James and I had a few outings with friends here and there, went to a friend's birthday party who had hired a sommelier for the evening - it was good fun and nice to try all the different wines. While we were there I met one of James' friends from uni who is now a bankruptcy lawyer and was telling us a story about how he had to repossess a woman's Arabian horses but had to bring the police b/c she had threatened to kill herself if the horses were taken. We heard from him later that she did slit her wrists when they took the horses and they are now arresting her on contempt of court - soulless! But also quite entertaining.
We also had lunch at a Peruvian place with friends one Sunday - it was interesting and very tasty. Another weekend we spent a day in Greenwich - all-you-can-eat curry, milkshakes, and the Greenwich market as always. But it never gets old! I love the Greenwich market, but the best bit is seeing friends of course.
There was loads of snow in January in the UK, but we didn't get any snow days this time, at least not if you loved in central London. Everyone who lived outside and has to commute in had about a week's worth of snow days b/c the British can handle snow about as well as the Floridians - basically everything grinds to a halt if there's an inch of snow on the ground. But central London barely saw any - and thus I had to trudge into work everyday.
The other exciting thing that happened in January was that I got the official word that I could stay in London indefinitely! I had been working with the two firms for a few months on either giving me an extension of another year or transferring me over to a permanent contract, and in the end they let me choose, so I decided to go permanent. It makes life a little simpler for me, and also allows me a bit more freedom as I won't be tied to GT under a contract after September. It was a hard decision to make though, b/c I feel like I'm abandoning my friends and especially my family back home. I had a big sob-fest about it a few days after the official word came through. It's very weird - feeling very happy and very sad about the same thing at the same time. My boss was very kind though and got me a "staying" present when he saw that it was hard for me - a set of Legos! Yes, I love Legos even though I should have grown out of them 15 years ago. I also had a staying do - just a small get together of work friends at a bar close to the office. Usually people have leaving dos when they leave their jobs, but I decided it was appropriate to have little celebration for my staying! That was actually in February, when Denisse was here again from KC! She comes in early February every year now, which is an awesome thing to look forward to in the middle of the winter blues after Christmas. We had a good, if not short visit with her and it was awesome to hear all the gossip on all the friends back in KC. I really miss everyone so much. Honestly, when is someone going to invent a teleporter?
Well that's about it for January and a little of February, more on that month in the next entry!
Love to all, xoxo
Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment