A Sober Update

16 September 2001 · Write a comment

Greetings to all.

Forgive me for not writing sooner… For one thing, I was in Atlanta this past week and have only tonight returned. Aside from that, I had planned to write a full-scale update as soon as I had all the little wrinkles ironed out with what exactly I’m doing and where exactly I’m living, etc. etc. etc. But then Tuesday happened which has changed almost everything. I’m not sure if all of you knew, but Manhattan was my last permanent home prior to moving overseas. This hit way too close to home for me and I have been utterly devastated…as most of you know, New York was not only my home, but also my favorite city.

I’m not going to get into details about what I’m doing… I’m really way too upset to get into what I consider to be the relatively trivial details of my life right now…we all have enough to cope with. So to make a long story short, I arrived back in the States on Aug 5th and interviewed for two jobs. One was with Merrill Lynch in Northern New Jersey (which I have accepted). The other was with a company called Temenos which is located on the 52nd floor of the World Trade Center Tower 1…the first tower that was hit. I can’t even begin to tell you how badly it shook me up to think that I had been in the North Tower only a couple of weeks before this unspeakable horror occurred. Over the last few days this has really weighed on me and made me thank the Lord over and over again for His protection.

I’ve found myself regretting things. I regret having taken my time in New York too much for granted.

I used to come up from the subway every morning just down the street from where those huge, beautiful towers stood. I’d cross over Church Street, and walk to my office building which was just a block down on the left. On Fridays I would stop in at the Krispy Kreme shop on the corner of WTC 5 for my end-of-the-week doughnut. Most days I ate lunch from one of the vendors or deli’s or restaurants in the WTC mall under the Towers. On some nice days I’d sit in the courtyard in front of the Towers on the stone benches surrounding the fountain. I took it completely for granted that they would continue to be there…I mean, why wouldn’t they? I regret not looking up at them more.

Just before I left for Atlanta, I was going to go up to the city to meet some friends and see some colleagues from Merrill in the World Financial Center that I hadn’t gotten a chance to hook up with since arriving back. The morning I was supposed to go, I changed my mind…decided I was too tired… If I had known that would be the last time I’d have been able to be in those Towers and walk around that part of the city which had become so familiar to me, I would have gone. I regret not having gone.

These regrets may seem trite to you all, but they’re not to me.

Aside from the personal shock and sadness, I am heartsick for the thousands of Americans that were in the Towers last Tuesday and their families. I know we all are. I ache for the rescue workers as well…and, like so many of us, only wish I could help! I have also been so touched by how much Americans have all banded together over this! On the drive back from Atlanta today, I can’t tell you how many flags and homemade signs I saw… There were even several electric road-work signs which were programmed to read: “PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN”. Apparently stores all over the US have been selling out of flags and patriotic emblems. I do, of course, have a flag attached to my car antenna and a magnetic one on the trunk.

I wanted to pass along to you all the website of Hope for New York which is a ministry of my church in New York. They are working endlessly with other organizations in the city to cover the needs (both physical and emotional) of the people of New York and all the others that are there as a part of the rescue effort. They already get my money, but I thought I’d pass on their website to you all in case you’re interested… They even allow for online donations to be made in case you want to help (they are a non-profit organization and are listed with the United Way so they are legit): http://www.hfny.org

Well, as for me, I’m going up to New York tomorrow. In some ways I feel like I need to… I don’t think I totally believe that this has happened and I know that seeing it first hand will cure me of that. I have such strong memories of downtown NY in my mind, that I dread having them replaced by the reality of the situation, but I know that it is necessary. I also feel the need to spend some time with my friends who are there…not to mention this is one of my homes which is in a great state of grief and shock.

It has been an unbelievable last few days. I fear we have a long and difficult road ahead. The evil cowards who did this will get what they deserve… Of that I have no doubt.

My prayers are with our hurting country and our leaders as they have a lot of major decisions to make. What a weight they bear!! Please keep them in your prayers as well…and write soon!

God Bless America!

The Latest

09 June 2001 · Write a comment

Well it’s been awhile since I’ve written…in fact I think the last time was after my trip to Italy in March. A lot has been happening, both good and not so much, but mainly good.

My friend Janelle came from Seattle to visit me over Easter which was fabulous!!! It was so much fun to have someone visit! (In fact if any of you all want to follow her lead, you’re more than welcome!!) Then just a few weeks ago I journeyed up to Scotland for the weekend and spent time in both Glasgow and Edinburgh which was great! The trip also enabled me to spend some time with my friends Joyce and Paul which was also quite a treat. I’m hoping to make it up there again if I can!

