A month in summary form

As I commence writing there is but half an hour until my dinner date with The Usual Suspects. Laura, Dania and Thijs are coming round to my, rather bedraggled, flat and we're skyping in the absent pair (Sonja and Leonoor). It's not really enough time to write even a short post but, as I've been absent for so long I felt I should really try to do something.

So, what has happened since I last wrote here? Well, firstly, the lovely Zoë came out once again but this time aiming to explore the museums. Sadly for both of us, it was right in the middle of finals time and I couldn't really spend much time with her. I think we both enjoyed ourselves regardless. We did take time out to go to the Midwinter Fair again and, to be quite honest, that has got to be my favourite festival of the season.

With the Zoë

The evening Zoë left was another social time, this time with the normal lot as we hung around and I painted Sonja's nails. It appears that, if I drop out of university for whatever reason I have a secondary career lined up. I also got to see my delightful neighbour Robbert before I left for England for Christmas and he left to study in Singapore, on exchange. However will I manage without his faultless optimism for a whole semester!

Sonja didn't look this bored the whole time, I swear!

As for Christmas, naturally, I spent it with my parents. We actually spent this Christmas in Wales in this tiny old cottage. It was owned by someone who was from quite a historic family and had worked as a antiques dealer so, as you can imagine, it was full of little bits and bobs to fascinate me. Did I mention we had to drive over a mountain track and through several fields (sans roads) to get there? The first time I've been grateful for there not being snow at Christmas!

Christmas dinner

Actually, this was probably the best Christmas I've had in a long long time. For that matter, it was probably one of the least stressful years my family has had in a long time and I guess it showed in the festivities. It was really relaxed, really pleasant. A lot of time together, a lot of good food, a lot of painting.

As for New Year, that was lovely in quite a different way. We went spent it in a local restaurant (in England) and had a thoroughly wonderful evening. Again, there was a lot of good food, good company, a bit of dancing. My father helped the staff pour the champagne for everyone - somehow that's become a tradition at this place - and that kind of meant we ended up with almost a full magnum on our table at the end of the toast... couldn't let it go to waste!!

This photo was taken before any alcohol was consumed, in my defense!

And then it was back to Amsterdam (which is honestly starting to feel like home) and to my second German intensive period. I've got to be honest and say that I am not enjoying it. I'm naturally very shy and use my language ability to cover that up... take away my language ability through making me speak in another language and it is hell for me. Not to mention the fact that, in the six months since the last intensive I have forgotten everything. That said, i still adore the German language and I am a quarter of the way through. Just another three weeks to survive. I may not be online or blogging while I fight with speed learning but oh well, I shall get through!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my speed recount of the last month. Wow, I managed it in circa. twenty minutes. If only I could write that quickly normally!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit!

As if Düsseldorf wasn't enough to get me in the Christmas mood, I put the Christmas decorations up
on Monday ready for Tuesday when we were having our super early Secret Santa yesterday

This is going to be an incredibly short post (rather than just ignore the fact that it happened) because I am completely drowning in deadlines right now but it's not going to do justice to the wonderful evening.

So, instead of writing down what happened I'm going to do things a little differently.

Special thanks to Leonoor for being my now not so Secret Santa and getting me a teapot that is actually large enough to serve multiple cups of tea. Your beautiful wrapping really stole the show! Thank you for letting me paint your nails too, even if it took forever and wasn't as effective as we'd hoped!

Thanks to Thijs for accepting my teasing (and thoroughly disastrous) poem with good grace and humour.

Thank you to Sonja for providing what was possibly the most thoughtful, handmade gift of the year - lets be honest, this girl is through and through special. I think I speak for us all when I say that, even though most of us weren't your giftee, your gift brightened all our evenings!

Thanks to Laura for her thoroughly good company, for finding amusing videos on youtube, and for providing potatoes. No joking, those potatoes were wonderful.

Last but not least, thank you to Dania for providing henna so we could all draw on each other and for fetching drinks for me so I could stay home and get things ready as opposed to popping to the shop.

Oh, and I forgot one very important person who wasn't there but made a big difference:
Thank you to Robbert, the best neighbour I've ever had, for loaning us a lighter at short notice so we could light incense... and thank you for giving the same lighter to me when I told you it was the first lighter I was able to use. I am now the proud owner of a lighter with a picture of a scantily clad man and I will remember you every time I use it*.


