Still Here

You know what might be kind of funny? If I continued to update this blog even though I'm not in London anymore.

At the end of the day, when you Google my name, this is still where you are directed to. And at the end of the day, going to London was a metaphor my life, yada, yada.

Try and try as I might, I can't win the war against making other blogs (like my new financial blog) matter.

OK I haven' t really tried.

Well I'll ponder continuing the story here, rather than siphoning my thoughts into overly specific cesspools.

I haven't decided yet though.

Update!

I totally lied and don't really feel like doing a blog about health right now. I'll just stick to poetry:) And watching TV...

But a cool update: I am moving to New York City this weekend and working for Global Custodian's sister publication in Stamford, Connecticut. Crazy, eh?

New blog: Ellie Goes to NYC -- anyone? Just kidding. I'll quit while I'm ahead.

New Blog

Just in case you are afraid you might go through Ellie blog withdrawal ... have no fear ... you can read all about my caffeine withdrawal and other adventures at detoxing ... slowly

Ellie is Back from London

Well this was supposed to go up on my last day, but we didn't have the Internet at my house, so here I am anticlimactically giving you my tearful last post from my parents' basement.

***

I hated the whole "last blog" thing. I decided the best way to avoid it/fulfill the need for it would be to gather the immense wisdom of my housemates (and my friend Joe), a mixture of Kiwis, Canadians and Americans all living in London for six months to a couple years. We have all managed to carve out our place here, and while there are disagreements on the good/bad aspects of London, we agree on a lot. Below is their responses to what they would recommend to someone visiting London:

Morgan: "I'd go to Borough Market and spend the whole day there just looking at food and vegetables. You have to buy lunch at Borough Market and sample olives ... and those big brownies ... and the things you can dip in different olive oils ... I really love Borough Market."

Matt: "A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in London is to go up to the Tate Modern and drink tea and eat scones and then walk across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral for the 5:00 free organ recital."

Joe: "I like London best when I'm lost. I like being somewhere and knowing where I'm going -- but not how to get there -- and having to walk." He also adds: "Rent a bike on the Thames and justs go. Don't come back."

Andrea: "I would recommend going to Richmond Park [in the greater London area] and spending a few hours running around there, trying to track down the deer. And then go the main area of Richmond and do some shopping there."

Erika: "Kew Gardens. I heard it's the prettiest in April when the flowers are in bloom."

Chris: "I think the coolest thing I've done is getting a on a bus and going around London and getting off the bus when you see something cool."

Kate: She recommends Canary Wharf in Southeast London (near where I used to live), where she works. This financial district is one of those places people often don't think of as a must-see tourist stop. It houses the tallest buildings in London though, which is a cool site. "The wharf actually is nice. You can go down and walk along the river."

Nick: "A football match. It's awesome because you suddenly become friends with everything around you. Pick a team to root for an go their home game."

Me: "Brick Lane. Don't spend all your time on the West End. The East End is bustling with the best markets and the most diverse people."

Other must-go places:
Regent's Park (OK and all parks in London!)
Chinatown -- Waxy O'Connor's is a bar my housemates recommend
The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens (It's so ugly but you have to see it!)
Camden Market
Notting Hill
Covent Garden (especially at Christmastime)

Avoid:
Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square (OK they have their merits, but these touristy spots are NOT all London has to offer.)
American establishments, such as the Cheers Bar and the Sports Cafe in Piccadilly Circus
Primark on Oxford Street (whoa crowded)
Sitting at home and blogging about London on a Friday night (guilty)
Walkabouts (I have never been, but this popular Australian hangout is both loved and hated. If you do go, Joe suggest being drunk.)
Buckingham Palace

Damn, I'm going to miss this place.

Big Brother

Word of the day: Scotch egg
Now I know this is going to sound gross, but I, of course, love it. It is hard-boiled egg coated with sausage and bread crumbs and deep-fried. Heart attack on the side.

Big Brother is Watching You
It recently came to my attention that I haven't expressed in this blog just how "on film" one is in Britain. There are CCTV cameras everywhere. Check out this footage of a guy starting a nightclub fire:




In some ways, having the cameras makes me feel better, but then again, I don't know that I feel like it will keep me from getting mugged, only that they might catch the perpetrator later! And how comforting is that really?

Apparently the cameras are talking now! What's next, go on a date with your CCTV camera?

I read somewhere about the irony that nearby George Orwell's house in Notting Hill, there is a camera.

I am now watching: Scratch that ... I am now being watched.

"I Didn't Vote Today!"

Word of the day: traveller
So I think the number of "l"'s in the word traveler has always been elusive to me...Luckily in Britain, if I get it wrong I'm right.

