20 april 2010
As the title may suggest, as of yesterday I've been here 2 months. Still mostly alive (I checked some of my vitals but got bored and concluded that if I was still chugging away on the great train of life in a few hours I'd check the others then). Anyway, its been good so far.
Plans for the week.. hmm.. Well, tomorrow is Berts birthday, so doutbless a few people will be doing something for that, which should be good. Sadly tomorrow is indeed a Wednesday, which means I have Dutch in the afernoon - the issue not being that I have Dutch as such, it just means I have to come back to Antwerp from Brussels to meet Bert and his...crew.
In my excitement from Paris, I completely forgot to write about a fairly important part of my stay here. That is, I went to Bruges with Dirk and Terry. It kind of rocked my world. Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I really love the movie 'In Bruges'. Like a lot. Unlike many movies these days, it is actually all filmed in the suggested place. Thus creating a splendid opportunity for me to sate my desire. For Bruges. Now if Bruges was a woman... Wow... although lot of tourists pass through there so maybe I'd stay away. But I would at least hang around and check her out for a while. In any case, for those who know the movie, I'll give you a quick rundown of where I went (fear not, there will be no spoilers, I love it too luch to destroy it like that). First off, we went to the clock tower. Which was really cool - sadly there was some construction going on so when we got to the top we had a fairly narrow view. Hoping to go back there later in the year when the construction is done. Hopefully stay the night and drift off into my own little fantasy world as I walk the streets. You know, its kinda like a fairytale village. I mean thats just my opinion here. Didn't get it off anyone else or anything like that. We then did the river trip, although it was a substancially more crowded boat than the one Colin and Brendon were on (damn right we're on first name terms). As we stepped onto the boat I looked across the river and low and behold, I saw the hotel they stayed at in the movie. Which we went past a few times, both on foot and by boat (in the throes of passion I took lots of pictures of the same thing with completly indistinguishable changes of angle). We also perused a few certain streets which were seen towards the end of the movie (don't want to give anything away here), which was cool. We found the park with the alcoves which made me warm inside. Again with the photos. To top it off we had truly great weather, so everything kinda fell into place.
Enough on Bruges.
HA! As if there is such a thing as enough of Bruges!
Okay but seriously I've got nothing else to say about it right now.
This weekend the other volunteers from AFS and myself have a 'mid-stay' camp. Think I mentioned that before actually. If I didn't, or you can't remember cause you weren't really reading then its a camp at which I'm fairly sure we'll have to talk about our experiences, host families, cultural differences and whatnot.
The day is ending, so I shall bid thee well. Goodnight and goodluck.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
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
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
Thursday, April 8, 2010
A note on average ornamentation and general ranting
8 march 2010
The weather today, is kind of like, if Mother Natures uncle died. Not a particularly close uncle but he's family either way so she's pretty much obliged to mourn a little. I'm hoping she gets over it quickly though cause I want the good weather back. Preferably before another member of her family dies. Me and Mother Nature have a fairly tumultuous relationship. One might even say we're fair weather friends. *canned laughter with a hint of genuine amusement* I mean one minute she's giving a great day of butterflies, pixies and unicorns, then the next she's raining down proverbial brimstone on our releationship. But then I guess that's just women. Not that men don't do their fair share of brimstone raining. You just tend to see it coming when they do. You know, menacing dark clouds hovering around for a while before eventually breaking open. With women its more Noah's arc style. No rain at all, then one day and the whole bloody world gets flooded. Maybe that means that God is a woman. It sure would explain a lot. Like the unfortunately vulnerable placement of the scrotum for example. I mean its a pretty fundamental weakness. The kind that has the tendency of rendering one completely helpless after the execution of a well aimed kick. I mean, in a sense, the male achilles heel, is really in the scrotum. Try not to think of that to anatomically. And definately don't try and put your achilles heel in your scrotum. IT HURTS.
Well now that I'm done with the weather and vulgar stuff, I can move on to more intellectual topics. Such as sugar collection. For all of you in NZ, you will probably remember that at some point or another in a restaurant, I've consumed a sachet of sugar straight from the bag. Now its not exactly the most normal thing in the weird, but nor is it the weirdest. Nevertheless, I found myself collecting these things whenever I go for coffee now. This was highly fueled by the fact that this one place gives sugar cubes with their coffee, and everyone knows sugar tastes even better in sugar cubes. Maybe the idea of consuming a regular shape just appeals to me more than I thought. The great thing is, Bert has started collecting for me as well. So if he goes for coffee somewhere, the next day he brings me some new additions to my stash. I've got a few different brands going and everything.
Mmm.. I'm hungry again... One might even say I've got the rumblies... That only hands can satisfy... If you have no idea what I'm talking about then watch this. Hell, if you know what I'm talking about watch it anyway. I would also like to point out that I just made a link in a word. I mean, I'm feeling pretty professional right now. I'd like to say that I used some fancy way of making that happen. Alas I just used a shortcut. Cool though right? Regardless, stop reading for a bit and watch what's on the other side of that link ok. Here it is again just for fun. I could definately get used to this button. If only I knew how to do it on Facebook...
