this is what happens when...

...i've been home for a week. re-acclimation has been... interesting. my yoga class feels great. my street is as much fun as it has always been. the food is as amazing as i remember and the subway in my City... still runs all night. BUT, there's a whole bunch of shops that are gone and have been replaced by frozen yogurt stores, i can't really afford the food, and i have consistently been getting on the wrong train or the right train going in the wrong direction.

my apartment is the same, except there's a guy named John living in my room rendering me bedless. this is good for my wallet; bad for my sleeping. however, my couch is just as good for sleeping as it is for napping and there is no one sleeping in my tub, which doesn't require i wear sandals to shower, so who can really complain.

i also now have a phone and can meet people spontaneously... in previously undisclosed locations. ahhh, the luxury.

and i've hit the ground running on the job search, which may or may be a good idea. in truth i shouldn't be allowed to speak to professional people yet as i'm still working up to "social" speed, which in New York, is significantly faster than any place in the Souther hemisphere or SE Asia and significantly slower than "work-place" speed. after venturing out of my house to meet with a headhunter, staring at him a number of times with my best deer-in-headlights eyes, AND referring myself in the third person, i managed to get home without embarrassing myself any further except for the fact that i keep bumping into other people on the street with both my body and my bag, most likely because the space allotted to me here suddenly seems so much smaller.

re-entry, successful. re-acclimation... in progress.

this is Cheryl in New York. signing off.

phooooootooooooos...

photos!! nothing even close to chronological order!!

Red goes to London
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606755619241/

London (and more London)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606752019332/

Laos (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and Vientianne)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606752001248/

Cambodia (Phnom Pehn, Siem Reep)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606751789538/

Vietnam (Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Ho Chi Min City)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606751761988/

Thailand (Bangkok, Ko Tao, Chiang Mai, and Bangkok again)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606755039701/

my fantasy...

...involves showering without flip-flops on after taking a long hot bubble bath, then pulling my clothes out of a dresser and getting dressed (without covering every exposed part of my body with either sunscreen or bug-repellent first) in a fancy, strapless dress and putting on shoes that are NOT conducive to walking long distances. then going to a nice Italian restaurant where i can eat a real pizza and drink at least a few glasses of excellent wine before heading home to my very own bed with my own sheets and my own pillow and sleeping until the noise of New York wakes me up.

Sir Dan Pires of... London!

as it turns out, Sir Dan Pires (known to some as the owner of my left arm) is now living in London town and contacted me to tell me so a few days ago. we got together last night for a few drinks and a few laughs at the expense of London food, weather, and subway system (the last only because it doesn't run 24 hours) and made plans to get together (along with Orley and Warren) for dinner tonight.

and while my initial admiration for the London tube has waned, i have a new obsession, namely, London cabs. whoever is in charge of the NYC fleet really should come over here and take a few notes. they look nice. they smell nice. they have four seats (two facing two) and leg room like you only see in business class on Emirates Airlines.

yesterday and today are my tourist days. i am so excited to fly back to New York that i've had to make myself an actual list of things to see here (some of which i don't even really care to see) just to occupy my mind and my time instead of sitting around plotting all the things i will do, wear, and eat when i get back to the City.

and i'm off...

retraction...

i would like to retract my previous comment about the London tube. i mistook London weather for air-conditioned platforms. and while i am thoroughly enjoying the perpetual autumn that is London summer, there is no substitute for a thoroughly air-conditioned subway car a la NYC.

on Wednesday i am flying to Dublin. on Thursday, i am flying back to good ol' NYC. Orley has been keeping me more than busy and i've met loads of really wonderful Orley-friends, at least three of which are moving to New York in the next few months.

the last five months have been amazing, but i am incredibly excited to get back to my City.

more pictures to come when i get back to my own computer in my own apartment, down the hall from my own bed, my nice (clean) clothes, and my own tub.

SE Asia highlights...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52417396@N00/sets/72157606593924639/

London

even though i've never been here before, this place feels like home.

it took me a few hours to realize that even though i feel at home here, to everyone around me (even though i no longer stand out like a sore thumb) i am still just another inconvenient tourist. but that didn't stop me from being so excited to be here as to be a little emotional when i saw western housing tracts as we were landing.

after exiting the behemoth warehouse Thai Airways calls a "plane," i said "hello" to the man at passport control, filled my water bottle for the first time in two months, used the lady's room and threw my tissue in the toilet, and hopped on the tube to Orley's house.

New York's metro ain't got nothin' on the London tube. it has cushioned seats, announcements that you can both hear AND understand, and air-con'd platforms... i repeat: air-con'd platforms. after a bit of a ride, an easy transfer, and a short walk, i arrived at Orley's house, picked up my own personal key, unpacked what is left of my stuff (i've been shedding bits of it for the last week), took a shower, and headed out to meet Orley for lunch.

Orley is as fantastic and friendly and generally wonderful as she's always been. we had a quick lunch and then i walked along the North shore of the Thames river to the Tower bridge and then back on the South shore to the Millennium bridge, had a tiny snooze on the green patch next to St. Paul's, followed by an overpriced cup of tea in Cafe Rouge, and then met Orley and Warren for dinner and drinks (and an amazing chocolate cake from a place that could easily rival Magnolia's) to celebrate a friend's birthday before heading back to their house, blowing up my bed, and passing out with the fervor applied to sleep only by travel-weary backpackers.

today i am doing laundry. i also planned to do some grocery shopping and maybe a little site-seeing in the afternoon, but being the bright young thing i am, i washed everything at once and Orley's poor dryer couldn't handle it, which means everything is now hanging to dry and i am sitting in her apartment in my one pair of clean underpants and my surfing shirt.

but i'm catching up on correspondences, uploading some pictures, reading some good books, and drinking tea, so really, worse things could happen.

another party tonight. a barbecue of sorts. should be fun if i can wrangle some dry clothes. seven days and counting. :)