A London Winter Date Night

Another reason to like London... usually in LA Eugene and my date nights were dinner at the foodcourt at Century City (no knocking it they have a Lawry's there) and a movie. In London, since I finally got off of my crutches Eugene took me out to check out the wonderful world of Harrod's, ending with a evening trip of hot cocoa, real hamburger, and churros at the German festival of the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.
Eugene in front of Harrod's ... this Christmas' theme is The Wizard of Oz... I'm guessing that makes Harrod's the Emerald Palace
A peek at the amazing cheese counter in Harrod's, we got a truffle cheese, gloucester, and goat cheese... ::sigh::
A small glimpse at the Charcuterie in Harrod's we got some amazing salami tartufo, salami porcini and salami montenaro ... yum!
Mohamed Al Fayed, owner of Harrod's, not only has Egyptian themed halls but he put his likenesses in the Pharoah and Sphinx statues... no comment
Eugene's dream... a cart full of Haribo candy
Eugene and me in front of the Ferris Wheel at the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Does this mean my bad luck with flights end? Or have I spoken too soon

My need to plan ahead outweighed my cautiousness with having no solid plans in terms of next term and I booked several flights today.

Most importantly, I decided even if USC falls through (for those that don't know my ATK team that got second place in the European Finals has been selected to represent LBS at the USC Global Case Challenge... means a lot of work but most importantly a subsidized trip home!! So I decided to fly out early wed (skipping a class there) and skipping all of my classes the following week to spend some much needed time with friends and family in LA) I'm still going to LA. So I booked my ticket.... only to discover while organizing my coursework for nxt term.. I have a special lab for one of my classes the Wed I decided to take off. Oh well, what I learned from my study group mates last term... you can skip any class. They've also ensured that I don't care about my grades anymore which makes life a little less stressful and a little more enjoyable hehe. But anyways I'll be back 2/24 to 3/6 ... 2/25-2/26 I should be competing but I guess if that falls through I'll just be stocking up all the awesome LA food and sun!

Since Eugene wants to make it to Love Bowl he will be flying out 2/14 to 3/6... that's right my hubsters is leaving me on Valentine's Day. I believe I should get best wife award for being cool with that... although our lack of celebration has already set a rather low expectation for this holiday.

Oh second set of flights I had to purchase... our trip to Prague and Vienna with Hannah and Eric... or THE Eric as he likes to be referred to as. EasyJet being the best deal we booked through them.... except this is the airline that I have already purchased two round trip flights on and not gotten on any of their planes. Barcelona got turned away at the gate. Madrid my friend didn't get her Visa and Eugene didn't want me booting it around by myself. So you can imagine my nervousness at booking a flight on this airline. Well I booked our flight out for 3/20 at 4:30PM because Hannah and Eric don't get in until 3/21 anyways and we don't like early flights.... lucky I did that because when updating my calender I discovered I have a midterm on 3/20 at 10AM to 12PM... thank goodness I booked the later flight. Hopefully this means 2010 will be a whole different ball game where I actually get to travel on the flights that I book.

I'm hoping I didn't just jinx myself with this entry... but here's hoping!!

BTW pretty cool foot update... saw the doctor today and he says I should ween myself off both my boot and crutches... what? yea that's right I'm walking (well stutter stepping really) around the apartment with no aids. I think it'll take me a little bit longer to completely be boot/crutch free outside but not bad for massively faster improvement than I expected. Will definitley help with the familia in town and all the London siteseeing we want to do.

Oh and just brief update of the week...

Mostly been just doing Physical Therapy (it's both painful and exhausting but hey if I can be up and walking in January... lay it on me!)

Saw Ms Anna off at a yummy brunch (still no Blu Jam) at Giraffe with Morgan, Meaghan, Leah, and April. Anna was on exchange from Berkeley (Go Bears) and with the partner girls had the 411 on AG01 which made for very interesting breakfast conversation. Hopefully will see her either in Cali or at Duke!

Did get to grab a drink with Chico who was doing a whirlwind in town, very cool and got to get a briefing on the going ons of they SYSCO crew. I totally admire how he is able to stay in touch with folks and how I am absolutely horrendous at it... New years resolution!

Had dim sum and shopping with my Cerebrations crew Alex, Beng-Fai and Mamello (we ended up giving up on the competition but I don't think its so bad because we now have a pretty fun group with pretty entertaining convos) Pretty impressed with Alex's willingness to eat all Chinese dim sum that Beng-Fai and I picked out and a little embarrassed that he knows how to hold chopsticks the correct way... making him better at it than me ::sigh:: Also Beng-Fai wins most gentlemanly person I know for shopping with Mamello and I, carrying our bags, and providing advice... he has a girlfriend and both of us are married so yea he is really just that nice =) Oh and after being denied 3 times by O2 they finally gave me a sim card! (do not understand but I've been denied 3 times for a monthly sim plan... yes all that I wanted was a sim card and I couldn't get it because I hadn't been living in London for longer that 2 months... ridiculous! They even needed my passport before they would give it to me.. yet my classmates got iPhones with their sim plans... no problem..what?) So once I get the whole transferring thing done I will finally feel like I'm a real londoner. My LBS friends will be happy too since normally I run out of my pay as you go minutes within two weeks and proceed to just text them.. I can't call back I'm out of minutes again. This is for you Venu ;)

Now Just Have to Find Time to Study...

So Naively I took this weekend off when it came to work...

Sunday my Cerebrations team (Mamello, Alex, and Beng-Fai) came over for lunch and work on our executive summary... cept we ended up spending the whole time chatting and getting fat on the desserts Alex and Beng-Fai brought over. Oh and they left a jug of milk in a lactose intolerant girl's fridge... not cool.

The Sunday dinner we went out with Ran, Hila, Michal, Roy, Venu, and Konstantin at the Golden Dragon in Chinatown (Great recommendation Ba!). That was a lot of fun and my first venture out in awhile, London is really festive with all the lights out and it was fun chatting and hanging out ...

However today I sat down, started writing up a calendar for this week, where I thought I had ALL this time to work on the Econ exam and study Finance and then bam, birthdays popped up (one in my building and one at the windsor so no excuses), holiday parties popped up, business events popped up and now most of my Monday is gone and I haven't started studying. GAH! That's what I get for letting my guard down... probably doesn't help that I'm feeling distinctly unmotivated. Maybe I'll just dig into that chocolate cake that was left in my fridge...

Where does all the time go?

So today is the night of LBS' infamous Santa Pub Crawl and I'm home getting started on my Econ Final. Yes I know its a Saturday night but it hasn't been much of a Saturday. I woke up early to review and then take my MOB Final. Which I didn't start studying until last night, since Friday morning was the Strategy exam (not bad since I basically rolled out of bed and started it) and then my switch from cast to boot took longer than I expected. I did get to do a trip to the Volunteer for our favorite Strawberry Beer, I think I've converted Marissa and Rob =)

To top it off, Ivy came and visited and I barely got to spend much time with her because she came just in time for my Strategy and MOB cramming and exams. Hopefully she at least enjoyed the London Indian food =). I absolutely loved the Macaroons she brought back from her local bakery in Versaille, enough so she might see a visit from Eugene and I soon.

