So Much To Type, So Little Time!

I'm going to attempt a wothwhile update...

March 7 was International Women's Day and WAGGGS paid for all of us volunteers to attend a fundraiser where Mary McPhail (CEO of WAGGGS) spoke. We were sent to mingle and support Mary - it as pretty cool! I also got to hear Jo Salter (Britains first female fighter piolit), Susan Hooper (Senior VP & Managing Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line), & Rt. Hon. Margaret Hodge (Minister of State for Industry & The Regions) speak! It was a great evening.

Last weekend we were really busy with a group of British Guides In Foreign Countries (much like Girl Scouts Overseas) from Benelux & France County (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg & France). They rented all 59 beds in the house plus all of our common rooms. Needless to say we're just now getting caught up on the laundry and ironing! Saturday night we had a HUGE banquet buffet for them and I worked for 16 hours. It was kind of nice to keep busy though.

Monday night we had a "team building evening" where we had someone come babysit Pax Lodge so we could all go out. We went out for dinner and to the cinema to see Becoming Jane. The movie (errr... film) was throughly disappointing, but it was nice to go out for a dinner that no one had to cook or clean up after!

Tuesday night was my official welcome ceremony which was supposed to happen like.... 3 WEEKS AGO! But it's all good now :) It was lovely and Kailey put a lot of work into planning a fabulous game. Now I have to get to work planning the next new persons ceremony.

Yesterday I had the day off and I went to Hyde Park, Covent Garden, Leicester Square (pronounced "Lester" for all you okies) and walked around on Palace Street. Mostly I just wandered around by myself which was nice. Today I also have the day off, but I didn't make any plans because we were expecting a new volunteer, Dilys, from Ghana, but she didn't book a plane ticket because she wasn't going to know if she had a Visa until yesterday & now she can't get a flight until tomorrow. This morning I cleaned and orginized my room and after lunch I think I'll head to Camden Town or Kenwood House. The weather is too nice for museums today!

Resident Volunteers at International Women's Day:



Mary McPhail, Me, Joce & Christa:



Kailey & I eating dinner during our team evening:



Seunghee & Joce at our welcome ceremony:



Leicester Square:



Leicester Square looking towards the National Gallery:

Training, Time Off, and Too Much Laundry!

I don't have too much to report on. I'm still training, but I've also been thrown into the regular rotation which means I'm busy, busy. BUSY! I can't say the work is any too much fun, but it's better than I expected. I guess we'll see how I feel 5 months from now ;)!

I was off on Friday & Saturday which was great! Friday I went to Hampstead Heath with my "mate" (as she would say) Christa who is from New Zealand. The Heath is only a few minutes walk from where I live and it's a great place to go when I need to clear my head. We managed to find an amazing playground which we will probably visit again :) After that we cruised down to Oxford Street for some window shopping. Saturday I planned to head to the south side of London, but the northern line on the tube was closed which left me few options. I haven't really figured out the bus yet and I decided I'd rather save that for a day when I know I can get home on the tube if I need to. Instead of getting myself stuck on the south side of London I walked to Camden (30-ish minute walk). Camden has a huge market that is 10x better on the weekends. I had a nice day people watching and I got my sister a lovely birthday present.

This past weekend we had International Adventure Days here at Pax Lodge. Most of the kids were Brownies & Juniors from USA Girl Scouts Overseas (stationed at Lakenheath I believe). It was cool to spend the day playing games with them. What a perfect excuse to procrastinate laundry!

Now for some pictures!

Up my street (Rosslyn Hill):



Our beautiful next door neighbors, AIR Studios! Google it if you want. Coldplay, U2, The Black Eyed Peas, Paul McCartney, & Joni Mitchell to name a few have all recorded there. Cool? Yes!



The view from a hill @ The Heath:



A pond @ The Heath:



Camden Market - It doesn't look very crowded, but I promise it was packed in the main markets!






Last but not least - One of my many lovely piles of laundry in need of washing & pressing: