Week 1

I've successfully survived week 1 in my new habitat, and have posted a few pics of my apartment building and street. I feel lucky to have landed in a nice neighborhood, sight unseen. A few highs and lows from the "experience" (I feel sort of like a reality tv cast member using that term) so far:

Travels

Highs: I wound up flying business class, which I must say made a big difference in my attitude regarding the 12 hour (door-to-door) trip. The seats were spacious, and they even came around with menus so you could choose the courses you wanted for dinner. I apologize for sounding a bit too impressed, but I spend most of my time in the last open coach seat - boxed in by the fat woman and the bathroom. I wound up eating well and then sleeping through the night. I even got to skip the long customs line. I knew I wasn't too far from home when the car service driver who picked me up was blaring R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" in the car.

Lows:The guy in the seat next to me was quite fidgety and insisted on wearing a SARs mask the entire way, which was a bit unsettling. I was also outed as a business class amateur when I couldn't figure out how to get my personal tv screen out of the middle armrest. I took both as a sign that I should just sleep through the trip.

Apartment

Highs:My flat is newly renovated and a hell of a lot better than I could afford in this city. I was disappointed to find myself so excited about the presence of a laundry machine (what has become of me?) in my kitchen. I also have a housekeeper (completely unnecessary, I know). Although she's (or He's? to be fair) billed to handle only light clean up and dusting/vacuuming, s/he seemed quite adept at washing the sink full of dishes I left out. I'm going to leave clothes our for ironing this week to see what happens.

Lows:The apartment is very "British" by design - meaning that its floor plan is really choppy and each room has a door. Interestingly, all of the doors open in the less convenient direction. I wouldn't care, except the living room door opens into the couch and the kitchen door opens into the refrigerator. You have to really commit to being in any one room.

Work

Actually, I'll save that one. It merits an entry of its own. As a teaser: The water filtration machine has been broken since I arrived. Not a big deal. But instead of it getting fixed, people seem to have taken things into their own hands - inserting objects into the exposed wires to try and fill up their cups. The best part is, I wouldn't be surprised if they were still doing it in 2 months.