August Bank Holiday Weekend

Let me give a bit of definition before I dive in. In the US we have vacation and holidays, however, in the UK we go on holiday (vacation) and get bank holidays (holidays) off from work. Probably fairly obvious but they're called bank holidays because the banks are closed. Done.

This past weekend was the late summer bank holiday which always occurs on the last Monday in August. Why and how this day was chosen I have no idea considering the kids are already out of school on summer break anyway. If any of you Brits want to chime in and answer please comment below, but I digress.

It turned out to be a very busy and fun-filled weekend. It started out Friday night when I went on my very "first date" with Tonya. I refer to it as a first date because she suggested dinner (tapas) and a movie (Bourne Ultimatum) so it sounded very date-like. (Before anyone asks, she was a perfect lady the whole night and didn't try anything on me.) I met Tonya the prior weekend at an American ex-pat meet-up group in central London. I found the meet-up online and a few of their events sounded interesting so I gave it a shot. The meet-up event felt a bit like speed dating (not that I've ever been) where we walked around the room and asked the same requisite questions: 1) how long have you been in London; 2) what brought you to London; 3) do you still enjoy it here; 4) how long do you plan to be here. I was able to meet a few nice ladies, including Tonya, who I'd like to spend time with again though. Tonya's story is quite interesting. She was a lawyer in Washington D.C. for a few years and took a 6-month sabbatical to come study art at Christie's in London. After Tonya completed the course, she discovered that her true passion was art and decided to stay in London to pursue a master's degree at Sotheby's. She's now completing her master's thesis and has been working in the field for a couple months. Tonya is a lovely and intelligent lady so I hope we'll become good friends during my time here. Not that semiconductors aren't fascinating but I hope to find something that I'm as passionate about one day.

Saturday would definitely be the lowlight of my long weekend though. I spent the morning doing some errands and decided to head to a car superstore in the afternoon. Ro bought his car from this place so he recommended it to me as they have a huge selection of over 2,000 cars in one lot and the price you see is the price you get. It turned out to be a horrible idea though, particularly on a bank holiday weekend. The car superstore was packed to the brim and there wasn't a salesperson to be found. The other customers and I sat in the lobby for over an hour in some instances to get a meager ounce of help. In the past I've typically known exactly what car I wanted and how much I was willing to pay. In this case there are so many cars offered in the UK that I've never even heard of before so I needed a bit more help than usual. However, I got snickered at and lied to when I asked to test drive (can you believe it) two whole cars. We all concurred that they just didn't really need our money after all. Yet another gleaming example of British customer service so my car search continues.

The rest of the weekend greatly improved though since my friend Mark was in town for a visit. Mark is in Europe for the next couple weeks on business but squeezed in an extra weekend to come spend time with me. On Sunday we decided to go out and be tourists. After a coffee and pastry in Kensington we headed over to Green Park and Buckingham Palace. I felt a bit like a tour guide all day since Mark apparently knows nothing about London or the royal family but it was fun to pretend like we were on vacation. When we went outside to the palace gardens he kept telling me how amazed he was that the sky was just so blue. See, we don't have the worst weather here. We then headed over to Knightsbridge for some food and shopping. After deciding that we wouldn't be able to find any curry houses in that area, we went to the top of Harvey Nichols for afternoon tea which really hit the spot. Of course we couldn't leave Knightsbridge without a visit to the famous Harrods department store. To end the evening we had dinner at Maze. I have pictures of every course except for the pork belly which I was too busy consuming to stop and take my camera out for. (Maggs, sorry I went back there without you. At least I didn't go to the Hopsital Road restaurant.)

Monday was the craziest day of all as the Notting Hill Carnival is always held on the late summer bank holiday weekend and I basically live on the parade route. The Notting Hill Carnival started in 1965 by local immigrants from the Caribbean islands as a way to preserve their culture and traditions. The Notting Hill Carnival is now considered the largest festival in Europe with over 800,000 people from all over the world attending each year. I can only describe it as crazy, chaotic, and colorful. It did amaze me that after each night of drinking and debauchery, the streets were sparkling clean again by morning.

As always, here are the pictures. I've got plenty more this time but alas only a few with me in them. Better for everyone that way though.

For the next post I hope I'll be able to tell you that I've moved into my new place and finally secured a car. I will also reveal the secret location for my birthday weekend celebration.

