Stand Up and Be Counted, Or Else...

You'll be fined 1000 pounds and prosecuted as a criminal by the good people at the census enforcement people. Overreact much?

That's right, it's census time here in the UK so we must all dutifully complete the form we received in the post or suffer the very dire consequences. I don't mind so much, and I understand the need behind census-taking, but some of these questions are way beyond the line of comfort; the ACLU would have a freaking field day with some of these questions.

First off, the questionnaire focuses on an exact date - March 27, 2011. They want to know who was in your house overnight that night, visitors and all. I'm absolutely serious.

Some other invasive questions:

• Are you in good health? Do you support anyone who isn't in good health?
• Do you have a job? How many hours do you work a week? Where is your job? If you're unemployed, are you looking for a job?
• Where were you born? What religion are you?
• List all of the passports that you hold.
• What kind of education do you have?

I have a question for the census questionnaire people: Are you criminally insane? Who asks these kinds of questions in a census?! I've only recently gotten used to the CCTV cameras everywhere, but this just strikes me as bureaucracy run amok. But that doesn't mean I didn't fill it out - I don't have an extra 1000 quid laying around folks!

Canary Wharf

It's been nearly a month of commuting to Canary Wharf for work, and I have to say, it's been pretty miserable.

There are only two ways to reach the Wharf, and you get a "which is the lesser of two evils" choice: either the DLR or the Jubilee line on the Tube. The DLR comes in from the City, and it's actually pretty spacious and travels above ground. The negative is that it connects to Bank station (aka the station from hell), it's quite slow and costs a bit more than the Tube. I take the Jubilee, and it's notorious for being unreliable, especially on weekends. Truthfully, I don't mind the "is it running?" factor nearly so much as the crowd factor.

The DLR

For the first week of work, I sucked it up and dealt with being squished on a daily basis and becoming uncomfortably close to strangers. Close as in, "oh, I can smell that you've had cheese for breakfast" close. After breathing in hot cheese breath for about a week and sweating like a pig in my extra warm woolen coat, I caved and decided to start going in earlier and earlier until I figured out when the crowds weren't so bad. Which means I have to be out of the house by 7:10AM at the latest. Ouch.

There are some nice things about the Jubilee line though. Through some unspoken understanding, people actually queue to board the trains the closer you get to the Wharf. This does not happen anywhere else in London - it's unique only to those that are Canary Wharf bound. I get on around Waterloo station, which is about 5 stops away from Canary Wharf station, and I queue to get on the train. It's pretty marvelous.

Canary Wharf Station

Some other weird things about the Wharf other than the transport:

• It's much too clean. Like bizarrely, freakishly clean.
• It's got its own security so you see loads of people in fluorescent vests with dogs lurking about.
• All of the buildings are connected underground through an extensive shopping mall, which gets especially packed during lunch hour. Which leads us to the next item...
• You could theoretically never emerge into the actual world with air and sky and all that business, but instead spend all of your time underground - the Tube connects to the mall, which connects to your office building. When did Canary Wharf Group decide that people should live like moles?
• There are many more people underground than aboveground in Canary Wharf. Can you say "ant farm?"
• There's a plaza with a bunch of clocks that were originally meant to show the times of major financial centers of the world, but now it just shows the time in London. A bit narcissistic, isn't it?

Photo: Lucy Hayward

It's seriously twilight zone over there, and I'm not sure I like it...

Too Busy for Spring

It's been an absolutely crazy week for both J and I. J's been traveling to Paris and Luxembourg for work, and I've been stuck at the office all day. Neither of us have had a home cooked meal in over a week - he eats all of his meals in the air, and I eat all of my meals at the office. It's not so bad since it's on the firm's dime, and as an added bonus, a nice lady comes by with fresh coffee and tea and biscuits (cookies) twice a day. It could definitely be worse. =)

I've been working double digit hours every day this week since Sunday, and it's the absolute worst timing since it looks and feels like spring may have finally arrived after hemming and hawing for the last few weeks or so. In fact, I saw two girls walking by yesterday in shorts and t-shirts during my lunch break. Honestly though, it was not that warm - I was fine in my woolen coat while sitting in the sun. I guess 15C (low 50's Fahrenheit) feels downright balmy after months and months of temperatures in the high 30s/ low 40s. I saw the same phenomenon happen in Michigan in the early days of spring - people out in shorts and flip flops in 50 degree weather. This is the same temperature where LA girls gleefully break out their furs from their closets for a long awaited airing. It's all relative, I guess.

