Top 10

In the spirit of the new year, and as is common with many magazines, radio and TV shows near the end of December (I'm a little late), I've attempted a list of Top 10 memories/favorites in 2006.

1. Visiting Mark, Amy and my cousins in Laos
2. Riding in a helicopter on St. Lucia
3. getting Chad Johnson's autograph
4. seeing Echo begin to grow
5. Making new friends in London
6. Paris at night
7. Being able to walk through Covent Garden without a map/giving a tourist directions in Wimbledon
8. Seeing how God provides and is faithful
9. Favorite movie: a tie between Pride and Prejudice and Superman Returns
10. Favorite album: Snow Patrol, "Eyes Open"

Looking back...looking ahead

Whirlwind. I think that might be a good word to describe the last year. Going back to New Year's Eve 2005-2006 I would have never guessed what 2006 would hold. I was comfortably settled in my new condo and singing karaoke with friends. I was anticipating my trip to China and Laos but never expected that soon after returning I would be given the opportunity to move to London. Yikes! Despite my fears and not wanting to leave my family and friends, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I've had some great experiences (I won't re-hash them here since you've already read about them) and I can't imagine what the next year holds! I definitely hope to add a few more countries to the list of places I've visited. Other than that, who knows?

People ask me what I think I'll do when my two years is up. I have no idea! I can't imagine what my life will be like by that time. The last four months have been crazy enough so I don't even know what to expect from the rest. I think this year has taught me more than ever that you can't plan your life too much. It's good to have goals but you never know what is going to happen so lately I just try to take it a few months at a time. I don't always like it but I'm learning to live with it. I just keep reminding myself, "hey, it's an adventure."

pantomime

I saw this article about Henry Winkler starring in Peter Pan. It looks like Patrick Duffy is also in the neighborhood. Both are starring in pantomimes. When I first saw that I thought, "wow can you do Peter Pan with no words?" But, pantomime is different in the UK, it is a theatrical style typically performed around Christmas. You can read more about it here.

But perhaps the more interesting news was that Henry Winkler is playing Captain Hook because David Hasselhoff backed out at the last minute! I can't decide which would be cooler, having The Fonz performing down the street...or the Hoff.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

We actually got to open our presents on Christmas Eve. We've had to do that the last few years due to scheduling Christmas with family. As hard as I tried when we were kids to be allowed to open even one gift on Christmas Eve we never were allowed. Now that we do it I kind of miss the Christmas morning excitement. I used to have the worst time trying to sleep on Christmas Eve and I was always up super early and had to find things to occupy myself until we were allowed to wake up Mom and Dad. (One time Melissa and I cooked up an elaborate wake-up call for them, complete with the Hallelujah Chorus.) Then we would wait at the top of the stairs while Mom got ready and until Dad said we were allowed to come down. Finally we'd go rushing down the stairs giddy with excitement.

Now we're older and the anticipation is not as great. As hard as it is to change tradition, if someone gives me the opportunity to open presents a day early I guess I'll still take it. Then I can sleep in on Christmas. My how things change...

Home Safe

In case you were worried, I made it home safely! I've actually been home almost a week now and am glad I did not get stuck in the major delays in London. I got home on Monday night and forced myself to stay up to watch the Bengals game. Well, I went to bed at half time. I couldn't stay awake any longer and I had a bad feeling. It was great to watch the game in glorious high definition instead of on my slingbox- if only they would have won.

I've been working until today when Melissa and I had a Christmas bake-fest. Last night we went to the Christmas light show in Mason. You remember the Christmas light house from the beer commercial last year? Now they have it set up at a park in Mason. It was pretty cool. I'm sure you've seen in before but I thought I'd post it here just for fun.

Christmas fun

I just thought I'd post a few pictures from this weekend. I've been out trying to experience London at Christmas.

