i promise...

I know I've been promising to write more, and I'm going to continue that promise...

I'm having some issues with my camera and iPhoto... which will make any posts on the average/boring side, so am waiting for a day to be able to deal with it all before giving you the whole account...

But, quickly...

My first real holiday since Thailand (in August 2007) went to hell, thanks to Iceland.

To make a long story short I (and my love Tom) were stranded in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands (google it)... in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Morocco, but 'owned' by Spain..

Our flight on Friday, April 16th (10:30 PM) was canceled. We re-booked for the Monday the 19th, but that was also canceled... So, with no end in sight, we got a flight to Seville, Spain. Then a train to Madrid; from there a coach (bus) to Calais, France (21 hours); then a ferry across the channel and then a train almost all the way home....

There IS A LOT more to it than that... and that will all follow, for now, life is back to 'normal'.

Damn you Iceland.... more to follow, (with photos) soon, I promise!

route mapper

So, I've done week three of my podrunner twice now... It's not easy, but it's getting easier! I decided to try and find out how far I actually go so I found this nifty website called Map My Fitness where you can create a map of your route and it will tell you how far it is, among other things. I thought I'd share it here...


I know it doesn't look very far, but the map assures me it's 2.82 KM. I'll need to step up things if I'm ever going to do a 5k! But let's give it some time, eh!?

The start and finish are at my house and the route takes me to (and through) Vauxhall Park and back again. Sometimes I deviate a little, but not by much. I imaging that once I'm actually running more (as opposed to walking part of the time) I'll have to go further afield, I'll probably end up going to Kennington Park (which you can see on the far right corner of the map). That's also down the road, but I hate going down the main road so for now I'm sticking to side streets.

I'm also thinking of looking into getting some new shoes. The ones I have are still in OK condition (well they look ok anyway) but I know that every pair of shoes has a life to them, and I've had these for a few years now. I actually bought them in Korea when I started exercising, so it probably is time for some new ones.

I'm hoping to go to one of those stores wherethey assess how you run and help you find the right shoe for your foot. Since I'm flat footed, I probably walk (and run) funny... Will let you know when the time comes!

For now, keep on runnin'!

2009 photo-retro

2009 has been a year of ups and downs - as are most years - here's a photo retrospective of my year... something on the decade to come some time in January...

Snow... there was lots of snow this year - starting in January, loads of it in February and then again in December...

February saw flowers arrive at the office for me! First time I've ever had that happen!

February also saw my first professional football match - Liverpool vs Real Madrid - in Madrid, Spain.

While there I managed to take in some of the sights... including this art exhibit in the 'crystal palace'.

...and the cow parade that was all over the city...

In March I went on holiday with my love, Tom, to Edinburgh... this is on the way up to Arthur's Seat.

A view of the city with the castle in the distance...

Tom and I at Edinburgh Castle

Tom and I on the Royal Yacht Britannia

In May I happened upon a fun fair in Hampstead Heath with a few friends after we went there for a picnic

In June I went on a weekend away with my love to Brighton - went to the pier and rode the rides...

We also went on an afternoon fishing trip where a nice man took this fab photo of us!

In August we went to Thorpe Park where we rode the (better than Brighton) rides

We had an amazing day!

In August I celebrated yet another birthday with great friends!

In October I went to Ukraine for my second professional football match - England vs Ukraine World Cup Qualifier - this is St Michael's Cathedral in Kiev - see previous post for more on that...

And finally I celebrated Christmas afternoon with my love and his family in North London.

By evening I had a fever of 102.5F, was told I had swine flu and spent the last week of the year in bed. Now here is New Year's Eve and I'm still not well enough to go to work - or go out :( So it'll be a night in with the telly... Here's to a great year gone and a better one to come!

Happy New Year to you and yours!

oh, heck...

I've done it again... left this far too long... At least I'm here?!

Not much to update... I sprained my knee two weeks ago. I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't properly diagnosed at the A&E (Accident and Emergency) and so I guess I didn't take enough care with it... so went to the doctors this week and he told me it's sprained... hrm. It's feeling a million times better than when I did it... woke up to find it the size of a melon... but it still just feels really unstable and when I go up or down stairs I can hear and feel it 'click'... not a good sign, but getting better slowly... wish it would hurry up and get better though... especially since I'm off to Ukraine in four days!

Yes, I'm going to Ukraine! Not somewhere I would normally choose to go of my own volition, but kind of cool that I am... It's a work trip to cover the England vs. Ukraine world cup football match. It was booked before England were a shoe in, (which they are now) so it's more of a friendly than anything, but that's ok... think of all the beautiful footballers' I'll get to goggle at!!! And potentially meet... Becks just to name a biggie... anyway, it should be kind of fun... I will definitely post some pictures and write about it when I get back... that is a PROMISE.

Home sweet home?

It seems I have been searching for a home since I left mine in 2006, a few months before I left for Korea. I had been living in the same apartment for seven years (!) and was so comfortable in my life there that I had to move to the other side of the world to pull myself out of the rut I was in.

Mission accomplished. Right?

I suppose. Since then, I have become a very different person, some new good qualities have emerged and there are probably some new bad qualities that I may not recognise in myself (any help on that one is appreciated), but I think for the most part I am a better person than I was when I 'left home'.