Happy Red Nose Day!

Every year on March 18, the UK celebrates Red Nose Day which is a day put on by the Comic Relief charity founded by two comedians to aid those suffering from starvation in Ethiopia. The deal is you buy a red nose at a grocery store or wherever, and the proceeds go to charity. I suppose you're meant to wear them all day - and who says that the Brits don't have a sense of humor? =)

For you choosy ones out there, there's a selection of three monsters you can sport on your nose: Honkus (lots of teeth), Captain Conk (pirate) and Chucklechomp (glasses), and they all come with cheesy kind of jokes you usually see on a popsicle stick. One of my work colleagues brought one for each of us, and I'm happily sporting monster Honkus on my nose. I kind of adore it, in spite of the fact that it tends to pop off when I smile too wide. But how can I not?

Taxes Are Taxing

I think tax issues are normally pretty annoying and complicated, but now it seems to have become doubly so now that I'm a US citizen living in the UK. Not only do I lose out on a significant amount of cash, but now I have to go through the whole rigamarole of figuring out who gets my money and how much and when. Lucky me, I get to be responsible for taxes in both countries.

But it turns out, I only have to file US taxes, and I don't have to worry too much about my UK taxes.

UK TAXES

If you're employed in the UK and don't have complicated investments, you more than likely do not have to file any tax forms in the UK at all. Under the Pay As You Earn scheme, your employer is responsible for ensuring that the proper amount tax is being withheld from each paycheck and you don't have to lift a finger come tax day. You will likely be taxed for National Insurance and Income Tax unless you hardly make any money at all (like moi). Now I just need to figure out how to claim the taxes back under my "personal allowance." Oh, and a word of warning - get a National Insurance number straightaway, preferably before you start working. Otherwise, your employer will assign you an emergency number, which means you'll get taxed at a much higher rate.

US TAXES

The US wants a cut of your earnings and the IRS demands that you file a tax return in the States as well for any foreign income earned. They provide you with an average exchange rate with which you're meant to translate your foreign earnings into dollars. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=206089,00.html
The nice thing is that the US has a tax treaty with the UK so I think I receive a set-off for any taxes that I pay to foreign governemnts.

Another complicating matter is that in the States, married couples file joint returns, whereas in the UK, married couples file as individuals. Confused yet? I am. Especially in light of the fact that J's office has a tax service doing his taxes in the UK and the US, but I'm responsible for filing my own taxes. But since we're married, they'll be filing our joint US return for us, and I don't have to file any UK taxes under the PAYE scheme. So in the end, it all works out to very little paperwork for me. Yay!

Now, off to see the Queen about that tax refund...

Decisions, Decisions - Goodbye Limbo

When we first signed up to move to London, the original plan was for 6 months, which stretched to 12 months, which then became 16 months, and then finally 18 months. It's already been 7 1/2 months, and I've been enjoying my time here and trying to squeeze in as much traveling and sightseeing as possible knowing that this will all come to an end at the end of February 2012. Or will it?

Up until now, we've had conversations in passing about where we'd like to end up living after our stint in London was over. We've entertained the thought of staying here permanently, but the thought of living so far away from our friends and family was a bit too much to bear. We both confessed a slight preference to return to California in spite of the fact that we much prefer our lifestyle here in London to the one we had in Los Angeles. We figured that we would perhaps move to San Francisco, which is much more us than LA, and we could easily and frequently visit our friends and family in LA.

Except...

It's come to light that it'll be much better for J's career if we stay here in London for the foreseeable future, and we had a serious discussion over brunch about what we ought to do. It'll be at least another 3 years here in London, and the question is should we stay or should we go. I never thought I'd be making such an important decision over waffles, but decide we did. To stay. In London. For another 3 years, at least. Whoa.

