No time to Breathe!
What keeps me busy lately, you ask? SO much, these days, to be honest. My life here has become a whirlwind of activity and socializing - really, has it been only 10 months since I landed here? :)
So where were we the last time we met? Ah yes, the MD dinner. I picked that over my class that evening and glad I did :) The MD's background is kick-ass - start-up experience, small-firm experience, being confused in life - she dunnit all and how she well she did along the way! Loved her quirky sense of humour and go-go spirit - I want to be her after 23 years of work life!
Apart from that, there've been various other company events, including one where I met the only female member of the Board of Directors of my company. The concrete tips she passed on, I must keep in mind. Inspirational stuff. Have already found a couple of avenues to implement some tips.
Oh, and then there was the totally whacked day out in London - a get-together orchestrated by yours truly with a random bunch of people meeting up for a most scrumptious meal at the much-talked about and deservedly so, Tayyabs. After three hours of incessant eating, laughing, talking and shouting down people across the table (what a boisterous bunch we were!), the motley bunch moved on to Brick Lane where some masala chai and jalebis were had. Post-chai, many in the group felt their energy sapping and bid goodbye while three of us moved onto coffee at Liverpool Street to recharge our resilient selves and then onwards ho to Long Acre at Leicester Square where we ordered 3 bottles of wine amongst three of us as we sat for hours in that little confessional-like alcove and poured out more secrets than should be revealed in just one evening! Then, some dancing and moving onto foiled plans of clubbing in Soho due to ID checks and general drunkenness. Cab ride to West London, nightcap drinks at Latimer Rd, some throwing up (not me) and random chit-chat, followed by crashing at 5am, only to wake up, breakfast, head back and prepare for coffee at Baker Street and a light dinner at the very chic Aubaine at South Kensington with my friend from Copenhagen and his Egyptian Islamic Investment Banker friend and Syrian businessman friend. Learnt SO much about Islamic Banking, Syrian-US relations, Syrian-Lebanese cuisine, the history in the region, the effect of the credit crunch on oil producing countries and so much more. Fruitful weekend that.
Following weekend brought the much anticipated Literary Weekend @ LSE and what a mindblowing experience! Hope to make a separate post out of that weekend but to point out highlights - panel discussion on Religious Defamation, session on Political Satire, roundtable discussion on Migrant Literature (hotness, Mustafa Kor, the Turkish-origin Belgian author, is), Ben Okri's readings and interview and oh so much more. Met some people and dined with them and had some mutual brain-picking - fun, fun. Might I have found a circle to be all high-brow and intellectual with? :D
The following weekend constituted of drinks at 'The Return of the Romanian', an ex-colleague visiting us from France, and clubbing with a massive bunch of desi-origin Kiwis - we're everywhere, aren't we? And this night of clubbing was followed by a very bone-headed decision to make my way back home by bus on my own via the dodgiest of East London spots, getting stranded mid-way by the bus thanks to some dude shattering the glass door of the bus, walking half an hour through hoods which invite mugging and knife-crime and what not. I thank my lucky stars that I am not here narrating some horrid experience I had to face that night!
Somewhere along the way, I started on my weekly lunch-hour volunteering organized by my company at the local primary school (I hereby pledge to bolster the math skills of the kids I am in charge of! ), resumed squash, kept up with my writing lessons, managed to drag my lazy self to the gym about once a week for a run and attended a very educational session organized by the women's network in my company about education of females in Africa, a cause I might be interested in investing some time and energy into. At some point in the near future, volunteering at the Globe shall resume too.
I have finally woken up to the realization that some serious studying awaits my attention - my insouciance in this regard is disturbing really. This weekend, I've finally bolted myself in the house with hopes of cramming but the lack of productivity due to a permanent state of distraction is starting to get annoying, to be honest. But, of great preoccupation to me lately, are two matters - the impending change in immigration law in the UK which could be something that I could live to greatly despise, depending on what transpires in the months to come and the other is some excellent news I received last night - I will be attending the 39th St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland - an encore to my 2007 experience except that this one is being held during unprecedented global affairs which I am deeply mired in, in ways I would possibly not want to be.