For those curious about my foot. I finally got the crutch off and my calf and leg is insanely small and kind of freaky looking hehe... For some reason, I thought once the cast came off and I got into the boot I'd be walking on my own... yes I've never had a serious sports injury before. Nope the boot is a 6wk interim to walking. I still need my crutches and I'm quite a bit slower (I was getting pretty good at zipping around on the crutches) but I can go farther because I can put a portion of the weight on my foot. It's a learning process all over again. 6 wks from now expect to finally see my crutch free... I wonder if my classmates will recognize me hehe

Worked until 2AM but it was worth it

Yesterday was one of those days where you go to class at 8AM and you go non-stop from meeting to class to event without a break until 2AM. But the highlight for sure was working with my wakeforest marketing competition team from 5PM to 2AM. Despite meeting probably half of the team for the first time, it was pretty fun and we worked well together. I think we could do a 36hr marketing marathon without killing each other =). I can't take a lot of credit because Dobo and Pooya where the tech experts but I tried to help with the concept =) (btw everything in there is factual)

http://cumulusconsultants.com

Like other competitions, I didn't care too much if we won or not, I mean it would have been super cool if we did but not the end of the world if we didn't. And the theory holds true but now that I've sunk so much time and effort into it I really want to make it to the finals. I know the chances are slim (it's open to unlimited number of teams from all business schools across the world and there are only 8 places in the finals for a 36hr marathon) but now I really want it. =)

Although I am learning to prioritize, I made the conscious decision today that I didn't need to go to finance at 8AM and that sleep, and trying to fight off this cough, and studying for Business Value for IT were more important. It is a pass/fail course but I will be damned if I fail it... although fairly likely given the little amount I've absorbed =)

Eugene has promised a post and I will continue to remind him =)

FREEDOM!! Let the Stallions run free...

So today ... after a monster nap... I feel revived and ready to jump back in and be a fairly productive member of the LBS community

Last week was dominated by two thinks, AT Kearney Global Case Competition and Finance exam. One thing about the MBA is they try to force you to prioritize and make decisions... so I choose AT Kearney.

Friday my team went to the European Finals and I think did quite well. We were able to maintain the LBS streak and won 2nd place, losing to INSEAD. After the last week, we almost burst into tears with joy because not only did we keep our pride, represent and get some cash money but we didn't have to do any more work for this competition. Woohoo. Then ATK took us to a very nice dinner right by the Big Ben and we had a fun time chatting with Amy and Kristen and some of the other teams.

However we had to rush off once dessert was finished (had apple pie for the first time since arriving in London and it was glorious) because we had a Finance exam the next morning at 10AM.

Here's where the decision making came into play... study or sleep. I choose sleep. And our team motto became PCPT (partial credit or private tutor, because apparently they are very generous with partial credit and if you do extremely poorly you get a private tutor, a win win if you ask me). I felt very satisfied with my decision because today I finished the test well under the allotted time... so at least I didn't look at it with a blank face... however because I finished so early I'm pretty positive I oversimplified things... oh well PCPT

Oh another fun tidbit I discovered... if you are the first one to finish your exam (all streams take it together) and are the first to appear at the Windsor (our school pub where everyone congregates when we finish) you get a free bottle of champagne.

But now I'm ready to tackle the next three weeks, which include putting together an application with my Wakeforest team (marketing plan), meeting to put together an executive summary with my Cerebation team (market entry case), meeting to finally brainstorm ideas with Alicia for GSVC (global social venture business plan competition), trying to put some framework together with google team (digital marketing case) as well as try to revive my near dead social life =) oh and learn enough Financial Accounting to pass the test.

On the positive side is I realized this week, I have NO classes Thursday and Fridays next term. Seeing as I HAVE to take Level 2 language in Summer term (and they HAD to have classes on Friday) I'm opting out of any electives for the Spring term and am going to just take them in the Summer. That means Spring term I have time to travel and do all the competitions that I've signed up for.. not to mention the FMCG Summit that I'm a part of happens in February.

I think it's perhaps because I've had to and will miss out on so much fun things this term (Latin America party, French Party, Treasure Hunt, Santa Pub Crawl, Stream Boat Cruise, Barcelona Rugby Tour, etc.) because of my Achilles that I've become super ambitious in both social and school activities. So some of my fun travel plans?

Dec 14-17 Mamello and I are going to visit Alicia in Madrid
Dec Trip with Family to ?
Jan Trip with Mom and Sis to ? (assuming I don't start recruiting just yet)
Jan 23-24 Cranfield Tournament
Jan 19-31 Marrakech, Morocco with Stream C and friends (I'm one of the "friends")
March 20-26 Vienna and Prague with Ko Ko and Eric

Starting April I have classes 5 days a week... but until that let me know if there's a trip you want to take I'm 80% sure I'll be down. Time to spend some of that prize money =D

Good and Bad Start to the Weekend

I find that my most interesting weeks are my busiest... which means they rarely make it to the blogs except as a one liner of a list of Highlights...

So why am I writing today? I WAS going to write on Sunday night/Monday morning about an exciting trip to Barcelona. However, after taking a 4:40AM shuttle for a 7:20AM flight on EasyJet Girona(Barcelona). I made it all the way to the gate only to be told that because I have a cast on I needed a doctors note telling me I was fit to fly, which my doctor didn't mention when I asked him if I could fly. That was disappointing but not as annoying as the fact that the stewardess told me to sit off to the side instead of immediately telling me I wasn't going to be able to board.

Now, I slowly and safely made my way back home... but as I did I realized that this is probably for the better. Next Saturday I have a Finance exam (and I'm struggling here), and last two weeks were super intense as is next week, so a free weekend to get stuff done is much needed. Not to mention that my foot was already starting to ache from traversing the airport... so a weekend of taking it easy and elevating could only help.

One more plus side is about the good news of things. Despite my efforts to learn from my undergrad mistakes and not stretch myself thin (I even resigned my post as Industry/Consulting VP for Asia Club) but all the competitions at school are just too interesting to pass up. Last week I was participating in 2, Odyssey which was a simulation of owning an airport (despite not doing great it ended up being a lot of fun hanging out and working with Beng-fai and Alex, nice to have some easygoing friends in my Stream to chat and blow off steam with) and AT Kearney since we were one of the final 3 out of 15 teams participating. Friday we made our way down to ATK's office in the pouring rain to present to some partners. Much to my surprise we won first place... that means 500 euros each and we move on to the European finals. This is a lot of pressure because LBS hasn't won first place in the last few years and the London office of ATK is filled with LBS alumni... furthermore the European final is next Friday right before the Finance Final.