Place of the day: Hyde Park in Kensington
Located in one of the poshest parts of London, this park is home of the Diana Memorial Fountain, the Albert Memorial, Kensington Palace and a nifty statue of Peter Pan.

Hyde Park

Kensington Palace

And the award for the world's ugliest monument goes to ...

Albert Memorial

"I Didn't Vote Today!"
Yes, that is the pin I should be wearing tomorrow. My parents tried to mail me my absentee ballot, and it never made it. I think to be fair my boyfriend should not vote for Obama in order to
even out my would-be Hllary vote, but he didn't like this deal.

But I wouldn't have to worry about this absentee absentee ballot if I hadn't missed the boat on the Democrats Abroad election, which Obama won. I had no idea overseas Americans actually have delegates.

I almost feel the British should have delegates, because you would think this was their election.
My co-workers know more about it some days than I do. This is the most attention America has received abroad in an election ever, I hear. I was sitting with a group of English people recently who told me they didn't know what it was but they were positively fascinated by it like a football match!

See, British people are very cynical. As a British person recently told me, he is amazed at how "glass-is-half-full" Americans are. ThatBritish cynicism we know and love is extremely evident in theirpolitics and has increased exponentially since Blair entered the Iraq war without the support of the British people. It seems they are interested in America in a way that is kind of inspired by the political vigor of Americans. And of course, they have more obvious vested interest, such as the fact that we are allies and the next president will have a huge effect on foreign affairs.

The British press seem as enamored with Obama as the American press. Hillary seems to be poked fun at a little more. As I'm already confessed, I am a Hillary supporter, and I think we can all agree she has not been portrayed in the same Messiah light as Obama. I'm willing to say this might be partially her fault, I don't know, but it is a genuine observation. Overall, I find the media coverage of this debate -- specifically abroad -- to be utterly fascinating.

Slate did a nice article on the foreign press hype before Super Tuesday: American Idols, International Addition

By the way, it was fun to try to explain the American electoral system to my Canadian housemate. (Thanks for your help Wikipedia.) Of course, Canadian government seems even crazier. They change their government every time they hold an election! And they have like 5,000 parties!

I am now listening to: Amy Winehouse. Yes all of this time in England has finally made her jazzy music sink into me. It is as addictive as the many drugs she takes. My roommate ran into her the other day on Oxford Street! Still no big star sightings for me:(

Editor's Note

Maybe you might think this is crazy of me, but I just went through my old posts and took out any random Internet photos I threw in them. This is for two reasons, the first being that I want all of the pictures in this blog to be based on my own authentic pictures in true journalistic fashion. The pointless Google images I included (mostly at the beginning when I didn't have a way to get the pictures off my camera) were just needlessly distracting from this authenticity. Secondly, it's not really even legal to just steal photos unless they say they are in the public domain (many on Wikipedia do actually). So because I am a dorky follower of copyright laws (and used to self righteously preach about them when I was a newspaper editor), I deleted any image that wasn't public or my own. Yes, even harmless ones, such as the tea kettle.

Thus when you go through the posts again (as if you will) and see all my "edit: I deleted a photo" notes, don't think it was anything exciting for being controversial. Nope, just me deciding that my Google image searches should be wiped from the blog, and I should be working harder to find my own! I'm wondering what other bloggers out there think about this. It seems in some of the blogs I read there are photos carelessly pasted. Perhaps I understand not being a ridiculous stickler to the rules, but sometimes I think we've gone too far in our willingness to use whatever photo we find.

Flat Stanley Goes to London

Word of the day: mum
Mum is definitely the word today, of course, because it's Mother's Day in the U.K.

Place of the day: Canterbury
As in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, we made a pilgrimage last week to this quaint town and breathtaking cathedral. We also tried to do an album cover (second photo) in the ruins of a castle.

Me, Morgan and Hild; photo by Erika Edgerley

Flat Stanley Goes to London (also photos of the week)
So Flat Stanley is originally a children's storybook character who travels all over the world. Now elementary students send their own Flat Stanley creations to international destinations. My good friend Joe was lucky enough to be a recipient of Stanley from his nephew in the States. We took Stanley around for some City of London sightseeing. And then we even headed up to St. John's Wood to pay a tribute to the four lads. We think we made quite a storybook.

Flat Stanley started his London sightseeing at Piccadilly Circus.


Flat Stanley had to stop to call home.


Flat Stanley almost fell in the fountain at Trafalgar Square.


Flat Stanley can tell time because Big Ben is nearby.


Flat Stanley walked along the London Bankside and posed between London Bridge and Tower Bridge.



Flat Stanley visits the famous Abbey Road, where the Beatles once walked. He sees where millions of fans have written on the wall and even crosses the steet like the Beatles did on their album cover.




