This is me being positive......

I have been back for 12 days. And I have to be honest. It is not going well. I am still job hunting and trying to remember that something will come. Something will come. Today I am struggling. I spoke with Pawel and the children on Skype and it was enough to make me cry....a lot. I really miss them! So I spent the day applying for jobs and have sent out about 15 CVs today alone. That brings my total to just over 40 sent out in the last month. Hopefully the phone will be ringing with an interview soon.
It's 8pm and I am really missing the London Life. I find myself wishing that I could put on some fake eyelashes and go out on the town. Then I remember that I am in Calgary and unless I wanted to go to Tim Horton's there isn't much around on a Tuesday.

Apparently I have turned into a self indulgent blogger that is just typing whatever is coming into my head....well ALMOST everything.....I need to think of a new name for the blog. Suggestions welcome!

One Week Left

First off, TENERIFE! My first ever beach holiday! Not that I set foot on a beach, but I did see a few beaches. The sand in Tenerife is black due to the volcano in the centre of the island, so that was cool to see....Not touch...But we did see it!
I went with a friend from Regent's, Erin, and a friend of hers that I have been out with quite a few times, Tamsin. Tamsin's flatmate KP also came for the first few days. We spent an entire week by the pool. We did venture out a few times to learn that Tenerife is where people from Northern England go on holiday. I think we met three people who weren't British. And wow. Tenerife is tacky. In the end we were grateful for the tourist tackiness though. There was absolutely no guilt on missing out on culture by staying by the pool!

Landing at Luton airport on Tuesday caused me to have a mini (major) panic attack and cried for about twenty minutes because I realised that it was my last time flying into London for a while. The cold fish of reality punched me in the face and it hurt. A lot. I know my Mum and Nana are upset that I am not excited to move back to Canada, but I can't help it. These last two years have been absolutely amazing. The opportunities I have had and the people I have met have changed my life and helped me to become a better person.

In two years I have:
Watched some of the world's best tennis stars play at Wimbledon

Seen Snow Patrol, Train, Robbie Williams and Athlete in amazing, intimate venues and Stereophonics and Kids in Glass Houses at Cardiff City Stadium

Stood at centre pitch in Wembley Stadium and watched U2

Seen Wicked (twice), Phantom (even though the Phantom was played by a Canadian :p), Shrek the Musical(terrible), Les Mis, We Will Rock You (also terrible), Lion King, Avenue Q (twice) and Priscilla in the West End

Travelled to Edinburgh, Bath, Stonehenge, Canterbury, Leeds Castle, Wells, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Ely, Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, Milan, Bergamo, Munich, Cardiff (and a lot of Wales), Brugge, Tenerife and so many more places

Rented a car and drove through three countries and back in one day

Moved six times (seven on Thursday)

and so, so much more


While I am trying to come to terms with being deported, I am trying very hard to look forward and I am excited about the next chapter in my life....I am trying to remember that everything happens for a reason and I will be fine....If only I could find a job!!

Brothers and Sisters

Lloyd came out to visit at the end of March for ten days, it was so great to see him! He arrived with lots of presents for the children and it was so much fun to watch them open them! He brought two Flames jerseys for the kids and when Piotrek opened it he said "I don't need this" (his new catch phrase....we hear it a lot now). I was so embarrassed and said "Piotr! When someone gives you a present you say thank you!" He replied with "Thank you....I don't need this". That was soon the catch phrase of Lloyd's visit!
On Thursday we saw Lloyd's friends' band play at a club in Islington, where the second catch phrase of the trip was "Let's hear it for me!" KJ kept saying it during the show and it still makes me laugh.
Friday morning we headed to Edinburgh because I had to work and attempted to drink the town dry...Brutal. Saturday was spent hungover, which was a shame because I really wanted Lloyd to be able to enjoy the city that I love so much.
After Edinburgh Lloyd went to Dublin to visit Gary and I headed back to London to the children waking up every morning asking "Where's Lloyd?"....He made quite an impression!