Time to reset and see if I can survive the next 3 weeks... with charm in tact =)

Side Note: was talking to Beng-fai and Alex about trying not to flip the bitch switch (credit to Eugene for that one) and they actually said they wished they could see me when I did... never heard that one before haha

Stitches

So yesterday I took a break from my 12 hour Strategy marathon to get my stitches out. After two weeks of my foot in my case I finally got a look at it. The wound looked really crazy, frankensteinish, the clips looked exactly as if they stapled my wound together and there was some cross stitching at the ankle. Definitely not what I expected.

The last week was intense and emotionally and physically exhausting. Hoping to spend this weekend recouping and being fresh for next week. Although today wasn't a great start.. spent a couple of hours working on the Odyssey competition with Alex and Beng-Fai. It's a simulation of running a business, pretty interesting.

And then making up a Finance class...yes on Saturday... finally realized how exhausted I am since everytime I ran out of sugar (from my regular consumption of chocolate) I would nod off.

Now I'm finally home and just getting started on my list of things to do... Barcelona is going to be my well deserved break/vacation... if I can only survive until then!

BTW... Ba cooked an amazing gourmet Chinese meal... been eating the BEST the last two days... very sad that Daniel and Ba are heading home.... no more entourage

No Rest for the Weary

So I told Eugene he could write the next blog, he was suppose to write about his Treasure Hunt (which he won 2 Monopoly games from) and my surgery (which he so kindly took pictures of at every moment, including me in my dressing gown)... but he hasn't and thus why the big lag between posts.

So just to answer the question I've been receiving the most these days... I will be in a cast for 4 more weeks and then PT for 6 weeks and then hopefully I'll be up and running back to my normal clumsy self

The last two weeks have been great because the Monday after my surgery Daniel and Ba arrived, giving me an escort to school and people to take care of me when I got home. I love having an older brother... they dragged me out for dim sum and dinners and either because I walk to slow or they pity the site of me crutching along but I usually good a piggy back ride relay btw Eugene and Daniel to our destination. Yes I am spoiled! And after a couple of my teams had to come to our apt to work, bc I had to elevate the first few days ... they call me princess since the Chu men are so attentive.

Speaking of which, I think I go to school with some of the nicest people. I had people dropping by with flowers, magazines, ice cream (thanks Laura), and books (thanks Mamello). The day of the surgery, news traveled like wildfire and I got innundated with text, emails and facebook messages of good luck and let me know if you need anythings =). I even had escorts to the Halloween Party.. yes I went for a little bit.. I couldn't help myself ... but I left immediately when it looked like people were getting too drunk and it was getting dangerous (someone trying to dance with someone in crutches is usually a good sign that common sense has left the building).

This week is going to be insane for me because not only do we have a group midterm today, a group midterm tomorrow, and friday we have 3 homework assignments due but my team got selected to be the top 3 for AT Kearney case competition and my team for the Odyssey challenge got selected for prequalification round, all happening next week. Not to mention the first Women's Rugby Tour is next Saturday in Barcelona and as one of the Reps I have to prep. Let's ignore the fact that I just signed myself up for a couple more competitions. Daniel asked me the other day why I do all the extracurriculars and quite frankly.. it's because this is the cool and fun stuff. These are the opportunities to experience and learn that you don't get outside of MBA. Plus I really like having the opportunity to work with different people on different teams. Although Venu will claim that I am a pushover and have a hard time just saying no.

But I do save time for some good fun...on Tuesday Ba, Daniel and I went to the Wolseley for High Tea. They gave us 5 different sandwiches (crusts cut off), scones (deliscious but raisin) with clotted cream (think decadent butter) and strawberry jam, and 6 little cakes. It was really fun and quite a nice experience. The place was really nice and located next to the Ritz.

On Monday I took Eugene, Ba and Daniel to The Volunteer (a pub a few blocks down from our house) where they serve English comfort food ... but more importantly they have Strawberry Beer (wasn't just made up in Beerfest, really exists and is delisciou) and Guinness.

Well enough of my break and back to the grindstone... pictures to come

Private Insurance Perks

So the last 48 hours have been a little crazy... let's start with Thursday morning

Thursday morning (after Jason told me that bruising and the swelling of the foot aren't normal signs of recovery for a sprained Achilles) I leveraged (yea still got the consulting lingo down) Eugene's insurance coverage and went to a private hospital, The Wellington Hospital, to get a second opinion.

Turns out I fully tore my Achilles tendon. The GP Dr Sidney Price did some tests and suspected it, almost immediately I got sent to get a ultrasound on my ankle to check for a tear, which they found that it was completely ruptured. The "plus side" is that it was a full tear 3wks ago so my walking on it for 3wks hasn't been making it worse, just aggravating it. =P

So they made an appointment for me with the specialist Thursday evening where I got a confirmation about how it was a full tear and very quickly they put on a purple fiberglass cast for me.

This of course garnered more attention at school as people saw me hobbling, then on crutches and then in a cast. I had to promise a friend that the next time he saw me I would NOT be in a wheelchair.

Anyways so Friday morning I get a call that they were able to fit me in tonight for surgery and now I'm sitting in my private room with Eugene watching the Hulk... yes we get free movies on a flat screen tv... and I already put in my order for what sounds like a great dinner ... when I get to eat it. I haven't had a bite since noon... since apparently if they are putting you under that's a no go on food AND liquids. You can imagine that I am quite hungry and thirsty right now.

Eugene equates this experience to staying at a hotel, granted he is not the one who has to go under the knife but it is quite a nice experience.

I've had a lot of well wishes that tells me that news travels fast and as I suspected I'm going to school with some of the nicest people =) There have been many offers to bring me food, which also means people are quickly learning the way to my heart. hehe

Here's to my first experience in surgery and my first overnight stay in a hospital. No worries to my study group and ATK team I have brought all necessary materials with me so I can be productive. As James said, I'm almost lucky because it forces me home to get all my work done.

Learning to Walk

So it's been ages since I've written and yet so much has happened... probably why it's been ages since I've written...

So two weekends ago I attended Sports Day which started off with a fun paddleboat race (I think we came in 3rd or 4th... not bad for one of the few teams with two girls and one guy) and then touch rugby... mixed so faster.. my team was basically the 2011 Girl's rugby team and a few boys. We did pretty well until we met a team that was basically guys rugby team and a few girls. Knowing the rules is a real advantage. I really like rugby, even despite getting smacked in the face with a rugby ball (guys don't call out warnings like the girls do), and I thought I was starting to get the hang of the game too.

And here's where the story goes downhill... in my infinite wisdom... or misconception that I am superwoman... I decided to try out ultimate frisbee... even though the beginners team was all boys and just one or two other girls. So towards the end of the day I was guarding a guy, because all the girls on the other team had opted out, and I made a move only to feel like someone had kicked with all their might my achilles. Basically the pain was tolerable but when one (of the 5 doctors in my class) made me do a test to see if I tore my achilles and I couldn't pass.. I started tearing up at the thought of having to go through surgery and rehab.

