So I clearly have not been posting much (read: at all) lately. In an effort to reboot the blog I have decided that a change in name is in order. I became an expat 2 years ago, and most of the things that I feel like writting about these days have more to do with my day to day life and work then the fact that I live in a foreign country. In fact, it does not even feel like a foreign country anymore. In July I made my second trip back to the states since moving and it was feeling a bit foreign there. By the time I caught my connecting flight in Philly to Phoenix, more strangers had spoken to me than have in the past two years in the UK. I remembered that it used to really irritate me that people were always talking to me. As if I were wearing some sort of sign that marked me as willing to listen or friendly. Neither of which do I think is true. Well, I do not wear this sign in England, and I love it!
I have just sent in my application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. As far as I know, this means that I will be able to stay in the UK for as long as I like without having to renew my visa and I can stay if Robin and I were no longer married. Not that we are planning anything, but it is nice to know that I could live here regardless. I could probably write 10 pages on the process of getting the application together, but I am so glad that it is in the post (as in mail) and out of my hands that I do not care to rehash the details.
I did say that I no longer to care to write about how I live in a different country and yet this post does seem to be mostly about that, oh well.
Work: I am currently working at two different studios and enjoying it, although my schedule is all over the place so I am often exhausted.Tuesdays are particularly busy, I get up at 5am to teach 6:45am - 1pm with a couple of little breaks in there, get home at 2pm and head out again at 3:30pm to teach 4-9pm at a different studio. Monday nights I don't get home until 9:30pm, so by the time I have dinner and get ready for bed I end up only getting about 6 hours of sleep in preparation for Tuesday.
Flat: We are enjoying our flat, it is in a lanscaped property with a ton of other flats right on the Thames. In fact the Thames splits so we have Grand Union Canal to our north and Thames to our East and South. When we want to go for a short walk, we can just walk around our flats and see the river and different plants and flowers. And cats, lots of cats in this area. There is a grassy patch for BBQ's which we were able to take advantage of a couple of times this summer. The downside is that we are very close to Heathrow and the planes are quite noisy when they are coming in for landing. Not so noticable during the day, but I often hear them at 5am (the earliest they are supposed to land) when I am due to get up soon. Also the neighborhood is not that exciting. We are close to some cool areas, but we don't even have a coffee shop near us! Well there is one, but it looks a little sketchy. If you want a Kebab shop, Polish deli, Pub, or Betting agent we have those a plenty.
I feel like there should be another category after Work and Flat, but for now that is pretty much it. Robin and I are both busy with work right now. Hoping that in Oct things will calm down a bit as Robin will have finished his first set of Actuarial exams and I will have Sundays off (fingers crossed).
I have just sent in my application for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. As far as I know, this means that I will be able to stay in the UK for as long as I like without having to renew my visa and I can stay if Robin and I were no longer married. Not that we are planning anything, but it is nice to know that I could live here regardless. I could probably write 10 pages on the process of getting the application together, but I am so glad that it is in the post (as in mail) and out of my hands that I do not care to rehash the details.
I did say that I no longer to care to write about how I live in a different country and yet this post does seem to be mostly about that, oh well.
London
We have now lived in London for 7.5 months and I LOVE it. I am so glad that we moved, although there are things about Bristol that I miss (#1 the people, #2 that it doesn't take at least an hour to get EVERYWHERE).Work: I am currently working at two different studios and enjoying it, although my schedule is all over the place so I am often exhausted.Tuesdays are particularly busy, I get up at 5am to teach 6:45am - 1pm with a couple of little breaks in there, get home at 2pm and head out again at 3:30pm to teach 4-9pm at a different studio. Monday nights I don't get home until 9:30pm, so by the time I have dinner and get ready for bed I end up only getting about 6 hours of sleep in preparation for Tuesday.
Flat: We are enjoying our flat, it is in a lanscaped property with a ton of other flats right on the Thames. In fact the Thames splits so we have Grand Union Canal to our north and Thames to our East and South. When we want to go for a short walk, we can just walk around our flats and see the river and different plants and flowers. And cats, lots of cats in this area. There is a grassy patch for BBQ's which we were able to take advantage of a couple of times this summer. The downside is that we are very close to Heathrow and the planes are quite noisy when they are coming in for landing. Not so noticable during the day, but I often hear them at 5am (the earliest they are supposed to land) when I am due to get up soon. Also the neighborhood is not that exciting. We are close to some cool areas, but we don't even have a coffee shop near us! Well there is one, but it looks a little sketchy. If you want a Kebab shop, Polish deli, Pub, or Betting agent we have those a plenty.
I feel like there should be another category after Work and Flat, but for now that is pretty much it. Robin and I are both busy with work right now. Hoping that in Oct things will calm down a bit as Robin will have finished his first set of Actuarial exams and I will have Sundays off (fingers crossed).
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