46/365

Sick. Sick. Sick.

45/365

Aww... How sweet.

44/365

We went to a little pub for lunch this afternoon and came across this lone horse... David figured someone had ridden him to the pub to avoid drink driving.

43/365

David, some friends of his and I went to a comedy club tonight in Reading that turns into a dance club after the comedy. The comedy was pretty crap and since I'm not a dancer (unless I have Karre with me!) I spent a lot of the evening perched on a stool watching other people (David included!) dance. Here was my view for most of the evening...
I missed my friends a lot tonight. Watching everyone else with their friends being silly and having fun is tough when you dont have any friends :(

42/365

I posted my first ever letter in the UK today! You may or may not know that there is no mail collection from your house; you must take your letter to a red post box to send it on its way. There are post boxes randomly sprinkled all around - sometimes in logically places like outside this post office, and sometimes just on the side of a road. Maybe you will be the lucky person who recieves my first mailing! :)

41/365

Here is my desk and the computer I stared at for the majority of the day. You can tell I need some serious organization tools for this desk, and I can't wait to buy some pen holders and maybe little drawers or something! Woo. Nerd Alert.

40/365

This is on the ceiling of the bus I take to work... Tell me, how am I supposed to break the glass to get the hammer without the hammer?

39/365: Those aren't American!

The Chief Executive of my new company just returned from a trip to Washington D.C., and it is apparently expected that she brings back some treats from America to share with the office, but she forgot to do so and brought in this tin of chocolates readily available in the UK... The note reads: "Pretend that these are from America ". Ha. Nice try!

38/365: Mysteries on the Sidewalk

I kept seeing these on the ground while walking around my office today and picked one up and poked myself! They remind me of Bowser on the Super Mario game, but after I showed this picture to David, he informed me that this is a horse chestnut or a conker (or what is left of it after the squirrels ate the insides). Apparently kids play games with them which is described in the link above. Now I am on a mission to see if I can find a whole one!

What I Learned Today: Waking up early for work is rough.

37/365: County Show

We went to the Berkshire (which is pronounced BARK-sheer for some reason) Royal County Show today and saw some pigs and goats and David scared the crap out of himself while he fired this gun.

36/365: Prepositions!!

We went into Woking today and ended up in a shopping centre where I spotted this sign... Ugh. Seriously!? If you dont know what is wrong with this picture, I'm afraid we can't be friends any longer.
Oh and also, I had my first hair cut in my whole life by anyone other than Aunt Linda and after the intial trauma, ended up with a pretty good one, I think.

What I learned today: Hair cuts are expensive when your Aunt doesnt do them for free.

35/365: Baby Slug!

The title says it all... Baby Slug Alert!

34/365: Working Girl

I got a job today!! Here is my new office (i.e old house with two offices in it) in Farnborough. After a very long strange process, I am now the Membership Manager at the Anaphylaxis Campaign. Who knew such a place even existed?

33/365

You know you are in a great country when bus stops are named after pubs near them. Here is the William IV pub in Camberley which is near the bus stop (also named William IV) where I get off to go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I started volunteering there today to get some of this mysterious "UK Work Experience" which is apparently SO much different than any other work experience. We'll see...

32/365: Slugs!!

I love rain because rain brings slugs!

31/365: Good 'ol British Food

We cooked (if heating up is considered cooking) a good traditional British meal tonight - fish pie and baked beans. Yum yum.

30/365: Say It Isn't So

Katie Price sheets!?! Seriously!? What is this country coming to?

29/365: The Plinth and a Ring!

David, his friend and I went into London today because another friend of David's was on the plinth (in Trafalger Square for this artsy project: http://www.oneandother.co.uk/). He didnt do anything too crazy, but David was name checked twice which made him feel pretty special :)

Oh and also, lookie what I got!

28/365: Ho Ho Ho?

This family is either really lazy or really excited about Christmas already.