The end.

I'm Just the Teenage Cameraman, After All

Word of the day: shopping trolley
shopping cart

Place of the day: Poetry Cafe
At this hole-in-the-wall cafe in Covent Garden, I read a final ode to my recently lost iPod.

Laugh or Cry?
After scrolling down through an e-mail conversation forwarded to me from my boss, I noticed he referred to me as the "teenage camera person."

I considered writing back and saying: "For the record, I am almost 23, but I'm glad I still look like a teenager."

He told me today that my work is "very pioneering," to be fair. But his humor is a breed of its own.

I am now listening to: Nothing, just the sad sound of shoe on pavement and the beeping of crosswalk lights in an iPodless existence.

I am One of a Quarter of Americans!

Word of the day: Blighty
When informed I was leaving England, someone asked me when I was coming back to Blighty, a.k.a. England.

Place of the day: Union Theatre, Southwark
This hidden theatre on the route from Southwark tube station to the Bankside is maybe one of the coolest London finds yet. My roommate and I sat in the intimate crowd for a four-player production of a dramatic London play that made us both squeamish (awkward sexual content, such as a naked at the end!) and intellectually entertained. The play Senti-Mental as well as the venue was a completely worthwhile and memorable London experience.

I'll Pass on Your Statistics


In one of my first blog posts I felt so enlightened as I told you about how few Americans hold passports (24%), but I am so sick of this statistic after hearing it from pretty much every European. And when they bring it up, they often reduce the number to 18% or even 10%. I now hear it from pretty much every non-American I meet and it is starting to get kind of comical. I mean, I seriously laughed out loud the last time someone said it to me.

I almost find my response painfully obvious. But because I too was duped by this statistic, let me just explain. Well, first I'll start by mentioning that I do think international travel is an immensely important experience, and almost every country should do a better job of fostering this in our cultures.

But why is that statistic comical, particularly when a British person says it? First of all, Ireland is about the distance from where I live in the U.S. to Chicago. And yet none of the British seem to have ever been there. Also, Paris is a two-hour train ride away and it requires a passport. That's like going to Cleveland for me, and that, my friend, does not require a passport.

So (as many smart British people have also already deduced, to give them some credit), America is a really big place so of course a lot of people don't have passports. You don't have to leave the country to see the desert, the ocean, the mountains, the prairies, the snow, the tropics, California, New York, Alaska, Hawaii, etcetera ... And, by the way, passports only recently became a requirement to travel to our neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico. If traveling to France didn't require a passport, I'd love to know how many British people would have them.

Yes, at first I was appalled (but not shocked) at the number of Americans who don't have passports, but, seriously, it's not as ludicrous as I hear it portrayed at times. After spending a lot of time here, I find it to not exactly be some sort of enlightened island of people traveling all over the world all of the time. In fact, England seems to be somewhat lagging as far as integrating with other cultures. (Diversity and travel does not equal integration.) And so, while, yes, there are many ignorant Americans out there, I come across it at an alarming rate in ol' Blighty as well.

I am now watching: Just to balance things out, let's take a punch at the old American broadcast news. You really must watch this documentary exposing the horrors of broadcast network Fox News. I hate even writing "news" as part of its title, because "Fox Propaganda" would be more appropriate. The fact that a news organization run by a political party actually exists in America makes my journalism blood boil!

Trying to Make Offers They Can't Refuse

Word of the day: White Ace
It is easy to mistake a green bottle of this alcoholic cider for off-brand Sprite. And it is actually just as cheap as Sprite -- only 2 pounds for 2 liters! I mean, that price puts PBR to shame.

Place of the day: The London Dungeon
Now I don't know if I really recommend a visit to this house of London horrors right after a night that included White Ace, but it was definitely an entertaining place. I wouldn't have paid the big entry fee, but it turns out my co-worker hooked us up with a free visit! So I spent this afternoon seeing Jack the Ripper victims, visiting Sweeney Todd's barber shop, and running from the plague.

So what else is new?
As you can see I've gotten a little busy, and as this blog doesn't put food on the table, I've had to place it last on the list. I mean, there is literally too much journalism in my life right now. I can't remember which blog I need to write in or who I need to be interviewing or what sources need to be contacted, etcetera. (Not that I will humor myself by calling this blog journalism. My financial blog is where I tend to get a little more serious. But sometimes switching the tone back and forth confuses me and I find myself wanting to say "like, totally" in my other blog.)

And when I'm not doing journalism I'm still not really disconnected from it at all. But the election is just so exciting!!! And I hate the idea of missing a candidate picking his or her nose or a good podcast about the cultural impact of Pollyanna or a Times article on obesity ... Sigh, my roommate thinks I'm crazy for staying up so late typing away but I wish I was able to "let go." She also says it's cool how interested I am in things. I never really noticed that this wasn't normal, but now I see that it becomes the difference between getting enough sleep and not getting enough sleep. The world is divided between these people.

