can you crump???

A good many persons were wondering what crumpets were...its funny how everyone heard of crumpets before, yet i never heard of it until i got here...now, i have them most mornings with my tea...its hard to describe, but i tell most people who ask that its a cross between an english muffin and a waffle...best served with butter as seen above...soaks right through...mmm...mmm...goooood...

the "heat wave"...

so...we had no idea until we got here...but there is no air conditioning anywhere here...most office buildings have air conditioning but not all...most stores and restaurants have air conditioning but not all...and the majority of flats and houses appear to NOT have air conditioning including our flat...and there is no airconditioning at all on the TUBE!

obviously, the main reason is that during the "summer"...it rarely hits above 85 degrees...it primarly stays in the 70-80 range. The issue is whenever it gets above 80...it is a freakin' sauna everywhere because the buildings here weren't really made for great circulation. So, electric fans are just blasting everywhere here...and the tube is a freakin' sweat shop...add another 10-15 degrees and the air temperature on the tube is near 90 to 95 with barely any air circulation...add the fact that everyone on the tube is wearing a suit and is crammed in like sardines...and it is sweaty and smelly mania...

so, people complain all the time that there is no real "summer" here...but i can't even imagine if it ever hit the Chicago summer where it hits 90 degrees constantly...if that ever happened, people would be keeling over on the tube and all around london...i now know why men carry handkerchiefs...its because they have to wipe the sweat off their brow...there are some professionals that get off the tube that are soaked in sweat and its only 8am...great way to start the day...

but that is the way off life...

i guess we'll get the benefits later because we don't have to experience the chicago winters...yech.

number 7...number 7...

so, we went to Ascot yesterday with a group of my co-workers...good ol' horse racing...we got all dressed up...it was a good british experience...princess got to wear a big ol' hat that we got at JL...probably one of the only times she will ever wear it...but its weird seeing everyone all dressed up...all prim and proper...we saw some big hats but nothing too crazy...there were definitely a bunch of drunkards in the pleb area...just funny because the drunkards were generally over 40...

we finally drank pimms and lemonade...however, we didn't expect that they would put limes, lemon, oranges, and cucumber in it...the british sangria i guess...it was good...but then i just went to cider the rest of the day...

so, we definitely lost more than twice what we won...but we won on the number 7 horse for a couple of races in a row...then for the big race of the day, we gambled on number 7 again and lost...so we ditched number 7...but of course for the next race, number 7 won again...geez luiz...

the first night at 4a...

we are here...first night at our nice little flat...just getting settled in...and for our first dinner in da hood we went to a place that a co-worker recommended...this malaysian/singapore restaurant down the street...myra had her favorite singapore dish "haiwanese chicken rice"...and...surprisingly...they had one filipino dish on the menu...good ol' chicken and pork adobo...and it was pretty good...definitely a keeper restaurant...

there are so many restaurants and stores down the street...basically we can hit about 50 restaurants within a 10 minute walk...tons of italian, asian (japansese, chinese, of course indian), and fast food (mcdonalds, burger king, KFC, pizza hut)...there are two asain grocery stores down the street...myra has already overdosed on her favorite kalamansi juice drink...and of course tons of designer stores to small boutiques to shady establishements...

we are ready for visitors...with people slowly chiming in and making travel arrangements...yay.

it will be good times and despite the size of our place, we think people will like it cause it definitely is cozy and its in a perfect location to get the true london experience...

a good meal at...

So, we've been meaning to eat here since our first day in London as it's down the street from us...so, we finally had dinner here tonight (ribs for princess and fish n' chips for waterloo) as its one of our last nights before we move...the name of the place can speak for itself...



Oddly enough...this bank was directly across the street...

