Christmas Time!

As I type this my father is upstairs watching The Great Escape, which seems to be on every single year at around this time,  and my mother is in bed as she's feeling ill again this year, bless her. She was ill last year which meant that we ended up having a second Christmas day on the 26th and I keep telling her that I really don't mind doing that again this year but she feels really guilty all the same. So, tomorrow, not only do I get to see the wonderful Kim but I also get Christmas dinner with the family. Really not complaining on that account!

Other than the little blip with regard to my poor mother, I've been having a wonderful time back in England. The flight on Sunday was really easy and turbulence free, I got the really friendly gentleman at UK border control, my case arrived pretty early on the conveyor... I came out of the airport grinning like a manic ready to be met by my parents. 

In fact, on impulse, we went straight to an Indian restaurant we've been going to since I was about five years old and it really did feel like a home coming! 

No, this is not a representative British Christmas tree but it will do nicely!

On Monday, we came down to Somerset where we're staying in a little rented cottage for the Christmas period as the house up in Birmingham is still nowhere near finished. We're actually staying about four miles out of Glastonbury and, as you can imagine, I'm quite happy about that. The cottage itself is on a cider farm and we were given some bottles of their cider as part of a welcome package... as you can imagine, my dad's quite happy about that.

On Christmas Eve we always set out a load of food (that, quite frankly lasts us through most of January), and have a buffet dinner. This year was no exception so we all snuggled upstairs in a little sofa/TV nook with really nice food and Rapalje's DVD on as that kind of music is something my whole family really enjoys, albeit in different ways. It was lovely to be able to chill together, that being the best bit about Christmas.

There is no risk of us running out of cheese for a long, long while.
Some of it's even Dutch ;-)

This morning was obviously not so great because Mum wasn't feeling great but we attempted to start the day as we normally do with everyone getting dressed up and then gathering upstairs to open gifts and so on. We'd normally have a breakfast first and also take the opening of presents really slowly with mince pies on tap but that wasn't really the case this year which is a bit of a shame but more than understandable. I don't mind as long as we get to have a nice 'Christmas' dinner together at some point which everyone is well enough to enjoy.

Talking about presents, I now appear to be the proud owner of a violin. There's a jokey thing in my family, started when I got my 'cello, that I get a new musical instrument every year for Christmas or my birthday - usually something considerably less pricey, mind you. Can't say I was expecting a violin but guessing it came from a combination of my moaning about not being able to transport the 'cello and my mother's love for fiddle music. And before you ask, nope, I can't play. I do apologise to my neighbours back in Amsterdam... they're going to love me ;-)

Apparently I am learning to play whether I want to or not!
(Incidentally, I do!)

Also got given a bike puncture repair kit... I think my dad was trying to make a point there! So yeah, if you're one of my Dutch friends reading this and I get a puncture... you'll have to make good use of this kit as heaven only knows I wouldn't have an idea as to what to do!!

So that's my England-time so far. Feels so good to be back in the land of hills and with people I've known for years even if I am missing everyone else like mad. So, until my next post, whether you are celebrating, have celebrated, or are soon to celebrate any festival I wish you a wonderful time, surrounded by those you love.

Book review - 'The City and the City' by China Miéville

Rating: 2.75/5 stars

Plot:

"When the body of a murdered woman is found in the extraordinary, decaying city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he probes, the evidence begins to point to conspiracies far stranger, and more deadly, than anything he could have imagined. Soon his work puts him and those he cares for in danger. Borlú must travel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own, across a border like no other."

-from the novel's blurb

Review:

For an inhabitant of Besźel there is one main rule, do not notice your neighbouring city of Ul Qona. The problem? The neighbouring city is not neighbouring at all but physically in the same space, differentiated by cultural aspects such as architecture, clothing, gait. If you live in Besźel, you quickly learn not to see the other city because to do so would be to invoke the mysterious powers of Breach... and to disappear.

