This week at work, a lot of people on holiday or on business trips came back. My main supervisor Andy came back from holiday, David came back from the road shows around England, Sarah came back, and Martin came back from Rome. Andrew, however, left for Vancouver! In the middle of doing my work, I somehow manage to squeeze in a thousand cups of tea. I like my tea hot so when it gets to half empty, I have to go run and fill it up with hot water again…and this happens very often, as you can imagine. I guess I am becoming more British than I thought. As for work, I’ve been doing more research for Andy and Martin on various companies and events. I’ve been emailing other international trade specialists to put together that UK road show in September and so far have just been keeping record of who is interested so I can determine in which cities we should plan stops. I’ve also been emailing them to compile a list of UK companies who’ve had success in the Beijing Olympics so that eventually we can do case studies on them and keep track of our progress. In addition to that, I’m helping out Jessica, the Major Sports Events Team marketing manager, because sometimes I don’t have enough to do. Andy told me on Wednesday that I was “too efficient” (which I suppose is the best complaint someone can get from their boss!).
We’ve continued to have amusing (at least to me) conversations at work. One day we all had a discussion about British candy vs. American candy. Andy loves eating these things called Curly-Wurlys, which are caramel coated with chocolate. I tried one but it kept getting stuck in my teeth so I don’t think I’m going to do that again. Martin is obsessed with rock candy, which I tried a piece of and I think they just taste like candy canes… without the stripes and it’s also not Christmas. We have a stash of candy available to anyone who needs sugar and everyone walks by it at least several times a day… no wonder we’re such kooks while we’re working – we’re hyped up on candy!
We’ve continued to have amusing (at least to me) conversations at work. One day we all had a discussion about British candy vs. American candy. Andy loves eating these things called Curly-Wurlys, which are caramel coated with chocolate. I tried one but it kept getting stuck in my teeth so I don’t think I’m going to do that again. Martin is obsessed with rock candy, which I tried a piece of and I think they just taste like candy canes… without the stripes and it’s also not Christmas. We have a stash of candy available to anyone who needs sugar and everyone walks by it at least several times a day… no wonder we’re such kooks while we’re working – we’re hyped up on candy!
Thursday could have been summed up as the best workday yet, probably because of how little work I actually did. I arrived at a little past 9 (the bus was running late) and helped Andy prep for a big meeting starting at 10. The meeting consisted of business owners and CEOs in the sports sector coming together to discuss the plans and goals to promote UK companies. It centered a lot around London 2012 and other international sports events, many of which I had already looked into a little. The meeting lasted for two and a half hours, but then we were fed sandwiches! They were cut into 4 smaller pieces and there were so many kinds that I tried several… what can I say, I’m a bit indecisive. After the meeting, Andy and I met up with some other coworkers who had already left for their lunch break and went to a nearby pub. Sarah’s birthday was the day before and she was buying everyone drinks. When Andy and I got to the counter and he asked me what I wanted, I told him that I wasn’t sure how drunk I am allowed to be in the office! I went with an apple cider called Strong Bow just to be safe, but when we got outside and I saw what my other coworkers were drinking, I realized that it was really okay to get something substantially alcoholic! Some of us went for another round of drinks, and by the time we got back to the office, it was already 2:30. When I asked Martin sarcastically if there was anything he wanted me to do, now that our day officially began in the afternoon, he told me “Oh stop being such an American!” Lesson learned!
The highlight of this entire week, however, was my weekend trip to Prague with Alisa! My first trip out of London since I arrived three weeks ago, and I MADE IT COUNT! We almost didn’t make it to our flight, and the story, although funny now, was not so funny as it happened. We had to get on bus 36 to Victoria where the night bus 11 was to take us to Liverpool St. Station to catch the train. Well, the night bus 11 arrived a few minutes late, there was vomit on the bus (so we blame the tardiness on anonymous drunken people), and then we got to Liverpool St. Station late, missing our train by 2 minutes! We then had to wait 30 minutes for the next train, so by the time we got to the airport, we only had 15 minutes left before the gates for our flight were closed. The line for security was extra long and impossible to get through in 15 minutes, and by the time realized that we were down to 7 minutes. We had to ask people in front of us to go in front of them in order to attempt to make it to our plane on time, and luckily there were people nice enough to let us do that! After we got through security, we threw on our shoes and grabbed our bags and SPRINTED (literally, with flailing arms and flying hair and all) through the terminal to get to our gate. I think that was the most exercise I’ve done in a long time (walking miles around London doesn’t compare to a crazy sprint). Obviously there was a happy ending to our ordeal, because we made it to the gate and they were still boarding the plane. We were right on time, right when they said they would close the gate.