27/365: Covent Garden Has Talent

I went into London today to meet with yet another recruitment agency, go to a charity career and volunteer fair and to meet up with some girls from the ex-pat website to which I belong.
The recruiter was as helpful or unhelpful as the rest and didnt give me much hope that he would be the one to come through in the end, but we'll see. The charity fair turned out to be much more about charities looking for volunteers rather than employers, but I suppose that was to be expected. It was really nice to have some girly talk with some other ex-pats and to hear that I am not alone with some of the issues I've been having, so I hope we can do these things regularly.

While I was waiting to meet the girls, I went to Covent Garden (of course!) and came across a fabulous really funny street show. The host picked some poor guys off the street and had them compete in what he called "Covent Garden Has Talent" like the TV show Britain's (or America's) Got Talent. Here is a bit of what he did:

26/365: Roundabouts Are Evil

I hate them, I hate them, I hate them! After another driving lesson today, I am quite frustrated and complained to David. He did his best to explain some details to me with this wonderful drawing.

25/365: New Shoes "(...and I'm ready for the weekend)"

I went into Camberley today to buy some new shoes...no boots, no cute slip ons, but trainers/sneakers/tennis shoes. Ever since I arrived, I've been using the excuse "I dont have any shoes" so I dont have to go to the gym, but no longer! We went to the gym tonight and I reaquainted myself with the epliptical and remembered that I really don't hate it as much as I tell myself I do.
In typical British fashion, when we were driving home from the gym, David saw that the pub was "quite lively" and suggested we go for a pint. I was pretty proud of myself for deciding it was a bad idea to drink the calories we just burned off, so we drove by gazing longingly...

24/365: Cheese!

What I learned today: This is "cheddar cheese" in England.

23/365: A Sunday in Brighton

To make up for yesterday's laziness, I was dragged out of bed at 7:30 this morning and we were in Brighton by 9:30, having breakfast at one of my favourite places, Giraffe. Yum yum.

Brighton Pier (above) is full of arcades, games, fish and chips, ice cream, tarot card readers, a few of these put-your-face-in-a-silly-cartoon-things...

... and the home of Pier Idol (yes, like American Idol). Before the "idol hopefulls" performed, it was open mic karaoke and this happened:
I apologize that I didn't get the chorus, because I am sure you can imagine how fabulous that was, but check out her shirt! "I love 10 pints and a curry". Oh dear...

Oh and in case you were wondering, some girl named Sandra (from Tenerife who spoke with an American accent) won Pier Idol 2009. Good for her!

What I learned today: One can never get bored people watching in Brighton

23/365

We had a very lazy day today that made us both feel a little guilty... well, it made David feel guilty, not me so much :) So we finally got off this couch around 9pm and went for a curry (I dont have any idea why people say "a" curry instead of "some" curry, but everyone does, so who am I to rock the boat?) before returning to the couch and falling asleep. I'll try to do something more exciting soon to make up for these boring posts lately!

22/365

Whoops no photo today. But I am glad to report that the British Gas guy came back and sucessfully fixed the boiler, so I had a wonderful long hot shower before we went off to the pub tonight. The neighbor's dog, Molly, came with us and ran around the pub and I loved that no one cared! The landlord (pub owner guy) even gave her biscut and I gave her a drink of a water on the bar. We'll see what Mirra thinks about the pub next month!

21/365: Something For Everyone

There are many tea and coffee shops in Camberley, but take a look at this one closely...see on the right - its "for the over 50s"! Who knew there was such a thing?? I looked up Age Concern since they seem to run the shop and its actually a charity for elderly people and this is just one of the programs they run. It's perfect considering that the Starbucks in Camberley is filled with annoying teenagers. I wonder if the over 50s would allow me to stop in for a coffee if I am on my best behaviour?

20/365: Camberley Wildlife

Today was the first day it really rained for a long period of time. Of course it happened to begin while I was walking to the bus to go into Camberley and I got soaked, but I came across a snail on my way back. I love snails and now am terrified to step on one! (and yes, I stopped in the rain to take a picture of the sidewalk... what a nerd.)

What I learned today: Hooded rain jackets are much better than umbrellas.

19/365: Home Sweet Home

While on my way back home from an interview today, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of David's (er...our) house. So, here is the street - ours is the one with the green door in the middle.