.needy.call.

so i guess waterloo's needy call for chicago updates has been ignored. how rude!

anyways, in other news, we found a flat! and it's in a famous area of london. HOLLA! it's tiny, and i have a feeling i may feel clausterphobic, but it's really cute. we move this weekend, and we will be reunited with gus early next week. WOOHOO!

we got the filipino/italian/chinese/american couple's wedding invite yesterday. i can't believe how fast it got here. very exciting!

sorry so short, have to get back to work. more details later. ugh.

where are you???

so...it doesn't seem quite fair that we try to put something interesting on this blog...yet we don't hear from any of our readers...and what is going on in their lives...so, write us...tell us something interesting...tell us something funny...make fun of something...insult someone...give us some gossip...anything...entertain me!

lions and tigers and bears...oh my.

so...there is a series on the Virgin channel here that has a group of scientists/adverturers/crazy folk hunting for paranormal creatures and monsters all around the world...the show is simply named "The Monster Hunter"...this week's show has them hunting for the Yeti. Sweet.

laughing gas...

cause it smells so bad that you just have to laugh out loud...yes folks...its pan-european B to the O...

accidental sightseeing...

So, we checked out a flat up north...and decided to walk around the neighborhood...and ultimately towards Regents Park...we took the quickest route on the map which was down Abbey Road...after a few minutes, we discussed whether this was THE Abbey Road...we concluded that it wasn't as it was just an uninspiring road and there must be another Abbey Road somewhere in the UK...it just couldn't be it, you know what i mean...

of course after 10 minutes of walking, we were proved wrong...we took a pic of the studio...



Around the studio was a white fence in which people would write whatever...here is a very recent one we found from the motherland...in true filipino english...



and of course we walked across the famous crosswalk in front (pretty funny how many tourists were there waiting to walk across...truly annoying the driving locals)...since the album cover isn't quite ingrained in my head (and I couldn't stand in the middle of the street), I took a quick picture of it...



here is the real deal...

.those.italians.

we both got off work today at a reasonable hour (just after 6:30pm). so we decided to try this italian restaurant close to our 'home', called sole mio (btw - everytime i say that to myself, i think if jim carrey in whatever movie that was where he sang: 'aassssssssssolle mio!')

anyways, we didn't know how italian it would be until we walked in. everyone who worked there spoke italian. and they were hard workers, running around all over the place, each with their own tasks to keep the restaurant running like a well oiled machine. the main guy, who looked like he owned the place, was in charge of receipts and collecting payment. oh, and he was also in charge of ordering everyone around. the 2nd guy seemed to be the 1st guy's right hand man. he took the orders, and gave them to the kitchen (more on the kitchen later). then there were about 4 or 5 women who did the following: delivered food/drinks, cleared the tables, set the tables and basically ran around making sure everyone had everything they ordered/needed. it looked like a family run business, and the girls looked really young.

back to the kitchen. keep in mind there is no room in london. everything is basically on top of each other. so their process for delivering the orders to the kitchen is the following:

1. take order
2. fold up the piece of paper
3. attach a numbered clothespin to the piece of paper
4. drop the clothespined piece of paper down a tube
5. hit the tube to alert the kitchen staff that they have a new order
6. (optional) yell down the tube with additional instructions.

what does this tube look like? try to spot it in this pic below. post your guesses in comments...

ready? GO!

What da Tao?

ok...so we had roundtable meetings today with the head M&A partners for our Chicago, London, Frankfurt, and Paris offices to discuss how we work together to market the project I am here for to a pan-european basis. So, it was four partners and me. Anyways, after the workday, we went to this cocktail reception for this London legal firm in order to do some networking. After a couple of hours, a few drinks, and finger food, we were still hungry and decided to hit up the closest nice restaurant we could find. We were by St. Paul's Cathedral and found this weird Italian/Chinese fusion restaurant. It was called Tao something...I forget because it wasn't memorable. We looked at the menu and we couldn't find one dish that combined Italian and Chinese food. It was either an Italian dish or a Chinese dish. For instance, I ordered fish soup appetizer and lamb shank on a bed of risotto...while one of the partners ordered lettuce wrapped basil chicken appetizer and penne with spicy sausage. And we all had proper utensils...AND of course chopsticks as well. It was so weird. It just reminded me of my favorite Italian/Filipino/Chinese/American couple and how they should never ever open up a restaurant like this (hint: the guy in the couple is 34 years old and doesn't mind being called ChaChi).

