London blog 17: AMAZING JOB and being an indoor cat

Hallo dear all! 

The summer in the UK is the equivalent to the winter in the UAE: if you blink you missed it. I must've blinked for too long because the summer sale is on its second phase and fall clothes are in the stores. Wow...

Every country seems to have its own painful procedure when it comes to employment. In the UAE it was the visa procedure and obtaining various ID cards, not to mention the alcohol license on which it said: "alcoholic license" as opposed to "alcohol license". Just another testament to the Arabs' disastrous English. 

In the UK this painful procedure is the background screening:

"We need bank statements from 2009 and travel itineraries for all periods when you were unemployed and an explanation for every incoming bank transaction while you were unemployed to ensure you weren't involved in terrorist activities during that time." 

Travel itineraries for when I was unemployed??? I could hardly afford to take the tube when I was unemployed! 

Terrorist activities...? Oh no, I have to account for those now..??? The other banks just put it down as extracurricular activities!!! Seriously...

Yesterday my background check finally cleared and I'm due to start on Monday!!! I am ecstatic and hope this job will be it because it is nothing short of amazing! 

The UAE's common denominator with the UK is the complete lack of professional moral. There is a difference, though: in the UAE people are mean because they're uneducated and stupid. In the UK people are mean because they're mean. 

London is really humid. This, combined with a child lock on my flat windows only allowing me to open the windows five cm and no A/C makes my flat like a steam bath. It's probably for burglar safety, although I don't understand the point of that since I find it hard to get into this building even though I live in it! To get to my flat I have to get through two security doors and and then the door lock is a combination lock in itself and I'm surprised every time I manage to get into my flat. 

Six years in the Middle East left its marks on me: I'm not used to dogs (they're considered dirty in the Arab world), I'm not used to bugs (too hot in the desert), I'm not used to pollen (again, too hot for anything that could cause pollen), and I'm not used to the outdoors:

I decided to venture out to Victoria Park since that's what you're supposed to do in the summer. When I got there some creature wobbled by me and I thought: "Oh I must've gone straight into the petting zoo for pigs!" Then I realised it was just a fat dog...

After 10 minutes in the park I decided that oversized flies, dirt and an overload of pollen ( oh yes, I contracted allergies since my arrival in London) just wasn't for me. I couldn't get back to the air conditioned comfort of Westfield Stratford fast enough. After six years living in Dubai shopping malls, it's no coincidence that Westfield is the biggest shopping mall in Europe...

So I will spend the rest of this week, until I start my new fabulous job, like the indoor cat God intended me to be like, at Reebok and the mall!

Enjoy your summer!

Cecilia