Someday I would like to sleep better, but it will not be this week. As of right now I'm in job search hell. Sadly I can't just be an intern for life. Well, I think I would be if interns had health insurance. But yes, the time has come to start going to the dentist again. Of course, applying for things when you are working full-time and overseas are a bit of a hurdle, but thanks to the World Wide Web, I'm managing just fine. My parents can just scan some clips for me and send them right over! Aren't you so impressed by them for being so tech-savvy? My mom sent me two pdfs already all by herself. Aw, I love patronizing my parents.

By the way, I miss my parents and my mom's chili and Ohio and everyone. Last week was particularly rough because I finally had a valentine and a Valentine's Day evening without The Post (I traditionally put the paper to bed on that date, sometimes by choice), and here I was in London. I got a nice package including a whole box of Twinkies though! Nice job valentine!

Yeah so anyway, I have an interview outside of London tomorrow, so I better at least attempt sleep. Unfortunately when you film the interviews you have to pay more attention to things!

Before I zzz outta here, I'll also add that I just saw The Godfather and it rocked. Another thing checked off my life to-do list! Rock on.

Unmaid in London

Word of the day: blurt
A new Brit slang word I heard today from someone a little younger and hipper than I is the word "blurt." Instead of "splitting" from somewhere, you might "blurt." You know, like, "Hey guys let's blurt." Not as in "say something awkward" like I do all the time, but as in, "let's leave."

Place of the day: Brighton
We took a day trip to the seaside and it was lovely! Of course my pictures of the sea didn't really turn out, so you'll have to take my word for it. The extravagant/exquisite/whatever-other-e-word-could-suffice Royal Pavilion was fun to explore. It was the palace of King George IV, a man who loved his pleasures. Definitely the coolest royal residency I've seen yet.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo of the week:
Well, I must apologize, because it appears I have absolutely jinxed Banksy, the world-famous British street artist. Here is the maid, one of his famous graffiti works in Chalk Farm, on Wednesday. As you can see by the "wet paint" sign, its neighboring graffiti works were painted over.

Photo by Jessica Lee

But then here is the maid erased yesterday. My friend Jessica conjectures that Banksy might've lost much of his street cred.

A moment of silence for the poor maid.

Add on: Jessica tells me the maid is back. It doesn't take the Banksy team long to clean up the lack of graffiti problem!

And a good quote...

A quote from a humorous commentary about the Soc Gen debacle I am writing about:

"As you may have gathered, I don't understand the stock market, because it's so boring my brain refuses to get to grips with it." -- Charlie Brooker, The Guardian

The Cold, Hard Truth of What's at the Bottom of the Kettle

Word of the day: limescale
So, this is the nasty build-up sometimes congregates at the bottom of a kettle. Obviously this exists in America but obviously I never noticed because obviously I don't own a kettle. They are awesome though (and electric; these are not old-lady teapots).

Place of the day: Brick Lane
I finally ate some of the delicious curry lining Brick Lane sold by London's Bangali population. As you walk up and down the street, you are harassed by restaurant recruiters selling deals on their curry restaurants (which is how we got a free bottle of wine and 30% off).

Who Needs Facts?
Before I begin writing my big spread of stories on the French rogue trader …

I'll tell you the biggest difference I notice between British journalism and American journalism. It's actually the same comparison American journalists often draw between magazine journalism and newspaper journalism: The blurring of opinion and facts. Journalism here seems to have a little more of an agenda. (However, please note that I'm discluding broadcast journalism from my informal study, as we all know that Fox News-like agendas are a whole other story.)

I thought of this because a couple days ago my boss was coaching me on how to write this story about the event that happened at Soc Gen, the French bank that lost €4.9 billion from fraudulent trades. So my editor presented a huge list of opinions I could take and they sounded like fun, but I thought I was doing a boring story about how the back-office and front-office failed or whatever. I said, "Well this is a little more opinionated than I thought." And he instantly pointed out that everything we do should be opinionated and that American journalists usually have a rough time with this. I said I was fine with that but wanted facts to back it up (obviously, evidence). He agreed and in a way I think perhaps I can come up with the best of both words. It's just about having a thesis and evidence -- American journalism does this too, maybe just a little more anally.

I'm glad that here at an English-based magazine I have the opportunity to practice a lot with journalism. But sometimes I just want to be writing a city council story where every paragraph-long sentence ends in "Brown said." Of course that's boring writing I never even used to do in the States (I was always more of a features writer by trade!), but I'm just saying, that's what England does to me sometimes.

