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.

Going to Portugal

4 march 2010
Dutch wasn't too bad yesterday surprisingly. Afterwards most of us met up with the counselors and we went on an hour tour of brussels. Which was good, but really cold. Valerie, Monica, Stephanie and myself split from the group to get some fattening (but highly satisfying) food. Which meant the four of us had to wonder around a bit until we found things. Eventually, we got our greasy burgers. Which were tasty but way to small. On the train back from Brussels this guy started talking to Valerie and me. Yeah... he was definately on something. I think quote of the night was "I wanna be your facebook friend!" which he shouted as Valerie got off at her stop (well, the one after her stop, missed it the first time, which I can definately relate to).

Later on today I'm leaving for Portugal - straight from work, so I've got all my luggage here with me. Decided I would also utilise my computer at work by charging my i-pod on it. I get kind of nervous about that though, because I don't want it to sync as I'll lose all my music. Which would be a problem because it's all back home in NZ. Not really keen on the idea of losing all my music for 6 months... Anyway the reason it scares me is because hen you connect it, i tunes opens. Which is fine, I can deal with that, close it or whatever. But this message comes up and I can't close i-tines unless I deal with it. Which is all good and well you might think, except the message is in French. I really don't want to risk my music collection on my French. Because its really not a good bet to make. Anyway I figured it wouldn't do anything unless I chose an option, so I took the third, unwritten option. I went back to the Firefox browser and ignored the message. Seems to be working. One more thing, why, in Gods name, have they set the i-pod to say "synchronising" when its not??? Quite frankly, it scares the hell out of me. I suspect that they're bluffing to lull me into a false sense of security, then one day, BLAM! music library sychronised. It will be a grim day indeed. I've heard it whispered its an omen of Armageddon. Or at least something of quasi apocolyptic proportions.

The temperature in Portugal is around 15degrees C apparently. Which is an improvement -Bert reckons the temperature is more like 6 degrees C here. I try make a point of walking in the sun when I can, but the sun is so impotent it barely makes a difference.

Considering my imminent departure to Portugal, I probably won't be able to write in this blog for a while - will definately be back on tues (9 march) though. So you guys are lucky enough not to feel obliged reading any of this stuff til then.

ok I'm off now, about to leave,
cheers

Weekend

1 March 2010
The weekend was great. So much for an early night on fri though. Ended up going for a few drinks with the workmates. Met another of Dirks friends - Daan. The three of us ended up going to an Irish bar and playing some pool plus some more drinks which was good. Eventually we went back to Berts and watched some stuff on the tv - Black Books plus some others. Got up late the next day and slowly made my way back home. Onur (one of the volunteers from the dutch group) wanted to go out that evening but i decided not to because for me it would have meant a 3 hour train ride and only getting there around 10/11 at night. Considering how tired I was from the previous night I thought against it. Would've been good to go though...

So I just relaxed at home that night. Dirk and Terry were out so it was just me. Which sounds pretty depressing but it was ok - been so busy lately I don't really have much time to just relax, so it was good. Mom and Dad called for about 2 hours, was really good talking to them and I talked far too much as usual.

Sunday went pretty quickly. May have had something to do with me getting up at 1 in the afternoon... Meant to get all this stuff done but didn't actually do very much - needed to get some things from the shops but forgot everything closes really early on Sundays. So that plan was thwarted. Did get some washing done though. Hooray for for everyday mundane tasks! Terry left for Portugal late that afternoon. Dirk and myself will be leaving for Portugal on thurs after work and getting back sun evening I would tentatively guess (you can tell I'm a great one for remembering these kinds of things...).

Anyway, Dirk and I got chips for dinner and watched Snatch. It was good but I think I still prefer Lock Stock and 2 Smoking barrels. Finished my book the other day. Which sucks. I require another. Just another thing to add to the list of things to do. No idea what I'll get. hmmm....

So here I am, monday morning. No monday is a good monday. That should be put on some kind of family coat of arms. Maybe I'll have some made at some point... It'll have an overzealously loud rooster (is there any other kind??) getting pummelled by a grumpy bear. My motto written underneath. I could become a pioneer in mildly sadistic, semi-satirical coats of arms.

But I digress. Not that I was really saying anything before, it was more of a general digression away from anything....normal. Don't really know what today holds apart from work etc. As with most things, only time will tell.

Really looking forward to seeing my bed again though. We've become pretty close lately.

I should go look for more things to write about so,
bye for now...