Loads of late nights!

Thursday’s job for my catering company was brilliant! I worked a bra lingerie show!!!! At this event, I was a bar tender and the bar was at the end of the cat walk!!!! How lucky could I have been? The entire event was great; the clients were first time clients that had never hosted an event before so myself and the other workers asked them how they wanted things done. We basically ran the entire show (bar and drink reception) the entire evening. At the end of the event, we were all given a free bottle of vodka and a gift bag with probably £30 worth of goodies. The people I worked with were great fun as well (not to mention the beautiful models)!!!

Friday it was work as normal with a good game of football after school. My boss and I arrived a bit earlier than everyone else so he gave me some basic fundamental instructions. During the course of the game my shots were a bit closer and my overall court presence increased. I have a great time because no one expects me to be stellar. I am a tall, lanky awkward American that has never played football before. They all want me to get a goal, but I told them if the keeper needs to put a hand on the ball, I have been quite successful. After football we enjoyed a good pint or two with the other teachers inside. Upon my arrival home (which after an hour and a half of football and an hour and a half at the pub, I am only home a half hour later than my flatmate who has a job in the city!!! I love school work) I took a nice nap and was going to meet up with JP. I ended up going somewhere else and we were not able to meet up.

Saturday was a day full of surprises! I woke up to incredible sunshine, jumped out of bed and was determined to go for a run. My run ended up lasting two hours and covering a good portion of London east of me. I made it all the way to White City (not a direct route though). When I arrived back to my flat, I decided to text Tina from Northern Ireland to see when a good time would be to call her. She replied she would be in London in a half hour and if I could meet her and Rory at Waterloo. Brilliant!!! I raced around, showered, ate, and headed straight down. We met for tea, sandwiches, and eventually moved to Guinness. The three of us caught up for about three hours at Waterloo Train Station. I had not seen either of them since the States. I am planning on going up and visiting them in March. I cannot wait!!!! We had a lovely time.

Sunday was the Chinese New Year and London has a massive celebration in Chinatown. I went with JP and Christine for the parade and all the food stalls. We saw dancing dragons (at least I did because I could see over the crowds), ate some amazing pork skewers, and had a jolly good ole time. That night we had another family dinner, this time with some new invitees. The menu was potluck and consisted of chicken stir fry, lemon cod, pizza, chicken Caesar salad, and fried potatoes (that was me, just like Mom’s, but not quite as good). For dessert we had a massive Swiss cake roll with a fancy name. Also that night, Dan came in at about 22:00 from Scotland for the night. He has a week left and on Monday was leaving for Slovenia and Croatia. Another successful weekend!!!

Monday was pretty low key. School, package pickup thanks to Grandma Harty, grocery shopping with Adam, and the internet. A nice, basic evening, something that is quite strange to think about because sometimes I just do not feel like going out and taking advantage of this amazing city, it is my home, not another city I must always go out in.

Tuesday was a bit hectic because I worked straight away after school at the foreign offices. I unfortunately did not bring my passport and other documents so I had to rush home in about half the time it takes. Let’s say I nearly was hit by a car and quite stressed but managed to make it back only being 7 minutes late. Ahhhh!!! The event was nothing special, a meeting between the UK and Iran and Afghanistan; hot countries right now with loads of their citizens currently in the UK. The people were quite boring at the event. I was glad to get home.

Wednesday (happy birthday to Aunt Lynn and Kelly) was your usual day at school followed by me working again after school. This event was at the Hospital Club (somewhere I have worked before). I luckily helped man the bar in the back room and so therefore did not have to go out with any of the guests at all! (A nice, low key event) After work I went up to Camden with Graham (a vegetarian) to a vegan Thai restaurant. We got take-away and went our separate ways, but the food was delicious. The bus ride was nothing with this gorgeous Thai food! I will definitely be back for more food.

Thursday was an absolutely crazy day!!! School was normal as was my catering job afterwards. I worked for a quite fussy company that is known for their ridiculously loud and shouty managers. However, after work, seven of us went out for a drink. Our shift ended at about 22:30 so I was only going to go until 23:00 and then head home because of school the next day. We had so much fun that I ended up being out until 4:00 the next morning. We ended up at a pub, a bar with a dance floor, and then onto a club in Soho. Adeeb, Lucy, Adam, and I tore the night away. This spontaneous night is near one of the best I have had in a while. We met some fun people (I danced with an old lady), joked around loads, and danced crazily. A fantastic evening!

Beings I had such a good Thursday night, I was incredibly tired on Friday for school. Despite my exhaustion, the day went by quick (you can make it through just about anything on a Friday). The funny thing is that most of the teachers I play football with also had a long Thursday night and most did not want to play football. Since football was out, a couple of us went for a pint. I made it home and was going to take a brief nap at 19:00, but I woke up Saturday morning! I was so refreshed!!!

Saturday I worked at the Six Nations Rugby match (England vs. Wales). I had to take a bus, three trains, and walked 25 minutes. When I arrived at the stadium, I walked around it (a massive stadium) several times before I found the correct location. The directions were terrible, the security knew where just about nothing was, and when I finally reached the proper tent, security would not let me through. With all said I was 25 minutes late and had made three phone calls. I did not miss much. I worked in the 02 tent and helped serve sausages (duck, chicken, pork, venison, and vegetable) with mash (mustard, cranberry, and plain) to the VIPs invited. I was then paid to watch the match on TV followed by a bit more work. The shift was incredibly easy and great fun. Over 75,000 people were there to watch and I was paid to watch!!!

After getting home, JP, Adam, and I met up with Faitek, Nick, Tony, and V. We initially headed towards Fabric but due to the queue we landed at Dust. We danced a bit, Tony got in a fight with a huge scary guy, and we left at about 3:00. The night was just an okay night; I was not in the right mood for a full night out.

Sunday I went to East London and took a 4 hour walk through Hackney and several of its parks. The atmosphere in the area I was in seemed to be a bit more low key than my neck of the city. I read and wandered the city, taking some nice alone time for a bit. The weather was quite nice as well (a bit of sun and not too much wind). I came home, went to the internet and then met Dan (fresh off the plane from Croatia). He is staying with me until Wednesday when he returns to the States. The super bowl was shown live on TV at 23:30 and we watched it. The game ended at about 3:00, fortunately I took a we nap before the game started. Another late night, my body is getting a bit tired.

Monday I played pretty low with being again quite tired. I did some reading, took a nice jaunt through a new area of my area, and chatted around the table (as always, a ten minute sit can turn into six hours if JP or Adam is home). The conversations we have widely range but are always great. I do not know what I will do once these gents leave. To be thought of at a later date.

BACK CAUGHT UP!!!!

URGENT NEWS!!!!
I received my initial application back and I have been approved for my work permit. I now need to apply for a leave which allows me to stay in the country. I am told it is nearly a done deal, but not official. I thought you all would be excited to know!!!

Cheers! Thanks for the emails, phone calls, posts, packages, and all the good stuff. I appreciate it!!! You all rock!