Running in the City

So, I've started running to keep in shape. Grace is running too, but at a gym, which means she's not dealing with the below issues so much. So far I've managed it for about two weeks, although only 3 or 4 times a week. It's been challenging to find a good route. My home is carefully positioned to be about 12 minutes run away from anywhere good to run, like the river or the big parks. Since I only want to run for a half hour most days, this means I spend the majority of my time dodging the people and waiting at the intersections you invariably run into away from the parks and the river. I have to say though, those 24 minutes are usually pretty exciting and go by pretty quickly. You're darting around people, you're glancing for cars and making the split second decision to stop or keep going, etc. It's exciting. Plus I almost always get really lost, which adds to the excitement.

London is a complicated city with few roads that go straight for very long. Sometimes the road gently curves and by the time I get to the end I don't realize it, but I'm running east instead of south or something. In fact, in three or four runs I've actually run an extra five to ten minutes, just because I got so lost I couldn't find my way home in time.

Anyway, I've got a decent route now. It cuts down mostly back streets, where people traffic and lighted intersections are least common, and it goes mostly straight south, although you have to change roads a lot and cut through London School of Economics campus. This takes me to the river, where I can run for miles without stopping. Still, it takes around 10 minutes to get there, so its not ideal.

There are a fair number of runners in the city. You definitely notice them more when you're running, probably because we all congregate around the same places - the parks and river. A lot of runners have backpacks, which I bet means they're copying my original plan to run from work with my work clothes in a backpack. I've given up on the plan for now - maybe later, when I'm a little more confident about running without a backpack.

Other than working out, we're doing good here. Last weekend we went to the Tate Britain, an art museum of British artists. We really enjoyed it and vowed to try and do something fun like that every weekend. However, this weekend we've already floundered. Grace is working and I'm doing freelance work, working hard for the money. We really have to step it up! Later this week though we're going bowling with some of Grace's class. And tomorrow we might be going skating at Somerset house with my work, although it may have fallen through. We'll see...

Working In Europe vs. America

So, I have a little over a year now before my current UK visa expires (it's based on Grace being a student and me being married to her). For awhile now the rough plan has been to stay in the UK, as my employer would probably get me a work visa (they've done it in the past for other employees at my level). Grace thought she could get some good work experience while here and I could as well - plus I thought I might take a part-time master's degree course.

Trouble is, they're ramping up the requirements for a work visa now and things are starting to look not as promising. This guy in my office asked me why I would even want to work in the UK and not the USA, where I wouldn't have to jump through all these work permit hoops and I could be in my home country.

I thought about it and mostly it comes down to wanderlust in me. I don't actually want to just take a gap year and travel exclusively for a year, but I definitely want to live in new and interesting places. I still am really curious about the wider world and the idea of returning to America at this point seems like a big let-down to me. My favorite store in London is Stanford's the three story travel store. And I asked for (and got - thanks!) "The Travel Book" for Christmas, a book where each page is a different country and it's full of big pictures. I really like looking through all those pictures.

So, in satisfying my desire for a little adventure, London has several advantages. First, it is a little adventure, being a foreign country. Second, it's so much closer to other countries, so much easier to visit Europe, Asia, and Africa from this base point. Third, it's normal to get plenty of vacation from work to permit heavy traveling (I get five weeks off this year). Finally, traveling to very unusual places is extremely common here. In my office, normal people took their Christmas vacation to visit Singapore, Namibia, South Africa (and probably more). In America, it's not so normal to do that. You would be "the traveler guy." Here you can be you, and also do a lot of traveling. Of course, with no money, I'm not doing a lot of traveling - still, I feel like I fit right in over here in that regard.

That said, I definitely plan to move back to America. Just not yet. I consider myself an American, and I consider America, and Iowa City, my real home. But they can't be your home if you don't intend to move back there someday.

Anyway, that's why I hoped to stay in Europe for a few more years. If I don't get that work visa, we'll see what happens. I've also applied for Grad schools in the UK and I might stick around here to get my masters.

Tips for living in a tiny flat

Get (relatively) sound-proof headphones.
And a sleeping mask.
Now one of you is rocking out while the other sleeps.

England Richer Than America

According to Oxford Economics in 2008, for the first time in a century, UK living standards will be higher than US living standards. Technically, they calculate that UK GDP per capita will be £23,500 while US GDP per capita will be £23,250, which is £250 less. However, its not all bad news. As all of you who listen to me complain a lot may already know, it takes $2 to buy £1, but generally speaking things do not cost twice as many dollars in the US as they do pounds in the UK. So, even though we have less money head to head in the USA, we can buy more stuff with it because US stuff is relatively cheap. Whew!

In other news, I've finally discovered the secret to walking through London crowds without getting stuck all the time. I used to always have to stop and do that little dance with strangers where neither one of us knows which way to go. First we both try going right, then both left, then right again, then finally I stop and he goes. Since I had a half hour walk to an from work everyday during rush hour, this was a lot of dancing. But not anymore!

The trick is, don't look at people! Just look straight past them, over their shoulder. If they don't think you are worried about bumping into them, they'll just slightly adjust their path to go around you, and you'll do the same. It really works! I swear I'm cutting ten minutes off my commute.

Lessons Learned

Whew. Back. Whew.

We've decided, for our own benefit as well as yours, to write out the lessons we've learned from all our air travel:

1) Pack a change of clothes in your carry-on luggage.

My mom actually warned Grace and I to do this, since we were in danger of getting stranded overnight. We ignored the advice and got stranded overnight, so I ended up wearing the same clothes for three days straight. You see, we were supposed to fly from Cedar Rapids to Detroit around 6 o'clock on the first, from Detroit to London over the night, and arrive in London on the 2nd in the morning. Before we even drove up to Cedar Rapids, we discovered our flight to Detroit was so delayed, we would have missed our connection that night to London. So my mom called ahead and we were rebooked. The new schedule was fly from Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis around 7, then catch the night flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, arriving in Amsterdam around noon (local time). We would then catch a flight on British Airways from Amsterdam to London Heathrow, finally arriving late in the afternoon on the second. I was supposed to be at work on the third.

Well, we got to Cedar Rapids and boarded with no major trouble (except Grace was "randomly" selected for searching, which seems to happen to her a lot). Then we sat on the plane for about two hours. Long enough to miss the night flight from Minneapolis. Sweet.

You see, they had to de-ice the plane, but most people were on holiday, so it took so long to get the truck out to us that the plane no longer had enough gas to get to Minneapolis. Then we had to go back and refuel, and that took forever. The pilot apologized for the mess and bought everyone on board drinks. But, with alcohol free, it disappeared pretty quick and, by the time the drink cart got to us they only had tomato juice, vodka, apple juice and soda available.

Anyway, we flew into Minneapolis and learned another trick.

2) When you need a voucher or a flight rescheduled go to the desk with no line.

Everyone seemed to assume they had to wait in line at the gate we exited from. Not true. We got a free hotel for the night and were rescheduled for the exact same 9:30 pm plane the next day. So we had the whole day to spend in Minneapolis and I would have to miss a day of work. Fortunately there was the mall of America and my relatives, with home cooking and a pool table, so, all things considered it was a pretty great detour. Except for having to wear the same clothes. Also, we found we were a lot better at pool with bright lights, no alcohol and good equipment.

We also got $21 worth of meal vouchers each, good at the hotel and airport, which we used even though we had been fully fed by my aunt and uncle.

That night we went back to the airport and made our flight with no trouble (well, Grace was "randomly" selected for searching again. She asked the guards if it was because she had a foreign passport and they basically hinted that, yes, that was the reason). We both slept most of the flight, treated ourselves to some complementary wine.

Upon arrival in Amsterdam we hit a snag.

3) Always pack things you absolutely cannot do without upon arrival in your carry on luggage.

