed at 2a.

Grr. What an f-ing inconvenient experience. I feel bad for Simon. When he was making the phone calls at my place when he first arrived, his hands were shaking. And, I'm pissed off to know that someone made him feel that way.

For once however, I was thankful for the British way of doing things. All cards (whether ATM, debit, or credit...) are required to have a PIN to conduct a transaction. So, we have safely confirmed that not a single £ was taken from his account-or spend on his credit card: there's no way to make the transaction. We cancelled the phone so quickly after it was stolen, the only thing the phone will be good for is the £10 they'll get if they try to sell it (if they're smart enough to try..). Ironically, the most valuable thing that was stolen was Simon's tube pass. It's a monthly Zone 1 & 2 pass-that was just re-upped that very day. Value? About £90. Luckliy, we cancelled that thing fairly quickly as well. So, when all is said and done, there wasn't much financial damage-just a real pain in the ass to get things sorted out.

Grr.