I haven't written in a while because I've been feeling kind of shitty. This whole no job thing sucks and blows! It's hard to enjoy a city as wonderful as London with no income! But I do make a pretty good go of it!
Even though these last few days have been hard last weekend was fantastic! First, Nathan and Kathy from home were here visiting some friends just outside of London in a town called Aylesbury (They lived there for a year a few years ago). I was invited out there for a BBQ on Friday night. When I got there Nathan met me a the train station and we pub crawled back to Scott and Lizzie's...It started to POUR just when the pubs were getting few and far between so I was soaked, but it was great! We had dinner (no BBQ, but lots of wine....maybe too much wine), I was having such a nice time I missed my train, but another couple that was there offered to drop me off at the tube station as they were going back to London. Fantastic!! Except I missed the last tube by 2 minutes and had to take the night bus home. That was a London experience in itself! It was like being on a pub crawl bus, the only sober person was the driver...I hope! About two hours into my night bus ride some kid behind me that I could see in the reflection of the window wasn't looking too hot...Sure enough he puked, no one ever batted an eye!!! He puked SIX TIMES!! It was pretty gross, I was glad I only had another hour to go...I hate transit. There was also puke running down the side of the bus from the upper deck. Gotta love night buses. But I made it home safely even while drunk texting Natasha.
Saturday I was going to lay low, but Kathy called to see if I wanted to come with them to a show. I didn't want to miss that opportunity so I went with them to see "We Will Rock You" the musical co-written by Brian May of Queen. It was.....interesting. The first 20 minutes were stupid strange, but it got better. Then the Queen propaganda scene kind of put me off again, but all in all I enjoyed it. The female lead was amazing and she made it totally worth it.
Sunday was another great day. I met Julia (my friend from Germany that I haven't seen since June 2000) and her boyfriend Andreas and we went for Dim Sum in Chinatown. Who would have guessed that Dim Sum would have been the first food that tasted like home! Then we went for frozen yogurt at a place in Soho called Snog. It was so good! but Julia didn't know what a snog was and when I tried to explain it I made all the staff laugh with my phrasing....It was so nice to see her and it was so strange that even after nine years neither of us had changed!
Monday and Tuesday I spent with Liz Hobday!!! We met up and wet to the Tate Modern on Monday afternoon....I am not cool enough for modern art. A rope on the floor and a mirror on the wall are hardly awe inspiring.....When we went for lunch we had to take a second for the fact that we were sitting on a patio on the Thames for lunch instead of at home...It was totally surreal. We walked around the embankment and over to Leicester Square (where I took Liz for her first Snog...take that however you want) and then Liz went to a show with her friend Aime. The next day we went on a London Bus Tour. I have to say that the 20 quid pricetag made me a little nauseous, but it was 100% worth it. We went all over central London and had a great time just hanging out together. At the end of the day when we parted ways I just gave a quick goodbye like I would at home, then when I sat on the tube it dawned on me that I wouldn't be seeing her until October and felt quite sad that I didn't give a proper goodbye. Living here really has become surreal.
Wednesday I went with a friend to the Natural History Museum, but found that it hadn't changed in the 12 years since I was last there so we left right away. I figured that there was so much in London that I hadn't seen I didn't quite need to do repeats just yet. So we went over the road to the Vicotria and Albert Museum and it was quite interesting, but having just done a museum with Liz I got bored pretty quickly and we left after about an hour. I bought a monkey in the gift shop for a few pounds...That was the highlight of the musuem...I love monkeys. Then we went to see Bruno. Hilarious! Then we stopped in the pub for a drink and left 5 drinks later, good day all in all.
Yesterday my brokeness sunk in and so I've stayed home the last two days to conserve money, hopefully a job will magically appear next week and all this stress will melt into another form. It was kind of funny today that when I was talking to my Mom on skype today that I was crying because I didn't want to come home. I don't think any of us had our money on that one!!
I know that things will get better, but I'm too impatient for that. I want things sorted out NOW!!! Oh well, hopefully the next blog will be details on my amazing new flatmates and fun, fabulous job..
..Not my plane arrival times.....
24 July, 2009
13 July, 2009
Sigh....Job Hunting
Well, not too much has been going on. My job hunt is sucking the life out of me. I have been applying for tons and getting very little back. I figured out that I have spent over £160 on travel costs alone for these damn interviews....But something will come. Man, being positive is just not in my nature ; )
Things aren't too bad. I went out to Somerset on Thursday night to see the Hannigans. Michael and the children were staying with his sister (Zaf's mum). They were supposed to leave on Sunday, but I found out when I got there that their flight had been changed to Friday morning, so I only got a few hours with them, but it was great. Zafar cheated a win at Risk and crushed three small children in the game....It was so nice to be around people that know me so well. I didn't realise how much I missed that until then. It was nice to have a cuddle with Livs and Euan...Not Conor, he is now taller than me and much too cool for a hug.
