New Home

I have a home! Yay! There were a few teething problems when I moved in, and I wasn't 100% sure that I'd made the right choice. But after a week and a half, I know that I did make the right choice. I have a studio flat all to myself! I don't have to share with anyone! And the kitchen is a decent size and in a separate room.

Problems when I moved in:

1. The whole place smells of cigarette smoke and I am allergic to it. I've improved that a bit already by removing the huge, dark red, smoke-infused curtains that made the place look like a theater (or brothel) when closed. I bought some sale curtains from work, but then found even cheaper, thicker, more appropriately-sized ones at Ikea. Already the place looks and feels lighter and airier.



2. One of the windows wouldn't shut or lock properly (deja vu from my Seattle studio!) I called the letting agent immediately and she sent someone round to fix that. He did a pretty shoddy job, but at least my windows lock shut now and no one can just pull them open from the outside. Result!

3. The guy who moved out didn't hook the washing machine back up, and whenever I used the kitchen sink, I leaked water into the cupboard underneath it. It took me a few days to realize this was happening. Anyway, the letting agent made the guy come and hook it up properly, so all is good so far (knock on wood that it stays good!)

4. I'm on the ground level, right off the street, so if my blinds are open, anyone and everyone can see my whole life right there, so I think I'm gonna make some screens for the windows, once I figure out a good way to do that. Ikea sells some bamboo and wax paper window coverings, so I might try cutting those to size.

That's pretty much it. I've already spent most of my paycheck for July on furnishings and kitchenwares and bits and bobs, but I'm very pleased with the place. I got a futon base and a big, blue bookshelf for £13 (plus £2 delivery!) Now I just need a futon mattress and my guests will have a comfy bed to sleep on. Yays!

Note the flowers, from a man!!

Budget

I was reading "R's" blog earlier and one of her posts actually made me miss Africa. I'm not sure how. I didn't think it was possible. I did not love the Africa, as Carina once put it. But her post made me remember my dream, which I've forgotten with time. Well, not really. I just have two competing dreams: one to live in the UK and have a really enjoyable time here and maybe never leave, and another to go to India and save some sick people...without doing any doctoring or nursing, cuz I'm not qualified for that...not sure exactly how that will work.

Anyway, I have these two opposing forces inside me, one to save money for when my visa expires and have to go out into the even wider world and seek my fortune, and another to live it up while I'm here. And I was thinking about it just now, about setting myself a budget for the next 9 months in order to save £1000 (which seems like so little but will be such a struggle to save). And I got to thinking about how much money I've been living on for the past year. I have been paying well over 50% of every paycheck to rent. I could certainly cut back and save more money than I do currently; I could stop eating out full stop, I could stop buying prepared lunches when I'm too lazy to make mine ahead, I could stop buying discounted clothing from work and exclusively buy charity shop clothing. But I think I have to give myself credit for just how little I've been living on for quite a while. Give myself credit, and then buck myself up for further cuts, because I could definitely do better.

Wish me luck. It's going to involve lots of things I'm terrible at, namely, planning ahead and cooking. Blech. And possibly giving up my addiction to the internet, because internet is flippin' expensive!!! In this country, you have to have a landline in order to get internet, so you have to pay a monthly fee for the landline (even if you NEVER CALL ANYONE) and another monthly fee for the internet. Not to mention the set-up fees for both. And most companies charge you an exorbitant fee for the wireless router. When I heard that Amy and Diana didn't have internet, I thought they were crazy! Now I realize, they're just grown-ups who have to pay bills. Since I've lived with other people (or in residence halls) up to now, I haven't had to deal with any of that. Bills were just included in the rent, and that was that, happy go-lucky. Now I'm forced to consider every minute expenditure. It might break me!

I spend a huge amount of each day online. I'm not sure I can live without internet. But I might try to see how long I can last. Uugggggghhhhh...It's for the children; for the sick, little children...

