The Lederman Kitchen

I've been working in Ireland for exactly 4 months on Thursday.  These 4 months have flown by and I'm soaking up every minute I can. Working here has been an incredible experience, and I'm so lucky to enjoy my company, co-workers and job. Here is a glimpse of what my days are like. We change seats about once a month, so I now sit by 5 different colleagues  The photo above is where I (used to) sit.  My seat was the open one in the middle.  To my left was Antoine, from France.  Across from him, Mohamed, from Egypt.  Then Letizia from Italy, Saoirse from Ireland and Caroline from Sweden.  It's incredible.  My boss is Dutch and his boss Canadian. My colleagues are from all over Europe and even beyond.  I'm constantly impressed with the number of languages some of them speak and am insanely jealous that probably half of my team speaks at least 2 languages well enough to do business in them. Speaking only English is easily the most e...

I was so excited to spend the weekend with my good friend Becky and her  fiancé , Gar.  Becky and I worked together in Japan for 6 months, and we pretty much spent all of our time together.  When I arrived in Japan, Becky had been there for half a year already and she took me in and showed me everything. One of my favorite photos from Japan, our first trip we took together to Osaka We had a blast together, and I have so, so many great memories from Japan with her that I will never forget. Yep, we're in Japan Fast forward 7 years, and we finally met again.  A few months after living in Dublin, and a 40 minute flight later, I arrived in Manchester to spend a weekend with Becky.  Both a little older, and a little more settled into life. Visiting Becky in Manchester Becky and her soon-to-be husband Gar were lovely hosts.  We spent the first day wandering around downtown Manchester, stopping for a glass of wine here and there.  Our cul...

It's hard to believe that it's only been 100 days since we landed in Dublin.  It's also been about 100 days since my last blog post as Michelle has certainly taken the reins.  Seriously, San Francisco seems like a lifetime ago. Us, in Galway While in no particular order I miss my dog, my family, my friends, warm weather, and all types of food; I can say that I have learned infinitely more in the last 100 days than I would have if I were still back home.  Home will always be the Bay Area, but for the past few months and for several more to come, Michelle and I have been and will continue to try and feel at home here in Dublin.  In California with Morrie  If there is one thing that I know for certain about living abroad is that it does not come without its challenges, but each challenge brings new experiences, memories, and lessons that I imagine will stay with me for the rest of my life. Just a few of my observations: In the first 100 days I h...

I was lucky enough to tag along on another one of Brian's work trips.  This time he had meetings in Eastbourne, England.  It's claim is "the sunniest city in England", and the weather did not disappoint.  The highlight of the trip was our picnic on the hills above Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters Cliffs.  The views were unbelievable, the company, perfect, the weather, pleasant, and the picnic we packed from Marks & Spencers, delish. Walking back to our car the view of Beachy Head was amazing, so we set up the self-timer - a few times.  At this point, it was around 8:45pm, and look how light it was! Take 1 (or was it take 7?) Now we got it It was us and the sheep, enjoying the scenery, and we all had a great evening. We actually arrived the day before and decided to take an early morning flight on Sunday so we could check out the popular beach town Brighton before heading over to Eastbourne for Brian's ...