The joy of looking like an idiot

Week two is done, and I am well into my first week without grandma (aka any comfort of home). It's been good b/c I can now focus on settling into my flat and working as late as I want to (yeah, so far not seeing a big difference in UK/American hours, but we'll see), but it's also been hard to officially be on my own and floundering through every day by myself. I keep telling myself that there will only be a few weeks of looking like an idiot and then I'll start to get my feet on the ground and after only a few months this place will seem nearly as familiar as Kansas City is to me. In the meantime, I just have to suffer through the times when I get off at the wrong bus stop and have to walk seven extra blocks to get home, try to no avail to fax something back to the States and all the while standing right next to it while the thing screeches and everyone in the office stares at me, and nearly smashing into everyone on the street b/c I'm walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk or stairway (they walk on the "other" side as well as drive).

My first experience at the grocery store was a halfway success. It was very busy and the aisles were really tiny with everyone pushing past each other and I felt really rushed, so I didn't end up finding the sugar and flour even though I went through all of the aisles about two times. My flatmate went the next day and told me that he found them no problem - so I am apparently blind. I also got a package of something labeled "turkey", but it is certainly not turkey from the taste of it. Either that or they put some disgusting spice in it. Let's just say I did not have the most pleasant experience eating my "turkey" sandwich for dinner last night. But I did find some really good cheese and crackers, and they have great cereal, which is the basis of my entire diet anyway, so I was happy.

Oh, and I have to say thank you Mom for the Cheez-its!! They arrived on Tuesday, and I laid on the couch and ate about half of the box on Tuesday night.

Last week before grandma left we went on the London Eye, and she bought the champagne flight (they call them "flights" b/c it's run by British Airways - clever), so we got to the front of every line and had chapmagne on our little go-round. Gotta love grandma! On Saturday we went to see the Lion King and it was amazing, it's defintely one of my favorite shows ever. If you haven't seen it make a point to go, you'll be blown away.

I had my first pint at a pub after work last Friday (pint and a half, actually), and had some good banter with one of my British colleagues about whether or not England is a country. By the way, don't ever have this conversation with a Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish person, apparently they might get very defensive. For the record and those who are not sure, I am currently living in the country of the UK, and England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are all kind of like states, although some people here refuse to acknowledge that fact. Seriously. We also talked a lot about football (soccer), b/c I want to start following it and need to choose a team. He tried to sway me to his side of course, but it's not even a London team and I'm definitely going to root for a London team. I'll report back on what I decide. Hopefully I won't get shot for my decision or trampled in a staduim during a game or anything.

I got all moved into the flat this weekend, and Andrea (his name is pronounced like Andre the giant, with an A on the end) spear-headed a major "reformation" of the whole place. We somehow got the whole place painted for free by professional painters through one of his connections (amazing!), and we did a few other things and cleaned the place inside and out. It looks incredible now, not that it didn't before but it's stunning now. I'm so proud of it. I say "we" like I did a lot of it, but I didn't help as much as I should have - since grandma was still here I spent most of the weekend hanging out with her. I did go shopping with her though for new things for the flat and got really fantastic sheets! They jumped from cheap to really expensive, so I decided to treat myself.

At work it seems like I've been getting all the crappy projects that no one else has time for so the new person gets it, but I think I've got some real client work coming up that will be more substantial and seem more worthwhile to me. I had a meeting with the partner who's in charge of my group though, and he seems really laid-back and intelligent, and gave the impression that he really cared that I got a meaningful experience from my secondment and wanted to make sure that it meets my expectations. I'll be spending about half of my time in the regular audit department doing the same thing that I did back in the States, and the other half of my time in a group called FRAG, Financial Reporting Assistance Group. This is a team that assists clients in converting to IFRS (international financial reporting standards). So this experience will be excellent for me b/c US public companies will have to convert to IFRS by 2014, so they will be starting right around the time of my return, making my expertise very useful. If I stay in public accounting, of course. :) The partner in charge of my group told me that I should consider taking the test to become certified in IFRS which would help accelerate my understanding, but I told him I had to think about it. I mean really, do I want to spend 3-4 months of my secondment studying?? Hell no. But...it would be really useful strictly for my personal knowledge, since the damn thing won't even be recognized in the US. I don't know, we'll see.

Ok, enough about the boring work stuff, b/c I know you non-accountants have probably stopped reading by now. Some funny/interesting stories:

The other day an English guy came up to me on the street and asked if I knew where a particular tube (subway) stop was, and amazingly, I did. So I told him it was just around the corner and about a block down and he said, "A block, what's a block?", to which I responded, "you know, like a city block in between streets." He said, "Oh, you're American." I asked a Brit about this later and apparently they have no word equivalent to "block", they just say "down the street". Real creative.

Almost everyone has asked me about the upcoming US presidential election, and who I am going to vote for. I've been surprised about the level of interest, b/c (apologies for sounding egotistical), for the most part we don't really care about elections in other countries.

I was reading a magazine the other day and came across an ad that said "American Living" and had loads of pictures of traditional American things, and it made my heart ache. I really miss everyone so much. I'm having a great time here so far, but I just wish I could have brought all of you with me. So...you'll just all have to come and visit!

Wow, this was a long one. Hope you haven't fallen asleep yet. Or better yet, I hope it was a welcome break from your workday! :) Love you all, and don't be shy about posting comments to my blog!