My eyes are going...wonky. When I look at the computer screen my eyes just want to close. In fact, come to think of it, when I look at most things my eyes want to close... Maybe I'm allergic to everything. I'm sure there must be some logical explanation to this... Maybe I should sleep on it.
Before I left for Dutch yesterday I lent Karen my earphones, but forgot to get them back before leaving. Which meant I had a strange void this morning. A void where all the music used to be. You know, the day the music died(was temporarily lost) and all that. It made me realise how much I've come to rely on music waking me up in the morning since I've been here. Cause I was shattered when I got to work. I mean more than usual. Its ok though, I'm confusing my brain with sugar so it can't fall asleep just yet.
I feel like I'm progressively becoming more and more like a walking billboard for STAMP Media. Which is actually pretty cool I think - the merchandise that we can wear actually looks pretty good. I now have a STAMP Media shirt, badge and wrist band. Usually don't wear them together though. Just got the wrist band today, but its been put on in a fairly permanent way - I can't take it off without breaking it so looks like its here to sty for quite some time. Might be a bitch for metal detectors though - the metal is keeping it on. Should be alright... I hope.
I could really do with a shoulder massage right now. Its sore from the heavy emotional burden of... life... or something. You can all try curb your enthusiasm now. Not too much though. I mean I know too many cooks spoil the broth (Obviously why we never go to your house for broth Tracey) but at the same time it would be nice to have at least some cooks for my back. Metaphorically speaking of course. I don't want any amount of people cooking my back, young, lovely and tender as it may be.
I just organised my sugar collection into brands and types (cubes or sachets). Thought you ought to know. Where's that last line from again? I think Keira Knightley said it. Or it was at least in one of her movies. So I'm guessing Pirates of the Carribean or Atonement. But can't set the scene just yet. More on that if I remember. Wait. Someone said it as they were dying I think.. So probably wasn't her... grrr.
Ah. Got it. (Admittedly after a bit of frustrated googling). The reason I couldn't remember it is because its from harry potter and the sorcerers stone. By professor Quirril.
The fact that it was from harry potter is rather unsatisfying I think. I mean the movies... bit of a let down, even with my low expectations. I mean I try hard to like it, I really do, but they're destroyed by all these cringe moments where the script writer obviously felt he needed to embarrass one of the actors. I think Rupert Grint in particular must have pissed them off because he gets these awful lines. I mean how anyone pull off "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" with any kind of dignity??????? The worst thing is that I know he can actually act, but these lines are designed to seriously undermine that. Daniel Radcliffe is okish I think but he also gets the really bad lines - loads of rubbish about how friendship rules and defeats all evil and rainbows blossom every time you smile and some such. I mean, how do you not die a little inside when saying those lines, knowing full well that its supposed to be taken seriously. When watching those scenes being shot, with all the camera men, director, producers, various relatives milling about, surely someone would have had the balls to say "hey guys, don't you think that line is... well... just a little bit crap?" They could kind of get away with it for the first 3 films - they were more child orientated and so cheesiness with bad lines are sort of a given. What they failed to realise was that the rest are more serious and dark, for slightly older readers than the series initial fanbase. Thus they didn't adapt the movies accordingly. AND they violated a pretty big rule about making movies of books: DON'T MAKE THE MOVIES UNTIL ALL THE BOOKS ARE FINISHED BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU COULD MISS THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT LATER WITHOUT REALISING IT!
Okay I did some breathing exercises and I'm mostly calm now. My spontaneous rant is done for now. I even went for a walk to make sure it was out of my system.
Thats me signing off for today.
The weather today, is kind of like, if Mother Natures uncle died. Not a particularly close uncle but he's family either way so she's pretty much obliged to mourn a little. I'm hoping she gets over it quickly though cause I want the good weather back. Preferably before another member of her family dies. Me and Mother Nature have a fairly tumultuous relationship. One might even say we're fair weather friends. *canned laughter with a hint of genuine amusement* I mean one minute she's giving a great day of butterflies, pixies and unicorns, then the next she's raining down proverbial brimstone on our releationship. But then I guess that's just women. Not that men don't do their fair share of brimstone raining. You just tend to see it coming when they do. You know, menacing dark clouds hovering around for a while before eventually breaking open. With women its more Noah's arc style. No rain at all, then one day and the whole bloody world gets flooded. Maybe that means that God is a woman. It sure would explain a lot. Like the unfortunately vulnerable placement of the scrotum for example. I mean its a pretty fundamental weakness. The kind that has the tendency of rendering one completely helpless after the execution of a well aimed kick. I mean, in a sense, the male achilles heel, is really in the scrotum. Try not to think of that to anatomically. And definately don't try and put your achilles heel in your scrotum. IT HURTS.
