Bonjour!

what better way to escape all the stress, struggle, and strain of these past 2 months than to...take a vacation in france! ali and i are heading out friday night, parking the car on a massive ferry, which will travel through the night and land on the coast of france just in time for us to spend a much needed 3 days away! hooray! we're staying at a little apartment in the little seaside village of en fleur (it has a fire place! a fire place! did you hear me?!?!? a fire place!) and apparently it's one of the coolest places in france. i can't wait to practice all the french i've been learning. bonjour! merci! je vous drais un bottaile de vas rouge sil vous plais! (i would like a bottle of red wine please!) i've learned how to order wine...what else is there to know in france?

aur vois!

ouch! it bit me!

i feel very much the Christmas spirit starting to ooze into my blood. after spending saturday and sunday in downtown london hanging out with friends, i started to get that annual desire to fill my days with christmasy things. ice skating in the city, sipping hot cocoa bundled in mittens and a wooly scarf, shopping in a lit-up harrods for christmas teas and coffees, strolling through the famous london street of christmas lights (all of this which are on the agenda for next weekend...), and watching every classic christmas movie out there from it's a wonderful life to the polar express (on the agenda for tonight). i can't help it. i've been listening to christmas music non-stop. i'm about to head to the video store to pick up every christmas film in the building. i just sent an e-card where you get to create your own snow man. sigh. i've been bit by the bug.

to be honest, it's been a rather difficult time these days. we're really worried about me getting the visa, and it seems necessary to think about what we will do if i don't get it. which just leads to a lot of panick and stress. him getting a visa to the states is even more impossible and unlikely, and it would seem that in order to be together, we would have to go overseas. maybe there are more options, but being refused this visa definitely makes the future look a little bleak and unstable. we're trying not to think about it, and just enjoy being together at the moment, but, well, it's impossible to not let it sort of cloud over the moment. we did, however, go to a beautiful service at westminster abbey yesterday. ali's childhood friends' dad was doing the service. that may be the most beautiful church i've been to. and one of the most beautiful choirs. i just found myself praying the entire time that God takes care of me. and us. it's scary not knowing what the plan is for my life.

well, off to the video store i go, ho ho ho, let it snow let it snow let it snow, rudolph the red nose rein...oh wait, that doesn't rhyme.

visa nightmare.

THIS VISA IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!!

i feel as though it is starting to take over my life. a couple of nights ago i woke up from a horrible dream with undertones of my largely repressed (it has to be) but very powerful fear that i will not get my visa. i cried for a long time in a half asleep/half awake state and woke up the next day feeling like i got hit by a truck. last night, ali and i spent 6 hours doing more (sigh) visa research--reading forums, figuring out what needs to be written on the letter for my old boss (eeek! not another encounter with charlie!) to sign, if my bank records are on the right kind of paper, whether they count net pay or gross pay and from what starting date, and so many other terribly stressful concerns of which i will spare you the details. i couldn't sleep last night and when i did, i had unsettling dreams that left me feeling tired and anxious today.

i am starting to feel like this may be one of the most stressful thing i've done in my life. nothing that i can remember working toward has had such a strong outcome on the course of my life that i can remember. no test i studied for in college, no job application, no tangible goal i've worked toward in my life has been so full of tricky details that could be missed and so full of what feels like never ending obstacles!!! i feel like i'm climbing up a verticle wall. with spikes. and big angry chomping crocodiles below. it's hard to look past this and plan for my future or prepare or work towards any other goals i have right now b/c the outcome of this visa determines everything!

one month and one week from today, if all goes according to plan, i will be back in the states, i will have applied online, i will have had all my biometrcis done at the british consulate, i will have paid the WHOPPING $1,300.00 visa fee, all my checked and re-checked and checked again documents will be sent in, and it will all be out of my my hands. 5.....weeks.....

two things to make for a great day:

#1. Yes we can!!! (watching this brought me to tears...)