Cheers,
Heather

First day at GT London

The first day at work was a bit overwhelming but it was good to get going nonetheless. My favorite part was when four of my new co-workers took me to lunch and we had a glass of beer. Like this is a commonplace thing here in the UK, to have a drink over lunch. I have a feeling my British friends and colleagues are going to be able to drink me under the table.

Other noted differences from the GTKC office: No one has an office, not even partners. They have sections in the corners that are half-walled off with glass, but there are 3-4 of them that sit in this area at small desks. Everyone below manager level sits in the hot desk area, commonly called the "play pen", which is an area with long desk/tables where people just sit down anywhere and work. Like hoteling except it's not even a cube. So everyone complaining about space in Kansas City, stop right now and be thankful for the vast amount of space that you do have. I somehow got lucky (how does it keep happening that I get my own space at work when nobody else does??) and I have my own desk. Actually, I think it's b/c I'm kind of taking over for the last US secondee and he had the desk. Also, I do have to wear a suit, or something very close to a suit, everyday. Good thing I was on Russell Stover and went shopping for a few more before I left.

There are 252 people in the audit dept. in my office, which is the second largest office in London of the four. My office has its own building, called Grant Thornton House, and has nine floors. Also, another US secondee confirmed today that the UK work schedule is much better than the US - she said she only worked one Saturday last busy season! (I know all of you GTKC people are groaning right now). And the best bit - we get paid for anything over 37.5 hours a week, and always for any work on the weekend. So yeah, I might never come back. :) One of the staff here actually made the comment today that he had been working "American hours" on a tough client that he was on, how sad is that?

Hope you all are well, I miss you!

Cheers,
Heather

First week in London

The Water Lily House

Kew Palace

The Tree Walk at Kew Gardens

One of the greenhouses at Kew Gardens

Grandma and I at Big Ben

Meg and I at the airport on my last day in the States

Hey everyone! So sorry I've been lazy about posting, it was actually intentional b/c I was miserable and I didn't want to give you the wrong impression. I spent the last week looking for a flat which turned out to be one of the most exhausting experiences of my life. They told me that the market here was tight, but wow! Viewing a flat was like going to a job interview. It had me so stressed out I got this terrible cramp in my neck that hurt so badly I couldn't even move my head. I want to live with some flatmates, so we would always sit down to get to know each other a bit, and then if I liked it I was left hanging until they made a decision. The first one I viewed I loved but was in a little bit of a dodgy area (hang with me on the lingo here, I have to try to assimilate), and they didn't pick me [devastation!!]. Maybe it was b/c I was moving like a robot when I met them b/c my neck hurt so bad that I had to move my entire body to turn around. Then others that we looked at were never quite right. But, my grandma said that something better would come along and was she ever right. The flat that finally worked out is in St. John's Wood, a very quaint, quiet, and posh (eh-hem) area of London that is two blocks away from Regent's Park, one of London's largest parks. I have two roomies (flatties?) - Dasha, a Russian attorney in her late 20s who has lived in London for 12 years, and Andrea, another attorney (this one Mexican-Italian) who just turned 30 and has spent his life in London and Mexico. They are very cool and I can't wait to get to know them better. They really seem like potential friends which is exactly what I was looking for since I have, um, zero in London right now. Well I take that back, I have one, more later. So I now have an adorable place which has room for all of you to come visit (we've already discussed buying an air matress b/c they have friends come to stay quite often as well). So the dreaded flathunt is done, and I am still alive, and I actually got to know London a little better as well while we were trekking all over looking at flats.

My new address is:
Flat 96
Eamont Court
Mackennal St.
London NW8 7DW
UK

Ok, so as far as the rest of the week goes, I met my one friend here, Dan, a co-worker of Denisse's (KC friend), who turned out to be more than helpful in my transition. He brought me a few guide/map books that had helped him when he first moved to London (he's from the States too), and he's been someone that I can trust and turn to with any question in the world. And as it turns out we will be pretty close neighbors - he lives in St. John's Wood as well.

I think I already told most of you this, but my grandma is here with me for the first two weeks, so we have been doing some touristy things since she's never been here. We've been to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (ok, this is probably the most maddening experience ever b/c there are so many people, and I swore that I would never go back after I went in 2005, but I'm assuming most of you who visit will want to go so I will do my best to figure out the most painless way to do this thing), Big Ben, Parliment, and Westminster Abbey. We also saw a bit of the British Musuem, which has the pieces of the Parthenon that Britain won't give back to Greece and the Rosetta Stone. On Friday we went to Chicago and ate dinner at an adorable French restaurant down the street from the theatre. We also managed to do some shopping. And yes, everything here is outrageously priced. When you look at the number, it's not so bad, but then you start converting it to dollars, and it makes you want to vomit. But I've started to ignore the conversion and just focus on the number since starting tomorrow I'll be paid in pounds anyway.

Oh, I did look for cheez-its everywhere I've been and I haven't found them yet. Looks like I'm going to have to give up my addiction (Most of you know how hard this will be for me, ie, send some in care packages! :) ).

Today grandma and I went to Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanical Gardens, and it was incredible! They are HUGE - we spent about three hours there and didn't even cover half of it, and so beautiful. It doesn't even feel like you're in a city. They supposedly have nearly every species of plant in this place. My favorite was the Water Lily House - lily pads so big you could sit on them, and have a friend join you.

I'll send photos later...having trouble getting them to the right size.

I love you and miss you all, hope all is well back in the States!

Cheers,
Heather