A Royal Wedding …

I don’t know if you’ve heard in the UK, but apparently there is to be a Royal wedding next April.

Here the story is absolutely EVERYWHERE. It’s on the news, in the news, and possibly around it. There are magazines devoted to it and everybody, once they discover you’re English, asks you about it.

The common questions are “Have you ever met them?” and “Will you get an invite?”. I normally have a little fun and answer in the affirmative to both questions, but a quick Google search shows that there may be a slight chance for any Tom, Dick or Harry to attend anyway  …

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/28/ok-middleton-wedding-ticket-invitation

Happy Thanksgiving!

So we’ve just celebrated Thanksgiving and Black Friday…

For Thanksgiving I had two invites from friends at work; thankfully each for different days so I didn’t have to turn anybody down. On both days the openness and hospitality of people was amazing; I have made some very good friends here. Thanksgiving, food wise, is very similar to Christmas in the UK … lots of it and especially turkey! I have eaten so much great food over the past couple of days, and probably way too many desserts included in that. Still, it should serve as a good warm up for my return to the UK at Christmas where I think I’ll be very busy eating and catching up with friends and family!

I’m still not really that much in the know of how and why Thanksgiving exists, but Wikipedia has been very helpful.

Black Friday was a great experience. It’s the traditional shopping sales/day after Thanksgiving but, although very similar, comes with a much bigger fanfare and anticipation than the standard UK January sales. There were reports on the news of fights breaking out between shoppers outside in the parking lots. Last year I recall reading a story where a shopper was trampled to death after getting caught in a stampede of bargain hunters at a particular store. The day before the event, newspapers are full of leaflets and adverts for all the sales promotions that stores are running. The standout item for was just how cheap some of the flat screen TV's were – $198 for a 32” LCD TV in Walmart! TV’s in general seemed to be the most in demand item, so hopefully everybody got their desired item and nobody lost their life this year! Most of the stores opened at around 4 am and the “early bird” special prices continued until noon. There was no way I was getting out of bed that early (4 am … not noon) and so a leisurely trip out ensued at around 10 am.

I plan to make the most of the rest of the 4 day weekend, mainly by catching up on lost sleep and a visit to the gym! Tonight I’m venturing out for my first IMAX experience …

This week, I have been mostly …

Eating A LOT of food.

Which is fine, because it’s all been amazing, but there has been a lot of food.

Thursday evening saw the return to Bub’s for the 1lb big Ugly Burger. This time there was a whole group from work that went along, with five of us finishing the big burger. Worryingly, I found this attempt much easier than the previous one. So much so that I actually had room afterwards for a very thick, authentic American milkshake.

Friday was a day off from food. I was busy at work and so didn’t have time to take a proper lunch; probably a good job given the amount of burger that I’d eaten the night before! Friday is, however, donut day and so this week I provided the office with 12 Krispy Kreme original glazed rings and 6 chocolate iced, cream filled ones.

Over this weekend I haven’t really done much at all. The time has just drifted by. Saturday evening I joined some friends at a Japanese grill; it was really cool. Had some great steak and scallops (food again) all cooked in front of you. I even managed to catch some food that the chef tossed at me – in my mouth. Something the little boy sitting opposite us couldn’t do …

After the grill we went to the cinema to watch Due Date; it was very funny in places but, for me, was just funny overall. It doesn’t quite challenge the Hangover as some people have said. I don’t know who these people are but I’m sure I’ve read it somewhere. Or I possibly dreamt it.

Saturday daytime was spent arranging birthday presents for my mum and nan who celebrate their XXth and XXrd birthdays next week. I can’t say too much more as they read this (or at least they claim to).

Sunday has been a really strange day. I watched Arsenal beat Everton, then cooked some dinner, then whilst eating dinner watched Chelsea lose to Sunderland. The Skype conversation to my Chelsea supporting sister was fun today. This evening I finished a (almost) 2,500 word blog entry for my work related blog so, if you have the means, check it out. It should be going online within the next few hours.

