7 april 2010
The rest of the day/night on fri was awesome. Lots of cool people, live band at the pub, elaborate air drum solos from me (drinking may have been involved) and just generally an awesome night. Had to get to Ghent later on though so I left Berts couch relatively early, all things considered, and made my way home to make preparations. Arrived in Ghent early evening and met Monica, Valerie and Aayran there. That night we stayed at Aayran's counselors house which was cool. He took us to this Latina dancing place. Which to be fair had a good atmostphere etc, and I really enjoyed it. Needless to say, my hips didn't feel like partially dislocating themselves every two seconds so I refrained from dancing. (Yeah thats the reason, I was worried about the health of my body...). I mean, my normal dancing is bad enough without bringing actual dance moves into the equation. But I did take lots of pictures of creepy old guys dancing with the girls... hehe.
Later on that night me and Monica went to forage for food. Which proved to be very fruitful. It was a little Kebab place near the dance place. The fact that I used a capitol k for the Kebab should tell you a lot about my feelings for it. It was love at first site. For the first and second Kebab. And the chips. *gazes off into the distance in a reminiscing kind of way* Seriously it was awesome. If you're ever in Ghent centre, find a place called "Thats Kebab" and eat there. Admittedly, it was also the most expensive Kebab I've come across here - €5 for a normal Kebab. Still. Totally worth it. The remainder of the night mostly pales in comparison to the Kebab, although there was an interesting incident of Aaryan jumping inside some guys egg suite that he had made for Easter. While the guy was still in it. Crazy woman. But then hey, is there any other kind????? I can feel the look you females are giving me right now. Its the kind of fear that goes along with knowing that no matter how hard you try, you'll never quite be able to effectively return that look (or even have a manly equivalent other than laughing mischieveously/nervously)
The next day we all had Turkish pizzas. Wow. Very impressed. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the place we got them from so as much as I would like to there'll be no free advertising (to my pulsing hordes of readers) for them. Just go to Ghent and try a bunch of Turkish places and if you like it then you just give me the credit. If you don't like it... then you've obviously just gone to the wrong place and it's entirely your fault.
And then there were three....
That is, Monica, Valerie and myself. The others went off to give the fairies a good talking to. We went and checked into out hotel, which was pretty cool. The usual knobs and goblins etc. We went out and searched for food, possibly traversing every side road in all of bloody Ghent. However, we did eventually find a really nice place that wasn't too pricey. The name of the place, wait for it.... was... Twilight. But to the credit of the staff they didn't try and drink my blood, they were actually good, and most importantly they didn't act like a bunch of stupid hysterical school girls with the intellectual capacity of a limp banana. Which I felt was nice. I had an awesome 300g steak. Easily the best meal I've had at a restaurant here. Nice and bloody...hmmm... (insert twilight reference here). Pancakes for dessert. Need I say more? Probably not. Will that stop me? Unlikely. They gave us these bowls of different sugars to distribute as we saw fit, which is nice because so often people skimp on the sugar and don't give you any extra to lather your pancake in. And boy do I like a good lathering.
The next day we did some touristy meandering (Easter Monday). Things were open; which was good. We went to a castle near the centre. It was like a dream come true. They had a room full of really old weaponary with descriptions of their origins, how they were used etc. Plus suits of armour. I want that stuff so badly. Honestly, if I suddenly had massive amounts of money that armoury would be one of the first things on my agenda. They had some of the old torture devices in another room. It made me strangely happy. They had the thumbscrews and all that kind of stuff (read, James can't remember the names).
Eventually we went home.
Yesterday it was back to work. The day was fairly uneventful - there's a media camp here at the moment so me and most of the interns had to shift over to Stefans room to escape the masses. After work we grabbed some drinks and went down to the river Schelde. Was a really good day - clear skies and 17 degrees C. I was in my T- shirt most of the time. Crazy stuff eh. Anyway so, Stefan invited a few of us to stay the night at his so the night could continue. Which it duly did. We all went and got dinner - also a Turkish place, really good. Most of us made our way to the couch when we got to his place and we watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Liked it even more the second time as I vaguely knew what was happening this time. Most people went to bed or fell asleep on the couch. Gladiator was eventually put on, and it was hard to sleep when a pat of me wanted to rewatch it so much. Made it fairly far into the movie though.
