I've always liked photography and living here has given me so many opportunities to not only take photos but also see photo exhibits. The photos we saw at the Coventry art museum today were very inspiring! Below are three of my favorites from the exhibit.
I had heard that our pension scheme (very similar to 401Ks in the U.S.) at work was good, but hadn’t really considered joining since we’re here on a short-term basis. However, I had my meeting with the financial advisor today and was amazed at how good the plan is, so I signed up. I contribute 6% tax-free and the college matches 14%, for a total contribution each month of 20%! So in other words, £54 is taken out of my paycheck each month and then £234 goes into my pension.
Also, the government pension (what we would call social security) is a 2-part system here. One part has to remain as a government pension, however the other part can be designated into an employer pension. That amount will be £844 for my first year.
So between work contributions and the government contribution, the value of my pension should be quite good by the time I transfer it to my U.S. employer’s 401K. I asked about how difficult that will be to do and he said it just involves a phone call on my end, but lots of paperwork for him :)
An interesting article written by a British BBC reporter living in the States...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6613861.stm
Americans are fairly rare in Birmingham, but of the 200 employees at Newman College there is another one. She introduced herself to me yesterday. Noelle is from California and came here six years ago to do her PhD at the University of Birmingham, now she’s a History professor at Newman. It was quite interesting to talk with her because she commented on how cold it is here (she’s from LA) and I told her I thought it was quite mild :)
Because people in Birmingham don’t come in contact with Americans very often, it always seems to catch them by surprise. I can tell when I’ve lost someone because they get a glazed over look in their eyes and I know they’re completely focusing on the accent and not what I’m saying. It’s quite annoying when I’m trying to answer students’ questions because I often end up having to repeat myself. A common question I get after someone hears me talk is…”you’re not from Birmingham, are you?” For example, I got this question while standing in the line for taxis on Saturday night and the man who asked me thought it quite hilarious to tell my taxi driver that I wanted to be driven to Wisconsin.