Dancing through life

TT#8 Countries I like

2007-03-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things about countries I like

1. The Netherlands, because my family lives there. And the best cheese comes from the Netherlands, as everybody knows (besides the French).

2. Australia, because of the wide open spaces, the many hours of sun and the awesome wildlife.

3. Spain, because of the flamenco (I love to dance the flamenco), the tapas, the beautiful cities and the Sierra the Gredos.

4. Costa Rica, because of the fantastic wonders of nature and the friendly people. Not for the food, which is mainly rice, black beans and egg or chicken. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. But who cares, when there are vulcano's to visit, canopy walks to make and slots to find?

5. Ireland, because the Irish are the friendliest people in Europe and the country is all lush green hills and rocky cliffs, surrounded by wild sea. Did I mention the Irish pubs and the catchy music?

6. Scotland, because of the awe inspiring mountains to hike in, Edinburgh and Inverness, the great Aberlour whisky, blokes in kilts, bagpipes and the best English accent. I must have been Scottish in a former life.

7. Norway, because of the vast emptiness, the fjords, the best hikes and Knivskjelodden.

8. Finland, because of the sauna's, the snow and the hot lunches.

9. Slovakia, because of the Male Fatra and the High Tatra and all the other mountains to hike. Nice people, not a great kitchen, unless you like schnitzel and cabbage every day.

10. Zimbabwe, because of the enormous amount of wildlife and the most beautiful jacaranda's I have ever seen anywhere.

11. Fiji, because of the guys in sulu's, the gorgeous food, the colourful corals and fish and the lush rainforests. And the seasnakes can't bite, or so they tell you (I have my doubts on this).

12. Belgium, because of the 24 screen cinema in Antwerp, the Belgian fries with tartare sauce and the nice language.

13. Canada, because of the Rocky Mountains, Vancouver Island and the fabulous hot springs.

Can we do 26 instead of 13??? Could easily go on for a bit here. :-)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Tink
2. ancsweetnsassygal

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TT#7 To TT or not to TT

2007-03-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Thirteen Things about not TT-ing

Yes, I have not been TT-ing for a few weeks and here are the reasons why, in green of course cause it is almost St Paddy's Day.

1. The last time I tried, I was working for over an hour listing my 13 biggest frustrations, when after no. 10 I apparently pushed a wrong buttong, so the whole thing was gone. Talk about frustration: that totally did it for me. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!! &*^%$(!!! So, no 13 then. Only later it occurred to me I could have only done the last 3 and explain why there were no first 10. More frustration in retrospect! This time I save this post as a draft every 10 minutes.

2. The week after I was still cross with myself, the computer, blogging in general and TT-ing in particular, so no TT.

3. Then I was way to busy starting up the new semester at uni. Even lectures I have given before still take a surprising amount of time to prepare, due to my stupid inhibition to always try and make it better than it was the first time. Years ago I was taking a course in 'teaching for higher education' and one of my fellow students proudly mentioned that he had been teaching the exact same course for 10 years now, same material, books, jokes and all. Needless to say this left me stunned for a minute. After which I just had to ask why he thought this was something to be proud of. After which followed a heated discussion. Why can I never keep my mouth shut at appropriate times? (maybe a good topic for another TT?)

4. Let me think what my next excuse was, ah, being away for the weekend. In my time zone I cannot get started on the TT until Friday, because during my Thursday it is not opened up yet. And Friday is almost weekend, so when going away. (Bit weak, isn't it?)

5. I had spend so much time online for work and study, that just the thought of getting behind the computer to do some blogging made me feel tired and totally not in the mood. And then I thought: well, nobody is reading it anyway, so why bother? I know, I know: write and thou shall be read (and at least the opposite is true).

6. Gee, when I started this one I thought I had lots of great excuses for not being here doing this, but it turns out te be a rather meagre lot. Hm, I felt out of touch for a few weeks and had a hard time getting back in. But hey, here I am. :-)

7. I am reading this great book by Adam Williams, The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, that I wanted to finish first. And no, I haven't yet, but this weekend will be the moment that I know how the British will end up in China (probably dead).

