Olivia

Hi everybody! Welcome to London! My name’s Olivia. Pleased to meet you!

My surname is Barbieri, which is an Italian name, because my grandparents were from Italy, but I’m English – I’ve always lived in London, because I really like it here. It’s an expensive city, but it has lots to offer. I don’t think I’d like to live anywhere else.

I’m 28, which means I’m a little bit older than most of my friends, and sometimes I think they see me as their mum, or aunt, or older sister - especially because a lot of my friends are a long way from their families. They’re always asking me to help them out with their problems. But I don’t mind this at all. In fact, I quite like it.

I work in a small shop. It doesn’t sound like a very exciting job – but I love it. I own the shop, and we sell shoes. But they’re not ordinary shoes – they’re all special shoes, handmade by craftsmen. We have lots of different kinds of shoes, some very posh ones for parties, and some everyday shoes. But they’re all unusual, “funky” I’d call them! It’s not easy to get shoes like this, so some of them are quite expensive.

Business is good at the moment, but sometimes I get bored of my job, and dream about doing something else – but I’m not sure what else I’d like to do! I really want to start up a website, so I can sell our shoes online, all over the world (and so I can spend less time in my shop!).

What else can I tell you? Well, in my free time I like reading and going to the cinema, going for walks in the park – oh, and I hate sports of any kind!

I really like my life here, I guess because I’ve got so many good friends. We all hang out together in Tony’s café – which is right next door to my shop, fortunately!

And oh, by the way, I have a small nephew, called Joe. He’s five, and he’s a bit of a terror! I often look after him when my sister is busy – so watch out for him.

Sarah

Hello everybody! I’m Sarah Cheung. As you might guess, I’m not English – I’m from China. There are a lot of Chinese people in London now – some of them have been here for a long time, and some of them are quite new here, so I don’t feel lonely. I always have someone I can speak Chinese too, and there are some great restaurants here, so I don’t have to eat English food all the time!

I have some Chinese friends here, but I also have lots of other friends – some from Britain, and some from other places as well (the crowd in Tony’s café!). London is full of people from all over the world.

So, more about me – I’m 26, and I first came to Britain four years ago. I’m from Shanghai originally. I studied fine art in Shanghai, and now I’ve come to London to carry on my studies. It’s a great place to study – there are lots of students here, and some good universities.

Sometimes I get a bit lonely, and I miss my family and friends in China. And London can seem unfriendly at first – it’s difficult to find a nice place to live here, and it’s very expensive.

But there are lots of great galleries and museums here, with classic and contemporary art, so that means lots of opportunities for work. I like it a lot in Europe – now I feel quite divided between the European way of life and the Chinese one.

When I’m not studying, well, I like to visit museums and galleries – you already guessed that! Oh, and I like shopping! Shopping is great here – some really interesting fashion, and great designers. I met my friend Olivia when I went to buy some shoes at her shop – next door to the café. I also write pieces for a website - DimSum.co.uk – about Chinese life in the UK, oh, and I like to hang out with my friends at Tony’s!

Johnny

Hi! Yep, I’m from China too! Hong Kong. My name’s Johnny Chen, very pleased to meet you.

I came to Britain four years ago, I was going to study here, but I didn’t get very far with my studies – there were too many other things to do! And the chance to make lots of money!

I was lucky – I got offered a job with a big Chinese venture capital company here in London, in the bit they call “the City” – it’s the financial centre of Britain, and Europe, and possibly one of the most important in the world right now. I work really hard, sometimes seven days a week, from early in the morning to late at night, and sometimes all night if I have to be on the phone to China...but I love it! The money’s great, obviously, and I love the high pressure of the job. It keeps me going!

So, I work hard, but I play hard too – when I’m not working I’m a sports fanatic. Any kind of sports – anything that involves hitting or kicking a ball, anything that involves running or throwing....naturally, I’m really excited about the Olympics in Beijing – I hope to be able to get back to China to see some of the Games. Mostly, though, it’s football I like. I like to play football with my friends Fadi and Harry here, and I like to watch games too. My favourite team is Manchester City – not a London team at all, but they have Sun Jihai in their team – and he’s from China!

Britain’s ok, but I plan to return to China as soon as I’m rich. In three years time! – that’s what I always tell everyone.