As for work…well that’s an interesting situation! I’ve had my time pretty evenly divided between London, Birmingham, and Leamington Spa which has been good b/c it’s kept me traveling around a bit. Things were also really crazy up until we launched our full business product to the public (on May 8th) so now that Merrill Lynch HSBC (http://www.mlhsbc.co.uk) is a full-fledged functioning company, our work as trainers has slowed considerably and talk began to focus around what we’re going to do next. My main concern has been where they plan to put me. The only request I made was to NOT be left up here in Leamington. While it’s a nice small town, I am not a small town girl and requested to either be moved and based in London or put onto the global roll-out team. What came back from my manager was that there were no places on the global team and that any job for me would be in Leamington. This left me with the choice to leave at the end of my minimum 1-year contract term rather than stay for the max of 3. So I told them that I would prefer to return to the States at the end of my year (July 31st). Last week I was in London working for a few days and had a meeting with our ex-pat guru. I was given some tasks to complete and we’re at the point where everyone’s trying to help me find a position back in the States to go to. There are a couple of catches however:

Catch #1: I have to have a job in Merrill Lynch to go back. They won’t send me back without one. The problem with this is that Merrill currently has a hiring freeze on (thanks to the current fabulous condition of the economy!) so I’m having trouble finding a spot to go back to. If I can’t find one, I’ll have to basically sit around in limbo until one comes up. They have one guy here who’s been waiting for several months with still no light at the end of his tunnel.

Catch #2: Whatever department I end up going back to will have to pay my re-pat costs. This is no small bill since it includes me and all my worldly possessions and shipping and packing and customs charges and taxes and who knows what else… Apparently ex-pats often have a difficult time finding employment back in the States b/c they come with a rather large price on their heads. This was not good news.

On a positive note, there are a couple of people in areas of the business that would be very pleased to have me join their team (one in London, one in Beverly Hills) but b/c of the hiring freeze, they aren’t allowed to fill the vacancies they have. And there is no indication at this time when the freeze might be lifted. It could be weeks, it could be months. Of course I’ve got almost 2 months left on my current contract so I guess prayers could really be focused on the freeze being lifted before long.

The other option I have right now is to stay on the current project, only in a different role with a different part of the organization. I’d be happy to do that…especially if they would place me on the global team. I had a meeting with the head of HR last week in London and told him that I was not adverse to staying here on the project for a longer period of time, I only wish to get out of Leamington.

I have no idea what will happen or what things will look like over the next few months…I’ll keep you all posted of course and if you could all keep me in your prayers, I’d appreciate it! In part, it’s somewhat exciting to have so many possibilities and options open, but it sometimes also nice to have the resolution in sight.

On a more personal note, the weather has been FANTASTIC recently! (Fantastic for England that is!) Allow me to translate…”fantastic” means it hasn’t been raining nearly as much, I’ve actually been seeing the sun on a regular basis, and while it’s still mostly chilly, we’ve had some nice spring-like warm days. :) I’ve been really enjoying it…riding my bike to work everyday which, I have to say, has been one of the great perks here that I’ve been loving.

Let’s see…what else?

The next month or so will be extremely busy for me!! Let’s see… I’ve got my friend Tracy’s wedding in New Jersey for which I’m traveling home (if you know my parents, DON’T SAY ANYTHING! They don’t know I’m coming and I want to surprise them!!) So I’ll leave a week from this coming Wednesday and will be home for only a few days. Not a real relaxing trip unfortunately! Then the week I return, my sister Kristin is coming to stay. She’ll be here the 28th through July 7th. On the 7th she and I both fly out from London…Kristin to the States, and me to Greece!!! This is of course my big important fabulous holiday that I’ve had booked for nearly a year! I’ll be 2 days in Athens before taking an island hopper out to Leros. From there I meet up with a small yacht and about 8 other people I don’t know who I will be sailing around the islands with for a week. We end up finally on Samos where I catch another island hopper back to Athens and then back to London the following day. All in all it should be 10 very full and fun days in…dare I say it?…SUNSHINE and WARM WEATHER!!!! Nothing sounds better to me after all these months of cold damp and rain.

So! Enough about me, how are all of you?

Ye Olde Summary

06 November 2000 · Write a comment

Hello to all! I know, I know…rarely do you get TWO updates from me within just a few short months of each other, but a lot has changed since the last one I sent out…and I don’t even think all of you received the last one. So this time I’m making SURE I hit pretty much everyone in my address book!

