So I realize it's almost been a year since we arrived and I've done a terrible job of blogging. None really, while Cindy has been diligently posting pics while super busy with school and work. So to make up for lost time and to catch people up, I'll try to walk through the past year in London and what we've been doing. Long post coming up, so take breaks and stay hydrated...and now flash back to August 11, 2009.
Here we are, our whole lives packed into 4 suitcases, 2 duffels and 2 backpacks. It makes you realize how much bloat we carry around and accumulate. It was pretty liberating to narrow our crap down and just take the essentials.
They've got some badass cars here, some I've never seen before. Supercars like R8s, ferraris, lambos, aston martins are common and I see them all the time. On my way to work every day I always walk past a ferrari convertible just parked on the street like it's just a civic. Check out this M5 in a matte black finish that makes it look like the batmobile. Notice the license plate?
We live by a huge park called Regent's Park. I've never seen open space like this in the middle of a city, I was just blown away! And to think that in LA we were fighting for field space with little girls playing soccer in order to practice football.
We did the touristy stuff when we got here. Amazing, amazing stuff to see here including parliament and big ben here. One thing that's so cool about London is the architecture, every building has great detail and intricate designs. I sometimes pretend that i'm walking through London like it's the 19th century. Yeah, it sometimes feels that old.
Finding a flat was super stressful. You have to use letting agents who ended showing us tiny, expensive flats that were miles away from the school. We saw a studio that was about the size of our apartment living room and a one bedroom that was dark, damp, and below the street level. That one almost felt like a dungeon. Lucky for us we found one across the street, and it even came with all the sh!t that the old korean lady just left there when she moved out. No really, we're using her blankets, dishes, cooking stuff, furniture, pillows....everything. Don't judge, business school isn't cheap.
When people ask what I'm doing here, I say "Playing rugby". It's an awesome sport that's easy to pick up but hard to get good at. It can be brutal sometimes too when we go full contact, but I think that's when it's most fun. I've never had to tackle anyone running full speed at me, especially someone who is close to 200 lbs. Check out what happened when I bit down on my tongue trying to make a tackle, and this is with a "gumshield" (mouthpiece).
So things are going great the first few months. Work is good, rugby is fun, we're doing lots of exploring and Cindy has dinner ready by the time I get home. Then this happens....
Life starts to suck, big time. Cindy tears her achilles playing ultimate frisbee and has surgery. You know what my day is like? Get up, go to work and come home around 8:30 to 9pm. Start cooking dinner since Cindy can't be on her feet to cook. Eat dinner, clean up, and then wash the dishes. Then I have to help Cindy shower since she can't stand by herself and she can't get her cast wet. To top it off, since she can't walk or stand I have to fetch things for her like a tissue or a cup of hot water or the book she left on the table. Then go to sleep and repeat that the next day for a month!! Stupid achilles! If that's not love I don't know what is.
Luckily, my dad and baby bro came to visit...
They helped out a ton. Dad cooked whenever we didn't go out, and baby bro helped carry Cindy all over the place:
We also visited the No.1 Sex place in London....no really, it exists
We pretty much just chilled, took it easy and relaxed for those 2 weeks. good times....here we are feeding some swans by the lake.
Shortly after that, Cindy's family came to stay with us for about 4 weeks. You can pack a lot of museums, food and sites in 4 weeks and that's what we did. Here's our jumping pic near buckingham palace, cindy not included for obvious reasons.
Here's the Sheu clan at the tower of London, a good place to see if you're visiting. This castle really epitomizes the bloody history of the city and just how violent those times were. This is where Ann Boleyn got executed!! But Sheu's will laugh and have fun anywhere...
I've never lived in a city where it snows in the winter. It's not really fun when you have to walk through it everyday but it does provide some really nice scenery. I took a picture of our apartment after a fresh dump...and it snowed that night too.
Wow, I can't believe you're still here reading this thing. This is the end of 2009 and I'll write about 2010 later, maybe in 2011. If you're still reading, here's a video to watch. For new years we tried to make our way to the thames river to watch the fireworks, but it was so damn crowded we couldn't get a good view. It seemed like a disappointing night, and then, I kid you not, at the stroke of midnight it starts snowing like crazy for the first time that winter. After ten minutes it stops and it's gone, so strange. For the next post I'll write about 2010. In 2010, my bro, salinda and don come visit, Cindy gets stuck in Turkey from the ash cloud, and we visit Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Germany and Dover Castle. Until next time....
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