Loads of Clothes

Shopping is one experience no woman should ever deny herself--especially in London. And if you are in the mood to indulge Oxford Street is teeming with stores that fancy your credit card. Of course, most of my shopping has been window shopping because as much as I enjoy the art of fashion, I also need enough money to eat.

With a student budget though, I've been able to shop at stores such as PRIMARK that are cheap for the Londoners (which means reasonable for us), but is still trendy. Actually, PRIMARK is the Forever 21 of London, but much more mental (as they say). It's actually the place where everyone and their mate is buying a top. The queue to try on the clothes takes and hour, if not more, because girls are literally lined up from the lingerie section (where the fitting rooms are) out to the regular apparel section. And better yet, the queue to buy the clothes is something from the DMV. You are actually called up by an automated voice when a cash register is free such as ("till number 4, please"). If you don't believe me check out the pics: Besides PRIMARK, there is also Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, and H&M to name a few.

The other most popular clothing store for females, however, is TOP SHOP. This is where Kate Moss recently opened up her clothing line--apparently, there was a queue out the door and around the corner for its opening--go figure! Johanna and I had the privilege of going in and checking it out last night. There was definitely a quality difference--much more cute tops, shoes, and accessories than PRIMARK with varying price ranges. No sales though until July 5th so you know who will be shopping on that day!


Words of the day: pants (British)=men's underwear (American); knickers=women's underwear; trousers=pants; jumper=sweater; tights=pantyhose; etc.

Pub Culture

Lately I've been working on my tolerance--and no, I don't mean it in terms of world peace. To give you an idea of what I mean it's been known that a wine tasting could get me buzzed. Hence, I've never been a huge drinker (and don't plan to be) but I do fancy the occasional wine. Now, after being in London for three weeks, I have assimilated to the drinking culture with a bottle of beer one night and a glass of wine the next. So far, I've enjoyed the ciders, Guiness wasn't so bad after all, but the tinto veranos that my flatmate makes at home is by far the best drink I've discovered.

Above all though the thing I love about these pubs is that you can just chat for hours with your mates and not be bothered. Smoke is probably my least favorite thing about them, but that will soon change after July 1st when England goes smoke free (hard to believe, but true). I know it will be quite a drastic change for the Brits, but at least it will save my clothes from reeking. Another neat feature is the pub menu. They usually have just about every type of cuisine on them for a reasonable price. Perhaps it makes no sense, but apparently the Thai and Indian dishes are pretty good. I usually just stick to the standard sandwich, but that's cause I'd rather try ethnic foods at a proper restaurant. Altogether pubs are a great place to chill, relax, and have a drink. Unfortunately, they usually close by 11pm when I'm ready to go out and have a good time which is why Johanna and I ended up at this fine salsa bar one night near the Tower Bridge as we were both in search of a nice glass of wine to end our day.

word of the day: pissed as in "I was so pissed last night I don't remember how I got home"

Fancy food?

Since coming to London, I've been pushing myself to cook. The girls and I have realized that it really pays to eat at home. Take for instance your standard chips. They can range between £1.50 to £1.80 (unless you get them from the value menu at McDonalds). Basically, that's 3 USD to have some frikkin' chips on the side. So, grocery shopping has helped incredibly.

One thing I was craving was my standard soy, wheat gluten (fake meat) products. I finally found two companies that are vegetarian friendly: Cauldron and Quorn (which was featured in a article recently: <<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/03/04/health/main502914.shtml/stories/2002/03/04/health/main502914.shtml>>)
Anyway, I can't say that there as good as Morningstar or Boca, but it will do for now.

But the most fun in terms of food is going to the markets. So far I've checked out Portabello, Chapel, and Borough market. Each has a slightly different flavor to it (pun intended), but all are enjoyable nevertheless. Portabello was where we were able to find a lot of cheap produce and bread. I even found a nice little Indian shop where I could find my precious curry leaves (only a few know how precious they are to me). Chapel is small. It's near our house and only has a couple of stalls, but it's good to have around the corner. Borough, on the other hand, was a food fanatic's delight with pastries, breads, cheeses, and wines galore from various places in the world. It wasn't cheap, but incredible to experience.

