Liebstagain!

March Marches onwards now, and soon it will be a year since I left a (fantastic) job in the UK in preparation for moving to the USA. I didn't actually emigrate until several months later, due to a couple of months working in television, and a grand farewell tour that took me from London to the Highlands and back. 

But this did get me thinking about where I am now, and what I want to achieve here in the New World. 

Last week I attended a fascinating discussion about arts and culture journalism, hosted at WHYY, Philly's public media channel. At a fundraiser the next day I got the chance to see a view of Philadelphia from the heights of the Comcast Center (and didn't even take a picture for you, sorry). Sometimes expat life can be frustrating and sometimes it just ain't bad!

So I am super excited to say that I'll be starting a new position at an art gallery in the city next week. Philadelphia has a fantastic arts and culture scene so I can't wait to get stuck in, and to meet more of the people involved in making Philly so vibrant and interesting. Maybe sometime soon, I'll be one of them!

Earlier in February, blogger Ari from Vicenarian Stew nominated me for another Liebster. If you recall, I already did one but I thought it'd be fun to answer the questions that Ari set. So here goes…

1. What is one of your favorite quotes?

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON'T DROWN, from Swallows and Amazons. Even as a young child I thought that was hilarious parenting.
 
2. What was the best meal you have ever eaten?   

I've eaten some amazing stuff. Snails, monkfish, ostrich, tripe (really), deep-fried tofu, oyster. One of my favorite meals though was a giant rigatoni (paccheri) dish I had while on honeymoon in Malta.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why? 

 Japan. I've never been to Asia, and I'd love to see this country's contrast between the ultra-modern and the super-traditional. Plus I could visit some of those abandoned theme parks.

4. What do you do for a living, and what would you like to be doing to make a living? 

I'm currently doing photography part-time. What would I like to do? I've always wanted to stay in the creative/cultural sector. I'd love to re-build my career in arts administration and/or communications for non-profits.

5. What do you miss most about your childhood?   

Ceefax and what looked like a really exciting time to be making TV. But we have the internet now, so I'm not complaining.


6. What are five adjectives you would use to describe yourself? 

Tea please, milk no sugar. Okay…

Creative, loyal, intellectual, savvy, witty.

7. What is the number 1 song played on your iPod?   

My most played song in iTunes is Bobby Darin's Beyond the Sea. It was our wedding dance, and it resonated a lot when we were a long-distance couple and couldn't wait to be reunited.

8. If you could be any fictional character, who would you be? 

Hmmmm…I'm not sure I want to be bound by somebody else's story! That's corny, isn't it?

9. What is your favorite joke? 

How many men does it take to tile a bathroom? About three, but it depends how thin you slice them.

10. What accomplishment are you most proud of?   

Doing a Master's while working full-time and attending German and Spanish classes, and having no debt at the end of it.

This week I also pulled together a new CSS template for this blog. If I get it working I'll be pretty proud of that too.

11. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Girls who wear flip-flops that are too small for them. Please don't.

These books, and the others I took out from the local library, were actually overdue (Sorry library, I think you're great)