Congratulations to Mom!

I'd like to give a huge shout-out to my Mom, for two reasons:

1. It's her birthday!!! (although you already have June 28th in your calendar, of course)

2. She's just finished a super-intense course over the past year and a half to become the greatest Physical Therapy Assistant that the world has ever known!

I completely enjoyed the role-reversal of the past year of calling every week and keeping tabs on school. It could have been the 104 she just got on her quiz, how she's super stressed out about exams, or a detailed description of all the ligaments in the forearm. It all paid off in the end though; she's graduating #1 in her class and I couldn't be more proud.

Soon it'll be back to the "workin' world" for her (because she obviously hasn't been "working" over the last year and a half). But for today at least, it's time for a well-deserved celebration.

Things I miss about America, Part IV: Air-conditioning in the Metro/Tube

Air-conditioning, something I truly loved about D.C’s metro system without even realizing it. Because, what underground system in the modern world would not have air-con?? Well, London’s, as it turns out.

For those of you who know London, you know that it actually doesn’t get very hot in this city. We’re much farther north than I had ever realized. I actually looked it up the other day because, all of a sudden, it started staying light out until 10:30 pm and becoming light again at 4:30 am. Strange, I thought, until I referred to a map.

As it turns out, London is more inline with Northern Canada than it is with New York, as I had mistakenly thought. Anyways, I digress. Since it’s not incredibly warm in the summers in this city, I guess the London Transport Authority never really saw the need to air-condition or even ventilate its underground system in any way. The problem with this? When you get thousands of people in a little hole under ground, it gets pretty darn hot. In addition, when you then cram those thousands of people all onto the same train, it becomes even hotter.

For those of you who really know me, you’ll know this is an extreme problem due to my tendency to faint on the Metro when it gets too crowded/hot. It has happened to me an embarrassing number of times in my life. I’ve gotten into the habit of lying to people and saying I’m pregnant, because, lets face it, a pregnant woman fainting on the metro is much less weird than some random girl fainting on the metro. The temperature on an average London Tube train makes my already hellish commute even worse.

The good news, the Mayor of London (who I have hated up until this announcement) recently said that London would start introducing air-con into the trains by 2010. Unfortunately, not on any of the lines that I regularly ride, but hey, it’s a start. Until then, I’ll take advantage of the free bottled water they’ve started handing out in the Tube on really hot days and keep trying to strategically place myself near the much coveted 2 ventilation holes on the train.

New Link ------->

We're like blogging machines. Too bad most of them lack substance.

Anyways, as the loyal blog readers (Kim, Patrick, um... that's about it) may have noticed, i've added a new link to the side here. This is the blog for my friend Sarah (from my time in Kenya as well as my job in DC) who has just moved to Peru with her Boyfriend, Mark. They're not sure how long they'll be there, but i'm sure they'll have many adventures nontheless.

Love you guys!!

All Work and No Play

... well, actually I do get to play.

I'm starting to get more involved in international projects at work, which is terribly exciting.

My last few projects have been local to London (as per my wishes to be close to the city while I was getting settled in and Laura was adjusting).

Now things are starting to ramp up across the continent. I'm leaving tomorrow for a few days in Zurich. Then I come back for a short weekend and off again Sunday for a week in Paris. (Hopefully that will let me brush up on my French before getting ready for le Tour de France next month with Jacob.)

Even more exciting is that Laura and her family (visiting next week) are coming down for that weekend to Paris before they go off on a holiday in Italy.

Not sure where the rest of the summer/fall is going to take me (c'mon Spain!), but I'm very excited about it all.

Striving for that Husband of the Year award...

Because bobby's super cute,  he had a local baker recreate the top tier of our wedding cake for our anniversary.  Thought it was too sweet not to share....

Happy Anniversary!

Today, June 9th, Bobby and I celebrate our 2 year wedding anniversary! This is especially significant since we didn't get to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary together (I was in Uganda, Bobby was in London). We plan on checking out an American restaurant in Soho that's supposed to have some amazing pulled pork - this is, infact, my favorite food in the world, so this date is more romantic than it may seem.

On a more serious note, in a year that's been very difficult for me in pretty much every way possible (physically, emotionally, philosophically) Bobby has been, as he always is, my rock and i'm not sure how I could have made it through it all without him. We look forward to many more years together and many more adventures to come.

Things I Miss About America, Part III: Open Space

Don't get me wrong, England as a whole has plenty of open space, but London is by far the most crowded city I’ve ever seen. I didn’t realize how much I missed open space until Bobby and I went to Oxford last weekend with a few friends from London and, instead of commenting on all the beautiful old buildings, we just kept talking about how much SPACE there was everywhere. We went into a Starbucks that had two stories and I almost had to sit down I was so blown away at how big it was. In reality, it was probably just a normal sized Starbucks, but I’m so used to all the tiny shops in London, that even normal sized rooms impress me.

There are just people EVERYWHERE in this city. When I first got here and didn’t have a job, I only rode the tube at non-rush-hour times and therefore thought it was the best public transportation system in the world. The train would come ever 2-3 minutes and I could almost always get a seat. My first day of work, I went down to the tube platform at 8:30 and there were, literally, 200 other people on that platform. I had to wait for 12 trains to come and go before I could get on one. This, as it turns out, is a pretty normal day on the London underground system. If I get on and don’t have to cram in like a sardine and push myself up against the wall, I think that it’s a great day. If I get a SEAT, well, I’ve never gotten a seat during rush-hour so I don’t even know what that feels like. It’s not that there’s a lack of trains. One train comes every one minute, there are just that many PEOPLE.

As some of you know, London is a very Green city in the sense that it has lots of parks. But, when I got to Green Park, right across the street form my building, at lunch, I almost have to fight to get a spot on the grass. I just can’t get away from people in this city.

This “can’t get away from people” feeling continues at home where bobby and I share a very tiny flat. In truth, the size of the flat wouldn’t be that bad, it’s just the fact that we only have one piece of furniture on which you can sit in our apartment- a love seat. This means that any time bobby and I are both sitting down, we’re sitting directly next to each other. Now, I love bobby, but I would really love to be in the same room as him and not be sitting on the same piece of furniture. That would be great.

I was talking to my friend Nishant at lunch the other day and came to the odd realization that I miss Yorktown Virginia. I miss driving 15 minutes to the grocery store, I miss walking around and not seeing another person, I miss the quite. While I really love living in London right now, I don’t think I could ever live in a city forever. I really do need my space.