As I mentioned before, my office is a very international one, full of lawyers from pretty much everywhere. We recently got an influx of male, Italian lawyers, and it's been a wild ride ever since. They're mostly from northern Italy, but we've also got a Sicilian up in the mix so I would say that it's a pretty fair representation of Italian men.
Observation #1: They're all very slim, which is weird because I thought they'd all be a little rotund with all the great Italian food there is to eat. Then I found out that they've all lived in London for quite some time, and it all made sense. Their moms aren't around to cook for them and there's no great Italian food around in London, so they're probably just wasting away. I've heard them complain once or twice that the pasta is always overcooked.
Observation #2: They all have really great hair. It's thick, it's shiny, and I've had to stop a colleague or two from touching those luscious locks. We've even asked them what they use in their hair, but they deny everything and just credit soap and water. Lies.
Observation #3: They all smoke. Every so often, one of them will get up to round up the others, and they'll all head outside for a smoke. If you peek out of the window, you can see them all lined up in their slim-cut suits standing around and smoking with grim expressions on their face. My Greek friend joins them most of the time, and I've told him once or twice that they look like characters from Reservoir Dogs.
Observation #4: They're all very flirty. Amazingly, incredibly, awesomely flirty. When I leave the office nowadays, I hear lots of "Ciao, bella" following me out the door. One of the Italians also has a penchant for winking at me whenever I walk by, despite the fact that we've never been introduced. It's out of control but hilarious at the same time. They're like this with the women, but men pretty much get the cold shoulder from them with the exception of the Greek and a Spaniard. The Aussie and Kiwi men seem a bit put out by this, but no fisticuffs yet.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
An International Office
I work with a bunch of lawyers from all over the world on my current project. Some of the countries that are represented in my room alone include:
Los Angeles, USA (of course!)
Boston, USA
Birmingham, UK
Bournemouth, UK
London, UK
Kyoto, Japan
Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Tasmania, Australia
Capetown, South Africa
Italy
Madrid, Spain
Stockholm, Sweden
Auckland, New Zealand
And those are only the people whose origin I know! Some of the cool things that happen as a result of working in such an international office is learning a lot about their native country and trying some of the food! For example, I've had bread baked by a Spaniard (in Spain, no less), dolmas made by a Greek, and chickpea curry made by a Punjabi. All prepared by my co-workers' mothers. =)
The other thing we like to do is try on each other's accents. I can now do a fair imitation of an Afrikaans accent from Capetown, but I refuse to try any of the others, including a British accent - they're too hard! In any case, we have a new project manager who's from New York, and he's heard that there is an American girl on the project. Luckily, he doesn't know who it is yet, and I've been trying to coach one of my British friends in their American accent to try to prank the new guy. Result - epic fail! I never would've thought that an American accent would be so hard!
Los Angeles, USA (of course!)
Boston, USA
Birmingham, UK
Bournemouth, UK
London, UK
Kyoto, Japan
Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Tasmania, Australia
Capetown, South Africa
Italy
Madrid, Spain
Stockholm, Sweden
Auckland, New Zealand
And those are only the people whose origin I know! Some of the cool things that happen as a result of working in such an international office is learning a lot about their native country and trying some of the food! For example, I've had bread baked by a Spaniard (in Spain, no less), dolmas made by a Greek, and chickpea curry made by a Punjabi. All prepared by my co-workers' mothers. =)
The other thing we like to do is try on each other's accents. I can now do a fair imitation of an Afrikaans accent from Capetown, but I refuse to try any of the others, including a British accent - they're too hard! In any case, we have a new project manager who's from New York, and he's heard that there is an American girl on the project. Luckily, he doesn't know who it is yet, and I've been trying to coach one of my British friends in their American accent to try to prank the new guy. Result - epic fail! I never would've thought that an American accent would be so hard!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Training for the Royal Parks Half Marathon
I started running during 2L year in law school, and I never really stopped. I still remember my first run - I was with my friend Caleb, and it was the first time that I actually ever engaged in formal exercise. I was out of breath within minutes, and I don't think I would've finished those three miles without him next to me chivvying me to keep on running when I begged for a break. Thanks to Caleb, I became a regular runner and alternated between trail running and the treadmill at the gym, depending on the weather.
