A long awaited get-together

It's been a bit of a time since I last saw the lovely Gemma, out in Amsterdam, so today was a long awaited reunion, this time in Birmingham. 

After driving around for about twenty minutes, fighting with road closures and bus lanes, I managed to make it to the station where we were due to meet. We met up quite easily after that although, sadly, Mark was unable to join us as planned. I mean, how dare he get ill!

I've never really got used to Birmingham having moved to Amsterdam pretty quickly after my parents moved here so it was down to Gemma to look after me for the day. I've spent time here, of course, but as a child and, later, as a casual visitor.

We started the day being the tallest people in the Disney store which was, quite frankly, rather fun. Having studied Disney in rather negative lights at university (thanks Dan!), it's taken me a while to enjoy the more fun aspects again. I mean, it is tacky and commercial but it's also childhood, for better or for worse. Also, lets be honest, the cuddly toys are really rather cute. Mindful of the fact that anything I bought had to fit alongside my other stuff in the suitcase to go back home, I was exceptionally good and only bought one Alice in Wonderland themed mug in there. What can I say, mugs are my weakness... must be something to do with their link to tea...

Thanks to Birmingham Art Gallery for not disguising this supermarket
bought oil, included in their ancient oil lamp display. Had me in hysterics!

Talking of which, after lunch we went round the art gallery which, to be honest, is really rather awesome. It's the one part of the city I know my way around. It's a small-ish gallery when you compare to some of the major galleries but it has an exquisite collection. Its Pre-Rafaelite rooms are probably a highlight, particularly for me as it's one of my favourite stylistic movements. It also houses much of the Staffordshire Hoard which is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork to have been found. Actually, that exhibition is especially strong with extra information about the discovery, restoration as well as historical information and activities for children. Gemma was instantly drawn to the dressing up box but, you know, who could blame her!

We rounded off what was an all round delightful day with tea in the gallery's Edwardian tearooms. Who can honestly say they could resist tea with mini scones?

Aaaand we didn't get one photo together... idiots that we are!!!

Castlefest 2015

"I wasn't at the festival because I was very sick but, when I was there, I was trying to make Dafni dance" 

-Havanah's Castlefest according to Dafni 

From left to right, Heleen, Dafni, me.

This year's post isn't going to be quite the same size as those in previous years. I usually try and comment on every aspect of Castlefest and the bands I saw in order to satisfy my obsessive documentation needs. This year, there isn't so very much to say. I managed to get food poisoning (as did my poor mother) which meant that Castlefest was rather short for us both. We managed to go for part of Saturday although we left early and did little, and most of Sunday, although both of us were still pretty weak. We're not buying from that shop ever again!!!

I had planned to see quite a few different bands, with time to lurk around and look at the various things around and about. I had also planned to camp but, at 1 a.m. on the Thursday night it became quite clear that wasn't going to happen. After several hours feeling exceptionally trapped and sorry for myself with only twitter for company, I finally gave in and called a taxi. It was the right decision considering, as soon as I got to the hotel, I was really ill. It was the most expensive taxi ride of my life and also the one that I am most pleased I chose to take!

So, it was Saturday afternoon before I made it to the festival grounds and, to be honest, I only managed to catch a couple of bands that day and mainly sat around one of the stages. By the afternoon I was pretty dead and, much to my annoyance, I had to leave before the evening started. No wicker man, no Cesair main stage (although I did manage to see them the next day, indeed it was the only show I actually managed to stand for!), no Faun. I was pretty upset over missing Faun but I am pretty sure I'm going to see them in Essen to make up for it so all things balance out, I suppose. I can't make up for missing Dafni see her favourite band for the first time but there we go!

Cesair's Sunday set: The one show I actually managed to photograph properly!

I did manage to watch Rastaban with Dafni and attempted to force her to join in a bit... hey, someone needs to be that annoying friend who attempts to coerce participation. I attempted to continue my Dafni training at home when 'Arise' played on the CD to cries of "here we go again!"

The other highlight for me would have to be when I went to get my scrapbook painting signed by Finvarra and they were totally overwhelming in their kindness. Still can't get over how lovely they were, particularly when those paintings are, as far as I'm concerned, my little hobby for myself and nothing special at all. It was the last moment of the weekend for me and, quite frankly, it made it for me.

