The Good and Bad

We started my first holiday weekend off with a bang. I'll break down the events by Friday and Saturday because they both deserve a fair share of blog love and some important London lessons learned by all.

Friday:
We met up with a friend for a night of river cruising on the Thames. His friend and some buddies of his throw an annual boat cruise for charity. Ingenious, really. The weather was being typically British on land but by the time we hopped aboard the London Belle at Millenium Pier, we were dry and looking forward to the fully stocked bar.

On board, the crowd was a heavy mix of people: French, Italians, South Africans and...New Yorkers! Ashamedly, R and I spent a good portion of the night playing the comparison game between New York and London with a group of party goers. We reminisced about American customer service and discussed the sixth season of Sopranos...how could they leave us hanging like that??? The highlight of the evening was when we passed our new flat (a post to come soon) on the Chelsea Embankment and sighed in great relief knowing we'd be leaving Bayswater soon! Rave: London is gorgeous by night.

After the cruise and many cheap liquor cocktails later, it was revealed that the party raised significant wads of British Sterling for Water Aid. Drinking for charity = good. Our altruistic selves headed off to Crazy Larry's on the King's Road in Chelsea.

Hmm... Crazy Larry's. Crazy, yes. But, it's definitely not the place I would normally go to if given a sober choice. This place has an identity crisis; it's not quite a lounge , club, or bar, but a mixture of the three. CL's has the most ridiculous playlist ranging from typical Eurotrash house music to Salt 'n Peppa's "Push It" and M.C. Hammer's "You Can't Touch This". Nonetheless, we were still reeling from the boat cruise vibes and new friends partied on into the night.

Saturday:
Saturday got off to a great start. We stayed in the whole day from the previous night's festivities and rallied ourselves off the couch (a challenging task at the time) to get ready for dinner and dancing later on at Pacha.

Dinner was wonderful at Cous Cous Darna in South Kensington. I had the seafood pastilla and the starters were fresh. I especially liked the aubergine salad and the warm bread rolls. Yum! And, because no meal is really complete without some belly dancing, we were all pleasantly entertained by the CCD's lone female dancer.

Post dinner, it was off for some dancing at Pacha for their Hed Kandi night. Hed Kandi is a record label that promotes the good life with music. Think beach, tan bodies, beautiful people, and Ibiza. The great thing about Pacha is that it saves any unfinished bottles for your next visit so we welcomed an old bottle of Vodka and Jack with open arms and began our dancing for the night.

Everyone was having a great time and while I would like to offer my seal of endorsement to Pacha, we were met with some unfortunate lack of hospitality. A friend was a few drinks deep when 2 steroid popping wannabes (a.k.a. bouncers) carried him off and threw him out the back entrance. It happened so quickly that none of us had time to react. Before we knew it, we were in a full fledged battle to a) figured out what had just happened and b) get our friend back. Our friend had done nothing wrong and the club's desire to resolve this "problem" was with a disproportionate use of force. The management was completely unprofessional and could not give us the names of the security nor would they let us exit out the same back entrance our friend had been pushed from by security. It was completely ridiculous and we vowed never to return.

Luckily, our friend was safe and we headed off to the police station to figure out what we could do. Was this normal? Who do these people think they are? Our late night trip to the station made me question my own safety here in London considering the conclusion that there was really nothing we could do as tax-paying citizens except to just allow these goon heads to "do their job" and pick on their V.I.P. customers. Overall, it was just unfair.

We learned:

1. When you enter a club, you are on private property and therefore, the management can kick out any person for any reason using force. (WHAT?)

2. The only way we could voice our complaints was with the Westminster council (think governing body for each London borough) and there would be a "full investigation". (My thought is that this investigation wouldn't be so thorough and yield little results.)

3. As the average citizen in this city, the laws aren't designed to necessarily protect you and don't make sense. Be careful!

We had some much deserved McDonald's french fries and headed back home well after the London sun had risen and a new day had begun.

School's Out for Summer!

It's that time of year again! The end of the year is always bittersweet. During May, visions of beach trips, afternoon naps, and the promise of late night drinking (yes, teachers drink...and go to the bathroom...and have, gasp, lives) get me excited for summer to officially kick off. However, by June, I become sentimental thinking about my kids.

This year was especially difficult to end because my students and their families have become my extended family here. We're all far away from our home so we created a "pseud0-family" who could always offer advice, give a shoulder to lean on, or an ear to listen. It was hard to say good-bye, especially to the students and families who are leaving for another country. Life works in mysterious ways and I know I'll see them again.

Next up: summer!

Princes Wombat and Ginger

Those are the nicknames for Princes William and Harry. You can find this information and lots of other useless facts from the interview that aired last night on Dateline NBC with boy wonder, Matt Lauer.

Yes, there were the obvious questions about their mother, the late Princess Diana, and their declaration of being normal twenty-somethings despite all the lavishness that is the British Royal family.

The thing that amazed me most was actually hearing them speak! There are so many pictures of these two all over tabloids but when was the last time we have actually heard them utter a word?

Well, that AND Harry's 'fro.

A New Year's Resolution (sort of)

Well, not as in January's "I'm going to the gym every day" kind of resolution, but my desire to bring you the unchronicled life, as you know it, of myself: an American ex-pat one year deep on London soil.

I'm around the corner from my 1 year anniversary of getting settled and sorted in this suburban metropolis (as I like to call it) so I thought I would do myself a favor and reflect on this year's past. Ladies and gentlemen, the Top 10 Rant and the Rave, London style:

Rant
1. Customer service: Has anyone ever heard that the customer is right? The UK could use a good heaping teaspoonful of hospitality.
2. Carpeted pubs: I've never understood this. There's a part of my mom in me that wonders exactly how clean it is and the last time it was vacuumed.
3. The accent: Posh and privileged, cockney rhymey, it kind of all sounds the same to me. By the way, it's parking lot, diaper, and shopping cart.
4. Teenage hoodlums: It's 3 pm. Do you know where your child is?
5. The prices: When was H & M ever that expensive?
6. Drivers: Yes, that thing on the right side of your wheel is a turning signal.
7. Taxes: I finally now fully understand The Beatles' song "Tax Man". DAMN!
8. Healthcare: Yes, it's universal but that's the last thing on your mind when you have the flu and have to wait FOREVER for an appointment.
9. Smoking inside: 1 heart July 1!
10. Member's Clubs: Pretentious. (Ok, unless there's a really long line outside and you happen to be with a member.)

Rave
1. My flat: Huge compared to my NY apt, great kitchen, and a view of the garden aka courtyard
2. Proximity to the rest of the Europe: Easy Jet here I come!
3. Pubs: They're not good for the heart, but they are good for the soul.
4. Pimm's: Yuuuuum!
5. Trashy magazines like OK and Star: My equivalent of US Weekly British Style. A definite guilty pleasure.
6. Music scene: London is lucky to attract the best of European and American acts and lot sof summer festivals
7. Selfridge's/Harrods: The food halls make them just that much better than Barneys.
8. Taxis: Clean, big, and the drivers are actually nice and knowledgeable.
9. Parks: I have the ability to kill any plant life in my care. It's nice to know there's so many places I can go in London for my dose of green.
10. The history: Yes, cheesy and grandpa-ish, but I certainly can't get this in the US.

There you have it, my first post and my first rant and rave in London. (Well, not really. There have been lots along the way!)
I'm sure I'll think of 1,000,000 other things, but think of it as an apertif to get started. London, here I come.