I am now listening to: Every single podcast/vodcast I can find. I am going to miss commuting to work without car and listening to them so much.
Some of my favorites:
NPR: Talk of the Nation
This American Life
Search Engine
On The Media

A Wicked Time in London

Word of the day: Primark
This cheap store might not be the best quality, but think Old Navy on Wal-mart prices. I'm not sure what I did without it before. The skirt, tights and boots I'm wearing right now? I paid a total of 13 pounds for them.

Place of the day: This entire blog is going to be dedicated to three fun places I've visited in the last couple of weeks.

1. My first musical in London!
A few of my housemates and friend Hild hit up the Apollo Victoria, which is one of many West End theaters in London. We got nosebleed tickets to the hit Wicked that turned into great seats after we moved on up post-admission. My roommate Kendra and I are listening to the soundtrack non-stop. Here we are in front of the theater:


I am a little bummed that Gone With the Wind the musical is coming out a few weeks after I leave, but I would hope it's coming to America soon as it is our story!

2. The Travel Bookshop in Notting Hill
Yep, the bookshop where Hugh Grant wooed Julia Roberts. However, I must point out that the filming actually happened across the street (and the blue door is now painted over). But this is the bookshop it was based on. I bought a hilarious book from a series called Xenophobe's guide to the English. A funny and seemingly accurate excerpt about English sentiment toward Americans:

The English like Americans and in many ways would probably like them even more if only they didn't insist on being quite so... well... American. The English regard Americans as English people who turned into something else as the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding, and who would be a lot happier if they just had the sense to turn back again. Then they would start talking Proper English.

English viewer watch participants on American television 'confess-it-all' shows with fascinated disbelief and blame falling standards in their own cultural life on American influence. In the final analysis, however, they don't complain too much to the Americans about this as they are keen to maintain good relations with them for the sake of commercial and political advantage.

Naturally, this does not stop English people from feeling quite free to compare their two countries -- to America's disadvantage. A smug feeling prevails that having a history that goes back a bit further than the day before yesterday is a sign of a superior culture.


3. Windsor Castle
We made a day trip out to Windsor, where one of the Queen's residences towers over a colorful and lovely British town. Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. Sadly I couldn't photograph the extravagant state rooms I viewed, but here is a snapshot of Hild and I outside. The second picture is the Changing of the Guard that we arrived just in time for. This event of soldiers switching shifts seemed a little hilariously pointless, but I enjoyed the band's cover of the James Bond theme song.




I am now listening to: My friend Jeff wrote a song called "Oh, Ellie!" I'm sure I could never explain to you what it is about, but how fun is that? I'm being a narcissist again.

Headline: Bank of Ellie Prepares for Sleep Takeover

Word of the day: reckon
I always thought American cowboys say it, but proper British people reckon things too.

Place of the day:
Today was American Day for my roommate Kendra and I, and so we went and got Twinkies at the only place that sells them in the UK it seems -- Cybercandy in Covent Garden. And then because we were on a kick, we hit up T.G.I. Friday's for way too much food.

News, News, News
I have been busy and important following the rogue trader from Société Générale, which is really much more exhilarating than a lot of slow stories that can happen in the financial world. Today I interviewed someone for a podcast, which I edited and then somehow managed to compress into a chipmunk song. Luckily my technical colleague in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (yeah, our tech team resides in this ambiguous office on the other side of the globe), to change Alvin into Ellie again.

Overall, a tiring but exhilarating day for both news and blood sugar ...

I am now reading: Um, let's just say "Société Générale" is on a Google news alert.

N'rn Ir'nd

Word of the day: wee
Everything is a wee bit more relaxed and pleasurable in Ireland.

Place of the day: Giant's Causeway, on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland. Irish Giant Finn McCool built it to fight his Scottish foe:


One Country, Two Nations
Northern Ireland is refreshing because it seems much more untapped as a tourist destination than what I hear other parts of Ireland are like. It is also rich in history -- both of crumbling castles and recent turmoil.

Upon first talking to the Irish I wasn't sure what to expect -- is Northern Ireland part of Ireland? Do they consider themselves Irish? The answers from the many locals I got to speak with -- most of them university students like my friend Erin I was visiting -- were of course diverse. This was unsurprising, as when I arrived in Belfast I was struck by the dichotomy. On a bus tour, we went through the area most affected by the Troubles (or the fights between Republicans and Loyalists). First we went down a street overflowing with Union Jacks (British flags). I was amazed! I knew I didn't need my passport to enter Northern Ireland, but I wasn't expecting such British patriotism. But round the corner and go through the wall that once separated the Protestants from the Catholics (but did not stop bombs from scaling the heights), and there is a totally different view. The Irish flags fluttered everywhere in the wind.