This morning we all staggered into work. The camp is still on today and tomorrow so we are still displaced. So tired. I mean there's a good reason I shower in the mornings. That waking up thing people keep talking about. Even with a shower I'm not sure I ever really accomplish being entirely wakeful. But feeeling particularly dead now. Don't know how I'm going to make it through the 3 hours of Dutch today. Have to leave in 20 mins actually.
No random wonderings today, for better or for worse. My brain simply cannot function well enough. Off to Dutch. See you
Showing posts with label Dutch lesson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dutch lesson. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The mostly random thoughts of the day
24 march 2010
I've been listening to Muse's new album so I can enjoy Werchter as much as possible. I think I've mentioned before that they kinda changed their style a lot in their latest album. I admit I was initially a little apprehensive, but its really growing on me. Maybe my subconscious is making me like it more because I want to like it more. I mean it's always a possibility. For whatever reason, I now think its a great album - when most bands change a bit they usually do it so they can appeal more to the masses etc, but this feels more like just a different perspective on art. Now I sound like a pretencious idiot who tries to over-intellectualise everything. But hey, there are worse things. I mean there are serial killers out there people. Lets remember that whenever you think I'm saying something particularly snobbish.
My big conundrum for today is whether I should go to Dutch today. The reason I'm contemplating not going is because my throat is pretty sore, as I may have mentioned yesterday, and I'm coughing a fair amount. The main issue being that speaking is a rather large part of the lessons and I don't really fancy saying the guttural words with my throat the way it is. However that also means I wouldn't get to see the other volunteers. So a conundrum indeed. We shall see. I will probably end up making my decision on the spur of the moment as I'm about to get on the train.
New Zealand, get a new flag. I mean I used to think that people who were behind the idea of a new flag were being a bit silly. I mean, there are more important issues right? Where I work, there's a big Australian flag on a mast on the building across from us. Now, they look almost the same. Thats not new. We bitch and moan about being called Australians by half the world, but can't be bothered getting a flag which looks vaguely different. Plus, whenever the flag issue comes up, the government always deflects the issue by saying it costs too much, plus more important things to attend to. But its getting to the point where the time government is wasting on trying to push the issue away is getting so large that they may as well just change the flag and shut people up, so they can finally put it to rest (until we find something else to complain about of course, likely the colour of the flag) and get on with all the 'important issues' of ruling the government. Like objecting to bills for no good reason other than the fact that you're part of the opposition. Politics. Gotta love it. In all its pompous glory (there's some debate about that last word I used there but try think of it more as gloriously pompous).
AHhhhHHhhhHHHHhHHHHHH I scream at life.
Not sure why I'm screaming but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Its a good, shrill, womanly shriek as well. None of that manly stuff that's so fashionable these days. Man I'm really in the mood for making peculiar noises. But I'm trying to restrain myself because making the sound of a cat caught in a chainsaw crossed with a burning bird would probably not go unnoticed in the quiet office I'm in right now. I'd be lucky to get out of the office without a straitjacket. Although it would make a very good story for my family and friends back home. Although if I went through with it I'd probably be seeing the people in NZ a bit sooner than anticipated.
I'm really tired today, can barely keep my eyes open. Which is strange cause I had a reasonable amount of sleep - I even had breakfast this morning. Crazy eh. I mean no one knows what I'm going to do next... I'll be robbing banks next. Then I can buy loads of breakfast. I probably won't though. Will be far too busy doing other important things. Like running from the police etc. That would inconvenience me a lot really. I mean I'd probably have to dye my hair, ridiculously blonde doesn't exactly blend in, and I really don't want to dye my hair. Thus the banks are safe for now. Probably.
GOODBYE
I've been listening to Muse's new album so I can enjoy Werchter as much as possible. I think I've mentioned before that they kinda changed their style a lot in their latest album. I admit I was initially a little apprehensive, but its really growing on me. Maybe my subconscious is making me like it more because I want to like it more. I mean it's always a possibility. For whatever reason, I now think its a great album - when most bands change a bit they usually do it so they can appeal more to the masses etc, but this feels more like just a different perspective on art. Now I sound like a pretencious idiot who tries to over-intellectualise everything. But hey, there are worse things. I mean there are serial killers out there people. Lets remember that whenever you think I'm saying something particularly snobbish.
My big conundrum for today is whether I should go to Dutch today. The reason I'm contemplating not going is because my throat is pretty sore, as I may have mentioned yesterday, and I'm coughing a fair amount. The main issue being that speaking is a rather large part of the lessons and I don't really fancy saying the guttural words with my throat the way it is. However that also means I wouldn't get to see the other volunteers. So a conundrum indeed. We shall see. I will probably end up making my decision on the spur of the moment as I'm about to get on the train.