In Amsterdam they told us they couldn't find our luggage to load on the plane. I guess its not surprising it went missing between being re-routed twice between different airlines. Anyway, the sum of Grace's work for her papers, due Monday, were in those bags. We made it to the UK and, surprisingly, found my bag waiting, but not Grace's. We filed a report, pretty exhausted and having worn the same clothes for two and a half days. It was Thursday afternoon, but the bag Grace needed didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon. Anyway, she's requested an extension on the paper, having lost three full days of potential work (since we thought we would arrive on the morning of the 2nd and she didn't get her stuff till the afternoon of the 5th).

Those were the lessons learned on this flight. We have some other ones though.

4) If you pack liquids, like shampoo, in your checked luggage, put it in a bag, or, better yet, two.

It took bottles blowing up twice for me to learn this lesson well.

5) Write down the phone numbers of people you are supposed to meet, as well as the numbers of people in cities you may be stranded in.

We still haven't learned this lesson.

6) Double check the times of your departure.

We almost missed the train to Paris once, and did miss it another time because of a failure to learn this lesson.

Anyway, we're back in the big smoke. I only had to work Friday this week because of the delays, and I was surprised how easy it was to get up for work. I guess I really do like my job. Grace did not have such a good day. She didn't have any of her things yet and the lack of a sun, especially after the bright skies and snow of Iowa, was pretty depressing.

Speaking of Iowa, it was a really great vacation. We were really busy, but there was thick snow almost the second day we arrived and we hadn't seen the stuff for years. It was also great to see all the family and friends. I stocked up on a year's supply of music thanks to Andy (whose blog is linked to ours).

I love this European system of five weeks per year of holiday. I was gone for two weeks and haven't even used half my vacation!

Aaaaaaand...

We're back in London.

Aaaaaand now...

We're home!

One more week!

We are coming home in less than one week!

...That was the Worst Christmas Ever!

No, we're really looking forward to coming home. It's just that London Christmas is... a little weird now that we're here all the time.

First there's the blatant manufacturing of Christmas by corporate entities.

At our local grocery store for instance they've hired choirs to serenade us. Actual singing people dressed in black and holding sheets of music. Charming I guess. But a little awkward when its real people singing right as you walk by them with your cart, and not just an overhead recording.

The worst was last weekend when Grace and I went out and about. It hasn't snowed in London for close to a decade, or so I hear. Not on Oxford street, though.

If you look carefully you can see a little guy on the roof carefully manufacturing Christmas cheer by blowing fake snow out onto the street. Is this what we can expect in the future, if global warming takes off?

Finally, take a look at this sad sight.



There's been no snow for a decade and certainly not enough for sledding down the one or two big grassy hills in central London. So, what have they done? They've built a hill out of wood and covered it in a slick tarp. Have fun kids. Just £1 or £2 pounds for a chance to go sledding during Christmas time!

The big fake sledding hill is part of Hyde Park's "Winter Wonderland." It's got a big ferris wheel, a ride based on "The Snowman" and lots of little stalls selling Christmas stuff. But something looks out of place...



It's a haunted house.
For Christmas.

And that's Santa hanging from the rafters.

That was the worst Christmas ever.

Workin' Nine to Five, Thinkin' 'bout Zimbabwe

Normally, I figure people won't be interested in what I'm working on, because economics is maybe not a general interest topic. I don't even talk about it - well, TOO much, - with Grace. But she gave me the go-ahead to write about this one, because she thought it was funny and demonstrated the sort of thing I'm doing over here. Even so, I should warn you it's a LOT of economics below.

So, on Thursday I was asked to write an article about Zimbabwe's new growth forecasts. For those of you who don't keep up to date with the latest developments in southern Africa, Zimbabwe is, well a mess, even by the standards of Africa (none of this is supposed to be funny, by the way). It used to be one of the richest countries in the continent, but things began to go downhill in the mid nineties. Normally it's a bad sign when an economy grows by 1 or 2 percent a year. That hardly keeps up with population growth. But Zimbabwe's economy started not just to grow slower than its population, but actually shrink. To be honest, I don't know for sure what happened, but when I've got some spare time at work I'll take a look at it. Anyway, the shrinking economy was a huge deal and people started rioting. So, to placate people the President, Robert Mugabe, seized the farms and redistributed them to the poor. Because Zimbabwe used to be a British colony, former colonialists owned all the farms - they basically stole them, so most of the population didn't think it was a big deal to steal them back.

The idea was, the poor would have farm land and be able to put food on their table. Then they would stop rioting. That was the idea, but it didn't work out. The ancestors of those colonialists may have stolen the land, but they knew how to run big commercial farms. The poor didn't and so food output from the farms dropped fast. Also, when President Mugabe seized the farms investors got very afraid that they would be next, so most cut their losses and left the country. So the economy shrank even faster. Things haven't really improved since. Every year the economy shrinks (it's about 70% the size it was in 1998) but the government still needed money to fund things (especially the wages of the military - you don't want an unhappy military in a region of the world where coups are frequent). Anyway, the government started printing money to pay its bills. Then inflation went crazy, since money was flooding into the economy but there wasn't any more stuff to buy.

Inflation in most developed countries is about 3% per year, but it was around 1,000% this spring in Zimbabwe. To fight inflation, President Mugabe declared inflation illegal - that is, he vowed to arrest anyone who was caught raising prices. Seems like a good idea, but again, no.

Since shop owners weren't allowed to raise prices, they just stopped selling stuff. The whole reason they had been raising prices was because the price of stuff from the wholesalers was going up. It didn't make sense to sell at a loss, so they just closed up shop. Anyway, there was no more official inflation, but the blackmarket was now open for business and the inflation there was shooting up.

Eventually they realized they had to give up this strategy because it just pushed everyone into the black market where the government can gather no taxes. When they gave it up, inflation jumped to 8,000%. It's actually probably a lot higher because statisticians can't find things to buy at any price, so they can't really calculate the inflation.

Anyway, I learned most of that Friday morning during my research for the article I had to write by 1 o'clock (when it would get sent out to subscribers via email). The government has now released a new budget and I had to write on it. (This part might be considered funny now).

The Zimbabwe government is forecasting inflation will drop to 2,000% next year and the economy will finally start to grow (by 4%). I had to evaluate these claims.

I started to read their announcement and my brain literally started to hurt. I'm serious. It was just incoherant waffle. They were inventing their own rules of economics to play by. Their game plan is to get people back in the fields and the factories and working so the shortages stop. Then the inflation will just... go away on its own. The authorities were predicting "the mother of all harvests next year." Despite that fact that they also announced, in the same speech, that imports of food would double next year. Despite the fact that the UN says 1/3 the population (4 million people) would need food aid next year.

And why could we expect "the mother of all harvests?" Because they had been pouring money into farming! The same money that loses almost all it's value within a few months! Great!

Also, they were going to cut taxes to ease the burden on poor - because people are really suffering from, you know, the hyper-inflation. All their savings, all their wages are worthless, and on top of everything they're being taxed! Even though the hyper-inflation is caused by the government printing money to finance its spending and, with less taxes and the same amount of spending, they'll have to print more money. But hey, the inflation will take care of itself when production goes up from the farms (or not) and the factories (they didn't even bother to give a reason why we could expect that). My brain really was hurting now. How could they think any of this was a good idea?

When you have hyper-inflation (like they do) you have to stop it. It's a really cruel phenomenon because it hurts savers most of all. I read an article where a reporter said the price of one banana now costs 15 times what she paid for 4-bedroom house 7 years ago. So if you had saved enough money to buy something like that, well, tough, now it was worth a banana. Why bother working, your wage is worthless in a few months?

In hyper-inflation, money becomes worthless and you want to get rid of it as fast as you can. The economy basically reverts to a barter-system. People just try to survive, which is not a good situation for healthy growth. Everyone's just trying to get whatever stuff is left - it's not really worth it to produce anything.

In case you're curious, the way to stop a hyper-inflation is to cut government spending (so you stop printing money) and reform the bank so people trust it and so it can stand independent form the whims of the government. Usually people also make new money - it's just inefficient when a banana costs 1.5 million Zimbabwean dollars. No sign of that happening.