After 3 hours in NHS I learned that it was a sprained achilles... clearly not a serious thing because they just gave me a wrap for my foot and told me to walk on it... oh and some ibuprofen.

Fastforward to today, now I'm known as one of the gimps around school, which is fine except all the pitying looks.. i count myself lucky compared to some of the other injuries.. and that it is an absolute pain in a city dependent on walking. But today I was reading about heel lifts that are suppose to help athletes and realized... hey aren't those like mini heels... so I put on my mini heeled shoes and it felt so much better walking... except I had forgotten how to walk normal. I walk like Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects and for the life of me I can't remember how to walk normal. I'm hoping its still just my achilles holding me back and that I won't be walking like this for the rest of my life... but a little part of me is scared that I'm so used to walking with a limp that I've forgotten what its like to walk... =P

Playing Hard... Need to Work Hard

Its been the first week of REAL classes and to balance out all the work that suddenly got piled on us I started to play hard and now I need to refocus.

Highlights to end out Sept
- Women's Rugby Kick Off - 80s gear at a 80s club
- Shopping in Camden with Naomi, Ximena, Ania, Aline for 80s gear
- Sundowners (aka free drinks) then Ania's house party then Bollywood Party
- Venu's Birthday at Zizzi's and FAME.... Remember, Remember, Remember
- Bodeans! Real Meat and Blue Moon... helped my tummy from being super homesick



Bodean's baby! Next time I'm definitely going back from some good ol mac n cheese

Pulled pork sandwich with burnt ends... Yum... bbq beans bleh... BLUE MOOON!!

What? What? Central Perk in London? Total recreation

Naomi and me in our 80s gear

Some of the Rugby girls after a night of drinks and partying.... so many drinks were getting spilled that my shoes were sticking to the ground

Pub Golf

So yesterday was the Rugby Pub Golf outing and it was really fun! For those not in the know, the way Pub Golf is played is that you get a scorecard and it says how many sips (or strokes) you can take to finish you drink (hole) at 9 designated bars (9 holes). They added a few extra details like a water hazard is where from hole 6-8 you can't use the bathroom. Guys had to down pints of beer, girls had the choice of shots or 1/2 pints.

My team which I think she be renamed from team 5 to team alle bon di put... had two 2010 guys Chyna and Smurf, Julian from France and V from Poland, Annabelle on exchange from Berkeley, not to mention Ximena, Marissa and me. As you can imagine my competitive nature makes me want to at any game so I did shots for all of the wholes except the first, yup that means I consumed 9 shots so you can imagine that as the night went on I got a lot friendlier, quirkier and chattier.

Highlights were :

1. Annabelle blindly following the guys into the guys bathroom and then being called a dirty girl
2. The super scary blowdryer at the Temperance
3. Getting kidnapped twice (literally getting picked up and thrown over the shoulder by some guy who I still don't know his name... I spent the rest of the night hiding behind girls whenever I saw him)
4. While getting kidnapped having Marissa running behind me taking pictures before finally deciding to help save me
5. Bumping into a woman who was out wearing Animal Print ... who was not part of our pub crawl and my team getting a picture with her

It was a really fun night. Which didn't end when we made it back to the Windsor because Anya and Ximena convinced me to go with them to Naomi's birthday party, I didn't really know Naomi even though she is in my stream and had already told Marissa I would go with her to a bday party for someone in her stream. But when drinking I am very easily persuaded to many a thing =) so I went with them and I'm pretty sure gabby Cindy had a bit too much fun and chatted way too much with folks. I have a bad habit of being super honest too when I drink so I think I either amused or surprised my stream folk (I tend to be a lot less social during class bc I'm usually quite tired). Pretty sure it was clear I was drunk because I got a few messages today from people saying ... how are you feeling?

Got home at 4AM and surprisingly this morning I didn't feel so bad. Spent today working on homework and procrastinating (thus this blog post). As much fun as last night was I really can't be doing anymore nights like that... plus I don't think Eugene appreciated it too much either.

My Team V, Chyna, Julian, Smurf on the top Me, Ximena, Marissa, Annabelle on the bottom

Our goofy shot, this is at the second pub so we're still all pretty tame


My team at the end of the night.... a lot more goofy and friendly

The girls in all our animal print glory _ Laura, Annabelle, Marissa, Ximena, Sarah, me, Marie

Adjusting...

So this week (which technically has not ended) has been a little taste of what I imagine is to come in terms of how busy Autumn term will be. Not only do I have assignment after assignment but I'm still trying to figure out my place here in London and LBS.

Having not decided on my career direction, PE, Entrepreneurship, Strategic Planning, I can't decide what clubs are most important to me. I already know I have a tendency to overextend myself and I'm really trying not to because I want to have time to travel, explore and play but it's like a constant battle between ambitious Cindy and lazy Cindy. Socially I'm still trying to figure out my relationships and friendships here. I have a group of folks I really enjoy hanging out with outside of school, unfortunately most of them are not in my Stream. There are a few that I get along with really well in my stream but I feel like I have more friendly acquaintances than anything else.

What made me feel better was having a little taste of home. I went to Bodeans tonight, it's a BBQ place in Soho and it was wonderful. Not only were they playing ESPN America and had a SEC game on (I had no idea Ole Miss was ranked 4) but they served a deliscious pulled pork sandwich that didn't taste funny and.... BLUE MOON. Only my favorite beer!

I have Stats and a debate to work on tomorrow but Saturday should be fun. I have rugby practice at 12-2PM ... and found out Sarah has an inner competitiveness that could probably rival mine. And then pub golf crawl from 6pm onwards with the men and womens rugby team. I'm a little apprehensive because the pub golf crawl I did in Austin was a bit intense but I'm looking forward to it because the girls seem cool and I find it much easier to be social when I'm buzzed or drunk (is that bad?). Eugene of course is a little concerned... but not enough to miss the Cal game and go with me =)

Oh and I bought my first piece of animal print clothing on Monday for this event... I was going to go safe and get a scarf but those who know me best know I'm generally up for anything and I don't half ass most things. So I got a leopard print shirt... which should be interesting.

Between the PE/VC Kick off and the Women In Business Club, not to mention all the class work and etc this week I feel like I haven't had a chance to replenish my energy... but I am determined to not miss a thing and work and socialize (eeks) my butt off these next two years. Although I do really miss having my girls around, it's nice to have someone who understands you and you can really be yourself around.

