England Diaries: Day 8

So I've been here for a week now. I don't really know what to say about my first week here. I miss home so much: I miss my family, I miss my cats, I miss the weather, I miss the telly programs in all our 64 cable stations.

Whatever happened to Day 6 & 7? I was not feeling too good to be arsed to write here, so I didn't. I had a fever, then just a cold, now I have a cold and a bad case of cough. James couldn't sleep last night, the poor bloke, I feel sorry for him. But he is a very light sleeper. The slightest of noise wakes him, so just imagine me coughing the night away.

DAY 6 was a good day - not weather-wise, not at all. But it was memorable because I cooked my first Filipino dish here in England - the famous adobo :-) Ironically, I got fed up of it back home because we'd have it every other day. But when I got here, I actually miss it. I missed the nice aroma of it cooking in the kitchen, so I thought, heck why not? I got soya sauce from the Asian Store a few days ago, so I went ahead and cooked adobo. I had to substitute lemon juice for vinegar though because I didn't get vinegar from the Asian Store and the one they use here which is Cider won't taste very good as I've tried that at home and it wasn't really nice. Surprisingly, my chicken adobo turned out well :-) I found out that the rice they have here is also different from the one I am used to back home. Of course we had rice cooker at home which made it easier to cook it there, but still. The rice they have here cooks in five minutes after it boils. I don't know, maybe it has been ages ago since I last cooked rice on a pot, but I remember it taking a bit longer than five minutes. But anyway, for the first time in my six days here, I had a nice meal.

DAY 7: Speaking of nice meals, we had a lovely dinner yesterday at De Rodes, where James works. It's a nice cozy place, and the food wasn't bad either. It wasn't class, but it was nice nonetheless. James's workmates were nice, but there were only four of them, well five if you count the one who was taking a fag outside.
It was really good to hear a local say "my god, it's freezing out there". So I wasn't just being a big baby after all. I know I have been a pain in James's arse because I complain about the weather every chance I get, but thankfully, it's not just me. And I am not the only one who is coughing in this house. Maddy just got home and told me I probably got the cough from her, as she's been coughing for the past two days. But I said, it's just the weather. It was 38 degrees in the Philippines when I left and suddenly I got shoved into a freezer with the door tightly shut, so it will take me a bit of time to get used to it. I am trying my best because I know James is really trying more than he thought his best was, but really, it's not easy. Hopefully, Chris is right as he was educating me today about England's geography and climate. He said it should get warmer in the days to come. I hope he is right. Wendy told me the same thing today actually. Richard and she was over here this afty, and for some reason I like her. James said he did not like her, but she is very nice and friendly to me. I wish I could tell her more stories but I had nothing to say after I told her my day yesterday with James. I should really get out more so I have more to say to people when they talk to me and tell me their stories. Sometimes it makes me feel dumb when all I do is nod and smile and say "really that's nice", and not be able to tell a story of my own. Well, I could say "my nose has been runny since I got here and look at me now I am coughing like mad", but I don't think that will interest them in the slightest, so I just kept smiling.

So today is Day 8, James will be home in about fifteen minutes so I better stop writing for now. I have made him his sandwiches (spam, cheese, boiled eggs, tomatoes, lettuce) but I haven't started on the pancit. Yep, that's right, I am cooking pancit. James likes it too, in fact. I hope he comes home soon, so I could start. I sent him a text message asking him to get some snow peas/mange tout and carrots for the pancit.
Maddy just gave me this crochet snuggly she said I could snuggle to when I am watching telly or something. Very thoughtful :-)

So that's how I have been so far in England. I really need to write emails back to my mates -.- I'll do that after tea. I've only got to read Ninang Ofelia's email, because I don't check my yahoo account often and I feel guilty for not replying as she wrote me the day I was leaving for England.

Ok, well the great wacko is here, so ta-ra for now :-) xx