I've been living here as if it's only a temporary stint, which it was supposed to have been, and the implication of such a decision is only now starting to hit me:

(1) We'll be here for the Olympics.
(2) I need to buy a replacement food processor and electric toothbrush.
(3) I could start decorating our flat for reals.
(4) I need a permanent job.
(5) Unsubscribe from emails from US websites such as ruelala and gilt.
(6) I can slow down a bit on travel plans since I have at least another 3 years to explore Europe.
(7) I could actually go back to school and finish another degree if I'd like, without having to worry if the credits are transferable back to the States.
(8) I should take the conversion course to become UK qualified if I want to continue practicing law here in the UK.
(9) The fear that I'll start sounding like those Americans who've been here for a while - it's a very strange sounding hybrid accent that I think begins to develop after two years or so. A well-founded fear considering I know only two other Americans, and I mostly speak with native British speakers on a day to day basis.
(10) I should fetch my cat from my parents' home, where she's been living until we got back to the States.

I'm sure there are a ton of of other things that result from making this decision, but the most significant thing is that I am no longer in limbo. I can actually start planning for the future instead of putting things on hold until I return to the States since I'm no longer planning on returning.

How do I feel? Mostly scared and filled with trepidation. Which is very different from the excited feeling that I had when I first moved to London knowing that there was an end date in mind. The worst thing is being away from my family. I come from a very close knit family (both immediate and extended), and not being near my parents is the hardest thing, especially as they get older. I think it would be exponentially harder if we had or were planning on having children any time soon, but since we're not, now's the time to Carpe Diem!

Oh please, let this be the right decision.

Kew Gardens, Revisited

Farewell at the Knights Templar

My friend Patrycjya is leaving for Paris tomorrow, and we all got together for one last drink at the Knights Templar at Chancery Lane.

The Knights Templar is part of the Wetherspoons pub chain, and the decor is quite nice with really high ceilings. The bathroom is even nicer and has more lounge seating than actual toilets, believe it or not. Another couple nice things are that the drinks aren't too expensive, and the place was pretty busy but not too packed. They also have a pretty good selection of food, even if the salsa for their nachos did taste like it came out of a jar.

In any case, about twenty of us were there to say farewell to Patrycjya since she's pursuing a much better job opportunity in Paris. I'm happy for her, but at the same time, I'm still sad to see her go.

 

I've promised to visit her in Paris, which is only a 2 1/2 hour train ride away, and she's planning many future trips to London, but it's not the same, especially since she's only recently become my running buddy. But I could always chivvy J to go on runs with me, and it looks like I may be running the Warsaw marathon in Poland with Patrycjya this September, but we'll see if that happens. =)

In any case, I'm off to do one last run with her now!

From Russia, With Love

Did I mention that all of my current work colleagues are Russian speakers? Funnily enough, none of them are from Russia - they range from places like Lithuania, Uzbekistan and the Ukraine.

It's the first time that I've met people who lived through the break up of the Soviet Union, and it's amazing how different our childhoods were. I took the Care Bears and My Little Pony cartoons for granted, while my Ukrainian colleague strained to catch a glimpse of colorful cartoons when her satellite accidentally picked up some Polish television signals. Growing up, children in the Ukraine had to grow up quickly and plan for futures that held the most promise of enough money to buy life's essentials.

But on to less depressing things, I'm learning other interesting things:

1. Last names in Eastern Europe
Certain surnames are associated with different countries. So if the name ends in ---sky (Polish), ---nov (Russian), ---chenko (Ukraine). But it's hard to tell these days since people traveled a lot from country to country so the surnames are no longer indications of where they're from.

2. They thought I was from Kazahkstan. Here's a picture of Ms. Kazahkstan:

I never knew they looked so Asiatic!

3. "Idiot" in English is the same in Russian, just with a Russian accent. This one, I can definitely remember. =)

Two Very Important Holidays

Goodbye American holidays, and welcome British celebratory occasions such as Shrove Tuesday and International Women's Day!

