So far so good

Now living in London with a family as an au pair. Never crossed my mind I'd actually be doing this. It's slowly sinking in and I think I'm loving it! Not only I get to live so close to central London without having to pay rent, I also get a room to myself... nicer than the one back home...haha And the three boys... they're absolutely lovely! Max's such a grown-up for his age (just turned 13), the other night, he was arguing with his mates over which movie to watch on cable. Sam and Paris both opted for The 40-year-old Virgin whereas Max wanted to watch Crash so badly. I dont really know any other 13-year-old who'd be interested in Crash. We watched The 40-year-old Virgin in the end :p See... he always gives in... I bonded quite well with Harry, the middle one, maybe coz he was ill when I first arrived and we spent more time together. Harry's so into Roman and Greek history... well maybe just the war and battle part... dats what his books and games consist of. Little Tommy has such a huge character for a 6yo... he loves singing especially the phrase "Dont wanna be an American idiot..", he listens to classical music when he goes to bed, he saves his money and spents on crystal collectables... these rocks with crystal formation on the inside can be really expensive!

Besides being around the family, I've only done minimal sightseeing. London is a brilliant city with so much to offer. Too bad the weather sucks and most things are too expensive for me (however dollar-to-dollar..i think London is actually cheaper to live in than KL.. like (1) it costs roughly RM30 to get into a club in KL but only £5 in London, (2) a coffee at Starbucks is about RM10 in KL, whereas in London it's less than £3... gotta start earning in quids!!!!). Well, the good thing is that some museums and art galleries are FOC. Was at the National Galleries last week, I was literally stunned when standing in front of Da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks, felt goosebumps all over my body. Van Gogh’s Sunflowers was there as well. And Monet, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, the list goes on and on. Can’t handle it…it was just so amazing! Spent like 2 hours in just 3 rooms. Think I need about a week to go through all the paintings. Thank god entry is free. And I cant wait to get to the British Museum as well for the Egyptian artefacts I’d missed out in Egypt.

Shopping in London is great! The world’s largest Topshop, spanning 4 floors I think, has like thousands of items. But I can’t afford them….YET. Tried a few shops near Portobello market, some selling really cheap designers, some selling just junks. But there’s this neat one selling seconds for just £2, and dat includes everything in the shop, from Moschino jeans to GAP jackets. Got myself a pair of leather boots at the market for just £15 and a topshop blouse for only £3!! Brand new!!

Another thing you don’t find in London is an empty pub. Brits go out drinking all the time. Like there’s no tomorrow. The bar/restaurant I also work in closes at midnight, even on weekdays. Can already imagine what it’ll be like on St Patrick’s day this Friday... (question: why do they have a St Patrick's day parade in London when they dont even celebrate St Georges day?)

The only annoying bit I find is dat there’re too many tourists here. At any major tourist spot, often have to fight with someone else to get a good photo. These tourists, they’re like hyenas! I think because of the weather, my camera was being really temperamental and refuses to work sometimes, so far I’ve only got crappy photos. The unpredictable London weather also made it hard to get good photos, a lot of mine turned out too dark due to lack of light. Sigh…if only Lloyd’s here… he can take a million of the same shot, one is bound to turn out alright hehe

p/s dave help!! the shittiest thing happened today... i dont know how i managed to lose all hundreds of songs on da ipod... what's dat program u use for d/l? karen got me a sounddock n i'm in a hurry to use it...quick! now! :p

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