It was Friday night, and the day had not gone well. My client was asking for lots of additional work which was not part of our agreement, but they didn't want to pay for it. By the time we were done talking, I agreed to a few of their requests, and they agreed to pay for some of the others. But it was a stressful discussion, and I was glad the day - and the week - was over.
The minute I opened the door to the restaurant, a smile spread over my face. The smell, the noise, the colorful walls... they all let me know I was back in a place that felt like home.
I travel to London to see my client for a week or two every couple of months. Most of our communication is done via videoconference with offices in the US and London, but we try to get together in person every few months at the corporate headquarters in London. Usually, it's just a few of us from the states, but at least twice a year, it's the whole team.
I started looking for clients that would provide an opportunity for international travel about five years ago. It was prompted by a gift my wife gave me for my 50
th
birthday, although I didn't find out about the gift until a week after my birthday. That's when she told me she didn't want to ruin my birthday dinner with our daughter and a couple of close friends, so, as a gift to me, she waited an entire week before telling me she was leaving me. Wasn't that considerate of her?
Six months earlier, her law firm won a big lawsuit. They had been working really long hours and had been out of town for two weeks preparing for and arguing the case. When the verdict came down, the whole team went out celebrating that night. Apparently, after the group party, she and one of her partners, who were the leads on the case, continued celebrating by themselves. In her bed. After six months, she decided he was a lot more fun than I was, so she left me to live with him.
At the time, my daughter was a year out of college and had just started her own career. She refused to talk to her mother for two months, but she eventually decided she didn't want to lose her forever. She's still not completely happy with her, but at least they're talking.
Since I didn't have any responsibilities at home to anyone but myself, it seemed like a great time to travel internationally for business. I worked on one project that had me travelling to Paris a few times a year and one that allowed me to visit Australia twice. For the past two years, I have been traveling to London. As an American, I
almost
speak the language and am
usually
understood. The first time I referred to Leicester Square as "Lie-chester" square, my co-workers had a good laugh at my expense. (For those of you who don't know, it's pronounced "Lester" square.)
London is a great city to visit - particularly when someone else is paying for it. On the weekends, I like to hit some of the classic tourist spots. I usually rent a flat when I come here. If I'm staying at least a week, it's about the same price as a hotel, but much more like home. A cleaning person comes in twice a week and changes the linens once a week. Having a small kitchen and a living room is so much nicer than one not-so-large hotel room.
On my first trip here, a woman I work with suggested I try a restaurant, and it's become one of my favorites. It's a casual Ramen and noodle bar that has great food. You sit at long tables with people you don't know, which isn't for everyone. But more than once I've met interesting people and had a great conversation with people sitting next to me. I hit the restaurant at least once - and sometimes twice - on every visit. Tonight the place was jammed, though I didn't have to wait to be seated.
I was seated at the end of one of the tables. A guy my age was sitting next to me, with his wife across the table. She smiled at me as I sat down. The waiter came over to ask if I wanted water. When he heard my accent as I simply asked for tap water, he smiled and said, "with lots of ice, right?" Ice seems to be like a delicacy in London. If you order a coke and it comes in a can, the glass might have one ice cube. If you order tap water, there probably won't be any ice at all. Apparently he knew Americans liked ice.
The couple next to me left shortly after I was seated. I ordered edamame and a noodle dish with chicken and shrimp. While I was waiting for my food, the two seats previously occupied by the couple were filled by two young women - about my daughter's age, I figured. The one seated next to me was a thin woman with long, jet-black hair that went halfway down her back. She appeared to have some Asian heritage, but I couldn't see her face too much after she sat down. The woman across from her had red hair and beautiful blue eyes. She looked directly at me and smiled as she sat down, giving a quick, "Hi."
After a couple of minutes of looking at the menu, the redhead looked at me.
"Have you been here before?" she asked.
I nodded. "I have."
"What's good?"
"I've never had anything I didn't like," I said. "The ramen is great, and I've had a number of their noodle dishes. I'm not into curry, but some of my friends say they're also good."
She continued looking at the menu just as the waiter delivered my edamame.
"OOOH, edamame! I LOVE edamame! May I have one, please?" the redhead asked.
"FIONA!" the woman next to me yelled. "You can't ask a stranger to eat their food!"
The redhead - apparently named Fiona - laughed.
"We're not strangers, are we?" Fiona said as she extended her hand. "I'm Fiona, and my boring friend over her is Maya."
I reached across the table and shook Fiona's hand.
"Nice to meet both of you. I'm William. And now that we're not strangers, feel free to have some edamame," I said with a little laugh.
"See, Maya, we're old friends. We always share food."
I laughed at her comment, but Maya shook her head.
"You never fail to amaze me - and to embarrass me," Maya said.
Fiona took one of the edamame pods and smiled. She stared at me as she said, "Sometimes I just like to put the tip in my mouth and roll my tongue around the end before putting more in my mouth."
She then proceeded to do exactly as she described, putting the end of the pod in her mouth and circling it with her tongue. I couldn't believe what she said or what she did, but I didn't take my eyes off of her mouth and her eyes. Maya slapped her forehead. Fiona then placed the full pod in her mouth and made an obvious sucking motion as she sucked the salt off the pod before finally using her teeth to extract the beans. She kept her eyes on me the whole time, smiling when she was done.
"With edamame, you need to use your teeth," she said. "With other things, you need to be more careful."
"Okay," Maya said, "I think it's time for me to leave before you get us thrown out of here."
Fiona threw her head back as she let out the loudest laugh.
"Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, Maya. Just having a little fun."
