12 march 2010
Firstly, Grace, if you ever read this, then Happy Birthday!
Ok, so everything I said in my last post about that party, forget it. It's not that it got cancelled or anything like that, I just managed to get most of the details wrong. Only the unimportant details though. Like the date etc. However, I am supposed to be going to a party tonight with Onur, Valerie and Monica. Which should be good. Was feeling a little sick yesterday so hopefully it all works out. Feeling a lot better today though. The party is in Antwerpen, so we're staying at a hostel afterwards to make things easier.
I think if I ever really get the hang of Dutch I'm not going to tell anyone at work. That way they can talk and talk and I'll learn all their secrets. Yeah, thats my grand plan. All I need to do now is learn Dutch....
Really glad I got an i-pod for this trip. Was listening to Vampire Weekend on the way to work, followed by a Perfect Circle. I keep coming up with strange combinations of music but I guess I like the variety. You know, the spice of life and all that.
*yawn*
Looks like everyone in the office went out last night. Some of them are a little manic still... you all know who I'm talking about :p Seem to be in that frenzied state of being completely overtired. It certainly makes work a little.. um... spicey??
I think I'm going to be in need of some serious amounts of caffeine before tonight. Red Bull here I come. Maybe I'll throw some coffee in there as well... you know spice of life ok shut up james.
ITS FRIDAY!!! Always something to be thankful for I guess. On Wed after Dutch we inevitably found a bar - Delirium- over 2000 kinds of beer available there at any given time, and in fact holds the world record for that. Which is AWESOME! My god. Plus it's actually one of the nicer bars I've been to - its decorated with loads of the different beer labels and beer trays. The music was pretty good as well - I mean there were a few blunders but nothing bad enough to spoil it. Not even close. To be honest I'm not sure if highly concentrated amounts of really bad music played for sustained periods of time would stop me going there. I mean it would be offputting sure, but its hard to argue with over 2000 beers. Although if I ever find myself doing so I think its a sure sign to stop drinking.
Dammit all my yawning is making me tear up and now it looks like I've got emotiolitis. Which is a problem because that kinda thing is contagious. I mean I don't want people avoiding me because of a disease I don't actually have. I want people to avoid me for good solid reasons. Like bad body odour, a scary look on my face, a disease I do have. Just to clarify, I don't actually have a disease, just trying to illustrate a point. So calm down already.
I'm pretty much ready for lunch now. It's only 11.20 as I'm writing this but I never have breakfast so I'm a little hungry.
Just went with Emi to get some food. It's Emi's last day so she bought a weird S&M kinda magazine for the office. Yeah, it made the afternoon somewhat different...
Ahh but the day is getting on and I should occupy myself with other things so fare thee well fair creatures. I shall speak to thee once more (at great length no doubt) at a later date
Friday, March 12, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Dutch Lesson 3
10 march 2010
Just got to work. Really feeling the lack of sleep but got to try and survive the day. Here until 12 then off to Dutch. Ok that just changed. Going to get a book which has information on my current article so will leave a bit earlier for that - it's nearish Antwerpen Centraal Station so I'll just do a little detour before going to Brussels. Then I should do my Dutch homework on the train. Cause predictably that didn't happen last night. My eyes ache. Oh the oppression of life.
Can't wait for this weekend, should be good. The party I'm going to is held by ERASMUS students. If that makes any sense to you. If not then from from what I can gather they're a collection of students from elsewhere in Europe. So naturally they're having a massive party. Which is cool because its an open party so the other volunteers and myself can just turn up.
If I've mentioned this before then I apologise, but take the greatest hits of Radiohead (Many thanks to Fergus for getting me this), and Momuments and Melodies by Incubus and put them on a playlist. Randomise songs. So good. Listen to it almost everyday on my train trips. Then I've got a much shorter playlist for variation, with a few of my favourite Simon and Garfunkel, Oasis, The Sick Puppies, Supertramp, Daughtry and The Living End. Oh and Cat Stevens But just a few songs from each. Kind've a strange mix but its good.
I was listening to the new Wolfmother album as well -Cosmic Egg-. I've been trying but I'm not really convinced eh. I mean its good, but no where near as good as their self titled album. In their defence that was an awesome album and hard to follow up. There are plenty of good songs on Cosmic Egg, overall it just doesn't have the same impact - it seems a bit repetitive. But maybe it'll grow on me. It's the kind of music that has a way of doing that so maybe I'll listen to it again in a bit and fall in love with it. But for now I'm not holding my breathe (I mean its dangerous - I could die or pass out or something. I for one don't really aspire to do either of those).