April was so busy with visitors and long weekends it is all such a blur! Over Easter Devon was taking a language class in Bremen, Germany so we decided to meet in Munich for our long weekend. It was so nice! Litres of beer and lots of pretzels (for me anyway....Devon is Celiac, so she stuck to wine and Easter chocolate)! We were able to meet up with Franzi who I hadn't seen since she visited my dear friend Julia in Canada in 2000. Franzi took us around Munich and to a wonderful Biergarten in the Englischgarten, tons of picnic tables along the edge of a lake, the weather was so beautiful while we were there and it was such a peaceful spot. Such a great way to spend our last night in Munich!

The following weekend was another four day weekend with the Royal Wedding on Friday and the first Bank Holiday of the year. I had been out the night before (fell face first in the middle of Charing Cross Road....It was messy!!) so I sadly missed the wedding, but enjoyed the empty streets, the only time I've ever seen London like a ghost town! I swear I saw a tumbleweed drift in front of the bus! On Saturday a friend from work and I went to Oxford for May Day. At 5.30am on 1 May there a boys choir sings from the tower of one of the schools there....I don't get understand the English....Rising at 5am to go hear the boys choir was amazing. Their voices were beautiful and the entire town came out to see it!....Or I assume that is how it happened if we had actually gotten out of bed.....But we didn't.

This week has also been insanely busy! My friend and Soul Mate (she made me put that) Jill from my first semester at Regent's came back to London for three days. We went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert for Jill's birthday. So camp, so FABULOUS! And they sold feather boas as souvenirs! I am know the proud owner of a hot pink feather boa....Good life choices here....

This week has also proved exhausting as my ride on the denial train is hitting full tilt. My last day at Regent's is the 13 May and my visa is up on the 25th. To remedy that I have booked a holiday in Tenerife with two friends! Woo-hoo! But I have not booked a ticket home to Canada.....It just makes it too real! I have no idea what will happen in June and for a girl who likes to plan this is very stressful!! But I am trying to remember to wait patiently for the right thing to come along......Okay, how about now?

Some random musings.....

So my life here has settled into routine. A routine that I love, but routine none-the-less. So I will try to use my blog to share random thoughts and still more adventures as I prepare to move back to Canada (sad face here) in just over two months time...I know some of you won't find these stories as cute as I do, but I have thrown in some drunkenness too!

This weekend was a really nice one, Spring made an appearance on Saturday in the form of 12 degrees and blue skies. Piotrek and I woke up first on Saturday (which is the usual) and to let Angelika and Pawel sleep I brought him into my room and we were watching cartoons on my computer. I had bought some cocoa pops the night before (my new addiction) and decided that Piotrek and I would have breakfast in bed. This was his first cocoa pops experience and he took one bite and looked at me with HUGE eyes and said "Do you know what this tastes like!!? It tastes like A CAKE!!" So, I guess the cocoa pops were a success. Once everyone was up and ready to go we decided to take the children swimming (indoors, not quite warm enough for the lido yet!), had a picnic and walked though a small wooded area near the children's school....It was a perfect day.

Saturday evening was a friend from the school's birthday. So I headed out to Camden town to meet Ricardo and 25 other people to celebrate at a small Portuguese restaurant. The food was amazing and the sangria was almost bottomless....But I strongly suspect it was also alcohol-less. We headed over to Proud nightclub afterwards and waited in the queue for ages. While we were waiting there was a group of four or five people that didn't understand that while in a queue you wait until it's your turn, so after pushing ahead of most of our group I decided (shockingly) to say something. And after having bantered with them one of the guys decided that he wasn't intelligent enough to keep up so made fun of my weight. I don't understand why boys in England feel the need to bring it up. ALL THE TIME. I have not had so many people make cruel remarks about my weight since junior high school. I have ignored it for the most part, but it just makes me mad. There are so many other ways to cut people down....For instance their inferior intelligence....Not their big noses or small eyes. Grow the fuck up. I was actually going to go home, but since the assholes behind me were being assholes I went into the club just out of principle. Inside there were fire breathers (the theme was equestrian....not sure how that fit, but it was cool) but I kept running into the assholes so I decided to bail as my temper was about to boil over. Walking to the bus stop was an interesting adventure....But walking in Camden is always an adventure. Lots of drunks, lots of stoners and a few crackheads thrown in for good measure. Always a laugh!