Magda

Hello everybody! My name’s Magda – Magda Gorzynski! That’s quite difficult to pronounce, so everyone just calls me Magda. I’m from Poland, but I’ve been living in London for two years now. I’m trying to improve my English – so I apologise if I make mistakes sometimes, or if I don’t understand you.

I’m here studying architecture, I’m doing a post-graduate degree. I want to become an architect, and design buildings, but it’s quite difficult. I hope I’ll get a job when I finish my studies, so then I can stay in the UK, or perhaps go somewhere else. I’d like to travel a lot, but I haven’t really been anywhere yet – apart from Poland and Britain. Johnny tells me that I should go to China – perhaps I will!

London is great, so many people from all over the world, but it’s very expensive, and money is a problem for me – I’m a poor student! A lot of people here in London only seem to be interested in money. I don’t like that attitude – I think there are more important things in life than money: friendship, for example.

Sometimes I miss my family in Poland, but I’m happy here – I’ve got a great bunch of friends here. Sarah is my best friend – she has lots of the same interests as me, and we often visit museums or go to shows together. Olivia is a good friend as well – she’ll always help when you’ve got a problem! The boys are funny, too.

We always meet up in Tony’s cafè – it’s not far from where I live, so it’s a good place to hang out. The weather in England isn’t great – it rains a lot, so it’s good to have a place inside where we can all be together. Tony makes good coffee, too!

Fadi

Welcome everybody! I’m Fadi. Good to meet you. Yeah, you’re right, “Fadi” isn’t a typical English name - that’s because my family is from Lebanon. I was born there too, but I’ve lived in London ever since I was a kid. Now I think of myself as being both Lebanese and English. Mostly, I’m a Londoner. London is full of people from all over the world, so I fit in perfectly here.

What do I do? Well, ideally, I mean, if the world was perfect, I wouldn’t do very much at all – play football, watch tv, play video games, hang out with my friends, but unfortunately the world isn’t perfect, so I have to work...I work for our family business. We’re suppliers to restaurants, so we import foods from different parts of the world, the Mediterranean and middle east, mostly, and then sell them on to restaurants. It’s ok, not my ideal job, but, well, it’s the family business, so I have to be part of it really! I get to travel quite a bit for my job too, which is ok. I wouldn’t like to be sitting in an office all day.

I love London, like I said, there’s loads going on, people from everywhere, even if the weather here is lousy!

I’m 24 now – my mother keeps on asking me when I’m going to get married, but it’s not going to happen for a few years yet...I think 24 is way too young to marry and besides, there are too many beautiful girls in this city...even if I’m not going out with any of them at the moment!

What else? Not much really...I like nice clothes, nightclubs, Arsenal football club – oh, and hanging out with the people at Tony’s café...!

Harry

Hi all! I’m Harry, pleased to meet you. I’m from London, nowhere else – just London! It’s strange, I’ve lived here all my life, and now most of my friends are people who originally come from somewhere else. You don’t often meet original Londoners anymore! That’s not a problem for me though – I love it. The crowd I hang out with at Tony’s for example, they’re from all over the world really, but once you’re in London, then you’re a Londoner, as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, enough of that – what about me? Well, I’m 23 years old – my friend Olivia keeps on telling me I’m still only a kid, but sometimes I feel old, I tell you! Too much work...

I quite like my job – I’m an IT systems consultant, but sometimes I think I’d like to change. I’m not sure what else I could do though – and IT is a good field to be in, even if you constantly have to keep up with all the changes. Being a consultant means that I’m always working on different projects, which is good, because it never gets boring, but it also means that I never really know if I’m going to have any work when the project I’m working on finishes...so that’s a bit of a downside.

Everyone thinks that I must have lots of money becasue I work with computers – but unfortunately it’s not true! I’m just a technician really. I’m not like my friend Johnny – now he makes tons of money!

What else...well, when I’m not working (or spending too much time in Tony’s café!) I like to go to the gym – I try to work out there at least three times a week, keep myself in trim. Sometimes I have a game of football with the boys too. I’m not a great player, but I enjoy it. I ride my bike around London too – partly because it helps keep me in shape, partly because it’s more ecologically friendly, and just because it’s easier – no worries about traffic jams or parking. I like music a lot – hip hop and r’n’b mostly, but I’ll listen to anything really.

And that’s about it. See you soon!