Excuse me, I ordered lemonade.

It's simply funny how things are just different in other countries. Not only do I have to bag my groceries at the supermarket (poor little me) but I also have to drink juice out of a carton at a restaurant instead of real fruit juice. This came as a complete shock when I ordered cold lemonade at a pub several weeks ago.

Me: I'll have a glass of cold lemonade, please.
Bartender: Ok.

(A glass of sparkling water arrives)

Me: Excuse me, I ordered lemonade.
Bartender: That's what I got you.
Me: No, this looks like sparkling water.
Bartender: (Looking at me funny) It is lemonade. Taste it.

(Shock -- fake lemonade out of a bottle)

Me: (Still in shock) It is lemonade.

(Bartender giggles and walks away. Not funny, dude.)

Oh, the things you take for granted...

Eyed Park.

The Brits (specially those from the lower-class in London) tend to drop their h when speaking English. They may speak like the Queen with a proper accent, but it kills me when some of them simply do not say their h in words like have, handy, behave, etc.

There's a very big and gorgeous park called Hyde Park (check out the "More London pics and friends" album on facebook). I took Sylvia, one of the service users with learning disabilities, to Hyde Park to go for a stroll, a cup of coffee and to visit Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain. Sylvia kept saying "Eyed Park" instead of "Hyde Park". She kept dropping the h until I had it. We were walking so I stopped in the middle of the walkway and asked her to repeat after me.

Me: "It's not Eyed, it's Hyde" (I aspirated my H a bit harder for her to hear it)
Sylvia: "Eyed"
Me: "No. Listen to me. (I took a deep breath and made my H a bit harder and longer) Hyde"
Sylvia: "Eyed"
Me: "Take your time, Sylvia. Listen carefully, 'Hyde'"
Sylvia: (Taking a deep breath) "H-H-H-Hyde"
Me: Yes!
Sylvia: "Hyde Park".
Me: "Yes, you got it! Now say, 'We are at Hyde Park'"
Sylvia: "We are at Hyde Park!"

Don't you love that feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment? That feeling of pride that is born in your chest and radiates to every cell of your being? That deep breath and the following relieving sigh that makes you fill like you're the best? That is exactly what I felt when I accomplished my goal. But it was short-lived. 10 seconds later, Sylvia says, pointing at the sky:

"Look! An elicopter!"

So much for my little English pronunciation session.

Mahatma...

... is my middle name and I hate it for many reasons. Not only does it make my legal name longer (Luis Junior Mahatma Moya Rojas, good grief, what were my parents thinking by giving me 5 names!) but it is also a very uncommon name and people used to make fun of it. I have always entertained the thought of dropping it but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle.

I went to the bank to open an account here in London and the lady was from India. When she noticed my name was Mahatma, she asked me if it came from Mahatma Ghandi. Yes, I told her and I also told her how my mom read about him in a book and decided to name me after him. I didn't tell her how much I hated the name because I didn't want to sound offensive. Then she told me she was from the same town as Mahatma Ghandi! Cool, I thought. When I told her I was here doing charity work for disabled people, she said it was like really cool that I was doing the same thing my namesake used to do. That's the coolest thing I have ever been told about being named Mahatma.

Funny anecdote.

Sometimes I get asked by people if I'm from the United States here in London and I'm not sure that's a good or a bad thing. Anyhow, I went to the supermarket today and the check-out lady made me feel REALLY American.

(In America you use dollars and cents, but here in the UK people use pounds and pence)

Check-out lady: It's 8 pounds and 20 pence.
Me: I'm sorry, how many cents?
Check-out lady: 20 pence. We don't do cents, we do pence, darling.

We had a good laugh, but it made me feel like such a foreigner. :P

It feels like autum!

Greetings from sunny and chilly London! The weather is changing here. The air is chillier and we're getting fewer sunny days. It has also rained some recently -- not unusual in this city at all -- but it's supposed to be sunny this week.

There is a lot to write about but I don't know where to start. Things are going great here in the UK. I have been doing plenty of volunteer work in the morning and a lot of travelling around London in the evening. Working with people who have learning disabilities is very rewarding but it's a challenge at the same time. One of the service users (meaning one of the persons that the charity supports) got robbed as he was getting off the bus. We had to go to the police station to file a report and I'm glad I was there to help him out. My roomate had a seizure a few weeks ago and I needed to call the ambulance.

So basically I hang out with disabled people. We'll go to a pub or a restaurant or a museum and things like that. It's already been a month and time seems to be going by SO quickly! My roomate and I have a dog I have grown very fond of. His name is Snowy and we enjoy going out for a walk in the park.

Things are very different here in the UK but it feels great to be here right now. I miss my friends back in Lima, but I know the UK is the place to be for the time being. Cheers!

So what's going on?

Greetings from sunny London! It's summer here and it's lovely -- this coming from someone who hates summer!

I have already started my volunteer work after a week of "shadowing" other members of the charity. My job is to pretty much hang out with people who have learning disabilities -- some of them have mild disabilities and some of them have severe disabilities. So my job involves taking them out to a museum or a church, doing touristy stuff and whatnot. I'll briefly describe the people I work with:

Cris: He's my roomate and even though he's got cerebral palsy and epilepsy, he's very independent. He does his own cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. He's planning on moving into an apartment of his own soon. I spend about a couple of hours a day with him talking and hanging out. He was the main person I was gonna work with but it turns out he doesn't really need that much help. So I mainly support the other service users in the area.

Gary: Gary is 25 and a lot of fun. He's got dislexia and stutters a lot. He loves playing pool and going bowling. He just got a CD mixer and he's getting into beat-boxing.

Hymie: He's an older Jewish man who has difficulty communicating. He's a painter and has sold lots of his paintings -- and he makes quite some money!

Peter: Peter has cerebral palsy as well. He's also quite independent but pretty forgetful. He loves museums and he enjoys a boat ride on the Thames.

Sylvia: She's so sweet and loves to talk and visit churches. I'm not sure what her disability is but I have noticed she always repeats what other people say.

All of these folks are great people and they're very aware of who they are, where they are and what's going on around them. HILT (the charity) aims at helping them live on their own, making their own choices with as little help as possible. Your prayers for these people will be eternally appreciated!

I haven't had a major attack of culture shock yet. Things are so different here but I think I'm still in that stage where everything is fun and games. I'm glad I can communicate just fine in English, though. That sure helps a lot! Impressions:

- London is so diverse. More than 200 languages are spoken in this city and there seems to be people from every single country. My neibourhood has lots of Vietanmese and Turkish immigrants, but there are also lots of Polish, Brazilian, Spanish, you name it. There's a wide variety of food also.

- The public transportation system is excellent. Both the buses and the underground/overground are simply fantastic. Everything is very well-organized.

- There is a lot of history here and lots of very old and pretty buildings and churches. London is deft a hot spot for tourism.

I will continue updating as much as I can. Cheers!