Sunday was almost uneventful. The children were playing quietly in their room, Pawel was hanging out in his and I was watching Grey's Anatomy online in mine. Then Piotrek comes in with hands covered in paint. The children have a problem where they are always drawing on the walls, we have tried everything. Punishment, taking art supplies away, buying more art supplies in the hopes that they will use paper but nothing has worked. And even though Pawel and I are no longer in a relationship I still help with the children (I can't help myself....The nanny in me won't stop being bossy...okay, the me in me won't stop being bossy). So I took both children to see their Father (complete with painted red hair) and said what are we going to do about this? We decided to take all their toys away....Writing this down I feel like the meanest person EVER....But that is what happened. Pawel packed up all the toys and took them into his room. I have to say the children handled it quite well. Pawel mother came to visit us in the afternoon and brought two small wastepaper bins for the children. One was blue with rockets and one was pink with ballerinas, very cute. But because they had no toys to play with they were playing with the bins....So sad, but Piotrek said something to his Babcia about playing with the bin and how happy he was that he had that to play with. Angelika piped up something about toys and Piotrek quickly said to her "Quiet! They might take the bins as well.".....We are so mean.

This coming month is shaping up to be ridiculously busy! Lloyd is coming for ten days and arrives on the 29th, trips to Edinburgh, Paris and looks like a visit to Germany to see Devon who will be there for the month of April. Hopefully there will be an interesting blog soon!

Wow, the power of Facebook

So...Well....This is awkward....I have a confession to make. I am not getting married....Well...I hope I do before May, but right now I do not have a groom.

Do you ever forget that the people that you see everyday aren't the only ones who can see your facebook status?

I was looking up visas that are available to see how to be able to stay in London permanently and the only one that I will be able to apply for is by getting married. That's it. I am not eligible for any other visa. So I decided that I was going to get married...And as most of you know, if I say something out loud it usually ends up as my facebook status.....Oooops.

I had just made the decision to get married to someone....Sometime....

So...Thank you all for your congratulations, but I am not planning a wedding....Well I kinda am....But I need a ring (hint, hint all EU citizens...) first.

A bit of a rant...

I know the primary focus of this blog is my adventures and the longer I live in London the longer I get frustrated by the lack of progress in this country! DOn't get me wrong, I LOVE living here and I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been able to have since getting the boot from Corus...But I just need to rant.....

What is with the banking system in Britian!!? For having one of the oldest systems in the world you would think that there would be a bit more cutting edge. Today as I waited for Barclays to open and grew more and more frustrated as the staff just stood there chatting past the 9.30 opening time I thought that I would just use the cash machine around the corner to deposit my £13.50.....Nope, no outside cash machines (that I have ever seen) accept deposits. Here is my first complaint. How is Canada more advanced in this field? For as long as I can remember I have been able to make a deposit at any Scotiabank machine...Nope, not in England. So back to waiting for the staff to finish nattering. Finally get into the bank to the cash machines in the corner where only one is an actual cash machine and one is to pay bills and the other two are "pay in". I grab a deposit envelope from the table in front of the machines and see that I have to fill in all of my information....ALL of my information...Name, phone number, account number, sorting number, whether I am depositing cash, cash and a cheque or just a cheque and how much it is for. Put my cheque in the envelope, turn around, go to Pay In machine have to start two or three times because the touch screen is slow and I am impatient....Get to the part where I put in the envelope..Oh the machine doesn't accept envelopes. Then why the fuck are there envelopes by the machine?....Have to fill out a deposit sheet. Eff this, I'm going to the teller. Where I have to fill out a deposit slip...twice. Sigh. I miss Canada

Welcome 2011!

Wow, so much to update from the past few months! Still living with Pawel and things are going really well.

In November I was so busy! Went to Paris again for work and enjoyed the Christmas market on the Champs Elysees and drank Champagne, it was great! Also found out that my work contract would be extended to the end of my visa (May) so I am still employed! At the end of November I turned 31. And since my 30th birthday kind of sucked due to poor friend choices I decided to have a 30 take II party. It was lovely! Pretty low key, went to the circus in Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, but it was so cold we weren't able to enjoy the rest of the fair so we quickly headed to the pub!

