UK Trip: Day 5: Greenwich - day with friends
Sunday, April 28
This was the most exciting day for both MIL & myself! We were going to meet our friends!! MIL was going to meet her pen friend from France (she and her husband came up just to meet us). They "met" as pen friends when MIL was a senior in high school. My MIL is from Pondicherry (a former French colony and so French was/is widely spoken. So they were writing for MIL to practice French and Francoise to practice writing English). They stayed in touch a few years and lost touch almost 25 years ago! 2 or 3 years ago, Francoise through her daughter's Facebook account randomly looked up MIL to find her!!!! So, they have reconnected and when she found out we will be there, they planned to be there!
So, we took the Thames Clipper (a commuter boat) to Greenwich village.
So, why Greenwich? Well, I was going to meet my two very best friends from college who live in London there too!! They have three kids under 5 years of age and figured D could also use a day of just running in a park!! Oh it was such a happy day! I didn't care about actually seeing the Prime Meridien. I was so happy to see Thomas & Moon!
I met Thomas in college first through Jaycees. We didn't like each other at all actually. He was a Finance major and I environmental science major. He believed my field was a waste of time, and feelings were mutual. But we were pretty much forced to work together or communicate because the rest of the Board of Directors (we served on it a few years in different positions) spoke Chinese 85% of the time and majority of the members did too. So, we didn't really have a choice.
We were the most active club on the campus, that year we had like 100+ projects going (We were more active than the Student government!!! So, they didn't like us much!). So, Thomas and I were together under the same room working on projects. After one of the fundraisers we had thrown at a nightclub and I was going home with this Swede who also lives in our building, who had a crush on me but did absolutely nothing about it, asked if I was seeing the nerd riding the bicycle. I think I nearly rolled on the sidewalk with laughter. But he also made me mad!
Since then we became friends. Good friends. And boy did we cause a lot of trouble! Everyone thought we were an item. And we weren't. We were a boy and girl friend. sigh. Then Moon entered the picture. He was seeing her and for whatever reason he was keeping it a secret. Idiot. She joined the Jaycees and would often over hear people teasing the two of us! When I found out, I flipped obviously. So, they stopped hiding.
He then graduated and moved to NYC. Moon & I hung out a lot and we became best of friends! I haven't found another friend like her. I miss her a ton. We would meet at 1am at the 24 hour Korean restaurant (she's Korean) and eat and talk for hours! And two years later she left to join Thomas and they got married. And that was the last time we saw each other. Thomas in 2001 & Moon in end of 2002.
And they do a very horrible job of staying in touch. Horrible. Everyone always says how wonderful it is for me to have lived in different places, having friends everywhere. Well, yeah it was fun! But I hate it all the same. All my best friends are continents away! And they don't call nor return emails! sigh.
But it was so nice to see them in Greenwich! It was like we never left each other and picked off right where we left of! A day was just not enough!!!! We sat at the cafe, while PIL & friends stayed inside, in freezing cold and just talked and talked, while the kids ran around playing!
Funny thing, I got an MBA & he is working with Energy! We tease each other about it every so often! Saying goodbye was so hard. Moon & I bawled and I cry even now as I type. As, who knows when we will see each other again. sigh. They are likely to move to Korea if things go well for them! sigh sigh sigh. *sob sob*
And right...we were also sightseeing..
We said our byes as we had to catch the last boat back and went our way. Francoise & Joel went back to their hotel and we made plans to meet again on Tuesday.
Dinner we ate at a restaurant recommended by our British neighbours in Arlington - Ravi Shankar Indian restaurant. It was absolutely delicious and the staff were very friendly!
This was the most exciting day for both MIL & myself! We were going to meet our friends!! MIL was going to meet her pen friend from France (she and her husband came up just to meet us). They "met" as pen friends when MIL was a senior in high school. My MIL is from Pondicherry (a former French colony and so French was/is widely spoken. So they were writing for MIL to practice French and Francoise to practice writing English). They stayed in touch a few years and lost touch almost 25 years ago! 2 or 3 years ago, Francoise through her daughter's Facebook account randomly looked up MIL to find her!!!! So, they have reconnected and when she found out we will be there, they planned to be there!
So, we took the Thames Clipper (a commuter boat) to Greenwich village.
So, why Greenwich? Well, I was going to meet my two very best friends from college who live in London there too!! They have three kids under 5 years of age and figured D could also use a day of just running in a park!! Oh it was such a happy day! I didn't care about actually seeing the Prime Meridien. I was so happy to see Thomas & Moon!
I met Thomas in college first through Jaycees. We didn't like each other at all actually. He was a Finance major and I environmental science major. He believed my field was a waste of time, and feelings were mutual. But we were pretty much forced to work together or communicate because the rest of the Board of Directors (we served on it a few years in different positions) spoke Chinese 85% of the time and majority of the members did too. So, we didn't really have a choice.
We were the most active club on the campus, that year we had like 100+ projects going (We were more active than the Student government!!! So, they didn't like us much!). So, Thomas and I were together under the same room working on projects. After one of the fundraisers we had thrown at a nightclub and I was going home with this Swede who also lives in our building, who had a crush on me but did absolutely nothing about it, asked if I was seeing the nerd riding the bicycle. I think I nearly rolled on the sidewalk with laughter. But he also made me mad!
Since then we became friends. Good friends. And boy did we cause a lot of trouble! Everyone thought we were an item. And we weren't. We were a boy and girl friend. sigh. Then Moon entered the picture. He was seeing her and for whatever reason he was keeping it a secret. Idiot. She joined the Jaycees and would often over hear people teasing the two of us! When I found out, I flipped obviously. So, they stopped hiding.
He then graduated and moved to NYC. Moon & I hung out a lot and we became best of friends! I haven't found another friend like her. I miss her a ton. We would meet at 1am at the 24 hour Korean restaurant (she's Korean) and eat and talk for hours! And two years later she left to join Thomas and they got married. And that was the last time we saw each other. Thomas in 2001 & Moon in end of 2002.
And they do a very horrible job of staying in touch. Horrible. Everyone always says how wonderful it is for me to have lived in different places, having friends everywhere. Well, yeah it was fun! But I hate it all the same. All my best friends are continents away! And they don't call nor return emails! sigh.
But it was so nice to see them in Greenwich! It was like we never left each other and picked off right where we left of! A day was just not enough!!!! We sat at the cafe, while PIL & friends stayed inside, in freezing cold and just talked and talked, while the kids ran around playing!
Funny thing, I got an MBA & he is working with Energy! We tease each other about it every so often! Saying goodbye was so hard. Moon & I bawled and I cry even now as I type. As, who knows when we will see each other again. sigh. They are likely to move to Korea if things go well for them! sigh sigh sigh. *sob sob*
And right...we were also sightseeing..
We said our byes as we had to catch the last boat back and went our way. Francoise & Joel went back to their hotel and we made plans to meet again on Tuesday.
Dinner we ate at a restaurant recommended by our British neighbours in Arlington - Ravi Shankar Indian restaurant. It was absolutely delicious and the staff were very friendly!