Quick Synopsis of Highlights of the Week

Tuesday - completely downpoured but Alicia convinced me to go with some folks from our stream to Shakespeare Globe Theater to watch "As you like it". It was quite good and a really cool venue (got some pictures before my hand got slapped) but after getting downpoured on the 3rd time towards the end of Act 1 Molly, Trisha and I decided to go find food and hot beverages to dry off and warm up. We ended up at The Real Greek, which was good but overpriced and small quantities, where we ate and chatted until the rest of the folks showed up. I had fun and got to spend some time with Jamie, Pooya, Alicia, Nick, Neil, Joao, Trisha and Molly

The motley crew of 8 who decided to brave the rain and go to Shakespeare Globe Theater anyways

The inside - very cool, felt like I was in Shakespeare in Love
My illicit picture of the actors and the start of the play "As you like it"

Before the rain.... the three who ended up escaping after Act 1 to find a warm, dry place to wait out the rest of the play Molly and I after braving our 3rd downpour in the rain... we're quite soaked at this point

Thursday - Met my group at 8am for a full day of stats... Long Day! Stepped out at 1:30PM to take my oral test for Mandarin... teacher said my Mandarin is not bad and I can skip to level 2... thank goodness I thought I was going to have to spend 70hrs taking level 1 during what is looking like a really busy and hard autumn term. Then went back for more stats only to leave at 3:30 and spent roughly 3 hours taking the written exam. Found I remembered a suprising amount of mandarin, and picked up some words I had forgotten from other sections of the test. Glad to know I actually did retain some. Hung around campus because at 6:45PM was the AT Kearney Global Strategy Competition briefing, Venu and I decided we might as well try it, 50% of the teams get to actually compete and that's a random drawing, and Molly joined our team. Went out to Notting Hill with Venu and Christian because I thought it was Christian's birthday. Turns out its a different Christian's birthday ... one I have not meant... so I actually didn't have to go out. What should have been a 15 min tube ride turned into a 30 min plus tube ride as the two local pros, Venu and Christian, first had us riding the wrong way on the Circle Line, only to switch and get on the wrong line, only to take another tube ending up back at Baker St 30min later to finally get on the right tube to Notting Hill. The bday party was at Babylon Beach Blanket or something, super posh place with a fireplace inside ???? and 11GBP mojitos... that's like $17. They were good but not THAT good. After a bit of socializing and chatting we headed home.... what a long night but as usual it's fun hanging out with Venu, Christian, Constantine, Laura and a few other folks =)

Brighton... London Beaches?

So when Laura suggested a day at Brighton, I heard it was the Atlantic City of London and that it was a beach town. Now coming from LA... I was a bit skeptical of a UK beach (rightly so) and having only TV as a reference for Atlantic City I really didn't know what to expect.

This morning Marissa and I grabbed breakfast at Pret (Croissants and Hot Chocolate are much better here than the states btw) and headed to London Bridge to meet up with Jonas, Laura and Sarah for our trip to Brighton. The train ride was a quick 1 hr... good conversation probably made it better. - Side Note: Marissa and I could not for the life of us find a trash bin so we brought our trash from breakfast all the way from Baker St to London Bridge to Brighton. (Because of the bombings in London were in trash bins there are none to be found in the tube stations and some parts of the city you could end up carrying your trash with you for quite some time).

Despite the morning gloom we made our way along the cute streets of Brighton to the beach. While the beach is mostly rocks and pebbles and what I imagine to be super cold water, it is actually quite nice. Probably helped that it was a Friday and most people have work. We got lucky and saw the Royal AirForce Fighter Jets practicing for this weekend's festivities. If you look carefully you can see Laura, Marissa and Jonas watching the fighter jets.

Afterwards we went to find some Fish & Chips... My very first since coming to the UK. It is quite good, the fish is super tender but the Chips or Fries as us Americans call it was pretty standard.

When we walked out the sun had started coming out which was really nice... still not warm enough to swim but otherwise quite nice. We walked over to the Royal Pavillion, King George the IV Brighton residence. It was very opulent and Chinese themed on the inside... supposedly very popular for the time and the outside was suppose to be Chinese themed too but the architect and decorators had never been to China so I think they got it mixed up with the Taj Mahal. No picture taking inside but it was actually quite interesting. Although the Strongbow Cider hit us when we sat down and I almost fell asleep in the middle of the audio tour.

After we walked out we met up with Yuki, who slept in so didn't meet up with us until later in the day. We walked to the Brighton Pier which was finally open and partook in some dessert. There is a place called Moo Moo Milkshakes which have over 100 flavors and from what I hear was quite good. Then we took the free sundeck chairs and lounged in the sun on the pier. Which was really nice. Afterwards we made our way to the end of the pier where all the rides were. Because there were so few people you just bought tokens and if you had enough people to meet the minimum you flagged down an operator and rode the rides. We did the Turbo rollercoaster... which Sarah and I thought was questionably old and creaky looking. Was short lived fun but ended up tossing us around quite a bit so I think we might all wake up with bruises tomorrow. Afterwards we tried to ride the mechanical bull.. unfortunately it was closed so that shall remain on my list of things I want to do.

Afterwards we walked around the really cute cobblestone streets of Brighton with their cute stores and shops. Yuki and I were hungry, having not eaten any dessert like the rest of the folks, and found an Italian restaurant offerring 2 course meal for 6.75 GBP... pretty cheap. Everybody ended up sitting down with us and eating too... most everyone got the Lasagna, which looked and tasted quite good, except Yuki, who got the pizza. We also split a jug of Pimms, a summer drink similar to sangria and arnold palmers.

After dinner we headed back to London. All in all it was a really nice day to just get out of London, hang out and get to know some really cool people better. Tomorrow I have loads of work to do and Stats so its nice to step out once in awhile.

Smallest Chinatown... EVER

So Saturday, after going to a picnic of all the MBA 2011 Women, Marissa, Eugene and I headed to Chinatown to look around and buy some groceries. Given Britain's ownership of Hong Kong I just sort of assumed it would be a bit bigger, or at least be comparable to Chicago's Chinatown. It is actually quite small... takes up maybe two small streets with just a handful of shops and restaurants. Not that I'm going to complain, that wasn't complaining just observing, because I saw a Taiwanese restaurant and I found a Korean restaurant that has sul long tang and soon dubu! We tried out Jen's cafe, that has homemade dumplings, not bad.. probably won't return but the fried dumplings are pretty good.

I was very happy to bring home some REAL rice (i.e., jasmine vs basmati), oyster sauce and real chinese style soy milk... thank goodness for vitasoy. We also found a bakery and stocked up on the yummy breads we missed so much... definitely not on par with LA but will tied us over until we come back to visit.

On Sunday we went to the Thames River Festival. I am quickly learning that London's version of Carnival or Festival basically means two things. 1. lots of stands where you wait in long queues for food. 2. Parades. The first part I don't mind so much because Marissa and I saw Flaming Cactus and made a beeline for some Mexican food. The burrito was the most poorly made burrito I've ever seen... she folded it in half... sure why not... and then in half the other way... what the hell is that. I didn't care because I was so massively hungry... but woman how hard is it to roll a burrito. Brits...

