Hostel 30

So.....I turned 30 this week (Thursday the 18th to be exact). There were two wonderful things about this day: 1. we had our first, much needed, real night of sleep and 2. we ate at Ping Pong, my favorite Dim Sum restaurant near St. Paul's. We woke up at 11am (very late for us) with a fresh view on the day - which you will learn was necessary. We showered in our lovely shared bathroom which we call "The Hallway", rightfully named as it is 1/2 the width of a normal hallway, got dressed and were ready to go by noon.

We've received some advice to tour parts of the city to see where we'd like to live. First off, Brixton (south of the city). There seemed to be some nice flats there, so let's go! We get there and notice it's a bit dirty, but decide to walk around and see what it's all about. The first thing I see is a possible drug deal - now....it probably wasn't, but I was completely stereotyping (which is not nice). We head to find the street "Effra Parade", there were a couple nice flats there. We consult the internet via our prepaid phone and start heading the right direction. Or so we thought....this wasn't bad though, we were only off about 3 blocks (this has been happening on a constant basis). Finally - Atlantic Road, this sounds familiar. Wait...what is that smell.....street vendors....food....fish....anything dirty you could ever want. At this point, we realize we are knee deep in ghetto. I am probably the only white person in sight (which is also somewhat normal for this global melting pot city), but we were both pretty uncomfortable. And the longer we walked, the more uncomfortable we became. Oh yes - there is Effra Parade! Keep walking - there is no way we are going to live here. So, at this point we decide to consult the map again as we want to find a train stop in the direction we are heading versus going back through "the market". Walk, walk, walk....we can hear the train...where....ah...THERE!!! This is our first trip on the London Overground - which is, as you guessed, an above ground train! We get on the train headed in the "away from here" direction. We intersected with an underground tube station and headed there. Ahhh....now we can breathe. That was very much out of our comfort zones and we actually lived through it! I know it's shocking, but we did it!!!

At this point, I think it's about 3pm. We have a 6pm appointment to view a flat near Bethnal Green tube stop. Thank goodness we arrived at 4pm since it took us the next two hours to find the place. Off the tube - take a left. Oh, there is a lovely park across the street, kids are playing soccer.....walk under a bridge....wait....is this....this really looks like.....we're in the ghetto again! Things sort of go downhill from here. We decide to take a seat on a flower box nearby (all the while getting stares from everyone who walks by). Get out the phone/internet and try to locate this building on a map. Internet is slow, the air is getting cold and the longer we sit there, the darker it gets. Finally - let's find the phone number of the letting agent and call them. Ah, OK, we should have taken a right off the tube (which is NOT the ghetto). Go back to where we came from and start walking the other way. Walk, walk, walk.....this building is no where to be found. Wait...is that rain I feel? Did we forget our umbrellas? Of course! Ok - call the letting agent again.....we are really close....where are we standing? Let me ask my colleague how you should get there....wait, I'll have you talk to another lady. Really, it's a 5 minute walk and the building is right on the street you are standing on. OK - we'll keep looking and call back if we can't find it. Walk, walk, walk....back and forth along this road. Yup....can't find it! We got back to the tube stop and took a breath. Our emotions were up and fuses were short. OK, let's scrap it for tonight, google map it and take another run tomorrow. Call the letting agent to be polite....ah...now they know how to direct us (they themselves have mapped it out!)! Walk to the right, go to X street and go through the black gates, for this building is NOT directly on the street. UGH - fine.....if it takes us more than 5 minutes, this hunt is over! Sure enough, with the right directions, it took us 5 minutes :) We get to the flat with a lovely lady who is preggers and moving to the country. She also looked just like one of my best friends, so that put us at ease. We left the flat feeling much better about the rest of our evening. OK - comfort zone stripped again today. It is now about 7pm, we are tired, been walking all day and are ready for dinner!!!

Thought:

Now remember, Ja'Nae` and I lived in a very comfortable box....it has padded walls and plays R&B through Bose speakers. I remember being very much out of my comfort zone here before, so I'm fairly calm through any road bumps. Ja'Nae` is learning that our box has been stripped away from us - she is handling things much better than anticipated. I'm so very proud of her for allowing me to throw her into this mess and in turn, handling it like a pro!!! [Sidebar - I had a mini breakdown Thursday morning - JaNae had one at dinner. We both cried for about 20 seconds, nothing happened and we weren't upset about anything. I think we were both tired from the last 4 months and just let it out.]

Anyway, we went to Ping Pong for dinner; it was fabulous! We got real sticky rice, honey ribs, puffs, and pot stickers - and ate it all with chop sticks! Neither one of us are good at that, so dinner was slow, but very good. Afterwards, we went to the french restaurant next door to get a fresh fruit tart...oh wait, they are out for the night :) That is fine....we will be back again! Head home and look for flats some more.

What a day - I would consider day 3 the hardest thus far....and not because I was turning 30!!! :P