New Zealand, get a new flag. I mean I used to think that people who were behind the idea of a new flag were being a bit silly. I mean, there are more important issues right? Where I work, there's a big Australian flag on a mast on the building across from us. Now, they look almost the same. Thats not new. We bitch and moan about being called Australians by half the world, but can't be bothered getting a flag which looks vaguely different. Plus, whenever the flag issue comes up, the government always deflects the issue by saying it costs too much, plus more important things to attend to. But its getting to the point where the time government is wasting on trying to push the issue away is getting so large that they may as well just change the flag and shut people up, so they can finally put it to rest (until we find something else to complain about of course, likely the colour of the flag) and get on with all the 'important issues' of ruling the government. Like objecting to bills for no good reason other than the fact that you're part of the opposition. Politics. Gotta love it. In all its pompous glory (there's some debate about that last word I used there but try think of it more as gloriously pompous).
AHhhhHHhhhHHHHhHHHHHH I scream at life.
Not sure why I'm screaming but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Its a good, shrill, womanly shriek as well. None of that manly stuff that's so fashionable these days. Man I'm really in the mood for making peculiar noises. But I'm trying to restrain myself because making the sound of a cat caught in a chainsaw crossed with a burning bird would probably not go unnoticed in the quiet office I'm in right now. I'd be lucky to get out of the office without a straitjacket. Although it would make a very good story for my family and friends back home. Although if I went through with it I'd probably be seeing the people in NZ a bit sooner than anticipated.
I'm really tired today, can barely keep my eyes open. Which is strange cause I had a reasonable amount of sleep - I even had breakfast this morning. Crazy eh. I mean no one knows what I'm going to do next... I'll be robbing banks next. Then I can buy loads of breakfast. I probably won't though. Will be far too busy doing other important things. Like running from the police etc. That would inconvenience me a lot really. I mean I'd probably have to dye my hair, ridiculously blonde doesn't exactly blend in, and I really don't want to dye my hair. Thus the banks are safe for now. Probably.
GOODBYE
Thursday, March 18, 2010
St Patricks Day: the morning after
18 march 2010
So about that gutter I mentioned yesterday....
So yesterday I went off to Dutch, which was fairly run of the mill. Although I've noticed our class members are steadily decreasing. I think there's some morbidly obese chick who eats the occasional one when they're too slow to evade her grasping sausage fingers. We went for the traditional post-pain drinks at Delirium. I don't think a place could be more magical short of prancing pixies, frolicking fairies and possibly Gandalf himself. That old tease. I had decided to go see the STAMP media crew for drinks in Antwerp afterwards so once chilling with the AFS/EVS volunteers was done I made my grand return to the great and glorious city of Antwerp.
There's an Irish pub within 30 sec walking distance from work so that was the chosen hang out. Now remember, it was St Patricks Day, so it was packed. The pub did a lot of business last night. The staff there were actually pretty incredible- they would carry stacks of used glasses which started at their waist and ending midway up their heads (hope that kind of makes sense).This was pretty intense because they would just hold the stack with the one hand, then navigate a jostling crowd, and without dropping or breaking anything. It was an acrobatic feat. I mean for most of us it was all we could do to avoid spilling our drinks (and we mostly failed at that as well). They had some dude dressed up as a Leprechaun playing live music. Have to give him credit, he started off pretty well, but as Leprechauns are notorious drinkers (I mean duh, they're Irish)... well let's just say his music steadily went downhill. By that point not many people cared though. He seemed to know a lot of songs, unfortunately he didn't always know the entire song too well, resulting in a fairly bastardised hotel california amongst other things. It was entertaining nevertheless.
Later on, Bert, some of the other guys and myself took a walk to a cafe to play some pool. I can't remember what it was called, but something to do with broomsticks or witches or some such. Which makes sense when you go inside - every spot of wall or ceiling was covered in witches flying on broomsticks, giant hairy spiders and some other mildy spooky stuff. Oh yes, cobwebs, let's not forget the cobwebs. Me and Bert went back to his after and watched some Green Wing... random bloody show. Then I crashed on the couch for a solid few hours sleep before heading back to work.