Crafty stuff

I had the day off today and the weather was mees-air-aw-bluh! so I spent all evening on the web, mostly video chatting with Becky, but also checking out crafty blogs. Now I feel inspired to do some crafting, but as I'm living out of suitcases and all my crafty stuff is in boxes at Corrado's, I'm going to write notes to myself of things I want to make.

1. At work, they are doing a company-wide contest for an employee to create a new apron. I don't know how to sew and know nothing about fashion design or textiles, but I thought I could brainstorm ideas anyway!

2. There was a tutorial here for making a mini magazine. I thought the idea was cute, but didn't really have anything to make.

But then I was looking for yarn shops in Edinburgh, and remembered that I wish I had a special map of the city where I could mark places to check out/go back to (shopping in this city is AMAZING!!) So maybe I'll make my own little map book using this technique...if I can find a color printer somewhere.

3. I saw a baby onesie in a magazine that had applique ballet slippers on the chest and an attached tutu, but I totally didn't see ballet slippers; I saw lungs and thought, "Awesome! But what's with the tutu?" Then I realized they were ballet slippers and felt completely let down. So now I need to learn how to applique so that I can make a lungs t-shirt. Because that would be awesome on so many levels.

Don't they look like lungs??

4. Um...I forgot what was gonna go here. It'll come back to me later. Oh yeah, I remember!! I was telling Becky about this earlier. On the corner of Corrado's street, there is an off-license (a kind of crappy convenience store that is ubiquitous throughout the UK). I noticed that they had a couple old, metal shopping baskets shoved in the window and forgotten. One of them is rusty and unappealing, but the other has kind of a yellowish enamel and looks like a flea market treasure (something we would sell in our shop for £35 or more). I really want it but I'm too chicken to go in and ask about it. Becky said I should go, though, and have no fear, so I think I'll pluck up the courage. It would be great in my new flat, maybe for storing my yarn stash.

5. On the same topic of flat decor, I was in a shop a couple weeks ago called Nomad's Tent. They sold some cool stuff from all the world, mainly Persian rugs, but they had this BEAUTIFUL metal trunk from India that I fell head over heels for. It was painted bright blue with big pink roses painted on the lid. I waaaaaaaaant it! I wish I could find a picture of something similar. Maybe I'll just have to go back and ask the man if he minds if I take a photo. Anyway, it's £65, which is a staggering amount of money...buuuut...I mean, it's way cheaper than we'd sell it for in our shop. I think it's too low to double as a coffee table, sadly, so I can't justify it as a furniture expense. And I couldn't really use it as luggage, even though that was it's original use back in the day. I don't know...I'll think about it for longer.

6. Not a craft, but whatever: this is what I'm going to buy in July (as if I'll make it through the month having only bought one article of clothing; it's good to have goals).


I think it's perfect for the Scottish summer and will go well with my dresses. Also, I love these, but they are still a bit pricey for my budget.

Arrival

Okay, this is only three and a half weeks late...

I left London by train at 7am on a Friday. The plan was to stay in a youth hostel, but they were all booked up so I found a self-catering flat that was cheaper than staying in a bed and breakfast. It was such a gorgeous flat! It was on the top floor of a nice building in Leith, the coastal neighborhood northeast of the city center. I immediately pulled out my camera and took a picture of the view:

That's the Firth of Forth (the sea) out there.

Carina's friend, Tom, texted me the day before saying that his friend might have a flat I could live in, so even though I felt shy, I texted her to meet up. I'm so glad I did because she is super nice and wonderful. Sadly, her flatmates didn't want her to sublet her room, so I couldn't move in there, but we had drinks anyway. Then we went to meet a bunch of her friends in a pub, and I got chatted up by a boy. Bear in mind, I'd only been in the city for 12 hours.

In the bathroom at the pub, instead of the usual trashy graffiti, I found this and it only further validated my feeling that I'd made the right move in my life.



After three days, I had to leave the self-catering flat. I moved in with Corrado and his partner (who knits!) and their friggin' adorable two-year-old daughter, who calls me "Ciocia" (Polish for "aunty"). It was so nice of them to let me stay, they are my saviors! But I was having trouble finding a flat, and after two weeks with no luck, I needed to move on before I became a guest of indefinite duration. You know what they say about house guests and fish: both start to stink after three days.

