Birthday celebration and more!

Last week was my 22nd birthday, and I spent the weekend in London with my Australian friends Mollie and Hannah.

After my last post, Penny, Kevin and the kids brought out a cake for me after tea, which was so nice and unexpected! Kari very loudly sang "Happy Birthday" [though she rarely does anything quietly...], throwing in the word "tomorrow" after "birthday," since it wasn't really my birthday yet.


Yummy cake!

For tea that night we had pasta, and Penny and Kari were making a cream sauce that was SO GOOD. Kari and I made it again last night...mmmm! I ate way too much that night and wasn't expecting cake after that, so I was REALLY full that night!


I took the train out on Saturday along with 5,000 people going to a football match. I only had one minor mishap with the trains...I thought I bought an all-day pass for all of the tube system when I left GX, but it turns out I didn't, and had to call Mollie to figure out what I DID have to buy. The trains in London [aka the Tube] are really nice inside compared to BART or Muni. The seats are reallllly padded, but nicely kept up. The biggest/most annoying difference to me was that unlike on Muni and BART, each line and direction has different platforms, so you have to make sure you know what line you're looking for, otherwise you'll never be at the right platform at the downtown stations.

We were trying to go to the Notting Hill Carnival, which was conveniently supposed to be over my birthday weekend. But, when I got there Saturday afternoon, Mollie got a call from a friend who was there and said that it wasn't on until Sunday, and Sunday was "kids day" rather than the main part of the carnival. So instead of spending that night at the carnival, we went to Leicester Square. AND WE GOT THERE ON A DOUBLE DECKER BUS. I seriously think Muni should consider these, because it's so much easier to see where you are if you're on the top section [these were all enclosed]. It was really awesome to be able to see where we were going and actually have a better view on things than if we were just at street level.


Mollie, Hannah and me waiting for the bus to Leicester Square.

Anyway, in Leicester Square we ate dinner at a Pizza Hut [my choice]. Pizza Hut is very different in England...it's a more legit restaurant than in the US. The three of us stuffed our faces with pizza, and Mollie thought they had ranch, but it turns out they stopped carrying it, much to my disappointment. Mollie and Hannah love ranch now too, apparently, so I'm glad I have some comrades in my hunt for ranch dressing in the UK.

We saw "Salt" that night, which was really good but totally left wide open for a sequel, it really didn't even have an ending.

That night we went out to this huge park behind their house, Hampstead Heath. It reminded me a lot of Dolores Park back in San Francisco, which was kind of neat. We climbed up to the top of the hill in the park and could see pretty much all of London lit up in the dark. Everything was so cool lit up!

Sunday Rey [another au pair from near where I am who was out in the city with us] made potato pancakes [I made eggs...], and the girls dipped theirs in ranch, which I never would have thought of. There are a few Australian bars in London that Mollie and Hannah go to every Sunday, so we knew we were going to one of those, Walkabout. Before we went there though we went to the Camden Markets, which are like a HUGE flea-market, but permanent. Every type of food you could imagine was there, including this crazy potato-chip stand that spiral-cut a potato and then fried it. Someday, I promise there will be a video of this.


Part of Camden Markets used to be a horse stable, and they have HUGE fake horses in there.


We got to Walkabout and it was kind of weird to be in a bar at 3pm on a Sunday, but since Monday was a Bank Holiday, there were even more people there than usual. We left for a bit to check out "kids day" at the carnival, but then came back before leaving about an hour later. When we got back, I passed out pretty fast.

Monday morning Rey had to leave to go back home, and the girls and I spent a majority of the day in bed before finally getting up to check out the carnival. There was a 12-hour parade involved, and we couldn't figure out why it was sooooo long. Well, it's because the parade moves about 1 mile an hour. We accidentally ended up in the line that was only allowed back in the tube station, but we'd gotten the feel of it, and I had my backpack with my weekend stuff in it, and since it was so crowded, we didn't want to risk anything bad happening to my stuff, so we went to the Marylebone station, got McDonald's [tastes EXACTLY like home], and then I got on the train back to GX.

Overall, I had a nice birthday weekend!