So here I am, probably looking slightly worse for the wear. Not too bad though - me being sick the last few days stopped me from drinking much at all, which I guess I'm a little thankful for this morning. Certainly made getting up easier. I suspect I don't smell that great right now but I can live with that for now. The question is whether the others can live with it... Only time will tell. One of the co-workers is still missing in action after last night so I'm guessing she's got some stories to tell. We eagerly wait her arrival. She has to turn up at some point - all of her stuff is here at work, including cell phone, bag, and laptop. Not exactly the kind of things one can shrug off losing.
Oh yes, one more thing... I GOT A TICKET TO WERCHTER!!!
Man I'm excited. So many cool bands are gonna be there; Pearl Jam, Muse, Wolfmother, Rise Against, Jack Johnson, Greenday, Rammstein and Them Crooked Vultures. Loads of other big names which aren't my usual listening taste but it's impressive they're going anyway e.g. Pink, Corinne Bailey Rae, Arcade Fire (I know of them but never heard their music so really can't comment on whether they're my taste or not), Alice in Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars and Paramore. AND there are still 20 more names to be announced. Its basically one massive musical orgy. And I'm going to be there to enjoy every juicy second. Am I going to be near dead by the end of the four days? Hell yeah! But I have a feeling its going to be more than worth it. Now all I need to do is manage not to be sick or motally wounded just prior to the event. If that happens afterwards thats fine, but I need to be in my prime when I go to Werchter. You know, my hair's got to be perfect etc. Cause thats what happens at four day rock festivals. Pretty much a fashion event these days...
Ahem.
Took a little break from blogging and now its 15:49 and our missing in action chick still hasn't made an appearance so I'm thinking she's going to try hold out until tomorrow to get her stuff back.
My brain is MElTing. Seriously.
I'm gonna focus on staying awake now,
bye for now...
So about that gutter I mentioned yesterday....
So yesterday I went off to Dutch, which was fairly run of the mill. Although I've noticed our class members are steadily decreasing. I think there's some morbidly obese chick who eats the occasional one when they're too slow to evade her grasping sausage fingers. We went for the traditional post-pain drinks at Delirium. I don't think a place could be more magical short of prancing pixies, frolicking fairies and possibly Gandalf himself. That old tease. I had decided to go see the STAMP media crew for drinks in Antwerp afterwards so once chilling with the AFS/EVS volunteers was done I made my grand return to the great and glorious city of Antwerp.
There's an Irish pub within 30 sec walking distance from work so that was the chosen hang out. Now remember, it was St Patricks Day, so it was packed. The pub did a lot of business last night. The staff there were actually pretty incredible- they would carry stacks of used glasses which started at their waist and ending midway up their heads (hope that kind of makes sense).This was pretty intense because they would just hold the stack with the one hand, then navigate a jostling crowd, and without dropping or breaking anything. It was an acrobatic feat. I mean for most of us it was all we could do to avoid spilling our drinks (and we mostly failed at that as well). They had some dude dressed up as a Leprechaun playing live music. Have to give him credit, he started off pretty well, but as Leprechauns are notorious drinkers (I mean duh, they're Irish)... well let's just say his music steadily went downhill. By that point not many people cared though. He seemed to know a lot of songs, unfortunately he didn't always know the entire song too well, resulting in a fairly bastardised hotel california amongst other things. It was entertaining nevertheless.
Later on, Bert, some of the other guys and myself took a walk to a cafe to play some pool. I can't remember what it was called, but something to do with broomsticks or witches or some such. Which makes sense when you go inside - every spot of wall or ceiling was covered in witches flying on broomsticks, giant hairy spiders and some other mildy spooky stuff. Oh yes, cobwebs, let's not forget the cobwebs. Me and Bert went back to his after and watched some Green Wing... random bloody show. Then I crashed on the couch for a solid few hours sleep before heading back to work.
So here I am, probably looking slightly worse for the wear. Not too bad though - me being sick the last few days stopped me from drinking much at all, which I guess I'm a little thankful for this morning. Certainly made getting up easier. I suspect I don't smell that great right now but I can live with that for now. The question is whether the others can live with it... Only time will tell. One of the co-workers is still missing in action after last night so I'm guessing she's got some stories to tell. We eagerly wait her arrival. She has to turn up at some point - all of her stuff is here at work, including cell phone, bag, and laptop. Not exactly the kind of things one can shrug off losing.
Oh yes, one more thing... I GOT A TICKET TO WERCHTER!!!