I just drew a crude map of where I'm meant to get this book later on. Ah, speaking of books, I finally went and bought one yesterday - they have a good English fantasy section in a nearby bookstore. Thank god. It's called the Diamond Throne I think (Yes Matt, I've finally started David Eddings :) ) Maybe if I do my homework fast I can read a bit on the train. For some reason don't get motion sick when I read on the train. Unusual but convenient. So I'm not going to complain - for a change.
The article I was meant to write for AFS NZ, which was due 'sometime this week' suddenly became due yesterday. (tues - even in NZ it would still only be wed) Soooo... guess I'll be doing it for next month then. Which is a little annoying because I'd written half of it and now I'll have to start over as the info all relates to now. Or rather the very recent past. Guess I'll just have to modify it a little.
Today has a weird feel to it. Not sure what it is. I'll attribute it to lack of sleep until further notice.
Alright, since yesterdays post was so long I'll stop now.
Bye for now people.
P.S. Aurora, who are you? lol
Just got to work. Really feeling the lack of sleep but got to try and survive the day. Here until 12 then off to Dutch. Ok that just changed. Going to get a book which has information on my current article so will leave a bit earlier for that - it's nearish Antwerpen Centraal Station so I'll just do a little detour before going to Brussels. Then I should do my Dutch homework on the train. Cause predictably that didn't happen last night. My eyes ache. Oh the oppression of life.
Can't wait for this weekend, should be good. The party I'm going to is held by ERASMUS students. If that makes any sense to you. If not then from from what I can gather they're a collection of students from elsewhere in Europe. So naturally they're having a massive party. Which is cool because its an open party so the other volunteers and myself can just turn up.
If I've mentioned this before then I apologise, but take the greatest hits of Radiohead (Many thanks to Fergus for getting me this), and Momuments and Melodies by Incubus and put them on a playlist. Randomise songs. So good. Listen to it almost everyday on my train trips. Then I've got a much shorter playlist for variation, with a few of my favourite Simon and Garfunkel, Oasis, The Sick Puppies, Supertramp, Daughtry and The Living End. Oh and Cat Stevens But just a few songs from each. Kind've a strange mix but its good.
I was listening to the new Wolfmother album as well -Cosmic Egg-. I've been trying but I'm not really convinced eh. I mean its good, but no where near as good as their self titled album. In their defence that was an awesome album and hard to follow up. There are plenty of good songs on Cosmic Egg, overall it just doesn't have the same impact - it seems a bit repetitive. But maybe it'll grow on me. It's the kind of music that has a way of doing that so maybe I'll listen to it again in a bit and fall in love with it. But for now I'm not holding my breathe (I mean its dangerous - I could die or pass out or something. I for one don't really aspire to do either of those).
I just drew a crude map of where I'm meant to get this book later on. Ah, speaking of books, I finally went and bought one yesterday - they have a good English fantasy section in a nearby bookstore. Thank god. It's called the Diamond Throne I think (Yes Matt, I've finally started David Eddings :) ) Maybe if I do my homework fast I can read a bit on the train. For some reason don't get motion sick when I read on the train. Unusual but convenient. So I'm not going to complain - for a change.
The article I was meant to write for AFS NZ, which was due 'sometime this week' suddenly became due yesterday. (tues - even in NZ it would still only be wed) Soooo... guess I'll be doing it for next month then. Which is a little annoying because I'd written half of it and now I'll have to start over as the info all relates to now. Or rather the very recent past. Guess I'll just have to modify it a little.
Today has a weird feel to it. Not sure what it is. I'll attribute it to lack of sleep until further notice.
Alright, since yesterdays post was so long I'll stop now.
Bye for now people.
P.S. Aurora, who are you? lol
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Portugal in Summary
9 march 2010
I'm back! (The exclamation mark gives the wonderful illusion of relentless energy doesn't it?)
Are you guys ready for this? Because I don't think I am. Here it goes...
We arrived back at Brussels airport around 11 last night, which meant we made really good time actually. However. They did something wrong with our luggage, so long story short we only left the airport around 12. We then caught a taxi part of the way home - to Dirks car, then drove ourselves from there. Eventually we got home at 1.20ish. I then had to unpack most of my clothes because a lot of them were wet (will explain further in a bit). Basically what I'm trying to complain about is the fact that I got to bed at 2 last night. Needless to say the morning has been a tad blurry. COFFEE. Although I'm not sure even that will save me now . But hey, I'll give it a go.
