Leap Day

I figured since this day only rolls around once every four years that I should probably post something to mark the occasion.

So, for those of you who don't know, this will be a little lesson in what leap days are all about. *on an aside, I taught some of my kiddies in SK about leap days though I think the only thing they came away with in the lesson was the word "leap".

As we all know one solar (calendar) year is 365 days long. This calendar is based on the fact that the Earth revolves around the sun. It actually takes the Earth 365. 2422 days to complete its revolution, but that would screw with time pretty badly since we have 24 hours in a day. Imagine a clock that had 12.2 hours on it? Basically, we have an extra six hours in the year that we need to deal with.

So, way back, Julius Casar (famous for the salads?) decided that any year divisible by four would be a "leap year", thus creating the leap day.

Now, it's all a little more complicated than this, (and believe me, my lesson to the kiddies really was much more exciting with pictures, and calculations and things) but this is really all I can be bothered to write on the subject... if you really want to know more click here.

I just wanted to mark the occasion in my own little way. I never think too much about the leap year, but it was stuck in my brain today. I have a friend who has a family day every leap day - it's okay to miss birthdays, holidays, and other events, but the whole crew has to be there on 'V' day as they refer to it (actually they use their last name, but I don't want to write it without permission). I think that's a really great idea... I hope you're having a fab 'V' day.

Another suggestion would that the day is always is a holiday... I mean, come on, once every four years? The government ought to look into it. Everyone is always complaining about how there's no holiday in February, so if the government really doesn't want to give in and make one, then they could just make leap day a holiday and be done with it.

Anyway... happy leap day everyone... at least we'll all get paid for an extra days' work this year...

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley is a children's story by Jeff Brown. It's about a boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board. Although it sucks to be flattened, he makes the most of it and mails himself really cool places.

My good friend Kat (of the adventures of liz and kat in korea fame) has started her own flat Stanley project with her students (she actually still lives in SK). I got an email from her a week ago asking for help. Attached in the email were two flat Stanley's and a letter from a group of Korean students. I was instructed to take my Stanleys out on the town and show them around London. So I did, despite being thought insane by half the population of the city!

This is the "letter" that I'll be sending back to the kids who sent me their Stanley's... I hope you enjoy it and that they eventually do too!

Dear students:

Thank you for sending me your Stanley's. I live in London, England, but my home is Canada. I was very excited to show your two Stanley's some things in London that are different than Korea. I used to be a teacher in Korea, just like Katrina. I hope you like the pictures and that this will make you learn more about England.

The first thing I wanted to show you was the difference between a Korean and an English post (mail) box.



Then we headed to the bus stop to catch a double-decker bus to the Tube (subway) station. Though I couldn't get a picture of them outside the bus without missing it sorry. We went straight to the second floor and the big window in front.


What a view! We got to the Tube station and waited for the train.

They were amazed that we didn't have to wait for more than a few minutes and we all got our own seats.


We were lucky that the Jubilee (subway) line took us right into the heart of the city. Where we got to see all kinds of sights. Starting with the London Eye:


And what would a visit to London be without seeing Big Ben?


My two little friends were lucky they weren't blown away into the Thames river while we looked at the Parliament buildings... I managed to catch them before they flew away!


Then on our way to St James Park (Buckingham Palace - where the Queen lives - is) we stopped to investigate a telephone booth:


We finally made it to Buckingham Palace right before the batteries in my camera died... so we were lucky to get one picture there:


All in all, it was a fun day of walking in the city. We saw lots of interesting people and places. I hope they had as good of a time as I did. And I hope that you enjoyed the pictures and this project.

If you want to know more about London, you can write to me again!

Sincerely,

Liz

**

For the rest of you out there, click the links if you want to know more about Flat Stanley, or the official Flat Stanley project.

**
And as an aside, my back is feeling much better, but I'm still taking it easy...

my worst nightmare

Anyone who has known me for any length of time (or has been reading this blog from the beginning) will know that I have a herniated disc in my back. My L4 vertebrae to be precise.

It went undiagnosed for many years, with doctors saying I was having severe muscle spasms every time it flared up. About a year and a half ago, my (amazing) doctor at Concordia finally sent me for a CT scan which confirmed her suspicions of the herniation. I won't go into details, since there are already lots on this blog (check here to find out more on herniated discs and what they are), but, needless to say, it is a constant worry in the back of my mind. As any medical problem should/would be.

