January

I'm trying to make up for my lack of writing this past month by writing twice in one week - I hope I still have some readers left! January started off pretty tame since my flatmate Dasha was out of town in the States on a little Christmas time holiday to see friends. The first week back was full of MJ, yoga, and getting over jet lag. Also getting back in the swing of things at work. I think it wasn't until Thursday that I could legitimately say that I cared about work again. But good thing b/c it got really busy the next week. I started my first UK audit at this time, and went to Sheffield last week and the week before for the bulk of the fieldwork. Sheffield is a city about two hours north of London by train, and everyone was telling me how awful it was, saying that it was ugly and rather economically depressed. I guess it used to be a big steel town in years past, and it just doesn't have much to offer now. So I wasn't looking forward to a stellar time while away from home, but then I guess that's pretty on par with the away jobs from Kansas City to Small Town USA. When we got to Sheffield though I was pleasantly surprised! First of all since it was a bigger city we got to stay in a nice hotel, instead of, you know, Best Western or Country Inn and Suites. We stayed in a cute little boutique hotel within five minutes walk of the client, both being in the city centre (I guess Britain's word for downtown). The city centre was actually really lovely - I was told that they had just remodeled everything in 2005 or so, so there were pretty fountains and nice shops and restaurants everywhere. The people who told me that it wasn't nice must have been talking about outside the city centre. Or maybe I just have low expectations... Anyway, the audit is going well, just pretty busy. UK audits and US audits don't seem to be that different actually, I guess it's all GT in the end right? They just put extra Us in words and esses where zees should be...


My weekends in January were pretty packed as well - Dasha, MJ, Andrea, and Dasha's friend Natalia all went to this fantastic house party a few weekends ago. There were loads of people there but it kind of felt like we brought the party - we had two giant bags of beer, an Ipod loaded with a killer 80s playlist, and a good chunk of the party. The flat was a multi-level place with the kitchen on the lower level, and part of the party was there while the rest was on the ground floor. We ended up staying in the kitchen all night and when we finally ventured upstairs there was no one left, even though our half was still going strong! Not surprising though, I mean Dasha and I did rock out to Africa by Toto at least four times - who wouldn't want to stick around for that?? We've been on this 80s music kick lately - seems like every Friday night we end up coming back to the flat, turning 80s music up loud, and having dance party central in our living room. So lame but so damn fun. Last weekend Dasha disappeared into her room when we got home and emerged wearing lycra head to toe, with legwarmers and a sweet headband! So awesome.


The weekend before the house party I went with MJ to his friends' birthday dinner at a hibachi Japanese restaurant and it was very entertaining, as those places usually are. Another slightly big step for me, but I can't seem to help it anymore, I'm falling for this MJ guy pretty hard. He's one of the sweetest men I've ever met and one of those people who you can just tell has a truly good heart. And he seems to really like me which is an extra bonus...he's very attentive to me and dotes on me. What more could a girl want? Well this cynical girl, at least. He asked what I wanted to do for Valentine's Day and all I said was, "Can we please just not celebrate it?" He looked a bit taken aback so I had to explain that I do like romance, just not the kind that's contrived b/c Hallmark says so. He still seemed a little disappointed - such a romantic, I love it! We had actually planned to go away this weekend to the Cotswolds (an area of London known for its quaintness - think 200 year old cottages with thatched roofs and antique shops on every corner), but snow stopped us from going. So he has now convinced me to go to dinner on Wednesday for dinner "just b/c it's Wednesday" - not a V Day dinner. Likely story. Oh well, I guess if he wants to take me to dinner I won't object...twist my arm. So far any time with him is good time.