Later we walked all the way from the London Eye to the Tate Modern Museum to see the Fire Garden. Name sounds MUCH cooler than it actually was... it was basically a bunch of metal structures with candles on them that were lit with fire...ooooOOooo Eugene was not so pleased since the walk is not a quick one... think about 3-4 tube stops down. We decided to bounce, having lost most of the group anyways.. and on our way back we began walking over the Blackfriar's bridge (where the Night Carnival was suppose to be) home and bumped into the Night Carnival... which was just a parade. This was actually pretty cool because they were dancing and had crazy cool costumes on. Some of the girls looked like Rio Carnival costumes and I am sure were freezing their butts off in the cold nights air. I'll post those pics to facebook as I've gotten too lazy to individually post pics here.

All in all a pretty decent weekend... and to add to my list of things I've done... yesterday I got stuck in the elevator at the Tauton building. Tauton is this newly designed building across the street from the main campus that houses our itty bitty gym and some study areas. You would think it was dwinelle, but worse because its impossible to find stairs going up (they aren't all connected) and even harder to find stairs down (half of them are "fire exit only" and so doors on the lower floors are locked or alarmed. So I had given up and decided to take the elevator.. only to have it stall after going down 1 ft from the original floor I was on. In the elevator with 3 able minded men they pried open the doors and called for help. All very exciting... but now I need to find an alternative method of traversing the 6 floors of Tauton ... 8 if you included the basement and subbasement.

Internet Finally!!

Productivity has been waning the moment we signed on! Not only do we not sleep as early anymore but we just spent 2 hrs not talking and just being online.

I have also discovered a way to watch tv online... there go my grand ambitions ;).

But a quick update...

Apparently my stream is getting the reputation as being the social stream. Tuesday night we went out for dinner at Imli (a modern Indian tapas place) and basically everyone showed up... definitely impressive turnout. The food was okay but a bit spicy and me recovering from my sore throat was unable to really eat it... yea my lack of spicy tolerance didn't help either. The night was fun but .. again in recovery mode... I headed home afterwards instead of joining the crew to Floridita, a salsa club, for drinks. My stream is pretty cool, everyone is lax and makes me laugh so I'm having a grand ol time rt now.

Today, Wed, was my day off so I just met up Alicia and Mamello around 2pm and headed to the Westfield here for a day of shopping. Westfield is HUGE... and very nice and posh. We hit the main stores, Mark & Spencers, H&M, and Zaras and all bought clothes at all three. Our styles have some crossover and we had to make sure to at least buy different colors of some of the same clothes. =) All in all a very fun day and very successful given our haul.

After I came back I rushed over to have dinner with Venu, Christian and Marissa... we went to La Tasca with a 50% of all food voucher... got total 12 tapas dishes and came out to 23GBP total... great deal! Dinner lasted for 3 hours and it was fun to gab and catch up since we're in different streams.

Tomorrow I only have a brief programme briefing and the rest of the day is off too. Planning on being productive tomorrow and resting up so I can hopefully go Gay Clubbing on Friday, Cal game Saturday, Rugby and then Thames River Festival Sunday. =) ... not to mention finally use the gym and get all my hw done... oh and upload the pics that i've been taking here and there.

Beginning of School

So I have just completed my first week of Orientation/ School

The first few days were at The Brewery where we got to do a lot of meet and greets (and there was quite a bit given there is 400 of us) and lectures about what to expect over the next few years.

After Tuesday we basically split up into our Streams A-E and went from there. A real highlight was we had an Away Day where we basically went with our Streams and did High Ropes and Team Building exercises. Despite our day having rain and wind it was a ton of fun and I got to get to really know 12 folks from my stream and conquered my fear of heights. You would be so proud I climbed up to the top of quite a tall Rock Climbing wall ... where my small feet actually helped me out since my side had a lot of itty bitty outposts. And I climbed up a pole that was 14 m high (think telephone pole) with a small square stand at the top and three girls waiting for me so we could hold on to each other and lean back and create a flower. I was freaked out on the way up ... the wind and rain were not helpful.. but it was so much fun!

Our group was pretty cool and reinforce why I am excited about LBS. We had Travis from DC who was in the Peace Corps, Alicia from Madrid who was a freelance consultant, Marianna from Maldova who worked in leveraged finance, Eijie from Tokyo who was a psychiatrist, Gorbin from India who was product manager for Amazon, Fiona our stream manager from the UK and my awesome study group Sharan from Delhi who is a two times successful entrepreneur, Samrin from Delhi who does Sugar Cane commodities trading for her family corporation, Yunie from Seoul who started off as a Fashion Desinger then CPA then Real Estate, Davide who is from Milan and worked for McKinsey and Ran who is from Israel and worked for the Israeli Scouts and Investment Management. Definitely no shy folks here but it was nice too because everyone was willing to listen and work together.

We were like the picture group, always stopping to take pictures together. Hehe

Away day turned out to be a great icebreaker for my study group because the next day we proceeded to the Windsor for drinks and then Strade for dinner. Samrin and Sharan set up dates for their St Bernards back home. Davide is uncomfortable with talk of children. Yunie can't drink but has an insane tolerance for spicy stuff and is probably the most adventurous eater I've ever met. And Ran and I were at the same Full Moon party in Koh Panang.

Now back to studying.

Our Home Away from Home

Gorgeous pictures of our gorgeous home. It's not much, but for London this was pretty good (besides the bright orange carpet). We are no longer homeless




Our study/dining area... really liking the glass table

Our kitchen... tiny but well stocked... look at all those shelves.. we hope to fill it with little nick knacks from our travels to come
Our "family room" previous positioned like a cave but we opened it up to feel more roomy and usefull

Your bedroom... kind of a tight fit with the big bed but wall to wall mirrors
Our entrance way... girls would be proud I now take up 2/3 of the shoe rack

Addendum: Rugby cont.

As some may be able to tell I have been writing most .. nay 100% of the posts.. but Eugene will appear from time to time so look out for it =) hehe.

I was so excited about writing about my experience playing rugby I forgot to mention the really cool thing about LBS is that partners are allowed to join any of the clubs, including sports, at LBS. So while I was playing with the girls, Eugene duked it out with the boys. Now while I was pleasantly surprised to find that size wise I was pretty on par with the other girls. Eugene found himself with 6ft or approaching 6ft tall guys with broad shoulders... well let's just say they were big and in that linebacker not O line big way. To his further surprise the guys who showed up kept saying that all their really big guys didn't even show up. Therefore Eugene is debating whether to join or not, afterall guys rugby is tackle...

However I think Eugene would be quite good because one of my classmates came up and told me "your husband is really fast" and Eugene told me he was able to intercept the ball (impressive given you're only allowed to lateral in rugby) and ran it for an almost try (basically a rugby touchdown)... almost only because he mistook the cones and stopped before the line (think endzone) ... which in rugby if you touch the ball to the ground without being touched by the other team it is an automatic turnover.

Our coordinates are...