Saturday I went out to Oxfordshire (about an hour away by train) for an interview to be a nanny. It was out in the country which has it's pros and cons and it's not sole care, the mother is home...Which also has it's pros and cons....
Decided to come to the BUNAC office to see if they had any different jobs and they have one that I'd be perfect for. It's as a student coordinator for a local college (maybe an ESL college? I'mnot sure...I should check that out)...So pretty much just planning events and pub nights for students. I'm custom made for that. There was also a job for the BBC which would be heaven! It's for Radio1 and 1Xtra (the two 'young' stations) being a station sound manager, so basically making sure that the image of the stations are preserved and some promo. Very similar to what I did at Corus but soooo much cooler.
I'm really getting antsy about finding a job, so I hope one comes this week....
Nathan and Cathy are coming today (friends from home) so I'm hoping to meet up with them for a drink this week, also Julia (from Germany) is coming to visit her boyfirend who just moved here and we are supposed to get together too. I haven't seen her since she left Canada in June of 2000! I'm really excited to see her. She's a doctor now!
This is a relatively short post as I haven't been doing much but moaning about job hunting. Hopefully the next one will be much more entertaining!!!
Love to all!
Things aren't too bad. I went out to Somerset on Thursday night to see the Hannigans. Michael and the children were staying with his sister (Zaf's mum). They were supposed to leave on Sunday, but I found out when I got there that their flight had been changed to Friday morning, so I only got a few hours with them, but it was great. Zafar cheated a win at Risk and crushed three small children in the game....It was so nice to be around people that know me so well. I didn't realise how much I missed that until then. It was nice to have a cuddle with Livs and Euan...Not Conor, he is now taller than me and much too cool for a hug.
Saturday I went out to Oxfordshire (about an hour away by train) for an interview to be a nanny. It was out in the country which has it's pros and cons and it's not sole care, the mother is home...Which also has it's pros and cons....
Decided to come to the BUNAC office to see if they had any different jobs and they have one that I'd be perfect for. It's as a student coordinator for a local college (maybe an ESL college? I'mnot sure...I should check that out)...So pretty much just planning events and pub nights for students. I'm custom made for that. There was also a job for the BBC which would be heaven! It's for Radio1 and 1Xtra (the two 'young' stations) being a station sound manager, so basically making sure that the image of the stations are preserved and some promo. Very similar to what I did at Corus but soooo much cooler.
I'm really getting antsy about finding a job, so I hope one comes this week....
Nathan and Cathy are coming today (friends from home) so I'm hoping to meet up with them for a drink this week, also Julia (from Germany) is coming to visit her boyfirend who just moved here and we are supposed to get together too. I haven't seen her since she left Canada in June of 2000! I'm really excited to see her. She's a doctor now!
This is a relatively short post as I haven't been doing much but moaning about job hunting. Hopefully the next one will be much more entertaining!!!
Love to all!
04 July, 2009
And by tomorrow, I meant next week
I'm so tired and there is so much to talk about this week that this will be a long, rambley entry....So I stopped writing, then caught hell from Devon, so fresh page.
Sunday, July 5:
Wimbledon was amazing. Aimee and I had a hell of a time getting to Southfields due to underground maintenence. We left at 4:45am and didn't get there until 7-ish. We got into the queue and as it was Saturday and the Brit's own Andy Murray was playing it was crazy busy. We got numbers 8598 and 8599 and we were pretty dissapointed, but then one of the stewards said that we would be getting in for sure. We hung out and waited, and a few hours later Aimee asked another steward how many they were letting in and they said between 9,000 and 9,500!! So we were definately going! It was so cool to see the schedule (pics on facebook) with Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray playing. We sat on a huge hill outside of court #1 called Murray Mound (or Murray Mount according to some papers, maybe it is...I can't tell with the accent) with 8,000 other people and watched tennis on a big screen TV with jugs of pimms. It was fantastic!! Definately an amazing experience! I went a little crazy in the gift shop and bought a few things but my favourite by far is the notepad that says "Does love mean nothing in tennis?" I love the impulse items!!!