Except one bit - which wasn't even his fault. Do you remember when I wrote about meeting some of his friends for the first time and there was one guy that had just returned from living in the States who wouldn't stop giving me crap for being American? Last weekend we went to a party hosted in his flat, and MJ and I arrived a bit later than most people but jumped right in chatting and playing random drinking games that I'd never heard of but were fun all the same. About an hour into said party, Ben (this is America-hating friend) announces that it is time for boat racing, and begins to fill a pan with water. He and another girl at the party demonstrate how this "game" is played and lay on their bellies at either end of the pan and try to blow a match from their end to the other first. I think this whole thing is pretty odd, but dismiss it b/c many things in this country are odd to me. The demonstration ends and new volunteers are sought. I am somehow volunteered (actually come to think of it it was Ben's gf who volunteered me - even de-nominating her friend and suggesting me in her place. Perhaps she's not too keen on Americans either), and not one to be a party pooper, I accept. My opponent is some guy I've never met before - as are the rest of the people at the party except Ben and his gf. So the 'boat race' begins, and just before the race ends, Ben slams his hand down into the pan and completely soaks both of us with water. I might as well have taken the pan of water and chucked it into my face - my hair was wet, the entire front of my shirt was soaked, mascara was running down my face. It quickly dawns on me that this was the entire point of this whole production. Let me clarify - I go to a party of mostly professional adults, and the highlight of the party is to play a mean trick on two unsuspecting people, one of whom is brand new to the group. I can't say that my reaction was much more mature than the incident to begin with - I simply got up and went into the bathroom to dry off, locking the door behind me. I was furious. I wanted nothing more than to leave and never see or speak to Ben again. But he is one of MJ's best friends so I tried to stick it out for him. It was pretty obvious how upset I was and Ben was apologizing the rest of the night, but I generally ignored him or was just a downright bitch to him. I'll admit I didn't handle it in the best fashion, but other girls will attest that sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. I mean really though, at least the worst thing we do to people in America is make them buy a round of drinks or, I don't know, a keg stand or something.


This Sunday it started snowing - giant, sticky flakes, and it continued all through the night. Monday morning we awoke to a winter wonderland! It was still snowing that morning and in the end we got about 12 inches. London never gets this much snow - they said the last time was 18 years ago, so the city is completely ill-equipped to handle the situation. The tube was down, no buses were running, and there was hardly a taxi to be found. Fortunately the head of London audit emailed that morning and told us to stay home unless we could guarantee our safe journey to and from the office, so I stayed at home. "Un"fortunately the internet receiver on my computer wasn't working so I couldn't connect to the VPN at work, so I could only do about 2 hours of work. The rest of the day I napped and watched some program about the Earth's magnetic core. At least I was kind of engaging my brain, right? Towards the end of the afternoon my flatmate Andrea and I went to Primrose Hill, a park about 10 minutes from us to go sledding on the giant hill there. When we got there I was blown away by how many people were there! Since snow isn't common in London hardly anyone had a proper sled, so everyone was using anything they could get their hands on. Andrea and I brought our air mattress which didn't end up working too well, there were several people with metal road signs (pretty sure that's illegal but it was brilliant), trash can lids, pieces of tarp, I even saw an ironing board! We ended up using a To Let (i.e. lease) sign that was laminated cardboard so it flew over the snow (which by the time we got there was a mixture of ice and mud). It was so much fun - I felt like I was 6 years old again! We also made snow angels and tromped around the park, looking at every one's snowmen and snow forts. Someone was even working on a proper igloo! Well, not blocks of ice, obviously, but the basic shape was there. Someone else had built a headless man sitting on a bench, so you could get behind it with your head on the neck and take a picture - so clever! There were people with proper skis and snowboards going down the hill, there was even a guy dressed in a penguin costume (wtf?)! It was such a good day and everyone was in such good spirits. Snow makes the cold worth it. They're calling for snow again tomorrow morning and Monday again so I'm crossing my fingers! This is also why MJ and I couldn't make it to the Cotswolds - they're still getting it there. Apparently they've run out of salt as well. Oopsie.


Ok well must sleep (stayed up entirely too late again writing this one - I just get so carried away!).


xoxo,
Heather