Anyway, that was Friday morning. I wrote an article about 400 words and made a graph, then it got emailed away. It's a really interesting job for me. Too bad it doesn't pay very well. But good experience.

Thanksgiving in London

So, we had another Thanksgiving in England this year. Last year's meal was a massive affair with a 30 pound Turkey and 20 guests in an apartment that could barely accommodate them. We cooked days in advance and rented furniture so we had enough seats for everyone. This time though, we live in this silly place where we're only allowed three guests at any one time. So we invited three over and cooked a giant meal for five people all day Saturday. Of the five people, only three were not vegetarians. As Turkeys are currently costing $80 at a minimum because of bird flu, Grace decided to go for an appropriately sized chicken instead.

Fortunately, we did not have to cook in our own kitchen. Our relatives, with whom we went to Arundel last week, have a much, much bigger place and, as they were out of the country, they let us take over the place. It was a good time and we ate dangerous amounts of food. Grace and our mate Gary collapsed and fell asleep when the meal was over.



After about an hour we were recovered enough to spend the rest of the night in pubs.

The next day I was really, really, excited to see Beowulf in 3D on the Imax screen. Since it's $40 for Grace and I to see a movie here we haven't been to any since we went to Knocked Up. It's not super easy for me - I love the silver screen, the popcorn and the coke - but we rent dvd's online for pretty cheap so I get by. Anyway, this movie was a special occasion. This one was on a gigantic screen and it was in 3D with action and monsters so... I was willing to drop a one-time $20 to see it.

Anyway, it was sold out! Some other time.

We're working through Thanksgiving leftovers now. Lots of pumpkin pie still.

Photos

The Spider Looms Over St. Paul's Cathedral
Originally uploaded by msclan.

We put up 10 photos! Happy Thanksgiving!

Mike has a new blog! Plus we took a trip!

My brother has a new blog. It's supposed to be our competition. We're like Apollo Creed and he's the young upstart Rocky Balboa. Can he go the distance with Apollo at the top of his game? Will they be best friends by Rocky III? Will our blog be killed by a Russian super-blog named Drago? Time will tell.

Mike's Adventures.

Here's what we've been up to:

Saturday morning. I'm lying in bed, sleeping in because I have to get up and go to work Monday through Friday. The phone rings!

Fortunately, when your bedroom is your kitchen is your living room is your study, things are never too far. It wasn't hard to get out of bed and go get the phone before we missed the call.

(On another note, it's also really easy to get up and make sure you locked the front door, since it's only a six foot journey.)

So, on the phone was our relatives, Mickey and Julia - they were renting a car and heading off to Arundel for the weekend. Did we fancy coming along? Yes we did. We vowed to be ready within the half hour and meet them at Euston Station where they were picking up their car. But we decided we would take the train home that night rather than pay for a hotel. Plus, Grace had a lot of work to do on Sunday.

Arundel is a picturesque town on a hill almost directly south of London. It's most famous thing is a giant castle which sits atop the hill and overshadows everything else. Mostly we were excited about driving through South-East England though. It's beautiful country, twisting two lane roads, manicured hills, little forests, charming villages.

So, we met my relatives and, after a little messing around with the car seat (did I mention they have a really cute baby?) we were off. I was navigator, which, along with my long legs, gave me the front passenger seat. It was about 80+ miles to Arundel, though we thought we would stop by a country estate called Petworth House. Half the trip was beautiful countryside, the open road and freedom to go where we chose (unlike going by train where you can read without getting motion sickness (well, Grace still gets motion sickness, even on trains) but you're hostage to schedules). The other half of the trip was sitting in traffic to escape London. Average speed in the city is reputed to be 11 miles per hour and, I wouldn't be surprised if we did go 11 miles (from the center to outskirts) in an hour.

Ah, but once out of London we had pretty clear sailing. I am really keen to get a car and do some driving myself when my brother comes over - I'm thinking Scotland! I asked about the rules and regulations and we're able to rent a car with our American licenses and our age. So we're good!

We hit a few snags - turns out Petworth house is closed this time of year. As is Arundel castle. Oops. We decided to just ignore these inconvenient facts and head to Petworth house as planned.

We were lucky. The house was closed but the newly renovated kitchens were open and so were the grounds. So we explored all this. The highlights, for me were threefold. First, they had this enormous spit and fireplace where you could probably slow roast while gently turning a whole cow (no pictures allowed). Second, one of the tour guides told me how people in olden days had fountains that spit water, even in the old days before there was modern plumbing. It turns out they just pumped water up to the top of a hill, with either a donkey or a river turning some big pumping wheel, and then they just let the water flow down the hill (in pipes), pick up speed, and then shoot out the mouths or whatever of the fountain's statues. That has always bothered me. The last thing, was there were all these deer hanging out on the ground. They were totally tame and didn't even mind the dogs running around which people brought to play.



Here they are relaxing in front of Petworth House.

After about two hours we hit the road again. We made it into Arundel and were awed by the castle and beautiful town but decided to push past the town and go out to the sea since the baby was finally sleeping. This was a bit of a snag too, since we got bogged down in construction traffic. Plus the seaside town, Littlehampton, was nothing to write home about. As I discussed with Mickey, "British Beach" seems like an oxymoron to me. He agreed. To us, beach means ocean, sand plus heat/sun. It's weird to have these little British towns that look like any other British town except they smell like salt water and there happens to be an ocean instead of a manicured little farm field on one side. It's certainly not warm there, not at this time of the year. But it was still nice to see and hear the ocean. And we saw some kids surfing in wetsuits.

On the way back to Arundel we started looking for the hotel, to drop the car off. It was dark by now, since it's winter and the sun sets at 4 pm (no joke). And the castle was definitely closed. But, we only surmised this all from the car, since the hotel was nowhere to be seen. Eventually I got out and asked for directions.

Turns out the Arundel Hilton should more accurately be called the "Ten Miles to Arundel Hilton." A little far to walk and find a nice pub. Plus, you would have to walk most of the way on the shoulder of the motorway (that means highway in American). Instead we went to a great nearby pub. It was a classic British pub, big, lots of thick wood and we ate pub grub.

After recharging here, Grace and I said goodbye and got dropped off at the railway station. While we didn't end up seeing much of Arundel outside the car it was great to explore the country outside of a train. Anyway, we took the train back.

A few minutes after the train left, Grace realized she left her keys at the pub. Ah well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Find a Home for your Old Calculator

Grace had a great idea last summer to collect old calculators for the school where we volunteered this summer. I know a lot of Iowa City high schools made people buy $100 calculators like the TI-89 and I bet universities did the same thing. If you no longer have any use for such a high-tech graphing machine, we'll take it and forward it on to India!

We're coming home to Iowa for Christmas, so if you're interested, get us your calculator by January 1st. We'll bring them with us back to the UK and then we'll hand them off to one of the main sponsors of Corbett School, who lives in London. He's going to visit the school later this year, and we can send them all with him.

Normally a package to India costs a fortune, and a package with valuables inside is likely to be a package with nothing inside by the time it arrives. By sending calculators with, you know, a human being we can pretty much guarantee they'll all get there. And for cheap.

The kids there don't have anything like the calculators at the moment. They could be integrated into the math classes and really expand the students' understanding of math. Especially all those graphing features. I know I figured a ton out just by using my calculator to graph random things.

So yeah, if you've got one lying around and collecting dust, send it this way.

Take a Tour

Hey everyone, we've made an 80 second video tour of London flat! You've got to see it to believe it, so, go ahead and see it.

Anyway, if this works out for everyone, maybe we can include other videos, where it makes sense anyway. Here's a picture of our view out the window, during the day. We're really lucky with our location and, even though it's small, its very neatly designed and I don't think either one of us really feels cramped. We've just gotten used to it.

One Month In...

I've officially been at my job one month now. I've even been paid once! I'm learning tons about Africa. When I hear a country's name, I know where it is, and what the deal is with it - not for all countries, but for a fair cross section. The main country I'm in charge of so far is Nigeria which sits on top the 8th largest oil reserves in the world. It's not the kind of place I can visit though - the state department has issued a travel warning about it and militants try to bully the country into giving them control of the oil by kidnapping foreigners. Too bad, because again, I feel sheepish about not having been to a country I write so much about. But, then again, sometimes I feel like I don't even understand America, so, maybe living in a place isn't the best way to understand it.