*This was Robbert's condition upon giving me said lighter, if I remember correctly ;)

Not for facebook

Three Countries in Two Days

So, having got back from England on Thursday (very kindly met at the airport by Ryan because I would not have made the journey back home alone), I promptly set out on my next adventure. This time I was off to Düsseldorf with Dania and Leonoor to explore the Christmas market.

Leaving Amsterdam Centraal! No prizes for guessing
which one of us noticed the photo being taken!

It's got to be said, mainland Europe is so easy. We popped on an international train in the centre of Amsterdam and in about two hours we found ourselves in Düsseldorf.

Our first evening in the town was a lovely, if a little bit of a cold one. We walked through the various market although, as we later found out, we actually missed a few on this first day. I had to laugh a little though, what with the fact that the 'German' Christmas market back home is actually bigger... so much for authenticity ;-)

I was trying to photograph the stalls but the Dania was quite sure she wanted
to be in the photo. Who am I kidding? She makes it even prettier :)

What was delightful was the way that each mini market had its own theme and atmosphere. It's got to be said that, although we didn't find it on the first day, the Sternchenmarkt was my favourite. It was super busy and seemed to be food and drink focused mainly but it was completely lit by blue white lights making it absolutely magical.

When I booked the trip, my mother made me promise to go on a carousel as I have literally been on one every year at Christmas, well, until I moved out to the Netherlands, that is! Sadly, there were only children's carousels. However, there was a big wheel so we went trip on that and, frankly, I think it more than made up for it. Seeing a bird's eye view of the city by night, lit up for Christmas, was really rather magical. We also got way more than we bargained for and went round so many times that I, quite frankly lost count. We expected to go round twice, or maybe three times tops... by the fifth time we, and the couple who were sharing our car, were both amused and bemused!

On the Big Wheel...pretending we weren't terrified of the height!

We actually set off for home quite early on that day due to the cold and spent most of the night cuddled up in the hotel room watching Abraham Lincoln Vampirjäger despite the fact only 1.5/3 of us could understand what was going on! We did try to get the television in English, and apparently there should have been English channels but it didn't work out so Dania got a quick German lesson instead!

Enjoying the hotel bunk-beds. "Creation of Adam", anyone?

The second day we went into town a bit earlier to go into the shops themselves. It's actually a really nice city with some lovely places on the main drag and, like all cities, there are bound to be hidden gems that we simply didn't find sticking to the central streets. I would like to go back when it's a bit warmer, just to explore the city more thoroughly.

Ready for day two!

Naturally, we spent the evening wondering through the markets a bit more and discovering some really good food, mainly. It's funny, that, whenever Dania, Leonoor and I go somewhere together we end up exploring the food more than anything!

Not every day you come across a field of decorated Christmas trees.

On the Sunday it was time to return to Amsterdam and, for me, to face the start of the deathly stack of deadlines. Distressingly, the train was delayed leaving us waiting on a freezing cold platform for over an hour. On the bright side, Leonoor and Dania used that time to buy a six pack of very good doughnuts for on the train.

What did I tell you? We always end up eating!!

Not for facebook

Sinterklaas in Amsterdam

Today was the arrival of Sinterklaas in Amsterdam and, before I start, I'll preface this with pretty much the same disclaimer as last year:

I'm still not Dutch so I'm talking about my understanding of things as an English person who's heard about all the traditions as such second and third hand. To any Dutch readers who might be here - if you notice any mistakes then please point them out and don't hate me ;-)

This year was, in many ways, similar to last year in that Leonoor, Dania and I went into town and had breakfast before the parade. The difference was that we weren't in quite so early because I didn't misread the times this time (I royally messed up last year!) However, just like last year we got completely drenched in the rain so I guess some things never do change! That said, it did dry up as the parade came by so I managed to get some slightly better photos this year.

So, as last year, I'll start with something of an explanation for those who would be completely flummoxed without one. 

Sinterklaas, as you can probably guess from the name, is the Dutch version of the embodiment of Saint Nicholas and stays a little closer to the figure of the Saint than our own Father Christmas or, indeed, Santa Claus. We'll not get into the fact that Father Christmas and Santa Claus are technically different figures who got merged in the Victorian, I think, era right now... that's just going to complicate matters!

