How lovely are your (plastic) branches

Bought a tree and the trimmings this weekend! Very pretty if I may say so myself.

I have my many years in the fire-safe dorm to thank for the fact that I now think of fake trees as totally normal. I almost forgot buying a real tree was even something some people do.

Thanksgiving via Skype

I had to tell people all day to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving. I also got to give my 1st grade version of the history of Thanksgiving to several interested parties (most of whom thought it was a celebration of when we slaughtered all the Indians!)

When I got home from work it was around 2pm in Greater New Haven where my family had gathered at my parent's house. I got on Skype to say hello, and couldn't help but snap far too many pictures of them while we chatted, although admittedly it was mostly me trying to shout over the ruckus. So, very much like being there.



I mostly miss my dad's pies, and watching Home Alone with my brother after everybody leaves. KEVIN!!

Movember

Today was a long-awaited day at work - the last day of a month-long fundraiser here called "Movember." Ok, so that name makes no sense if you're used to spelling it "mustache" as we do in America ... but in the UK it's "moustache" and this is a charity to raise money for prostate cancer.

The guys in my office grew "mo"s and it was both hilarious and painful (for us who have to look at them). We can't wait to have them back to normal, although I no longer know how to interact with my boss without making fun of him mercilessly. So that'll be weird.

So we had this voting at lunchtime today, for different categories. I can't remember them really but it was something like style, innovation, bushiness, overall. Hysterical.





(Gordonites, I hope this rings No Shave November bells. Incidentally, nothing can come close to No Shave November.)

My UK Thanksgiving

I had lots of time before I moved to England to come to grips with the 'sacrifices' I would make, including the fact that they don't have Thanksgiving here. But ironically, my British friends seem less OK with me missing this holiday than I am!

My dear friend Sarah (Scottish, mind you) found us this Thanksgiving dinner for Americans. It was tonite, on a boat moored on the Thames and there were nearly 300 people in attendance! The food was excellent and we had a super fun time ... I didn't have to miss Thanksgiving and Sarah got to celebrate her first!



Queen Mary












To get your River bearings, see the London Eye in the middle background and Big Ben in the right background.



The only pumpkin pie in England.











Sarah eating her first pumpkin pie ever!









This was the best part - they played a tape of last year's Macy's Day Parade. Ha!







Aren't we cute.

Best package ever

My friend Rosie sent me this and I got it today. My favorite toothpaste which I can't get here, and boxes of macaroni and cheese .. same!!

The Question Mark Inside

More Flickr pics
From last Saturday until today there was this amazing art project at St Paul's cathedral called "The Question Mark Inside". It was to celebrate the 300th anniversary and people contributed words about what makes life meaningful. The words were projected onto the enormous dome at night, and it was lit up a bright blue to celebrate architect Christopher Wren's love of astronomy. The artist Martin Firrell also wanted to make people see the cathedral again, rather than being used to it and overlooking its beauty.

It was the coolest thing. We have a great view of the cathedral from our office, and I worked late several nights this week, plus it gets dark so early now that I got to see quite a lot of it. I met my friend Sarah for dinner near St Paul's on Wednesday and walked across the Millenium Bridge (shown) towards it, and it's even more awesome as you approach it.

St Paul's website article about this project

Remember remember the fifth of November

I wasn't too familiar with Guy Fawkes Night, aka Bonfire Night, before I moved here. For awhile there I could never remember what it was called either, and kept thinking it was Sadie Hawkins Night. Ha! Not quite.






In 1605 (I kid you not), Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. His plans were foiled, and Guy Fawkes Night is a celebration of that. Yeah, STILL. School children are taught the rhyme "Remember remember the fifth of November" and there's all these traditions that go along with the day, especially big fireworks displays throughout the U.K. Fine, but it gets strange... they also build bonfires on which they burn effigies of Guy Fawkes!?

I didn't see any effigies this evening, but I went to the Blackheath fireworks with my upstairs neighbors and it was super fun. Also great because we can walk from our house and didn't have to deal with the insanity of parking or even the public transportation. There were TONS of people!







Incidentally, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to fireworks in November.

The new verb in my life

Is SKYPE. "Can you Skype?" "Do you Skype?" "Let's Skype".

Skype has made my move a lot easier, for me at least. Usually weekly I can talk to my family and I've even been able to talk to my grandparents. It's amazing .. and free! (If anybody wants me to be on a Skype commercial, I'd be happy to.)