After the diagnosis, where I spent about 4 weeks in bed, and another 4 recuperating - going to physiotherapy twice a week and doing small exercises hourly. I decided that I never wanted to have to go through that agony again - It is like having a large, sharp knife dug deep into your spine with someone twisting it around and around.

I was crazy about doing the exercises given to me by my physiotherapist and decided that the best way to avoid having to go through that pain ever again would be to lose weight and get fit. I haven't had another inflammation since then. I knew I was jinxing myself last month when I thought to myself that it had been SO long since my back had gone out... on thursday, the pain started. By 4 PM, I couldn't sit in my chair at work anymore.

I came home, took some muscle relaxants that were left over from the last time (and which I have trekked around the world with me) and lay down. By friday morning, I wasn't feeling any better, so I went to the hospital.

In the UK, everyone has to have a GP, but since I'm new here, and haven't gotten around to getting one (I have a registration appointment in two weeks) I had to go to the A&E (accident and emergency).

I first tried the closest "walk in centre" but they told me there wouldn't be a doctor until the afternoon and I'd be better off going to an emergency room at the hospital. So, armed with my CT scan and x-ray results, i made the trek to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.

I had to wait about an hour before being called in to see the doctor (who, I think was younger than me). I gave him a run-down of my history and my symptoms and told him I should probably be seeing my GP but that since I don't have one, I had no choice but to come to A&E.

He prescribed me diazepam (that's what they use here for muscle spasms, in Canada I always got flexeril) and a codeine based pain killer. Then he told me to follow up with a GP, get to a physiotherapist ASAP and sent me on my way.

All in all, my first medical experience in the UK was all right. It was better than the time I went to hospital in Korea (see here) and faster than any visit I've ever had to ER in Canada. It only cost me 9£ for the prescription too, which is WAY less than Canada and certainly less than it cost me to get stitches in Korea.

A day later and about 18 hours of sleep and I'm actually feeling quite a bit better. This episode has brought home (again) that my worst nightmare (my back going out like it did in 2006) is an ever-present reality and that scares me.

the hunt

I have been applying for jobs constantly since I arrived in London. It took me about a week to get an "on-going" temp job. Basically, you find a temp agency (which is easier said than done, despite what you hear) and they find you a job.

Often these jobs are on a short-term basis, a day, a week, a month, but the on-going is the best for several reasons. First, you are guaranteed a pay check every week (the most important). Second, you don't have to get used to a new boss every other day. And third, it gives you the opportunity to make ends meet while you look for something you really want to do. Which is what I have been doing for the past month and a half.

At first, it seemed to me that journalism jobs were abundant in the UK - but that was before I got here at the height of the holiday season. When I first arrived, the pickings were slim. As it turns out, tons of people get new jobs in january - time for a change, I suppose. (Apparently the rate of divorce is higher in january too.)

So, lucky me. Everyone is moving around and getting new jobs, which means plenty of openings for me, right? I hope so. There have been a lot more advertised positions in the last month than there were in december, which is a good sign for me. I've been applying to all of them. Assistant editors, trainee journalists, journalists, assistant this and assistant that.

I've had two serious interviews in the past week. The first was for a trade journal. Investment banking. I had to take time out of my already short weekend to write a 300-400 word article on the Societe Generale and the systematic failures that led to their losing billions of pounds (the currency, not the weight). It wasn't something I knew much about, but the article was okay, so I thought.

In fact, it was "the best of the bunch". But I still didn't get the job. The question that lost it for me was, "Are you passionate about investment banking?" Who is truly passionate about it, other than investment bankers? I believe in honesty, but lesson learned. Next time, I eat, dream and sweat investment banking!

The other was at a pretty large news agency that would have been my perfect foot in the door. It's a job I wanted MORE than any job I've ever applied for. It was working with videographers, editing, archiving and sending off video to people who want to buy it.

I rocked the interview. Rocked it harder than any interview I've ever had. I know, because they told me. I was wearing, what I refer to as my "power suit", and was feeling good until I got into the building and had to wait to be taken upstairs. I started to get really nervous (which I usually am not, especially in interviews), my breathing was erratic, my heart was pumping, I felt sick. But I managed to pull it together and put it all out of my mind. Obviously, I must have had something they wanted or I wouldn't have been there.