A body left in Besźel. Tyador Borlú is given the job of investigating the crime. However, this leads to him getting caught up in an investigation which seems increasingly tangled in a web of politics, cover-ups, and even mythology, by the moment. With the amount at stake growing by the moment, and Tyador becoming more and more personally involved in the case, he is forced to travel to the Other city to attempt to solve the mystery. However, there are forces at work above and beyond the police and solving this case may not be as easy as it seems.

The premise is strange but profound. Although the murder and the surrounding details make up the plot line, it is the concept of the overlapping cities, and the rarely seen but always present Breach, that truly dominates this piece. From that point of view, it was fascinating. Miéville has constructed a world that obeys these strange rules out of fear but also without mental questioning as to why. There's sense that things must be this way but no explanation. In this way, and from the context from which I read this novel, it highlights the futility and stupidness of our own racism and social structures. The novel takes to the extreme the way in which we as humans will attempt to 'not see' groups that are different... just because.

However, it is also this location which makes the book difficult. The hundred pages or so, for me, were a whirl of fighting with place names, people names, concepts. While the instability with regard to names was probably intentional, it made the piece a lot harder to get into.

The plot itself, and the murder case, was twisting and winding. You felt the frustration of police on both sides as they were offered tiny leads yet hit walls at every turn, both in their own city and because of the other city. However, it was also hard to follow some of the link ups. Towards the end it rather felt like Tyador had some Sherlock Holmes-esque epiphanies that us mere mortals could never achieve. In the background of this otherwise gritty and realistic-ish book, that really stood out to me.

I did, however, struggle with this book more generally. The style wasn't my cup of tea. The pacing didn't work for me. The characters and the plot - fascinating. Sadly, I just never fell into the tale and so the amazing work that was obviously contained in this novel had much less effect than I had hoped it would.



The City and the City is available in both Kindle and Paperback format from Amazon... and hardback if you want to pay a tonne!




I read this book for my Cities and Cultures class and therefore scheduled this review to post after the course finished so there was no risk of self plagiarising should I have been called to write on it!

Musings on the film 'Synecdoche, New York'

Synecdoche, New York is the kind of film I would not normally choose to watch but, as it was part of my Cities and Cultures class, I simply had no choice. Actually, the premise itself sounds really interesting as it's about a theatre directer who, in his desire to create a piece of art that is essentially true, creates a replica of New York in a warehouse. He populates his city with doubles of people he has seen around, people he knows, and even himself. As such, the reality of life is revealed... or that's kinda the idea.

If I was watching this film as a casual thing, I would not have got beyond the first few minutes. The scenes are shot and jumpy, deliberately disorientating. It almost impossible to become attached to characters who are either fundamentally flawed or shown from such a skewed angle. Scenes are excruciatingly mundane or absurdly disturbing and there's no real middle ground. It would be very easy to just stop watching.

So, from that viewpoint, I would not recommend this film at all. What I would recommend, however, is watching the last 15 minutes or so of the film. Without including spoilers it's hard to explain the context or contents but the ending of the film is profound. I didn't enjoy the thing but the ending had me in tears. I showed it to my mother who hadn't watched the rest of the film. It had her in tears. There's something vulnerable and human shown in these last few minutes, something that is lacking from the rest of the film. It's not fun watching but if you fancy a few minutes of depression then this bit'll do the trick!

However, as I said, this was a film that was included in one of my courses which meant that I looked at it from an academic view point as well as a casual view point. While, as a casual watcher I was totally turned off, the film provides so many interesting features that can be expanded to give deeper meaning, to explain why it feels disorientating, to do so many things. It might not be to my taste but this film is certainly a masterpiece in its own way.

If you're interested then it's probably worth googling some of the trivia around it but of particular interest to me:

• The book/plays mentioned within the film - what do the themes of those texts add to the themes of the film? 
• The use of time references within the film. Although you may not notice a progression of time, try and work out when each thing takes place and be aware it's not so simple! The first scene has a different time/date referenced every few lines. The time in the final scene of the film is one minute on from the time of the opening scene. It's really playing with this concept and it's an interesting device!
• People's names also may give extra insight into aspects of the film.

There are loads of other things but those were aspects that I particularly enjoyed spotting, and also used in my writing on the subject!