So, in mid-November each year, Sinterklaas arrives in the Netherlands by boat from Spain which is where he spends most of the year (well, where did you think he got mandarins from if he lived in the North Pole!!). Once he arrives in the Netherlands he has separate 'arrivals' in different cities around the country.

He's also assisted by Zwarte Piet, or multiple of them, a character who traditionally wears blackface which, quite understandably, has caused a lot of controversy over recent years. To be honest, other than the fact it's Sinterklaas and I'm basically a large child, part of the reason I enjoy going is to see how what is a very alive political and social issue develops from year to year. I believe they're currently trying to gradually change it to reflect soot, with the story already being that he's black because of going down chimneys, and it was possibly to see a bit of a difference this year. It's probably not fair to change him instantly or without some story-line continuity when it's a children's character who they believe in so I understand why there's desire for a more gradual development as opposed to instant change.

We decide not to ask for pepernoten - the little biscuit things that are associated with this time of year and are given out by the Pieten along the route - and leave them for the real children. Weirdly enough, however, one gentleman came over quite enamoured with my handbag and basically forced me to take quite a lot so I think Dania was happy in the end - thank you Sisi handbag!

So, after a while of standing out in the cold - and minus Dania as she was volunteering that afternoon - Leonoor and I decided to go and grab a warm drink and head back quite content. I mean, for all it's something for children it's a really interesting thing culturally and politically to experience as a non-Dutch person. And, lets be honest, I'm never going to grow up!!

Not for facebook

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.

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!!

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!

Home sweet home?

All my 'important stuff' ready and packed. Including
Ring of Power thanks to Aimee's Christmas present!

Well, I've just got back home from my little Christmas escape. I can't really say that I'm pleased to be back but oh well!

One thing that was lovely was walking in the front door and practically tripping over a pile of Christmas cards to various members of the family. We'd missed getting the last minute cards due to our being elsewhere and it was nice to be welcomed home by them.

This card from Gitta has to win the prize for the most
Christmassy; the cinnamon in the tea made it smell so good!

What's not been so joyous is the pile of emails I have to reply to! Yes, some of them are delightful messages from friends (I'm not complaining about you lot!) but a bundle are about varying types of work. Guess there's no easing back into life gently!

Anyway, I'm going to upload some blog posts I wrote while I was away and then go and have a bath and a sleep... I'll probably put off writing emails until tomorrow. It's been a long old day!

Seriously not the Christmas I was expecting

Just before writing this post, I read the end of the last entry I wrote (the one of the24th as I wrote the one of the 25^th before leaving home):

“I am pleased that I get to spend it with my parents, however, and I know that I am lucky to have them here.”

There’s something slightly sickly amusing about that sentence. About two hours after I wrote it, my mother was rushed into hospital by ambulance. She was kept in overnight and, luckily, she was discharged at about midday on Christmas day. Naturally, I got no sleep that night and spent it very worried. The afternoon was a bit strange too, to say the least. In the end we decided to open gifts and just lurk with lack of intent.

Only took my little camera out so pictures weren't that great. All the same!

Today was a lot better. My parents decided, on a whim, to go into Torrington to watch the Boxing Day hunt set off. In fairness, we always try and catch one of the hunts on Boxing Day but with everything that happened yesterday I wasn’t really expecting us to go out today.

The best bit of the day, hands down, has got to be meeting up with my friend from college, Zoë. I’ve not seen the girl since June, I guess, and it was absolutely wonderful to catch up with her and her crazy cat. She also managed to put up with attempting to teach me some accordion even though I have the brain of a sieve. Now I have to make it my life’s quest to buy myself an instrument and learn it before I next see her so I don’t have to torture her ;-)

Anyway, I’m now sat at the kitchen table, cooking Christmas dinner. Yep, we had toast for dinner yesterday so going to have to make up for things today!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Merry Christmas!!

When this blog post goes online it will be Christmas day (in England anyway!) although, due to being somewhere without internet, I wrote this post a while ago. Usually I would send each of my friends an individual message on Christmas day but, as this isn't possible, a blog post will have to be the next best thing.

I hope that you are having a beautiful, happy Christmas, surrounded by the people that you love and hold dear. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious festival or as a tradition, or even if you don't celebrate it at all, I hope that it is one day among many of warmth and light for you, your family, and your friends.

