Are You Ready for Some (American) Football?

For the second year straight the NFL held a regular season game here in London. I'm not sure what kind of agreement the NFL and the owners have, but giving up 1 of your 8 home games is a pretty big deal. I guess they see a big enough market here that it's worth it. And the people here apparently love the pigskin, since they filled the Wembley stadium, which can hold about 3 billion people. True fact.

In the true spirit of American football one of our British friends, who loves America and shows it by proudly wearing his stetson boots, had a little get together. The menu included such classic American cuisine as Coors Light, hot dogs, popcorn, chicken wings, and chips and dip. And of course, Mike and Lori's magical pumpkin cream cheese muffins made an appearance. And unlike last year's boring 13-10 nonsense game, this year's game was actually entertaining and came down to the final play. And although only one team can be declared winner, I think everyone's a winner when those pumpkin muffins show up.

Barcelona

You wouldn't have known it from my lack of posts, but 2 weeks ago we actually got to leave the UK for the whole weekend and head down to Spain. We spent 2 nights in Barcelona, and I must say, the place is fantastic. The food, the people, the whole atmosphere was incredible. If only our beach day had been a bit nicer (see the photos) it would have been perfect. And certainly 2 days is not enough...another day or two would've been perfect.

We landed Friday night around 8:00 and after a 30 minute train ride to the hotel and dropping our things off, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of dinner time. It didn't take long to find a place about a block from the hotel, and though the menu didn't explicitly say Sangria, we stopped anyway. It turns out Sangria is implied in my Spanish restaurants, and good thing we asked, because this place ended up being the best we had all weekend. It is also where we ordered the BBQ platter for 2. When it arrived I only recognized 2 of the 5 meats, but I figured I was in a new place and I wanted to see what it was all about. I at least tried a bite of everything, eventhough I was sure one was kidney. I was slightly scared when the waiter didn't know the word for the one I thought looked like brains, but was also slightly relieved when his co-worker told him it was glands. The fifth meat was blood sausage, and having lived in England for 6 months I knew to stay away.

On Saturday, our only full day, we spent the day wandering around Las Ramblas and saw the La Sagrada Familia. I can't really do it justice, but it's a chruch that has been under construction for over a 100 years. Even while we were there we saw 4-5 cranes and lots of scaffolding. The work that is done is incredibly detailed. I got some photos, but again, they'll never do it justice. Saturday night we headed into the Bario Gothic for dinner, but actually ended up next door to the hotel.

Sunday was beach day, but the weather wasn't so cooperative. We at least put our feet in, so I can cross that large body of water off my list. There also happened to be a triathalon that morning, so we sat down and watched the parade of sweaty, beat-down athletes run by while we sipped on espresso and ate our ham and cheese toasties.

You can find the muy bueno pictures aqui. Bear in mind that the reason I haven't posted them until now is that my trial of Adobe Lightroom expired. And as I'm not technically a student this semester I don't qualify for the student rate. And I'll a monkey's uncle if you think I'm paying full retail for software. So if the pictures suck, I apologize, I'll re-visit them next Spring when I'm enrolled in classes and can reap the benefits.

On a Brighter Note

As the world descends into financial oblivion and everyday my retirement gets pushed out an extra 2 years, I have found one bright spot. I can't quite explain it, but the US dollar is doing quite remarkably right now. Below is a chart showing the rise against the British Pound since I got here 6 months ago:



When I got here April 7 I was paying around $2 for £1. Today I'm paying $1.71 for the same number if pounds. Now, this is good and bad. It's great because when I transfer thousands of dollars every month to pay rent, my money is going much further. The downside is that my deposit was paid in pounds at the exchange rate 5 months ago, and unless something dramatic happens in a few months, I'm gonna get royally screwed when I get that back and convert it back to dollars.

And when we were in Spain this weekend my money went a lot further than my list trip to Europe (4 years ago). Back then it was just over 1.5, and after hovering around the 1.7 mark the past couple years it has dropped to a 15 month low:



The moral of the story is: even though your 401(k) makes you want to vomit every time you look at it and the economy is on life support, it's never been a better time to take a trip across the pond!

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Hard to believe, but next week marks my 6 month anniversary of arriving here in jolly ol' England.  As Fall sets in and the country plunges into 5 months of spirit-crushing darkness, I find myself reflecting on all the things I am missing out on back home:

 

Pumpkin Flavored Treats.  It's around this time every year that Starbucks rolls out their Pumpkin Latte and companion Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin.  Despite the 127% increased risk of diabetes, nothing rewards me for getting out of bed before sun-up quite like these two delicious little pieces of heaven.

 

American Football.  In America, weekends in the Fall mean two things: College football on Saturday, and NFL on Sunday.  I've never been a die-hard, but the allure of the big game and upset is hard to resist.  In fact I almost missed my best friend's wedding reception because of a USC-Notre Dame game once.  We actually have found a pub here that shows American football on Sundays, but unless my team is playing at 1:00pm it's near impossible to watch because of the 5 hour time change.  And Monday night football is out of the question; I'd have better luck catching the tail end of the game when I wake up on Tuesday.

Automotive Freedom.  I never realized how much I used my car until I no longer drove one.  My commute is 50 minutes on a good day, assuming nobody has decided to disrupt the tube by jumping on the tracks.  Even just going a mile to the grocery store is a pain, not so much on the way there, but on the way back with a week's worth of food.

To be fair, there are some things I quite enjoy about living here:

 

Proper football. When I got here in April, the season was still going. It ended a month or so later, and before I lnew it, was already back in full swing.  The off-season is short, and there's multiple leagues going on at once.  Almost every night I can catch some of the world's best players, which is not possible without expensive sports packages in the states.  Of course this assumes a) I'm at a pub, or b) it's on one of the 5 free channels.

 

Cream Tea.  I used to think tea and milk went together about as well as sandpaper and bare ass, but now I thank the heavens for whichever man or woman decided to unite these otherwise unassuming beverages.

 

Jacket Potatoes.  Think baked potato, covered in deliciousness and then topped with awesome and finished off with booya.

Travel.  When work is not taking 10 years off my life, the convenience of traveling is fantastic.  We're three hours or less from anywhere in Europe.

I suppose it's a trade off.  And if I wanted an American way of life, I probably should not have moved to England.  Outside of work the experience is great (and I suppose I could even find some bright spots about the job...if I pulled out my magnifying glass and stared for a really long time).  But enough reflecting...go out and enjoy a Pumpkin Latte and think of me.