SUCCESS!! Yesterday we dropped down our deposit (did you know UK deals in cash.. made me super nervous even though it was the middle of the day to be carrying around so much cash... did not help there was a very RUDE british gentleman behind us who was looking over our shoulders as the teller was counting our money... RUDE!), signed our contracts and received our keys to our NEW FLAT!!

::: I hope this to be the last pictureless entry... will be trying to get internet functioning tomorrow:::

And today we said goodbye to the Holiday Inn - Regent's Park (£186 per night if booked directly $70USD per night if negotiated on Priceline... FYI) stepped into one of their insanely roomy cabs (the trick is they don't have a trunk so its just a very deep back seat.. fit all 4 of our big suitcases, 2 duffles, 2 backpacks and us 2) and made our way to our new home... at least for the next 9 months.

We are staying in a 1 bedroom flat about a block from the school, thus 5 min from Bakers Street Tube. It has this ugly burnt orange carpenting and a kitchen that reminds me of Apt 36 in Berkeley but otherwise is great because it's bigger than most we've seen for that price (we are now paying NY prices so I'm still recovering from the sticker shock) and pretty nice. The bathroom is one of the best I've seen so I'm a fairly happy camper. I'm especially happy that it is soooo close because London sort of shuts down around 11PM and becomes all deserted and quiet which is creepy when walking as two people... downright CSI scary when it's just me.

The only catch to our flat is that the previous tenant hasn't fully moved out, so we basically moved any remaining items from the bedroom and bathroom out to a corner of the living room and her friend is coming by Friday to pick up all of her stuff. Which leaves us Saturday to go to IKEA and pick up anything that we need. It is sort of weird because we feel like we're living in a flat where half of it is ours and the other half is someone elses. Hopefully we'll be able to get all settled down before the craziness of orientation (me) and work (Eugene) starts on Monday.

Other than this flat craziness.. on Tuesday we visited Eugene's office, only has 4 people but is super nice and situated in this really nice old house.. no mansion... by Green Park tube. The people are super nice and it looks like it will be a comfy environment for him (he basically gets what was original two desks all to himself, with 3 monitors hooked up to one computer and 2 monitors to another... he's gonna be like those hackers you see on TV with a mass of screens).

As for meeting folks I made it out to the Windsor Castle (the pub attached to the school and now across the street from my flat) for one of the Flat Hunter's Pub Crawls. I met up with Marissa, who I met in LA, and met Venu, who is half Finnish and half Indian but has lived in London for the last 7 yrs and totally cracks me up. I also met a bunch of other classmates that my throat was starting to hurt towards the end of the night. On Tuesday I went to a Meet and Greet and bumped into Ashkay, Sachin and Ximena again and met a few new folk too. I was going to take a break but there is a Sundowner at Windsor Castle tomorrow and I'm not so lazy I won't walk a block for a drink and some socializing. =)

Oh I forgot to mention... our flat comes with a sofa bed... so visitors welcome!

A little fun in the sun

Sunday was our break day having spent the last 4 days flat hunting.

We started our day by meeting the LBS Men and Women's Rugby Team in Regents Park for a game of touch rugby. We split up into guys and girls, where I noticed the boys kind of just started playing and the girls we got a good grounding on the rules and did drills first. It's the first time we'd met up with LBS and Partners and it was a lot of fun. Everyone is very cool and laid back and as I got used to the rules of rugby it's actually quite fun and a very good workout. It was also a great chance to meet some of my other 2011 classmates.

Another aspect of rugby I think I'm going to like is that when we finished we all had a beer and when that was depleted everyone headed to the pubs. I stayed behind because I briefly lost my husband (who'd been detained from returning from the bathroom because he was trying to figure out how the game of cricket works). We decided to head to Pret (a corner bakery type chain) for lunch since we had skipped breakfast and therefore running on nothing. Sandwiches were yummy and not too expensive (I tend to disagree with folks who say food here is not good and too expensive... sandwiches were approx £3 which is roughly $5... pretty standard for LA or SF... cheaper even).

After we cleaned up and rested we decided to do our first bit of site seeing and headed down to the tube to check out South Bank and Westminster. Quickly we discovered the tube is expensive! One way is £4 and day pass is £5.60 (in our already student mentality we decided all tube outings should be reserved for a full day of exploring and not just an hour or two here or there). While very easy to use it's not terribly comfortable, ventilation wasn't great in the trains and it felt stuffy and slighty smelly. I think we'll be doing a lot of walking and bus riding.

We got off at Embankment which dropped us across the river from the London Eye. As we crossed the Golden Jubilee Bridge we realized... isn't this the bridge the death eaters took down in the beginning of Harry Potter. But luckily it was all clear and sunny skies (we've been very lucky) and we saw no speeding black clouds of death eaters hehe.

The London Eye is a magnificent ferris wheel which takes 40 min to loop around and costs about £17. As the queue was quite long we decided to wait until another sunny day to check out the London Eye. I had noticed earlier that the streets are really clean for a big city... at most you'll find some cigarette butts but not a lot of litter. That does not hold true for near the London Eye, there is trash everywhere. I don't know if its because its a tourist attractions and tourists just don't care or that it's actually kind of hard to spot a trash can.

Along the boardwalk there's a lot of performances, statue people, break dancers (one who did a rather good rendition of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean) and random performers. There was also a lot of ice cream stands and belgian waffle stands. We paid the price and got a belgian waffle with chocolate syrup, it was quite good but probably looked better than it tasted. £3.50 for one... I can see if you stay in tourist areas how money could disappear quite quickly.

As we walked along the river we had a great view of Big Ben and the Parliament. It is a quite impressive structure with very fine detail. Right next to it is Westminster Abbey which is just as detailed but is a nice contrast with its white walls. As it was late we didn't get to go in but we're sure to make another trip to view both of these in more detail.

For dinner we decided to try La Piazza near the Embankment station (using the whole.. there's a lot of people in here it must be good). I was pleasantly surprised to realize that Italian restaurants here serve Italian food like they do in Italy ... i.e., the Lasagna doesn't have all that extra ricotta cheese Americans love adding ... and I dislike. We got Gnocchi with tomato, garlic and basil sauce with Parmesaon cheese on top. Very good but not the best gnocchi .. a bit starchy. And Eugene got the Lasagna with Bechamel sauce... sooo delicious... I probably ate half of his meal.

We were surprised to realize when we got the bill that we were charged for water (we asked for tap but apparently that wasn't an option) £2.90 and a cover charge for the both us. Cover charge? Apparently some European restaurants charge you a cover charge PER PERSON for things we've taken for granted in American retaurants i.e., bread etc. Still the meal wasn't too expensive and they had the green olives I absolutely love (of which I ate almost all of them)

All in all a lovely time in London.

Walking the streets at night

We put in an offer/initial deposit on Saturday for a place across from the school... and we have our fingers crossed that everything will work out.

To celebrate on Saturday night we decided to treat ourselves to Indian food at a restaurant on Devonshire that was always full when we walked by. And for good reason too. We got the Spinach and Lamb (I will learn the names eventually) and Mixed Vegetable Curry with some rice and naan and it was scrumptious.