And one other thing. The foreign language speaking skills of many educated Europeans amaze me. The head partner of our frankfurt office grew up in Germany but was actually born in Turkey to a Turkish mother and a Greek father. So, he is fluent in german, turkish, greek, spanish, french, and of course english. While the paris partner ONLY speaks french, portuguese, spanish, and english. The Chicago partner, London partner, and I all just speak english...how sad.

.blackberry.this.

we finally got our new blackberries! i got the curve, and archie got another pearl. we had some issues setting it up, and then fixing the browsing on it, but they're both back up and running. now i finally have access to the outside world when i'm inside the vault. woohoo!

to add on to waterloo's post below, archie's work happy hour was some good times. the bar we went to was packed, and it was good for me to actually talk to people who actually live in london. my days at work, are spent mostly talking to people who live in chicago, singapore, or hong kong. and even then we're mostly just talking about work. boooorrring. i get asked about work a lot though, by his co-workers, so i'm always a debbie downer with my responses...don't worry, i'll fix that. i think from now on, i'll just say, 'oh, it's fine. it's just work.' i just hope 'work' doesn't drive me to start drinking on monday afternoon anymore.

anyways, back to happy hour. apparently the bar we went to, is one of the more popular bars in the area; i can see why, they have a good mix of cocktails, and the waitresses actually are really nice and apologize and bring your extra bottles of beer if we've been waiting too long for our drinks. or maybe the waitress was just hot for archie's co-worker when she brought us 2 free san miguels. ha! i ended up having 3 or 4 cocktails, and it's nice to be the only girl talking to archie and his main 3 co-workers (the ones within his group), because the guys always offer to buy you drinks. don't worry, i'm living it up while i can, because i know it will end soon. that's what happens when you turn 30, right?? i had 3 cocktails named, 'the long pause'...maybe it's because it took a while for me to realize that i was drunk. leaving the bar, and the tube ride home was a blur, but the chinese food we had delivered was deeeelish.

we're starting our 3rd week here, and we're a lot more settled in. i'm getting used to our london dryer, which i hope we don't have when we move into our permanent flat. sorry for the blurriness, but i don't have our point and shoot camera here :

wish us luck this week in finding a flat! after we get that sorted, we can finalize the plans to be reunited with our little gustardo.

Oh, say can you see...

Happy Fourth of July everyone...obviously, its a celebration of our independence from the Brits...as such, nobody acknowledges it over here...i just heard grumblings around the office today regarding how it was annoying not being able to get a hold of anybody in the States cause it was a holiday...

Well, we silently celebrated it anyway...we went to my offices' "happy hour"...three hours and seven beers later (and late dinner delivery of chinese food)...i passed out on the bed at 11pm...and now I am wide awake at 4am in the morning...so quiet here, but Stateside its loud as usual due to the fireworks...

oh yeah, don't forget the two glasses of wine I had for lunch...

Luckily, I got to monitor the cubs beating the cards 2 to 1...the cubs bullpen is a little shaky...but got the job done...the cards have a pretty strong team and should be the wildcard when all is said and done. Either way, the cards and cubs will probably face each other for the NL pennant..they have the two best records in the NL and deserve it as they definitely are the top two teams...hands down...but the brewers are coming on fast and are rumored to be interested in sabathia...stayed tuned folks...

My office has a cricket team...'nuff said.

I'm going to detoxify this weekend...funny how i say that because i drink way too much during the week with my co-workers...that i need the weekend to cleanse my blood stream...i'm a lightweight apparently though as they want me to hit three pints at lunch time one day...and be able to work in the afternoon...no way that's going to happen...but two pints has been done, but that's pushing it...

thanks to abby for getting a videocam...we were able to see our little buddy on skype...fun watching him on camera running around...and reacting to our voices...looking around trying to figure out where we are...can't wait to see the little guy...but he is in good hands...here is a random picture (i put his little bed on the top edge of the couch...and he jumped right up and laid in it)...