So I talked to Sian again (Tom's friend) and she said her flatmates wouldn't mind me staying in her old room for a week, so that's where I am now. It's an enormous flat, and this room is the biggest. It's absolutely massive and has two big windows with window seats. And I managed to find a studio flat that is decently nice, not extortionately expensive, and really close to work (in the nice part of town)! Yaaaaaaaaayyy! Unfortunately, I can't move in until next Monday, which means another week of living out of suitcases. Oh well, it could be worse! I could be in a youth hostel. :-S Grim.

Now I can't wait to move, and use all my pretty new dishes, and decorate my new place, and start knitting again, and have lots and lots of lovely people come visit me!

Reasons

I wrote this on a day several weeks ago when I came up to Edinburgh just for a day to scope out flats.

Reasons I'm moving to Edinburgh:

The bus seats are upholstered in a tartan pattern.
People speak in Scottish accents.
People are friendlier and happier than in London.
It takes 15 min by bus to get to the beach. (And that's proper beach, with sand and all.)

What I like about this place

This place is eff'd up. It's 10 o'clock at night, and the sky is still completely light. It is only just now slowly getting dark. In the dead of winter in Seattle, at 4:30 in the afternoon, it is as dark as it is right now. That's eff'd up. The other night, I was walking home at 1:30am, and it was twilight. There was still light on the horizon. I am far enough north that it doesn't get completely dark for any period of time during the summer. How crazy is that? The crappiness, or rather, unpredictably of the weather here, which puts Seattle's unpredictability to shame, coupled with the lightness in the sky, has completely thrown my body into confusion. At any given time, I have no idea what time of day or even what time of year it is. I keep thinking, "Oh, that will be fun to do in the summer," and then I realize that it IS summer, and I'm wearing a jacket and wool scarf.

I love it. I mean, I hate cold, but for someone who is constantly seeking out change and novelty while still wanting to be rooted in familiarity, I feel like I've hit the jackpot. Edinburgh reminds me of Seattle. It's beautiful here. Travel 20 min north or east and you hit a major body of saltwater (the Frith of Forth). From any point in the city, you can see Holyrood Park with its impressive Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat. To the south and west, beautiful grassy hills dotted with quaint villages. And then there's the city center. The ugly shopping district looks across a small green valley (through which the trains run) to stunning craggy cliffs topped by Edinburgh Castle. It's breathtaking. And that's smack dab in the busiest part of the city.

Edinburgh Castle

And people here are friendlier, happier than in London. They're helpful. Even before I left London, when I met my new managers while they were training there, they offered me their phone numbers after having just met me, in case I needed any advice or help finding a flat. When I got up here and couldn't find a flat, everyone at work put me in contact with friends looking for flatmates. One coworker I hadn't met walked up to me, introduced herself, then offered me her spare bedroom.

Okay, I need to stop waxing poetic. Eventually, the honeymoon period will end, I'm sure. But for now, I'm happy here. And that makes me happy. haha!

Leaving London

Izzi just phoned me and it was so wonderful to hear her voice (and Timmy's in the background). It reminded me that I am way, way overdue for a blog update! I shall now attempt to summarize the past two weeks of parties, goodbyes, tears, and new friends. Actually, I think I'll break it into two parts: Leaving, and Arriving.

So. Two Thursdays ago, I packed up most of my worldly possessions (the ones in the UK, anyway), loaded them into a minicab, and took them to south London to my coworker, Corrado's, flat. Corrado and his girlfriend and 2-year-old daughter are/were also moving up to Edinburgh, and offered to let me share their delivery van. So my stuff moved up to Scotland a week ahead of me. I had my "leaving London" goodbye drinks the next day. Lots of wonderful people came, and I had a really nice time. Alex N. gave me a beer pong kit, Maggie bought me two shots (not sure how grateful I am for that), and Izzi tried to throw me in a planter. I did deserve it, though, as I had threatened to replace her and Tim with Corrado and his girlfriend. After everyone headed home, Tisobel and I stayed at the bar for a bottle of prosecco. I can't remember if anything even set me off, but I started crying right there at the bar, surrounded by strangers. But then I pulled myself together and we danced like loons, then "walked," or rather, lurched and meandered back to their flat. Work the next morning was slightly painful, but alas, it was worth it.