Fast-forward four years later, and I'm registered to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon with some of J's office-mates on October 9. According to the website:
The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon is one of the most scenic city runs in the world taking place on Sunday 9 October 2011. Starting and finishing in Hyde Park, the beautiful 13.1 mile route races through four of London’s stunning Royal Parks (Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park and St James’s Park) and offers runners magnificent views of some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Marble Arch and the Royal Albert Hall along the way.
Four years ago, I never would've thought that I would run a half-marathon, let alone one in London, but it seems as though it's going to happen. It'll be right before my 30th birthday, and I've promised myself a half-marathon and six-pack abs for that milestone.
The only thing is... I've hit a few blips along the way:
1. I've been busy focusing on weight training to try to build up some muscle, and I have a difficult time fitting in running after weights. I'm usually pretty tired and sweaty and just want to take a shower at that point.
2. I have a job that "requires" me to work at least 60 hours a week. We've compromised at 40-50, but that doesn't factor in commute time.
3. I caught a cold last week that I'm still fighting off, and this is right around the time when training was supposed to begin (for a procrastinator like myself).
So what's a sick runner to do? I contemplated running even while sick but the fear of getting even sicker scared me off. Instead, I decided to take the day off from work and focus on getting better, but I still managed to sneak in a weightlifting session. The most annoying thing is that I'm not really sick - I just have a sore throat and a niggling little cough and a slightly runny nose, just enough to keep me from shifting my running into high gear.
But enough whinging for now. I'm really excited about this half-marathon, especially when I found out one of my office-mates is also running it. We swap our running magazines with each other (she's Runner's World and I'm Women's Running) and talk calluses all day long at the office, which is probably not so nice for the others. J's definitely not running it, but he did promise to cheer me on from the sidelines while eating a cheeseburger. Meanie.
Fast-forward four years later, and I'm registered to run the Royal Parks Half Marathon with some of J's office-mates on October 9. According to the website:
The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon is one of the most scenic city runs in the world taking place on Sunday 9 October 2011. Starting and finishing in Hyde Park, the beautiful 13.1 mile route races through four of London’s stunning Royal Parks (Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park and St James’s Park) and offers runners magnificent views of some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Marble Arch and the Royal Albert Hall along the way.
Four years ago, I never would've thought that I would run a half-marathon, let alone one in London, but it seems as though it's going to happen. It'll be right before my 30th birthday, and I've promised myself a half-marathon and six-pack abs for that milestone.
The only thing is... I've hit a few blips along the way:
1. I've been busy focusing on weight training to try to build up some muscle, and I have a difficult time fitting in running after weights. I'm usually pretty tired and sweaty and just want to take a shower at that point.
2. I have a job that "requires" me to work at least 60 hours a week. We've compromised at 40-50, but that doesn't factor in commute time.
3. I caught a cold last week that I'm still fighting off, and this is right around the time when training was supposed to begin (for a procrastinator like myself).
So what's a sick runner to do? I contemplated running even while sick but the fear of getting even sicker scared me off. Instead, I decided to take the day off from work and focus on getting better, but I still managed to sneak in a weightlifting session. The most annoying thing is that I'm not really sick - I just have a sore throat and a niggling little cough and a slightly runny nose, just enough to keep me from shifting my running into high gear.
But enough whinging for now. I'm really excited about this half-marathon, especially when I found out one of my office-mates is also running it. We swap our running magazines with each other (she's Runner's World and I'm Women's Running) and talk calluses all day long at the office, which is probably not so nice for the others. J's definitely not running it, but he did promise to cheer me on from the sidelines while eating a cheeseburger. Meanie.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday Brunch
Brunch has always been my favorite meal, and since I'm not much of a going-out type of person, I try to see most of my friends during Sunday brunches rather than going out for drinks at night. All through law school, I had a close-knit group of friends that I would have brunch with on a weekly basis, and I've tried to carry on that tradition after graduating with a different group of friends but on a monthly basis. Apparently, grown-ups with jobs and stuff don't have as much free time as law students. Boo.
After we moved to London, J and I do brunch sometimes on the weekends, but it's just not been the same. It was something I always did with friends and not my significant other, even though J makes a great brunch buddy. =) When we do go out for brunch, we usually end up at Cafe Luc or Coco Momo on our high street, depending on whether we feel fancy (Cafe Luc) or a bit more casual (Coco Momo).
