This is a test to see if I can upload a video.  Check it out!

Week 3½

Once I was back from Scotland, I spent a few days nursing my cold.  I planned a trip to Spain and France (stay tuned in weeks 5 and 6 for that!).  I must say that Ryanair is incredible:

- 16 pounds from London to Seville

- 29 euros from Seville to Barcelona

- 11 euros from Barcelona to Paris

I will take the Eurostar train from Paris to London, which is the most expensive part of this trip at 45 pounds!  By the way, all of the above includes tax!  The only catch is that you cannot check any luggage, and the carry-on must not exceed 10kg.  No problem, but please keep that in mind when you notice that I am wearing the same clothes in every picture!

On the weekend Linda, her sister Ruth, and I went to a mosque and took a tour of the Zoroastrian temple (the only one in Europe!) and learning about the religion, as part of inter-faith week.  It was very very interesting. 

On Sunday, I left Pinner and moved into my new friend Paige’s spare bedroom.  She lives about a 5 minute walk from Shepherd’s Bush tube station, which is quite close to the centre of London (2 stops west of Nottinghill).  It was super great staying at Edwin and Linda’s, and I was a bit sad leaving there!  Their place really feels like home, but it’s a bit of a sleepy little place, and it is much more exciting living in central London where all the action is!

Pinner: Edwin and Linda's house is at the end of the street

 My street in London

Near Shepherd's Bush tube station

This week I have been very busy meeting friends and getting myself organized to start working.  After applying a bit of friendly pressure, it appears that I will be able to start working by the end of December or beginning of January, and I now have 2 recruitment agencies working for me.  I have made quite a few new friends, some are friends of friends, and others are completely new.  Ainsley and I walked around some neighborhoods and shops (she is an SLP from New Zealand – a friend of a friend). 

 Near Oxford Circus.  Christmas decorations are up!

Shlomit is my friend Moshe’s sister, and she lives quite close to me.  We spend a lovely (though very cold!) day sightseeing, even when we got stuck in the elevator in the British Museum! 

                         Shlomit and I

British Museum

                                                                                                                            

 Stuck in the elevator!

Piccadilly Circus

Sarah is my good friend Rachelle’s sister-in-law, and we had a lovely dinner on Charlotte Street.  We are going to see A-Ha on Saturday!!  I’m so excited!! 

I also went to the Canadian ex-pat ‘meetup’ event on Monday night.  We met at a gastro-pub and ate “cow paddies” and drank beer.  Many of you will not be surprised that I made several connections with people there who know people that I know!  Two of the people there were from Saskatoon, and both of them went to my high-school!  One of them is the sister of a girl who was in my class!  Small world! 

Please feel free to e-mail, facebook or Skype me.  My skype name is gailgumprich

Pictures

Dundee.  View from Jesse's living room.

Dundee. Looks like Harry Potter's school!

Scone Palace near Perth (Jesse)

Chapel at Scone Palace  

Broughty Ferry, near Dundee (Jesse and Paige)

More Broughty Ferry (Paige and I)

St Andrew's cathedral ruins

St Andrew's cathedral ruins.  Paige and Jesse

St Andrew's (don't know what this is!)

Part of St. Andrew's university

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh at dusk

A fancy hotel in Edinburgh

High Tea in Edinburgh, Paige and I

Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Week 2 continued... Scotland

Dundee, you say?!  Yes, that's where I went, to visit my old friend Jesse.  She and Herman live in a beautiful house overlooking the Tai river.  Unfortunately I had a full blown cold at this point, but it didn't really stop me from doing anything... I just grossed everyone out with constant juicy nose blowing!  Dundee is quite a cute place.  Jesse and I went to Scone Palace one day.  Then Paige joined us on Sunday and we visited St Andrew's which was super beautiful (the ruins of the cathedral were very impressive) and we had incredible scones (though no clotted cream - which I have had since.  It is delicious but also a bit nauseating.)

Paige and I took the train to Edinburgh on Monday morning.  We did 2 walking tours; one above ground and the other underground (many of Edinburgh's old streets, or "Closes" were covered by construction of newer buildings, but some of the closes are still there underground).  We also had high tea at the top of the National Museum of Scotland.  It really is a very beautiful and interesting city.  In the evening, despite being tired (and sick in my case), we went to an amateur comedy night, which was quite hilarious.  We arrived back in London on Tuesday night.  

That's it for now.  Stay tuned for the next installment!  

   

Week 2

Monday morning (November 8th), bright and early, I set out with Edwin on a road trip.  He was doing business on the way up to Glasgow, making many stops along the way.  During the first stop, Edwin dropped me off at the Gladstone Pottery museum in Stoke-on-trent, where I learned all about the invention of the toilette!  There were also other interesting things in that museum.  We also visited Uncle Sydney (for those of you who know who he is).

Then it was off to Manchester where we stayed overnight with friends of Edwin's.  We had another early start on Tuesday and arrived in Glasgow in the early evening.  I stayed in the spare suite at Mrs Lucas's apartment (Edwin's amazing 90 year old mother).  Mrs. Lucas plays Bridge 5-6 times a week, has decorated all the hallways of the apartment building and takes care of all of the plants, takes her 85 year old friend grocery shopping every other week in her car, visits and looks out for her elderly friends daily, and volunteers at a local hospital once a week.  She gives my late Auntie Annie a run for her money in terms of how much energy she has (Auntie Annie also lived in Glasgow and worked in a clothing store until she was 95 years old and died just shy of 102!).  I visited with some other "wrinklies"; Mrs. Brass who will be 101 in January and Mrs. Black who is 98.  They live in the senior's home across the street from Mrs. Lucas's flat.  

On Thursday Karen B. took me on a driving tour of Glasgow and we stopped in to see the Burrell Collection.  We had a nice day together, then she dropped me off at the train station, and I headed to Dundee.

I'm not sure how to save and continue, so I'm going to post this section now and add to it tomorrow.  I told Gillian I'd help her with her homework and I have to read a chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird first!

Week 1

I must apologize to everyone for taking so long to write an entry.  I will try to sum u the past two and a half weeks, starting with week 1.

I arrived in London on November 1st, at 8am.  I made a friend on the airplane (Paul from Manchester) which was a nice way to start off!  I stayed with Edwin, Linda and Gillian in Pinner (a suburb of London) where I very much enjoyed their company and hospitality.  I was invited to their "Black and White" formal dinner event to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their synagogue, which was lovely.  They have a very interesting situation at that shul, where the Rabbi commutes about once a month from Israel!

My first week was a bit difficult because I've run into a few barriers to working.  I am not sure if i will be able to work (as a Speech-Language Pathologist) while I'm here.  I'll keep you all posted if there are any developments on that front.  The week was spent wading through red tape, doing a bit of sight-seeing in London, and dealing with some stuff at my work in Richmond (I'm glad I'm on leave right now!).

I made another new friend (Paige, an ex-pat from Toronto) through another friend (Jesse Y, who I went to high-school with and now lives in Dundee, Scotland!).

A short explanation!

I was having the serious travel itch... one which a week or two could not properly scratch!  So, I have taken a 5 month leave of absence from my job.  Considering I have British citizenship, I decided to see if working in London (UK, not Ontario) would be possible, and plan on taking little trips around Europe on cheap airlines while I'm here.  Coming to Europe for the winter is not ideal, but it was the only possibility for my work.  So, here I am in London!