Anna and Mel at going-away drinks

I had the day off on Monday, so managed to have lunch with Maggie, tea with Holly, tea with Anna, and then rush off to dinner with Tisobel. Izzi wasn't feeling well but she made me dinner anyway because she loves me that much. Maggie works for a Member of Parliament, so lunch was in the cafeteria at the Houses of Parliament. AWESOME! That means that I got to take a long last look at Big Ben before leaving London. Then, as I was leaving Tisobel's after dinner, I heard a clock chiming. I asked where it was coming from, and they said it was Big Ben! In all the times I've been to their flat, I've never heard Big Ben chiming. He was putting on a special show for my last week, clearly.

On Tuesday, I hung out with James. We went to a weird but cool vegan buffet restaurant in Soho. He gave me a booklet of poems about London just in case I miss the city. Wednesday was my last day at work, so I had after-work drinks with a few girls. Alex N. came along as well, and Carina's friend, Tom. Tom gave me contact details for a friend of his in Edinburgh so that I could contact her if I got lonely.

Thursday was my last day in London. I went to work to say a goodbye to Anna (and also see if there was anything good in the sale), then had to rush back home to check out of my room and get my deposit back. This took longer than I thought, as I had to peel a large sticker off my wall which didn't end up coming off, so I had to go tell my landlady that I'd ruined the paint job. She was very stern, and then took £5 off my deposit for it. She also waived some of the rent that I still owed her. What a sweetheart! Then I rushed off for dinner with my bessies (minus Tisobel cuz Timmy was sick, and minus Tanya and Alex, who are out of the country): Carina, Holly, and Aparna.

Carina likes affection even less than I do

After dinner, I wanted to drop by Tisobel's for one last "see you later," but Tim was heading to bed. I decided to be completely selfish and go anyway. I parted with the girls, lastly Holly, which was a bit hard. When we walked away from each other, she had the most melancholy look on her face, it broke my heart. It still makes me tear up to think about it. She looked like a puppy I had just told to go away and leave me alone.

Ugh, this is really hard. Okay, pull yourself together.

I got on the bus to go to Tim and Izzi's. On the way there, I realized that maybe Izzi was going to bed as well, and maybe their light would be out when I got there. I imagined myself just leaving their gift on the doorstep and slinking away into the night, broken-hearted. Then I started to cry on the bus. As I walked toward their flat, swallowing tears, a man further up the sidewalk was singing opera. It was so beautiful and poignant, London showing me the best she could offer. And then I was approaching the flat, and the light was still on, and Izzi answered the door and I was so happy, I forgot I'd been on the verge of tears moments before. We had a lovely cup of tea while sick Timmy slept, and then I said good night and left.

Sad Izzi

I was fine as we parted, but as I walked away, I started crying again. I choked back tears all the way back to Leytonstone, but then the fresh air must have cured me because I felt better as I walked home. Aparna was up waiting for me. She's such a treasure. I feel like a cheesy weirdo for using that word, but I can't think of another to describe her. She has been so good to me these past few months, offering me a home, making me dinners, giving me advice, throwing me a surprise birthday dinner. She even woke up at 5am to see me off. She's the best flatmate I could ever hope for and I love her dearly.

Best flatmate ever (plus Carina giving bunny ears)

If I didn't feel so good about being in Edinburgh, if I didn't feel like it was the right thing for me right now, I never would have survived leaving these wonderful people. I also know I will be back soon for visits! I plan to see Carina in Switzerland for her birthday, Holly's family has a cricket match on the farm in July, and I've promised everyone that I'll bring Becky and John down to London when they visit me this summer. Yay!