Ich bin amerikanisch

Fifteen alcohol units (or so) and one stone (14 lbs. or 6.5 kg) later...I've returned from spending the last 3 days in the Altera Munich office for training (Focus Selling for the Alterans). If anyone ever wondered where all the beer and meat have gone, I found them. At first I was dreading the trip a bit since I wasn't feeling settled in London yet so I thought it was too soon to be taking off already. It turned out that the trip couldn't have come at a better time. Although admittedly I was completely knackered (practicing my English here) when I crawled into bed at 11pm last night. Three days of death by powerpoint and going through Heathrow (LHR) is enough to get to anyone.

Going to Munich this week afforded several good things: I got to see 2 familiar faces; spent 3 days with 10 other extroverted social people; got away from the Altera High Wycombe office; and ate and drank myself silly. It turned out that a sales guy from America (Hogan W. for the Alterans) got roped into giving the training. He used to be located in the San Jose office with me and I had a couple discussions with him in the past about transferring into a sales job. The other person I got to see was Chief (Dan B., again for the Alterans). Chief and I have been chatting on and off since I arrived in London because he made a similar move from San Jose to Munich 2.5 years ago. Chief definitely had it worse since he barely spoke German when he arrived and was hired to be out in front of customers. He too came alone without really knowing anyone so he let me whinge (practicing my English again) and moan for a bit as I cried on his shoulder. This was no easy task as Chief is 6'9" and I'm a mere 5'6" (yes I am!). It was great to get his insights on the move and see that he overcame the challenges.

So not to say that I haven't enjoyed my time in the Altera High Wycombe office but people do tend to stay within the same circles so you don't mingle with many others outside of your 2 cubicle radius (something that I plan to work on). They've also somehow managed to create the smallest cubicles I've ever seen, making it a much drearier space compared to the Munich office. So being at this sales training meant that for 3 days I was surrounded by 10 people who are paid to build relationships and interact with other people. Every night we'd have dinner and some beers together as we desperately needed to unwind from being in class all day. This was especially beneficial because I've now started building relationships with 10 people who I will be working closely with over the next 2 years. It also doesn't hurt that I've now got invitations to eat pain au chocolat in France, go snowboarding in Austria, and find some decent sushi in the Netherlands.

Finally, there's just no place like downtown Munich (at least no place I've seen yet). I haven't been to Munich in over 10 years and I'd forgotten what a beautiful city it is. The nickname for Munich is Millionendorf which means village of a million people. When you're there, you don't feel like you're in a major European city but more like you're among friends in a large quaint village. I was just amazed by the communal feeling and how clean it was everywhere, even down in the S- Bahn station. The locals did say that I'd need to spend some time down Maximilian Strasse next time though. It's apparently the equivalent of the Champs E'lysees in Paris or 5th Avenue in Manhattan in terms of retail shopping. I was also very fortunate to get good weather most of the trip as I hear it was pouring buckets in London this week.

By the way, if every trip in and out of Heathrow (LHR) is going to be like this, then I need a serious raise for emotional damages. Although I can't really complain since my VP in America flew out of Heathrow (LHR) with his wife and young daughter the week that the chemical bomb threat occurred in 2006, which is no laughing matter. In case you noticed, yes, the people behind that threat were located in High Wycombe.

Here are the pictures from Munich (also on the right-hand navigation).

Holding On or Letting Go

In my challenge to assimilate to my new life in London, I've heard several times from several people that I need to let go of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area and fully embrace the one here. I am definitely a creature of habit who is drawn to comfort and stability so this concept is really difficult for me. Perhaps it is time though, time to stop acting and feeling as though I'm just here for a visit. This is where I live now and this is home now. I think I'm just afraid that fully embracing life here means letting go of everything there but it doesn't have to be all or nothing. I can have my life here and still hold on to the things and the people who are really important to me. Hopefully they hold on to me too. I just need to shift my frame of reference a bit is all.

Perhaps this post was a bit too reflective but I've just had to much on my mind lately and it's good to get things out there.

Well then, I'm off on my first European business trip today. I'm headed to Munich for 3 days because I hear the rain in Munich is better than the rain in London. At the very least I'll get to have some good beer.

Off to the Races!

Last Saturday I joined Craig, Becks, and their friends at the Ascot Racecourse to watch the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. If any of you have read the novel Snobs by Julian Fellowes then you're somewhat familiar with Royal Ascot. Royal Ascot is the centerpiece of the British social season because it is based on 300 years of tradition and surrounded by a whole lot of pomp and circumstance as it is more of a social event than anything else. Royal Ascot has already passed this year so the race that I attended was a bit more low key. However, this was my first exposure to how the Brits really enjoy making a social event out of things and how class plays such a major role in their lives still today. Although we mainly sat on blankets on the grass area (which is acceptable as we are middle-class), ladies were expected to wear summer dresses and men were to be dressed appropriately for a smart occasion. The upper-class attendants had boxes in the upper levels of the grandstand. Outside of the Kentucky Derby, in America I'd always considered horse racing more of a gambling event than a social event.

