Well, here I am.

London.

Technically, East Ham.

Some things of note:
It's definitely not as cold as I was expecting. Apparently we're having a bit of a warm streak: 54 degrees today.

Sitting in the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the street is WEIRD. From what I remember from my last visit here, it wasn't strange at all in a bus. But navigating these narrow narrow streets in a little car from the other side...so weird.

There are so many beautiful people here, so many different cultures, so few white people. The neighborhood I live in is inhabited mostly by Indians and black people, and walking down the street with my supervisor Jo we definitely stuck out--white and Chinese. So many different kinds of food to try also! Saudi Arabian, Indonesian, Lebanese, the list goes on and on.

Summer 2011: beekeeping! my supervisor has a hive in her backyard. excellent.

My American accent sticks out like a sore thumb, and every time I hear myself speak I cringe and stumble over my words because of how awful I sound. Also, British people sound smarter and have bigger vocabularies in general, and I have heard the words brilliant, jolly good, sorted, and reckon more times in the past 24 hours than I have in my entire life.

Homemade shepherd's pie for dinner last night. Delish.

Spotify: the British version of Pandora/Grooveshark but way better.

My supervisor's sixteen year old son Adam is precious. He talks and talks and talks, even with his slight lisp which is simply endearing. He's absolutely obsessed with Relient K these days, and yesterday was playing some old school songs on guitar I haven't heard since early high school. He and eight other kids in high school (or college as I think they call it here...) are starting a youth church program where the second week of each month they go to one of the four churches in this area and lead the service to promote youth involvement and unity between the churches.

Finally putting my English degree to good use! I'll be writing articles for a website that the crisis pregnancy center is launching later this year.

I haven't gone into the city yet, but tomorrow I have the day to myself: sleep in, explore the neighborhood...it will be lovely.

It's a bit strange to simply step into these people's daily lives like this. This is such a giant change for me, but just a small disturbance in normality for them. I've already been to a prayer meeting and spent seven hours at work today. And here I am, eating dinner at their table, hearing Adam talk about examinations and his mother worrying that's he going to fail Physics. What a strange little slice of life I've been witnessing.

Some things I had forgotten: the loo, radiators, take away, celsius...

Currently reading: Rilke's "The Book of Hours" and Donald Miller's "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years."