A weekend with strangers, but not for long.

This past weekend (that is wee∙kend), Chris and I had a mission: find some friends. That is not to say we are getting sick of one another (which has some miraculous merits if you think of how much time we've spent together in the last five weeks), but we just need some people. We compiled this group of folks before leaving the states that are friends of friends or maybe sisters of a friend of a friend. Some contacts were a little more stringy than others, meaning it was about 3+ degrees of separation that we had to trace to understand how we “knew” them.

GREAT SCOT
Friday began with a journey north to Tufnell Park via Camden Town for dinner at a pub. We got a later start than we imagined, and it took about an hour to get to the pub (which is completely par for the course in regards to traveling across town). The pub was so lively, mostly people our age who fit the description of Amy Winehouse and Madonna circa 1982. That look is very big here, as is what Chris and I have described as “the butt flap” which is the shortest mini-skirts I have ever seen anyone dare to wear. And they are everywhere. After dinner, which was pretty delicious aside from my poor choice in beer (think Budweiser), we went up to Tufnell Park to find a party. A Portland friend had put me in touch with this woman, Sarah, and we were looking forward to our first “house party”. We got off the tube and tried to pick up a bottle of wine or a few beers at a shop, but they couldn't run our debit cards because we don't have the magic “chip” that euro cardholders have. So, we decide that in light of this news and that our last train is in an hour and a half, we skip the drink and began the epic walk to her place. Not really epic, but a solid 15 minutes deep into the quiet, fabulous neighborhoods. Then we see it, the boxy 1970s development where Sarah lives (Portlanders, think barebones Holst). She says she likes the architecture, but compared to the hot old townhousey surroundings, I think you have squint very hard to get there. Once inside, the group is small and well into the buzz and conversations of the evening. We found Sarah, and she accompanied us around for the hour we were there. She was lovely, but when we were on our own, we felt sort of foolish. Standing soberly having no idea how to approach people. We needed the pocket “networking for dummies” or “how to cut in on a conversation when you've got nothing to say”. Soon, we bundled back up and headed for home. Next time, we'll come earlier and bring a bottle.

EXPAT NIGHT
Night two of establishing friends involved meeting up with a gal that one of Chris' friends recommended meeting. She is a Penn Stater who has been here for seven years. The goal for the night was to find the Penn State football game, and we found it at some bar near Trafalgar Square that oozed with Americans. Here we mingled with lots of PSU alums and made some good connections – a bonus for Chris was that Penn State kicked some booty. We bussed home that night and felt pretty good about the whole thing. Of course, we were a bit concerned with how comfortable chat with Americans came as we don't really want to rely on the expat community too much - there is always that pull to take the “easy way” and stay within your own culture.

BRICK LANE & THE SWEETEST LITTLE FRENCH LADY
After walking three miles+ to get to a farmers' market on sunday morning, our energy was waning, but we had set up a drink with a sister of a friend of a friend for early Sunday evening. We set off, on yet another 1 hour journey to Brick Lane, the infamous curry capital of London. The energy hung in the air in this part of town. People filled the streets, and the crowd had turned noticeably more hipster. We got to the bar, found Natalie with her friend visiting from Ireland for the night. Natalie has a sparkler of a smile. And she is silly and fun. I'm pretty sure that we are going to try and spend as much time with her as possible. She has been in England for 19 years, so we looked very bright eyed and bushy tailed I'm certain. As we spoke, a fantastic soulful woman belted out some tunes. We all decided it was time for a curry and headed out to find a spot. The curry houses are stacked and squeezed in a solid block with solicitors out front trying to offer you the best deal. A free bottle of wine, 20% off, two bottles of wine...we headed into Aladdin's where they will play you a clip of Prince Charles talking about the place, if you request. We had some fantastic food, more good conversation, and headed home very satisfied with our new friend and full bellies.

Okay, enough for now. More adventures to come.