I have started to see where I could go. Senegal has had a stable democracy for a long time and doesn't have incidents against westerners. Burkina Faso too. And Rwanda has come a long long way since the genocide. These kinds of trips feel like the next step in the progression of places I've been. The new frontier. You have to deal with disease and poor infrastructure, but not with political instability and the threat of violence.

Speaking of political instability, my idea for a trip to Georgia won't be happening anytime soon because of, well, political instability.

Enough about the wider world! We're in London! Anyway, the sky is grey and turns black by the time I leave work at 5:30. We're well into our long dark winter now. But Christmas lights are starting to poke up. And we're going to celebrate Thanksgiving again this year, although with a much smaller circle of friends. We have all sorts of ridiculous regulations on the number of guests we're allowed at one time.

Also, I finally, after one month, had to use my umbrella. Ah, London! I can look forward to at least four months of cold, rain and darkness from here on out.

English Female Fashion in One Word: Tights.

Celebrity Sighting!

Walking down to Tesco's and who do I see? Queen Elizabeth II! Holy cow! There was a motorcade and I stopped to see what the fuss was. Then, the Queen and her husband Prince Philip, drove by in a car with remarkably clear, untinted windows. The Queen looked very happy, I'm pleased to tell you. Like in this photo. Later we read that she was coming back from St. Pancras rail station for the grand opening of the Eurostar's new train terminal - it's near where we live.

There's a joke that English people always say. They complain about how dumb Americans are because, whenever they meet one, the first question they get asked is, "So, have you met the Queen?" But no one has. Well, I have (not met per se, but sighted).

Also, Grace did NOT see the Queen. She thought stopping to look at a motorcade was dumb, so she didn't bother. Now she's paying dearly in Celebrity Sighting Cage Match MVG.

Here's the breakdown:


Queen Elizabeth: Three Points to Matt


Prince Philip: Two points to Matt for two seperate sighting. One point to Grace for one sighting.


President Bush: Three points to Grace plus two points for getting a picture with the then not quite so unpopular president.


Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (of India): One point to Matt plus half a point because Matt loves the Prime Minister for his great economic work on behalf of India.


Emma Thompson: One point to Grace plus half a point because Grace loves her work in Sense and Sensibility and Love, Actually.


Paul Giamatti: One point to Matt and Grace each. Minus one point from Grace for saying "That's Paul Giamatti!" loud enough so he heard. While he was on the subway. With his kids. And he just wanted to be left alone.


Al Roker: One point to Matt and Grace. Barely.


Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court: One point to Grace plus one point for either being Chief Justice or for having creepy eyes.


Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the Supreme Court: Two points to Grace for two sightings plus half a point because Grace really likes her.


Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg of the Supreme Court: One point to Grace (she's seen lots of supreme court justices. Too bad she's never talked with them! Ha!)


Presidential Candidate John Edwards: One point each to Matt and Grace plus one point to each because he was in Iowa City at the time.


Former Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez: No points to Matt because no one even knows who Gaddi even is (he's the one in the middle). Minus two points because Matt had his photo taken with him.


Question Mark Suit Guy Who Tells You How YOU Can Get Free Money From The Government!: Three points each to Matt and Grace for multiple GLORIOUS sightings plus 1,000 points each because he was wearing the question mark suit at the time.

So, the grand total at this point is:
Matt: 1011.5 points
Grace: 1019 points

Grace is the winner... for now.

Fire Alarm

There was a fake fire alarm at our apartment tonight! Yes, I'm a master's student, but yes, I still live in a dorm. The stupid thing was no one knew if it was a real alarm or not, but people took the opportunity of being forced outside to have a cigarette break and sniffing the air didn't really enlighten the situation. Plus, it's actual Guy Fawkes day so there are a lot of fireworks going off around town again and the whole air is faintly smokey. British people are obsessed with fireworks.

In other news, we are desperately missing The Office. There is no way for us to watch it from here. There is an NBC website that lets you stream full episodes but only if you're physically in the US--How does it know?

Matt has this great idea for while he's washing dishes. (We have renewed our deal that Matt does dishes if I do laundry, which works out really for me, and I'm not sure why he's still happy with it. He has to do dishes every day and I put laundry off until the last possible moment.) Anyway, Matt has this great idea. He opens the cupboard above the sink, pulls out all the dishes, sticks his laptop in there and loads up some Scrubs episodes on YouTube. The only problem is I complain the whole time that I want to see too.

I'm in the middle of writing two papers for two different classes which are 40% of each grade. I really want to do well on them. This whole week is a "reading week" where you don't have class, so I'm taking the whole week to write some really good essays. At least, I hope they're good.

I loooooooove pie.

Stanford's

Today we went for a walk down to Covent Garden. We do a lot of walks because they're incredibly free - you don't even have to pay for transportation! Anyway, I mainly wanted to go to Covent Garden because there is this store there called Stanford's. It's the most amazing travel book store you've ever seen. It's three stories of travel books, travel maps, travel writing, travel photo books, travel travel, blah blah blah travel. And the idea of travel continues to be really really appealing to me.

Every year I tend to get fascinated by some place or travel idea. Usually I don't end up making the trip because I lack the money and time. But still, it's something I think a lot about. I like to look through travel books, especially ones with big photos of the places I want to visit.

So, trips I have planned out in my head?

1) Ever since last fall I've wanted to go to Iceland really badly. I'm fascinated by this volcanic island popping up in the arctic seas. It has geothermal vents and geysers and massive ice sheets. And the terrain is like nothing else in Europe, since it's all volcanic uplift. Apparently when Nasa wanted to find a place to train the astronauts for life on the moon, they chose Iceland. Plus it only has a population of 300,000 - that's crazy! Anyway, my plan to visit this place is to buy tickets on IcelandAir on my way to America. On the way back, I'll have a massive, one week layover.

2) My brother is coming to visit this year (fingers crossed) and I've been thinking a lot about what kind of trip I want to take with him. I'm sick of cities! So, I think we should take a train up to Edinburgh and then rent a car and drive around Scotland for a week. I'm not even sure what we would do... visit castles, hike the highlands, go to pubs. The driving sounds like the best part to me. Maybe we could go up north and take a ferry to on of the northern islands.

3) This year I've started to become more and more fascinated by these Northern European Countries that are cold and extremely well run. I would like to see one of these places that has a 50% tax bracket, but where everyone is nonetheless really happy because they invest in all sorts of great stuff. Like bikes for all. What's that like? What is society like when it's so well run?

Those are the main trips I've planned out in my head. I think there's an excellent chance #2 will happen this year, a long shot that #1 will happen and a very long shot that #3 will happen. There's some other trips I've also thought about, but not as much. They're just ideas...

1) Japan - but I would want to go to visit someone I knew there
2) Africa - but where? I feel like I really need to visit the place I write about within a year or I will be a ... well, a jerk.
3) Georgia - I've heard good things about the central Asian nation (I'm not talking about the state. It's nice too.). They have a booming wine industry, a booming tea industry, mountains for hiking and skiing and beautiful country. I glanced through a book on Georgia at Stanford's and they made it sound like pretty advanced travel. So, Iceland first I figure.

Anyway, I could spend hours in that store. And I probably will, once I'm done with applications for Economics Grad school.

One more note - people always ask if I would rather live in Europe or the US. I definitely think of myself as American and the idea of never living in my home is not something I would take seriously. But I find I could spend a long time over here. My job has 5 weeks paid vacation per year! And that's entry level! Apparently 6 weeks is the average for the country. Plus, for someone who loves to think about traveling, I'm not as far from the places I would love to see. Most distances get 7 hours chopped off of them. And that means the cost of airfare is much cheaper too...

