Claire's Birthday and an Irish Bum

Another week closer to South Africa. This was a hectic week in that we first found out that we would be going to Montreal, Canada. The next day we found out that we are no longer going to Canada at all. So, as it stands now, we are leaving for South Africa on October 19th and returning in early January. Plans could change at any time but that's the plan for now.
Yesterday was Donovan's friend, Claires' birthday. So we went into London to an area called Angel about 3pm and started the festivities at The Winchester bar/club! The night ended at the Old Queen's Head Bar. The area of Angel reminded me very much of Hoboken. It was a lot of fun and a long night including some prayer to the porcelain Gods. Ugh. It was so interesting though because unlike a party in America, in Europe/the UK there is so much more variety. For example, Claire is South African, her boyfriend was Dutch, 2 guys were Italians, 2 more South Africans, 2 Brits, 1 American (that's me!), 1 Australian...all at one party! It makes for good conversation anyway instead of "Hey--where you from? North, Central or South Jersey?" It's like "Hey---where you from? Like in the whole world?"

Here are some pics from the night:



Donovan and Tony:


Claire, Lauren, me and Linda:


Chris and Zoey:


Me and Claire with champagne mojitos (good idea at the time!):


Me and Chris:




On Friday night I worked at the pub. There was this really cute old Irish man who ordered a Guiness and right away, I started asking him about Ireland. It all started out nice. He's been a lorry driver for 25 years (that's truck driver to Americans) and he has a son named Jeffrey. But as the Guinesses' kept coming, Noel (pronounced 'Nole") kept spilling more and more of his secrets. I learned he'd been to prison 5 times (but rest assured...it was all for fighting and stuff like that when he was young...). I learned that his belly button also served as the "mouth" to one of his many body-covering tattoos. Attractive. I learned that the Guiness at our pub was "very strong", that I had a "very nice accent", and when he started to pull his pants down to show me his other tattoos...well, I served some other nice guests. Apparently the rest of the bar staff had seen his ass last weekend so they weren't surprised. Irish people are crazy. I really want to go to Ireland. I got a book from the library on tracking your ancestors so I was thinking I can find my Irish relatives and go pay them a surprise visit!
Oh, and I started reading "Eat Pray Love" (recommended by many including Audra) and am really enjoying it. It's so funny because she goes to Venice and describes it exactly like me and Nat experienced it! Page 105 for anyone who has the book...
Tomorrow I am going into London to meet with Nancy for lunch and do some sightseeing. Have a great week, everyone!

Cheers! And stay sexy, NJ...