This week has been pretty low-key. I got all three of the kids playing Words with Friends now, and Kari and Ellie want to play really fast, so they like to pounce on me when it's my turn, which is funny. Ellie even BEAT me once...but I helped her play "quiz" with the q and z on double-letter spots, so she got 42 points for that word. This time I'm not helping her find words as much.

Yesterday, Ellie started teaching me how to play tennis. Yeah, start laughing! It wasn't TOO bad, nothing was broken and no one was injured. It actually wasn't too bad! 


More language differences for dad:

1. "Red Route" instead of "Red Zone" for fire lanes.
2. Things aren't for rent or for lease, they're "to let."
3. Gas stations are called petrol stations. 
4. Some houses here just have a name and no actual number. 
5. You go to the cinema, not the movies.
6. TJ Maxx is called TK Maxx, but the logo is exactly the same. 

Pictures from my last weeks in SF, OC, Ohio, and the beginnings of England

San Francisco

The lovely Tabby and Nicole on Shayla and Tabby's last SF Monday!

Nicole and me at Q Bar.

Me and Tabby...We're demonstrating something, I just don't remember what anymore.

Me and Shayla! Ms. Madagascar!

Stephen, Nicole and Ashley at my going away party.

Lianne and Nicole!

These lunatics...

Totem pole.

Dave, Ryan, Martin and Jessie.

Ashley, Danielle me and Amanda.

Orange County

Doug, my almost-brother, and Nate, my real brother.

Doug, Lauren and Nate.

Doug, me, Lauren and Nate.

Me and my car with Vincent, they guy that owns it now.
Ohio

My many bug bites on my back.
Gerrards Cross

The ADORABLE Cassidy at Ellie's tennis practice. We played "tennis" with the cones.

English mailboxes.

Downtown GX.

The train station/construction for the new Tesco, due to open in late November!

The view out my window...part of Ellie's school.

Another view out my window.

Language differences, among others

This is going to be, by far, my dad's favorite post, I'm sure. Every time I Skype with my dad, he asks me about the slight language differences ALL the time. He flew through London a little less than a year ago on a business trip, and sent this email: 

"I didn't say anything right at the airport in London.

Me: 'Can I place an order to go?'

Them: 'So you want place at order for take-away?'

Me: 'Do you have a lid for the drink?'

Them: 'Sorry, but we're all out of covers.'

Hilarious.  "

So now he can't stop asking me about it. 

So far, here's what I've got:

1. What we'd call a wallet has two different words: if you're a woman, it's your purse, if you're a man, it's a wallet. 
2. What we'd call a purse is a handbag.
3. They'll ask "are you all right?" instead of "how are you?" Meghan gave me a heads up on that one, if she didn't I'm sure that would have taken me ages to get used to. It's still weird to hear "are you all right?" all the time though. 
4. My cell phone is my mobile.
5. They put a heavier emphasis on the "s" in schedule. 
6. Baseboards are skirtboards. 
7. You give someone a ring, don't call them if you need anything. 
8. You're not vacuuming, you're hoovering.  
9. Rainboots are called wellies. 
10. There are SO MANY coins here. £2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p, 1p. I tried to explain to Kari how ours are easily identifiable and there are only FOUR, but she didn't get it. 
11. Ranch dressing basically doesn't exist here. But they have "Cool Original" Doritos...which are Cooler Ranch from America. Silly geese. 
12. Lays potato chips are called Weavers. 
13. They don't sell alfredo sauce. 
14. They have Dominos Pizza here too!

Today, Kari, Ellie and I went up to High Wycombe to go to Primark. It's so hard for me to describe some of the stores here. Primark reminds me of Forever 21 because of the clothes they sell and the prices. But, they also have a ton of mens clothes, kids clothes, and home stuff. Almost like a Kohl's, but cheap! I bought some wellies [much needed!], a cute sweater top, a hoodie [I left all mine at home...]. We ate some pre-made sandwiches from Tesco, which is a lot like WalMart, but more of a grocery store than anything else. It seems to me [at least so far] that almost all of the grocery stores also sell clothes. 


The trains here remind me of a mix between BART and Muni. The pricing varies based on where you're traveling/if you're an adult or child, and they seem to be VERY on-time [ala BART]. Actually, now that I'm writing this, I can't tell you why I thought it was like Muni. It's really not. OH! And they have TOILETS ON THE TRAINS. Crazy!!

