Getting Married Online

This morning I am listening, live, to my friend Michael's wedding in Scotland. His church streaming it online and it is like I am there, especially since I have been to the church several times and have met the minister. In fact, the minister just acknowledged us out here in cyberland. If only I could see Brenda and Michael as well as hear them. 

Slowing Down

For the past three months I've been going at full throttle and the intensity is finally taking its toll. I'm craving a slow-down. The UK trip, that I was planning on starting this Friday, would have kept me going at breakneck speed and the uncertainty of it moving forward was becoming quite stressful. I've decided, or perhaps the Volcanic Cloud and British Authorities have influenced me, into deciding to call off the trip. I haven't been able to refund my tickets from Virgin Atlantic as of yet. I may just have to head out to the airport and do it at the check-in desk hours before the flight.

This past weekend I produced an gala dinner for the organization for which I am the Interim Director of Operations and Communications. It went extremely well. Out of 100 points I would give it a 95, which is an A in my grading book. But preparing and presenting that event, in combination with teaching two 8am classes, for which I keep getting up at 5am, has put me in the zombie zone. Plus, an extended evening of unexpected fun the night before the event was wonderful, but it added to the sleep deprivation.

Today I have taken it easy. Took a long mid-morning nap and feeling the benefits of fifty extra winks. Plus, I've scheduled a day at the Calistoga Spa and Hot Springs for myself next week. Yes, I am disappointed about not getting to the UK, London and Scotland, but I am feeling blood start to recurlate in my brain as I slow down the speed boat and get back onto my current time zone.

Physically Here and Virtually There

The holidays impact in ways you never expect. Since I don't celebrate Christmas and got all my cards and cookie baking out of the way, I thought that I had little stress this holiday season. But for the past three weeks I've been losing all kinds of things. First the iPhone and now I keep leaving the Blackberry places, as well as my sunglasses.

My hairdresser, Kathy, made an observation - I'm lacking focus. I thought about this and realized that I'm highly distracted. Yes, the spider bite does cause some distractions but it is more than that. It is being away from the UK and my former family - as well as being so far from my siblings and folks in the US. Yes, I have so many wonderful, amazing family and friends out here in the Bay Area, but Christmas and New Year's were something special to celebrate with my former in-laws. Gosh, divorce impacts you in so many ways, for so long. You may be letting go of something or someone that doesn't "work" but you also let go of relationships that do work when you end a marriage.

Today, when I was in a colleague's office, I noticed a watercolor painting of Edinburgh on his bookshelf. We talked about how beautiful the city is and the fun of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It brought warmth to my heart remembering all those special times I was there. At least I my heart is open and I can celebrate the love that was there for me.

Earlier today I was on a conference call with Martin, Leah and another colleague Lois. Leah and I were skyping from our Oakland homes while Martin and Lois were in London. How wonderful that we keep these long-distance connections and continue to collaborate.

So, although I may not be physically in the UK, I am at least there virtually.

Preparing for UK Business Trip

In preparation for my business trip to England, Scotland and Wales at the end of February I needed to get in touch with my UK bank. Thanks to the ease of Skype I was able to seamlessly contact the bank by phone. Oh how lovely to hear the Glaswegian accent of the woman at the service centre. It was so familiar and I knew I was in good hands.

At the conclusion of our conversation the call centre woman, who had become increasingly excited throughout our call, (not because of my account balance), asked me where from the States I was calling. When I told her San Francisco I could just imagine the smile on her face and the gleam in her eyes. "Oh lovely, what is the weather like there?" I told her the truth, sunny and warm. "Oh bring some of that sunshine with you when you visit" was her response. I asked her about the snow they are experiencing today and she told me it had blanketed the entire UK but hoped it would melt before I got there. "I can use a little snow" I told her.

Not Watching the English Countryside

Yesterday we took a train from London to Edinburgh. I love taking the train. The travel is so relaxed, space to spread out, beautiful views. Stephen even got us first class tickets. We were going to travel in style.

