Return of the Screaming Banshee (is there any other kind?)

16 april 2010

Hey hey hey,

The reason for my lack of blogging this past week, is because I have been in Paris. Which I think sounds a bit understated actually.

I WAS IN PARIS!

Much better. It was a really awesome trip. I went with 2 of my work people, Vincent and Laura. I won't go on too much about the trip but lets just say it was great, with lots of sightseeing. (Of course I can't resist rambling about something so fear not, you'll hear a little about Paris) The nightlife there is very different to the nightlife in Belgium. The bars close at 2am and there are no night shops that stay open past about 11. At least none that we found anyway. Admittedly we were there during the week, so I'm sure it must be at least slightly different on the weekends. Nevertheless, in Belgium the night shops are pretty much open all night, everynight, and the bars seem to have a nap between 6am and midday. So there's always something going on in Belgium. Or at least there is the potential for something to always be happening.

Surprise surprise, I'm very tired this morning. So if this doesn't make too much sense, I plead for your forgiveness. Maybe not plead. Ask in a semi-polite way. Without really listening to hear the response.

Oh, one other thing that was pretty cool. You know the movie Amelie? If you don't, then go watch it, its awesome. In a quirky French way. Well, we kinda semi-accidentally found some of the places where it was filmed. Will try put the pics up on facebook. `
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?ref=profile&id=717053065
Thats my profile if you want to check out the pics, but bare in mind that if you are reading this within the first few days after me writing it, the chances of me having uploaded them are fairly slim. So maybe check again in a few days or something.

I feel I should ramble about something then make an obscure link and start rambling about something else. However, I'm struggling to make the right connections in my brain right now. Sometimes I find this is an advantage with rambling as it means everything you think is at least a little messed up. The problem at this moment is that the connections have kinda stopped altogether. Which is interesting. In a sense.

Ok I'm pretty boring today so I'm going to cut my losses and shut up.

Cheers

First day at Work

23 Feb 2010
My name is James and I've just begun a six month adventure in Belgium. I'm South African but have been living in New Zealand for the past five years of my life. It all started about ten months ago when an afs representitive came to my school to talk about the community service program - a side of afs which is not very well known. This caught my interest as I never really liked the idea of going to school in another country but desperately wanted to travel, particularly in Europe.

So here I am at last, in Belgium (after a few visa issues and a delayed not to mention highly stressful flight). Today is my fourth day in the country and my first day at work. The community service assignment I was given is in an organisation called STAMP Media. It is, in essence, a youth press agency, mainly covering current issues and news from the perspective of young people.

I was a little nervous about today but once I met people and learned about the kind of work I may be doing I felt excited at the prospect of working here. Because it was my first day there was some uncertainty about what exactly I would be doing but it seems that it's fairly flexible. I went out with a couple of my new colleagues to cover a team building exercise involving rope skipping . I was all too aware that I wouldn't be able to do any better than the poor souls attempting some advanced skipping but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm in the face of their glaring ineptitude. The fact that every now and again someone would manage to get themselves completely tangled in the rope or hit themselves over the head with the ends certainly did not still my amusement.

The branch of STAMP Media I am working in is in Antwerp. In fact I have never visited the city before today so it's a day of many firsts. From what I've seen today it's a beautiful city, full of old styled buildings with a massive ancient cathedral (from the 1100's I'm told) which I can see rom the window of my work. Anyway, hopefuly I'll survive here. Only time will tell I guess...