Man I'm excited. So many cool bands are gonna be there; Pearl Jam, Muse, Wolfmother, Rise Against, Jack Johnson, Greenday, Rammstein and Them Crooked Vultures. Loads of other big names which aren't my usual listening taste but it's impressive they're going anyway e.g. Pink, Corinne Bailey Rae, Arcade Fire (I know of them but never heard their music so really can't comment on whether they're my taste or not), Alice in Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars and Paramore. AND there are still 20 more names to be announced. Its basically one massive musical orgy. And I'm going to be there to enjoy every juicy second. Am I going to be near dead by the end of the four days? Hell yeah! But I have a feeling its going to be more than worth it. Now all I need to do is manage not to be sick or motally wounded just prior to the event. If that happens afterwards thats fine, but I need to be in my prime when I go to Werchter. You know, my hair's got to be perfect etc. Cause thats what happens at four day rock festivals. Pretty much a fashion event these days...
Ahem.
Took a little break from blogging and now its 15:49 and our missing in action chick still hasn't made an appearance so I'm thinking she's going to try hold out until tomorrow to get her stuff back.
My brain is MElTing. Seriously.
I'm gonna focus on staying awake now,
bye for now...
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.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Dutch lesson take 2
3 march 2010
So, plans for the day... Here at work until about 12, then off to Antwerp Centraal Station. All going according to plan I'll catch the right train to Brussels. After that I've got a schedualed appointement getting lost in Brussels, and if I can overcome that obstacle I shall be rewarded with 3 hours of Dutch. :D I'm so enthusiastic its painful. Ok probably more painful than anything else. After the lesson I think we're all going out with some of our counselors. Apparently. Hmmm must check what time the last train to turnhout is. It seems likely that I will forget to do this. Really wish I could fall asleep on the morning train but never can. Everyone else seems to be able to.
When I got off the train at Antwerp today I had my headphones in- listening to my i-pod. So this guy comes up to me, (sound like Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore there) the only person in sight wearing headphones, and starts asking me for directions. Why he chose me of all people, I will never know. Perhaps he enjoyed the idea that by talking to me I'd be more inconvenienced than anyone else. The funny thing is, what he wanted to know "where platform 23 was." Now if you've ever been to Antwerp Centraal, you'll know there are loads of signs everywhere pointing to the relevent platforms. Anyway, I pointed vaguely in what I thought was the right direction. He took off before I could say anything else. It was then that I realised that I had in fact pointed him in the wrong direction. So I did what every good person would do and made a hurried exit towards the Metro hoping I'd be gone when he figured it out. I did inadvertently point him towards the sign that told him where platform 23 was, so hopefully that appeases my karma. Hopefully it also teaches him to read the signs. You know, rather teach a man to fish than give him a fish and all that stuff. Of course that was exactly what I was thinking as I fled the scene... Hehe, more like idly wondering how long he would wonder around the station before he found his platform.
Really cold this morning. But sunny at least. Although the sun is more of an ornamental thing right now. At Dirks prompting I've been trying to think of some social differences between Belgium and NZ. It's a little difficult thinking of them off the top of your head though. However, a few things I have noticed: It seems like pretty much everyone here carries a hankerchief; whereas in NZ not many people do at all, and if they do they're usually of the ancient generation. (If anyone other than the ancients in NZ read this then let it be noted that I said usually of the ancient generation, not always.) I've had relatively limited experience going into other peoples houses in Belgium, but here it seems that no one really takes off their shoes when they go inside. Which suits me just fine, people who know me know I like keepng my shoes on. For some reason, the more and more I read that last sentence, the more it sounds like an innuendo. For a change it really isn't.
Take away pizza is pretty expensive here. My pizza cost the equivalent of 20NZD whereas the more expensive places in NZ are more like 16NZD for the more expensive pizzas. Alcohol on the other hand is much cheaper - people in NZ would go crazy if they saw some of the prices. Gluwein is about half price here compared to back home and yesterday I saw a promotion which included a big bottle of jagermeister plus 4 shot glasses, all for the price of 26NZD. Now I'm not 100% sure but I think in NZ you'll pay around that for a smaller bottle. I should really get some sometime.
I wonder if there's such a thing as compulsive yawning. Its random enough to be a disease. I'll google it and see....
