The surge of inspiration in Kings Cross

Image from Flickr courtesy of roeyahram

Many of you will know Kings Cross as most people do: a grubby train station with an overcrowded tube station attached next to the Eurostar terminal where trains take you to Paris. But Kings Cross is changing, fast. My office is in Kings Cross and while I still see a few of the prostitutes and drug addicts that once made the neighborhood infamous, the regeneration of the area is bringing so much more color and life to the area. Before working here, I lived around the corner (flat number 2 of 3 since living in London) and I've witnessed such a change in attitude, inhabitants, and atmosphere.

I had about a gazillion errands to run yesterday and skipped eating in my building's restaurant to use my lunch hour to hit a post office, Boots, and Tescos. On my way back to the office, I made a quick detour to grab a sandwich on the go in the St Pancras International terminal. This is actually a guilty pleasure of mine because nothing is more thrilling and inspiring than to stroll through that building pretending to be off on a glorious European weekend – I especially love the ceiling inside the terminal, so lofting and geometric! And there is a Le Pain Quotidien, which I associate much more with New York than Paris, and I was a little big homesick for New York yesterday so a baguette sandwich was more comforting than just lunch.

I took the canal route back to my office, which lead me up King's Boulevard – a brand new street with a brand new postcode of N1C. The Kings Cross development is so big that the city had to create a new postal code for it! I strolled up past Eat Street (sort of sad that I had a baguette in my hand and couldn't get any tacos), taking in the sight of the new Central St Martins art school building in a converted warehouse (so cool), and crossed over to The Guardian building to access the canal towpath back towards Caledonian Road. 

And for my whole journey, my heart swelled with pride and love for all of the art students exploring and examining the world. They were all there, alone and in pairs or in small groups, with their cameras and their sketchbooks, their overpriced coffee cups and ridiculous quiffs, talking loudly and earnestly about their hopes, dreams, projects, loves, and everything in between. It took me back to my own formative years at Syracuse, floating around in my own gritty urban bubble of art and design, scheming, creating, exploring, and learning. It was such a precious and wonderful time in my life that to see it being played out again along the Regents Canal in London lifted my spirits and reminded me just why I have the job I have now, and how I got to be here.

They should name one of the new streets in the Kings Cross development Memory Lane, N1C.

The unknown expat dilemma

I've written about this before, about how hard it is to be far away from your friends and miss out on their lives. This becomes especially important when they get married and start having kids – unless they live in a country adjacent to yours to where you can get decently cheap Ryanair flights.

The sad truth of it is that I have now tiered my friends. I'm not worried about writing this and posting it in the ether because I've told them all before. Basically, I have had to be coldly rational and mentally sub-divide my friends as follows:

- People who, if they get engaged and invite me to their wedding, receive a card

- People who, if they get engaged and invite me to their wedding, receive a card and gift

- People who, if they get engaged and invite me to their wedding receive me in person at their wedding

The number of people in each category diminishes the farther you go down the list.

I haven't done this out of cruelness, but out of necessity. I'm at the age where every day brings another Facebook relationship status change to "engaged" and a subsequent "if I invite you will you come" email. And I can't go, most of the time. Airfare has gotten so expensive, and hotels are so expensive, and it's not fair to The Irishman to have to use all of his money and all of his holiday days to jet over to America for my friends' weddings.

This is coming up because one of my friends is getting married in Florida in April. She is in the bottom tier, someone whose wedding I will not miss despite only having gotten engaged 6 weeks ago thus giving me 5 weeks notice (it's okay, she's ALWAYS late). But now my challenge is to decide whether to go to the wedding for the weekend, or morph it into a week's vacation in Florida. This is definitely a "first world problem" but one that is important - to me - as I'm trying to make it to see my friends get married on the beach without breaking the bank, and get the most value out of a 10 hour flight.