News

I met the woman who will be my new store manager the other day. She is super nice and has high standards and lots of pet peeves, so I'm really excited about working with her. I still don't have a leaving date, or a flat, but time is running out so I really need to nail down some details.

Yesterday, I met up with Holly and tried out the "Boris Bikes" for the first time. Boris Johnson is the crazy, wild-haired Mayor of London. He's a cycling enthusiast and brought a rent-a-bike scheme to London last summer. It's pretty cool. You pay £1 for 24 hours of access (or you can buy an annual membership for, I think, £50), then every half hour is free. If you just dock your bike every 30 min and take out a new one, you never pay more than the £1 day-fee. The bikes are a bit heavy and only have 3 speeds, but they're a pretty good ride. In the evening, Izzi and Tim fed me roast chicken and baked potato. Yum!

Yesterday's big news was the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden by US Navy Seals. I feel like so much surrounding this news is unknown. They've apparently confirmed it was him by DNA testing, but where did the US get a past sample of bin Laden's DNA? And of course it remains to be seen how people will react to the news, though it doesn't sound like there's been a huge backlash just yet, so that's good. I'm glad Pakistan has so far reacted well to the news.

I had to work on the day of the Royal Wedding, but we all huddled around the laptop behind the tills and gave each other updates throughout the day. During my lunch break, I headed down the road to a place where there was a giant TV screen broadcasting live footage. I was just in time for the balcony kiss, which I have to say, was pretty anticlimactic. But then there was the Royal Air Force flyover, and the planes flew over us in the square about 10 seconds after flying over the palace, so that was pretty exciting. Everyone cheered. I think if I ever get married, I'll have to have a flyover, because it feels like nothing is really official until some fighter jets have flown over your head.

Visiting the UK Feb: The Cotswolds

I just realized I never blogged about my February UK visit. I was sure that I had, but can't find any evidence of it. Anyhoo, it was my friend, Maggie's, birthday at the beginning of February (same day as Izzi, actually). She's from the Seattle area and used to work with me at the Big A. Her boyfriend, Hugo, is English and his family is rich. They own a ridiculously amazing house out in a village in the Cotswolds. Part of the house was built in the 1500s, and the rest was added on in the 1600s, then remodeled in the 2000s. The neighbors hates Hugo's family because they added under-floor heating in their kitchen, which somehow cut through the village's main power line, so the lights in Hugo's house and the neighboring houses flicker on and off constantly whenever the floor is being heated, i.e. whenever anyone is in Hugo's house. Maggie wrote her master's dissertation from the house, on the topic of gentrification in modern society, and used the village as a case study. I wonder if she included a statement on the necessity of under-floor heating and its effect on neighborly relations.



Anyway, it was crazy fun. We went for walks and ate amazing meals cooked by Maggie and fresh bread from the bread maker and Maggie tried to ride Wayne the Pony by throwing herself onto his back. There was even a sword fight! Then Hugo read his granddad's diary, in which each entry ended "I.L.J." for "I love Jill." (Hugo's grandmother's name was NOT Jill.)





Photos here.

Visiting the UK March: Paris

Okay, it's not exactly the UK, but it was a trip that I haven't made since moving to the UK, so it counts, right? And I took the Eurostar, which I've never done before!

The weekend started with a perfect, sunny Saturday in London. For a couple months, Alex had been trying to get me to go to Broadway Market with her some Saturday morning, but I'd been working or she'd been busy and it hadn't worked out. But since my train to Paris wasn't until the afternoon, we jumped on the opportunity to check out the market, which is walking distance from her flat. The weather was amazing and we had a really, really nice time. I spent all my cash on silly, little artsy things, like stickers made from artsy polaroid photographs. Alex bought quality foodstuffs. We walked all the way down to the end of the market before I realized that I'd been there before, possibly twice. Ha! What a goof.


From Bethnal Green tube station, I headed to St. Pancras to catch the Eurostar. It was very exciting! I just barely made it! They started boarding as soon as I got there. The journey was uneventful. I did not follow through on my promise to Tim to have a cocktail on the train. Instead, I read comics and slept, despite the fact that it was only a 2 hour ride.