So, while Synecdoche, New York may not have been my favourite film ever - quite the opposite - it was an interesting piece of art. And anyway, I got a really good grade writing about it so I guess I can't complain ;-)

This piece was written about a week after watching the film. I scheduled it to post after finishing the course so that I was not in a position of accidentally plagiarising myself if called upon to write around the piece!

Musings on 'Sunrise: a song of two humans'

Sunrise: a song of two humans was the first film I had to watch for my Cities and Cultures class and, as such, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Mind you, I'm still not sure what to expect from Cities and Cultures sources!

Sunrise is a silent film from 1927 to which music was added after initial filming but prior to release. It tells the story of a man, who lives with his wife and child in the country, but falls for a woman from the city. This city woman talks him into killing his wife but, unable to do it, the man and wife end up spending the day in the city where their relationship is reevaluated.

The Man with The Woman from the City

The story itself is simple and sweet, I guess, if attempted wife-murder is your thing. Admittedly, we all wondered why she stayed with him after the whole 'attempt on life'  bit but if one overlooks that plot point then it's a sweet story! The format allows the film to explore various city settings and happenings. Something which is nice about the story-line is the way it's split into modular events which often have comic elements and are really nicely played.

Visually, this film offers some really exciting moments. In particular, the fairground scene is larger than life and rather stunning. The use of light and dark is used to great effect. Camera tricks whereby the actors walk through traffic and so on are very neatly done and rather ahead of their time.

The Man and his Wife in the city

The only thing that, I feel, let the film down was the score itself. While I know that not everyone agrees with me, I felt that the music was quite separate from the film itself and seemed to be tacked on as opposed to having a feeling of unity. It's not a big deal but it was something that I noticed.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was light, short and easy to watch. It was also available on youtube when I was studying it so, if your interested, you may just find it there!

This piece was written about a month after watching the film so it's not as detailed as it could have been! I scheduled it to post after finishing the course so that I was not in a position of accidentally plagiarising myself if called upon to write around the piece. Images are from IMDb

I'm free! I'm free! (etc. etc.)

My final essay has just been submitted and I'm sat here surrounded by the chaos that comes from panic studying without having spent time tidying up that Christmas party of a few days ago. The empty mince pie box is totally my doing though... eating six in one day when stress-writing is perfectly socially acceptable, right?

It's really strange to think that I've been living here for close to half a year now, my first semester (sans weird intensive period) is finished. Thank goodness. Now that I'm free my brain is trying to work out what I should do first... paint or translate or tidy or scrapbook or edit photos or or or... yeah, who am I kidding? I'm going into hibernation ;-)

Lets be honest, I've been essay writing from a sleeping bag.
We've been at hibernation point for some time now!

All joking aside, the last couple of days have been really strange, saying goodbye to the people I have essentially been living with. These people have seen me on my squint days, in my pajamas, been in my flat at its messiest (not all at the same time). They've come to see more of me than most people I've known for years and, in that regard, some of the most intense bonds have been formed. It's strange but quite brilliant. What's even stranger is the fact that we're all suddenly being flung around the globe once again. Okay, it's only for two weeks but it's still rather bizarre. That is something that will never fail to amaze me, the way people here are just so wonderful and the way we've gelled. Better start saving up for a miracle waterproof mascara for graduation!

That said, I simply cannot wait to go home. I've been getting emails from my technically inept father with a count down for some days now. Actually, just realised he's a day out and someone should probably tell him I'm flying on Sunday, not tomorrow... oops.

The fact that it's Christmas just makes it all even better. Just being around family and old friends with glittery things and lights and warmth and good food sounds like heaven right now. Okay, it sounds like heaven every year but especially after being away from home for so long. Annoyingly, I have no idea where my Christmas elf outfit is so I'll have to dig that out so I can dress up to give presents to my little nephews again this year!!

Yes, in case you have got this far and haven't guessed, I'm both excited and exhausted. This has been your complete stream of consciousness blog for tonight. Now I'm going to go and see about this hibernation idea!!

