31 August 2009

I am blaming my lack of messages on facebook because I need to justify it somehow! I think looking at pictures is the best way of sharing our adventures with us, but I know I need to be a bit of a novelist at times too. So how much can I write to catch up on the entire summer and start to sum up our FIRST year here?!?!?! Well I am going to try right now. Its 10:27, I will make a deadline (I am truly an accountant after all and we love our deadlines, I can speak more about this in a little bit). Ok, so lets say I have until 10:45 to write you all an update on 3 months. Brilliant!

Most of you have probably seen our pictures and I think its pretty obvious in looking at those how much fun we have had and how busy we were this summer. We have had the opportunity to sail through Greece for 7 days, spend 7 days in the South of France (including being part of the Tour de La..I mean France), Paris for a weekend, Dublin for a weekend, Zurich for a weekend, and Cardiff for a weekend. This combined with having an influx of visitors this summer (that would be the Jones & Scotty, Molly, Emily & Christian, Julie & Steve, Will & Kristin, Melinda & Linda, and Julie & Steve part 2...thanks guys for coming it was SOOO great to share London with you) has made the time fly, the summer be incredibly memorable, and has worn us out :)

I think my favorite trip of the summer (and probably Chris too) was the South of France. I love, love, love France. I wish I could speak French (I picked up a few phrases while we were there after ordering three cappuccinos instead of two I got better..ha ha) because I would live there (footnote 1: When I went to Zurich in August I thought the same thing, I LOVED Zurich. MY friends live in a house that overlooks Lake Zurich, it was beautiful and I went swimming in it. People were wakeboarding on the lake too! I could live there too if I spoke ?Swiss-German????). Obviously, the main highlight of our trip to France was Chris' amazing bike ride (which he will have to tell you all about because he did it, I just sat on top of the mountain at a chalet, sipping a beverage, and looking at the Swiss Alps). We also LOVED seeing the actual tour, simply amazing! I highly recommend a visit to Provence, I think we would do it again in a heartbeat. There are sooo many little villages you can visit and they are all so old and historic, but absolutely beautiful and interesting. The food was amazing (which I thought the bread and pastries were great in Paris, but the food in Provence was REALLY good). We are sold on French wine, but I have heard rumors that the French keep all the good wine for themselves. That is why it can be hard to get really great French wine at home (or way too expensive). We were amazed when we went to a winery and tasted about 8 wines that we didn't have to pay? That is unheard of in the US! So then we felt perfectly fine buying a few bottles, which were still only about €12 each (pretty inexpensive). All in all, go to France is all I am saying :)

Chris is going ot work now (it is a bank holiday and we have Monday off, at least I do) so I am increasing my 1045 deadline to 1050 so I can say goodbye. Gotta be flexible.

Ok, so France. Wonderful. Greece was fabulous for different reasons. It was pretty amazing cruising around in a sailboat and having the freedom to do what we wanted. We ate sooo much fresh seafood, fresh bread, fresh vegis, and cheese. It was so yummy. The water was pretty cool, but we still had a few good swims in the beautiful, salty, perfectly clear, Aegean sea. We rented mopeds at each island because they were only €10 and cruised around the islands that way, it was great fun. Except I was always on the back of Chris' moped and he thought he was racing the Moto GP. I think everyone, males included, felt bad for me. The guys on this trip are definitely Chris' mates here in London. Chad was my boss at PwC (he has quit recently and now is going to be my client, not sure which is worse). I am scared every time I know Chris, Declan, and Chad are together....they are out of control. They also cycle together quite a bit. Chris has a few other cycling buddies as well and some other mates that he has met at D&T.

I think one of the most unexpected things about this experience has been the friendships. Yes, I thought we would make friends...but not like this. I think that is part of the reason we have grown so fond of living here. There were some tough ones to crack, but in the end I think we have made some great friends! I think for me what really made me realise how great some of our mates are here was how they took care of my sister, Molly, when I was gone. Actually, this just reminds me of a funny story. So when Molly was coming over here some of my friends starting calling her "little sprinkles". I said, no she is not Sprinkles she is a Tant. They are like "oh yeah, Tant....". Well somehow one of the guys who works in my office is called Rick (or Ricky) and everyone thought it would be funny to call him Ricky Tant. Yes, so that is what he is called now. So now both of my last names are a joke. Someone made signs for about 10 of us that are at our desks that say our names and some quote..for example my says "Angela Sprinkles - Token American". Ricky's says "Ricky Tant - Runs the East Side". I told these people that they are going to have to meet the real Mr. Tant who runs the West side when he comes for a visit and that he will likely set them straight...over a pint of bitter of course, right dad?

Anyway, that was just a little tangent. I have obviously blown my deadline, what else is new? Work is going well, Chris is up to his old tricks (working a lot) and I am up to mine (schmoozing a lot). When will he learn how you play the game? :) Haha, just kidding (sort of). Chris is realising more and more that accounting is not for him. I wouldn't be shocked to see a career change happen sometime in the next few years. He has some ideas of "businesses" he wants to start. One of those is a taco shop in London. I actually don't think this is a bad idea and I think he is seriously going to look into this. Other things revolve around his many, many, many, many, many, many, many hobbies. So what does this mean for me? According to him, I have to keep working in the corporate world to finance these endeavors. Right......well I will say that I like my job a lot more here than I did at home (sorry to all my San Diego PwC'ers but its the truth). I have learned a lot and I feel like a real professional. Of course there has been some really crap things about work here, but after doing this client secondment for the past 2 months I have also realised that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I get SOOO bored! So when I was talking earlier about deadlines and what not, well I have learned that I thrive off of pressure, deadlines, stress, all these horrible things! Haha. But the horrible things become bearable when I am working side by side with people that I love. The greatest thing about working a 12 hour day is when at the end of it you decide to switch everything on two of your co-workers desks, name plates and all. I was really good at hiding being part of this too.

So Julie & Steve are finally here. We have seen them quite a bit already which has been fun! We are going to Munich for Oktoberfest with them and a bunch of other people as well on September 24. The four of us are also going to venture over to Salzburg for night too. We then have plans to go visit them in Frankfurt over Thanksgiving weekend. We are going to have Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night and then do Frankfurt Christmas markets on the weekend. We loved the markets so much in Cologne last year that we had to do them again :)

We are headed home in October for Ashley's wedding (Chris' sister). I am looking forward to it so much. This is the longest I have ever been away from home (it will be a little over 6 months since the last time I was home). We are hoping for some sunshine, sushi, Mexican food, loads of shopping (gotta help the economy), dirt biking, boating, and spending time with friends! We miss you all so much. Each time someone comes for a visit, I am reminded of home and what I miss most about home...the people. We really do love London and after a year, I am going to be honest, 2 years may not be enough. This is all up in the air, but my work schedule has booked me out through 2011 (without my approval that's why I say this is up in the air). However, every time I see a picture of my nieces, or talk to my nephew on the phone, or see my friends celebrating a wedding, or hear a funny/sad/happy story of home....I can't help but be torn up inside (ok now I am sitting here crying, which I don't do often). So don't worry, we will come "home, home"....which is what I call San Diego.

Ok way past the deadline. I love you all so much and miss you every day! Time for me to go outside, enjoy the sunshine (yes there is a lot of it here), and live life.....

xx

Angela