When I got to Paris, I was surprised at how disoriented I felt trying to navigate the Metro. I mean, I have traveled back and forth across the world, alone; I lived in France for a year; I know the London Underground like the back of my hand; I've been to Africa, for goodness sake! How could the Paris subway system throw me for such a loop? I tell you how: Because, of all the countries in the world, France cares the least about whether you reach the destination you were aiming for.

Anyway, I reached my destination without trouble. Jillian rented this gorgeous apartment in the very fashionable and trendy Marais neighborhood. For an hour, I just kept saying, "Wow, this is AMAZING!" We snacked on some baguette, cheese, and salami, then got dressed up for a Saturday night on the town. After wandering for a little while and asking random strangers where to go out, we finally found a bar a short distance from our flat. It was called "Bar Circus," cuz it was next to the ornate Cirque D'Hiver (Winter Circus) building. They played fun Latin music and we befriended the bartender, Alex, and asked him where we should go out from there. As Jillian is more ballsy than me, but doesn't speak French, she would grab a passing stranger and say, "Excusez-moi..." That was my cue to jump in with the mad French skillz, which were much rustier than I had hoped. After we'd been there about an hour, a group of young people got up to leave and Jillian grabbed one of the girls. "Excusez-moi," she started. I stuttered out a query about where they were headed, but the girl's answer completely befuddled me. "Pardon?" I asked. "Just come with us," she replied.

So we followed a group of strangers to the subway and on to a nightclub that played the kind of oldies you wish would just die already. Our new friends had all gone to university together in Toulouse, and were super friendly and welcoming. I very quickly got plastered, though of course I didn't realize it at the time, and we danced and chatted the night away, although somehow I don't think I did much talking. Or listening. I'm not really sure how I passed the time.

We slept late the next day, although I was up every hour or so battling a severe hangover. Since it was Sunday and everything was closed, we decided to go shopping. In France, stores aren't open on Sundays, except in Le Marais, which I suspect might have been one of the reasons Jillian decided to stay in that neighborhood! In one of the first shops, I spent 125€ on a silk top with lace trim that has SKULLS in the lace! Isn't that amazing?!? Yes, it is. Dinner was absolutely delicious buckwheat crepes in a very popular little creperie from Brittany.



On Day 2, we decided to go shopping. This time, we headed into the city, to the Galleries Lafayette where we perused the handbags and jewelry. Then we visited Coco Chanel's flagship store, where I became hyper aware of my holey and very dirty Converse sneakers. We checked out Herve Leger bandage dresses, then hit up Zara where I bought some ballet flats and a couple blouses. Jillian bought an awesome leather skirt and three pairs of shoes! Then we wandered towards the Champs Elysees, where we actually didn't do much shopping at all, but had some sisterly bonding and grabbed a quick drink before meeting up with Thomas, one of the people we had met on Saturday night.

Because he is foolish, Thomas picked as our meeting point a leather purse store near the Arc de Triomphe. Since he wasn't there when we arrived, of course we had to go in and have a look around. The "look" lasted quite a while and Jillian went home with another bag (she'd already bought 3 at the Galleries). But Thomas, who is very sweet, was very understanding. He walked us through a beautiful big park, then across town to Montmartre, where we ate a yummy, fancy dinner in a cute, tiny little restaurant that used to be an inn. After dinner, we walked up to the Sacre Coeur and got there just in time to watch the Eiffel Tower's hourly twinkle-fest.







On Day 3, since I was leaving in the afternoon, we decided to go shopping. We re-scoured Le Marais, convinced that we hadn't yet seen all the shops it had to offer. I bought a magnificent pair of deep red high heels that are slightly too high for me to be able to walk in. Oh well, just need to practice! Then I headed to the train station, and again felt like a fish out of water trying to ride the subway. At the train station, I had the awful run-in with UK border patrol which ruined my entire day and made me pout and cry on the entire journey home. But that doesn't matter, because I had an absolutely wonderful four days of shopping in Paris with my Bonus Sister. Yay!

Photos here.