Book review - 'City of Glass' by Paul Auster

Rating: 4/5 stars

Plot:

"A detective-story writer named Quinn becomes involved in a bizarre case. A phone call from a man who believes someone is trying to kill him leads to a case more mysterious than anything Quinn could concoct. In this tale of strange reversals and shifts of identity, a character named "Paul Auster" makes an appearance as a man obsessed with Quinn's story."

-from 'City of Glass' on Goodreads

Review:

My first response having read this novel was "I loved it but I didn't understand it!" and, to be fair, that remains my overall impression. I think it's a novel that can be enjoyed on many, many levels but the best way to enjoy it is to go with the flow. I doubt anyone understands everything, if everything can even be understood, and perhaps the best thing to do is just read without attempting to make sense of every plot point.

That said, Auster's novel asks the reader to engage with the lead character, an author, as he takes on the role of a detective, also, confusingly, called Paul Auster. Despite his lack of 'real' qualifications, the character is keen to solve the mystery and become Auster the detective and we struggle alongside him even as the detective genre is turned on its head.

I wouldn't have read this book if it wasn't set as a part of my Cities and Cultures (Urban Studies) class but I am so pleased that I did. It's got some elegant writing and some really interesting and unusual views into humanity. As a source for that course it was worthwhile but as a novel in its own right it was fascinating. This hardly counts as a review because I don't know how to sum it up, certainly not without spoiling the plot or becoming overly academic due to studying it, but there we go!

City of Glass is available as part of the New York Trilogy in both Kindle and Paperback format from Amazon.




I read this book for my Cities and Cultures class and therefore scheduled this review to post after the course finished so there was no risk of self plagiarising should I have been called to write on it!

The imaginatively titled SeeD and Omnia post

This is one of those posts that is quite simply going to make no sense... something to do with the time of night. However, it's either that or it won't get written with the way life is going so there we go. It's also going to be hardly any writing and a couple of pictures... not so interesting ;-)

The support act of the evening, SeeD (*), were great. I'd heard a bit by them but this was the first time seeing them live and it was certainly worthwhile. I'd really like to see them again and will certainly be buying their album when it's launched. 

With SeeD after the show

Omnia's show was high energy, as always, and the crowd seemed rather into it which always helps to build a good atmosphere. There were a group behind us, who I believe were from Italy, who were just having so much fun! While I don't agree with everything that Omnia says - and it kinda matters because they're rather outspoken - it was great to dance along to music that I really know and with friends, once again. I was also pleased that they played the tracks I had managed to get into off the new-ish album Earth Warrior. All in all, an enjoyable show!

Thijs got cut out and the photo's poor but with Omnia.

It was also lovely to hang around afterwards a bit and soak up the open atmosphere that seems to come hand in hand with folk music. Special shout out to the girl who complimented my hair so kindly when we were queuing together! That said, apologies to anyone and everyone who spoke with Thijs and/or Hester and who had to suffer my seemingly antisocialness... my Dutch comprehension may be improving but I am quite incapable of conversing!

Almere selfie time!

So yeah. Great time. Going to collapse in bed now as I have an essay to fight with and several exams to revise for tomorrow :-(

(*) I still don't know how to format the band name... oops.

This post is not for facebook because even through my exhaustion I know it makes no sense!!!

The things I do for Reckless Love

I guess that flying to England for a show is one of the more extravagant things I've done in my time. That said, the fact I got to eat curry from the restaurant I've visited since I was three, got to have a bath, oh, and see old friends made it all worth it. Wednesday day was dedicated to dress shopping with my mother and The Best Friend, while the evening was set aside for a bit of music!

Me, Jessica, Aimee, Kim. Waiting to go in, trying not to freeze!
From Jessica's camera,

Queuing in the cold and the rain is always one aspect of the gig experience that I dread but then ultimately love. It's a complete social experience and before this show, in particular, it was a riot. It meant, in reality, that once we got inside there was a rather good fun little group formed of old friends, people I vaguely knew from other shows, and totally new faces. 

Kim, Jessica, Me, Aimee. Entertaining ourselves before the set began.