As for me, I'm spending it with my parents somewhere that hasn't been flooded and that has a carpet. Pure luxury!

Christmas Song of the Day

Fairytale of New York performed 

by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

This has got to be one of my favourite Christmas songs. I doubt this surprises anyone at all and I'm not really going to go into details as to why. I do, however, love listening to it playing in public places (or on the radio) and seeing if they're playing The Pogues' version or a censored cover!

Bonus cover by Rapalje:

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…

…and my parents, who insist we stay up to see Christmas in are currently asleep on the sofas. I admit that these sofas are beautiful but really!

Actually, I’m exhausted right now. It’s been a good fun day but rather tiring. I actually managed to get some arty stuff done today albeit just a few drawings in my own sketchbook and therefore not for sharing. I also managed to have a good old play on the low whistle even though my father likes to try and sing along (often in a different key) which is really off putting considering I’ve only been learning for about one and a half months!

This evening was the big Christmas Eve buffet. It’s something we’ve done ever since I remember, have a huge buffet dinner on Christmas Eve. It’s enough to feed a fair few people (because we need to be able to feed whoever might turn up) and, in practice, it ends up being dinner for weeks afterwards.

Only when we set it out did we realise how
vegetarian unfriendly this buffet was!

The buffet is still out on the table in the other room, albeit somewhat depleted, so I have the washing up and putting away to look forward to, if my sleeping parents are anything to go by!

As for tomorrow, yes I’m excited. In case you haven’t realised by now, I completely adore Christmas and it’s really, really exciting! I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to email/text my friends to wish them a happy time tomorrow though as that’s one of my favourite bits. I am pleased that I get to spend it with my parents, however, and I know that I am lucky to have them here.

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

In the midst of relaxation comes a busy day

After just a couple of days here I feel so much healthier and so much happier. It’s almost as though my body and my mind had forgotten what this state was like and has suddenly reawakened. I’d definitely got used to abnormality.

Anyway, today was the compulsory last minute trip to the shops to get the vegetables that wouldn’t last if they were bought any earlier. My parents somehow managed to convince me that my father’s van wasn’t like normal vans and so I consented to doing the hour long journey in the van, in a storm. Yep, I felt sick the whole way. Why vans make me feel ill when no other mode of transport does will never fail to confuse me!

The shopping wasn’t as hectic as I’d expected. A lot of (sensible) people had, it seems, been put off by the weather. That said, the queue was about an hour and a half long. I’m really not complaining about that in the slightest. It’s amazing how everyone starts to chat in those circumstances and how no-one tries to push in even though the line was snaking around two and a half isles…

I then went to drop Aimee’s gift round even though she’s not contacted me properly in forever and has been messing me about again. Turned out that she’s been having a bit of a tough time so I couldn’t be angry with her even though I wanted to be. In fact, I feel guilty that I couldn’t stay to give the needed hugs. I know that, no matter how annoying she might be, Aimee is always going to be family and I really do miss her. Urgh, soppiness over!

Returning back to the cottage, today was baking day. I don’t know why I made gingerbread again this year because it never goes right. My first ever attempt was tooth breaking. I’ve made a fair few successful batches in the years since but the dough never binds and therefore I kinda smush it together and my gingerbread’s highly unattractive.

Pretty pleased with my quiche though ;-)

Yep, I'm proud of this little quiche!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

I am never again staying somewhere with comfy sofas

Today has been another lazy day which, quite frankly, is brilliant.

This morning I made the most of the two foot thick walls to practice low whistle to my heart’s content. Okay, low whistle might not be as loud as normal whistle but it’s still got some clout, particularly in the upper octave, and my own house has paper thin walls. It was also great to be playing somewhere where my hands weren’t cramping constantly because of the cold. It’s only a shame that the ‘cello was too poorly to come too… it would have been great to have played here.

I spent some time working on the Tanz der Vampire translation but I must admit that I wasn’t really in the mood for it. I am in a bit of a ‘snuggle up on the sofa in a blanket and watch a DVD mood’ so I think it’s another Harry Potter evening tonight. I will try and do some more Tanz before the film comes on the television but I have no guarantees. I can’t even get myself motivated to do any painting!