I hadn't seen one of my friends in quite some time, and it's really difficult to try to schedule things with people in London. We both cancelled on each other once, but we finally managed to meet up today for Sunday brunch at Cafe Luc! It was endless chatter for two hours since we had a lot to catch up on - she had a birthday (while I was in Paris) and she just got engaged! The staff were nice enough to not hurry us out even though we finished our food waaay before we got up to leave, and I felt like I got a proper catch up with her. Hopefully, I'll see her again soon since I promised to help her with picking a photographer for her wedding and with her makeup for the civil ceremony. Fun!
After we moved to London, J and I do brunch sometimes on the weekends, but it's just not been the same. It was something I always did with friends and not my significant other, even though J makes a great brunch buddy. =) When we do go out for brunch, we usually end up at Cafe Luc or Coco Momo on our high street, depending on whether we feel fancy (Cafe Luc) or a bit more casual (Coco Momo).
I hadn't seen one of my friends in quite some time, and it's really difficult to try to schedule things with people in London. We both cancelled on each other once, but we finally managed to meet up today for Sunday brunch at Cafe Luc! It was endless chatter for two hours since we had a lot to catch up on - she had a birthday (while I was in Paris) and she just got engaged! The staff were nice enough to not hurry us out even though we finished our food waaay before we got up to leave, and I felt like I got a proper catch up with her. Hopefully, I'll see her again soon since I promised to help her with picking a photographer for her wedding and with her makeup for the civil ceremony. Fun!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Harry Potter Night
It's been pretty quiet for a while, hence the lack of posts recently. It was one of those spells where nothing much is going on except for lot of work interspersed with some grocery shopping.
The quiet spell was finally broken last night with a Harry Potter movie night organized by J's office. In an effort to drum up some business, J's firm organized a night where their clients and family members could get together for some drinks and food at the Kua Bar at the Cumberland Hotel and then walk over to the ODEON cinema to watch the final Harry Potter movie in 3D.
I had work all day, so I met J a bit late at the Cumberland Hotel, which is right by Marble Arch station. The hotel itself is very modern with some very strange sculptures scattered about its immense lobby. The sculptures are of large men in various postures - they look a lot like those men who cover themselves in paint and stand very still in the street as passersby wonder if they're actually statues or people. Except these "men" in the lobby looked like they were floating courtesy of the steel rods drilled into their sides, so hopefully not human.
In any case, the set-up at the bar was pretty nice. There were lots of waitstaff walking around with a variety of drinks and bar food such as chicken satay and hamburger sliders. We hung about and chatted with one of J's colleague's fiance and cousin, who was visiting from Arizona. It was a bit surreal talking to a university level girl thinking of going to law school - it was all I could do to not shake her and yell "don't do it!"
After a short while, we were all herded by the hostesses towards the exit and toward the cinema, but not before J grabbed two little bags filled with Harry Potter themed candy to munch on during the movie. It was a very short walk, and we had a screen reserved for our group so we just walked right in and plopped down on the best seats we could find. Each seat had a pair of 3D glasses, a bottle of water and a bag of popcorn - yay! Each screen has much less capacity than in the US, where it's common to have stadium size seating for each screen. This room could've filled 200 people tops, and it didn't have seating right up to the ends of the room and up to the screen, which meant there were a lot fewer "bad' seats.
We had no problem finding great seats, and we thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I plowed my way through both bags of popcorn and candy, and I probably would've enjoyed the movie whether it was any good or not. Luckily, we both thought that the final movie was the best of the series, and we're both sad to see it end but it was a good end to a good series.
Now, we're off to my friend's house to play with her new German Shepherd puppy and eat authentic, home-made Indian food. Yay!
The quiet spell was finally broken last night with a Harry Potter movie night organized by J's office. In an effort to drum up some business, J's firm organized a night where their clients and family members could get together for some drinks and food at the Kua Bar at the Cumberland Hotel and then walk over to the ODEON cinema to watch the final Harry Potter movie in 3D.