There was only one opening band this time, The First, a melodic rock band from Cambridgeshire. I will admit that their sound tech was not great but, from what I could hear, I think they were rather good. Certainly, I plan to look up some of their music and give it a proper try (and buy a CD if I do indeed like it). In addition, there is no way I can fault their live set. All members were engaged and energetic without seeming silly or OTT. It was a very strong performance. There was one moment when the vocalist decided to put a microphone in my face to get me to sing along which didn't work on two counts (recovering from a phobia of singing and I don't know their music) but, other than that, they really knew how to perform to a crowd.

The main act was, of course, Reckless Love. The Finnish glam rock-ish band who attempt, and succeed, in making every show a party. This night was no exception. If anything, Olli was more chatty with the crowd and I enjoyed watching Olli and Pepe, in particular, play to Jessica's camera.

One of Jessica's many photos from the show.

The set was great, as always. Although it was cut a little because of illness (not mine for once!) it was full of some great tracks and to just dance away was rather liberating. It really did help that both Jessica and Aimee are little party animals, albeit in different ways, so I simply could not help but dance, jump and bounce along.

However, Hessu, bless his heart, was quite clearly ill. Seriously, that man should not have been on the stage at all yet he soldiered on until all but the end. Ultimately the set was cut by a couple of songs but I feel incredibly lucky that we got a set at all. It would have been annoying as anything, of course, but completely understandable.

After the show we had a bit of a chat with Jalle, Olli and Pepe; Hessu quite rightly escaped to the bus and hopefully put himself to bed! We then had the joy of walking back to Aimee's house (and beyond for some of us) in the rain and wind of Wales. Wasn't the highlight of the evening but was worth it all the same.

One day, Pepe will forget about the pen incident. This was not that day.

A quick goodbye to The Best Friend and Kim kindly drove me to my hotel. We said goodnight but with the knowledge that the day after we would meet once again but this time in Amsterdam!

I can safely say this is the first time I've ever 'built' a tree.

The day before Zoë and I were due to fly to England the unthinkable happened. My (artificial) Christmas tree suddenly arrived. I know... a week late! Anyway, we hurriedly arranged the troops to make good on earlier plans to meet up and decorate.

I don't have to explain to you how much I love Christmas. If you know me at all then you will know that I'm the kind of person who bounces around for months in advance, listening to Christmas music, baking Christmas food (not so much here but wait til I get home!), making things glittery. I might not celebrate it as a religious festival but it still represents most things that I love about life and about winter, in particular. There's a true emphasis on togetherness and family and warmth. It's a few days when the world is shut out and peace does seem to reign, just for a while. Of course, it's how life should be generally but I'll not get into that.

Yes, this is what trees look like nowadays, children.

So anyway, the tree arrived and, with a bit of teamwork we managed to push it, in the giant box, through the building complex from Dania's room to mine. It wasn't exactly heavy but bulky... oh it was that!

Dania left for a while to work on an essay, leaving Zoë and me to attempt to assemble the tree ready for decorating. Okay, so I had a fake tree back home that I used to put in my room (in addition to a real tree downstairs). You'd kinda stand it up, pull the branches down from the centre and you were done. Oh no, not this one. This one came with an instruction manual in quite a few different languages as well as several rather odd looking parts. Okay, so it wasn't exactly complex in the end but you have no idea how much trouble we had putting this thing together.... kinda concerning when one thinks that we're both supposed to be somewhat intelligent, Zoë studying at Oxford and all that jazz.

Serious work going on here. Highly skilled labour.

It was then time for Leonoor and Dania to join us, with pizza, and for us all to chill and bit before making my room extra sparkly. Seriously, any excuse for a bit of a social evening and some junk food!

Lights. Eep.

Okay, so the first thing I noticed is that Christmas lights here are weird. I would say that it was just the ones I bought but Leonoor insisted that they're normal so I'm guessing it's a Dutch Christmas light issue. The string that they come on is circular. I don't know why this is the case because a looped string of lights have got to be less practical - what if I wanted to put them around the edges of my room? But yeah, there's an odd, seeming, difference from back in the UK ;-)

Having fought with the lights - they were not easy to get on the tree even with four of us working at it - it was time for the baubles to go on. I went to make tea like the good host, and put some mince pies in the oven. I came back and found my poor tree groaning under the weight of nearly 100 baubles. Okay, I exaggerate, and it does look good, but I had to laugh at the way my friends managed to attack the tree in about two minutes. It's so special though because it's been decorated by some of my special people it's an extra special tree to me.