Now, if you excuse me, I need to go and save my brandy from my overzealous father!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Home from home

After a rather stressful start, Saturday was quite a lovely day. Getting everything ready to go away for a week, especially when that week is a ‘special’ one is quite the task, as we found out. My father’s hardly organised when it comes to life so that didn’t really help. Honestly, he nearly left my canary behind!

Anyway, we eventually all got out the door and went on down to deliver presents to my siblings and their respective families. Because my mother and I set off later than my father, having been left to pack the final things alone, I only got to see Rebecca, my youngest sister, and her sons Ashton and Jenson. It was those two I was most eager to see though so I’m alright with that. As normal, it took Ashton a good while to get used to me and not to act in a shy way and Jenson, having aged considerably since I saw him last, was more than willing to copy his brother’s behaviour. I got some lovely hugs and Jenson cried when we left so I’m not too offended that they ran away to start with!!

You'll never guess the name of the place we were staying! ;-)

 Then it was onto our little holiday cottage which is basically in the middle of no-where. We had a sheet of directions to follow although the owner informed us that one of the key points to look for, a horse riding mounting block, was destroyed in a car crash a couple of weeks ago. We weren’t really looking forward to this bit, my mother dreading it, considering she’s not keen on driving down little lanes. In the end, it ended up getting dark even earlier than expected due to an incoming storm which broke just as we were getting to the lanes with grass in the middle. Looking back, it was quite the adventure but I must admit that we all breathed a bit of a sigh of relief when we arrived!

The cottage itself is really sweet. Part of a unit of barn conversions it’s got real charm and is actually deceptively large. The owner was delightful and, when we walked in, we were greeted by crackers, mulled wine, and a Christmas tree. I think we’ll have a great time here.

I must say that I quite like the way that the cottage's
owner attacked this tree with tinsel!

The rest of the evening has been spent curled up on the sofas as a family, watching Harry Potter or, in my father’s case, sleeping. It’s strange because, looking back on the last couple of years, I think this is one of the first times we’ve been able to just relax as a family. I guess that life has been so strange for so long what with death threats and extreme bullying to flooding and illness that I’d almost forgotten what normality is. I’ve really missed this.

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Getting away

Today is the day that I travel down to the cottage we're renting for Christmas.

I've been packing for a few days now as, due to the time of year, there's so much that needs to go with us. I've also learned that packing after a couple of (large) glasses of whiskey is not a good idea... yes, I did manage to get my head stuck in a suitcase. It took my parents about fifteen minutes to free me, although I'm sure that time could have been cut down dramatically if only they had stopped laughing!

En route to the cottage I am going to stop and visit a couple of siblings and, most excitingly, the diddy nephews! Yes, I am still planning on dressing as an elf!

As for where I'm going, it's a holiday cottage in the middle of no-where down in the south west. I'm close enough to Exeter that I can meet up with a couple of people if they bother to get back to me but far enough from everything that I can just get away from life for a while. I also believe that there is no internet at the cottage so I'm actually really looking forward to that. I'll only be there for a week, and one day of that will be Christmas day, but it will be nice to be stuck in 'real life' for a couple of days.

I'm taking a couple of musical instruments with me. Sadly, my 'cello is back in intensive care so she won't be coming but low whistle certainly is. I'm also taking a bundle of paints with me and will just see what happens over the next week. It'll be lovely to be free to just create with no strings attached and no real pressures.

So, I guess I'm off now. See you all after Christmas!

Christmas Song of the Day

Solstice Evergreen by Spiral Dance

Because today is Yule, or the Winter Solstice, it seemed only fitting to have a song relating to this festival instead of to Christmas per se. I'm still getting over the fact that we're not going to be able to really celebrate the festival this year but I guess the last couple of years have been strange for us as a family and what better time to remember that there's always next year!

As for the song, this is by a Pagan Folk band called Spiral Dance and is a great piece of music that works for Yule, Christmas, or just winter festivities in general. Enjoy.

(because I've been having some issues with blogger and youtube recently, if the video isn't embedded then click here to listen)

A day of little gifts, preparations, and music shop annoyance.

So, today I finally received something that I had been waiting for.

Peg paste bought from Hobgoblin Music's website

This little pot of gunk might just be the key to getting my 'cello in a playable condition again and, considering I've been working at doing just that for some months now, I'm quite excited. 