Guy Fawkes Celebration

Guy Fawkes is like the American Independence Day, sort of. At least, they have fireworks. Last night, Matt and I went to Alexandra Palace and Park which was going to have a big fireworks show, and it was really nice. There were some interesting ones. When we lived in Cambridge, we would always take the train past this huge building on a hill, that looked like a cross between a church, school, or palace, but it had a radio tower on the side, so we were really confused about it. Yesterday we found out, it's Alexandra Palace. It has a very weird history. It was first built as a "public palace" in the late 19th century, basically like a Victorian entertainment hall. It had a skating rink and shops and things like that. But 16 days after it opened to the public it burned down to the ground! Two years later, fully rebuilt, it re-opened and served its function for a while. Eventually BBC Radio bought it and began transmitting from it (hence the radio tower) and they stayed there doing all their radio and TV broadcasts until 1956. After 1956, there was another fire and half of the palace burnt down again. Finally it was rebuilt, an ice skating rink was put in and now it's an open place again with a big green park area which might be nice to walk through on a long walk. It's really nice because it's up on a huge hill, it's probably the highest point in or near London (why the BBC chose to broadcast from there) and you can see over most of the city below you and because it's Guy Fawkes weekend (and fireworks are legal in Britain) you can see people setting their own works off all over the city. We thought we could see all the way down to Battersea Park on the southbank, because they were supposed to have a big show too, and each little municipality likes to put its own show on. These all go on all night. We came home and sat in our flat and we could still hear echos of bangs. Obviously there were also a lot of ambulances rolling around.

Seriously?!??!?

Bad news people. I have just been informed by Matt (who is an economist after all) that the US dollar is now of lower value than... the Canadian dollar! How did this happen?! I never thought it would, but it has! We must now all prepare to bow to the almighty... Canadian... dollar.

Yes it's true. One of these:

now equals 0.94 of these:

And it's just a coin! Heartbreaker!

Halloween

It's Halloween! Ooooooh. There's not much in the way of Halloween festivity here, and I miss the states. It's sort of a half-hearted holiday, relegated to the level of Columbus Day or Martin Luther King's Birthday. Some people dress up, but mostly no. We went to a little party in the bar where we live and probably only half the people had costumes on (they were elaborate though - all or nothing). For those of you confused, I'm supposed to be Shaun of the Dead. Grace is clearly a witch.

In the past few weeks we've settled into a routine. I'm working 8:15 to 5:00, so I have to get up early. It's a half hour walk to work, which I like. Despite being in London, there's been no rain so far.

Someone said once that you should never be in a job where you can't explain what you do in one sentence. Here's my sentence: "I write about the economics of Africa."

Grace, on the other hand is working more, not less than before. She regularly stays late at the library now, especially in the past week or so because she's got papers due. The good news is that she likes what she's studying.

We don't have much (any) in the way of extra money to spend. The one indulgence we have is we've signed up for unlimited online movie rentals from Amazon.com - you can do that in the UK. It's like Netflix in the states. Grace is into Gray's Anatomy - well sort of. She has a love-hate relationship with the show I think. Or at least, Like-Hate. I, on the other hand, have been getting scary movies, for Halloween.

Grace cracked the display of her cool Slivr phone. She taped the glass in with clear tape, so now her phone reminds me of a nice car with a massively cracked windshield.

The good news, recently, is that I found out I get 2 weeks of vacation for the first 6 months of my job and then I get another 2.5 for the second six months! That means we really can take some trips, because I get a pay raise around then as well. Ha!

There was an NFL game in London last weekend. Giants vs. the Dolphins. Some people from my office went and they said the best part of the game was the final punt. A whistle went off and the ref threw a flag and walked out onto the middle of the field. Everyone was confused - where was the foul? The play hadn't even finished setting up.

Then the ref, in one swift motion, pulled all his clothes off. He was wearing a one piece rip away suit and the "ref" was actually a brilliant streaker. He was wearing a red, white and blue sock over his third leg, so maybe he wasn't really a streaker, technically. Anyway, he disrupted play.

The game's atmosphere was apparently amazing. The roaring was like a superbowl game, supposedly. Still, I'm skeptical it will work as more than a once a year novelty act.

I was talking to some guys at work about American sports. I'm the only American in the office, though there are some Canadians. Anyway, one guy had this funny analysis of why America loves football. He said it was the sport most like war. He had several reasons:
1) There's an aerial and land game/battle
2) The whole point of the game is to break the opponents line and pour through.
3) You make a battle/game plan before you act...
4) Often with maps
5) Different people play different roles similar to different war vehicles - tanks, humvees, armored cars, missle launchers
6) You wear helmets and armour

And, really, it is a lot like war compared to European games like Cricket, Rugby, Soccer and so on. It's also a lot more like war than Basketball or Baseball.

If that implies Americans love war, sorry. I don't think it necessarily does though.

Happy Halloween!

Busy week, Matt's first week on the job

It's been an extremely busy week. I have been in the library at nine every morning though! I find now that I'm studying something I'm really interested in, I can spend all day in the library and not be fatigued or tired of it or bored. I actually feel like there are things I want to be reading right now, even though it's a free day. I've decided that I'm going to spend my week working hard, as I've done most of this week and take the entire Saturday off. Matt and I have started a new routine of spending Saturdays doing fun (and free) things around London. Then we take a long walk on Sunday mornings (we try for three hours, fortunately there are always new places to walk) and then I study Sunday afternoon and do something relaxing Sunday night if I can spare the time then. I think this will start involving watching movies, because Matt is re-starting his Blockbuster subscription now that the postal strikes have ended.

Last night we took a walk down to the river, walked along the river on the south bank, under the London Eye and past the Dali museum and London Aquarium, crossed Westminster Bridge, walked by Big Ben, up through Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and then up through SoHo to Leicester Square where we took the tube home because I was pretty tired! After sitting all day in the library I have a lot of extra energy to burn off. Matt and I were having a big debate about why they light Big Ben at night with green lights. It's got a really creepy effect and I said I thought it was because it's in keeping with the creepy Gothic design of Westminster. But Matt didn't buy it.

This weekend is the Bloomsbury festival, which is the festival for the area of London where we live. Last night there was an amazing parade of people all with colored paper lanterns and swirling streamer things and they had these big neon pink flares which lit up the street. And they had guys with huge drums banging away and people with drums in shopping carts rolling along playing. It was pretty exciting. I think today there are all sorts of free shows and exhibitions at museums and markets. Tomorrow Julia and Evan are going to go with us to the Charles Dickens museum which, according to a book I was looking at in Waterstone's, is one of the 100 favorite places to see in Britain among Britons. Today we're going to look through the markets of the Bloomsbury Festival and then go down to Oxford Street and do some light shopping.

This was also Matt's first week in his new job. He's working for a company that analyses the economic situations in developing markets and reports daily to companies who subscribe to their service and who want to invest in developing markets. Matt's area is sub-Saharan Africa, which is very exciting for him, because he wants to learn more about that area. Also it's interesting because that is an area where investment opportunities are expanding rapidly and there is a lot of foreign investment going on. This is going to be a really good experience for him.

Anyway, off for a long walk today.

Jennie's Visit to London

Matt and I in front of the Seven Sisters cliffs.

For more pictures of Jennie's visit, go here.

Matt's cousin Jennie is studying in Seville, Spain this semester and she came over to visit us in London for the last four or five days. She got in around 2AM last Wednesday night! I felt bad for Matt and Jennie, but I was already asleep by the time she got here. We technically broke the rules a bit and have her signed in as our guest with our apartment complex, but she actually slept at Micky and Julia's since they have more space. We on the other hand don't have enough space to inflate our airbed.

The next morning, neither Matt nor I could show Jennie around because Matt was at work and I had classes most of the day until 5PM. So Julia showed Jennie around a bit with Evan.