Don't want to have to take it down!

Tah-dah!

Guess what? This post is not for facebook because it's been sitting in my drafts for waaaaay too long!

Midwinter Fair

So, I have decided that festivals and I simply do not mix. Seriously, right before this festival, having had nothing for months, I had a major flair up that meant I slept not a wink the night before and felt like utter crap for the Saturday (and not so great on the Sunday but there we go). That aside, I had a wonderful time but my photos were a bit lacking and the descriptions, no doubt, will be similarly so.

The Saturday was the long day of the Midwinter Fair so, in order to ensure we could get home again afterwards, Thijs, Zoë and I cycled to the central station. That's normally a really easy ride but with me in my stupid no sleep and no food state it took us a heckishly long time and I am so grateful to my companions for not getting really annoyed with me! Anyway, that adventure over we caught a couple of trains and arrived in Alphen aan den Rijn which is where the thing was held.

I can't say that I got to look around Alphen aan den Rijn much at all but the bits I saw were very sweet and rather pretty. When it starts to get a bit warmer, and with my newly purchased travel card, I may visit again to chill a bit in the sun. Definite bonus as the streets (etc) were named after continents, countries, and cities. The only place where, if you get lost, you literally go round the whole world in order to find your way ;-)

At the event

The Midwinter Fair itself was lovely. It's quite small which is actually really nice because, to be quite honest, there's only so many places you can be at once and only so many things you can do in a short period of time. On the Saturday and the Sunday we took things rather slowly and just enjoyed looking around and taking things in a bit.

The fact that it's held in a living museum (I think that's an accurate description) means that it's rather atmospheric. With old fashioned buildings from multiple time periods, tree lined winding paths and little streams with simple plank bridges it really does allow you to take a step back from the rush of modernity for just a little while. There were also some lovely food stands and a little market selling a mix of stuff from statues to clothes to drinking horns. Talking of which, I managed to buy some mead to take to England for Christmas so that's a definite bonus!

AmmA

As for the music, the first full set we caught was that of AmmA. I keep managing to catch a few songs by them but never a full performance so it was a bit unusual to sit at the side of the stage and watch from beginning to end. Really do love their sound though!

After a fair bit of exploring and lurking, which involved sitting round outside fires pretending that we were keeping warm and not simply getting a face full of smoke, we went to catch the evening shows of LEAF, Shireen, Harmony Glenn, and The Dolmen.

Poor LEAF had some technical issues setting up and so on which must have been so annoying for them. Kept the audience in suspense mind ;-)

Shireen are a group that I've had a very limited awareness of, hearing their EP when it was featured on Wyldwood radio, I think. I was really impressed by their sound, however, which is quite an open, somewhat jazzy and rocky one... I've not really described that well but yeah, they have their own sound, do it well, and stand out for it. 

Thijs and I have discussed our wish to see Harmony Glenn live at some point and this was our day. Oh my goodness, what performers. I think I can speak for both of us, and probably Zoë too, when I say that they were worth seeing. And I guess I'll be hoping to catch them again too! In fact, I can't help but think that my mother would love them so lets see if I can book tickets for one of their shows when she comes to visit.

My stunning friends enjoying the evening entertainment ;-)

Finally, The Dolmen closed up the evening with their loud rocky music. Actually, a gentleman asked Thijs is they were the "noise band" so I think that pretty much sums up The Dolmen!! This would be my fourth time, I think, seeing them in the Netherlands yet they are from just down the road of my old home in the UK so I'm still not sure how this has worked out. That aside, it felt wonderful just to let down my hair and dance/bob to the music with no care in the world. It always feels good to just let go but when you're listening to good music, with friends, and in the midst of a flurry of finals it is pure bliss, I tell you!

On the downside, I did have "Dead Cats Don't Meow" stuck in my head all night... I also fell asleep on Zoë on the way home but shhh, that's our secret!