I first ordered some peg paste off 'DJM music'. Don't. I paid for next day delivery and got an email today stating that my order has just been dispatched. It's a week after I placed that order. Naturally, I've sent them a rather strongly worded email demanding a full refund and that they arrange to pick up their item from me which it eventually gets here. To add insult to injury, it's been posted first class royal mail not even as a next day parcel!

Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a rant about them (trust me, I could go on!) but I do want to comment on Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin are a chain of folk music shops in England, with worldwide shipping, and I must admit that I love them. I have visited their Birmingham store quite a few times now and found the staff to be both welcoming and knowledgeable, which is rather rare in music shops, it seems. I ordered my peg paste from them, online, at 12:30 a.m. yesterday. It arrived today. I paid for standard shipping, which was a bit steep in price but that's Royal Mail's fault really and am really rather pleased with their service. The prices of their instruments and accessories are always more than fair and the quality of their items has always been high in the past so I have no doubt that I have received an all round good service here.

In short, DJM music bad, Hobgoblin music good.

I also received a little gift off of my mother today in the form of a diary for next year. I hate buying diaries for the next year because they're so expensive and at a time of year when money is tight anyway so I'm really pleased that I don't have to go through that pain this year! Actually, mother bought the diary for herself when we last visited Glastonbury but has since decided that it's probably not big enough for her. I don't mind getting pretty hand-me-downs!

It still smells of Glastonbury incense. I keep having a casual sniff!

Other than that, I'm getting ready for tomorrow which will see me going off into the sunset... ahem... going to a holiday cottage for Christmas. So much to do!

Christmas Song of the Day

'Baby, It's Cold Outside' as performed in Glee

Okay, I'm not a huge Glee fan but I did watch the first and (most of the) second season. Although I wasn't a great fan of the plot a few of the arrangements really did catch my fancy, this one being one of them. In fact, I bought the album just for this song, disliking the rest of the tracks!

Big families are not worth it!

Okay, I'll admit that I don't mean this title in the slightest. I am very much a family person even if my own tends to verge on the dysfunctional at times... most of the time.

Well, I've finished my wrapping now although I'm sure my parents
 will get me to do theirs now. The above was today's little lot.

That said, Christmas becomes a bit of an expensive little escapade. I have four siblings, each with their own children, several aunts and uncles, not to mention parents and friends. That is a lot of wrapping! It's also really difficult because, while I don't think Christmas should be a materialistic festival, I do try my best to give the people who matter to me something really special and something that will mean something to them and to our relationship.

Excuse the general refurbishing house mess but this pile should give
you some idea of the amount of things I've wrapped/got to wrap.
The polka-dot one is from Annelies to me.

I'm just sad that I don't get to spend Christmas with the big-family. I'd especially like to spend it with the younglings but I guess you can't win them all. I'm not even sure if I'm going to get to see my siblings and co. this year as it seems that dad's dropping the stuff over. I'm thinking about trying to talk parents into us all going and dressing up as a Christmas elf (again)... hmm...

Christmas Song of the Day

Jingle Bells performed by Bellowhead.

Bellowhead, a folk band from England, have been stalking me this year so I feel that I might as well post one of their songs here today. Seriously, whenever I have turned on the radio they have been playing! I'm not complaining because they've got a great sound and are brilliant fun! Jingle Bells needs no explaination, I assume!

Attempting to get back into translation

Well, it's been three months since the last part of Marie Antoinette went online and I moaned about feeling out of practice then. I've not even been flexing my German let alone working out how to put German words, thoughts, concepts, implications, into coherent English. Yuk!

I feel bad about not having kept up with my translating, however, and spent the last couple of days getting up to speed with Marie Antoinette. I've all but finished the next part and, all things equal, hope to upload it tonight. I'm sitting here fighting with the hardsubbing programs... they're winning, as always.

I'm also carrying on with Tanz der Vampire and want to get the English libretto for that done before I go away for Christmas and loose internet at the end of this week. Yes, I'm being optimistic but, in fairness, I did manage to create the revised English libretto of Elisabeth in a day. 

Other than that, it's been Christmas chaos all around. Places have lost orders, sent wrong things, not taken my money or sent the order that I asked to have next day delivery on (and paid to have next day delivery on... if they take my money) Urk, urk, urk.