A mural commemorating UVF (a Loyalist group) members that died. Murals are everywhere in the area where many of the Troubles occurred to commemorate losses on both sides.

One of many Irish flags on the Catholic/Republican side of town.

The incredible part is that this division is a way of life. A way of life that somehow brings peace in a way to the young people I met who have both Catholic and Protestant friends. They joke and jab at one other for their different religious/political views (religion in Ireland is largely sectarian). Some nationalists/Republicans do not seem bothered that they are not a part of the UK -- for many of them they recognize that they are clearly Irish and it doesn't really matter what government they operate under. One Protestant I met told me while he wants Northern Ireland to remain in the UK, he does not consider it to be culturally different than the rest of the Ireland. When asked whether he considers himself Irish or British, he answered: "Northern Irish."

When Irish Eyes are Smiling...
I can't deny that somehow my heart fluttered for the nationalists. The British flags were kind of searing. While I know that the Troubles were not between the Irish and the English but rather a civil war, I can't help but remember that British rule of the past is what caused Ireland to split in the first place. Even though my ancestry is both British and Irish, the love of the Irish and the knowledge of their oppression runs really deep in my blood.

By the way, why do I feel such pride when I am only a quarter Irish? This is a common American condition I examined over the weekend. Maybe it was all of the folk songs growing up or the Guinness that flowed on St. Paddy's Day (also my Grandma's birthday!). The Irish laugh at how all Americans claim to be Irish. Not that it bothers the Irish that people like me love claiming Irish culture as our own. In fact, nothing seems to bother the Irish, as they are the most genuinely easygoing and friendly people I ever met.

But it is true, I am 100% American, and yet I feel so tied to Ireland (evidenced by my shamrock tattoo). For many families -- such as my mother and her eight siblings -- the Irish tradition is what we know. We've only been in the U.S. for 150 years for heaven's sake. The way I explain it, America is just such a baby country with barely any history (as Europeans remind us all the time!). And yet just like any country we celebrate traditions handed down. Why is my mother's family so proud to be Irish? Well if they weren't, I think it'd be rather flaky that they threw away their heritage so quickly! Gradually these traditions are morphing into their own American version. And perhaps I will dillute my children further from being Irish until there is barely any percentage left, but they will still know what it means to come from Ireland. I think I owe that to my poor farming ancestors who came over on the boat to find a better life!

Enniskillen, Northern Ireland

If You Give a Mouse an Old House...

Just saw the mouse run by. It was either a new one or Ralph got fat and should be called Gus Gus now.
See, you don't think you're going to live in one of those places with furry creatures running around and then you do.
Ugggh.
Oh the joys of living in an ancient city. Rodents were carrying in the plague to homes here before America even "existed."
I'm going to Northern Ireland tomorrow; thank god I can get out of this rodent nest for a while!
I am curled up Indian-style on my bed unable to pack or shower or even walk over to the waste basket and pick up the Post-it note that missed it.
Oh the adventures of living where you can afford to.

A Sad Day

Word of the day: alight
So Merriam-Webster says this word means "to descend" and yet the underground trains are always suggesting you "alight" to go to museums at certain destinations. Kind of weird to descend up, eh?

R.I.P. Heath
I had every intention of a killer blog entry but really all we are talking about is how Heath Ledger died. I broke the news to my housemates and ever since that's really all we can talk about. His last photograph was supposedly taken in London on the set of his latest film.

And of course we already looked at facebook and there are zillions of groups dedicated to his death already. How weird is it that facebook is the first thing you think of to connect with people when anything happens in life? Like, if real tragedy befell us would we bother running out to our neighbors or would we all run into our rooms with our laptops? Not even a question; it is the latter.

I suppose most of you are over social commentary on facebook but I think we have yet to see just how its effects on an entire generation unfold.

I am now watching: Match Point -- Random fact! I live next to the Queen's Club, the tennis court featured in this film:

Courtesy of Wikipedia

My London Family

Word of the day: handbag
People usually tell me they like my “handbag” instead of my purse.

Place of the day: British Museum -- I finally went here and saw sweet ruins from both Ancient Egypt and the Parthenon in Greece.

... and afterward I enjoyed the American atmosphere of wings and big TVs at the Sports Café in Piccadilly Circus. (It helped alleviate my "American in England" crisis for a second.)

My London Family
When you put it like it is -- mice, bad water pressure at times, sharing a room -- it sounds so negative! But living with my new housemates in a long-term hostel for people like me working abroad is making London even better. It's reminiscent of the summer I spent in Chautauqua, New York, living in the basement of a bed and breakfast: sometimes uncomfortable but the best time of my life.