Ahh...so now after all this talk about food, I'm sure you're mouth is watering and your stomach is growling. How about I leave you with this? What is it you say? Well, my first weekend here I cooked up an Indian meal for my flatmates...gobi aloo, dal, naan, and rice (ahh...my mum would be proud!). It was probably the first real meal I had had in days so here are a couple of pics from that fine evening and I'll leave you to it...Cheers!

Word of the day: jacket potato...guess what it is...a baked potato...:)

Randy Indian Men

Did I ever mention how well I get along with me flatmates? Let me describe them a little to you:
First there is Johanna--my fellow grad student, miss El Savador, crazy mamma booty shakin' 24-7

And then we have Christi--sunshine in a 20 year-old body, southern and sweet, always a positive force

When Thursday finally came around the three of us decided we needed a night out on the town. Donning extra make up and dancin' shoes, we headed to Piccadily Circus to hang out with another group of GMU students.

On our way there, Johanna spotted a beautiful man wearing a blue, pinstripe suit leaning against the side door of the tube. She admired his face, but got the shock of her life as he turned around with unzipped pants revealing his *****...well, you know.

Lucky for me, OR NOT, she screamed in my ear. "Johanna," I said "you're seeing things." But I ate my words soon enough because she was right! Amazingly Christi was saved from this event, but it did set the tone for the rest of our night.

As we exited the station, we found ourselves in the middle London's Time Square. We tried reaching Jessica to see where the other GMU folks were hanging out. Our destination: O'Neill's.



An hour later, after asking four people which way O'Neill's, we kept walking in cirlces from Piccadily to Leicester Square and back with no sign of our destination. Instead, Christi found some ice cream she liked back at a grab-a-bite type place. She wouldn't buy it though because it was too expensive.

We try to find another place--a lounge that we can hang in, but all we find are loud clubs. Accosted several times by raunchy club employees with the prime question "Are you ladies looking for a club?", we finally decide we'd rather just grab something to eat, but almost everything else was closed. Since nothing was open, but the grab-a-bite place we went back to the first one that we found where Christi refused the ice cream.

The three Indian Men were delighted to see us again. The owner speaks in Hindi to me asking me to get my friends to try Indian food. I'm dying for a Samosa so I bought one, but Christi and Johanna wanted ice cream. They negotiated a lower price and happily ate. Right then we decided to take pictures. The owner gets excited and joins us in the picture. He puts his arm around Christi and Johanna, but then awkwardly places his hand on Johanna's face. Johanna is freaking out, I'm also wondering what the hell is going on. He's looking strangely at her as if he's never seen or touched a woman before. Not amused, we get as far away as possible from these randy Indian Men.

Our next challenge: finding a way home. The tube is closed, but a nice, old Asian man directs us the the 73 night bus. After another hour, we get home safe and sound wondering if O'Neill's exists.

Word of the day: randy...read the blog...nuff said.

God, I'm quite knackered

Today started out as any normal morning, I woke up, washed up, and went out to explore my neighborhood. But first thing before exploring, I called Anu, yes Anuradha Thakrar, who wrote me before I left for London saying she was in town in transit to the States. I tried calling her and left two messages in the course of the day. I also sent her an email with my address and said, if possible, come over after 7pm--the chances were slim that she would show up.

Most of my morning was spent discovering the Borough of Islington where I live. Johanna and I found a Woolworth’s and Borders up the street near the Angel tube. She bought her much needed towel and I reveled in the fact that there was a bookstore nearby—its equivalent to crack in my world.

By the time I came home from wandering around it was time to go to our orientation meeting at Bloomsbury Square with Anglo American Education Services—an organization that set up the housing and internships in London for George Mason University students. We finally met John Mann, our internship coordinator, who was a lovely old British man. He questioned some our American English vocabulary pointing out the oddity of the words “zip code” and “eggplant.” Ok, so it’s true zip codes have nothing to do with zippers on a jacket and eggplants aren’t shaped as eggs. I guess he has a point.