First, the Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. It's definitely big but it could take some tips from Rockefeller Center when it comes to the lights. They did have some good carol singers.
Next I went to the Christmas market at the Natural History Museum. I had roasted chestnuts for the first time I figure, if they have them anywhere they should be at a Christmas fair. They weren't bad although they would have been better covered in sugar!
Last stop: this is me and Stephanie at Harrods. No Christmas trip could be complete without the largest department store! Top it off with a Christmas movie, "The Holiday." I'd definitely recommend it [editors note: it is a hard-core chick flick]. Next stop...Home!!! I'll see you lovely Cincinnatians soon.

the cool thing

One great thing about being in London is there are always great concerts coming to town. It's not that they are all shows I couldn't see in Cincinnati but there just seem to be so many. Tickets are going on sale all the time for shows I'd love to see. The trouble is I can't afford to go to every concert, but if I could I would go to one every weekend. I also don't have a huge array of friends to ask to go with me to all these concerts.

So far I am going to see The Fratellis in March. Mewithoutyou is playing here in February but so far I can't find any takers on that one. There are two coming up this summer that I'm particularly excited about. I just found out tonight that Dave Matthews has a show at Wembley Arena in May! I wasn't sure if he was big here because I haven't heard anything about him since I've come, but I am definitely excited about trying to get tickets for that. I've been going to see Dave at Riverbend since high school. Normally I am a little bit of a snob about my music so it is hard to admit the next concert I am excited about- but [covering my face in shame] I love Justin Timberlake and he is playing 4 shows here this summer! For some reason I can't find many people to go with me but I've found a few, plus Melissa will be here then. I might be ashamed but it will still be a cool show.

I think I'm a bit of a concert addict...

mince pies and fruit cake?

Did you know people actually eat mince pies and fruit cake? It's true, they are quite a tradition in England. I've heard of mince pies but didn't think anyone still ate them. Similarly, I've heard plenty of jokes about fruit cakes but didn't know people actually enjoyed eating them. Here they call them Christmas cakes.

Every holiday event seems to involve mince pies, christmas cake and mulled wine. The mince pies are not bad- I was relieved to find out they weren't made out of meat! The mulled wine is nice but I have yet to bring myself to try the Christmas cake. There is also a traditional Christmas pudding which I haven't tried yet. Apparently due to the composition of the fruit cake and christmas pudding they can last for months...hmm, that doesn't seem right. I think I prefer Christmas cookies.

I don't think they have eggnog here so I'm looking forward to that when I get home, but at least they do have Eggnog lattes at Starbucks. One other difference I noticed so far is that when we sang O Little Town of Bethlehem it had a different melody!

note

Did you notice that the Bengals offense has a lot of players named Johnson?

Really??? I never noticed that! I hope you can hear the sarcasm, but for some reason every single TV announcer feels the need to point that out when they introduce the offense. And they say it as if it's so original and cute, like no one has ever made note of that before. Not that I'm saying I could do a better job but the guy this week was particularly annoying in general.

On the other hand, I read on article by Len Pasquarelli on ESPN.com about the Colts vs. Jaguars game yesterday. In it he wrote this:

"Ever seen one of those Roadrunner cartoons when eternal foil Wile E. Coyote is inevitably flattened into pancake status by the bulldozer he has purchased from the Acme Novelty Co.? On Sunday, the Colts fielded an entire unit of Wile E. Coyote defenders. And they all played as if they were trying out their best Venus de Milo poses.

You know, no arms."

Now that's funny! I'm sure if they were talking about the Bengals I might not think it was as funny...but seriously, it doesn't matter what team he's talking about, that's good stuff.

Dirty Dancing vs. Miami Vice

Last night we went to see Guys and Dolls at Picadilly Theatre. For the last few months Patrick Swayze has been starring, but unfortunately this month he wasn't. Apparently next month it will be starring Don Johnson! I think that's a little weird. All I can think is Miami Vice but I guess he did have a few singles...Anyway, it was a really fun production.

Afterwards we headed over to Leicester Square to get some ice cream. It turned out there was a Christmas festival going on. They had all types of carnival rides so we decided to ride the swings!! The last time I rode the swings was at Kings Island. The wind was a little nippy and I was a little dizzy when we got off but it was lots of fun! I added few more pics online. I had been feeling pretty tired and overwhelmed from work so it was a great end to the week.

the rain in Spain...I mean, London

Today I wished I had a car. When I woke up the wind was blowing so hard it sounded like thunder against the side of my building (it's been sounding like this the last couple of days)...and I could hear rain pelting against the windows. So the whole time I was getting ready I was eagerly anticipating walking to the station in that weather. I opted to wear a hat hoping that it might in some way protect my hair. Umbrellas don't do too much good with horizontal rain but I tried anyway. I survived, but my hair didn't. Oh well, at least I wasn't caught in a tornado! After work apparently the traffic was so bad the shuttle bus to the train station wasn't able to make its regular stops. After waiting about 20 minutes someone said the bus was still stuck in traffic. I had no choice but to walk to the station. Fortunately it had just stopped raining sideways so I walked as fast as I could to make it for the next train. It would have been nice to hop into my Mazda3 and ride away, although I guess I would have still been stuck in traffic.

