Living Abroad

So I forgot to post this as I was living in England...might as well post it now before i forget these English-isms..

• The standard greeting is 'You awright?' instead of "Hey, How's it going?"

• Gas here is now £1.11/L (thats ~$2.22/L); i don't even want to remember how much we spent to fill our gas tank

• At work, its customary to ask everyone around you if they want tea and then you make as many as people said 'Yes'.... But I dont do this b/c I don't make tea very well.

• London (and combination of the Tube) is quite dirty..90% of the time when I come home from work and blow my nose, it's black-ish.

• The Tube (Bakerloo line at Piccadilly Circus) is freaking HOT in the afternoon and people packed like sardines...yes, this means some serious BO floating around.

• London is a super place to act as a jump-off point to other cities around Europe. Budget carriers like Ryanair or Easyjet fly out of the smaller airports (Luton, Stansted, Heathwick) and give very good deals...that we haven't been able to get since we travel peak-time (weekend).

• Chemist = Pharmacist; Surgery = Doctor's Office; Boot = car trunk; Queue = lineup; Brolly = umbrella; Lorry = truck; Jumper = sweater

• Roundabouts are way better than 4-way stops; keeps the traffic flow moving much better and funner(?) to drive!
  

So this past weekend, my parents and aunt and uncle came over to Europe for their 10-day adventure to Cork, Paris and London. They had a great time and it was even better that they got to stay with us at least one night before they left back home.

• When they first arrived in London, Michelle and I met up with them for a couple nights after work for dinner and to find out their initial impressions of London. Too many people, dirty.

• We took them to Stonehenge on Saturday and we saw it the 'budget' way..haha. Look at the fence in the picture and you should be able to figure out what I mean.

• Afterwards we went to check out Salisbury nearby and walked around the cathedral area for some good ol' English countryside-town time.

• Had dinner and drinks (Pimms anyone?) at Belvedere Arms in Ascot..yep long day after they came into London from Paris on a 2.5 hr train ride + 1 hr van ride from Kings Cross.

• Sunday was a luggage-packing day but more importantly, it was a day to go shopping at Marks and Spencer..woohoo!

• Sadly, my family had to leave after only a short time with us but I'm sure they had a good time. To be honest, i think the best time was that we got to 'hang out' with each other after a few months of not seeing each other. Can't wait to go back home in a few weeks!
  

• We also visited our family living in the Chelsea area. Very very nice to catch up (haven't seen them since the Philippines 3 yrs ago!) and got my butt kicked playing the Wii...against a soon-to-be 11 yr old lol! We will definitely go back and visit again and are trying to find a time to get them to our place out in the country.

• Someone's birthday is coming up!! An aspiring fashion designer and huge Chelsea fan!! See ya soon!
  

Just a short note to keep track of the dates/courses i've played and any quick general comments:

2008-06-17 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers); average course
2008-06-25 - Chobham Golf Club (solo); short layout, hard fairways
2008-07-08 - Pine Ridge Golf Centre (w/Michelle's co-workers)
2008-07-15 - West Hill Golf Club (solo); excellent course condition, fairways/greens in great shape
2008-07-16 - Pyrford Golf Club (solo); links-style course, great condition, looooong round as i was trapped behind a tournament and all foursomes..ugh
2008-07-27 - Milford Golf Club (w/Michelle's co-workers); hard, dry fairways, short course but challenging; shot a 92 and lost by 8.

Oh..and Happy Bday to me today. Getting alot of well wishes from great friends and it's only 11:00am back home!

So after being here for the past few weeks, I realized that this place is pretty damn expensive. For people back home, i try to compare it by saying, "..imagine living in Toronto, with the usual cost of living/stuff but cut your salary in half."

Really. That's how i've been experiencing it so far so I made the decision to look for a job and earn some British Pounds. It also helps us do all the things we want to do while we're here and not go broke in the process (travelling within Europe, dining out at nice restaurants, shopping..)

Recruiters. Hate em, love some of em, hate the rest of em more. Seriously, i have had some interesting experiences with recruiters over here and I'm sure its not a UK thing but the whole dog-eat-dog world of recruiting definitely turned me off the last few of them and I was not being very co-operative. But I guess, i should look at it as I have skills that employers need and they recognize that and i could be a good recruit for them. Anyways, i met some good ones and some retarted ones but i can admit that i did need their help.

Anyways, had 5 (apparently) very interested clients, 4 set me up with interviews, 1 i was underqualified for, 1 i was overqualified for and the 2 others gave me 2nd interviews immediately after the 1st round.

Glad to say, that I accepted one of the offers and will now be a working citizen of the UK.

Now to figure out how taxes and how Canadian laws come into play...ugh.

(The working couple..?)