Wanderings in 2018

A year always seems to pass by so quickly, things I consider quite recent experiences in reality were a significant time ago. I always like to go back over the year around New Year's Eve to think about what happened in the past 12 months. In 2010 I had a horrible New Year started 2011 in a bad state of mind without any real direction or stability. Since then, I have made this time of year one to reflect on all of the positive things I've achieved through the year and really considered what I want for the year ahead. I write a letter, to be read by my future self the following Christmas, full of musing on things I know are already planned for the year and others speculating on where I want to be in life by next year. I really enjoy opening and reading about what I had hoped for and thinking on all the things I had no idea would happen the 12 months before.

Today I am finishing this post looking over my 12 months of 2018 and later sitting down to write to my 2019 self.

I'm ending this year feeling good about 2018 and excited for all that promise that 2019 might bring. 

January

We had no internet (and heating for a while) in January. We get a terrible signal at home as well, so our evenings were taken over by puzzle making. 

I also took a random day off to visit the Winnie the Pooh exhibition at the V&A. This turned out to be AA Milne's birthday which is Winnie the Pooh day. Serendipity at it's best!

Highlights include; Cooking for Syria and making it through the darkest month of the year without the internet!

February

My first ever work trip to Turkey. We spent three days at a conference for the Chevening Officers. I met so many different personal work based goals on this trip, but also started it off by losing my passport at heathrow airport. So it had its ups and downs!

Highlights include; Learning to make Macarons, visiting Bletchley Park, Flight Club darts and a visit to the Museum of London.

March

March was full on, just as I like it! 

It was full of celebration for International Women's Day. Firstly we helped Siobhan find her wedding dress which was very exciting. I also went to see one of my favourite authors - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in conversation with Reni Eddo-Lodge who wrote a very thought-provoking and powerful book. A celebration of women and specifically the black woman's experience. 

We had our IWD celebration at work, my first event as a member of the social committee. I also took Jasmin to watch a live podcast recording of women discussing women's bodies, body positivity and the female experience and how different it is for all different women.

Lastly, I headed off on my first solo work trip to Kosovo. I had room service for the first time which was cool but no where near as exciting as I had expected. Since it's just eating a meal alone in a hotel room, I don't know what I was really expecting beyond this.

As I was working, I didn't spend time exploring much of the city of Pristina, but being in the country and meeting candidates for the scholarship was fascinating. I learnt more about the country and region as a whole and left a little more informed than I was when I arrived; basically my favourite part of travelling. 

Highlights include; Attending the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey and seeing some of the royals in the flesh.

April

Third work trip of the year - and the last for a while. After Easter I went to Kiev. I've been before so this was an interesting one as I was revisiting a city I was already familiar with. Kiev is a beautiful city, a hidden gem in Europe. I stayed on for a couple of days to take a day trip to Chernobyl which I hadn't been able to do last time. 

It was a thought-provoking and compelling visit. I really enjoyed walking around abandoned Pripyat. Despite its sombre past, seeing a place so frozen in time was really fascinating. I am captivated by the human stories from history, thinking about individuals and their experiences. Who lived there? Who shopped in that supermarket? Who was the last person to vacate that small house? Who left that rusted car? When we hear about significant events from history it's often in a large scale sense, giving an overview of the greater effect on society or the world as a whole. But when you visit a specific place, you can put yourself in the moment a little more, and consider how it might have impacted individual people. How would you have reacted? How would you have felt?

Outside of this work trip, we were also treated to some great weather, and the start of happy lunchtimes out in Tavistock Square with my colleagues. I also had another afternoon tea, this time at the Swan at Shakespeare's Globe. Another great tea to add to my list!

Highlights include; Bring roped in my first ever park run 5k, and seeing Mo Farrah run past me during the London Marathon.

May

Work perks this month included a fancy meal at Fishmonger's Hall, a tour of one of the reading rooms in the British Library and standing outside Number 10 (also got to meet Palmerston the Foreign Office cat).

Siobhan, Jasmin and I spent our bank holiday at the London Wetland Centre, chatting in the sunshine and bird watching. The former much more successful than the latter. 

We also held our annual Beamers netball tournament, where we reached the quarter finals.

Highlights include; A sunny bank holiday on John Lewis rooftop meeting my friend's new boyfriend.

June

I went to see Johanna before she departed Nice at the end of June - and beginning of July. Leaving beautiful weather in London for more beautiful weather in France. Of course it was lovely to see Johanna again, and to spend a few days eating breakfast of croissants on the beach and wandering along the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat coastal path.

Highlights include; Joining Siobhan and her mum on the women's march to mark 100 years since some women got the vote and more netball with our first official work tournament.

July

My first Farewell event with Chevening at Alexandra Palace, quite an event seeing all 1600 scholars under one roof at the same time.

