... in our new house!

We moved in Sunday night. Made two trips from Egham (on the far western outskirts of London) to the Docklands (just to the east of Central London). Took about two hours each way. Yuck. Anyway, now we’re here. Jen did some walking around the area a few days ago, and it turns out we’re only a few blocks from the nice areas on the river and one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants. Pretty much all the nice stuff is on the other side of the big street. Our side of the street definitely looks a bit shabbier in comparison. But one of the benefits of living on the wrong side of the tracks is the food. There are tons of little kabob shops just a block away. I have yet to eat at any of them, but the Spanish guy (our only other roommate at the moment) has been eating nothing but kabobs. He really hates the food in England.

So now to tell you about our house. Not QUITE as done as we were told it would be by Sunday. All the real essentials are done (toilet, shower/tub, sinks, washing machine, our room) but a lot of little things still haven’t been completed (drapes on our windows, bathroom floor, stove/oven, some painting). The kitchen is still being worked on, so we can’t do much other than microwave right now. Fortunately we probably wouldn’t be cooking anyway since we still don’t feel settled. The only thing we can check off our list of things to do right now is housing. We still need jobs, national insurance numbers, and bank accounts. I think I’ll be fine eating kabobs for a while.

Let’s talk about food. A lot of foreigners give the food here pretty bad reviews. I haven’t had that experience, thankfully, but that’s probably because I know the big secret (and actual British people will tell you this): eat only at chain restaurants, places that serve ethnic food, and places that have been recommended by others. It’s a chain for a reason, right? And ethnic food is usually a pretty safe bet (and there’s tons of it in London). If you’re only eating at random pubs, you’re likely going to end up eating some bland, bad food.