8. Friday last when we came home we found my cousin from the Netherlands on our driveway, sleeping in his car after driving for 25 hours. Lots of catching up to do and we had to show him the good side of Canberra/Australia. That was great by the way, cause we felt like we were on a holiday too, at least until Monday morning when we had to get to work, while he was lazing around, reading books and soaking up the sun. But again, no TT-ing time anywhere to be found. He is packing up as I am typing this, headed for the Snowy Mountains.

9. I just did not have any inspiration. Every week I'm totally amazed by people who come up with these really original TT's. Love Tinkerbell's this week: 13 things in my purse. I've seen it in a magazine once, photo's of what women carry (read: drag) around in their handbags. Unbelievable and yet familiar at the same time. I wonder how many women do also carry around their hubby's stuff (because he doesn't want to be found dead with a purse or handbag): keys, wallet, phone, etc. "Hey hon, could you put this in your bag???" Big sigh, because you know it is no use to ask why he cannot just get his own bag and carry his own stuff around.

10. Uh, maybe we can shrink this to a Thursday Ten?? You could still keep the TT going .....

11. Seriously though, I think the 'feeling out of the loop' thing does count for a lot of not TT-ing on my part. I don't feel I belong to the incrowd yet and I am sensitive about that. As a kid I was often an outsider and it doesn't take a lot for me to feel like that again, as I realise now. But it is all in my own mind, right? NLP and all that. Just keep on going and see it as an exercise in expressing myself on the web.

12. I spend lots of time going to the physio, then a sportsphysician, then the physio again, for 2 unrelated injuries that just drag on forever. One since April and one since October. Take it from me: if people tell you to be patient, go to a physiotherapist instead and start getting better earlier and faster!

13. The main reason I do sit down now, although I should be preparing my lecture for next week and could easily defend not having the time, is that I love the way the TT-thing is forcing me to write in English and stretch my brain a bit. Make that a lot. So there you have it.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. Selena Kitt 2.Kathy 3. Cutie Some people did not leave a link, so I have no clue how to add them??

TT#6 Letting go

2007-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about letting go

Being able to let go is not my strong suit.

1. I have a really really good memory, so just forgetting is not an option. My earlies memories are from age 3, so there are a zillion of them by now.

2. If you believe in star signs, I can blame the fact that I'm a Cancer. According to the books they can never let anything just go, be it old theater tickets or old friends. I must say that sounds like me. I used to collect everything, bar my nail clippings, just to hold on. Explanation for that would be the fact that lots of things changed in my youth that I did not want to change, but over which I had no control what so ever (you know: moving all the time, parents divorcing, schools you attend, etc), so I sort of got attached to things instead of people. Before emigrating to Oz though, I had to get rid of loads of things, so I guess that worked rather therapeutic. ;-)

3. Although I do hold on to memories, friendships, etc, I definitely do not bear grudges. I'm not vindictive and can rather easily let go of misunderstandings and fights, as long as the other party says 'sorry' too.

4. As a kid and teenager I often felt like Remi, because I didn't fit in well. My parents were weirdish hippies and I was way to smart. That's probably why I wanted to keep all the friends I had for ever and went way too far in order to keep them.

5. I'm quite protective of the people I love and rather keep them safe, so I don't want to let them go out and face the scary world.

6. If I really want something, I'll keep on going until I get the result I planned. Letting go of the dream is just not an option. That is how I managed to finally get work here in Oz: kept on 'harrassing' people until they hired me. :-)

7. As you might imagine, I'm a really good money saver. I'm not very stingy though, I just decide carefully on what to spend the money. Good causes are travelling, doing something with family or friends, studying and good dance classes.

8. After a semester, I want to keep in touch with all the students, because I got really interested in them and what they want from life and how they are going to get it. I know that is impossible, so I have to let go. Whenever I come across one accidentally, e.g. when I stumble on an ex students blog or meet them in a pub somewhere, I really like to find out how they are doing.

9. Books that I read and liked used to be kept. So I ended up with thousands of them, cause I'm an avid reader. The migration, as mentioned, forced me to get rid of lots of stuff. Also books, because it wasn't quite fair to stuff up other peoples houses with my things. About 20 moving boxes had to go. I gave away all my children's books to friends with kids and sold the rest. Heartbreaking! Now I mostly borrow books in the library, saves the trouble.

10. I love the internet, because it enables me to keep in touch with lots of friends, old colleagues, old teachers, family, new friends, etc. Love it! Won't let go of my laptop as of yet.