Photo taken from Finvarra's facebook page :-)

I didn't take many photos this year for obvious reasons but the few I did take can be found on my facebook page, as always!

Musings on how amazing the human body really is

Today I did something I have not done in, quite literally, years and played my keyboard. It got put out of the way of the first flood for safekeeping and never had a home again. I'm planning to get it shipped to the Netherlands as I'd like to play again. It was never an instrument I excelled in - it asks for unnatural coordination if you ask me! That said, I was surprised to find that, playing with just the right hand, I was able to play a few folky tunes through by ear almost instantly. That's got to say something about how my ear's improved as well as how muscles really do remember.

Unsurprisingly, playing with my left hand was diabolical.

Pretty sure it's worth bringing out to the Netherlands though, especially as my late night music practice urges will be assisted by an instrument with an earphone jack!

But it's not all that which inspired my writing of this post, rather the fact that it was really quite magical to feel my fingers, quite naturally, playing notes that, if I thought about it, I would not be able to find. It was easy stuff. Exceptionally easy. But, by all logic, I shouldn't have been able to play that.  How do your fingers manage to find the notes for a piece which you have never played before regardless of the fact that your sight reading has really not improved at all but, undoubtedly, worsened? How does your body remember how to do something more than five years on when your mind has long since forgotten?

It's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Almost makes me believe I could start dancing again ;-)

Not for facebook

Jesus Christ Superstar

Yesterday evening, my parents and I popped down to Bristol (not exactly a short journey) to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Bristol Hippodrome. I've only seen the musical live once, in Hungary a while back, and I was rather looking forward to seeing it again.

Jesus Christ Superstar is, in my opinion, a good musical which tells a rather exceptional story which, with insightful direction and a talented cast, can become something great. The cast for last night was exceptional and the design and direction, overall, something rather special.

I must admit that I like Jesus Christ Superstar. As I said above, I feel that the musical itself is not the best show ever. The songs, with a few exceptions, aren't that special. However, it is working with some amazing material - whether you follow the faith or not it's a powerful story - and this musical makes that story accessible, in my opinion for people of all beliefs.The musical doesn't force the audience to accept that Jesus is anything supernatural but allows for that jump to be taken if individuals feel that it fits.  It's the story of human emotions in exceptional circumstances. 

And, that is where the cast were brilliant. Every member succeeded in conveying a rounded character (when called for). Vocally everyone was strong and worked together well with a mixture of tones and vocal textures. The dance parts were impressive, with every member really into it and looking like they relished every moment of being up there performing. There are a couple of the non-lead/chorus cast members that I will be looking up when I have my programme to hand and I will be keeping an eye on where they go next!

The only person who I wasn't 100% struck on was Rachel Adedeji as Mary Magdalene but then I think it takes someone truly out of this world to bring that character to life for me, particularly in the first act. I warmed to Adedeji's performance as Mary's character became more interesting in act two so we'll blame the fact that I don't like Jesus Christ Superstar's Mary Magdalene much rather than the actress. In fact, my parents spoke very highly of Adedeji and using good old youtube I've looked her up and find that I quite like her voice too.

Anyway, I can't speak about every brilliant cast member or I would have to write about each of them in turn so I will focus on the highlights, as agreed by my family!

Seeing Glenn Carter as Jesus was one of the reasons I booked this show. His performance in the 2000 recording was exceptional and became my benchmark for the role. It's a lot to live up to live, and fifteen years on, but Carter managed to do just that. His dedication to the character, and to portraying both emotional and physical anguish, is something rather incredible.

The cast also included the wonderful Cavin Cornwall as Caiphas, something I didn't actually realise until I arrived and bought the programme. Wow, what a voice! The other thing that struck both me and my parents (who both mentioned him as their 'favourite') was just how graceful he was on stage. The character seemed in control, powerful and menacing through the sheer elegance and poise he showed.

Finally, Tim Rogers as Judas was wonderful. It took me a while to warm up to him... but then 'Heaven on Their Minds' seemed a bit out in terms of sound tech so one does wonder. However, Rogers portrayed a Judas who I grew to love. You ever get that feeling where you want to go up and hug a character? Lets just say that his suicide had my mother and I in tears. My dad's a toughie. It was acted exquisitely. And 'The Last Supper' was wonderful with Rogers and Carter playing off against each other vocally in such a way that both were able to showcase their (rather great) abilities.