Last, and most importantly, Ritwik's here from next week! One hopes that the much-anticipated Istanbul trip does not have to be cancelled * fingers crossed *
So where were we the last time we met? Ah yes, the MD dinner. I picked that over my class that evening and glad I did :) The MD's background is kick-ass - start-up experience, small-firm experience, being confused in life - she dunnit all and how she well she did along the way! Loved her quirky sense of humour and go-go spirit - I want to be her after 23 years of work life!
Apart from that, there've been various other company events, including one where I met the only female member of the Board of Directors of my company. The concrete tips she passed on, I must keep in mind. Inspirational stuff. Have already found a couple of avenues to implement some tips.
Oh, and then there was the totally whacked day out in London - a get-together orchestrated by yours truly with a random bunch of people meeting up for a most scrumptious meal at the much-talked about and deservedly so, Tayyabs. After three hours of incessant eating, laughing, talking and shouting down people across the table (what a boisterous bunch we were!), the motley bunch moved on to Brick Lane where some masala chai and jalebis were had. Post-chai, many in the group felt their energy sapping and bid goodbye while three of us moved onto coffee at Liverpool Street to recharge our resilient selves and then onwards ho to Long Acre at Leicester Square where we ordered 3 bottles of wine amongst three of us as we sat for hours in that little confessional-like alcove and poured out more secrets than should be revealed in just one evening! Then, some dancing and moving onto foiled plans of clubbing in Soho due to ID checks and general drunkenness. Cab ride to West London, nightcap drinks at Latimer Rd, some throwing up (not me) and random chit-chat, followed by crashing at 5am, only to wake up, breakfast, head back and prepare for coffee at Baker Street and a light dinner at the very chic Aubaine at South Kensington with my friend from Copenhagen and his Egyptian Islamic Investment Banker friend and Syrian businessman friend. Learnt SO much about Islamic Banking, Syrian-US relations, Syrian-Lebanese cuisine, the history in the region, the effect of the credit crunch on oil producing countries and so much more. Fruitful weekend that.
Following weekend brought the much anticipated Literary Weekend @ LSE and what a mindblowing experience! Hope to make a separate post out of that weekend but to point out highlights - panel discussion on Religious Defamation, session on Political Satire, roundtable discussion on Migrant Literature (hotness, Mustafa Kor, the Turkish-origin Belgian author, is), Ben Okri's readings and interview and oh so much more. Met some people and dined with them and had some mutual brain-picking - fun, fun. Might I have found a circle to be all high-brow and intellectual with? :D
The following weekend constituted of drinks at 'The Return of the Romanian', an ex-colleague visiting us from France, and clubbing with a massive bunch of desi-origin Kiwis - we're everywhere, aren't we? And this night of clubbing was followed by a very bone-headed decision to make my way back home by bus on my own via the dodgiest of East London spots, getting stranded mid-way by the bus thanks to some dude shattering the glass door of the bus, walking half an hour through hoods which invite mugging and knife-crime and what not. I thank my lucky stars that I am not here narrating some horrid experience I had to face that night!
Somewhere along the way, I started on my weekly lunch-hour volunteering organized by my company at the local primary school (I hereby pledge to bolster the math skills of the kids I am in charge of! ), resumed squash, kept up with my writing lessons, managed to drag my lazy self to the gym about once a week for a run and attended a very educational session organized by the women's network in my company about education of females in Africa, a cause I might be interested in investing some time and energy into. At some point in the near future, volunteering at the Globe shall resume too.
I have finally woken up to the realization that some serious studying awaits my attention - my insouciance in this regard is disturbing really. This weekend, I've finally bolted myself in the house with hopes of cramming but the lack of productivity due to a permanent state of distraction is starting to get annoying, to be honest. But, of great preoccupation to me lately, are two matters - the impending change in immigration law in the UK which could be something that I could live to greatly despise, depending on what transpires in the months to come and the other is some excellent news I received last night - I will be attending the 39th St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland - an encore to my 2007 experience except that this one is being held during unprecedented global affairs which I am deeply mired in, in ways I would possibly not want to be.
Last, and most importantly, Ritwik's here from next week! One hopes that the much-anticipated Istanbul trip does not have to be cancelled * fingers crossed *