Right, back to Portugal. I really enjoyed it overall. We stuck to Lisbon - loads to see there. We did some pretty solid walking, like, over 3 hours a day of fast paced, helter skelter, unrestrained, uncensored, casual meandering... See what I did there? Really threw you off with that last one didn't I? Oh the small joys. The thing about the amount of walking we did, in Lisbon, on the particular days we were there, put simply, is rain. Lots of it. Unrestricted, constant, bone soaking (hehe), sock wetting bloody rain. Having said that, was still really good seeing the sights there. Went to some castle or other. That was really cool. The only thing it lacked was a full armoury... and maybe some dragons (although they'd need to be more around the castle rather than in it - unless they had one tamed/trained which would also be cool). We also saw one of th biggest aquariums in the world. That was awesome. My god. Sun fish. So massive. So ugly. Looked kind of like the the face of the main orc commander in Lord of the Rings:Return of the King. (you know, the one that looks like a mashed potato). Jabba the Hutt also springs to mind. The Sun fish strikes me as the moa of the seaworld; big, slow and probably not all that intelligent. I'm amazed there are any left. Although with a face like that, I'm not sure I'd go hunting it either.
So this week. I've got Dutch tomorrow, or probably more importantly, I have Dutch homework due tomorrow. So I need to do some of that before I collapse into bed tonight. Brought it along to work in case I get inspired on the train ride home (hey, it could happen). Man my brain is clouded right now. More than usual I mean. Just got an email from Winston (AFS NZ) saying I should write something for the newsletter over there by the end of the week. So I guess I need to find time to do that as well. Would be good if I could just do a rough summary of my blog so far but as you probably know by now, I'm not exactly the best at summarising. I'll have to try for some kind of highlights package. Been here about 3 weeks now. In some ways it seems like I've been here much longer and in others it seems like I only just arrived. Tis a strange feeling.
The azerty keyboard is coming much more naturally now, although I guess I'll have to re-adapt upon my return to NZ. Think I've got that compulsive yawning thing. Hopefully I don't have an impending stroke waiting for me. If that makes no sense to you at all, check out my previous posts. Or not. It's your life afterall. Or so one would like to think.... *eerie music with steadily increasing tempo*
Something I figured out is that, if my train is on time in the mornings, then I get to work at like 8.40. Which really isn't that great, but its not really a problem because my train usually runs late. I could seriously do with something to eat. And maybe some more coffee... perhaps a bit later.
I just composed a rhyme. Thought it was a bit random to put it up here though... Just thought I'd let you know. Just in case you were sitting there wondering if I had composed a rhyme or something. I did. Good, glad thats clear. Onto more pressing matters then. Party in Antwerp this weekend? Sounds good to me. Hopefully I can stay at Onurs host brothers place, which will make travelling etc a lot easier, as its in the city itself.
Of course the question you're all asking yourself is, "What did James buy on his trip to Lisbon?" Well, fear not my friends, your desire for knowledge shall be sated. I bought some schoenen. Which are shoes in Dutch. Interesingly enough, if you remove the word 'shoe' from schoenen, you are left with 'cenn' (rearranged of course). Cenn Buie is a character from my favourite books -Robert Jordans Wheel of Time- obviously some kind of a sign. (Not a very nice character actually, so perhaps this isn't the good kind of sign). Yes, like I said, interestingly enough...
I realise I'm writing quite a lot today but I've got to make up for lost time so bear with me - won't be too much more.
Should be hanging with the other volunteers again after Dutch which I'm looking forward to. With any luck I'll even be awake for it. High hopes James, high hopes... but a man can dream. (Actually thats sort of the point, in my state I'm likely to be dreaming pretty soon)
I feel pretty sorry for Dirk, he's got a meeting tonight so it looks like he'll only get home after 10, and he's only had slightly more sleep than me. That's got to suck. Terry is working from home today. So lucky. As for myself I suspect I'll get home around the usual time (7-8ish), have dinner and collapse into bed. With the Dutch homework somewhere in there. Brain is definately deteriorating as the day goes by. Eventually there'll be nothing left but the bits that keep me breathing and my heart pumping. If I'm lucky.
Ok, I'm going to be tired while doing something else now, if you've gotten this far then congratulations! 5 gold stars, and 2 bottlenosed dolphins.
Until tomorrow,
cheers.
P.S avoid puddles at all costs, walking around all day in wet shoes and socks - not cool.
I'm back! (The exclamation mark gives the wonderful illusion of relentless energy doesn't it?)
Are you guys ready for this? Because I don't think I am. Here it goes...
We arrived back at Brussels airport around 11 last night, which meant we made really good time actually. However. They did something wrong with our luggage, so long story short we only left the airport around 12. We then caught a taxi part of the way home - to Dirks car, then drove ourselves from there. Eventually we got home at 1.20ish. I then had to unpack most of my clothes because a lot of them were wet (will explain further in a bit). Basically what I'm trying to complain about is the fact that I got to bed at 2 last night. Needless to say the morning has been a tad blurry. COFFEE. Although I'm not sure even that will save me now . But hey, I'll give it a go.
