"We only show affection to dogs and horses."

Note: I wrote this last night but my internet wasn't working, so I'm posting it now....

I SAW THIS MAN IN PERSON:

Now, that being said, sorry I've been MIA this week.

First of all, my job is pretty cool. I'm working at a graphic design firm, and everyone there is really talented. It's still a bit stressful--and exhausting--working a 9-6 day, but the people are very nice. Most of the people working there are guys, except for Jo and me, and I feel bad because I can't understand what they say all the time. From what I can tell, London accents are faster and harder to understand than other accents around England. I can usually understand Doug, the Creative Director, and Danny and Jo, who take care of clients and accounts. Siu and Andy (designers) are hard to understand though, and so is Mark (I think he's from Sussex). Basically all the younger guys talk fast and cut words off, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

So far this week I've done a lot of image sourcing, which is surfing around for appropriate pictures that clients want as part of their materials. I found and cropped a few banners for a law firm's website, and then I worked on a few logos for The Kennel Club. Tuesday was cool, because I got to go deliver a package to The Kennel Club during the work day. I took the tube to Green Park to drop it off, and since it was lunchtime I walked around the area and grabbed some food. It's so beautiful down there--and extremely rich. I ate lunch in Green Park, and I could see the Ritz Hotel on my left and Buckingham Palace through the trees on my right. I really felt like a Londoner! The design firm's office is pretty cool, too. It's just an open plan office and everyone has their own Mac they work on (even me!). They play funky music while they work--which varies greatly depending on who picks it--and there's a downstairs with a kitchen, bathrooms, recording studio, and a table shaped kind of like an ink splotch where we have our 9 am meetings.

I've made tea a few times now. They drink it SO...MUCH...! Basically if one person wants tea, they have to go around and ask everyone else if they want tea or coffee as well (since they're putting the 'kettle'--an electric water heater--on). It's rude not to, AND you have to remember how everyone takes it (how many spoonfuls of sugar, milk or no milk, etc.). I think I'm getting the hang of it, but I'm always nervous carrying them up the stairs. And sometimes it sucks to be a naive American. Example:
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DOUG: "Siu, what is the letter between S and U in the alphabet?"
(a grunt from Siu)
DOUG: "Andy? The letter between S and U? It's Q, R, S...."
ANDY: "V."
DOUG: "What about that American actor from that 70s TV show? He was black and had like a mohawk. Mr.....Mr...."
MAREN: "T?"
DOUG: "YES PLEASE, TWO SUGARS!"
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*Sigh* I think they like 'taking the piss' out of me....

So the week was pretty good, and my walk in the morning is nice. It's about a 25-minute walk, but it's around 8:30 when everyone is walking to work and I get to see the city waking up. There's lots of construction, traffic sounds, and people spilling out of the tube stops. The area I work in, in Hackney, is very artsy and trendy, and when I leave at night people are already hitting the pubs. On Monday we checked out the Oxford shopping area, which is mostly way too rich for our blood, and I got to go to TopShop. I've heard about it and read about it and I've always wanted to go. It's supposed to be the largest store (size-wise) in Europe. It's very girly and hip, and although I didn't really have money to buy clothes, I did get some cool nail polishes. Tights are apparently huge over here, too, because they had a whole wall of every imaginable color of opaque tights and leggings. Most of the girls we see around wear short dresses with colored tights and boots. Even to work!

I went for a pint (which turned into three...) with my coworkers Siu and Danny after work on Thursday. It was cool to see them outside of work--Siu is crazy with a few beers in him, although I could understand what he was saying even less. When they had to go home, my roommates Shannon and Abby met up with me and we began to search for another pub. A few guys who had just gotten back from playing a 'football' match were standing outside the pub, and insisted on showing us to this other bar. It was pretty cool, and there was a live band playing for a while. When it closed at midnight we called it quits, because we had plans the next night, too.

Abby had some friends living in Essex that she'd met on Spring break the previous year, so they came on Friday. Luckily I could understand Luke and Paul a lot better, even when they talked fast. We went out to a couple more bars and I FOUND FRULI!!! My absolute faaaaavorite beer in the world, it's really light and strawberry flavored and Belgian. It's not like Lindemann's though, it's different, and you can't imagine the frothy amazingness until you've tried it! It made me think of all my study abroad friends from Dublin, since it was our favorite drink to have at the Porterhouse.

When we got up Saturday morning, the five of us headed to Camden Market. We thought it was a bit closer than it really was, so we actually walked on the way there and took the subway on the way back... but when we arrived it was so worth it. It's this whole amazing culturally rich area with punk and goth people and funky shops everywhere. Seriously, every other person to walk past you was either pierced or had multiple hair colors. Brittnee and Jarrad would have loved it SO much. We went into this covered maze of stalls and there were jewelry and clothing booths, food vendors, ridiculous music playing, head shops, and stores I was too afraid to even go into, haha! I had some amazing vegetarian curry and a samosa from a little Indian food stand. It was my first Indian food in Britain and it did not disappoint! Now I need to try one of the kebab places! :)

So that brings us to Leonardo DiCaprio. Shannon found out earlier this week that Revolutionary Road was premiering in London today, and we figured we'd head to Leicester Square to see what we could see. Amazingly enough, after standing in the cold for about an hour, they showed up at around 6. It was the only time I've ever seen a red carpet rolled out before, so it was cool. Besides Kate and Leo, Kathy Bates was there, and It was pretty ridiculous how hysterical everyone got when they showed up, and we got smashed between the people in front of us and the people behind us. I started cracking up because I could barely breathe....and yeah, I'll admit, I was pretty excited too. Ol' Leo is still one of my favorite actors. It's sad how obsessed I was with him and with Hanson back in fifth grade, and then I didn't get to see either of them until college, when I'd practically forgotten about my infatuation. At this rate I'll probably run into JTT while I'm here. Sigh......

Anyway, after the premier we walked around London's Chinatown for a bit (it was right around the corner). It was so colorful, and it smelled amazing...but it wasn't exactly cheap, so we passed on eating there for the time being. I might be able to add pictures of Chinatown and Leo later. Abby and Shannon managed to take a few when we were there, but my camera battery died earlier this week and I forgot my charger at home. I'm definitely going to have to find a replacement one this week, because we're going on the Jack the Ripper tour this weekend and I really want to take pictures of the area.

It's getting late now, so I'd better get to bed. Working grown-up hours is lame!

Love y'all.