11. As to other things, I get attached to certain brands for certain things and I really hate it when, once again, I seem to be the only one that likes it, so it goes of the market. Favourite deodorant: gone! Favourite shampoo: gone! Favourite bra: not for sale in Oz, only in Europe. And so on. Very irritating to be made to let go of preferred niceties. I would be one of those 'loyal till death' customers, if only marketeers would give me the chance!

12. I still cannot really let go of weight. Weirdly enough I loose weight as long as I don't pay attention to it at all. As soon as I realise that I lost weight, something miswires in my brain, I start paying attention to what I eat, exercising, etc and bingo: I gain the weight back. I wish I could let go of my last bit of my eating disorder for ever.

13. Since I embraced the TT meme, I have to stick with it. Damn!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Skittles
2. Di
3. Bubba
4. Geggie
5. Sunflower
6. Gabrielle
7. Tink
(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

TT#5 Korea

2007-01-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about Korea

Back from the holidays and all ready to tell you why you really should go and visit South Korea:

1. It is a beautiful country. Lots of fantastic nature parks, in which you can stumble upon rock carved budha's, little monasteries or 'just' a big grey squirl or black and white woodpecker.
2. The Korean people are really proud of their country and go out of their way to help you and give you a great impression of Korea. Total strangers helped us found a place to stay (which took up to 1,5 hours at one point), took us to nice restaurants (and wanted to pay) and gave us guided tours of the city. Out of niceness, not for money or anything else. Can you believe that? It is true!
3. Seoul is like New York, only lots cheaper: vibrant, exciting and with lots of good shops, hip bars and good food. Even I, a notorious non-shopper, found an interesting store: a mega mega mega bookstore, which also had quite an English collection.
4. Public transport is great, maybe not as excellent as in Singapore, but still very good. In Seoul the trainstations are also mentioned in English, which is nice, because learning the Hangeul script properly takes a little longer than a week. There is a train station close to almost every place of interest, ranging from the Olympic stadium to the grand royal palace. If you take a wrong exit though, as we did a few times, it might still take you half an hour to get to the actual sight. :-)
5. There are, thanks to the Olympics, clean public toilets everywhere, for free. In the Netherlands you have to pay for every toilet, if there is any at all, and then they are mostly dirty. And don't ask if you can use the toilet from a shop or pub, because they will assertively say 'no'.
6. Did I mention the food? We really loved the food. Some people can't get charmed by the kimchi (peppered cabbage), but that is only a side dish and one of many at that. Mostly you end up with at least 4 different dishes on your table, to accompany your sticky rice or noodles and you can spice up the food to your liking with peppers, garlic and other interesting stuff. Lots of veggies and the right type of fat too. You won't get fat in Korea, as long as you don't go to Maccas.
7. Koreans are internet crazy: almost every hotelroom gives you free internet. In your room.
8. They are also mad about tv, judging on the size of the flat tv screens in the hotelrooms: mostly they are about the same size as the double bed. Compared to our 15 inch screen at home, that was shocking!
9. All hotels, restaurants, etc, serve clean drinking water, so no worries about getting travelers diarrhoea. Drink to your hearts content.
10. Korea boasts amazing teashops, with serve totally different teas from anywhere else. If there is no-one on the streets around 4 p.m., have a look in a teashop. That is where everybody relaxes with a big cup of spicy or relaxing tea, accompanied by little rice cakes. The cinnamon and jujube tea were especially tasty, but also the pear tea was yum.
11. The traditional Korean building style is still used in new buildings and it is very charming. The big skyscraper apartment building are not my cup of tea, but considering there are over 10 million people living in Seoul, they need them. If you go out into the country though, you'll see the traditional style everywhere.
12. Koreas has a lot of World Heritage sites to visit and enjoy. Bulguksa temple in Gyong-ju is recommended (4 hours by train south of Seoul).
13. If you would like, you can get the most peculiar things on markets to spice up your lovelife, get your brains to work properly or cure/prevent about any disease. We did not personally try the grounded snakes, but they looked impressive.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Guus was here

2007-01-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

Guus Hidding, football coach, is a national hero in South Korea. If you have the same nationality as Guus, they like you on the spot. And it is easy to find the good restaurants in Seoul: those are, of course, the ones that Guus has frequented during his time in Korea. Easy peasy.