Right, back to Portugal. I really enjoyed it overall. We stuck to Lisbon - loads to see there. We did some pretty solid walking, like, over 3 hours a day of fast paced, helter skelter, unrestrained, uncensored, casual meandering... See what I did there? Really threw you off with that last one didn't I? Oh the small joys. The thing about the amount of walking we did, in Lisbon, on the particular days we were there, put simply, is rain. Lots of it. Unrestricted, constant, bone soaking (hehe), sock wetting bloody rain. Having said that, was still really good seeing the sights there. Went to some castle or other. That was really cool. The only thing it lacked was a full armoury... and maybe some dragons (although they'd need to be more around the castle rather than in it - unless they had one tamed/trained which would also be cool). We also saw one of th biggest aquariums in the world. That was awesome. My god. Sun fish. So massive. So ugly. Looked kind of like the the face of the main orc commander in Lord of the Rings:Return of the King. (you know, the one that looks like a mashed potato). Jabba the Hutt also springs to mind. The Sun fish strikes me as the moa of the seaworld; big, slow and probably not all that intelligent. I'm amazed there are any left. Although with a face like that, I'm not sure I'd go hunting it either.
So this week. I've got Dutch tomorrow, or probably more importantly, I have Dutch homework due tomorrow. So I need to do some of that before I collapse into bed tonight. Brought it along to work in case I get inspired on the train ride home (hey, it could happen). Man my brain is clouded right now. More than usual I mean. Just got an email from Winston (AFS NZ) saying I should write something for the newsletter over there by the end of the week. So I guess I need to find time to do that as well. Would be good if I could just do a rough summary of my blog so far but as you probably know by now, I'm not exactly the best at summarising. I'll have to try for some kind of highlights package. Been here about 3 weeks now. In some ways it seems like I've been here much longer and in others it seems like I only just arrived. Tis a strange feeling.
The azerty keyboard is coming much more naturally now, although I guess I'll have to re-adapt upon my return to NZ. Think I've got that compulsive yawning thing. Hopefully I don't have an impending stroke waiting for me. If that makes no sense to you at all, check out my previous posts. Or not. It's your life afterall. Or so one would like to think.... *eerie music with steadily increasing tempo*
Something I figured out is that, if my train is on time in the mornings, then I get to work at like 8.40. Which really isn't that great, but its not really a problem because my train usually runs late. I could seriously do with something to eat. And maybe some more coffee... perhaps a bit later.
I just composed a rhyme. Thought it was a bit random to put it up here though... Just thought I'd let you know. Just in case you were sitting there wondering if I had composed a rhyme or something. I did. Good, glad thats clear. Onto more pressing matters then. Party in Antwerp this weekend? Sounds good to me. Hopefully I can stay at Onurs host brothers place, which will make travelling etc a lot easier, as its in the city itself.
Of course the question you're all asking yourself is, "What did James buy on his trip to Lisbon?" Well, fear not my friends, your desire for knowledge shall be sated. I bought some schoenen. Which are shoes in Dutch. Interesingly enough, if you remove the word 'shoe' from schoenen, you are left with 'cenn' (rearranged of course). Cenn Buie is a character from my favourite books -Robert Jordans Wheel of Time- obviously some kind of a sign. (Not a very nice character actually, so perhaps this isn't the good kind of sign). Yes, like I said, interestingly enough...
I realise I'm writing quite a lot today but I've got to make up for lost time so bear with me - won't be too much more.
Should be hanging with the other volunteers again after Dutch which I'm looking forward to. With any luck I'll even be awake for it. High hopes James, high hopes... but a man can dream. (Actually thats sort of the point, in my state I'm likely to be dreaming pretty soon)
I feel pretty sorry for Dirk, he's got a meeting tonight so it looks like he'll only get home after 10, and he's only had slightly more sleep than me. That's got to suck. Terry is working from home today. So lucky. As for myself I suspect I'll get home around the usual time (7-8ish), have dinner and collapse into bed. With the Dutch homework somewhere in there. Brain is definately deteriorating as the day goes by. Eventually there'll be nothing left but the bits that keep me breathing and my heart pumping. If I'm lucky.
Ok, I'm going to be tired while doing something else now, if you've gotten this far then congratulations! 5 gold stars, and 2 bottlenosed dolphins.
Until tomorrow,
cheers.
P.S avoid puddles at all costs, walking around all day in wet shoes and socks - not cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
