Travel For FOUR

My office is just south of the Thames, slightly West of Borough Market and London Bridge (the real one, not the picturesque one :)).

For a long time, I’ve been thinking that I should blog about it, but fearful of being perceived as a tourist amongst coworkers, I hesitated to take photos during my jaunts to the market and otherwise. I’ve now decided it’s okay to be a bit of a tourist in my own surroundings again…so look for blog posts with photos from my work life in the coming weeks and months.This will be my first. Did you know that the house that Bridgette Jones lives in (for the movie) is by Borough Market? In fact, I took a photo of it on my way to work this morning. This house also appears in Dirty Rottin’ Scoundrels and other films…

The Borough Market area is so popular for films, I get notices at work fairly often that we can take a long lunch to be an extra. At Christmas Jude Law was there filming…though a darn conference call kept me away.

I’ll continue to post photos and interesting facts from around the city… though bear with me as I’m dealing with the camera phone (despite lower quality images) for fear of being a REAL tourist amongst friends 🙂

It’s not yet confirmed, but it’s been suggested that I head to NYC for a business meeting (meeting the big boys at HQ…YAY!) from Friday Feb 22, leaving on Monday, Feb 25. Anyone else in NY during that timeframe? If so, let me know so that we can get together! Or, you could plan to travel up to meet me, I’ll have a room in NY…for FREE! 🙂

Loved it! What a pleasant surprise. G’s free tickets (courtesy of Phillips) came through and we really enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take photos indoors, but I’ll do my best to describe the venue, acts, etc.Multiple tents were set-up on a sandy patch on the O2 Centre Campus (North Greenwich). As you approach, you are welcomed by palm trees and Africa-esque totems and courteous greeters appropriately dressed in Morrocan garb. Chandeliers of recycled tableware sparkle above drawing the eye up from the gorgeous ruby and gold velvet cloth lining the walls. Multiple themed rooms are set-up as bars, cafes and restaurants throughout the tent enclosure.

Finally, you make your way into the arena which is initimate. If feels that more people attend a high school football match in America than are seated in the tent to watch the show. The show opens with a “spider man”–a contoursionist who’s able to bend and mold his body in every conceivable position. His legs and arms pop freely into and out of socket.  Next, an acrobat. Then, old-style cheerleader builds with up to four and five people atop each other head to foot reaching nearly to the rafters. Suddenly, they start to tilt sending you into an adrenaline rush–then you realize you’ve been had! Each one rolls out, it was just part of the show.

Each act was better than the last and I truly didn’t want it to end. I would have happily paid full price for the show though our tickets were free.

I’ve now learned that the show will travel to America in 2009…buy tickets! Afrika! Afrika! is a real treat (and no, they’re not a client :))

I found a link to Adele’s opener. He’s named Natty. Click here to hear his tunes.

Those with me during the college years probably know that I DJ’ed an AM Reggae show for the college radio station. Granted, the theme of my show was assigned. And it’s probably worth noting that as a rookie, I was in the 9AM SATURDAY slot — it’s safe to say listeners were few. But, it did inspire an appreciation for Reggae and hearing Natty tapped into that. Hope you enjoy his tunes, too. 🙂

Last night, G and I enjoyed a nice dinner at a Keralan Indian restaurant by Bond Street/Oxford Circus. Very authentic. This morning, we helped a friend by volunteering to paint the walls of senior center. Apparently they wanted a bit more sunshine to brighten their grey London days–by the end, I was covered in bright yellow paint as G remained pristine and paint free. Ahhh…flash back to our Cary days and our hideous yellow kitchen (before we painted it AGAIN!).

And tomorrow, we’re off to see Afrika! Afrika!–a cross between cirque de soleil and a circus–a show that’s in town through the Spring. We got free tickets thanks to Phillips. Hopefully it works out and the tickets are actually waiting for us when we arrive.

Also this week, my big clients (ie EMEA-level) are in town for Online Training 101. It’s a time for us to familiarize them with a few things and to begin planning on a few fronts. They’ll be in town for 2 days and I’ve developed the agenda, made the assignments and NOW I’m waiting semi-patiently as my presenters prepare their portions of the program. I’ve asked that everyone refrain from using PPT whenever possible and, if they must use it, limit their use to 3-5 slides for 30 minutes and double that for an hour. Slowly, I’m trying to break the internal trend to throw lots of words on the screen–lulling the client into silence for the next hour as they process in shocked awe. And, unfortunately, this goes both ways with the client doing the same. From last year, I know there are other ways. Hopefully it will catch on and inspire a bit of discussion and debate–interaction is good!