Three hours later, after Johanna constantly reminding of how hungry we both were since we skipped lunch, we finally went to eat with the group. At this Italian Restaurant we were at we chummied up with Matthew and Samantha--some other Anglo American students. Around 7pm I was still hanging out now at a pub with other Americans from our group. In the back of my mind I wondered if Anu ever saw my message or attempted to show up.

9pm--finally arrive home and find a note from Anu posted on the door...SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! I keep pinching myself not able to believe that she actually made it to my door. As I'm cursing loudly in my flat Anu shows her face laughing to the brim with amusement. We, of course, are ecstatic to see each other after 6 months.

10pm--Anu says she misses her bus back to the hotel so we decide she should sleep on my couch. We go downstairs and try the pay phone three times (not only do we not have internet we are still lacking phones in our flat). She is unable to reach her mom and prays she isn't freaking out. She does a couple of Sai Ram's in her mind hoping her mom will telepathically get the message.

After our much needed catching up, I head off to bed as tomorrow is my first day of work. Anu sleeps on the couch in my bathrobe (no extra blankets available). Finally, I rest...

5am-the next day-A police cop is at our door. He buzzes the intercom and then heads upstairs. Johanna my flatmate opens the door and he exclaims "is Padma Thakrar here." At that point I run into the lounge where Anu is sleeping and yell "Oh My God, Anu, your mom called the police!!!"

The cops come inside and we tell them the situation...how we tried to call three times, how my mobile does not work and we have no phone connection b/c it is my first day here. They leave and Anu and I go back to sleep.

5:45am-Another set of cops arrive at our door. They come up and say that they are ready to take Anu back to the hotel. "Your mum is worried and crying her eyes out," says the one of them. Anu rushes back to get her things. The last I see of Anu, she standing in the lift being escorted by the British police.

word of the day: knackered as in "I'm quite knackered today because I only got four hours of sleep last night"

Welcome to Britain-nia

It's taken a couple of days for me to write since there's no internet in our flats yet (or phones). But here goes...

Monday, June 4th:

My arrival into London wasn't too bad. The flight was pretty standard. As usual, I didn't get much sleep on the plane due to being wedged between two burly men and, of course, the constant chatter behind me. The only thing I took away from the flight was my first lesson in British English. As the Flight Attendant was collecting our trash, she went around saying "please put your rubbish in the bin." The young American boy behind me must have made a funny face because she said to him "welcome to Britain."

Anyhow, I arrived into the city without much of a problem except for the taxi cab driver that had me going in circles trying to find the Westminster Hotel (my meeting point). He actually took my yahoo directions from me to find the place. Afterwards, settling into the flat became quite interesting. As we proceeded to leave the hotel for our flats called the Ability Towers, we were told that we needed to wait for other students that were arriving. A group of us sat in the van for two hours and exchanged stories. Finally, we arrived at the flat only to find that they were not ready. Blimey!!

As a consolation, the eight of us were told to wait in the tiny lounge (living room) of the flat where we found an odd figure lurking in the bedroom whom we were told shall not be disturbed. Unbeknownst to one of group members he went in the room and the mysterious figure was revealed as the paparazzi chasing after Kirsten Dunst who was filming a scene right across from our flat--the hightlight of our day! After an hour he got his shot and left.

Tired and hungry, we finally made it to a pub to eat lunch which was smoke-filled and oozing with pints of beer. I finally felt I was like taking part of British culture where the pub was full of life during working hours. Tara, another GMU student, drank two shandies while I ordered a tame, but delicious pesto and tomato panini.

Eventually, we received our flat about 5 hours later and I unpacked, bonded with my flatmates (who btw are awesome), and crashed.

word of the day: rubbish as in "all rubbish goes in the bin"