A Day in the Life of: ALISHA

My day starts a bit later than Jenny's. I wake up anywhere between 7.45- 8.45, depending on what time I want to arrive. I have flexitime which is a very good thing. Dan and I recently bought bicycles and have become biking commuters! I never thought this would happen to me, but I actually love it. My commute takes 45 minutes and is anything but flat, but it's great having a workout built into the day. I'm kinda over running at the moment. It's also way cheaper than taking the bus, which is rarely a pleasant experience. We don't have a car yet so our lives are pretty different to how they would be. I miss having a car, but also think it's cool not depending on one and being forced to walk/ cycle a lot.


Once I get to work I settle in with a cup of herbal tea or water. Not sure if this happens in America, but British people are obsessed with getting rounds of drinks. If ever you want a drink you have to ask all your colleagues if they want one. I often forget and feel selfish, but happy with my foamy organic fair-trade hot chocolate in hand (not pictured).

Right now has been a busy season (though apparently not as busy as Cristie's!) as I took over for my manager and the festivals season is crazy. My work life is all about liaising with festivals organisers who never get back to me. I think I could describe a music festival as a mix between summer camp and a concert and the state fair. Obviously we have some music festivals in the US but over here they are like a national instituion or something.




Last week I was at Glastonbury Festival (check it out at www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6238128.stm) and basically spent the week completely covered in mud. We camped for 5 nights and I was pretty foul by the end. I don't actually understand why people enjoy camping or would choose to do it for a holiday. Maybe if it were sunny and warm, but inevitably at a British festival it is not.

We saw tons of acts at Glastonbury. Got a bit of a taste of Arcade Fire, The Killers, tons of British teenage 'the' bands such as The View and The Cribs, Amp Fiddler, Seth Lakeman, Damian Rice, Corrine Bailey-Rae, Soil and Pimp Session, and Fat Freddies Drop- a New Zealand dub reggae band that I think Heather would really like. I consumed several pints of strawberry cider too. Yummy.

This year our campaign is called climate changed: let's cut the carbon. Our campaign ask is to the Prime Minister, asking him to ensure UK businesses disclose their full carbon emissions and aim to reduce by 80% by the year 2050. What sets us apart from environmental organizations such as Greenpeace is that our campaign is always framed by people and the link between climate change and poverty. Our stand is that climate change is already happening in the developing world, and the increase is floods and droughts and sporadic rain cycles is causing increased poverty and conflict. So that's my soapbox that I must have spurted from 1,000 times over the festival.

I'm headed up to Scotland next Tuesday for the next festival. It's is definitely an interesting job but quite exhausting!

On normal weeks, Dan and I have been attending Spanish and Arabic classes on Tuesday nights. We were ambitious at the beginning of the year and signed up for both, but I can assure you every time Tuesday came around language class was the last place I wanted to be. But the last lesson was this week. Woo hoo. What will we do with oureselves now?

On Wednesday night we lead a small group in our house. We've been doing this since about September and really enjoy it. Our group is always in flux, but at one stage we had 2 students on an exchange from Minnesota, an American couple from Abilene, Texas, a pair of Brazilians, and a couple true Brits for show. Our latest theme has been on 'Making a Difference' and it have been great to hear what everyone has to say about the topic. We've felt really enriched by this group over the year.

On Thursday's we usually rent an international movie from the library (really cheap). My int'l film repretoire has tripled in the last year. We've gotten really into this Hong Kong director called Wong Kar-Wai. I'll stop now as not to sound too presumptuous!



The rest of the time I'm not sure exactlly what we do. One thing I am known for is baking. Crazy. Here's a sampling of my infamous cupcakes and cookies. We also like to go to the park when it's not raining.

Dan and I are still planning to move to London in September, which we are really excited about!! Plus with Amy here and Jenny visiting, I'll feel like I'm back at home. Birmingham and England have been a completely different world for me, sometimes that's good and sometimes it's hard. But overall I'm really happy. Our marriage is really thriving, which I think is great. Plus we've been forced to trust in God a lot for everything, which is also hard but good.


So that's my day/ life/ etc. Love this sort of thing. Great idea Mrs.Gough.