Schlemiel, schlimazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated!

Is is wrong that when I walk down the streets that the theme song from 'Laverne and Shirley' plays through my head? Sometimes it changes though and it's the 'That Girl' theme...sometimes I wear a hat and I think that's what flips the switch between the two.

Needless to say, though, I am absolutely loving London!! I'm not sure if it's that I'm just so out of my element that I am seeing so much more than I used to or what. Though, I suppose speeding to work did make me miss a few things on the commute...

Anyway, I am settling into London life rather well thus far. I've only gotten on the wrong bus once. Yesterday though, there were "Severe Delays" on the tube line...I maybe should have guessed this when the line to walk down the steps into the station was out the side walk...but down the stairs I went....and back up I came 10 minutes later...round trip - 42 stairs. I'll take any victory I can these days, so I was quite impressed with myself that I was able to figure out which way I needed to go - the whole cars on the wrong side of the street is completely throwing off my sense of direction - and hopped on the right bus!! Yes, to most this wouldn't be a huge victory, but like I said, I take my good moments where I can.

I've been working for 4 days now and have really only - i think - made some minor errors. Surprisingly, there are quite a few Americans in the office. This has been quite a comfort, for the most part. However, there is this one guy who, thankfully is not in my dept - But we met whilst (I'm trying to add that one to the vocabulary...) I was in the New Starter (new hire) class and he doesn't seem to want to leave me alone...and not in a good way! No mom - don't get your hopes up - totally not dating material!! He is a complete idiot with an attitude that seems to say, "England is lucky to get me" Hmm...interesting, because I am happy England didn't shut down its boarders after taking in someone like him!! Yeah, and he smells bad, too.

Besides smelly guy, though, I've met some really nice people at work - patient people - that seem to take my confused looks in stride and translate here and there as needed. For instance, a couple people were taking about meeting up for dinner this weekend and going to Ping Pong. Ping Pong? What kind of fun is that on a Saturday night?!!? I politely declined saying that I wasn't really into the game - they looked at me like I had grown a third eye! Then the one burst out laughing. "Oh no, never thought of that," he says, "Ping Pong is a bar!!" Whoops, my mistake. How could you never think of that?!?! I can't be the first one to make that mistake though - US or UK citizens alike would get that one confused!!

There there is the whole bathroom situation....So over here they seem to be a bit less restricted in their water closet needs. Most places that you see have both symbols on the door!! The little guy and the little girl!! I held it for like an hour the other night at a restaurant just trying to figure it out!! I sat there and watched guys go in, girls go in, guys come out, girls come out. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. As thoughts of the Allie McBeal episodes ran through my head, off I went to check the whole deal out. So basically, the way the set up seems to run around here is that you walk through the doors with both symbols into the main room which has the sinks for everyone's use. The from there the actual toilets are in separate rooms for women and men. This was a pleasant surprise given what I thought I was getting into.

So now starts the flat hunt. Its much different over here than back in the states. For instance not every place has a washer and dryer...no biggie, same in the states right? WRONG! Some places have a washer but no dryer!! I asked someone about this and they said it costs too much in electricity, so most people just have a washer, then they hang their clothes all over the place to dry them. Yeah...I don't think so!!!! There are some aspects of this country that I am adapting to rather quickly, however, I will not give up my fresh dried laundry!! Towels smell when they don't get dryer right!! I don't care how long I live here, mark my words, I will not be hanging my clothes all over the house on wash day!!

Alright, off to watch the tellie...I don't even know if I spelled that right, but that's what they call the television here, and I must say, I am getting rather addicted to a few shows here. I love Absolutely Fabulous, which I did like when I was in the states, too, but I just like it better now that I'm here. And let me not forget to mention the news here!! I love it! They could be talking about WW3 and it would go something like, "Whilst there are some gents that feel they didn't have choice, they fired a bit on the other blokes and there was a small bit of bombing of the atomic sort, all seems well as the sounds are dying down now." Mind you, this is all said with an English accent and with the ever present sense of whatever that seems to be the norm here.