December is always busy, this one even more so for me! With the kids and Pawel and work and Christmas it was a blur, but it was great we were able to take the kids to a show at Winter Wonderland so I got to see what it was all about this time. Lots of rides, food and game stalls, the circus tent, a skating rink and a Christmas market - Kind of like a small, Christmasy Stampede. I was so pleased to be able to spend Christmas in London this year. Even though I missed my family like mad (my phone bill can prove it). Christmas here is so festive...And you're allowed to say Merry Christmas! None of that Happy Holidays crap! Every High Street has Christmas lights up and little markets pop out of nowhere selling trees, trinkets and goodies.

For Christmas Day the plan was to go to Pawel's Mum's on Christmas Eve and stay there until Boxing Day (London transport doesn't run on Christmas Day). But a huge (for London) snowstorm hit (4 inches) and it messed with almost all of our study abroad students travel plans. So my co-worker Jonathan and I volunteered to stay at the school with any stranded students. At the beginning we were afraid that there would be about 20, but in the end only one was stuck so we had a nice Christmas lunch in Central London. Pawel was great and agreed to move Christmas morning to the morning of Christmas Eve instead....I think there were a lot of language barriers during this conversation because (I learned later) that Christmas Day for him is Christmas Eve and they open gifts at night (which I did ask about, but he said no, we open them on Christmas night....Which to him is the 24th).....But we worked through it and the four of us had a lovely time opening gifts.

So on the 24th we packed the kids over to Ela's and I enjoyed my first Polish Christmas (with a few Ukrainians thrown in for good measure)and then headed to work around 10pm. There were a couple of students left and they were watching movies when I came in, but I was so tired I just headed straight to bed. Christmas morning was quiet with the exception of a Christmas elf who left some gifts under the tree for Jonathan and I (what a lovely surprise!)We went for lunch at the Melia White House which is a swish hotel near the college. It was a buffet lunch and we sat for 3 or 4 hours drinking wine and enjoying the food. It wasn't busy so I don't think the staff minded....Most of the other tables were there as long as we were too....
Had a bit too much to drink...But enjoyed the Christmas miracle of a hangover free Boxing Day!

Boxing Day was pretty quiet....Except for the fire brigade's visit....It's a long story, short version...if you're going to microwave chocolate double check the time you put on the microwave before leaving it alone.....

The last student left on the 27th so we shut Reid Hall and I came home for a lovely week off. Went to the park with the kids, took them swimming...Lots of family fun days! On New Year's Eve Pawel's mum agreed to mind the children so we were able to go into Central London for the fireworks! For Christmas I had bought Pawel tickets to go skating on the Tower of London moat and I had booked them for 9pm on the 31st. So after dropping the children and a quick glass of Champagne at Ela's we headed to the Tower. Pawel was so excited he was bouncing! I, on the other hand, thinks this proves how much I love him.....I put on loaner skates and headed to the ice. Then I remembered two things...
A) I can't skate. A fact I have always known, but never remember until I am 1/4 of the way around the rink clutching the boards for dear life
B) I hate being on skates.

So I clutched the boards the entire way around once then said "Fuck it" and got the hell off the ice. I think that Pawel was relieved....He didn't have to babysit me anymore and I was happy because they were selling boozy hot chocolate. Win-win.

After skating we (attempted) to walk up the river to Big Ben where the fire works were going off.....But they had almost every street closed from London Bridge up to Parliament. So we walked the LONG way around and were able to get to Embankment station by 11pm which give up a pretty good view of the Eye and the fireworks. We drank a LOT of Champagne and rang in the New Year with big smiles and lots of kisses and headed to the first bar we saw that was letting people in. It was a great night and we finally got in at 4am!

2010 was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see what 2011 will bring. Right now it has so much uncertainty with my visa expiring and not knowing what I will be doing or where I will be living in June, but I know I will be enjoying every moment here!