#2. I get to see Dena in 2 hours!!!!!!!!

oh say can you see...

it's election day it's election day it's election day!!!! i can proudly say i voted for obama a few weeks ago when i was in the states. i am EXCITED!!!! i just hope i can catch the action on tv here. it's absolutely hillarious to watch the news in england. at home, even if you may be able to catch hints of bias from the station or news reporters, they have to remain relatively equal and balanced in their report and their coverage. but in england, there is no hiding the bias! any news channel i watch spends large chunks of their newscasts these days covering glorious barack obama glide through his campaign with a big shining light cast around his head, and they are not shy in stating that obama as president is basically america's only hope to not go down the tubes...and to not be forever hated by every other country in the world. and then after about 20 minutes of this radiating coverage, they'll show a 5 second fuzzy gray clip of john mccain saying "joe the plumber? are you in the crowd? joe the plumber where are you?" the transition goes something like this:
"barack obama climbs more points in the polls today, as america looks toward a brighter future under his leadership. look at him. he's glowing! look at that smile! it's radiant! he's oozing greatness and we like him over here! we like him!!! oh, and there's john mccain, confused and looking stupid because he can't find his plumber in the crowd."

it's something like that. anyway, go vote everyone!!!!

i see london i see...

this weekend i went to london! it was my first time. :) london is coooooool. big time.

on the left: mind the gap!!!
right: westminster abbey








left: in front of the parliament building
right: unmoving english gaurd








left: parliament building from the back
right: cool english telephone booth!!!

here's the rest of the photos if you care to see more:
london photo album

along with seeing uber cool london this weekend, we also went swimming (i bought a new hot pink swim cap to give me more incentive to keep going), and played two intense games of monopoly on sunday. i luuuuurve monopoly! i haven't played in forever! we pulled it out, set it up, and suddenly i was looking at it thinking..."something's different here, this isn't exactly how i remember it, but i can't put my finger on what it is...now if i could only find broadway..." so it turns out the british have their own game of monopoly (and why wouldn't they? what incentive do they have to win american play money?) complete with locations all over england and the english pound. so it was a slight lesson in geography as well. but the point is, i won both games. :) he he.

i got my kindermusik license this week!!!! now if only i had a visa that let me use it...

england at a glance.

so....

i've arrived! i made it to england last thursday morning. ali picked me up from the airport and we headed to his house. where he lives is absolutely beautiful, full of nearby pastures and wooded areas and parks. i went for a run today and got completely lost, which i find is the best way to figure out what's around me. as well as the best way to get in shape since once i've gotten myself completely lost, i have to get home, which often requires about 3 miles more than i'd really planned. but his parents have been so gracious, and i'm working on finding my feet here. (kind of hard!)

england is very...er...english. sort of what you would picture really. the houses are all not really so much house-ish and more cottage-ish in my opinion. and everything is soooooo smaaaaaalll. the roads, the sidewalks, the cars, the cottages. everything just feels cute and dainty. oh, and old. everything feels really old. probably because it is.

i met a bunch of ali's friends this weekend. two of his friends dj once a month, so we all went out to that club and had a fun night out. i feel kind of like the new kid on the block. the new american kid on the block. i look the same (well, i sort of look the same. the girls here all look like they come straight out of an h&m magazine...good thing i've got heels and skinny jeans or i'd be an absolute fish out of water...), but i definitely don't feel the same and i'm not sure why. sometimes they're all talking and i have no idea what they're saying or even what the topic of conversation is. i'm not sure if it's the accent or the british jargon or both, but sometimes i feel completely lost! but i'll get it eventually.

so, i've mostly been filling my days with sleeping in, unpacking all my stuff and the boxes i sent from korea, trying not to miss korea, wishing ali would come home from work sooner, trying to understand his french mother's accent (oh! but i get to start french lessons with her this week!), and trying to orient myself! new places always bring difficult and sometimes sad adjustments. but the sad times always make the joyful times that follow all that much more joyful. as dad would say...it build character. :) he he.

ok, ali's done with band practice! toodles!