Two Worlds Pt. 2: The wardrobe

Sometimes I wish my life was like The Chronicles of Narnia. Not because I want to live in fear of the Ice Queen, but so I could experience life in and out of the wardrobe.

Living in London means I have a lot of great, new opportunities and experiences. It also means that I've left behind my closest friends and family in Cincinnati. Yes, I know that we'll still be friends but it won't be the same. I have a perpetual fear that I'm going to miss out on something. Actually, I know I'm missing out on things. And as much as change is a part of life, I don't want things to change because they were great the way they were. So basically I wish I could have my cake and eat it too. [Mmmm, cake.] I wish I could live in London, make new friends and see new things, and then come back to Cincinnati and have it be just like I left it, like I was never gone.

I'm sure my dream is not thoroughly thought out (and obviously unrealistic). I know that if I came back to Cincinnati and things were exactly the same I would be frustrated because I would have changed. I know I shouldn't be worried about coming back at this point since it's still 2 years away, but I still think about it. Then I have to remind myself that God's in control and that despite my lack of faith it's an adventure to trust him.

Two Worlds Pt. 1: Surreal but nice

I've been mulling over lots of thoughts since my trip home. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to articulate them because I can't even figure out exactly what I'm thinking, but this is my attempt.

Obviously it was great to be home. I really enjoyed getting to see my family and friends and to relax in comfortable surroundings! I've talked about it before but it really is true, I feel like I'm living a double life. On one hand it felt almost like I'd never really left and I could easily slip back into things in Ohio. But when I thought about it and remembered everything going on in London it was obvious I had been gone long enough to set up a completely different life - different friends, different church, different apartment, different lifestyle. I've experienced different cultures and situtations before, but they weren't permanent. For example, when I went to Thailand it was definitely different from Ohio but when I was back home I was back for good. This time when I went home I knew I would be coming back to London and everything that I still have here.

To sum it up, my trip home felt surreal. Life, in general, feels surreal. At certain times it still feels like I'm just on a trip. Yesterday I found myself thinking, "Okay, this was a nice trip but I'm ready to go home now." To some extent the newness and excitement are wearing off and I'm just tired. Work is overwhelming and frustrating which I find harder to handle when I'm working alone in a different time zone. Other than that things are really good and I'm having a great time living in London. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to settle into it. Hopefully over time the two worlds will somehow feel more like one as people come and visit and as I get used to going back and forth. I guess it's possible.

PPP?

Some of you may be wondering since my last post, "Aren't things cheaper in pounds compared to dollars?" If so, you are a budding economist! [allow me to be a dork for a few minutes, you may actually find it interesting]

The Law of One Price suggests that identical goods and services can only have one price in an economy. Therefore, if I multiply the price of something in GBP by the spot exchange rate it should equal the price of the same good in the US priced in US dollars. Let's try an example: Say you would like to buy an iPod. If you were in the US you might head to Best Buy, there the 30 GB video iPod sells for $249.99. If you lived in the UK you might head to Curry's Digital where the same iPod sells for 189 GBP. Wait- if I multiply 189GBP * 1.95 $/GBP (the prevailing exchange rate) that equals $368.55!!

Ohhh, I left an important statement out of the law of one price. It should read "in an efficient market identical goods and services must have one price." I'll let you in on a secret, economics likes to assume lots of things. But when the assumptions don't hold the theories don't necessarily work. In this case an efficient market refers to a lack transportation and other significant transaction costs.