Tonight I start a few days of doing night shifts. I’ve never done one before and so have absolutely no idea when I should have slept to be ready for it. I can never sleep during the day and so wasn’t able to get any sleep this evening. However, now there is 50 mins until I start work, my eyes are feeling heavy.

2 Months in the US …

Done.

It’s gone so quickly. I really can’t believe where the time has gone. Work wise things are going well; I’m very busy and the project that I’m working on is gathering pace. Outside of work I feel really settled into American life. Already, in only these first 2 months, I’ve met some great people and made good friends.

It’s only 4 weeks now until I will be back in the UK for a couple of weeks over Christmas!

Birthday, mini tornado, snow and MORE

Well, not a huge amount more, but it has been an incredibly busy week.

Firstly, I’ve now passed that marker in life where I’m now closer to 50 than I am to being born. It went well and for once I woke up on my birthday morning and didn’t find any new grey hairs. I think people assume you’re joking when you say that, but I really have been finding grey hairs for the last couple of years… that’s enough of my birthday for the time being but I’ll probably go back to it again later!

Midway through last week the news weather reports were filled with weather warnings for tornados! Cue me questioning people on what I should do in the event of one actually occurring … get down low in the most inner part of a building being the most common answer. About mid morning it went amazingly dark outside, and there were some very fast winds and rain lashing down. Apparently at the Wal-Mart just down the road there was an announcement on the tannoy, and that all customers and employees should move away from the windows and get to the middle of the store. Later that evening on the news there were images of houses that had been affected by the winds, and several witness reports of actual tornado touchdowns.

EDIT: I thought I last posted a week ago, but it looks like it was actually a fortnight ago. Sorry!!

Last weekend was my birthday weekend. In the morning, I spoke to my family on Skype (where I also had to prove that I hadn’t already opened my birthday package!). The new friends that I have made here made it a great day and the effort they put in was fantastic – it felt like I was at home. In the morning my office was decorated with balloons and banners, then I was brought a birthday McDonald’s breakfast. Donuts were also served, as is now the custom on Fridays. Ha. Lunchtime was spent at a nearby Chinese buffet where a number of people from work joined me.

Friday night was spent at someone’s 5oth birthday party. It was a 70’s theme, but as I left all my 70’s clothes at home (I know) I had to try and make do with what I had. Surprisingly, and also worryingly for my wardrobe, I don’t think I looked too bad. I had a great time out; even though I was bullied into singing on the karaoke. So, after a Kanye West ‘Gold Digger’ rendition and a failed attempt at MC Hammer ‘Can’t Touch This’, it was time to go back to the apartment.

Saturday was Halloween. The Americans have gone crazy for it. I was invited along to a few parties and also to a few bars, so i grabbed the most ready made costume i could find in one of the many Halloween shops. The Incredible Hulk. I was in a rush and forgot to paint my legs green, so the top half of me has a similarity (the muscles are real, honest) whilst the bottom half makes me look like a poor pantomime version of Peter Pan. I’m probably going to regret posting the photo, but here goes. (I look forward to it turning up on future birthday cards etc etc)

Last week I also went to an Indianapolis Colts game. It was a great experience, although I still don’t understand the rules fully. I’m getting there though! I also got to buy a foam hand – so I was more than happy with that alone. I can now just sit in the apartment pretending to be in the audience of 90’s Gladiators (Wolf, Kris Akabusi etc … not Russell Crowe) …

The last week at work has been really busy. We have completed the first phase of our project, and now commencing the 2nd phase that will take us through the first quarter of next year. During the week there was also a company wide meeting. During this my name was read out and I had to stand up to be acknowledged by the audience; I don’t think  I managed to make a fool of myself.

Friday also saw the first snow since I've been here. Well, I say snow. There was a flurry for about 30 mins and it didn’t settle, but it was cold and that was enough for me to call it SNOW.

After the week that Arsenal have had, I’m not even going to comment on football. (that comment doesn’t count)

In other news I have FINALLY bought myself a kettle … no more boiling a saucepan of water for me!

Have a good start to the week.

p.s. I promise to update more regularly again from now on…