I stayed in Sunday - Tuesday trying to conserve money. Wednesday was Canada Day and I met Zafar in trafalgar square for the party that "Canada" puts on. Ran into Craig Ridley from high school. Small world. I saw a sign a week or so before saying that there would be Canadian beer so I was excited for a Kokanee or Molson product. Hell, I would have settled for Labatt's Blue...But no, they had Sleemans....Zafar and I had one and it was disgusting as ever. I can't believe this is the beer they choose to represent Canada to London....Brutal. Thank goodness there was a Tesco over the road and the security guards were charmed by my friendly Canadian-ness (I like to think that, but in reality they just didn't care....But I am very charming) and let us buy booze across the street then bring it into the square. Six cans of Pimms later Aimee showed up and I didn't really think it then, but I was pretty tipsy as things are a bit blurry, I know over priced fish and chips were involved....
Friday I went for another interview and really liked the family. Really cute kids and pretty laid back so fingers crossed for that one....Went to a movie on Friday night it was interesting. The concession boy took a liking to me and kept giving me scratch tickets to win a free small pop...weird...It's so strange here. You pick your seat when you buy your ticket and they have ushers. The theatre probably fit about 50 people and the screen was about the size of our...okay, Mama Kat's... free 52" TV, but there was an usher. They also have premium seating. You pay £2 extra and you can have a cup holder....The British LOVE the class system!!! Damn me and my second class citizen-ness.
Then, while I was waiting for the bus home I witnessed a woman get barred from a pub with her four year old son running around like a maniac outside, then she got on her phone and cursed the pub up and down while completely ignoring her son. Classy. Women like her are why I couldn't be a social worker. I'd just want to save them all from trashy mothers.
Saturday I had two interviews the first one was good, cute boys, decent location but not as good as the day before. The second was absolutely ridiculous. On the phone and in the email the woman told me she was right by the overground station. Great, so I took the overground to the end and couldn't find her station, then had to take a train, then a bus and walk for 25 mintues. When I get there they tell me this big long schpiel about how they talked to agencies and are paying the going rate for a live in au pair....£60/week. BULLSHIT! I was so surprised I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. I just traveled to the edge of London, seriously! I saw farmland!! I told them that there is no way I could live on that. The travelcard alone would cost more and they were pretty defensive and had arguments ready like "We interviewed two other girls from the UK and they had no problems with the salary." I laughed and told them that I had 19 years experience and there was no way I was working for £2/hour. They said, yes but all your food and bills are included and I said that yes, that is expected of a live in postition....
Then he told me that I wasn't going to find another job that paid better (this was all very ammicable, not snotty or anything...my side was more bewildered amused than outraged, nice change for me I think) And I told him that I wasn't interviewing for jobs that paid less that £150/week and they told me that I should take those jobs. To which I replied...Yes, I know. (ok, maybe that was a little cheeky). Then they offered me their sitting room to relax in because I came so far...I really wanted to reply, no thanks, but can I have the last 3.5 hours and £8 that I wasted getting here? SO ANNOYED!!!
Got home and hung out for a bit, then got an email from iTunes saying that I had won tickets to see Snow Patrol for tonight!!! I had seen the advertisment on facebook for the last few days talking about iTunes Festival it's something like 62 bands over 31 days it's been going for a couple of years, but since facebook adverts sell miracle weightloss and things I didn't pay much attention. Then I went into the iTunes store online because I wanted to change my country from Canada to the UK so I could get some of the music that doesn't come out in Canada and I saw it advertised there....Win tickets yada yada yada. So I had to sign up as a fan of the iTunes Festival, which I am also wary about, but it was worth a shot. They have bands like Oasis, Bloc Party, Kasabian and of course Snow Patrol...Lots of others, but I only entered the ones that I really wanted to see and got an email saying I won for Snow Patrol! So Aimee and I are going tonight. It actually works out quite well because I have an interview not too far from there at 3pm so I'll just hang out until I meet Aimee!! I really hope it's not something dodgy, I'm really excited for it!
This week there isn't too much going on. Hannigans are in Somerset visiting Michael's mom and sister and I am going there on Thursday night and all day Friday to hang out, so excited to see them!
There Devon....Are you happy!? Slave driver!
Sunday, July 5:
Wimbledon was amazing. Aimee and I had a hell of a time getting to Southfields due to underground maintenence. We left at 4:45am and didn't get there until 7-ish. We got into the queue and as it was Saturday and the Brit's own Andy Murray was playing it was crazy busy. We got numbers 8598 and 8599 and we were pretty dissapointed, but then one of the stewards said that we would be getting in for sure. We hung out and waited, and a few hours later Aimee asked another steward how many they were letting in and they said between 9,000 and 9,500!! So we were definately going! It was so cool to see the schedule (pics on facebook) with Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray playing. We sat on a huge hill outside of court #1 called Murray Mound (or Murray Mount according to some papers, maybe it is...I can't tell with the accent) with 8,000 other people and watched tennis on a big screen TV with jugs of pimms. It was fantastic!! Definately an amazing experience! I went a little crazy in the gift shop and bought a few things but my favourite by far is the notepad that says "Does love mean nothing in tennis?" I love the impulse items!!!