Day two was just Zoë and me as Thijs was being sensible and working on the paper we both had to hand in on the Monday. His absence did mean I was suddenly the Zoë-translator of the onstage banter and explanations which was a rather scary position to be in with my beginners Dutch! We did quickly develop a series of shorthand between us for the most common concepts such as which could see speeches of a minute reduced to the concise version: "Buy our stuff" ;-)

During Sowulo's set

Anyway, the first act we saw on Saturday was Sowulo, another group whose music I knew but whom I had not yet managed to catch live. Their show is quite clearly a real experience and it was great to be in the audience. I mean, their music is something special in its own right but the energy that you get when you're in a room hearing it live... that gives it a whole new dimension. Thijs did insist that we saw them for a very good reason!

Zoë and I followed up by watching the full set of Kaunan as we'd only managed to see part of the set on Saturday. There was something lovely about the lack of pretense to their set. Everyone sat down on the floor (or a couple danced) and just listened to three men playing tunes with the odd bit of explanation and banter in between. It wasn't a performance per se, as much as I enjoy performances, and it was refreshing to see something so stripped back. The fact that we went to see them twice, and both wanted to, probably says something about the quality of the music here.

During Rapalje's set

Finally, it was Rapalje time! More dancing and singing along and generally enjoying myself. It seems they went down well with Zoë too so I'm classing that as an all round success. Wasn't quite so strange to see them without my family this time, possibly because I had a friend from home and possibly because I'm getting used to it... who knows!

It was certainly a good way to spend the weekend and I'm pleased that Zoë was there to share it with me, and Thijs too. 

This post is not for facebook because it is long, rambling, and late. Oops.

Sinterklaas

Today's the 5th of December which is celebrated as the feast day of Saint Nicolas or Sinterklaas. A few weeks back I blogged about the 'Saint's arrival' and finally the big day is here.

Although, from my understanding, a children's festival generally, my Dutch friends seemed pretty keen to celebrate together. As the festival seems to be celebrated through he eating of a lot of sweets, I was not going to resist.

Chocolate letters are another common gift with this
'B' for Bethany coming from Leonoor

Historically, the poor children would leave their shoes out where the rich could leave small gifts in honour of Saint Nicolas. Now, children still leave their shoes out, in the home, in the hope that they will be filled with sweets. AUC also allowed students to leave their shoes out during classes in order to receive gifts and, although it was pretty strange to randomly leave a shoe lying around, Leonoor and my mother managed to talk me into taking part. Luckily, we didn't take part in the aspect of the tradition whereby you sing to aforementioned shoe. I don't think I could have done that ;-)

After classes we all gathered at Leonoor's where she put on a veritable sweet feast for Dania, Sonja, Thijs, Laura and myself. We all hung around and ate and chatted and celebrated in the not so traditional way with wine and beer but there we go!

This photo kinda explains itself really ;-)

Of course, the evening only got better with the arrival of one of my old friends from college, Zoë, who, after missing her original flight, finally made it to Amsterdam. She joined in the fun and spent the evening talking in French with Leonoor who decided that it was obviously the best time to practice!!

Although Zoë and I left the 'party' a little early, planning to get a decent night's sleep we managed to stay up until the very early hours of the morning chatting away. It was unbelievably good to see her again, to chat, to reminisce, to be around someone with a shared history. I love my friends here, I really do, but you cannot force the bonds that form with time and, for this reason, seeing Zoë was wonderful... but more of that later!

Winter

These days, if I'm lucky enough to still be in bed at sunrise, I wake to a beautiful cool light. It's a light that screams "Winter!" yet somehow feels really warm and safe. It's no secret that I'm a warm weather person but there's still something wonderful about this season. I guess it helps that there are so many links to festivities and time spent inside with family and friends not doing anything but just existing.

Talking about not doing anything, I almost wish I had that luxury. It's been busy for the past period but tomorrow the real craziness starts. Most of it is wonderfully fun craziness (except exams, of course). Crazy nevertheless.

Excited.

Still waiting for the tree to arrive. When it does we are ready!

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