That night we all ate spagetti at Julia's and when Matt came home from work, we examined the newspaper to see what theatre shows we might like to see and what was cheap. London is one of two towns (the other being New York) which is amazing for theatre. Basically you can see any of the major plays of the time in either place at any time. London has all the same shows as NYC, and it's highly likely they were originally done here. So we decided that The Lion King looked great. It was originally done in NY by Julie Taymor who is a very interesting movie director. Matt read a review of the original show afterward and they said that with the creative energy of Julie Taymor, and the deep pockets of Disney, the show was an unforgettable experience. And it really was pretty amazing. The costumes, movable sets, etc. were wonderful and innovative. Sometimes in theatre, it's just interesting to see how they resolve issues of representation. Example: how do you get the idea across of an ant hill? You dress someone in a cone and have a revolving line of articulated ants swirling around them. How do you convey romantic love blossoming between two young lions? Have pairs of ballet dancers suspended in the air above them, moving in flowing, sensuous tandem. The music was great, the singers were great. Here is the best part. When we walked up to the show, one of the ticket guys was standing outside trying to give away two free tickets. A large group had shown up and been without two of their members who couldn't come, so they asked the theatre to give the tickets away. So we took them! Matt bought the third ticket and even though we were all in separate seats for the first half, the second half we got three seats together which were fine. And the free tickets were 53-pound tickets! (That's over $100 per ticket for you Americans.) So they were really good seats and since it was a weekday show and it wasn't that busy, we got even closer for the second act. See the play of The Lion King actually reminds you how good the movie actually is too. Matt and I certainly YouTube-d some musical numbers afterwards.

The next day, Matt had to go to work again, but I didn't have any class. I had to go to the library in the morning. This inevitably turned into a prolonged affair of having to deal with cranky librarians (why are they always so cranky!?) and Jennie and I met up around noon to take a walk. We went to see the British Museum for a while, then took a long stroll around the center of London. Jennie liked walking around and seeing buildings and neighborhoods, and Matt and I really like it too. So we walked down Shaftsbury to Picadilly Circus, down to Trafalger Square, then back up through some more winding backstreets, through Soho to Oxford Street, which is a big shopping street. From there we headed back toward the British Museum and from there back home. It was a nice long three-hour walk, so we got close to Micky and Julia's habitual four-hour walking time. Jennie had already run that morning. That night Julia, Jennie and I had mad cravings for pizza. And not just any pizza, but AMERICAN pizza. Luckily I had seen a Pizza Hut off of Russell Square near our place the other night. We went there and ordered two large pizzas and took them home to eat. Matt got in from work and we all watched a BBC tv show that stars the guy from Bend It Like Beckham, called the Tudors about Henry VIII. It's an interesting show but you do end up hating the main character (Henry).

The next day was a Saturday and Matt didn't have work, so we decided to hit the road and see something other than London. We decided on going to Eastbourne which is on the southeast coast of England, because in the area are some famous sea cliffs made of chalk (yeah, it really is literally chalk) which have been continually eroding away for centuries. They are brilliant white and most of them are sheer drops into the crashing ocean below. We took the train to Eastbourne and a taxi out to the cliffs, which were fantastic. We saw people paragliding over the cliffs apparently there is a pocket of wind where you can just float above them and not fall. We walked all along the edge from a point called Beachy Head to a lighthouse (maybe one and half hour's walk) where we had our packed lunches. Then we carried on until we could see the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. Basically, what they are is a series of peaks in the line of the cliffs, because there are these seven hills and valleys that have been cut as though by a razor in cross-section by the erosion from the ocean. There was a little part just before them where you could walk along a stone beach, so we walked down to it and enjoyed the nice beach sounds and watched kayakers in the water. Then we had to walk through some fields and such to get to a main road where there was a bus straight back to the train station.

Back on the train, we got back to London at the end of a big rugby match so there were bad crowds on the Tube. We decided to leave the train station and walk to the next nearest Tube station and take it from there. On the way, Jennie decided to start her run and she went and ran in Hyde Park, which was close by and is a very famous, enormous park in central London. Matt and I went on home because we had arranged to make chicken curry with Micky and Julia that night. We set to work and whipped up a fantastic chicken curry and we all gobbled it down. (I had it with some really good Tesco-brand wheat bear.) Then we all watched Wimbledon, which was a pretty good movie about tennis and love. (Love means nothing in tennis.)

Sunday everyone went to church and Matt and I took a long walk to Hyde Park across Oxford Street. We sat down on a bench next to an older man at the edge of the lake in Hyde Park called the Serpentine. He started feeding the birds and it seemed like every bird in a mile radius swooped down and swarmed around us.

That afternoon I had to go to the library and work, so Matt took Jennie on the famous "Westminster Walk" which Julia taught us, so they saw St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, the royal horse guard, Number 10 Downing Street, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Then they went to Tate Britain, a museum housing some of the great British artists' work. Then they took a river ferry from Tate Britain to Tate Modern, the modern art component of the London Tate Museums. Tate Modern used to be an old enormous warehouse. Now about a quarter of it houses its permanent and temporary collections, and the rest is this huge empty space which if you think about it has huge potential for cool art. For the last year or so the big installation exhibit there were these long twisting 7-8 story slides. You could get in the line and have a slide down, and they were hugely popular. This year, the slides are gone and in their place is... a huge crack. Literally a crack in the concrete of the floor of the museum that you can walk all around and examine. Matt and Jennie said what was most interesting about that though was how interesting everyone else seemed to be in it. (Translation: they didn't think it was that cool. Ah well, modern art, hit and miss.) Also outside the museum back by popular demand was a giant metal spider about thirty feet tall. Across the river from Tate Modern, by taking the Millenium Bridge you can see the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. Then back home where I met up with them.

Jennie had to leave at 4:00AM the next morning so we said goodbye the night before and wished her well. We'll see her again at Christmas. Micky and Julia in the space of a four day visit talked about visiting Seville with Jennie, bought plane tickets and made a hotel reservation for two weeks from now! They got super cheap tickets so they and Evan can go for about $80!

Matt and I are pretty much London-bound for a while. But we're really enjoying it. There's always somewhere to walk, something to see, something to do. And it's really safe so we can enjoy the nights out past 10PM (unlike DC for example.)

What's an Economics Graduate to Do?

Unlike, say, "doctor," "nurse," or "teacher," it's not immediately apparent what an economist actually does. Especially a lowly economics graduate like myself. What kind of job do we actually do?

Well, I've taken a permanent position, so now I can sort of let you know. I don't start till Monday, and the first 6 months are a traineeship so I won't be really confident about what we economics graduates do for awhile longer, but I can give you a rough idea. I'm working as a "Country Risk Analyst."

As I understand it, the company I work for produces reports on matters of interest to companies. Specifically, we're working with "emerging markets" the PC word for developing countries. So, we make reports about these countries answering these kinds of questions - is the place stable? is the economy growing? is there danger of imminent socio-political collapse?

Obviously these kinds of questions might be of interest to someone who wants to do business in that country, as well as the average well-informed member of society. But we also answer questions that are more of concern to companies specifically - is the exchange rate going to get better or worse? what about the local stock market? the local loan market? The average citizen might care about his own stock market, but that's as far as his interest might go. And he only cares about the exchange rate when he's going on vacation, right?

So, I'm going to be a researcher/writer. I'm responsible for about 700 words per day, or so I hear. And my region is Sub-Saharan Africa. I'll learn how to predict things about the economy, like interest rates, exchange rates, unemployment rates, over a five year horizon and then I'll write about them. And then Joe Schmoe can decide if he thinks investment in the country is a good idea.

So, that's my job! And here are some related thoughts.

1) I want to do development work, and this isn't it. But, over the course of this job I will get to know sub-Saharan Africa really well (I might even get to travel there after my first 6 months). Most development jobs I've seen advertised will think that's just great.

2) I hope this doesn't disillusion y'all but I've come to think integration into the world economy (that's right - GLOBALIZATION!) is the one of the best ways for poor countries to escape poverty.* By providing good information companies can better plan for working in poor countries and are then more likely to do so when the opportunity arises. And then the poor countries benefit.

