This week

It’s another rainy day in London! My neighbors will be happy. They had a sprinkler going in their backyard this morning, because, you know, it’s been a whole two days since the last precipitation.

I’ve been m.i.a. this week. I would like to say it’s because my days have been full of Excitement! Adventure! But sadly, no, my days have been full of Organizing the apartment! Trying vainly to put together Ikea-esque-but-much-more-frustrating storage units! Researching volunteer opportunities! Attempting to pay council tax! Compound all that with my liver’s revolt against my increased alcohol consumption (when in Rome) and you have the perfect formula for writer fatigue.

We did have a wonderful Tuesday evening dinner with our new American friends. One of my bridesmaid’s cousins just moved here with her husband for his job – and they just got married last July too. And she’s from Vermont like Chris. Suffice to say, we had an absolute blast and I’m so happy/lucky to have a friend like that here already! Then Wednesday we had happy hour drinks with Chris’ office at a Bavarian bar. We consumed a HUGE amount of beer, and a liiiitttle bit of sausage. (The English do not mess around with their drinking by letting food interfere, let me tell you.) But most importantly I learned (after a lot of blank staring and looks of mutual incomprehension) that “Saturday week” means “next Saturday.” Luckily said-explainer was a lovely Irish girl who understands the difficulties of learning a new version of English because – apparently – the vocabulary in Ireland is as different from British English as American English is. And last night we had a delicious and very fancy dinner with Chris’ boss. But, just for the record, snails and pork belly taste divine separately, but they should never, ever share a plate. Period. (But boy was that pork belly amaaaazing. I’d go kill a pig this moment to have some more!)

So as you can see, my mornings have been ho-hum domestic and my evenings pretty darn fun. And now I’m about to go buck that morning-dullness trend by being very active, energetic, and TOURISTY while going to explore some South Kensington museums with a British friend who lives in London. Do not worry, I am going to embarrass the heck out of her by taking lots of pictures so I can share my adventures as a London tourist with you back at home.

I’m pretty sure I might embarrass her with my umbrella too. It’s very, very bright and flowery. I hope British people don’t take me as representative of Americans in general. Because I’m pretty sure I embarrass my American friends as well.

Cheers! Have a great weekend!