Tomorrow I'm heading into London for the "Bank Holiday Weekend" and my birthday. It's also the Notting Hill Carnival in London this weekend, so I'm really excited. I have Monday off as well, but I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay in the city. Two friends from Australia are letting me stay with and go around with them, and I'm so glad! 


I'm going to do the picture post now, I promise this time!

Today, I went for an accidental long walk

Well, today was...interesting. I got up this morning knowing I needed to go into town to buy some stuff. When I got up, Penny was leaving to go pick up her mom and nephew who were going to spend the day down here. As soon as they got back, her mom had a hair appointment, so she left and I was watching the four kids, including 2 year old Cassidy. She got back right as I was about to leave to take Ellie to tennis practice. I was going to take Cassidy with me because she wasn't back yet and Kari and Harry were fighting, but she walked in right as we were getting ready to leave. I ended up taking Cassidy anyways, and he and I played tennis and ran around while Ellie played. We had lunch when we got back, and then Penny drove me into town to do some shopping and mail some letters. Everyone else was going shopping...somewhere else, but there wasn't enough room in the car for everyone. I was fine with it because I had to get Kari's birthday present/card anyway, and I was happy to have some time on my own.
I went to the post office first and got all my stamp purchasing taken care of. I now own 50 stamps. Woo!
I wandered around and got everything I needed, then started heading back the way I thought I had to go. I got confused thinking that I was supposed to turn sooner than I really was, and spent probably an hour walking in a giant circle, as shown here:

I got BACK to downtown GX, and went into a real estate office, figuring they'd know the streets and could tell me where to go. The guy was very nice, and gave me about 4 different sets of directions, but it came down to the fact that I needed to go further before I turned. So, I finally made it back. THIS is how I was supposed to go:

I got back and had issues unlocking the back door, so I had to let Bindi out the side door, which was easier to open despite the fact that it has MORE locks. Oh well.
I bought a shower rack while I was out, and I hung that up, hooray for perfectly flat tile walls!


Once the pictures finish uploading, I'll do a picture post...hopefully later tonight!

Start of Week 1

Massive progress here:
1. Ordered my iPhone tonight! It should be here Thursday! I'm sooooo glad! If you have an iPhone, Android or BlackBerry, find/download PingChat [www.pingchat.com]. It's an instant messaging client that works across platforms! Since international texting is still absurdly expensive, this is how I'm going to be texting my parents/brother while I'm here...Since my dad doesn't have an iPhone, I'm super excited that there's something that works on a bunch of platforms! Also, I'm just really excited to get my hands on an iPhone again! I've missed it so! And it's the new one! Mmmmm I love me some new technology.
2. Today I FINALLY got to the point where I know how to flush my toilet all the time. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. I know it sounds lame, but it wasn't easy! You have to pull the handle up first, then flush it twice. If you forget to pull it up first, it doesn't work...which I think was what I was missing at first. I was lucky if I could flush it once a day, but today, it's been mastered!
3. Started writing some letters! Very excited to be pen pals with people!!!
4. Heading into town tomorrow with Kari and Harry to buy stamps, possibly an alarm clock, envelopes and hopefully a phone case I can live with. Oh, and maybe a power strip? We'll see!
5. Put up some pictures in my room today, and moved my vanity area off my window sill. I'm trying to really make the room "mine."
6. Took Ellie to her tennis lesson today. The best part was the end when she ran out of the facility screaming because there was a bee...luckily it was at the end of her lesson and she was already packed to go home. 
7. Helped Ellie "go through" stuff in her room...she really wasn't interested but we tried.
8. Got the shower head cleaned in my bathroom...Well, okay Penny did this for me, but HOORAY water actually comes out of it now. Much better!
9. Straightened out my dresser drawers, since until this morning they were kind of just a jumble.
10. Talked to Marj on Skype with the whole gang. They were as happy to see her as she was to see them!
12. FINALLY backing up my computer for the first time since I imported all those movies! It's currently on GB 8 of 57...I think that's going to be going for a while...