I think my desire (back then) to stay in one place, and not move, came from the fact that I had been moving all my life. Every two years when I was a kid and my parents were together, and then I left my mom's house as soon as I hit 18 and was able to. I guess I never really felt like I had a home. So, throughout most of my twenties, I lived in this wonderful (if a big dingy and old) apartment with some great (and some terrible) people, until I decided I was far too young to be so comfortable in life.

So, here I am, two and a half years later, living in yet another foreign country and I've decided to make this country/city/culture my new home. Not like Korea, which was always going to be short-term, but like that apartment that I found in my twenties, London will be home, for quite some time.

Now I just need to find that physical place, a space all my own, somewhere in this vast city that I can actually call home and not 'my room'.

I've been on the hunt for about a week and a half. I've given notice to my current flatties that I'll be out by the 1st of February. It's not easy here, though, to find somewhere that lives up to (or even comes close) to that feeling of home that I had in my apartment in Montreal. I know it always takes time for these things, I know I didn't feel 100% at home in the first year I lived there, so maybe I just need to give it time? The problem is, I haven't even seen anywhere that has the potential of being "home"...

I'll just keep looking. I know it's got to be out there somewhere. Everything else in London has fallen so perfectly into place and all I'm missing is a good home... so I know I'll find it... I'm just so tired of searching.

time flies...

I have A LOT of catching up to do... I just can't do it right now. Coming up:

The adventures of Liz in Greece.

The adventures of moving house.

The adventures of acute muscle spasms.

The adventures of Kat n Liz in London.

AND

The adventures of Zoom airlines going belly-up.

These are all things that have affected my life of late... with a lot of other little stuff in between. I promise a full account with photos coming shortly... life has just been nuts over here...

For those of you paying attention enough to write in on your calendars, I will no longer be landing in Montreal on the 19th of September... you'll have to wait until the 22nd now. More details soon. I promise.

The English language

When I moved to Korea I knew that I would have a whole new language to contend with. So, in preparation, I learned Hangul (the alphabet, or written Korean) and a few handy phrases. I learned a lot more when I was there.

I am discovering that anywhere you go language will be different, even among countries that speak the same language. I already knew that British and Canadian English had differences, as does American, Australian and South African, but I have been surprised at the number of different and new words I have learned.

These are words that I would never (or very rarely) use in Canada that have become a regular part of my vocabulary. I've been compiling this list for a few weeks with the help of a friend at work... He loves it - it makes him feel like he's teaching me English!!!

1. queue - we all know this means 'to line up', I just never used it before.

2. trousers - as opposed to 'pants', which in England means 'underwear'.

3. post - as in 'the mail'

4. handbag - no, it's not a 'purse', that's where you keep your money, not in a 'wallet'.

5. yob - the closest translation is 'thug', but they're much worse than that, google it.

6. loo - or sometimes lavatory, but not the 'bathroom'.

7. lorry - a 'truck'. ;)

8. hoover - not a 'vacuum'.

9. lift - as opposed to 'elevator'

10. crisps - mmm... my favourite 'chips', but not the french fried kind...

11. chav - closest translation 'white trash', google it.

12. whinge - kind of like 'whining' but more serious.

I have a few more, but they're kind of obvious... packet, corner shop, tube, football, courgette, mobile... I will share more as they come. In the meantime, you can google some of them and see what comes up... 'chav' is kind of fun, where 'yob' is kind of scary...enjoy!

**
On an aside, I still haven't sorted out what I will do about the visa situation. I am working on getting all the documents together so that if I want to get the other one I have the option. I'm starting to think about doing other things though... more on it when/if I sort it all out. Think Asia though... I'm not through with it yet...

it's only life after all

I'm leaving for the airport in about two and a half hours. So this will be my last post from Canada for a while. People keep asking me how long I'm going to the UK for, what I'll be doing there, and why I'm going. So as a last post, I thought I'd clear up the confusion.

When I was a teenager I dreamed of going to the UK. I couldn't have told you then, exactly why, and I still can't today, it's just something that I've always felt I needed to do. I hope to find whatever it is that deep down I'm looking for, maybe I won't, but at least I'll be able to say that I tried.

I think that one of the most important things in life is to live it - and I know from experience that it is often a lot easier said than done. If you would have told me five years ago that I'd have graduated from university, lived in Korea for a year, and was about to get on a plane (again) to head into the unknown, I probably would have laughed in your face. Yet, here I am.

Something inside of me changed. I don't want to just get through life like I used to (and so many do). I don't want to live a regular nine to five existence. I don't want to lose any opportunity that comes my way. These are a few of the things that I don't want, if only i could figure out what I DO want, then I'd be home free. Regardless, this is a start.

I want to explore the beautiful city that is London. I want to visit the English and Scottish countrysides. I want to go to Paris, Amsterdam, Spain, Portugal, Prague, and Morocco, but those are only a few of the places on "my list". It's time to "do" Europe, so I'm doing it. I'm not going to be unrealistic, I will be living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, making probably not that much money, but I'll get done what I can.

I don't know how long I'll be gone. I'm only allowed to work for twelve months in a two year period, but who knows what will happen in those twelve months. I'll be looking for a job in the media somewhere - either as a journalist, editor, copywriter/editor, photographer... you name it, I can do it!!! It's time to put that degree to use and what better place to start than in London? I'll never be bored that's for sure.

So, to those of you who think I'm crazy - if you're in Montreal look out the window and tell me that five feet of snow is better than a little rain, and to the rest of you, what are you so worried about? It's only life after all... and life is for living, n'est pas?