Afterwards we went to FINALLY go watch Harry Potter and the Half Blooded Prince. We went to Odeon Tottanham Ct Rd cinemas, which we were under the impression is equivalent to our AMCs back hom. If this is movie watching in London I will wait until I get back to the states to watch my movies. First of all, it's £10.70 or roughly $17 per person. Second it's assigned seating. Third the theater is tiny! The screen is not that big (it's like being in someone's private home entertainment room), definitely wasn't feeling the surround sound, and their stadium seating still enables your view to be blocked if there's a person sitting in front of you. While I enjoyed the movie (which took some liberties or I have a poor memory of the book) I wasn't impressed with the movie watching experience.

On our walk back home at 11:30PM... which we didn't think was that late, we realized everything shuts down a bit earlier out here. The streets were pretty empty, except for the main roads, and most of the shops, restaurants and pubs were already closed. With Eugene's comments about Jack the Ripper and my natural sense of paranoia ... I kept one hand on the mace in my pocket in ready position.

One fun tidbit that made us feel like locals is someone asked us directions to a tube station, which we only happen to know because we had just walked past it a block ago.

Finding a flat in London...

It is officially day 3 in London and we've started our intensive flat finding mission.

Day 1 we landed early at 10:30AM but didn't make it to the hotel until 1PM. Despite ambitious plans, the jet lag (and unlimited new movies on the plane...thus little to no sleep)got the better of us and we proceeded to take a 4 hr nap. After waking we decided to see exactly how far the school is... approximately a 25-30min walk from the hotel.

Day 2 we visted most every letting (or renting) agents...and scheduled Friday full of flat visits. The few we saw this day reminded us of Berkeley, small, old and expensive. We also discovered today that we do not have the same tolerance we once had as students to live in dismal places... upping how much we are willing to spend.

Day 3 (Today) We've gone through 1/4 of our flat appts and so far found one that is in a so so neighborhood, is small but newly done and super cheap not to mention within walking distance. We found another one that we hope to get for £60 cheaper than asking that is in a great building with a front desk, elevator, and inside is brand new, more space and great but I need to take a bus to get to it. Wish us luck on the rest of our day.

First impressions of London is that it is very very cute... the houses are mostly brick and if you look down some alleys in Devonshire it has the cobblestone streets and looks literally out of our Colonial times (minus the very modern looking cars). Also despite the warnings of horrendous food at horrendous prices...I think the food is quite good... or at least not terrible..and Eugene and I have spent about £10 per meal (for the both of us). We've tried our hand at Indian, Lebanese wraps and a tasty sandwich from La Pain Qoutidien (sp?... same chain as the one in Old Town Pasadena... it's a Belgium chain). Also London, for a big city, is pretty clean... we see almost no garbage on the streets and definitely missing the smell of pee that defined my memories of New York.

More to come...and pictures too

Day 5... Hello Maui

After a morning of riding the slide in our hotel in Oahu we packed up and headed to the airport to make our way to Maui. After landing in Maui and the customary stop at Costco we went to Da Kitchen for lunch/dinner...
Saimin .. basically a huge bowl of ramen
Spam Musubi... so good.. YUM!
Eugene got a Mahi Mahi sandwich... and it was HUGE
The view from our Marriott Beach Resort... gorgeous!
Eugene walked along the shore of Wailea ... our hotel is situated on a lot of beaches side by side to nice hotels ... makes the beaches feel private
Private cabana sitting you partially in the pool
Infinity pool looking out into the ocean... we came back later at night to enjoy the romantic atmosphere
To make the most of the resort and the view we decided to do..... JUMPING PICTURES




Awwww... what a great 2nd Honeymoon
Checking out the view... Wailea is gorgeous... we also spotted dolphins swimming off the beach
The sunset is gorgeous
Whose idea was this? Mine!
The infinity pool at night... a perfectly romantic evening

Day 4 Oahu... Adventure Day

Yummy Hawaiian Goodness... Chicken, Mahi Mahi, Beef Teriyaki Combo Plate and Chili.. of course =) They're Chicken and Beef is better than Zippy's but Zippy's Mahi Mahi is better
Perfect Dessert... Waiola Shaved Ice (Taiwanese owned btw)
Azuki Special.. basically strawberry and banana flavored Hawaiian ice covered with Azuki beans (or red bean) and sweetened condensed milk and tapioca balls... YUM!

USS Arizona Memorial... you take a navy ferry over from the pier after a very impactful and interesting video of what exactly happened that fateful day at Pearl Harbor... the memorial is over the fallen USS Arizona that still resides where it fell The vieweing area inside the memorial, Eugene says that the floors used to be glass so you could look directly below at the USS Arizona
An incredible but solemn experience. Over 900 sailors went down with the ship and the ship remains their final resting place. Really hits home how many lives were lost
Memorial to all the sailors that lay below...
Memorial to the survivors of the USS Arizona who were interred with their crewmates after passing away
These part of the ship goes all the way to the bouy ... if you can see it... if you look clearly you can see the ship below the water
In honor of all those who died that day the flag remains at half mast
After paying our respects we went to the "must do at least once (and only once is probably good too)" Dole Plantation. Here we entered into the 2001 World's Largest Maze to find 8 elusive stencils

Yea, sometimes we cheated and went through hedges... I think they expect you too... they're slighlty paved.. if not very small
Success!! Yea it took us almost an hour.. but Eugene wasn't so good at finding them hehe... record is 8 min... I remain skeptical
Did you know pineapple plants looked like this?
The famous Dole Whip... not too bad.. but melted rather quickly
Riding the Pineapple Express... I think they should change the name... given the movie and all
Behind us is a cute pineapple made from flowers... you can sort of see it in the back
So we drove up to North Shore and saw a bunch of people crowding a beach and we decided to see what was all the fuss... and we found where the Ono or Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles like to beach
That's not a rock... that's a green sea turtle
Same with that one
The Green Sea Turtle waved goodbye to us as we left for our next destination
Again attracted to the crowds... what are all those people doing on that lava rock.. jumping!
My brave Eugene running to the top to have his chance of jumping off the lava rock... clearly I choose to remain on the beach to play photographer
Naruto pose into the water... turns out it wasn't that deep.. but fun I suppose Eugene did it at least 6 times

Watch the man in action



I love this photo because he looks like James Bond in Casino Night
My man on a coral rock in the middle of the ocean... he later saw a Green Sea Turtle swimming below him

A little rain and we got to see our first Hawaiian Rainbow

When asked... Cindy do you want to jump.... Hell's No
After seeing 10 year olds jumped ... I had to try it
Cindy's big splash... it is SCARY from the top... at least 2 stories up and you can look down into the sand... in other words it doesn't look that deep


Probably shouldn't have closed my eyes... landed quite hard on my but and thighs... they hurt!



What a gorgeous ending to an exciting day of adventure