Now I do everything with my housemates and just like me we are scrounging the pounds in the bottom of our purse at all times. On Friday we all went to a bar together in Canary Wharf where one of the housemates works and got 75% off all drinks. On Saturday one of my housemates and I traversed Portobello Road in Notting Hill, which is only a bus ride away. Last night I went clubbing with my roommate and had someone to eat McDonald’s with on the long ride home on the night bus. Today laundry was fun as we waited for it across the street at the pub. Grocery shopping? No worries, we haul them back together. And right now, The Office (which just started airing here!) is on for us to enjoy in the lounge.

Sigh. It’s college all over again. And London is a lot less lonely!

Photo of the week:

These "Blue Men" by Ofra Zimbalista are crawling up the building across from my office on Borough High Street, which used to be a Roman road:

I am now watching: Ratatouille -- an adorable movie I just watched with the roomies! Well, it’s too bad we can’t just be friends with our mice and let them cook for us.

Financial Blogging is Fun Too!

Word of the day: precis
My boss told me to "precis" something yesterday. He meant summarize. I love this word now, because its basically a fancy word for what I do.

I'm Punny
After I left my days writing punny headlines all summer at Columbus Alive, an entertainment weekly in Columbus (stuff like this) in order to do the exact opposite at Global Custodian (on my first day, my boss says "no puns and all that crap"), I thought I would never again use the idiom dictionary again. But alas, today I started my first post on the GC blog and I found the use for puns again.

I decided my first weekly post would be about the Citi meltdown going on, and I surprised myself at how much fun I was having doing it ... Umm apparently blogging really is my journalistic sweet tooth. And then like a cherry on top, I got to come up with the punniest title I think even I have ever done:

"Sacks in the Citi."

I am now listening to: Radiohead--the band everyone always told me I'd like and I never got around to liking. Which brings me to the non-story of the day: So today I was on my way home and saw a blurb that Radiohead was playing for free at Rough Trade record store! So I jumped off the tube and went back the other way and made it to the East End a half-hour later! This was going to be my magical London moment! Wish I could say it were really true, but alas, it was an invite-only event. But that's OK; it was a nice day to take a walk around London.

Stereotypical American

I finally had the guts to ask someone what the stereotypical American is. It was my Canadian roommate Kendra, and I thank her for being willing to tell me the truth of what that stereotype is, and I promise she is a nice person. Her response was hard to hear but not surprising to me:

self-centered
arrogant
stupid
fat
war-loving mongrels

Being the only American in the room is not something you want to be in any other country but America.

The truth is, I don't know how to be American. I want to do well at it. I want people to stop and say, "Well, there was that American once who I really liked." I throw a lot of Midwestern charm into it, I try my best. But at the end of the day, I think I, too, will always be so "American." And what is so bad about that?

Over here, it is OK to say "I hate Americans." No one will stone you. Not even the Americans. People don't feel bad stereotyping them; it's not taboo the way it is to stereotype other cultures. (Does that seem wrong? But then again, I am used to America's p.c. culture, which isn't the case over here.) Sure, I hope they don't really hate Americans, but nonetheless, it doesn't shock me to hear. A lot of times when I am making friends with someone who isn't American, such as my new roommate, I feel the need to make a joke about how I also don't like America.

But the joke is getting old.

Sure, I do criticize the country openly and honestly a lot, but I love criticizing it so much because I love it so much. The mishandling of the war in the Iraq really eats away at me. The fact that health care is so messed up and that my homeland eats the worlds energy eats at me too. The fact that people are starving and one of last election's biggest issues was about defining marriage gets to me as well.

But it irritates a lot of people. A lot of Americans. We care about this stuff; we are good people. And at the end of the day, I am so proud to be from a country where I have been able to voice my disgust with it without getting put through a paper shredder. And a part of me is sick of the American hatred and generalizations and can't help but sense that people see us like the head cheerleader who they hate and envy all at once.

My friend Joe points out it's not fair for many countries to criticize us given some of their own track records. After all, Europeans have been fighting all kinds of ridiculous wars for thousands of years. I won't let my country be deduced to a scapegoat for all the world's problems. Someone told me today that Sept. 11 was a conspiracy caused by Bush. That's unfair. We might talk loud and eat too much McDonald's, but we don't crash planes into our own buildings. And I can't help but get angry at the American haters who have never met one. Kind of like the Muslim haters in America. So now I hate all those haters... I HATE this.

And yeah, Americans irritate me too. Like packs of Texas girls on the train from the airport flaunting there cultural ignorance. Ignorance: I am ashamed of the ignorance the most. I bristle because I know what everyone is thinking and also because I am annoyed that they are talking loudly on public transportation and that Daddy gave them the money to travel so young. I want to cover them up and hide them before anyone else sees them. They can irritate me, America can irritate me, but having them irritate the people outside the land of the free? I can't have that.