After sleeping like a baby on the flight, I was absolutely ready to explore Prague! The first day there absolutely killed my bank account. Alisa and I went to eat at a nearby restaurant that the hostel told us we would get a 10% discount at… but they failed to tell us there was an automatic 10% service charge. They also charged me for the condiments I used (ketchup for my fries) and bread that we didn’t eat (we corrected that angrily). Expensive lunch and I was pretty pissed. At least the next places I spent money didn’t anger me that much – I spent a ton on souvenirs! My excuse was that I hadn’t bought ANY since I’ve been to this side of the world and now I have lots of “souvenir credit” stored up. The rest of the weekend, Alisa and I were very conscious of where we ate food. We ate the sausages at those stands because they seemed authentically Czech enough for us, random ice cream, and sandwiches from the grocery store. We also carried around a big 1.5 liter water bottle wherever we went. The first one I carried, actually, was from that expensive up-charging restaurant we went to the first day and it was a glass bottle of still water. I didn’t want to waste anything especially since I had paid a ridiculous amount of money for it. Unfortunately I soon realized that I was getting looks from people because some of them thought I was holding a huge bottle of vodka and occasionally drinking out of it in the middle of public spaces… hahaha. Another lesson learned and from then on I carried around the cheap plastic bottles that are clearly made for water!
We must have walked a gazillion miles… all I can remember from the weekend is walking and more walking, and then occasional sitting when we couldn’t walk anymore. The views were spectacular and they were exactly what I came to Europe to see! So with that, I’ll let my pictures do the talking! :)
After sleeping like a baby on the flight, I was absolutely ready to explore Prague! The first day there absolutely killed my bank account. Alisa and I went to eat at a nearby restaurant that the hostel told us we would get a 10% discount at… but they failed to tell us there was an automatic 10% service charge. They also charged me for the condiments I used (ketchup for my fries) and bread that we didn’t eat (we corrected that angrily). Expensive lunch and I was pretty pissed. At least the next places I spent money didn’t anger me that much – I spent a ton on souvenirs! My excuse was that I hadn’t bought ANY since I’ve been to this side of the world and now I have lots of “souvenir credit” stored up. The rest of the weekend, Alisa and I were very conscious of where we ate food. We ate the sausages at those stands because they seemed authentically Czech enough for us, random ice cream, and sandwiches from the grocery store. We also carried around a big 1.5 liter water bottle wherever we went. The first one I carried, actually, was from that expensive up-charging restaurant we went to the first day and it was a glass bottle of still water. I didn’t want to waste anything especially since I had paid a ridiculous amount of money for it. Unfortunately I soon realized that I was getting looks from people because some of them thought I was holding a huge bottle of vodka and occasionally drinking out of it in the middle of public spaces… hahaha. Another lesson learned and from then on I carried around the cheap plastic bottles that are clearly made for water!
We must have walked a gazillion miles… all I can remember from the weekend is walking and more walking, and then occasional sitting when we couldn’t walk anymore. The views were spectacular and they were exactly what I came to Europe to see! So with that, I’ll let my pictures do the talking! :)
The National Museum, very close to our hostel
Valdstejnska Garden, near Prague Castle
View of Charles's Bridge
Nighttime view from Charles's Bridge
Stone Bell Tower at night (reminds me of Cinderella's castle at Disneyland)
Part of the climb up to Prague Castle
View of Prague from the top!
P.S. Football Update: The Netherlands got squashed by Russia yesterday, 1-3. So much for orange domination! The Spain v Italy game was tonight, and it was intense! I rooted for Spain because it will be my home in the fall, and wow… neither side could score during the normal game time, there were plenty of close calls though, which made it almost maddening. In the extra time, STILL neither could score, so they had to go to penalty shots. At that point, I was clutching my friends and saying “oh my God, this is ridiculouuus” repeatedly. I yelled every time Spain made a goal, but more importantly, every time Casillas (Spain’s goalie) blocked Italy’s shot! Spain’s shots were blocked only once, but Italy’s were blocked twice! I was literally jumping up and down when Spain won, it took up to the 5th and last penalty shot kicker to determine the winner. España ganó! Whoo!
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