Kookaburra

2006-12-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

You hear it, but where is it?

TT#4: Idiosyncracies

2006-12-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about myidiosyncracies

1. The only soft drink I really like is no sugar cola. It may be called 'diet', 'max' or 'sugarfree' and it can be any brand (low price determines the cola of choice when shopping). My very favourite though is Diet Coke with Lime, from the nestor of cola.

2. If there is a mirror, or a window for that matter, I have to look in it. My left side is slimmer than my right side. Isn't that weird?

3. I have to put on my seatbelt before driving away. Without it I feel naked.

4. I cannot get used to bike helmets. I find them silly, sweaty and totally nonsens if you're over, say, 10 years old. They mess up your hair too. As soon as I say this, people start with the stories when a bike helmet saved their life, but I have done without one for 35 years (and fallen numerous times and never hurt my head) and I'm not convinced. The only reason I wear one is because if caught without, you loose points on your drivers license. (How stupid is that? I always were my seat belt and never drive drunk or speed!)

5. I have to check my email everyday. I'm quite dissappointed if there is none.

6. As soon as I hear the unmistakable sound of the postie (government motorbike), I have to walk to the mailbox and check. I hate it when the only thing put in is some stupid commercial stuff.

7. If I start reading a book, I have to finish it. In proper order, no peaking on the last page. Even if I don't like it.

8. I don't like to eat with my hands. I prefer cutlery, even for a sandwich, or chopsticks if must be, but no grabbing with bare hands. Even as a kid, I never wanted to hold a cookie, especially not chocolat ones: my mother had to keep it and I would have bites from it. I have adjusted in the sense that I do eat with my hands when appropriate (prawns, fries, when in Africa), but I still don't enjoy it.

9. If I think someone has a nice shirt on or something like that, I'll alway tell them. I love paying compliments, but only when sincere. No lies, unless asked for (you're not putting down irreversable breast implants or face lifts of course).

10. When I'm nervous, I talk. A lot.

11. I will never let myself be beaten by a machine. I'll use the manual, call the helpdesk, ask a friend: whatever it takes to conquer the thing. Be it a computer, a phone, a DVD recorder, a new weblog program or an oven.

12. I love wind, breeze, storm, only not too much when riding my bike in opposite direction. Walking is fine though.

13. I'm totally smitten with kangaroos. Everytime I see one,and that is quite often, I love them. They are just too cute! At night you have to be very careful, so you won't kill one on the road. On the other hand, roo mince meat is nice. Forget about the sausages though!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Stacey

2. Mar

3. Caylynn

4. Tinkerbell

5. Ktcat

6.Aquariandragon

7. Tug

8. Danno

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

TT#3 Australia

2006-12-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things I love about Australia

1. The light here is always very very bright, summer and winter, so even if the days are not that long, it is easy to get your required dose of light. No more winter depressions!

2. Nature is awesome. Although the Netherlands has deer, wild hogs, seals, rabbits, all kinds of rodents, fish and birds, it is not quite the same. For instance, you can spot kangaroos here daily, whereas it might take you years to find a wild deer. The hundreds of different birds, the roos, the iguana's, the camels, the echidna's, the koala's, the wombats, the crocodiles, the whales, etc, etc. I must admit the spiders are either too big or too deadly. So are the snakes. We're trying to avoid them.

3. There is just so much space here! You must come from a really crowded country, as I did, to fully appreciate this vast emptiness. The endless rainforests, the endless coastal line with empty beaches, the immense desert. As I said: nature is awesome.

4. Fruit is so much better than in cold Europe. The farmers market on Saturday provides you with fresh seasonal produce for a few dollars and it tastes all great. Since the cyclone earlier this year, the banana's have been 13 dollars a kilo, so we're missing out on those, but everything else: fantastic!

5. Veggies are rather interesting. Even if they have the same name, like spinach, it is a totally different species than what we were used too. Makes you creative while cooking.

6. There are a lot more Asians here and so there are lots of good Asian supermarkets and Asian restaurants. Thai, Indian, Malay, Singaporean, Korean, (vegetarian) Vietnamese, Chinese ... you name it, it is there. And not for posh expensive prices as in Europe. Am I to focused on food here???