Maybe being an American in another country is a good learning experience. Surely it's nothing like how my Irish ancestors must've felt. Or what black Americans went through. Or how Muslim Americans felt after Sept. 11. And what was that? Probably similar to how I feel:

Sad. Introspective. Defensive. Guilty. Alone. Confused. Angry. Self-loathing. Hateful. Useless. Annoyed. Uncomfortable. Self-pitying. Offended. Determined.

Back to Work

Phrase of the day: "Have a..."
If you are in England, you don't "take" a shower, you "have" a shower. And if you are stressed you could... have a cry. Or a smoke. Or a holiday. Or, of course, a tea.

Place of the day: Lucky Voice, a private karaoke facility in Soho I visited with my housemates on Saturday. It was totally in a posh box like in the Japanese movies!

Back in the world of financial journalism...
I was dreading going back to work after such a nice holiday, but I forgot that work makes one feel accomplished. And I forgot the delights of financial journalism, such as the stories that go on for a month with a different headline every day. It goes something like this:

Monday: Bank X is Projected for a Write-Down that Could Result in A,B,C
Tuesday: Bank X to Announce Write-Down that Could Result in A,B,C
Wednesday: Bank X Announces Write-Down that Could Result in A,B,C
Thursday: Bank X's Write-Down Results in A,B,C

You get the idea!

Today Citi was in the news because they are rumored to possibly be selling Smith Barney, where my brother works. But of course they will announce it tomorrow. It is fun that my brother and I actually have overlapping worlds sometimes! (He played with cash registers; I played with chalkboards.)

I am now reading: Chasing Down the Dawn: Stories from the Road by Jewel
This was the perfect book for the plane ride over to keep me striving for the "life uncommon."

From Heartland to Motherland

Friday, January 11 in the Cincinnati airport -- Well it’s about that time to start blogging again, and what better time than in the airport, where I feel like I spend a large chunk of my life these days?

Word of day: fringe
This is the new development of hair on my face that Americans call “bangs.” [My Canadian roommate Kendra later informs me that Canadians say "bangs" and "fringe" to mean two different styles.]

From Heartland to Motherland
I have probably left home for weeks at a time at least 30 times since I originally left home for school at age 18. My discovery: It does in fact get easier in some ways (you can up your tolerance over time from 300 miles to 3,000 miles away). However, there is a certain threshold of ease when leaving home; it never feels like a walk in the park. Especially when you have to see that proud/sad face on your 115-pound mother each time you head for the airport security line or pull out of the driveway…Sigh.

Well anyway, let’s get to the part where I mention the a few things that culture shocked me when I got back in the old U.S.A.:

1. Baggy clothing. I forgot that American men don’t wear skinny jeans the way those British boys do. (And don’t even suggest that they should or you are in for an interesting response.)

2. Lack of escalator etiquette. Here I was in a rush to get to my connecting flight in Atlanta and these oblivious Americans are hanging all over the escalator as if you are actually supposed to stand there and let it whisk you up to another level.

3. Every other kind of etiquette. My mom just sneezed and a random person said “bless you.” I feel like if someone did that in London the sneezer would think “What’s it to you??” (But then again, talking to strangers is so Midwestern. Right now I am in the Midwest but taking a flight to London – should I talk to a stranger or not?) [Note, it's not that English people aren't helpful when they need to be -- such as the two gentlemen who helped me with my bags after this post was written -- but they do these things with as few words as possible.

4. Bigness. Everywhere. The toilets are extra large and to me signify an often wasteful society. The SUVs rule the big fat highways. The people look like they had too much Taco Bell. (I don’t blame them, as I got it twice in one day at one point).

5. Hippies. I went back to one of my favorite bars in Athens, Ohio, to see Southeast Engine, a now natioanlly touring band born and bred in Southeast Ohio and a college favorite of mine. As I looked around the bar, I was reminded that the look of the “indy kid” in America is a lot more bohemian than the British. British = mohawks. Ohioans = dreadlocks … or something unwashed and resembling them.

Well I had my fill of Ohio, but man I forgot how much I love this darn place. I’m going to have to tear myself away from watching endless election speculation on CNN to get back to the “real world” of writing about global custody in the hustle and bustle of pinstripes that is old London town.

I am now reading: I just finished the book England, England by Julian Barnes. It was tough to get into, but the premise was creative and jam-packed with satire: An English amusement park is developed on an island outside of England, giving tourists the opportunity to see everything that is quintessentially English without having to run all over England. The thesis: Perhaps people prefer replicas to actuality. A cynical thought to have as I take the time to fly all the way over to the real England.