I stayed in Sunday - Tuesday trying to conserve money. Wednesday was Canada Day and I met Zafar in trafalgar square for the party that "Canada" puts on. Ran into Craig Ridley from high school. Small world. I saw a sign a week or so before saying that there would be Canadian beer so I was excited for a Kokanee or Molson product. Hell, I would have settled for Labatt's Blue...But no, they had Sleemans....Zafar and I had one and it was disgusting as ever. I can't believe this is the beer they choose to represent Canada to London....Brutal. Thank goodness there was a Tesco over the road and the security guards were charmed by my friendly Canadian-ness (I like to think that, but in reality they just didn't care....But I am very charming) and let us buy booze across the street then bring it into the square. Six cans of Pimms later Aimee showed up and I didn't really think it then, but I was pretty tipsy as things are a bit blurry, I know over priced fish and chips were involved....
Friday I went for another interview and really liked the family. Really cute kids and pretty laid back so fingers crossed for that one....Went to a movie on Friday night it was interesting. The concession boy took a liking to me and kept giving me scratch tickets to win a free small pop...weird...It's so strange here. You pick your seat when you buy your ticket and they have ushers. The theatre probably fit about 50 people and the screen was about the size of our...okay, Mama Kat's... free 52" TV, but there was an usher. They also have premium seating. You pay £2 extra and you can have a cup holder....The British LOVE the class system!!! Damn me and my second class citizen-ness.
Then, while I was waiting for the bus home I witnessed a woman get barred from a pub with her four year old son running around like a maniac outside, then she got on her phone and cursed the pub up and down while completely ignoring her son. Classy. Women like her are why I couldn't be a social worker. I'd just want to save them all from trashy mothers.
Saturday I had two interviews the first one was good, cute boys, decent location but not as good as the day before. The second was absolutely ridiculous. On the phone and in the email the woman told me she was right by the overground station. Great, so I took the overground to the end and couldn't find her station, then had to take a train, then a bus and walk for 25 mintues. When I get there they tell me this big long schpiel about how they talked to agencies and are paying the going rate for a live in au pair....£60/week. BULLSHIT! I was so surprised I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. I just traveled to the edge of London, seriously! I saw farmland!! I told them that there is no way I could live on that. The travelcard alone would cost more and they were pretty defensive and had arguments ready like "We interviewed two other girls from the UK and they had no problems with the salary." I laughed and told them that I had 19 years experience and there was no way I was working for £2/hour. They said, yes but all your food and bills are included and I said that yes, that is expected of a live in postition....
Then he told me that I wasn't going to find another job that paid better (this was all very ammicable, not snotty or anything...my side was more bewildered amused than outraged, nice change for me I think) And I told him that I wasn't interviewing for jobs that paid less that £150/week and they told me that I should take those jobs. To which I replied...Yes, I know. (ok, maybe that was a little cheeky). Then they offered me their sitting room to relax in because I came so far...I really wanted to reply, no thanks, but can I have the last 3.5 hours and £8 that I wasted getting here? SO ANNOYED!!!
Got home and hung out for a bit, then got an email from iTunes saying that I had won tickets to see Snow Patrol for tonight!!! I had seen the advertisment on facebook for the last few days talking about iTunes Festival it's something like 62 bands over 31 days it's been going for a couple of years, but since facebook adverts sell miracle weightloss and things I didn't pay much attention. Then I went into the iTunes store online because I wanted to change my country from Canada to the UK so I could get some of the music that doesn't come out in Canada and I saw it advertised there....Win tickets yada yada yada. So I had to sign up as a fan of the iTunes Festival, which I am also wary about, but it was worth a shot. They have bands like Oasis, Bloc Party, Kasabian and of course Snow Patrol...Lots of others, but I only entered the ones that I really wanted to see and got an email saying I won for Snow Patrol! So Aimee and I are going tonight. It actually works out quite well because I have an interview not too far from there at 3pm so I'll just hang out until I meet Aimee!! I really hope it's not something dodgy, I'm really excited for it!
This week there isn't too much going on. Hannigans are in Somerset visiting Michael's mom and sister and I am going there on Thursday night and all day Friday to hang out, so excited to see them!
There Devon....Are you happy!? Slave driver!
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