Thanksgiving Day

  

Tower Bridge



It's been a few weeks and my initial post to this blog is sorely overdue. My dearest friends, family and loved ones are together today to share thanks for "fruitful fields and healthful skies," as Lincoln so aptly declared. My experience today is quite a bit different: a very lovely co-worker, Tamryn, took me on a brief journey to find the equivalent of my Thanksgiving meal here in the City of London. A photo will follow, assuming we can extract it from her mobile phone.



The Borough Market



It is an understatement to say I am thankful for her - as I am for so many who supported me in the choice to make this journey to the United Kingdom that began on a whim. I was sent off from Seattle in style by my dear friends from graduate school and by my Seattle team, who encouraged me throughout my decision-making process and surprised me with the increasingly popular business text Amazon's Guide to the Working World: What Would Wonder Woman Do? As if that were not fantastic enough, I opened it to discover that the covers were, well, covered with their well-wishes and encouragement. Not uncommon in a case like mine, but caught up in the details of packing my life away to donate, sell or ship to a new continent, it took my breath away.



Market bounty

Two weeks later: I am settled in London for the time being and slowly acclimating to the culture, the weather and the idioms (yesterday I only researched two)!

My team of just over twenty people is a diverse one; among others, we are from Poland, South Africa, New Zealand, Great Britain and (now) America. Dry-humoured, fligthly, charming, stuffy and perpetually (adorably) flustered...somehow they capture the full scope of what we (that is, I) think of when I think "London."





Westminster Abbey





Outside of my team and thanks to happy, holiday timing, I have met several smart, engaging women at a networking presentation and have been invitied to several choral events. Invitiations I clearly accepted!

So there it is, my first entry to this live, shared journal. As I explore, learning more about this city (and myself in the process), I'll do my best to keep you posted - so to speak. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from across the pond.

~c