Anyway, the interview, as I said, was amazing. I was sure, certain, positive, that the job was mine. When the interviewer called me on Monday morning (after a weekend of butterflies in my tummy) he told me he was "really, really sorry, but I was unsuccessful".

He went on to say that I was fantastic in the interview and I had really impressed them, but they were going with someone who had more "practical experience". I think that means the other person knows Avid, (the software they use) and I don't. "But," he went on, "if it's all right with you, I'd like to keep your information on file and call you if we have any freelance work or if anything else comes up." (I know they always say that, but for numerous reasons I won't list, I actually believe him.)

When I started breathing again, I told him that would be great, thanks for the chance and I'm looking forward to hearing from him. I hung up the phone and almost started to cry. I'm over it now, everything happens for a reason, so there must be a reason I didn't get the job. I still see it as a toe in the door, even if it's not the whole foot. Next week I'm going to ring him and see if I can get some work experience so that next time I have all the skills they want.

I've got loads of other applications out there. And while I'm waiting, I can hone my interview skills and learn from these experiences. They both gave me valuable feed back and I'm not going to forget it. So, while the hunt continues, I work six days a week at my temp job and hunt for something better, which I know will come along when the time is right.

life

It seems that lately I am constantly apologizing for this blog... So here it is again, sorry I haven't updated in so long again... I'm really not keeping my word on this one. I don't know what it is, but the only thing I can say is that life is busy in London (not that it isn't everywhere else).

When you're not at work (which is all the time), you're at the gym, if you're not at the gym, you're doing chores, and failing that, you're so tired from the above that all you want to do is go for drinks at the pub or veg in front of the TV.

I know it's no excuse, but I promise to make a concerted effort to write here more. I just haven't been feeling "it".

What is "it"? That desire to share all of the wonderful amazing things that I've been discovering about London, because honestly, I haven't really been discovering much. My life is exactly what I described above, work, gym, home. I go out, obviously, but it's not really anything to write home about.

I, sadly, missed the opportunity of writing here in my first two months, which is always the most exciting time in a new country, so I feel I've lost my groove. I just need a little time to find it.

I think I've written here before that 'life is life wherever you're living it' - I just need to re-iterate that. The fun stuff is sure to come, but I don't have the fab friends that I did in Korea and I don't have the interesting kids to write about, and, well, I'm just missing that "it" bit of my life right now.

I don't want to complain on here about work, like I often did in Korea, believe me, I could complain, but I won't subject you to that, dear reader. But, that being said, I am left with little else, since the majority of my time is spent in the office. Maybe I should start wingeing (ooh, Brit speak!) about it? Let me know what you think...

I have some good ideas for posts, but I just don't have the energy to do the research and take the time necessary... but it will come... I promise, that is, if you still believe me... and if life doesn't get in the way.

a serious update... or january in a nutshell... or it's a really long one...

I can truly say that I brought in the new year with grace and style this year. I think I did anyway. The evening started out that way, kind of. Ok, maybe I'm wrong and it was actually a night of total and complete debauchery... it was so long ago now that the details are fuzzy, though that could also be blamed on the champagne.

Lisa and her most wonderful flat-mate hosted a party - and since I was still living with them at the time, I sort of did too, even though I didn't know very many people there. Lisa and I started cooking the day before - sausage rolls (from her dad's famous recipe), vol-au-vent, dips of all sorts (two Canadian imports - my world-renowned spinach dip and an onion dip). there were meatballs, and plates of veggies - and that's just what we made. There was also a cheese porcupine (you know when the cheese is stuck to toothpicks and they are stuck into a melon to make it look like a porcupine!) sandwiches, crackers, breads, and on and on, like I said, my memory is a little hazy...

The spread at the start of the evening... see the porcupine!?

The bathtub was filled with ice and cold water and the drinks were dumped in. Somewhere in the range of 30 bottles of champagne, as well as unknown amounts of wine, beer, and liquor. (I vaguely remember shots of jack daniels at around 5 am.)

The bathtub at the beginning... should have taken before and after shots...

All we needed were the guests, and like in that famous movie, if you build it they will come... the rest, as they say...