7. If a public holiday falls in a weekend, you get the next Monday off ....

8. We learned how to grow veggies here, because our cousin has an organic veggie plot. So, now I know what rocket salad looks like while still growing and I can tie up broadbeans and harvest cherry tomatoes. Weeding is a bit tricky, because some veggies I might classify as weeds. But I'll learn.

9. Every park here has free BBQ's and there are clean public toilets everywhere. Very relaxed when you want to spend a day outdoors, but don't want to rough it. Or if you're with people who need to pee often, e.g. while being pregnant.

10. People are actually quite relaxed in sharing things as public BBQ's. You get into friendly conversation instead of having to fight for you half hour. If lucky, you get advice on how to cook your sausages too.

11. I like the houses here, because they are mostly groundlevel and surrounded by gardens. The fact that most Aussies have no clue on interior decorating, or gardening for that matter, doesn't matter. We made our own house quite cosy. Had to make a trip to Ikea though, which is 4 hours away.

12. A lot of our aunts, uncles and cousins live here and it is great to get to know them better.

13. I always wanted to experience living abroad and hey, I'm doing it!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. sharala

2. susan

(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

13 things about marking papers

2006-11-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about marking papers by Taconcubano
My number 2 is about a down side of my work. Maybe I should have stuck with my 'I never want to be a teacher' idea? ;-)

1. Marking papers takes up lots of time, especially time that was supposed to be free time, as in 'weekends' and 'evenings'.

2. I actually don't like it to award Fails.

3. Unfortunately I have to, too often.

4. Which makes you wonder: why not just give everybody a Pass? Or higher? Well, if that was possible, there wouldn't be much point in marking the papers in the first place. Which would be fine with me: let's change the rules.

5. This would not go well within our society though, which is very much focused on performance and proving to be the best, be it in school, sports, art, dance (tap dance competitions?????) or at bullying other countries about their idiosyncracies.

6. Hey, we have spelling contests for primary school children, for goodness sake! And aren't there the diploma's in kindergarten for being able to tie your shoelaces?

7. See, that's where it all starts, the obsession with grades and marks. Maybe even sooner, when parents are bragging about their children who 'already' can roll over, crawl or smile. (Meaning: my kid is better than yours, that still cannot perform these things.)

8. I think it is silly my uni only gives out grades, not marks, because students tend to give you a whole lot of hassle over 0.1 more if you do give them the marks. But we give them the marks anyway, we just don't tell them which ones. (I must admit this does save time arguing about them, but still.)

9. Students only complain about unfairness if they find your judgement to severe. If you give them a good grade for slack work, nobody complains (like: this is not fair to my classmates, please mark me down).

10. Marking is not too bad if students would write interesting papers, but those are a minority. Lots of people study efficiently, another Western based value: get the best result with the least effort.

11. You maybe wonder by now why I want to be a teacher? Well, I like the students and I like to work with them. Do it over being stuck in an office for 8.5 hours a day anytime. I just don't like marking papers. Or reports for that matter.

12. The reason I'm procrastinating here, from marking papers that is, is that is seems to be a real Sisyphus job (the ancient king who had to roll a big rock up a hill, only to have it roll down the other end, after which he had to start over): as soon as the pile is gone, there is a new pile turning up.

13. So I guess I have to put up with this part of the job. But only while protesting!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. caylynn

2. dragon heart

3. chaotic mom

4. chickadee

Thursday 13: Sint!

2006-11-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

Thirteen Things about Sinterklaas
13 things you need to know about Saint Nicolas, who's birthday is celebrated on the 5th of December each year.

1. Saint Nicolas (or Sinterklaas as we call him) is a nice friendly guy, but not stupidly silly as Santa Claus (hohoho ....).

2. He is not as fat either.

3. He has this really cool white horse, called Schimmel (which would translate as 'mould', because that is what we call white horses with little grey spots on them) who can do rooftops.

4. As soon as he arrives in the country, you got to put your shoe at the fireplace/window/balcony and he'll stuff it with lollies. Smart children use a very big shoe, preferably a boot.

5. His Pieten (the black helpers) ARE funny and silly and they do good acrobatics.

6. Sinterklaas lollies are the best: chocolate letters, spicy sweets, chocolate mice, marzipan sausages.

7. You get to make a 'surprise' (pronounce 'surprease') for someone, which gives you the opportunity to set them straight on their errors from the past year. Only in a nice teasing way though, nothing nasty or mean.

