London town, first week fini!

Just to recap, I've now spent an entire week living and working in London! Here are some of my first impressions, thoughts, and realizations:

• I have a flat in Chelsea, and this neighborhood is way too posh for me. Wow, I've just used flat and posh, two words that I did not possess in my vocabulary one week ago! Speaking of which, their are so many terms here that you should know if you ever visit. I'll be continuously adding to this list, worry not.

1. What Americans call 'suspenders' (for pants) are known here as 'braces' here. This should never be confused. Suspenders in the UK are what we call garter belts. I brought this up in conversation at work, and my teammates just stared at me disapprovingly. Let's just say I made a great first impression. To make it clear - women wear suspenders, men wear braces. Got it? Well, thinking more about it, I guess women could also wear braces...but men should never wear suspenders. Did I just blow your mind?
2. A co-worker mentioned very causally that this short and muscular guy (on another team) would make a great 'hooker'. If you know me, you'll know that I'm quite immature. I looked around the room to make sure I wasn't the only one who heard that before bursting out laughing to notice that everyone took it in stride. I bit my tongue, sitting there quite confused why no one thought it was hilarious. I only later found out they were talking about a rugby position, and not a...profession.
3. Don't say 'fanny'. While such an innocent word in the States, 'fanny' refers to something completely different. You can look it up if you don't believe me!
4. Don't say 'double fisting' a beer (ie. holding two beers at the same time) at a team happy hour. Double fisting does only has one meaning here, and it doesn't mean to hold two beers. Again, you can look this up and entertain yourself.
5. They have 'rocket' salad, which as cool as it sounds, is just arugula salad. What a disappointment!

• Not only do the British drive on the left (aka wrong) side of the road, they also walk on the left (aka wrong) side of the road. For whatever reason this blows my mind! I just can't seem to grasp it naturally and always find myself swimming up river like salmon do during migration season. The worst comes when crossing the street. I have to say this out loud each time to 'look right, then look left' but yet I'll instinctively turn left first, then right. I'm trying to keep a tally of the number of times I've been ALMOST run over, and right now, its at 3. That's not too bad, right?
• I think the best way to see the city is to run through it. I logged my first run of the season along the Thames River (which for some unknown reason is actually pronounced 'temz') Saturday afternoon and it was fantastic. What a good double whammy: I will get to explore all the cool neighborhoods street-by-street and I'll be able to slowly get back into running shape while I'm here.
• The weather in London has been FANTASTIC (with the exception of today). Every single day, it has been bright and sunny so far, and I cannot complain. Then, I hear back that its cold, windy, and there were floods in some parts of New York? What is happening?!
• The food in London is not half as bad as people make it out to be! Well, I will admit, I've eaten lunch from the cafeteria each day, but I've been impressed by the selection. If you know me, you'll also know that I'm also always impressed by quantity, and 2 out of 5 days, I could not even finish my lunch because it had so much food in it. AWESOME! Sadly, I've learned there are quite a few things that they are missing here. The most evident is good pizza. My mind instantly begins to wonder how I can bring a Grimaldi's Pizzeria here. It would make a KILLING! I thought Chipotle would be missing here too, but heard that they've opened a location here. PHEW. Other weird things that you can't find me: graham crackers. Supposedly ex-pats will bring over boxes of graham crackers and freeze them to preserve the shelf life. I can't remember the last time I've made s'mores, but now that one of the key ingredients is gone, I really really want one.
• What is it about British accents that are so attractive? I haven't decided if British girls are better looking than American girls just yet. I don't think I'll ever be able to conclude. The biggest problem is, I give at least one point on the scale to the girls here just because of their accents!

Okay, hope you've had enough of the brain vomit I've just provided. Next weekend, I'm headed off on my first continental Europe trip to Amsterdam. I'm really looking forward to all the museums and architecture that it has to offer. Then, the following weekend, its off to Cambridge for some golf.

Life is good!