This is the sad reality of expat life: weighing the pros and cons of jetlag, hotels, and baggage fees just to share your friends' big moments. It's another sad reality that I desperately wish, at moments like this, that I traveled more for work so that I had more frequent flyer miles in the bank – even though business travel, especially the up-and-down- in-and-out-in-a-day type, is absolutely exhausting. But at least I could redeem some miles for an upgrade or something.

This part of expat life is not glamorous, nor is it exciting; it is exhausting and tedious and often heartbreaking. Yet had someone actually given me this heads up before I moved abroad, I'm not sure I would have taken it seriously. It's just one of the things you have to accept with the visa, like being called love all of the time and standing in long immigration lines. 

Rolling in the (borrowed) deep

£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£$£

Yesterday, The Irishman and I met with a mortgage broker.

< cue terrified expression >

I was simultaneously terrified and excited, and mostly curious about what the process would be like
and what we would end up with at the end.

Surprisingly, it wasn't so bad. The broker was recommended by a friend, and he was open and engaging and helpful in ways I hadn't expected – he not only told us what we could afford, but gave us tips on buying a house, how to deal with estate agents, and ways to maximize our investment. I left our session feeling more hopeful than not that we can buy a house this year if we find what we want.

And yes – we can afford a house. That was the best part of the session: finding out we can, with our available joint savings, afford a decent mortgage with manageable monthly payments.

I feel really adult about it all and the concept of actually owning property is now somewhat daunting. But The Irishman is gleeful and has created a very complicated spreadsheet of ingoings, outgoings, and plausible purchase situations. This weekend we are going to sit down and do the joint budget and discuss, in frank and open terms, what we each need/want in a house - our must-have, non-negotiables vs dream-house qualities. I expect tears, foot-stamps, and strong coffee.

Through this process, I've come to realize that THIS is what love is: not romantic gestures, not engagement rings or weddings, not fancy dates or snazzy holidays. Planning a joint life and property purchase is the ultimate relationship commitment. 

Musing on resolving

Happy 2012 everyone! I'm glad my first full day back in the UK dawned with torrential downpours and gale force winds. I'm trying to be positive here!

Last year, I made a big deal about my resolutions, even assessing my progress one month into the year. And you know what? I still sorta failed. I didn't keep up with my sketchbook (though I am loving Pinterest more and more), I'm still falling back on my overdraft, and guess what – today's weigh in pronounced me the exact same weight as I was this time last year. Blurgh.

When I was in the US, radio and TV shows kept spouting the same advice on how to stick to your resolutions. Hilariously, one of the tips was to start in March! But seriously, since I fail miserably every year, this year I've decided to rethink my approach to self improvement.

I spent a few days around New Years with one of my closest friends who has the enviable plan to quit her job and travel in Asia for 6 months. She's estimating that she and her hubs will be ready, financially and emotionally and practically, by Christmas time this year. I am putting it out there in the universe that I am jealous of her. Not in a "man I hate her" way but in more of a "God I wish I had that sort of goal/plan" way.

So my New Years resolution is to have my own plan.

It may, or may not, have been evident but 2011 wasn't exactly a great year. I accomplished a few things, like run a marathon and successfully transition to a new job, and spent another great year with The Irishman. But I'm still feeling unfulfilled. I'm dragging. I'm not achieving. And I hate that. So I need a plan to give me focus, give me ambition, help me find the inspiration I used to have on a daily basis. I'm not sure how it's going to happen but I need to do something.

One of the things I hope will help me create my plan is a Life List. Above-mentioned friend shared hers with me, and it is a delightful list of both aspirational things to aim for and achievable goals. I had started my life list earlier this year and only got to 7 things; hers is the full 100 and it made me think that yes, yes there are 100 things i want to do in my life and dammit I can do them!

So I'm going to write my life list. And I'm going to think really hard about what it is I want out of life: personally, professionally, lifestyle, location, attitude. This blog will come under review, my wardrobe will come under review, my savings will come under review, my spending, my eating – everything I spend time doing, thinking, feeling, I'm going to try to be more conscious about so that I don't feel like I'm frittering my life away.