K…so just a brief review…I was in London when last I wrote having first transferred to Princeton from New York and then over here to Jolly Ol’ England! To say the least these last few months have been an adventure…but I guess not unlike the others I’ve been on in many ways… Anyway, let’s take this one thing at a time, ok? :)

August: I was in London.

September: Towards the end of the month I was finally moved out to Leamington Spa. Leamington is actually pronounced “Lemington”…don’t ask me why…it seems that hardly anything over here is actually pronounced the way it’s spelled…crazy Brits! :)

October: I spent most of last month working myself to the bone (long long days…too long) and trying to figure out clever ways to get myself checked out of the Hilton Hotel in Warwick (another weird pronunciation…is actually said without that second “w”…again, don’t ask me why). Anyway, 3 weeks in the Hilton was really just WAY TOO MUCH! I knew I had been there too long when I realized that all the staff knew me by name. So one relatively un-wet Saturday I went out and decided that I’d had it with the hotel and really wanted to find a place to live. Asking for the moon, I know, but it had to be done. I spent hours looking at a ton of different places all over Leamington and turned out that I fell in love with the second place I saw. It was absolutely fabulous and so have named it fondly The Fab Pad. I have some pre-furniture pictures (there’s a link at the end of the letter) so you can have a look for yourself. Also have included some pics of Leamington as well. So this place I finally found took a couple of weeks to get into, but now my furniture is all here and it’s feeling very homey. I actually don’t mind coming home which is quite a switch from how I felt about the Hilton!! It’s a converted old Georgian-style home and it’s really a beautiful building! White with pillars…wait, what am I telling you for? You can go see the pictures! My little claim to fame here is that at the end of my block is the home Napoleon III lived in from 1838-1839. Who knew!

Leamington itself is very charming…yeah, I think that’s a good word for it. It’s also very small. Very small. I mean very very small. Did I mention that it’s small? How small is it? So small that I rarely leave the house without seeing someone I know. That’s very unusual for me… Was never much of a danger of running into anyone I knew in New York. Or even Anchorage really…at least not compared to here. So this is really very much a culture shock situation for me… Especially being alone in a different country I think makes it more difficult. I would really appreciate prayers on this! This is not to say that I think being here will not be good…I think it will be hard but everything that has been hard in my life has been good. :)

Right…so where was I?

Oh, Charming Leamington! Of course! It really is charming… Mainly, I think, b/c the people here do a very good job of keeping up the town itself. Very posh little stores and things. Cafes, etc. are pretty nice too. I actually found a place where I can buy Hershey bars! Of course they’re some insane amount like $1.75, but if I ever have a craving, I have a safety net.

Am I driving? NO! Not that I won’t ever while I’m here, but I think for now I’m pretty happy taking the bus to work, etc. Besides, I can walk to everything else I could possibly want to do including shops, the bus stop, the movie theatre, and even my health club is just a couple of blocks away. Makes for great morning work-outs! And the bus in the morning is good for giving me some time to read which I enjoy.

How’s the job? Oh just fine! In fact I really love what I’m doing and I really enjoy the people I’m doing it with. They’re a great group… I’m not the only American which is nice. Clay, Rob, and Julie are the others and really are my sanity at times! We don’t always feel like we understand the British…we won’t always get what they’re laughing at or they’ll make fun of us for using some strange term they’ve never heard before so it’s nice to have other Americans around to back each other up! :) Also, I was surprised to learn that most of the British have never seen Seinfeld. I tend to find Seinfeld fits into so many situations but now when I bring one up, I have to explain what I’m talking about…never thought I’d ever have to do that! Here they get Friends and Fraiser. They all love Fraiser.

Am still waiting on getting my bird out here. I’m starting to wonder if it’ll ever happen, but I hope so as I miss her dreadfully!!

Going forward…I have great and fabulous plans! I want to take advantage of being so close to so much that I never have before. I have a trip to Greece all booked now for this summer. I also want to hit as much of Europe as my vacation time will allow…Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, France…Colin! Prepare for a visit! :) It still sounds very strange to me to hear people say that they’re going to France for the weekend. If any of you have any great vacation thoughts or tips, I’d love to hear them!!

So that’s really just about all the news that’s fit to print.
I’ll be home for a couple of weeks over Christmas so I’ll hopefully get to see some of you then!

Finally, here is all my new address and phone stuff, etc. which really should be pretty stable for awhile (let’s see if I can go a year without moving!):

Flat 7
35 Clarendon Square
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire ENGLAND
CV32 5QY
(01926) 450372 or to call from the US: 011-44-1926-450372

Cheers!

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