From the law of one price comes the theory of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) that says exchange rates between currencies are in equilibrium when their purchasing power is equal in two countries. The theory is that market forces will drive out imbalances in the exchange rate. However, in addition to the fact that the market isn't really perfect as the theory assumes, there is a significant time element involved. In the short term exchange rates are driven by news (such as the weak economic forecast for the US last week). Thus people from the UK flock to the US for cheaper goods. But that's the beauty of it! This process will [over time] drive down the imbalance in the exchange rates so equilibrium is achieved.

Floating

Economics is killing me.

Last week the dollar fell to a 5 month low due to weak economic reports. That means that today my dollar will buy only 51p. That's down from about 53p when I first arrived. It doesn't seem like a big difference but it adds up...not that 53p is good by any means. One to one would be nice, but I would even take 75p- the way I remember it when I came to London on vacation about 10 years ago.

Maybe this will paint the picture a little better. I saw a headline today that said bargain hunters from the UK are heading to New York to do their Christmas shopping. That's because 1 GBP is worth $1.95! Imagine, it's actually more cost effective for them to pay to fly to New York and shop than it is to stay here.

I'm an advocate of floating exchange rates because it helps balance the global economy work better but right now I'm on the wrong end of things!

still in it

I can't let the Bengals shut out yesterday go unnoticed. It also helped our playoff chances that the Steelers were shut out, although it makes Thursday's game against Baltimore a little more scary. Congrats to my favorite players, Chad and Kevin, who I know read my blog and who have been putting up great stats in the last few games!

America?

In case you haven't heard, today is a big shopping day. It's interesting that the retailers don't begin to make a profit until the holiday season but I suppose it's possible. Anyway, I'm usually one of the few Americans not shopping today. I could go either way with it but my family isn't too into crowds and I also prefer to shop when it's less crowded. So, what did I do instead?? Ran errands with my mom. Groceries, Paint store, Office Max...it's great to be home! (Just kidding, Mom)

While we were eating lunch I saw something truly original - and frightening. No doubt she was a bedraggled shopper taking a break from the hustle and bustle. How could I tell? Let me describe her. First, she was wearing a purple track suit. Not particularly flattering to anybody but I wouldn't have held it against her. Second, she was wearing a belly bag. Ahh yes, the classic 80s/early 90s accessory that no one should have ever worn. That would be enough to take notice of, but certainly not original.

Lastly, hanging from the belly bag was a plastic Kroger shopping bag. Inside the shopping bag was a stack of sale ads from the newspaper! This caused the bag to fall around her knees and was also weighing down the belly bag so it sat at a particularly awkward angle. As she walked along the bag kept hitting her knee. You know, they make tote bags for that sort of thing but apparently she wanted hands-free accessories so she could shop completely unencumbered.

If only I'd taken a picture I could have posted it as a warning from the fashion police with a black bar over her eyes or her face fuzzed out. Actually, it wouldn't require the fashion police, even the common sense police would know better.

You wouldn't see that in London.

H+C

In honor of Thanksgiving I'd like to touch on one thing I've learned to be thankful for in America on this trip home. Hot and cold water coming out of the same faucet.

I know, it's deep and thoughtful but what can I say? It just makes more sense.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Re-entry

I'm home! That trip was definitely smoother than the last one.

Wait, what's that sound? Can you hear it? Oh, it's all the American accents. Kind of weird. When I was in London for awhile I kind of forgot some of the differences between England and America. On the plane back I watched "Talladega Nights," and that was a sharp reminder! It was such a hyperbole of [some aspects] of American culture I could hardly forget the differences. Maybe I'll write more about that later. I actually felt weird getting on the "right" passenger side of the car.

For now, I want to wish a big Happy Birthday to my little sister Melissa!! The big TWO-THREE. I remember that age, I liked being 23. 23 definitely sounds cooler than 22. Today we are off for a day of Target, Kenwood Towne Centre, and manicures. Oh yeah Melissa, this is going to be your year!

economics tribute

Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman, died today.

I don't keep up with economics in as much detail since school, but my main interest was monetary policy. Therefore I always had an interest in monetary theory and Friedman was one of my favorite economists. I also always had an interest in the workings of the Federal Reserve Board.

Here is an interesting quote (as written in the linked article above) from Friedman to get you thinking:

In an essay titled "Is Capitalism Humane?" he said that "a set of social institutions that stresses individual responsibility, that treats the individual ... as responsible for and to himself, will lead to a higher and more desirable moral climate."