Hello From across the pond

[Hee Yon Lee]

Hello friends,

I hope you are well.   It's been a while and I've definitely missed you all.  Things are good on the other side of the Atlantic. It's taken a bit to settle in but I'm finally moved into my apartment and unpacked. I've even had to call the handyman to fix what I hope is my last water leak. 

I live in a small town, population around 50,000, formally called Royal Leamington Spa (Leamington Spa, Leamington or just plain Leam). The river Leam flows through the city and healing spa waters attract many from far and wide including Queen Victoria in the mid 1800s. Hence why they call it Royal.  The high street has many boutiques and restaurants. I've hit some of them, the peri peri chicken place is good, French is quite lovely, there is a good spectrum of Italian including Pizza Hut and Papa John's, and Asian non-Indian is pretty bad. I may be biased there. All in all, it's a quaint town with friendly people and beautiful buildings. On nice weather days, going for a run through the town and surrounding parks highlights it's beauty and poshness. 

It's a 30 min drive on narrow country roads to work.  There are speed cameras everywhere. So far, I've noticed one flash as I drove by. Who knows if and when the ticket will arrive. It will take some time since I'm in a rental car and no one does anything fast here. I just hope there's only one. With that said, I'm getting accustomed to driving on the left. It took a few weeks to get used to sitting on the right side, in fact I find myself still going to get in on the wrong side of the car. If anyone is around, I mumble that I'm American. They just nod and drive away quickly.  I'm actually pretty comfortable with the roundabouts although I occasionally still get into the wrong lane for the turn. It's the downfalls of moving to a country that doesn't require me to have a UK license. So I'm guessing what the rules may be and following the car in front of me. The odd thing is to see people signal right at the roundabout when you know you can clearly only go left. It means that you are getting off at the second or third exit or maybe the fourth (u-turn). Making right turns were pretty nerve racking for starters but I think I got the hang of it.  I'm getting use to my little rental VW Golf too. 

Work is work. It's an adjustment leaving headquarters and working in a factory. For one thing, there are no women's restrooms on my floor. I was told that men are generally dirty and thus the reason for the funky smells near the men's wc. The kitchen is pretty small and generally dirty. It has its own funk so I avoid it fiercely.  We have rat traps too. They are rather large so I'm curious to see if we ever catch one. I think it could fit a medium sized cat. I'm still waiting on my office, the previous occupant finally moved out and they need to smash the desk to get it outside the office. Imagine big desk from the 70's. They built the office walls around the desk!!  I'm also archiving a bunch of files surrounding our area. There are about 500 binders from the last 10 years all over the place. Crazy that they have these just stacked all over the place. 

Anyhow, this is just a bit of my new life - a lot of adjusting, teaching me to be more flexible with change. On the whole, I'm having a great time but I definitely miss home. Please reach out when you have a chance. I'd love to hear from you!

Address below:

Ms Hee Yon Lee

59 Manor House

Avenue Road

Leamington Spa 

CV31 3ND

United Kingdom

Mobile: +44 7825 546 649

It's an iPhone so you can iMessage me for free and we can always FaceTime for free as well. I'm on what'sapp as well using the same number as above. 

I'll update more often, now that I finally have Internet in the home!

Hee Yon