Picadilly line to COCKFOSTERS

Hello!

Usually, I keep a little sticky-note of things I want to blog about, but this week I didn't do that so we will see what I can remember. I will say that this blog will contain a fair amount of photographs. I have been remembering to bring my camera with me everywhere!
Please let me point out that I live on the PICADILLY Line (Manor House Stop) on the way to COCKFOSTERS. Enlarge the photo. You'll see what I mean. Yes, it gets me every time. Giggle, Giggle.

This is what the Picadilly train looks like at night. No straphangers were killed in the taking of this photograph (that I know of).

Okay, so it's been freezing cold, and I have had WAY too much hot chocolate. (Not, suities, that this is a bad thing ;) ) The problem with "freezing cold" here, is that it only ever rains/freezing rains, but never actually snows. SO, we get all the crappy parts of winter without any of the beauty!

Alright, so, you all have seen pictures of my room and my housemates, but you haven't really seen my neighborhood yet. I'll admit, it's super cute, but I can see myself eventually moving elsewhere because there just isn't that much going on in the way of a social life.
This is the High Street (Main Street) off which I live. It is called Green Lanes. It is predominantly Turkish establishments.

This is THE reason to live in my neighborhood: The famous Yasar Halim Bakery. They have THE best breads, desserts, and boreks on Earth. I may grow obese living here.

This is the street corner off which I live. My street is JUST to the left of this vegetable/fruit store.

This is my street! We have pretty red row-houses with front yards AND back gardens!

This is my house. 10 Salisbury Road. (Why does no one love me enough to send me things??)

Now onto work things...I got my contract for guaranteed supply last week!!! (Congratulations via commenting on the blog may ensue now...) Basically, this means that I am guaranteed work every day (that isn't a holiday) from now on. I still have to call up in the mornings, if I haven't gotten anything before-hand, but, it takes a lot of financial pressure off because what it means is that if they DON'T find work for me, they still have to pay me. Eamonn has also convinced me that it is due time I ask for a raise so I am psyching myself up to do that this week. (He gets paid 12 pounds a day more than me, and has been working only a couple weeks longer than I. He works for a different agency, but apparently, the going rate is the same...Now all I have to do is get the guts to do it. I hate talking about money!) Speaking of Eamonn it's due time for a photo and a caption:
Please note, this is intentionally a ridiculous photograph. This is Eamonn wearing the amazing Christmas cape he received from a mate for Christmas. He cuts his hair every 5-6 months. Clearly, he is due. He is a teacher and a friend and we've known each other for more than 5 months now. (Has it been that long already?) I like to introduce him as "the smartest Irish person I know." Which, by the way, is the complete and total truth. Eamonn and I are not dating. We are also not not-dating. When asked, which does happen, I say, "We are not dating," and he stands there like an awkward boy (who is not a boy because he is nearly 30). If you ever meet him, you can tell him about all of the horrible (and not so horrible) things you've read about him in this blog because the nature of our relationship is such that he knows his picture's been painted less-than-ideally here--he's just not allowed to read it. When we stop not not-dating it apparently won't matter because we were not-dating to begin with. And you can blog-quote me on that. ;)

This is Eamonn and Badger. They had an all-lads party last weekend. Apparently it's a 7 year tradition. Badger, incidentally, writes for the sports section of The Guardian. (His real name is Robin so you can look him up if you read it.) He may overtake Eamonn for "smarted Irish person I know" at some point soon.Speaking of shattered, this is what their house looked like after the weekend. (Girls just don't let the ridiculousness get to this level!) I spend a fair amount of time there, and on this particular day, I hid in the cleanest part of the house and read the Sunday paper, so as to avoid looking at/smelling the mess.

So, this week was crazy and fun, and I found myself comfortable and at home for the first time. I worked every single day, and hung out every single night. It is nice, socially, to finally know enough people, and feel comfortable enough with them, to go out and do stuff and not feel the pressure of having to "impress." I feel like when you first meet people it takes so much ENERGY, and now I just feel more relaxed, so hanging out is much more enjoyable and a lot less work!

On Tuesday I went Salsa dancing with Sadbh (Irish and pronounce Sive) and Jaz. It was a great lesson at a great club, and the people there were pretty friendly as well. There was even a live band to dance to afterwards! The class was kind of hard, but I felt like I learned more in one day than I have in a very long time. I've seen London salsa dancers at work in other places, and now I can understand why they are so good! On Wednesday Jaz and I went to see this really great musical in the West End. (I have definitely been seeing my fair amount of theatre these days. I guess I don't want to pass up the opportunities that I know I missed out on in NYC. To be surrounded by great theatre is a very rare, and wonderful thing!) We saw "Imagine This" which got very poor reviews. It was a musical about Jewish Ghettos in Poland during World War II. The musical was GREAT, I think the problem is that no one wants to go see a musical and then be horribly depressed afterwards! On Thursday Eamonn made dinner. He's been talking up his "super secret best ever pasta sauce" so it was due time I tried it out. Pretty good...but not as good as the Uccellos on Christmas Eve. On Friday I went out with Jill, Sadbh's housemate, and COMPLETELY coincidentally Eamonn's best friend's little sister. I am telling you...the Irish community here is crazy. We had an awesome night out on Liverpool Street (and I had the BEST cheap veggie burger of my entire life!) but unfortunately, one of the guys we were with got his laptop bag stolen. It is such a shame that in London's "fairly low crime-rate" there is such a HIGH concentration of thievery. It's SO common here to get things nicked when you are out having a good night, and it really puts a damper on things.

I woke up at an un-godly early hour on Saturday to play a hockey game in the freeeezing cold freeeezing rain. The game was miserable, we got our as**es kicked, and I think I pulled a muscle in my right lower a**. Seriously, watching me walk is a rather large source of entertainment today. Soren and I were supposed to go to the famous Camden Market to Christmas shop, but, I felt so crappy, I cancelled. I NEED to Christmas shop though!

However, it was our hockey club Christmas-Do last night, so after our EARLY game, everyone went home and napped and then we went to the club for the party. I should explain the West Hampstead Hockey Club to you now, I supposed. There are 6 girls teams and 7 guys teams (which is around 150-200 people). And, being sports enthusiasts (and predominantly English, Scottish, and Australian), they know how to throw a party. I'm excited to have such a large group of people to be able to meet, who all have the love of hockey in common. The girls in my division are all really kind, fun to hang out with, and have completely taken me under their wing.
This is the hockey club.

Most of you know how I feel about Karaoke. Well, you can see me standing in the back of my team, being embarrassed. Each team had to do a karaoke song at the Christmas-Do. We are pictured here singing "Uptown Girl."This is myself and one of the girls on my team, Helen. If you look closely you can see that I am covered in tinsel.

In other words, this week was all about being too social and not getting enough sleep. The pattern is just going to continue because tonight I'm going to see Jamie Lidell in South London. YES!

Finally, I am coming home from December 23rd-December 30th. If you are going to be around, let me know. I am going to be in London from December 31st-January 2nd, Dublin from the 2nd-4th, then Berlin (with Marisa!) from January 4th-January 9th, and then Finally back to London to re-start "real life."

Love you! (Comment!)

Sarah

PS: Happy Birthday Simone!