Yup it exists, often as a symptom for something else though... like brain stem stroke... good thing its one of those light hearted compulsions then... (google failed to find me any light hearted compulsions but they definately exist... like a compusion to point at humoursly shaped clouds or something)
If I was a language teacher I would really pity my students. Because it would be far too tempting to mess around with them. Just some subtle stuff. I'd teach it mostly right; but then I'd teach them to say something stupid and use it as a greeting. Like "Pottery is the epitomy of excellence." Which would be so worth it to see them deliver that line to a confused stranger, while maintaining the nervous grin of someone who's meeting someone for the first time and has some minor doubts about the pronounciation of his words. No. I definately should not be a language teacher. Although lets be honest, knowing only English, the chances of that happening are fairly slim anyway.
Alright, off to Brussels in a bit.
Cheers
So, plans for the day... Here at work until about 12, then off to Antwerp Centraal Station. All going according to plan I'll catch the right train to Brussels. After that I've got a schedualed appointement getting lost in Brussels, and if I can overcome that obstacle I shall be rewarded with 3 hours of Dutch. :D I'm so enthusiastic its painful. Ok probably more painful than anything else. After the lesson I think we're all going out with some of our counselors. Apparently. Hmmm must check what time the last train to turnhout is. It seems likely that I will forget to do this. Really wish I could fall asleep on the morning train but never can. Everyone else seems to be able to.
When I got off the train at Antwerp today I had my headphones in- listening to my i-pod. So this guy comes up to me, (sound like Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore there) the only person in sight wearing headphones, and starts asking me for directions. Why he chose me of all people, I will never know. Perhaps he enjoyed the idea that by talking to me I'd be more inconvenienced than anyone else. The funny thing is, what he wanted to know "where platform 23 was." Now if you've ever been to Antwerp Centraal, you'll know there are loads of signs everywhere pointing to the relevent platforms. Anyway, I pointed vaguely in what I thought was the right direction. He took off before I could say anything else. It was then that I realised that I had in fact pointed him in the wrong direction. So I did what every good person would do and made a hurried exit towards the Metro hoping I'd be gone when he figured it out. I did inadvertently point him towards the sign that told him where platform 23 was, so hopefully that appeases my karma. Hopefully it also teaches him to read the signs. You know, rather teach a man to fish than give him a fish and all that stuff. Of course that was exactly what I was thinking as I fled the scene... Hehe, more like idly wondering how long he would wonder around the station before he found his platform.
Really cold this morning. But sunny at least. Although the sun is more of an ornamental thing right now. At Dirks prompting I've been trying to think of some social differences between Belgium and NZ. It's a little difficult thinking of them off the top of your head though. However, a few things I have noticed: It seems like pretty much everyone here carries a hankerchief; whereas in NZ not many people do at all, and if they do they're usually of the ancient generation. (If anyone other than the ancients in NZ read this then let it be noted that I said usually of the ancient generation, not always.) I've had relatively limited experience going into other peoples houses in Belgium, but here it seems that no one really takes off their shoes when they go inside. Which suits me just fine, people who know me know I like keepng my shoes on. For some reason, the more and more I read that last sentence, the more it sounds like an innuendo. For a change it really isn't.
Take away pizza is pretty expensive here. My pizza cost the equivalent of 20NZD whereas the more expensive places in NZ are more like 16NZD for the more expensive pizzas. Alcohol on the other hand is much cheaper - people in NZ would go crazy if they saw some of the prices. Gluwein is about half price here compared to back home and yesterday I saw a promotion which included a big bottle of jagermeister plus 4 shot glasses, all for the price of 26NZD. Now I'm not 100% sure but I think in NZ you'll pay around that for a smaller bottle. I should really get some sometime.
I wonder if there's such a thing as compulsive yawning. Its random enough to be a disease. I'll google it and see....
Yup it exists, often as a symptom for something else though... like brain stem stroke... good thing its one of those light hearted compulsions then... (google failed to find me any light hearted compulsions but they definately exist... like a compusion to point at humoursly shaped clouds or something)
If I was a language teacher I would really pity my students. Because it would be far too tempting to mess around with them. Just some subtle stuff. I'd teach it mostly right; but then I'd teach them to say something stupid and use it as a greeting. Like "Pottery is the epitomy of excellence." Which would be so worth it to see them deliver that line to a confused stranger, while maintaining the nervous grin of someone who's meeting someone for the first time and has some minor doubts about the pronounciation of his words. No. I definately should not be a language teacher. Although lets be honest, knowing only English, the chances of that happening are fairly slim anyway.
Alright, off to Brussels in a bit.