The Ascot Racecourse closed in 2004 for redevelopment and recently reopened in 2006 with the highlight being an entirely new grandstand. I have to say that the new building is really amazing just to look at. The racing started at 1:15pm and there were races about every 30-45 minutes lasting for 5-10 minutes. In between the races we'd run over to the betting stations and place our bets on the various horses. After two races I was down 10 GBP and none of my horses even came close to winning, not that I knew anything about the jockeys or the horses. At this point I was about decided that I wasn't going to bet on anymore races and would just enjoy the afternoon. It was one of those unlikely British summer days when the weather was close to 30C and it was sunny and bright out without a cloud in the sky. I looked at the list of horses for the third race and finally decided that there was one horse with a name that I couldn't pass up. I went and put another 5 GBP down for Strategic Mount to win. After a mile and a half race Strategic Mount pulled out from the pack at the last stretch to win the race. It turned out that three of us had bet for Strategic Mount to win on the nose (come in first) and I got a return of 25 GBP.


After the racing Craig and Becks had us all over at their house for a BBQ. There was a variety of their friends from university, work colleagues, and friends from other walks of life. Craig made a variety of homemade sausages for us including beef and pork, pork and herbs, beef and Guinness, and pork and apple sausages (I liked these the best, yum!). There was such an abundance of food and alcohol and I had my first taste of a true British Pimms. Pimms is a very common drink during the summer that includes Pimms No. 1, lemonade, mint, slices of lemons, oranges, and apples and ice. It really reminded me of a Spanish sangria so I think I had a pitcher of it to myself. Thanks to Craig and Becks for their generosity and hospitality and for planning the whole day.

All in all it was a great British summer day of entertainment where we ate and drank ourselves silly into the wee hours of the night. Although I left a bit early as it was an hour drive back to London for me. Here are the pictures of the racing so enjoy!

First Night on the Town

Seeing as how I've been fairly miserable in my new home, Ro and Craig decided to take me out for my first night on the town in London so that I can start finding things about London that I enjoy. This was a pretty big deal since Craig lives all the way down in Ascot. He came into London from work with me but getting home required a 15 minute tube ride to catch the last train leaving Waterloo Station around 11:30pm. Then once reaching the station in Ascot (an hour train ride later) it's another cab ride. Funny that he doesn't mind that convoluted trek whereas I need to live less than 10 minutes away from central London*.

Originally we were planning to go out into central London but we decided to meet up with some other Altera colleagues who live in London. This was mainly for my benefit since these are other young single people at the office who may be able to show me around a bit more later on. Craig and I began with a pint at The Westbourne, which is a fairly famous local pub blocks away from where I am currently staying. It's quite a nice large pub with a great outdoor seating area to enjoy all the splendors of the English summer. After our drink we met up with Ro, Kostas, Sumant, and their friends at The Elgin in Maida Vale. The Elgin was a slightly more posh pub with a crowd that included young professionals and a men's cricket team. I hear that Jude Law has been known to stop by The Elgin on a Sunday every now and then. The beer and snacks were really good and it was nice to have a night off in London with some locals (basically every other night has been consumed with looking for flats). I could have done without them stopping every 5 minutes to ask why I would ever consider leaving San Francisco though. Although it hasn't been very long, I am starting to grow a huge appreciation for the Bay Area so I can understand where they're coming from. In actuality, because of the great weather, culture, good schools, availability of jobs, friends, family, and plenty more, I could really never leave the Bay Area and have lived a great life. People in other parts of the world don't have the same options. For instance Kostas is from Athens but came to the UK for university and stayed for the abundance of jobs compared to Greece. All in all I really enjoyed myself and hope to meet up with this group again. We may even go out clubbing at some point (yikes!).

On the housing front, I was still deciding whether I should get my own place or have some flatmates so the search has been going in both directions. On Wednesday night I looked at a great master bedroom with en suite bathroom (very unusual for London) in a mansion block flat in Maida Vale. I'd be sharing a 3-bedroom flat with two Kiwis (New Zealanders) who seem really fun and super laid back. One guy is in a band that toured in the US for two months last year and the other guy works in finance and is currently dating an American ex-pat (yeah, someone who speaks proper English). It's a bit expensive (then again what isn't in London) but I'd get tons of space and my own bathroom in a really great flat. I just found out that the guys are interested so if all goes well I'll be moving in with them by the end of the month. Awesome, one major thing done.