Watching professional Netball for the first time at the Copper Box Arena.

Work summer party, in glorious sunshine on the roof terrace of the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith.

Highlights include; Two very different Hen dos for two very different brides.

August

August was wedding month! I made my own dress for all the weddings this year. Two within a week of each other. The first was Chelsea's in Cheshire reunited with a couple of boys from my time in Korea. Then a week later in Croydon with my London girls, and all of us in primary colours.

Then we had a weekend trip with the family to Southwold. The weather took a turn, but I quite enjoyed having an excuse to sit inside and read!

Highlights include; The weddings (of course) but also a 10 year China reunion, netball awards evening, and a trip down spice girls memory lane.

September

Another wedding, this time a family affair. My dress got another outing!

Took advantage of mum's V&A membership to see the Frida Khalo exhibition. What an amazingly complex and outstandingly talented woman. 

Then an Open House London weekend of two halves... on the Saturday Jasmin and I went to Lancaster House. This was probably the most rainy day in London all year and we got stuck outside because we missed our slot by a couple of minutes as we were stuck in the queue. Thankfully they let us in on the following slot. It was an impressive building, with a history of hosting important politicians and camera crews filming everything from Downton Abbey to National Treasure 2.

Highlights include; Catch up with friends (despite the rain) and discovering a different view from a riverside rooftop.

October

Work travel (again!) to Sarajevo and Macedonia. More fascinating insight into the Western Balkans region. Fun fact: Skopje has an excess of statues, mostly of men. Covering bridges and the edges of buildings. One of which is Churchill.

My first Chevening Orientation at the excel. This one had more meaning for me as I had been involved in the application process. I met some of my scholars from Kosovo who I'd had a direct hand in assessing and offering the award to.

Highlights include; All the work trips but also saying goodbye to some great colleagues.

November

Trips around the UK with my new travel companion :-)

Highlights; York Minster guided tour, Afternoon Tea at Betty's, Canterbury's Cathedral's courtyards.

December

I've just written about December, but this month I have been off work for the majority of the month. Work involved our Christmas party at Tobacco Docks, a great success followed by pizza at work the next day!

Mum and I in Vilnius, sheltering from the snow and drinking all the mulled wine. Even if people didn't really understand the concept of the keep-cup we tried our best! 

Highlights include; Mum waiting for the 'parade' which was actually a protest. Post Christmas Walk in Richmond Park. Christmas Raclette at home.

:: 2018 you were a blast. Here's to a warm Spring, sunny summer and beautiful autumn in 2019 ::

York

Impressions of York:

• It's pretty

• The Jorvik Centre is full of scary mannequins

• Clifford's Tower has seen better days and could do with some investment

• Museum Gardens are lovely, wander here for great photos

• The Shambles is full of small shops, many Harry Potter themed. You will not be able to get a photo without people in!

• Betty's is worth the queue

• York Minster staff are really mean and unhelpful. The free tour is well worth it

• There's a cool cafe over one of the gates in the city walls

• City walls are probably a nice way to walk around the city, but I'll have to see that next time!

• This restaurant had a great atmosphere and excellent food, but you have to book.

If I go again I want to...

See Castle Howard

Go back to Betty's

Walk the city walls

go inside the museum

go up to the tower in the minster

see the cold war bunker

Wanderings Lately :: November 2018

Ever so late with this, but here's to November: so mild, so rainy, and a full week of illness.

I like November, particularly for bonfire night as it's always fun - and southward park display didn't disappoint again this year. Last year I was in Scotland, about to leave my job and ready for a new challenge. This year I was just making it to the one year mark in this role and took a couple of small trips to new cities in England.

Winos

For Ayoola's birthday we bought her a wine tasting class, which we all enjoyed this month. The lady taking the course was very French and like a strict headmistress but that only made it funnier for all of us. I can't say that I'm going to be any better at choosing wine to go with food, I'll still pretty much choose what I can afford. But it's always nice to spend an evening with friends sipping on wine!

York

York was great fun, and a very pretty city to spend a weekend. Betty's tea room didn't disappoint; and although the people at the Minster wouldn't let us up to the viewing tower the rest of the people up north were pretty friendly.

Clifford's Tower has seen better days, and the Yorvik centre was full of scary mannequins. The Shambles was mostly full of Harry Potter shops which was unexpected.

Canterbury Tales

Another cathedral town visit this month, just for the day.  Canterbury was a pretty town as well, mostly located down the one pretty high street. I particularly enjoyed the quiet grounds around the cathedral.

Thomas Becket's place of martyrdom was less significant than I had anticipated and I almost missed it... 

A Winter Welcome

Ended the month watching a friend singing in a Winter Concert. A mix of modern songs and a couple of carols to get everyone in the festive mood. The mulled wine didn't hurt either!