Setting the example for interactive formats, I’ll host “buzzword bingo”. A mix between Jeopardy and Bingo. I’ll read definitions for industry “catch phrases” and ask the room which word matches to it. They’ll then match the term bingo-style on their game cards. My goal is to start conversation and debate around what various terms mean. I’ve now discovered that many folks offer up words in conversation, assuming everyone has the same understanding of their meaning, only to realize that’s not the case. [I realized this after a long, confusing discussion on web portals and social media with an in-country marketing manager.] Hopefully this will set a precedent for everyone to feel comfortable enough to be vulnerable with one another–encourage taking a step back to ensure everyone’s on the same page.

Hopefully G will blog with an update on his iPhone in the coming days.

G planned an amazing date night yesterday! Adele‘s an up and coming British Jazz artist who’s being likened to the new Amy Winehouse (sans drugs and drama). She’s 19 and has sold 30,000 albums since her inaugral album was released yesterday. She sings mostly ballads, but there are a couple upbeat tunes on her album.G somehow found two tickets to see her second stop on tour–we saw the show in a college auditorium (to seat 500) near Camden Town. Her warm-up group was Caribbean inspired–and impressive. And Adele and her band are abolutely AMAZING. Her recorded album’s impressive (aside from a few voice crackles on Melt My Heart to Stone), but LIVE, her voice is incredibly sound and inspired.

To give you an idea of how close we were, this photo was taken with my cell phone camera–a 3mp with no zoom or flash. Good seats. Yay G…she’s so good I’m sure she’ll be playing to 5,000 soon.
If you haven’t yet heard Adele, click here to hear snippits on iTunes. My personal faves are Hometown Glory (so true about London), Right as Rain and Chasing Pavements.

While walking to the American store last night (yes, we finally found one! They have canned pumpkin AND Oreos :)), G and I stumbled upon a grand realization. While many of last year’s posts were centered on what’s different and the difficulty of adjusting to life in the UK, we’ve now been here long enough that we’ve fundamentally changed our habits to accommodate the local ways. We’ve moved from denial to acceptance. For instance, instead of moaning and complaining about our small fridge and tiny flat, we’ve grown to love it and can’t imagine living another way. We grocery shop twice a week and buy healthy packaged meals (yes, they have those here :)) instead of raw ingredients (which they don’t have at our tiny grocery).And we happily tromp the 10 minutes uphill to Hampstead to pay double for American “necessities” instead of pestering friends and family to post us canned pumpkin, Craisins and Reese cups (much to their relief). And, many of the things we just couldn’t live without have been replaced. In place of Chap Stick, I LOVE the German Labello brand lip moisturizer and bribe my London friends to bring some back for me from the continent. And the British have FINALLY realized the many uses for dried cranberries and I can find them in my neighborhood grocery. These are but a couple examples, but there are others that we note every day.

In fact, when G and I last visited the States in October, we were overwhelmed by the choices. We went into Target and had a headache upon exit. The limitless options were a bit too much for us to handle. The store was just TOO big. We were exhausted 🙂

And there are other aspects of life that have changed, as well. Instead of adjusting our schedule around the TV must see shows, we download American content online and play it back to fit our schedule — or walk 5 minutes to our local theatre to see the newest movie. Instead of listening to the radio in the car, we download music from iTunes and play it back on our ipods on the Tube or bus. In fact, one of my favorite things is to take the 168 South into the City — grabbing the front row seat on the top. I can’t imagine driving about now. In fact, while in India, I hated being in the car for hours at a time. It was exhausting… I can’t believe we used to travel 8 hours roundtrip just about every other weekend when we were in the States!

When we moved here in August 2006, we confidently said that we would be here for 2 years maximum. Now that we’re here, we’re confident that we will move back to the States at some point, but our timescale has now been adjusted. Now, one and a half years in, the thought of even moving back just 3 years after our arrival seems a bit confining.

We’re just beginning to appreciate the merits of what we’ve experienced so far (including true British fare). And it’s changing us, gradually and individually, and our perspective on the world. We’re growing and we don’t want to cut that transition short.

Perhaps in the coming year, we’ll move from embracing our American food and TV and accepting those steps we must take to find them to full acceptance and appreciation of the British equivalent. Time will tell…

In that spirit, I’ve taken a few update photos of our flat today — to update you on its development and progression since our arrival. For comparison, take a look at our photo album from Fall 2006. As for Olie the Bonsai, he’s still living happily outdoors (though he’s in bad need of cropping).