*If you're not familiar with London, the city of London consists of 12 boroughs within a ~10 mile radius and is basically bounded by the M25 motorway (a circular freeway that goes around London similar to the beltway around Washington D.C.). Within the city of London are 6 concentric circles or 6 zones with zone 1 being central London. Central London is 1 square mile that contains most of the popular tourists attractions like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, etc. I will be living in the district of Maida Vale which is zone 2 and part of the city of Westminster.

Stardate 001

I've successfully completed my first week here in the UK and it has just been like drinking from a fire hose. Seeing as I've never lived more than 100 miles away from where I grew up, moving to another country has definitely been a huge shock. I naively assumed that since they speak English in the UK that some things may be familiar and I would be able to sort things out for the most part. Boy was I wrong. Everything from setting up bank accounts, to renting a flat, to buying cleaning supplies has been different.

Most of all though, I miss my family and friends terribly. I call home at least 5 times a day. All my life I've had some sort of pre-established connection to people whether it be school, work, church, running club, etc. There is nothing like that here and I really don't know a single soul outside of people at the office. Although my work colleagues have been doing their best to help me out, the dynamic is very different here. In San Jose it was quite normal to spend time with work colleagues on a regular basis outside of work but here people very much like to keep work and personal life separate. It also doesn't help that the British (and especially Londoners it seems) are quite reserved and religiously stick to their cliques.

Not to worry though, my situation has been improving day by day. I'm still stressed about finding a place to live, buying a car, figuring out taxes and finances, and doing a good job in my new position at work. Those things will work themselves out in time though so I'm sure I'll be able to put them behind me soon and start enjoying the splendors of London.

And before anyone asks:

1. Besides today, the weather has been amazing. It actually reminds me of the weather in the Bay Area and has been so warm at times that I'd wish it would rain.
2. The food has been quite good, especially the curries. I haven't had fish and chips, bangers and mash, or bubble and squeak yet but there's plenty of other food to keep me busy for now. I do worry about packing on the pounds though as the "Alice Waters" concept of fresh, in season, and balanced hasn't quite made it's way here yet.

Here's a short recap of my first week to give you and idea of what I've been doing:

• Sunday - Arrived in London completely exhausted. Had dinner with Ro (my new boss), his wife, and their 9-month-old baby at this house. Then went home to my massive (NOT!) studio apartment. More on this later.
  
• Monday - Carpooled to the office with Ro. It was a long day of meet and greets in the office. Then we headed off early to open a bank account for me (first instance of learning about the British need for process and lack of customer service).
• Tuesday - Carpooled to the office with Ro and went to Swindon (~2 hours away in the middle of nowhere) with Craig (work colleague) to train a distributor. In the evening I went out with my colleagues for a drink and a meal in nearby Marlow (a bit like Los Altos). We were saying goodbye to the summer intern and they were welcoming me. A bit much for my second day at work now that I think about it.
• Wednesday - Put the local authorities on alert, I picked up my rental car. Driving on the other side of the road with the stick on the left is NOT an easy thing. Every time I get in the car I chant "drive on the left, drive on the left, drive on the left". I've also hit my hand on the right door countless times trying to shift with my right hand. I haven't killed, maimed, or even nicked anyone so far so keep your fingers crossed.
• Thursday - Drove (yes all on my own) to visit a customer in Havant (another hour away in the middle of nowhere). We basically spent 5+ hours driving to present for 10 minutes. Extremely productive and efficient day I would say. At least I got to end the day with a familiar face. A friend was in town for work so we went out for a nice dinner in my neighborhood.
  
• Friday - Met up with my first estate agent* to look at a couple flats (I need to move out of temporary housing at the end of the month). Nothing looked good and I wasn't too impressed with the estate agent.
• *I've learned that in the UK, property sales and rentals (lettings) are mainly managed by estate agents (real estate agents). The only problem is that there is no central listing service like the multiple listings service (MLS) in California so the estate agents are highly specialized to a 10 block radius. Very very inefficient.
• Saturday - A day at the races. I went to the races at Ascot with Craig, his fiance Rebecca, and some of their friends. This will be a separate blog later.
• Sunday - I was completely exhausted so I decided this would be my day off. I woke up at 2pm, went for afternoon tea, got a pedicure, and drove around some neighborhoods to get an idea of where to live.
  

If you've made it this far then my apologies for the long blog. I promise they won't all be this excruciating. A huge hug and thanks to everyone who has been checking in with me to make sure I'm doing ok. It's great to be missed and to know that people are thinking of you.