This is going to be a slow burn, but hopefully this time next year will find me more sane, centred, and positive.

Cheers.

Heading home for the holidays

And, we're off! Wrapping up a few loose ends this morning working from home and then we schlep to Heathrow on what is apparently one of the busiest air travel day of the year. Ugh. Of course, one of the "loose ends" is code for "packing." Luckily BA has a helpful guide for what you can and can't pack in your luggage: below is a screen grab of the essential information, which means I can go ahead and take those Christmas crackers home for the family – if I can fit them in the suitcase!

Good luck in traveling wherever you're going, and have an amazing holiday break with loved ones near and far.

Metal thieves

In a sad and depressing sign of the times, the UK's burgeoning trade in stolen metal has reached its nadir with a Barbara Hepworth statue stolen out from Dulwich Park a few days ago.

Apparently commodity prices for industrial metals like copper and iron are soaring, giving petty thieves an incentive to steal metal from railroads, plaques from statues - basically, anything solid metal has a decent resale value and they're going after it. The Hepworth piece is just the worst – and most high profile – example of the crime. Police are cracking down on the crime, as it is not only just sad to see art being stolen but it's contributing to commuter train disruption and costing the country millions.

At this festive time of the year full of goodwill and cheer, this epidemic is making me despondent. Obviously because public art should be safe through a commonly accepted code of decency in society, but also because the economy is still so bad that more and more people are being driven to crime to try to make ends meet (I'm a fan of believing people are inherently good, and that motives for stealing a beautiful sculpture aren't purely mercenary).

Anyway. Here's to hoping this is the first and last of such crimes in the world, and that the thieves find some Christmas spirit in their hearts to return the sculpture to be restored.

My week in Doha

So I'm back in the office, sitting at my desk, trying to get photos from 5 different places into one blog post. Apologies for the weird posting!

Anyway, here it is - a week in the Middle East, working, exploring, and trying to understand this fascinating region.

It started with a flight mid-day last Saturday, which I started with a glass of bubbly. Underneath the glass was a bottle holder for my water. I was served a 4 course meal and my seat had massage settings that I used for the majority of the flight in a state of semi-consciousness. Brilliant. Ryanair this was not, and I am now dreading my flight to America on Friday in row 7,000 of BA economy class. Bleurgh.

Part of my job in Qatar involved visiting museums, and this is by far one of the most amazing museums I've ever visited. Designed by I.M. Pei, the Museum of Islamic Art sits on reclaimed land in the middle of the bay. It is absolutely beautiful from the outside...

And seriously stunning on the inside. This view is looking up to the skylight in the middle of the building's roof.

We also visited the New Old Souk, or Souq Waqif. As with everything in Doha, it was rebuilt recently ("restored") so it is not the original structure. But you can still get spices, animals, and clothing in addition to touristy tat.









We also went to one of the ginormous malls in the city; we were invited to a very swank opening while we were there that was being attended by the Emir and his royal entourage so we had to spruce up the gladrags. It's a good thing that Zara was there, with a very similar pricing structure to that of the UK. But the mall was something straight out of Vegas - complete with a river and gondolier that would take you from one of the mall to the other.

So that was an experience.

But mostly I spent my days calling our driver, waiting for our driver, or being driven somewhere – usually to meetings or important sites that our client recommended we see. No one walks in Doha, so even if your destination is literally around the corner you wait for a driver to take you. Our driver was lovely, a man we called Mr. B, and we found out a little bit about him - a Nepalese immigrant working there for a few years to make some money. 

That's another hard realization: everyone there is an immigrant. Qatar is a small nation, with a relatively low population of native citizens. Everyone else is either a Western expat there to work, or an Asian immigrant there to work. And te servent culture in the Middle East is strong. So many times I wanted to say "that's okay, I don't need you to bow/call me m'am/explain the difference between the 9 steak knives you have for me to choose from" (seriously). But when you're a guest in someone's country, you have to live as they do to some extent and effusive service is the easiest to accept.

