Turkey Bowl / Iron Bowl

This has been like a week-long Thanksgiving celebration for me. All the activities normally crammed into one day have been spread across from last Sunday through today (Sat). Sunday was the giant turkey meal. Thursday was, of course, the real holiday as well as a service at St. Paul's Cathedral. And this morning was the Turkey Bowl!

I organized the Turkey Bowl here in hopes that we could get at least enough people to play a game. And we did! It turned out better than when I once tried to organize it in Madison a long time ago when it wasn't a tradition yet and 2 people came. We actually had 9 people playing at one point today! And they were good! Well... not like amazing, but good enough to enjoy a good game of football. One actually was amazing - the one I mentioned from Thursday who has an amazing throw. 6 of the 9 were Americans, the others English. At one point 3 had to leave leaving a good 3 on 3 match. That's like the minimum for a decent game. So I really lucked out that that many people showed up.

We found a spot on a local park to play. There were a ton of kids playing their "European" football. So we had to avoid them and avoid the giant mud patches that were all around. The ground was wet, which made it really hard to play without cleats. But at least we were all at the same disadvantage. It's hard to play football without traction though!

But man, that sure was a lot of fun. And everyone had fun, which always helps. And no injuries! That helps too. I brought my football and pump out with me just for the specific purpose of hosting a Turkey Bowl, and I'm sure glad I did it. Who knows if anyone will host it next year? Only 1 of the 3 English even knew what a Turkey Bowl was - he learned on his mission playing with all the Americans. So at least 2 more have been exposed to the joys of it now.

And this evening at 8:30, I joined 12 others to watch Alabama slaughter Auburn. It was so deliciously sweet. I got a toothache, it was so sweet. 36-0! And half of the 4th quarter was with our 2nd string! We all had scratchy voices by the end of the game bc we had been cheering so much. I can't ever keep up with the enthusiasm of the guys around me after they've downed a few beers, but they sure keep the energy of the game up. I sure wish I could be in Tuscaloosa right now. It's got to be crazy there! And everyone is going to be in a great mood on Sunday at church too. A winning football team always brightens spirits. :)

Thanksgiving Day

I had a unique Thanksgiving Day experience this morning. At 11:00, St. Paul's Cathedral hosted a special Thanksgiving service for the American community in London. It's the 50th year in a row they've done it. There were about 2,500 people there, and all I heard were American accents all around me. I haven't been around so many Americans since I got here! It was a really nice service. The US ambassador was escorted in and even gave little speech. That was kind of neat. There were also a couple Americans who are ministers of local interdenominational churches who gave sermons. And we all sang a few hymns. Luckily 2 of them I actually knew from our own hymnbook. So it was a nice way to celebrate Thanksgiving across the pond. The ushers were, of course, British and one was being a bit too cheesy. He would ask people, "Have you eaten your pumpkin pie yet? (a dish they don't have)" and "Are you ready to go eat your turkey?" I don't know... it just sounded weird. I should've asked him if he was ready to go have a spot of tea.

All week I've been eating a giant pack of Russian dumplings with a friend. She has a kitchen so we always eat together. It's been great for saving money on food, and we've been attacking that giant 2.5 kg bag for the past few days with plenty to spare. But today we celebrated Thanksgiving by eating at Walkabout (an Australian pub) since they have real meals but still semi-cheap. I had the Southern Fried Chicken meal since it at least sounded American - the best I could do for an American holiday. Btw Tammy... I showed my friend the trick about making an energy ball and she flipped out with excitement when she did it.

I brought my football to Insititute so I could practice for Saturday's Turkey Bowl. A couple of the local guys were able to at least get it to another person, and they usually didn't have any problem catching it. So that gives me hope for a productive game. But one guy totally blew me away! Out of nowhere he was throwing perfect spirals and with good aim. Apparently he just likes the sport. Don't know where he picked that one up, but it'll be a big help on Saturday. We got trumped by the volleyball game that everyone else wanted to play, so I joined in that for a bit.

At one point, I left to go join a few other Americans (two from Seattle) to a pub that was showing the Seattle Dallas game. They were losing so bad though, that by the time I got there, they weren't really interested in watching anymore. Can't blame them.

So that was my Thanksgiving Day in London! I sure enjoyed it! I hope everything went smoothly back home. I sure could use a turkey sandwich right now. Yum...

PJ's

This story is best explained with a bit of background...

I had given up completely on ever finding a "real" job, so I had settled my mind on just working at some min wage job. I enjoyed my time with Mom and Tammy and used it as an excuse to delay the efforts of finding that job.

Monday I did a lot of walking. I walked all up and down a street close to the house where I'll be moving into in a couple weeks. I figured it'd be best to find something close. I only found 4 places decent enough to work at, so I stuck my head in but got rejected from all. I quit around the time the food places were starting to get busy. No use going in asking for a job when they're surrounded by customers. So I called it a day after that.

