Finally decided that I was not going to wait until I got the broadband set up for my Macbook to be up and running, just decided to update my blog. Yes, it's been almost eight weeks since we moved into our new place in Canary Wharf and still patiently waiting for BT to send someone to turn on the line so we can get the broadband company to test the speed and availability and send someone else to get our broadband up and running. It's is very frustrating to wait for everything when they take super long time to get executed in such a small country like England. Ever since I was a child, I used to have a great sense of admiration of England. To me, anything "England" was deemed far more superior than anything else from anywhere else. Right until the day I qualified as an accountant, it was a UK Degree & being registered with the UK Professional accounting body. Something inside me that had always wanted to embark a life, a career in England. Till four months ago, when I finally moved over to England, I got in touch with a lot of reality which was quite far off from my childhood expectations. My husband's a British you see, so matters and opinions get quite sensitive at times. I have to learn to adapt and I am struggling, I can't get used to the cold and miserable weather, underground in London, people in London, just so many other things really. Past month we've been busy trying to settle in London and not much help when I faced with problems, nothing seem to work even my most reliable Macbook failed me. I end up complaining most days about how inefficient this place is, got me worried at one point that this country could be not much better than from where I came previously. How it is being run and managed was absolutely a joke! I kept asking myself what happened to one of the greatest country ever on Earth?
Moaning and bags of complain will never help I know, I figured out once I get a job and be busy things will eventually improve and I would have settled in quite comfortably like the other 5 or 6 million Londoners here. Will I grow old and live my last days here in England or leave once we have sufficient funds back to Malaysia; move away to another country, I don't know. I wished I knew. Time will tell.
I had a close friend once mentioned to me the weather in England- cold and miserable will kill me! I just laughed and told him off at that point in time. But now maybe I start to see what he actually meant.
Life's been fairly predictable and within my control but not until recently where things seems to be in a huge whirlwind. My toughest challenge lies ahead of me now, I am trying to look for a job and this has been a painstaking process. Never thought applying for jobs can be that difficult, maybe because the only job I had to apply to was to my previous both firms and a couple before I got some offers. But now, been my second week and still nothing promising came back to me yet. Honestly I am very exhausted sending applications and the "Apply Now" button, patiently waiting for a mail or my phone to buzz. That's the other thing I find hard to grasp here, culture. People can be very misleading here I find, well maybe it's just me because I find it hard to understand what my husband is telling me at times! I am used to the culture back at home, where people are quite direct and open just get to the point but not here and I noticed the same in Bermuda too. I find it annoying because I am unable to gauge or tell what they are trying to convey me. Believe me, I am not kidding. Amazing how they can make it sound so positive even though when all hope is gone! I still prefer someone telling me that a cat is a cat and not something else. I have even gone to the point of asking some recruiters what they honestly think and what is going to turn out to and still no point blank answers. Many experiences I had came across and it can lead to unpleasant and embarrasing moments and can cause even more problems when the message is being misunderstood completely. Quite fed up of it really! Another thing I have to add to my list then. Honesty is scarce here. Many times I feel down and feel helpless and resort to thinking about possibility of relocating back to Malaysia. Again, would the grass be greener over the other end? I don't know.
First picture: This is a rare sight for me really, being out and captured with the sun and finally making use of my Ray-bans which have been in the drawer since I arrived last October! It overlooks the Thames River and this was taken across the block of our flat.
Second & third picture: Night view of the Tower Bridge, one of London's most iconic landmark.
Till then, take care and Kong Hei Fatt Choy to all my families & friends!
Can't wait to go home next Fri!!
Cheers,
Wendy