Oh! Random crazy coincidence... Shayla, one of the section editors from last semester, is in the Peace Corps in Madagascar for the next two years. She sent me a message asking if I knew James, a guy I went to high school with... He's in her Peace Corps group! How crazy is that?!?!? I'm still shocked that Shayla is IN the Peace Corps...let alone that someone else I know is too!




That's it for now. =] If you're on Skype, search for me! mandatom at gmail dot com...I'd love to see your smiling face, and I'm sure Ellie would love to prank call you! =]

I'm HERE!!!

That's right! I'm in ENGLAND!

I was flying on standby on both of my flights, and luckily I made it on to both of them. I had to RUN through the Washington Dulles Airport, but I made it!!! I was actually a little worried when I got to Cleveland because there were storms in DC and my flight was delayed, but I made it just in time. While we flew to DC we passed the storm, and there was a HUGE beautiful cloud that had the sun setting on the west side of it, and as we passed it to the north you could see that it was a lightning cloud. It was pretty long and so I watched that for a long time as it lit up. SO COOL!
I had a business class seat from DC to London [first time I've ever not been in coach] and it was AWESOME. I slept a few hours, but also played some sudoku on the 15" tv screen, watched Toy Story 2 and an episode of Psych.

I landed yesterday morning [Friday], and came home with Penny, Kari and Ellie. Ellie helped me unpack everything and get settled. We had different kinds of chicken for lunch with chips.
Later on Kari and Harry went to High Wycombe [about a 15 minute train ride] with me to exchange money and try to get an iPhone. We managed to exchange my money, but by the time that was done, none of the stores were open anymore. A few were just closing their doors and we asked about the phone, but they said if I don't want a contract [which I don't], that I have to actually go to an Apple Store, who are probably sold out for at least 3 weeks...BUMMER. Might have to order it online...
We had "fish and chips" for dinner...and by fish and chips I mean we went to a fish and chips store and I ordered chicken nuggets and "chips." Got to talk to Mom, then Dad on video chats which was really nice. 

Today Penny, Kari and I walked to Ellie's tennis tournament, and sat out in the rain for a bit before Ellie slipped and fell on her knee and didn't feel like she could walk/play anymore, so we headed home. The tennis courts she plays at are JUST across the street from the house, which is pretty nice!
We had bacon sandwiches today, which weren't what I was expecting since the bacon here is more like "Canadian bacon" than "American bacon," but they were still good. Ellie and I played hide and seek and she played some online games on my computer while I took a nap [I blame jet lag, but she says Marj did that too, and told her that as you get older you need to sleep more...Very true!;)]. Penny's mom, Sue, sister & nephew, Katie & Cassidy, were here briefly. Cassidy is about 2 or 3 was singing and "dancing" along with the radio that was on which was hilarious. We had Chinese for dinner that was interesting because of how it comes packaged as well as the sauces they were cooked in...I asked for Cashew Chicken, but I couldn't even tell you what kind of sauce it was in. Just video chatted with my parents [and Sparky] and Ellie is playing Mario Kart online with some friends.

A few Skype screen shots:

Better picture of the humans.

But in this one, Sparky is looking like "hey, where is she?!?!"


It's been cold and rainy for the past two days but it's not predicted for tomorrow so hopefully it's right!

Last US Night!!

I left California Sunday night for Ohio to visit some family before I leave for England. Got in EARLY Monday morning and have had a great stay EXCEPT for the fact that I am apparently the tastiest thing EVER to mosquitoes. I have 30 bug bites, at least. Feet, legs, hands, arms and ESPECIALLY my back. I have about 15 on my back alone. It's horrible. Luckily I'm not too itchy, but the presence of them is still annoying! I also had some new shoes I wore while I was here that gave me some bad blisters that I'm not excited about either. I just want the bites and blisters to go away!!

Other than that I've been visiting with some cousins and my grandma, who's in a nursing home and is about to move into assisted living. She broke her hip about two months ago and seems to be doing great, she's walking again and I'm really glad I got to see her before I left.

Nothing else to report, just wanted to talk about my trip to Ohio a little bit before I leave the country. My next post should be from ENGLAND!!!! Some pictures should be included from there too!!