Disconnected From The Interweb

Well I have been trying to post a video on the blog for a few days now but have not been able to upload it. We don't have internet hooked up in our flat until November 25th (!) and have bought a little internet usb device called a dongle which basically provides us with the bare minimum connection. It really bums me out because I miss everyone and want to be able to connect! Justin at least has his blackberry so he can go online fine with that, but I am using the phone Ryan and Erika gave me (THANK YOU btw!!) so I don't have that luxury.
It's been like a 2 week internet cleanse for me in a way. It's funny being at the bus stop or tube station alone and everyone is on their phones except me. So I do a lot of people watching. If I want to go somewhere unfamiliar I have to actually write down the directions on a piece of paper... imagine that! Also another bummer about it is I can't upload any pictures into this blog. You will have to use your imagination, how fun!

Anyways, the video I wanted to upload was just a clip showing everyone our home on the first day we moved in (Thursday). It's pretty good, although we have a pretty bad mould problem. Apparently it's really common here. I asked my boss about it and she said they have the same issue, and that most ground floor flats do. We have a dehumidifier and that seems to be working well. Today we didn't turn it on before we left the house for the day and it smelled pretty mildewy when we walked in. If we run it all day we have to empty it 2 times - it's pretty unbelievable how much moisture is in the air.

I started working at a coffee shop called Artisan on the same Thursday we moved into our place. Justin had to take both of our suitcases on the tube so I could go to work that morning as we had to be out of our flat at 11 and didn’t get into our place until 3:30. I’m sure that was a pain in the ass for him, but what can you do. Gotta make that 6GBP an hour!! :) The job has been really great actually although my feet hurt pretty bad. I work with all Australians and if anything I think at this rate I'll come home with an Aussie vocabulary as opposed to a UK one. I really like things there though, but am still hoping to find something much better. It's tough with this internet situation right now though - I can't even load the pages with job postings.

We met up with a couple that Kieren put us in touch with - Kim and Rhys - at a art show and then went for dinner with them. They are super cool and I am so grateful to have people here that we can talk to freely and ask about their experiences. We are meeting up with them again on Thursday to go to 'Curry Club' so they can show us some basic Indian food. Which brings me to the food here...

I swear the Brits do not eat vegetables. Yes we have all heard of mushy peas... but I think that is it. I have tried to find a good salad in this city and haven't found much. The grocery stores here have really cheap lunch combos - 2.50 for a sandwich, drink, and crisps, so for the first week or so Justin and I were eating a lot of that. But now that we have our own place I was hoping to make some real food. EVERYTHING here is available in pre cooked convenience dishes. The grocery stores have probably half of their items pre portioned and pre cooked. It's very odd. And if you go our for food don't expect it to be very healthy. But one pro is that there are sales on booze, and you can but it everywhere. There are probably 12 places within 10 minutes of us we could buy beer. Today we bought 12 Strongbow for 10GBP. Pretty sweet. Oh and one lesson we have learned is that most pub food SUCKS SO BAD. Restaurants are where you eat and pubs are where you drink. In general that is the rule I think. Oh and pubs also allow pets. Pretty much everywhere here allows pets, which is cool? I guess. (Imagine picture of Justin here at a pub drinking a pint with a cat in his lap).

Today I went to a really small Italian restaurant while I was waiting to meet up with Justin after my coffee training in Shoreditch and it was delicious. So simple but cheap (4.50gbp for a nice pasta dish). While I was there an Italian woman sat next to me and was telling the chef personally what she would like in Italian. When he went back to the kitchen I asked her what she ordered and she told me that she ordered pasta with sausage because they make their own sausage in the basement, and that I needed to try some when her food arrived. When it did she cut me off a piece of here sausage and put it on my plate. It was really sweet of her. And it was indeed delicious. I have decided I really like Italians.

One last note - Everyone here dresses really well, like WAY better than we do, so we went to Primark and bough some cheap dressy clothes. Justin got a new coat and some black jeans and collard shirts.... Dapper!!! (Imagine picture of Justin looking dapper here).

Well there is so much more to say but this post is already longer than it should be so I'll quit. Fingers crossed it loads!!

Miss family and friends lots.

Gen