Second week in London

This week has been reasonably uneventful. Spent some time during the week trying to learn VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) which will help me become a better excel spreadsheet monkey. I've got a "Mastering 2003 Excel Programming with VBA" book .. but ... (as you would imagine), it's not the most interesting reading in the world , so I've been distracting myself with reading cookbooks instead. Have become quite the "little housewife" and have been preparing dinner for Loreen & Felix (who are out all day doing the whole bread-winning thing).

Have been chasing up recruitment agents somewhat , but it was a little been quiet on the job-hunting front. Apparently August is a bad time to be looking for a job since lots of people are away on summer holidays. On a brighter note, I got my tax refund this week ... so i'm doing okay on the funds front (for now). Also have been hunting for a place to live, which has actually been quite time consuming. Am determined to find a place right in central London (closer to all the dance schools!).

Was great to catch up with Darran on Tues (uni friend ... we both studied law/commerce together). He's been here for about a year now, and whilst he's made some quite good money doing contract work, is currently in the process of finding himself a "real" (permanent) position.

(Darran's an expert at the DIY photos).

Went to an "open mic" night with Loreen on Tues night at a great little basement bar-type place near Old Street. The performers were a mix between "real" performers (i.e. with agents and recording contracts) and "regular" people with varying ranges of talent. Very artsy/student sort of crowd. Unfortunately we couldn't stay very long, particularly since our time at the bar was shortened by the fact that Reen and I got a bit lost on the way there and happened to wander into some semi-dodgy area (see pic).

Went out with Caroline on Fri night. Met up at her apartment first for some wine and chit-chat. A bottle of white later, we then went out to meet up with some of her work collegues at a pub (I actually met some non-Aussies! :) and then went on to some sort of cool members-only bar/club-type place ... had a big art gallery/warehouse sort of feel to it. Was a very fun night ... until it got messy. I blame the fact that i didn't have a proper dinner and hence misjudged what would usually be quite a do-able level of alcohol consumption. Luckily though, I didn't do any embarassing (at least I don't think I did), and remained quite coherent thoughout the whole ordeal. Big props to Caroline, who was very sweet in looking after me. Oh well, that'll learn me, and I won't be repeating the experience again in a hurry.

The next morning (I stayed over at Caro's house), after going home and showering, and despite being a little bit worse for wear, I did some baking (Pear and Chocolate Tarts) and then back over to Caro's house for a ladies' afternoon tea with her and 5 other girls (4 accountants from Perth and a Tasmanian lawyer). The gates in the pic are the entrance to the private gardens shared by the tenants living in the block surrounding it.
Sat night I went to Miffy's for dinner. Her flatmate Tanya (see pic) made a delicious Russian-themed dinner consisting of: akroshka; juliene (mushroom with cheese starter); blini with chicken; fried eggplant with garlic cheese; veal escalope; and rice pudding. She also made sangria (exception to the theme) which, though yummy, i couldn't quite bring myself to drink.

Yesterday morning I went with Loreen and Sonia (also from Perth, also an accountant) to do some Bikram Yoga, which basically 90 minutes of yoga done in 43 degree (celsius) heat. As you imagine, it was quite gruelling and sweaty and not much fun, but it felt quite good afterwards. It's meant to have all sorts of benefits in terms of strength and flexibility and because of the heat, it's apparently the only type of yoga where you also get an aerobic workout. I basically just went though cos of the £29 for 30 days special (as opposed to the regular price of £130!). I'm determined to keep up with it for at least a month though (to get my money's worth), after that, we'll see.

Also went to a tango class last night ... my first one so far in London. The teachers were okay ... but (obviously) had nothing on the ones in Buenos Aires. Really made me miss my teachers over there! I was told though, that August isn't really a good time for taking classes cos many of the studios were closed (again, with half to London being away somewhere on summer holidays).

So that's pretty much my "week in review". Hmmm... on reflection, it actually has been quite eventful for a "reasonably uneventful" week.