I had work all day, so I met J a bit late at the Cumberland Hotel, which is right by Marble Arch station. The hotel itself is very modern with some very strange sculptures scattered about its immense lobby. The sculptures are of large men in various postures - they look a lot like those men who cover themselves in paint and stand very still in the street as passersby wonder if they're actually statues or people. Except these "men" in the lobby looked like they were floating courtesy of the steel rods drilled into their sides, so hopefully not human.
In any case, the set-up at the bar was pretty nice. There were lots of waitstaff walking around with a variety of drinks and bar food such as chicken satay and hamburger sliders. We hung about and chatted with one of J's colleague's fiance and cousin, who was visiting from Arizona. It was a bit surreal talking to a university level girl thinking of going to law school - it was all I could do to not shake her and yell "don't do it!"
After a short while, we were all herded by the hostesses towards the exit and toward the cinema, but not before J grabbed two little bags filled with Harry Potter themed candy to munch on during the movie. It was a very short walk, and we had a screen reserved for our group so we just walked right in and plopped down on the best seats we could find. Each seat had a pair of 3D glasses, a bottle of water and a bag of popcorn - yay! Each screen has much less capacity than in the US, where it's common to have stadium size seating for each screen. This room could've filled 200 people tops, and it didn't have seating right up to the ends of the room and up to the screen, which meant there were a lot fewer "bad' seats.
We had no problem finding great seats, and we thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I plowed my way through both bags of popcorn and candy, and I probably would've enjoyed the movie whether it was any good or not. Luckily, we both thought that the final movie was the best of the series, and we're both sad to see it end but it was a good end to a good series.
Now, we're off to my friend's house to play with her new German Shepherd puppy and eat authentic, home-made Indian food. Yay!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The Third of July is the New Independence Day
For obvious reasons, we don't get Monday off to properly celebrate the 4th of July, and both J and I will be in the office tomorrow. Boo. Luckily, J works for an American firm, and they threw a "summer" party today at one of the partner's houses near Fitzroy Square. The weather decided to be cooperative, and it was fairly warm all day even though the sun disappeared around noon behind some innocuous looking clouds.
The square is only a ten minute walk away from our flat, and the firm rented out the garden for the day and the place was decked out with red, white and blue decorations. I figured they pretty much gave up on the thin disguise of a "summer party" when I saw the American flag napkins and little desserts with mini American flags sticking out of them.
The whole shindig was a pretty classy affair with temporary awning put up in case the sun decided to show, and the catering staff were everywhere offering up various goodies to eat and drink. But keep in mind that this was a 4th of July celebration in London so there was an interesting mish-mash of American and British things. For example, we had brisket and baked beans (American) but we had clotted cream on a scone with berries for dessert (British). We were throwing around a football (American) while we were drinking Pimm's (British). I guess that's how my Independence Days will be from now on. =)
I had a lovely time - the people were fun to talk to and the food was delicious so the three hours we were there pretty much flew by. And the celebrations don't end here! Now that I'm back home, I'm baking some Independence Day cookies - basically oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with red and blue M&M candies mixed into the batter. All of my British friends have agreed to eat them, but they don't know about the secret plan the other Yanks and I have formed to eat said cookies while pelting the others with used tea bags. Team America, f*ck yeah!
The square is only a ten minute walk away from our flat, and the firm rented out the garden for the day and the place was decked out with red, white and blue decorations. I figured they pretty much gave up on the thin disguise of a "summer party" when I saw the American flag napkins and little desserts with mini American flags sticking out of them.
The whole shindig was a pretty classy affair with temporary awning put up in case the sun decided to show, and the catering staff were everywhere offering up various goodies to eat and drink. But keep in mind that this was a 4th of July celebration in London so there was an interesting mish-mash of American and British things. For example, we had brisket and baked beans (American) but we had clotted cream on a scone with berries for dessert (British). We were throwing around a football (American) while we were drinking Pimm's (British). I guess that's how my Independence Days will be from now on. =)
I had a lovely time - the people were fun to talk to and the food was delicious so the three hours we were there pretty much flew by. And the celebrations don't end here! Now that I'm back home, I'm baking some Independence Day cookies - basically oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with red and blue M&M candies mixed into the batter. All of my British friends have agreed to eat them, but they don't know about the secret plan the other Yanks and I have formed to eat said cookies while pelting the others with used tea bags. Team America, f*ck yeah!
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