And while we're talking of great acting we have to mention the intensity of the second act. I joked with my parents that we should leave after act one... before it all goes to pot! I actually don't know how to put the second act into words. It features a couple of distinct scenes of obvious violence - the whipping scene and the crucifixion itself - and each of these scenes are drawn out much longer than is comfortable. There is no gratuitous violence and gore but the emotional reaction of the characters is more than enough. There's no way that an audience can go away untouched from a performance like this.

The curtain call was rather short. The clapping wasn't overly enthusiastic. There was no standing ovation. Walking out into the street I could hear people discussing the performance in a most positive fashion. The truth is that, at the time of the curtain call I think we were all to shell-shocked to actually show our appreciation fully straight afterwards.

I can't get moments of the show out of my head. It was an astounding piece of art. Part of me wants to see it again. Part of me needs to give my emotions some serious time to recover.

Lack of routine leads to boring blog posts but to happy Havanahs

Ah, the freedom of the last weeks has allowed me to reacquaint myself with so many old friends... sleep... art... music... Aimee...

I also seem to have made some new friends as my shower gel (or that's what we think it must be) seems to attract moths. Seriously, I spend most evenings covered in moths and my mother has to get them off of me before I sleep so I don't squash them. I don't mind... it's quite flattering really!

You may call me the Moth Queen ;-)

All that aside, I think I've been quite noticeably absent from my normal channels of communication. I've been avoiding facebook (not actively but it's happened), I've not been logging onto Skype because even when I have the computer on the keyboard is generally too far away for me to type, I've let my phone run out of charge rendering that pretty useless. Okay, I've now recharged my phone as I've decided to end my self imposed, and oh so blissful, retreat.

It has been lovely to be free to dictate my own schedule and not to feel the overbearing press of deadlines and "I must get this A grade". In the first few days at home I probably painted etc for all the hours that weren't spent sleeping or eating. It was as though there was a real backlog! 

Sitting under a parasol in the middle of nowhere.
It's a hard old life.

I have also, quite naturally, been spending a fair bit of time with my parents which has been... interesting. I'm really close to my family but, as anyone who has met my father will confirm, he is quite excitable... to say the very least. Well, he's been excited to have me home - which is lovely - but that also means he's extra bouncy. It's like having a human shaped puppy bouncing around most of the time!

Catching up with people has also meant bugging the best friend in Cardiff where she is now working seven days a week. The insane girl. We only got to have one day together - her one day off of the summer - but she's going to come and see me in Amsterdam in September so we'll be together for a week or so then. Read that Aimee? It's in black and white now so there's no backing out now!

More recently, I've been translating again and I have cleared a great deal in that regard. I have to say that, with those couple of weeks of German lessons, I have found my speed of translation much improved. It's not that I couldn't do it before but now, knowing some of the basic grammatical rules, which I may have either fumbled through or completely missed previously, I know what to look for and it is so much easier. 

I'm thinking about focusing on language learning over the next few weeks as I still have a few languages on my 'to learn' list. Also need to get round to seriously brushing up on French, having not spoken it in coming up to three years - oh my!

End of the semester and home!

Well, this post is the first of what will undoubtedly become a fair few to be written in England. That's right, I'm home and it is lovely to be back.

But, since my last incredibly rambling post a little bit has happened so lets attempt to do this in some logical order! As I mentioned, I went to pick my mother up from the airport on Saturday evening. The plan was to explore the Netherlands a bit before I returned home but, suffice to say, that didn't work out as I managed to get (if that's the right word) tendonitis in my foot again. So yep, I spent the last half a week sitting with my foot in the air doing basically nothing... actually quite nice if a little frustrating.

Anyway, it also meant that my picking up my mother from the airport was pretty tricky and I was quite lucky in the fact that Leonoor went with me to assist. Weirdly, my mother's flight got in half an hour ahead of schedule... which is really strange when you realise the flight is usually only 50 minutes or so.

Mother also brought over a suitcase full of stuff from back home, bit of non-perishable food for next year and some of the stuff that I've ordered to the UK to save on shipping costs. Can you blame me? Anyway, one of those things is a print of a drawing that I've wanted for a long while by The Picsees, called Sleepy Time. The idea just really fit with my own outlook on life and I knew I had to buy it. It had, sadly, sold out at the time I was able to buy it but, with some lovely conversations via facebook, I was able to get my print. Really rather happy about that!

