Wednesday, February 29, 2012

6 days in London town...

If I was asked to describe London in one word it would have to be (as uncreative as this is) : Beautiful...perhaps it is because we are currently living extremely central with the London Eye and Big Ben just around the corner, Covent Garden a 5 min walk and Trafalgar Square right outside our window...that could be it...tip: in order to live in such amazing surroundings you either have to be a banker, be with a banker or just have a banker as a family member and you are golden!

Since I am sitting in bed right now waiting on some working news and T is out being super productive and finding us a flat (yes I will now call all apartments flats)...Let me share a little play by play of how our first few days were...
So we arrived Friday morning, 8:30ish...Gatwick airport. T and I were sitting right beside the exit door on the plane which at first was slightly terrifying but did provide us with TONS of leg room...So its 8:30am London time...so 3:30 am T-dot time, at this point I have probably slept for an hour and a half and poor T has absolutely no sleep under his belt...(there was quite a bit of turbulence...Apparently I can sleep through anything).
8:30- we run out of the plane, the first to get out...feeling a little bit like we are on the amazing race. We meet a friendly airport worker who takes us on a short cut to passport control. We are pretty much the first ones there. T with his EU passport walks through like he owns the place, they didn't ask him a single question! I probably took a few extra minutes but by 8:45 we were waiting for our bags...

***side note: complaining that 23kilos is NOT enough when moving across the ocean is fine...realizing how heavy and uncomfortable carrying that much weight is totally sucks...

-our bags take a little while, but all pop out of the bag hole in one piece and we are soon on our way to buy train tickets. By around 9:15 tickets are purchased and we lug our elevendy billion pounds of bags out towards the platform. I really should not be complaining as T was carrying most of the bags...champ.
Right away we meet a super friendly couple who ask us a million questions about Canada, the weather and that kind of thing. They give us tips on what our first purchases should be and where to stand with our bags to insure that we get on the train. The train ride takes about a half hour. The taxi takes another 10 and now we are standing outside our destination...Cousin greets us with hugs and kisses, shows us his flat (super nice) and then we start running around the city like crazy people.

-First we go to the bank to see if my card still works...it does! We schedule T an appointment and with persistence make it for the same day instead of Monday. At the bank our adviser suggests cell phone providers so we run off to get that done before the bank meeting. By 2pm I have our cell phones and T is at the bank. We schedule a few flat viewings for the next day...By 4 we take an hour nap because at this point we can not see straight...
-8pm uncle comes storming in our room calling us lazy Canadians and rushing us out for dins. I guess we did not hear the alarm clock...semi rested we are taken to an AMAZING outdoor market with the best chorizo sandwiches, hot cider and fresh olives.
Overall our first day/night is perfect.
-Day 2:
-Have super delish coffee...
-Walk uncle to the train station
side note: The weather here is absolutely perfect! Warm and sunny. Flowers are blooming in parks and girls are wearing open toed heels...
-Spend the day traveling to what seems like WAAYY outside the city to look at places that are not even close to what we were expecting...
-Accidentally come across borough market I was impressed with myself for remembering where it was...no big deal.
-Came home pooped after taking overground trains, underground tubes, buses, walking and getting lost...
-Took a nap and by 9 pm were out and going to a house party. It is nice to know people in the city.
-House party was great, we met a bunch of really cool people, actually a lot of them seemed to be in the same boat as us which was pretty cool.
-Had to leave early because of the train schedules, but once back in central London we got some food and sat by the art gallery at Trafalgar Square and ate dinner on the steps. :)
....

perhaps this is enough for now...I will write more later. Stay tuned for day 3-6 perhaps later tonight. 


V.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

It's Happening...

In a few hours....which when said out loud seems totally unreal...T and I will be on a plane. This plane will not be taking us on vaca...this plane will be taking us towards the next couple years of our lives...our lives away from home to a place that we will have to make home.
Neither of us ever planned/dreamed/desired to live in London, yet somehow I am sitting in my living room with packed suitcases surrounding me...all weighed by a handy dandy little suit case weighing tool! (Thnx neighbor)...getting ready, or what appears to be 'me getting ready' to move across the ocean to where people talk with awesome accents, where we will ride the tube and where we will be teaching little British youths...
Friends keep asking me if I am excited, ready, nervous...everyone looks at me with big open eyes telling me how amazing this adventure will be...and honestly I believe them because at the moment I feel as though I am in a weird meditative state where I actually have NO thoughts running through my head. I nod and smile and make concerned faces but realistically I have absolutely no clue what to expect. I can not picture our new lives...well I sort of can in terms of how I will eventually decorate our "flat", but that is as far as my thoughts have allowed me to go.
So thank you friends for the inspiration, excitement and enthusiasm that you have all shown us in the last few weeks...Thank you for coming over every night to say goodbye, thank you for sharing a billion bottles of vino and most of all thank you for being there for us.

T and I will be setting up a special calendar for visitation purposes so do please sign up as we believe in first come first served...We will also be looking for a place with ample amounts of floor space and will look into purchasing a blowup mattress :)...

Big warm hugs...a bientot

V.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Some V-Day Lovee...

Yes this holiday can be super tacky, sad and an emotional roller coaster. V-day gifts can be lame, unimpressive and for some even yucky (that is if you don't like cinnamon hearts...I do :) )...