Well now that I'm done with the weather and vulgar stuff, I can move on to more intellectual topics. Such as sugar collection. For all of you in NZ, you will probably remember that at some point or another in a restaurant, I've consumed a sachet of sugar straight from the bag. Now its not exactly the most normal thing in the weird, but nor is it the weirdest. Nevertheless, I found myself collecting these things whenever I go for coffee now. This was highly fueled by the fact that this one place gives sugar cubes with their coffee, and everyone knows sugar tastes even better in sugar cubes. Maybe the idea of consuming a regular shape just appeals to me more than I thought. The great thing is, Bert has started collecting for me as well. So if he goes for coffee somewhere, the next day he brings me some new additions to my stash. I've got a few different brands going and everything.
Mmm.. I'm hungry again... One might even say I've got the rumblies... That only hands can satisfy... If you have no idea what I'm talking about then watch this. Hell, if you know what I'm talking about watch it anyway. I would also like to point out that I just made a link in a word. I mean, I'm feeling pretty professional right now. I'd like to say that I used some fancy way of making that happen. Alas I just used a shortcut. Cool though right? Regardless, stop reading for a bit and watch what's on the other side of that link ok. Here it is again just for fun. I could definately get used to this button. If only I knew how to do it on Facebook...
My eyes are going...wonky. When I look at the computer screen my eyes just want to close. In fact, come to think of it, when I look at most things my eyes want to close... Maybe I'm allergic to everything. I'm sure there must be some logical explanation to this... Maybe I should sleep on it.
Before I left for Dutch yesterday I lent Karen my earphones, but forgot to get them back before leaving. Which meant I had a strange void this morning. A void where all the music used to be. You know, the day the music died(was temporarily lost) and all that. It made me realise how much I've come to rely on music waking me up in the morning since I've been here. Cause I was shattered when I got to work. I mean more than usual. Its ok though, I'm confusing my brain with sugar so it can't fall asleep just yet.
I feel like I'm progressively becoming more and more like a walking billboard for STAMP Media. Which is actually pretty cool I think - the merchandise that we can wear actually looks pretty good. I now have a STAMP Media shirt, badge and wrist band. Usually don't wear them together though. Just got the wrist band today, but its been put on in a fairly permanent way - I can't take it off without breaking it so looks like its here to sty for quite some time. Might be a bitch for metal detectors though - the metal is keeping it on. Should be alright... I hope.
I could really do with a shoulder massage right now. Its sore from the heavy emotional burden of... life... or something. You can all try curb your enthusiasm now. Not too much though. I mean I know too many cooks spoil the broth (Obviously why we never go to your house for broth Tracey) but at the same time it would be nice to have at least some cooks for my back. Metaphorically speaking of course. I don't want any amount of people cooking my back, young, lovely and tender as it may be.
I just organised my sugar collection into brands and types (cubes or sachets). Thought you ought to know. Where's that last line from again? I think Keira Knightley said it. Or it was at least in one of her movies. So I'm guessing Pirates of the Carribean or Atonement. But can't set the scene just yet. More on that if I remember. Wait. Someone said it as they were dying I think.. So probably wasn't her... grrr.
Ah. Got it. (Admittedly after a bit of frustrated googling). The reason I couldn't remember it is because its from harry potter and the sorcerers stone. By professor Quirril.
The fact that it was from harry potter is rather unsatisfying I think. I mean the movies... bit of a let down, even with my low expectations. I mean I try hard to like it, I really do, but they're destroyed by all these cringe moments where the script writer obviously felt he needed to embarrass one of the actors. I think Rupert Grint in particular must have pissed them off because he gets these awful lines. I mean how anyone pull off "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" with any kind of dignity??????? The worst thing is that I know he can actually act, but these lines are designed to seriously undermine that. Daniel Radcliffe is okish I think but he also gets the really bad lines - loads of rubbish about how friendship rules and defeats all evil and rainbows blossom every time you smile and some such. I mean, how do you not die a little inside when saying those lines, knowing full well that its supposed to be taken seriously. When watching those scenes being shot, with all the camera men, director, producers, various relatives milling about, surely someone would have had the balls to say "hey guys, don't you think that line is... well... just a little bit crap?" They could kind of get away with it for the first 3 films - they were more child orientated and so cheesiness with bad lines are sort of a given. What they failed to realise was that the rest are more serious and dark, for slightly older readers than the series initial fanbase. Thus they didn't adapt the movies accordingly. AND they violated a pretty big rule about making movies of books: DON'T MAKE THE MOVIES UNTIL ALL THE BOOKS ARE FINISHED BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU COULD MISS THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT LATER WITHOUT REALISING IT!
Okay I did some breathing exercises and I'm mostly calm now. My spontaneous rant is done for now. I even went for a walk to make sure it was out of my system.
Thats me signing off for today.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Birthday weekend, Ghent, Tuesday and the monster that never was.
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
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
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