Even the packaging of the print was lovely. An all round wonderful service.

The week itself, other than a brief foray to the cafe down the road with the lovely Maria, was spent in my flat with my mother. We watched a lot of films (The East was one that we both really enjoyed and would recommend) and lurked a bit. It was relaxing and enjoyable even if I felt so guilty not to be able to show her around as planned. Nothing I could do but all the same!

No prizes for guessing how we made
up for our inability to go out!

And then today it was time to fly back home. We had a right old time getting to the airport as, even in the early morning the heat and humidity made for an intense experience. Not to mention the fact that I was bringing a lot of breakable heavy hand luggage home for the summer... well, we made it but I'm not sure either of us knew quite how we did!

The airport was chaotic, as normal, it seems. However, everyone seemed to be in a really good mood. Even the security people were chatty. Mind you, I have never been so happy for a broken violin string as I was when going through security because I was seriously pressurised to play. So lucky I had an excuse... and didn't mention the whistles ;-)

Proud that we got this the airport without resorting to a taxi.
We regretted not resorting to a taxi!

I also had some glorious news at the airport in terms of my German grade. I was waiting on my portfolio grade - so basically a varying load of written coursework - and I was, shall we say pleasantly surprised. When you bear in mind how awful I felt it was all going at points... well, I'm over the moon. Pretty sure that all my grades are in for that subject now so I'm pretty sure I've got my A grade overall. The A grade is significant as I need a 4 GPA, including all years of the degree, in order to apply for the course I want to go onto. It basically means I need an A, minimum, in every subject which is a hellish pressure but 100% worth the work if it gets me where I want. I seem to have managed it last year... I can say that now it's the summer!

But back to today:
The flight itself wasn't overly pleasant. The flight was over booked and staff were overly stressed and it was a bit of a mess. There was a large group of unaccompanied children on the flight too which I think was putting some pressure on the cabin crew. Mind you, as I tried to leave the plane I got really seriously told off by the one woman who'd been so rudest for whole flight. She was telling me off for moving from my seat because someone was "coming to collect me"... took me a moment to realise she somehow thought I was part of the under-14 group (how!?) but her embarrassment when I said that I was an adult was kinda worth it! We both ended up having a bit of a laugh about it in the end and hopefully she will think twice about being rude even when under pressure because she seemed quite nice when, well, embarrassed!

Anyway, I got home, ate a beautiful dinner out in the garden with my parents and then sat down and painted. I've started preparing my Castlefest scrapbook because I know that takes me some time. I'm also expecting my Budapest photos to be coming any day now so that's another full scrapbook to be made and assembled. Holidays and festivals take so much time but I never regret the scrapbooking habit!

Anywho, this got a fair bit longer than I had planned! Off to bed with me! It's midnight back home and I've had a long old day ;-)

Eep!

I'm free! I'm free! I'm free!

Oh my! What is this strange feeling of euphoria?

Eating ice-cream and pretending we're back on holiday holiday.

Yesterday, despite having a lovely raging temperature the day before, I sat my final exam of German and walked out into the world of (temporary) liberty. Due to the lucky fact that most of 'my' German group finished the exam at the same time we decided to have a celebratory drink (of iced tea... pushing the boat out!). I've been incredibly lucky with my German class and with my teacher as both have been so supportive and lovely. While I may not like the intensive period very much, I can safely say that this has been one of my favourite classes in a lot of ways.

Of course, I've also finished my first year at university which is weird as anything. In some ways I'm glad it's summer... in others it's strange. My friends are going to be jetting all over the place, or they're staying here but I'm not.

Dania steals Leonoor's phone to take a photo of me cleaning dirt off
Leonoor. Mothering the world as always ;-)

Dania, Leonoor and I, as the only ones who are here right now, managed to get into town for the day which was nice although, to be quite honest, I'm still fighting off illness and have managed to injure my foot so I'm both in pain and out of it. In fact, I think I'm going to say that this post is not for facebook and saved just for my 'loyal fans' because heaven only knows it's rambling!

Oh, and even better - I'm going to pick the mother up from the airport in a few. So excited!