It's not made any easier by the fact that we're going down south to spend Christmas in a rented cottage. It's a good thing, after all, carpet and a shower will be bliss, but it also means that we're leaving the house later this week. It adds a little bit of stress but I am looking forward to it.

Anywho, no photos today so we'll just have to make do with this:

Christmas Song of the Day

Silent Night sung by some of the cast of London's Les Mis

My singing teacher is using this song to get me to work on vowels so trust me, it's not one of my favourites right now. She was especially amused when I had to ask her for a copy of the words in English as I only knew the German version. Anyway, current developments aside, this is one of my favourite Christmas songs, and my mother's complete favourite. Add to that the multi-language idea and I'm sold.

Om nom nom

My parents have just got back from doing the last of the Christmas food shopping, well the bits that we can get in advance. I wasn't really planning on writing about that but it seems that my last couple of days have rather resolved around food in some way or another so it might as well be mentioned!

Dad bought me back a pudding that I'm allergic to (again)
so I decided to photograph it instead!

Last night I went to a restaurant with my mother and a friend of the family we quite often go there because it serves beautiful Italian food. Usually I'll have a spinach ravioli which is beautiful but, due to being a bit ill the yesterday morning, I had a minestrone soup with fresh bread which was absolutely wonderful. The highlight of the evening had to be one of the waiters, prompted by my mother telling him about my interest in the accordion, coming across to my table with his piano accordion and chatting and playing. This was utter Havanah heaven.

I also managed to get Annelies' food parcel finished (at 2 a.m.), packed and sent. If Annelies happens to be reading this, and I don't think she does read my blog, look away now because I'm putting up a picture in a mo. I was really pleased to finish this little parcel because I wanted to get it on its way but I had such fun putting it together.

The all but assembled food parcel on my, as always, messy desk!

So yes, for someone who can't eat a lot, food is featuring quite heavily right now. Oh well, it's Christmas ;-)

Christmas Song of the Day

Gothic Christmas by Within Temptation.

Within Temptation were one of my utter favourite bands just as I was discovering music. Of course, I still love them! This song, although not one of their most musically impressive, never fails to make me smile! I thought it would contrast with the other songs I've been posting too!

A flurry of activity

When I first started to apply to the Dutch university I was hearing from them every single day. I would see something in my inbox and my heart would go into my mouth. Worst of all was the email telling me that they were now processing my application (whatever that means) and that was the last I heard of them.

Silence.

It's strange because I am in limbo. I have done all I can do and all I can do is wait. For how long?

Today I got this email...

I've not bothered to blank out my legal name but have
blanked out the teacher's for obvious reasons. 

My final reference is in. Everything is there. Nothing's really changed, not for me, but somehow just hearing this makes me feel ten times better. This teacher will have done be a good reference. I don't know what she'll have said about me but I trust that she will have been detailed, rigorous, and honest and that's all anyone can ask for. The fact that all my references are in is quite reassuring.

I also booked my flight out for the university open day. Sadly, I'm coming back on the same day (it's going to be tiring!) so I won't get to see any of my friends out there... this time! It's also going to be my first time visiting Amsterdam and I'm not going to actually have chance to look around. I'm determined to buy a gift for each of my diddy nephews out there though!

I'm actually really looking forward to going to the open day. I'm looking forward to being out of the country for a few hours and to have that freedom. It's also nice to be arriving in a country without a suitcase as I'll be able to work out public transport without having to worry about that big rectangular thing I'm pulling behind me! (*)

I've already thought about what happens if they reject me before the open day. Well, then I have a nice day trip to be a tourist, right? Oooh, I might even have my new camera by then!!

(*) Anyone who feels the need to point out that a suitcase isn't actually rectangular as a rectangle is a 2D shape will be dropped into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Anyone who doesn't know what the Bog of Eternal Stench is will be bogged twice. 

Christmas Song of the Day

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, performed in Hungarian 

by Szinetár Dóra and Bereczki Zoltán.

Dóra and Zoltán, the cutest couple in Hungarian musical theatre. Let's not mention the D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Ahem. Their Christmas C.D. is stunning with some lovely arrangements of Christmas songs. Rudolf has to be my favourite on the disk and this is just a wonderful video. I believe that they pulled the girl from the audience (I think I saw that on a longer clip once upon a time) and the confusion on her face is quite brilliant. Okay, I love children.