Someone brought these awesome noise making balloons and we all went nuts with them!

It was a truly brilliant night. Sorry there are no photos of me, that's what happens when you're the official photog and no-one knows how a real camera works! Oh well... I think there might be a few shots of me floating around somewhere, but I will likely never see them... and so, neither will you!

At midnight.

The last guests left the party at 7:30 am. If that isn't a night of debauchery then I don't know what is! It reminded of my late twenties when I'd go out clubbing on St. Laurent with the girls *wink wink. Not something I like to do often, but amazing when it happens.

The next day I 'moved' to a different flat a twenty minute walk from Lisa's to (of all things considering my allergies) cat sit. I spent a week there and moved into my own place when my duty was up.

This is when life in London really began for me. No more hanging with people I knew all the time... having my own space... finding my way to work from my new home... getting all the shopping done... and all the other stuff that comes with life.

My room is in a house with seven other people. A Kiwi couple in one room, a (I think) Polish guy, a Columbian exchange student, and three Algerian guys. There is no common room, just the kitchen and two bathrooms, but that's ok. My room is what is referred to as a "double" because it's big - almost, in fact, as big as my apartment in Korea was. (There will be pictures when I tidy up...) It came furnished, almost, but it has everything I need now.

My house. My room is the bottom window.

It's on the first floor and I have huge bay windows that look out on the street. This can sometimes be annoying as I can't leave my windows open, but I don't think I would in London even if I were on the fifth floor! (More on crime in London in another post.) I DO get lots of light though when I want/need it (or when the weather chooses to co-operate!)

In early/mid January, I had a couple of visits with D & A of Korea fame. They finally made their way here after seeing most of Asia, Australasia, Russia and much of Eastern/Northern Europe (I think anyway - check her blog for greater detail - coulda woulda shoulda (doesn't open in a new window, so wait til you finish here!!)) It was kind of surreal to see them here, but it was amazing to have the opportunity. hint hint... anyone coming to london... ?!?!?!

The rest of the month has been mostly work and more work. I work at a regulating body - I'm a spoke in the wheel of bureaucracy... how ironic. It's boring, but it pays for the extraordinarily high rent and cost of living... I just get by really. Sometimes I work overtime on Saturdays.

Sometimes I go into work with Lisa on Sundays - which is incredible. I don't want to name names, but many of you must know where she works, and for me, it is the most amazing place to be learning. If you want more on that you'll have to email me directly, as I need to be more discreet here than in Korea... people... speak... English!

To get to the Tate Modern... follow the orange posts...

I've walked around nice places like Green Park and St James Park (they're both next door to the Queen's house, otherwise known as Buckingham Palace). I went to the Tate Modern a couple of weeks ago, which was one of the nicest museums I've been to... oh the Miro's and Picasso's and Pollacks. I even bumped into an old J-school friend while I was there. Weird.

St James Park

Also St James Park... looks out of a fairy tale...

I will leave you with some pictures and put January out of my mind (and this blog) now... though, if I think of anything, I will let you know.

A black swan at St James Park.

One last thing for January, I hate Haggis for the first time on Robbie Burns Day. It was good, but I preferred the vegetarian version. We even read aloud the ode to haggis... good times.

The Haggi' fresh out of the pot. Veggie on the right.

The meat one being chopped up.

On my plate and ready to go.

we have internet!!!!

of course, the day after i write about it, i get it!! WOOHOO!!! i don't have time at the moment to really write anything that i've promised, but i just wanted to let you all know it's here! i'll have my skype open whenever i'm home... call me, email me... love me over the net! i'm back!

apologies

i am SO sorry. i've been putting off posting until i got the internet at home and could take my time to realy write somthign interesting. sadly, this will have to do for now as it seems impossible to get the internet in london - even though there are ads for it on every bus, tube, and billboard. i'm waiting for the package with, i suppose, the router and whatnot to arrive... the guy in my house who is doing all this keeps telling me "tomorrow"... so far tomorrow has never come...

bear with me in this time of non-activity... i have LOTS to write about jolly-old... so, coming up, all about my 'hood, the Tate Modern, Green Park, the Queen's house, working and living in london, all about the tube and much, much more. i know promises, promises, but really... believe in me...