The team that I traveled with to Doha was an all-woman project team. That's not unusual in my industry, but before leaving we did have a few people raise their eyebrows about it with regards to the region. Qatar is part of the GCC and one of our clients explained to us that all member states of the GCC have adopted similar dress codes for their citizens including the white thobe for men and the black abaya for women. Apparently abayas used to be bright and colourful, kind of like saris, but now they are black and somber in a Iranian Shia tradition. Women wear these in public, with their face either exposed, half veiled, or fully veiled. It is difficult to be a Western woman, dressed conservatively, but still feeling exposed when sitting in a room with women half veiled. It's the most awkward and self-conscious feeling you could ever have.

Beyond these cultural differences, Doha is experiencing an extreme transformation. The entire city is under construction, and the skyline you see today wasn't there 15 years ago. Everywhere there is something being built, and the ambition and energy were palpable. I've never witnessed a city with such a drive towards progress; everyone there was there for the single reason of contributing to the future of Qatar. It was inspirational, to be honest, and made me think that the Gulf is someplace to watch in the future – sort of like India, it is a region where the youth are organising themselves into a new generation with a lot of things they want to achieve. Returning to London felt like going back in time to an older world that maybe hasn't quite kept up with the economic / political times. I think that we will hear more about the transformation in that region over the next decade, and it will be more positive and exciting than not.

Hello from Doha

Masa El Khair! It is nearly 7pm and I'm about to dash off for dinner but I thought I'd say hi. I've been desperately wanting to post a few pictures but my iPhone is on the fritz and keeps continuously turning itself on and off – so the thought of me uploading some photographs is but a pipe dream.


Anyway, Doha is a) sandy, b) on a beautiful blue sea bay, c) under constant construction, d) fascinating, e) repeat all of the above. I'm overwhelmed by the cultural nuances that continuously emerge throughout the course of a day and two days in, I am curious as to what will come next. 


Hopefully I can share some photos soon and there will be a good long post about women coming up, both specifically in the Middle East and internationally in general, as well as just a fuller update. But until then, work calls so Ma'assalama!

One more big push until Christmas

So it is Christmas and London is decorated, Angel is decorated, my office is decorated, but my house is not. Why? Because of course, as per usual, the marketing industry is trying to earn every last cent of revenue for the year and get as much done as possible before 2011 comes to a close. In my case, that means heading off to Qatar for a week on Saturday to kick off a project we've been waiting to do since June. WHERE you ask? I had the same question myself.


View Larger Map

Qatar is a tiny little kingdom near the UAE and alongside Saudi Arabia. My project there is confidential, but essentially we will be helping to define the nation's cultural legacy. No pressure then.

So I'm giving up my weekend and all of next week to immerse myself in Qatari culture and business. I'm already facing challenges as I begin to think about what to pack! Qatar, like most Gulf states, has a completely different attitude towards women and how they should dress, act, etc. As a Westerner entering their culture, it's on me to conform and not to challenge their societal norms (even if they are at odds with my own culture). I found this really helpful post on Lonely Planet, written by an Arab woman, outlining how to dress and act in business situations, but I still feel a bit anxious. I think that until I get there, see the lay of the land, it will all be very up in the air and slightly stressful. But that's okay - the whole reason for me moving abroad was for the challenge and excitement of doing new things, widening my experiences, and this is penultimate! Especially since I get to fly Business Class roundtrip - my first time ever!!! SO THRILLED.

I'll try to blog here and there while I'm in Doha and I get a minute spare, even if it's just some photos. I'm back next Friday evening and go straight to my Christmas party, after which I will just be SO READY for Christmas and going home to the US it won't even be funny.

Deck the Halls

Over the past few weeks, I've been loving Christmas in London. Here's a selection of my favorite shots from across the city.

Oxford Street

Liberty's Christmas Shop



Carnaby Street

Burlington Arcade

Fortnum & Mason

My office!