3) Alan Greenspan said in a recent interview that he's been in the business of forecasting for 50 years and in that time he doesn't think we've gotten any better at it. I'm also really skeptical about the accuracy of forecasts. But I think it will be a good, or at least instructive, experience. I plan to keep score and see how badly I do.

That's all for now! We've got my cousin coming to visit the day after tomorrow!

* = Why do I think Globalization works? Well, a lot of it has to do with a great book I read called, "Why Globalization Works." But also, being in India, I saw that everyone's life was suddenly getting much better as the country abandoned more of it's socialist policies. They stuck with socialism for 40+ years and barely advanced. In the past 10, things have really taken off. There's lots of other examples too, like China and South Korea. It obviously doesn't work all the time, or even that often. But over many decades, nothing else seems to keep the standard of living on the march except capitalism.

Oh my god

Oh my god, Matt and I were walking in Regent's Park and you will never guess who we saw! Emma Thompson walked by in jeans with a sweatshirt tied around her waist! For your reference, the below is Emma Thompson:




She has been in some of my favorite movies! Examples:

Sense and Sensibility, for which she won a Screenplay Oscar!

Love Actually (the cheated upon wife who loves Joni Mitchel and who handles the fact that her husband is cheating on her remarkably well)

She plays Trelawney in the Harry Potter movies.

She played Miss Kenton in Remains of the Day.

Meg in Howard's End.

Basically, she's a famous British actress who is really well-respected and well-known. And she was walking in the park! It's our first London celebrity sighting! Now if I ever see Gwyneth Porko walking around and I happen to be carrying a cream pie, she gets a cream pie in her fat face!

Mail Strikes and Quiz

First off, a quiz for the Americans reading this. Recently I looked at a map of Europe and I was like, "Hey! Where did THAT country come from?! Has that ALWAYS been there?!"

I don't think I'm the only one. To test this theory I downloaded a map of Europe and erased the country in question. Can you tell what's missing? No cheating! Put your guess on the comments and we'll see if I'm right or an idiot.



In other news we're fully moved into our tiny little flat. It's like the size of an American bedroom. But, as I explained to my brother, since the bed folds into the wall, and also the dining table, it's sort of like THREE rooms that all just happen to be occupying the same space. Grace and I bought some amenities and I'm pleased to say we have more than enough storage for all our stuff, which is actually pretty surprising. Grace even cooked in the little kitchen last night, so we know it's doable.

We went to see "Knocked Up" a few days ago and it cost 10 pounds per person to get in, with out student discount! That's $40 for the two of us to see a movie, not even counting drinks and stuff! On the plus side though, the movie theatre was cool - there was a golden curtain in front of the screen which pulled away when the movie started. Anyway, we decided we won't be going to many movies around here. There's another theatre that plays movies a few months after they come out and its much more reasonable.

Also, and this is amazing to me, its playing the Sound of Music next week and it's a special sing along show! They subtitle the lyrics to all the songs and the audience is supposed to dress up. I think it's awesome. Grace is less convinced.

Anyway, to save money on entertainment we signed up for Blockbuster's online rental service. We got our first two dvd's before the postal service went on strike. Now mail is going to backed up about a week and a half. Figures. At least its just our free two week trial. Still, if this continues I'm going to have to drop the plan. A mail order rental scheme just doesn't work when the mail keeps going on strike, as it's threatening to do.

We're going up to Cambridge today to see some old friends and pick up a few more things. Anyway, let me know if you think a country is missing from that map of Europe.

Loyd Grossman is disgusting

Why would anyone buy any of his products? I mean, his name has the word "Gross" right in it. Plus, who spells Lloyd with only one "L"?

This post isn't really about England at all. I just don't like Loyd Grossman's food products. Well, that's not true, I've never had any. I just don't like that weird picture.

Our new flat

Matt and I have moved into our new flat. It can be described in one word: tiny! It's called a "double studio" flat. To call anything of this size "double" is pretty generous by American standards. I suppose it's comparable to a dorm room you share with someone, except for it's only got one bed. And the bed folds up into the closet when not in use! That leaves us with some empty space. There's a dining table that pops up from the wall. And one wall is solidly covered with a long double desk and tons of cupboards and shelves. I don't think we're going to have any problems with storage, there are so many places to hide things. We realized that in such a small space, that's important because everything needs its proper place so it doesn't become chaotic. We're going to fully "dorm" the place out, with a hanging shoe caddy, laundry sorter, anything to save space and permit complete organization. We are thinking of buying a very very small couch from Ikea. It will fit fine with the bed up, but once the bed comes down, it will have to be pushed up against the kitchenette or in the hallway. We're on the top floor of the building, looking into a courtyard from a big window. It's west-facing so we'll hopefully get some good sunshine. We can see the trees from the park next door and some buildings in the distance. We can also see Micky and Julia's apartment from here, so we're really close. Matt and I have split up the cupboards and shelves (Matt gets the higher ones). Wednesday, we get a big shipment of all our stored items, including a huge load of kitchen impliments. Also our extra sheets, pillows and blankets. And some of our winter clothes. We're going to go see Knocked Up in theatres tonight because we missed it when it came to the states.

Self Defense

I got some weird advice from the University College London crime prevention office. They sent out an email with all sorts of tips on avoiding theft and such things. The UCL campus area is in central London so it still has some problems with regard to homelss people and drugs. So they had a weird tip about if you're approached and you know you're about to be or are getting mugged. I will quote, but the emphasis is my own:

If you can't get away and the situation looks like it's going to
turn violent try to shout ' Call the Police' or 'Fire'. This may
unsettle your potential attacker. YOU SHOULD ALSO TRY SOUNDING AS IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE PHYSICALLY SICK. MAKE IT LOUD - it's been proved
that people hate the sound, and possible result, of vomiting and will
avoid someone they think is about to be sick.

Strange advice, but next time you're being mugged, by all means, start making puking noises. Don't forget, MAKE IT LOUD!

In other news, orientation meetings are going well. I'm really going to enjoy this course. I am also loving London, espeically since we are going to live 10 minute's walk from UCL.

Aaaaaah!

Flat; check.
Job; check.

Well, a temporary job at least. If things go well, maybe long term.

So, Grace and I are in London. I arrived last Tuesday morning, so it's been just about a week for me (Grace just got in yesterday). My plan during that time was to get a jump on a flat and a job before Grace came in.

I got in bright and early, one of the first planes allowed in after the 6 o'clock curfew. On the plane I was watching this movie, "Away from Her" and they cut it off 20 minutes before the end so we could land. Hmmmph.

A super long line to get through passport control, but soon I was on the train back into central London. Normally Grace and I take the tube to get to Heathrow, but it takes over an hour, so I thought I would try the train to Paddington station. It was a mistake since I arrived at the station right around rush hour and it was a major pain to take the tube to my relative's flat. I ended up having to walk. So I got in about two or three hours after I left Heathrow.

I had a job interview that afternoon so I took a little nap to get the red out of my eyes. I don't know if I should talk much about my job on the blog, so I'll just say it's a very bad idea to go to a job interview with jet lag. After the interview I caught up with my relative and took a little walk around the area.

My relatives live in central London in a ginormous flat (by London standards). It's got two floors! It would easily cost $1300 a week to rent on the private market, but since it's subsidized University housing, the price is much, much lower. They have a cute little kid and he loves to run around in the big space. The area is really nice too and perfect for students. Grace's University is right around the corner, just a ten minute walk.

The proximity to class and the subsidized rent rate made these flats the best option for Grace and I, but also everyone else. They were all full, and so was the rest of University housing. I would have to find us a place from somewhere else. Fortunately for me my relatives had been conducting a hunt for a flat for the past year and so they knew all sorts of great areas to check out.

But not that night. I couldn't keep my head up anymore at nine o'clock so I passed out on the couch. That night I slept 13 hours and when I woke up I went on a long long walk with my relatives. I think it cured the jet lag.

The apartment hunt went on for the next week. I used two sources to find potential places. The University has an online search engine for flats on offer from private landlords and I used that, but it wasn't actually too useful. The other source were letting agents, who are companies that lease property in a given neighborhood. Basically I would pick an area I thought we might want to live in (using my relatives' advice) and then go to google maps and type in "letting agents" plus the postal code. This would give me about 20 different companies. I would then either visit them all or call them all. Usually one in ten had a place in Grace and I's price range.