Tuesday I used my knowledge of Monday's events to plan my day more effectively. I went out with particular stores in mind. I went into over 10 different stores including 3 Waterstone's (bookstore). Got rejected by all. A couple were still friendly and accepted my CV. A couple others were sorta rude. By around 3:30 I was tired and annoyed. I ate dinner and hung out with a friend for a couple hours. Then I just relaxed in front of the computer for the evening.

I got up today knowing that it would be more of the same as yesterday. I didn't know a more productive way of doing it. I figured if there was at least a slight percentage of success, then the odds would eventually work in my favor. I started out by calling up a Waterstone's that I had applied to last week. I got to talk to a manager who said they were all staffed, but she was really friendly about it. So that was a semi-good start to the day's adventure. I had on my list a couple of Papa John's nearby. I went to a closer one first. The first the guy asked was if I had experience. Yes! Yes, I do have experience! I may not have experience in all the other jobs that are out there in the world, but I do have experience working at Papa John's! He got my name and number and said he'd pass it to his manager. Also dropped by a Costa (coffee shop) on the same road. He said there aren't openings right now, but people come and go, so he asked for my CV to have for future reference. Then I took a journey over to another Papa John's and got a similar response to the first one but not quite as positive. On my way back from that one, I got a call from the first Papa John's asking if I could come in for an interview at 3:00. A what? An interview? Someone actually called me for an interview?

I went in at 3:00 and chatted with the manager guy who can't be more than 5 yrs older than me. His basic attitude was the job's mine if I want it. All the workers there are foreigners and can struggle with the language at times. He wants me to be the face and voice that the people interact with and feel comfortable with. So I'll be working the phones and helping people that come in. It's the same thing I did when I was 16-17! It's come full circle. I'll only be earning just enough to get by, but that's more than I'm earning now! And he was totally fine with letting me off on Sundays, and even on Thursday nights for Institute.

The place is REALLY small compared to what I'm used to, and some things are a little sketchy. Like I think I'm just getting paid under the table. He had a long and complicated explanation for it (he talked a lot and very loudly), but I think that was the main point. There's only 5 drivers and I'm helping the Indian girl who was the only phone person before (there's only 2 phones). I don't think he even has any other assistant managers or shift leaders. Oh, can I point out one irony here? After Brom has gone to India to teach people there to do his job, I'm here in London being taught by an Indian girl how to do my job. Hmm.

So that's pretty much the scoop. I go in Fri evening for a couple hours of watching/training. Then I'll go in Mon to start work. Should be fun. And maybe I'll get some good food out of it. :)

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving a bit early this year. This past Sunday, one of the girls in the ward (American) got together a big Thanskgiving dinner for everyone. There were probably about 30 people there in a really tiny flat. But food wasn't lacking. There was a good amount of leftovers. She cooked 2 turkeys, one really big one and one sorta small. She even had me carve them. So one day I've actually got to learn how to do it properly. But despite the lack of technique we all got some good meat off of those birds. And there were like 6 different desserts - half of which were pumpking pies. I didn't know that pumpkin pie was an American dish. No one from other countries seemed to know what it was, and they were surprised to hear it was sweet. It got good reviews though. When all the food was ready, this girl got everyone's attention and explained the whole purpose and history of Thanksgiving for the sake of all the non-Americans. She was explaining that the early Americans were celebrating a bountiful harvest, at which point one of the English girls piped in with a smirk, "I believe it was the English who were over there." Ha... good point. So yeah, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, even halfway across the world. And this Saturday morning we're all going to play in the Turkey Bowl that I'm organizing. And later that night I'll watch as Alabama crushes Auburn. :)

A Turn of Luck?

There's an LDS Employment Center at our church building. Last Thursday before Institute, the lady in charge of it spoke to us explaining what it is, why it's there, etc. I went the next day. I chatted with the lady who had spoken, and we discussed... everything. She even gave me some resume pointers I hadn't thought about.

I got a call from her Sunday morning about a guy in the family ward that we share our building with. He works in a marketing company (Rapp) and there's a new entry position open. They're spread all over the world, including Moscow and Kiev. And apparently they have a high LDS employment rate.

I got in touch with him (Wade Allen) and we chatted for about a half hour. He's a really nice laid back guy. The conversation was a little strange, bc he didn't try to find out if I was right for the job but more if the job was right for me. We talked about my experiences and what I was looking for. Unfortunately it kind of occurred to me how unlike my personality this job actually was. That's a downside.

He let me think it out overnight and it was on my mind almost constantly since we talked. I even ran into a friend after I got off the phone, and she told me I looked as though I had a heavy decision weighing on my mind. Something like that...

So I wrestled with the idea of this job all night and morning. It would be a more permanent role, so I would get the work visa I came here to get in the first place and be here like 2-4 years. 2 months ago I would've said YES! but now that I've had in my mind that I might go home for the holidays, it's taken a lot of reconsidering. Also, this job isn't something that I would necessarily enjoy for the job's sake, but I may enjoy it once I get into it. I think I was just spoiled over the summer getting a job that was a lot of fun.

I just e-mailed him back and told him I was interested...