Wanderings Lately :: October 2018

This October was unseasonably warm, and it was only in the last 5 days of the month that the temperature really dropped. This month I visited a new country with work at an interesting time; Macedonia had just had a referendum on changing the official name of their country. It was a busy work trip full of meetings and presentations but it felt very worthwhile and as always I love visiting and exploring a new place.

We also said goodbye to one of the girls from our team at work, which was a nice celebration but also sad because she was a great colleague and had been in the team for quite a while.

In other work related activities, we had orientation this month the first I've attended. It differed slightly from farewell but for both it's really quite an experience to have all of the scholars in one room, these are the only two points in the year where they are. The sense of excitement and anticipation at orientation is electric. It's also quite difficult to get over 1,700 people from all different cultures and backgrounds to all be in the right place at the right time. Farewell is the culmination of their year, so it's full more of stories of achievements, reunions between people who may not have seen each other for the entire year, and of promises to stay in touch.

Finally, this month I attended my final wedding of the year - wearing a different outfit than the others! It was nice to be back in Essex for the day, catching up with friends and witnessing the special day of a lovely couple. Bring on 2019 for more weddings...

Work Farewell

Saying a celebratory goodbye to Cat who moves onto a new role after staying at Chevening for the past 4 years. She was a great colleague and has become a great friend. So although it's sad not seeing her every day, it isn't a goodbye forever! Also who can argue with a buck's fizz on a random Tuesday afternoon!

Final Wedding of 2018

Catch up with Essex friends, at a lovely location, with good weather. <3 p="">

Orientation

Meeting the scholars who I had a hand in offering the scholarship to - from Kosovo where I sat on the panel. Meeting other scholars from all over the world, spending a long and tiring Saturday with some of the best colleagues, hanging out on a big red bus in the middle of the Excel Centre. And this is only a 20 minute journey home!

Yes, #knowledgeisgreat.

Western Balkans #2

A marketing work trip took me to Bosnia (Sarajevo and Mostar) and Macedonia (Skopje). I've been to Sarajevo before but Skopje was new and very interesting.

My selected pictures include; The old Railway Station clock which stopped at 5:17am on 26th July 1963 the exact time an earthquake struck Skopje - part of Yugoslavia at the time, the Vardar river which splits the old and new towns, statues from the Women Warrior Park (and an old version of the Macedonian flag), the view over the city from the Kale Fortress and Macedonian Square where this statue of Alexander the Great is referred to as Warrior on a Horse so as not to anger the Greeks.

I had a much shorter time in Bosnia, so managed only a photo by the Bridge in Mostar and in the BE Sarajevo.

:: 'There's lots of good fish in the sea... maybe... but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you're not mackerel or herring yourself you are likely to find very few good fish in the sea' Lady Chatterley's Lover ::

Wanderings Lately :: September 2018

September, the beginning of autumn! Although this month has mostly been wonderful weather-wise. We've enjoyed the last days of warm weather out in the square at lunchtime. Netball started again this month, and I'm so very happy to be playing again! September (and the beginning of October) always feel like a time of renewal, especially since I work in the heart of the education area in London. The new academic year kicks off, freshers are roaming the street and the seasons clicks into a new phase. 

I love autumn, and spring because they signal a transition. The anticipation of something new, different, a change. I am looking forward to the colder, crisper days walks in the beautiful foliage and the promise of something new.

Friends

This month's edition of catching up with friends... our first get together since Siobhan got married. All the uni girls back together, pottery painting, wine drinking and pizza eating (what we do best!). Venturing out to Surrey for a vintage party with Carola and getting a super swish pin roll in my hair. Finally, a birthday at work which took us for lunchtime fluffy Japanese soufflé pancakes.

September was good to me friends wise.

Open House

Open house weekend 2018 was a massive wash out, so much rain! I had a half and half successful weekend. On Saturday I went to Lancaster House, which was super interesting and a great place to snoop inside of. It's been the filming location of lots of period dramas; The Crown, The King's Speech, Downton Abbey. It's also where the FCO take foreign dignitaries to impress them - so Obama, Merkel and other politicians have been here as well as royalty.

ON the second day, I went to a renovated Georgian house which ended up just being a tour around someone's house and explanation of why particular floorboards were chosen. So better luck next year! Perhaps I'll get into Downing Street in 2019!

More weddings

As the beginning of September us London family headed up north to see my cousin get married. It was a lovely day, and always nice to get together with family you don't see much. My homemade dress also made another wedding appearance... I may never need to buy another wedding outfit!

Rooftops

I love seeing a city view from a tall building, and this month I went to an event on European Day of Languages all about how best to learn a foreign language. I may not improve my Chinese much after the visit... but it was worth while for a view alone. Especially since we were there during golden hour when the city was bathed in the beautiful setting sun.