I pounded the pavement and manned the phones. One day I walked around for five or six hours. The week's effort netted me a grand total of five potential places. All were studios, meaning one big room with a little kitchen and bathroom. And all were a lot more expensive than we paid in Cambridge. So, basically we were going to be paying more for a downgrade.

Place 1: This was near King's Cross Railroad station (of Harry Potter fame). It was actually pretty big for a studio, but I didn't like the landlord. When I came to see the place they knocked on the door and we went in, but the tenants were still there. One was a guy and he was in bed with no shirt on. The other was his girlfriend or wife and she was wearing pyjamas and standing around awkwardly. That made inspecting the place fun. Another problem was the area. It was better than our location in DC, but it wasn't amazing or anything. I was kind of hoping for better. So I said no thanks, even though someone else was viewing right after me and they would probably jump on it.

Place 2: This was right around the corner from Grace's school and a park! Plus it was only a few doors down from Charles Dickens house! Whoa! It was in a beautiful old house too on a beautiful street.
But it was teensy tiny. It had a single bed which took up about 1/3 of the place. Think walk-in closet. And the shower had a ceiling which was too low for me to stand up in.

Place 3: This was much farther from Grace's school. The other places were about a 15 minute walk and this was a 45 minute walk. But it was right next to regents' park and the zoo so at least it would be a nice walk. And there would be plenty of space to run. Plus it was super swank - came with a plasma screen TV, stereo, modern bathroom and modern furniture.
But it was also really small. It had a futon and a desk and when the futon folded down there wouldn't be any open floor space. It also only had one set of shelves. I don't think all our suitcases would even fit in there.

Place 4: This was way out in Hampstead Heath, a district outside central London. On one hand the area was super nice. We could walk to a local grocery store, pubs and park. And the place was in a converted mansion. It was decently sized, had modern furniture and the landlords were super nice (plus Irish, a bonus!).
But we would have to take the tube to work and class. And it was on the Northern Line which is rumored to be frequently not running. And there are no buses. Walking would be a 90 minute ordeal.

But it was the best we had seen so far. We told them we would let them know by Tuesday night (which gave us 2 days to find a better place).

Place 5: Also in Hampstead Heath, like place 4. It has an oven and we were supposed to see it tomorrow morning.

So, basically there was no hope of living within walking distance to class. I had already tried everything I could think of and nothing was quite up to scratch. I was thinking Hampstead Heath or Notting Hill, both of which are so far you would have to take the tube in. But at least we would have everything else for our life close by.

But my relative convinced me to try for university housing one last time, so Monday morning we went down to the front desk of my relative's hall. I told them I was looking for a place and bam! they had 6 double studios open! Apparently from people who hadn't shown up.

Hell yeah we could see them now. The landlady took us to the basement of the very hall where we were staying and showed us six places which were great. They weren't as swank as place 3, but they were big enough and, most importantly, they were close to class for Grace and subsidized. The bed folds into the wall during the day, so you have more space!

Only problem was they were in the basement, so they didn't get much natural light. But we could live with that.

But then, as we were leaving she told us we could have an identical place on the 5th floor (top floor) if we were willing to wait till Sunday to move in. By coincidence, that's how long we were planning on staying with my relatives so everything worked out. Ha!

The rub is figuring out how to get our stuff out of storage and down here. The company can't deliver till Wednesday October 3. We're thinking about renting a car and getting it ourselves, but we have to decide if we want to brave central London traffic.

In the end we're still paying more for this place than we did in Cambridge and it's still a step down. But after looking for a week I know this place can't be beat in terms of price, location, amenities and size. Apparently lots of students start by looking at student housing, don't like it and decide to risk losing it while they look for something better. By the time they realize how good it was, it's gone.

Anyway, we're good.

Oh, and I have a job starting on Monday!

New Layout

Please enjoy the sombre tones of the new layout, changed in honor of fall approaching. Matt is in jolly old England hanging out with Micky and Julia and Evan and I'm here in Iowa City, where I have to tie up some loose ends. I'm leaving to head back on Saturday. Not surprisingly, Matt and I both have an extra suitecase/duffle bag to take back with us. How are we getting all this stuff back to the States at the end of next year? Good question. More updates to come once we're settled in London.

August/September Update

We haven't posted anything in over a month! Here is a brief update:

We got to Chicago after leaving Shannon and were picked up by our friend Tom and spent a day or so with Tom and Emily. Then we went to Boston to see Keith and go to Julia's wedding. The wedding was beautiful. Julia was precisely my idea of the ideal bride: dark gleaming hair, pale flushed skin and a radiant smile. It was lovely. Also at the wedding was my other roommate from Ireland, Erin! She's living in Cork now (amazing!) and I said to make sure she comes to London and we'll try to make it over to Cork this year. I'm really excited about it.

Hanging out with Keith was really nice too. We got to see Harvard and in Boston we saw the Kennedy Presidential Library, which I thought was excellent (but made only two rather oblique references to a certain incursion into foreign territory). We also went to what we thought was the oldest pub in America... 50 minutes later we walked out and Keith goes, "No, wait, THERE'S the oldest pub in America!" i.e. across the street. We made it back there though, because we walked almost ALL of the Boston Freedom Trail and made a pit stop there for beer (a great colonial American tradition, after all.)


We flew back to Chicago and were picked up by my sister and then drove back to Iowa City. Since then we have been having a wonderful time enjoying our hometown. It's really nice to see our friends and families again. We have been to Minneapolis once to see Knifeblade and Erica and stay in their new house. We also had the amazing good fortune to be up there at the same time as and get to see Rob and Aaron from the old ISU days. It was a great time and we had some great food in various restaurants KB and Erica took us to.

We also attended Tom and Emily's wedding which took place out at a farm south of Iowa City. The ceremony was on the front lawn, and it was a very small ceremony, and of course Matt and I were late and had to drive past the whole congregation in the middle of the ceremony. Very embarrassing, but we were driving my mom's red convertible which everyone afterwards said made for quite an entrance. The ceremony, once we joined it, was absolutely beautiful. It was a Quaker ceremony (T and E are not Quakers, but their good friend who officiated the wedding is, so they did a Quaker ceremony) and it included a segment where people got to shout out and say stories and offer good wishes to the couple. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was beautiful, Tom and Emily were very happy, and we were all very happy to see it and to be there. It was also fantastic because we got to see T and E of course, but also KB and E, and Peter and Patricia and Marcie and Anna, and we played Taboo with a drunken KB, which was hilarious and heartbreaking. (He actually gets better the drunker he is, how???!) Matt and I had fantastic night, and a cold drive home in the convertible.

Other than those outstanding events, Matt and I have mostly been working, working, working. I am in an LSAT Kaplan prep course, which I absolutely recommend, if you're interested. Matt is applying for jobs and sorting us out for going back to London. We are, by the way, going back to London. I am starting my master's degree in human rights. M is still looking for a job, but he's got at least one interview when he gets there! Matt is going back on the 17th, to look for an apartment for us and keep job hunting. I am not going back until the 23rd. The 24th is the start of an induction program for a week and classes start on October the 1st. That is the plan. This is Thursday and Matt leaves next Monday! I leave the following Friday!

We are excited to go back to London, especially to see Gary, Gareth and Gar, Kirsten, Deb, Micky, Julia, Evan, the economics kids, beautiful Cambridge, fantastic London, the river Thames, the english autumn sky, Tesco's, etcetera. But we have really enjoyed being home. We're coming back at Christmas this year though!

Matt is out of town today, he's in Chicago getting us our visas! I got to stay home because I'm a good whiner and I had work to do. And boy did I work. I spent all day at the Java House or public library hitting my books hard. Tomorrow is another day just like today and the next day and the next and the next, up until September 29th when I will take a test that will determine the rest of my life. I really should go study.