I had never heard of either before I landed on these foreign shores, and I got a nice surprise today when my male work colleague bought lunch for me and another female colleague in honor of Women's Day. Who said chivalry was dead? But I admit that I did feel quite the cougar having a much younger man buy me lunch. =) As for what the holiday is all about, the title seems pretty self explanatory so congratulations to all you women on having that great XY chromosome!

Shrove Tuesday is a bit more confusing. I haven't really looked into it, but apparently this is the day where Brits get to cut loose and race around with pancakes in frying pans. Which is a bit confusing since it seems so much like an American thing to do. I mean, we are the home of IHOP and you can't hardly find pancakes on any British menu - you're lucky to find a waffle even. Maybe they don't enjoy eating them so much as just running them around town. Hmmm...

Orchid Extravaganza!

When the weather forecast showed that rain wasn't likely today, J and I decided to visit Kew Gardens to enjoy the last day of the Orchid Extravaganza. I should mention that we tried to go before, but a terrific downpour ensued right when we arrived at the Kew Garden Tube station. We made the executive decision that day to turn around and head straight back home and to try again later when the weather wasn't so evil. Lucky for me, today was that day.

Although the weather was cooperative, the Tube was not. There are improvements that are constantly taking place on the weekends, and certain crucial sections of the Tube was down. Three station transfers and a ride on a replacement bus later, we finally arrived at Kew Gardens. It's a green space spread over 326 acres and is home to more greenery than you can imagine. You can enjoy the gardens and trees outdoors or you can head inside to a greenhouse for the plants that are not indigenous to the UK.

We ran around like madmen trying to see it all.

First, we did a quick run through of the Cactus room in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Then we entered the Tropical Plants room. There were all kinds of flowers everywhere.

And more orchids than at a wedding on steroids.

For real, they were hanging off the ceilings!

And the piece de resistance... the Orchid Tree.

So I'm kind of flowered out by now, so I'll continue the post tomorrow since I need to get some sleep for my first day of work at my new job tomorrow!

A Hint of Spring

You could have knocked me over with a feather when the sun peeked out this morning and actually decided to stick around for the rest of the day! I've been feeling a bit lethargic and unmotivated to do anything lately, but once I got a good dose of Vitamin D streaming through my window, I decided to get up and out to run all of my errands I've been putting off for a while.

It seemed like the entire city was out to enjoy the sunshine, and the restaurants had their outdoor seating out in case anyone wanted to do a little basking in the sun. It was still cold as ever, so I beat it home after visiting the library, news agent, health food store and grocery. After a quick lunch at home, I couldn't resist making another foray outdoors to enjoy the sunshine. I wandered over to Regent's Park to see whether any of the flowers had bloomed, and bloomed they did! Lots of people (for a weekday) were wandering about enjoying the day.

Back to Work, Part Deux

I woke up this morning at 8AM, and it huuurt. It's been a while since I've had to wake up on a schedule, and I forgot how much it sucks to get up when your body doesn't want to.

I had an interview with a major law firm this morning for a contract position, and I got on the Tube for my forty minute commute to Canary Wharf. J and I don't use the same Tube station or lines for this new job so we didn't get to hold hands on our walk or smirk at each other during the Tube ride. Boo.

J's still a bit confused as to why I want to work, and I admit I was a bit confused too this morning when I got dressed in a black suit and stockings and heels. I think that's the worst part about working - the clothing. I haven't worn anything that doesn't have an elastic waistband in ages, and I don't know how to walk in heels any more. It would be funny, if it wasn't so sad, to watch me lurch about on the pavement in my heels like a giant, drunk baby. What happened?!

Canary Wharf is a pretty cool area - it's all new built and super modern so it looks like a downtown from the future. It's right by the water, and everything is very, very clean to the point of sterility. I debated taking my camera with me to take a few snaps while I was there, but then I thought the interviewer may think that I was a bit odd for bringing a camera to the interview. I guess that was a good call because I got a call an hour later saying I got the job. Yay!

The bad news? Apparently, there's a ton of overtime and weekend work involved. So the TK bakery is shutting down for the next two months or so, and J is understandably a very sad boy.