As we approached our seats I noticed something very frightening. Our windows was blocked. The other two seat occupants, in the four seat box, had placed a wrapped Christmas present - apparently a picture for their daughter - in front of the window. Let's be clear, this is a giant window and it was two thirds blocked by this giant picture. I lost it. How in the world could they be so selfish as to block the window on a 4.5 hour train journey. There are spaces behind the seats that could easily accommodate their picture.

Being American I was fuming to say, "could you please find a different location for that picture?" However, Stephen just ignored it and sat down to read. This was my clue that it is not British to say anything about this utter stupidity. For the first thirty minutes I huffed and puffed with anger. The man finally apologized and said that he was sorry about the picture but it was a gift for his daughter. I suggested that he put it behind the seat and he responded. "No, I don't think so."

I'm currently reading the book Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox. It has helped me understand why the British do not say anything to folks who take the piss such as this couple. Even more helpful, it explains why people do these kinds of things. My interpretation is that it is a daft class thing. The couple thought, "We bought these seats and we get this window and we have this important piece of art to transports and at least we can see through the tiny cracks on each side. You, seat mates, have other windows through which you can gaze." Frankly, I wanted them to pay us 10% of our ticket fee for the loss of view.

At least for the final hour I was able to move to an adjacent empty seat. Now I understand why this is a drinking culture.

Scotland Makes French Toast

Scotland is playing France in football and one of their biggest fans is in our living room.

Away at a Conference

I'll be at the Researching the Charity Sector conference at University of Warwick for the next two days and then hillwalking and fishing with Stephen and my folks in Scotland. Will try to post as much as possible.

Explaining Matzoh Meal

My mom recently compiled a family cookbook on the internet that she then printed to order. It took her about two years and the final product is pretty amazing. The book is probably 200+ pages and each recipe was submitted by a family member. Alongside recipes are family photos and my mother's personal notes about who people are in the historic images and how the recipe relates. The project turned into an interesting family tree of sorts.

Last weekend my mother-in-law, who lives in Scotland, was showing me which recipes she wanted to try. Her challenge was understanding some of the ingredients. Some were easy to translate, for instance Crisco would be vegetable lard in the UK. But the harder ones were explaining Jewish ingredients such as Matzoh Meal.

Amy: It's Matzoh made into a meal.

Mum: Oh, yes, aye.

Amy: You know, crumbled up or actually made back into dust.

Mum: Oh, yes, and Matzoh is...?

Amy: Well, it's that bread that the Jews took out of Egypt, the one that didn't rise and they baked it in the sun, that flat bread.

Mum: Oh, yes, aye.

Amy: Breadcrumbs will work.

Mum: We have those.

Then I tried to explain gefilte fish and how it was like the haggis of Jewish food but not nearly as good. Poor Mum, she was going to try and make it but I think she's now deterred. I didn't have the heart to explain that the carp has to swim in your bathtub before you kill it. Of course now she knows from reading this post.

Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond

Stephen and I are heading up to Scotland for the weekend.

Oh! ye'll take the high road and
I'll take the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love Will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

This song always seemed happy to me until I learned what's behind the song. Follow the link and learn more.

Transcitizens of UK and US

Stephen handed me today's Financial Times and said "read this its about us." Transcitizens of the world unite is a commentary piece by professor John Sutherland who lives his life between the US and UK. "Not quire resident, not quite alien - Sutherland describes the peculiar state of living between two countries."

Like Sutherland and ironically Posh and David Beckham, Stephen and I live between two worlds. Currently we are residents of the UK but we are just as comfortable in the US. It reminds me of when I first met Stephen and was amazed by how much we had in common despite his being from Scotland and me from the US. Perfect candidates for a reality tv show?

But there are challenges to being transcitizens notes Sutherland. Green cards are not forever and neither are work visas. At some point we have to decide if we live in the US or the UK as we can not easily split our time between both countries because of the tax implications. This "choice" is much on our minds these days as we think about next steps in our careers. We've both proven that we can be successful over here (UK) or there (US) but in which do we land...next?