Cheers
Thursday, February 25, 2010
First assignment and Dutch lesson
24 Feb 2010
Today I got my first assignment from Stamp Media. A nearby school was participating in a march to raise funds for the people affected by the earthquake in Haiti. My job was to take photo's of the march using a professional camera. I had never used one of the professional kind before (thank god for the automatic setting!) and was a little concerned that I would screw-up spectacularly. I joined up with another photographer called Haryo, who still goes to school but works for Stamp Media in his spare time, and Emi who is an intern and who conducted the interviewing of participants in the march. We followed the march through the tunnel under the river Schelde (Antwerp's main river) and once we felt we'd gleaned more than our fair share of photo's and interviews Emi and myself went back to Stamp Media. The powers that be showed me how to play around with the pictures, which I dutifully did and despite my initial reservations I thought they turned out pretty well all things considered.
In the afternoon I had my first Dutch lesson in Brussels. ( 3 hours long!!!) I left a ittle early from work but still managed to completely mess up the train trip. I unwittingly caught a train with lots of stops along the way so I was late, you again, and that's without me going into detail about finding the place from the Brussels station. (A note to the numerous belgian governments: please put up some more obvious street signs!!!) Yes... well it was a mixed afternoon, on the one hand it was nice to finally meet the other volunteers, (because my flight was delayed I missed the arrival camp and so hadn't met them yet) but on the other hand I had to get through a sizable amount of Dutch. Overall it was good. Some of us went out for a couple of drinks and a meal afterward. All the volunteers seemed really nice and easy to get along with, which, you know, I can deal with. So I'm hoping I'll be able to hang out with a few of them at some point soon. Although a lot of them live quite far away which could be problematic. Would be good to start some kind of social life... ( don't judge me okay, I just got here)
Getting home took a while. I left Brussels a little later than anticipated and sadly there were no more trains going directly to Turnhout (where I now live) which meant I had to take a train to Antwerp, then to Lier, then to Turnhout. This took a solid 2 hours, not including the walk home from the station. Man I complain a lot. It really wasn't that bad. Just a little long. (But then I ramble on for ages about the arbitrary facts my life so maybe I shouldn't talk)
The thing about having such long days now is that I practically fall into bed when I get home. Then wake up a few hours later just to start it all again...
Today I got my first assignment from Stamp Media. A nearby school was participating in a march to raise funds for the people affected by the earthquake in Haiti. My job was to take photo's of the march using a professional camera. I had never used one of the professional kind before (thank god for the automatic setting!) and was a little concerned that I would screw-up spectacularly. I joined up with another photographer called Haryo, who still goes to school but works for Stamp Media in his spare time, and Emi who is an intern and who conducted the interviewing of participants in the march. We followed the march through the tunnel under the river Schelde (Antwerp's main river) and once we felt we'd gleaned more than our fair share of photo's and interviews Emi and myself went back to Stamp Media. The powers that be showed me how to play around with the pictures, which I dutifully did and despite my initial reservations I thought they turned out pretty well all things considered.
In the afternoon I had my first Dutch lesson in Brussels. ( 3 hours long!!!) I left a ittle early from work but still managed to completely mess up the train trip. I unwittingly caught a train with lots of stops along the way so I was late, you again, and that's without me going into detail about finding the place from the Brussels station. (A note to the numerous belgian governments: please put up some more obvious street signs!!!) Yes... well it was a mixed afternoon, on the one hand it was nice to finally meet the other volunteers, (because my flight was delayed I missed the arrival camp and so hadn't met them yet) but on the other hand I had to get through a sizable amount of Dutch. Overall it was good. Some of us went out for a couple of drinks and a meal afterward. All the volunteers seemed really nice and easy to get along with, which, you know, I can deal with. So I'm hoping I'll be able to hang out with a few of them at some point soon. Although a lot of them live quite far away which could be problematic. Would be good to start some kind of social life... ( don't judge me okay, I just got here)
Getting home took a while. I left Brussels a little later than anticipated and sadly there were no more trains going directly to Turnhout (where I now live) which meant I had to take a train to Antwerp, then to Lier, then to Turnhout. This took a solid 2 hours, not including the walk home from the station. Man I complain a lot. It really wasn't that bad. Just a little long. (But then I ramble on for ages about the arbitrary facts my life so maybe I shouldn't talk)
The thing about having such long days now is that I practically fall into bed when I get home. Then wake up a few hours later just to start it all again...
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