BUT...V day does not have to be all these things...does'nt really matter if you have someone special...its not really all about that.
For example...Last year I celebrated Valentines day with my sister and my beautiful niece. We went out and had all you can eat sushi...and yes we were stuffed beyond belief but it was an awesome evening...
This year I am once again with my sister. T is in MTL still...but that only means that we got to spend the night with friends drinking wine, laughing/crying to love scenes from epic movies like "Legends of the Fall", "Titanic", "The Bodygaurd", "Romeo and Juliet (the one with Leo...sigh)....

So to try and make this holiday a little more cheesy, I have compiled a few little things here and there...

....here are some super well dressed couples being really cute together...
 ....here is an awesome song...
....here are some pictures...
....and to finish off...A little man ranting...

 
Happy V day everyone....



V.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Bitter Sweet...

9 am, I spring out of bed...I’m chirpy, excited, have a million plans in my head.
-I want to visit my kids at school.
-Say goodbye to my teacher.
-Do some shopping.
-Re-visit every inch of the Plateau that I have ever stepped foot on...
...and all this before 1:15pm.

I’m feeling lucky, T’s mom is driving to work in the Plateau...I hitch a ride...ziinngg

By 10 am I am walking down Mont Royal, everything so familiar as if I am once again walking to work. Timmies is packed as per usual, not that I want Timmies anyways, but for some reason I always look in...Theres snow on the ground, not a lot, only really at the edges of the side walk making it super easy to walk and look around at the same time...thats probably the worst part of winter in my mind...having to constantly look down to make sure you don’t slip or step into an unpleasant slush puddle...

The kiddies greet me by running out of the classroom. I feel the ground shake under me as my used to be little grade two-ers, now in grade 4, pile around...only two or three of them actually hugging me...the rest are hugging the person in front of them...I find it funny when children do that...

My mentor and I chat a little while the kids play some plural game on the Smart Board...then my lesson begins. “Ms. Veronika is going to teach in England!”...
“What!? you are a real teacher now?!”, “That means you can teach here!”
No I say, sadly shaking my head...there is no space for me to teach here...
“Sure there is..” says a little guy who strangely/strongly resembles Kevin Bacon as he points directly beside his desk “There is space right here!”...

An hour and a bit later, I have gone over time zones, lines of latitude and longitude and I am unfortunately running out of time. The recess bell rings and I slip out...

Now the self proclaimed torture begins...

I’m in high spirits, the weather is perfect, people are walking past me and smiling, the sun is shinning and all I want is for this to last forever...so what do I do...the only reasonable thing anyone would do...I go and buy a disposable camera....yes they still exist and yes people still buy them...all the time apparently since there was only two left at Pharmaprix!
Disposable camera in hand I start walking...perma smile on my face as I acknowledge every store window I pass...gaaadd I must have looked ridiculous...Either way my goal is to snap a photo of every apartment I have lived in since 2006...seven apartments, 5 years of school...Ok...so I like moving.

Mont Royal to St. Denis, down St. Denis...get coffee...cafe au lait...yum. St. Denis to Duluth...walk by the flower shop where I bought my first plant in 2006. Walk past the hair salon where I was saved...restaurants, deppaneurs, video stores...memories of 1st year. Tears...St. Denis and St. Hubert. picture. St. Andre...picture...854 Napoleon...picture. picture. picture...tears streaming down my face...I’m starting to make those terrible slurping noises as I gasp for air. I walk away, down the street to Mantena...the crying is getting serious, can’t stop, wont stop at this point. picture picture...I stand staring at the super steep stair case with one foot print in snow on each step...just like it was when I found it so many years ago...waaaaaa...I do a 180...Parc La  Fontaine...heaving now, I look in a car window reflection and realize that I should probably wipe the black makeup streaks from my face...quite scary...I get to the park. picture. picture...There are people skating. picture. sob. get closer. picture. Look lots of trees...picture. This is getting ridiculous. As I walk to the little bridge a group of rowdy teen age boys pass me...I’m still crying...they look sad for me. I get to the bridge and I swear, as if on purpose, church bells start chiming in the distance. Perfect time to cry some more. Ahhmmaazziingg. I walk around the whole park...I am tired of walking, but mostly from crying...oh and its not over yet. A couple more pictures later I am back on St. Denis and ready to go home. I simply can not cry anymore...I need a nap.

So why bitter sweet...well simply because I just adore Montreal. And as I have so wonderfully explained to myself...it has been my growing up city, my independent city, my discovery of me city...It has been so good to me...and I’m going to miss it. My next adventure I can not really call my own since I am so happily sharing it with T... is going to be amazing so I really can’t complain. Excited, nervous, not packed...our flights are booked and we are moving to the UK. (T has an awesome camera so there will be no need for disposable anymore...)...

So thank you MTL...you will always be my city.

A bientot.


V.

Cheesecake Ninja

On our way to an evening (one of V's last nights in Montreal for a bit) of socializing with friends, near Berri-UQAM metro station, we came across an impromptu jam session by a band simply known as Cheesecake Ninja. I instantly pulled out my iphone, and both V and I filmed a short clip of them playing. It was definitely fitting that we stumble upon such an interesting street performance, as if they were offering a musical gift to V with her departure from Montreal being just around the corner. Enjoy.


T