8. Sinterklaas has his own news on tv, so you get important updates on his works and whereabouts each day.

9. He also owns a website, where you can get help with the rhymes that go with the surprise.

10. Sinterklaas' birthday is actually on the 6th, so in Belgium that is the day they celebrate. In the Netherlands it is on the evening of the 5th.

11. Some parents tell their children when they are about 7 years old that Sinterklaas doesn't actually exist. Of course they are very wrong!

12. Sinterklaas was a real bishop, some 800 years ago, in Turkey. I'm not sure they still remember him there though.

13. I just love Sint and I think it is a sin that shopkeepers try to copy the US and UK and start putting up Xmas trees before the 5th of December. There should be a law against that!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Fence

2006-08-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

A nice look on the fence, since the house itself is invisible from the road.

And a peak behind the fence: left door = kitchen, right door = front door. And there is Nick of course, sitting pretty.....

Lost in space

2006-08-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I sometimes feel very lost here is that the sun moves differently. The moon looks funny and the stars are all in the wrong places. I actually need a compass here to find North, which used to be very easy. Also estimating time looking at where the sun is, is tricky. And the weirdest thing? The sun comes out of the sea in stead of sinking in it ....

Toilets at work

2006-08-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered why toilets at the workplace are always very tiny with three quarter walls and only half a door? And why the door opens standard on the wrong side, so you have to squeeze yourself in while holding your bag above your head and trying not to dislocate the toilet paper dispenser? And how comes there is always, always, someone entering the restroom at exactly the moment you thought you could relieve yourself in peace and quiet of some embarrasing bowel stuff? All this talk about privacy and the most intimate part of your workplace does not give you any privacy at all. Maybe we should not name it 'restroom', just so we don't get the wrong idea about it.

Ouch!

2006-07-18T22:43:00.000-07:00

Never try this at home: scoop up a pasta shell with a wooden spoon from a boiling pan and pop it in your mouth in order to find out if it is 'al dente'. The water that remains in the shell is actually 95 degrees. Celsius.

Okay, that was a really dumm thing to do. I admit it.

Back again

2006-07-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Never ever break your wrist, especially not the one on your 'good' hand. You have no idea for which stupid things you need it, before you cannot use it anymore. That goes from wiping your bum to scratching your back, putting in your contacts to brushing your teeth. And those are just the everyday little things. Anyway, after 8 weeks in a cast and so far another 4 doing physiotherapy twice a week, it is sort of back to normal. Still hurts a bit now and then and I cannot lean on it while putting any weight on it, but .... typing is okay. So, I'm back.

Broke my wrist

2006-04-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I tripped and broke my right wrist. Unfortu nately I'm very right handed. So it takes me forever to write something, which is very frustrating. Better just look at my photoblog http://26photo.blogspot.com.

Immobiliser

2006-04-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable but true: our car was found on the weekend! Some people just did not want to walk 5 streets in the rain and took our car instead. They even parked it neatly in front of the apartment building where they live. Very considerate, ahum. But we were of course very happy that it was found and that only the passenger door lock was ruined. No clue on how they started it, but they managed to do it without fucking up the ignition. Hurray! Needless to say we have taken some measure to prevent this from happening again, even if it does not rain that often in Canberra. An nice little electrical device, called an immobiliser, will protect our good old Camry when we are not there. So it will be waiting for us in the spot where we left it. As it should.

Very very unfair

2006-03-30T12:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I was literally dancing through life, enjoying a class in Scandinavian folk dancing, when some idiot stole our car. $%&*@%^~@$#!!@# Canberra is not a big place and by car most places are to be reached in 20 minutes. The pivotal words here being BY CAR! All of a sudden we found ourselves more than 10 km from home, in the dark. And, believe it or not, it was cold and it was raining too. Let's say it really was not our night.

It feels very very unfair that we worked our butts off, just to see the possibility of buying a ticket to see our families vanished in the blink of an eye. Just now we thought life would, financially, become a little easier. I'm really really mad. And demotivated. And not up to all the hassle of not having a car, having to find another one, dealing with the consequences of someone elses stupidity and meanness.

Quest almost over

2006-01-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Two very good chances of getting an interesting job were both smashed into pieces last week. For 2 days I sank in this pool of self pity, thinking unhelpful thoughts as 'I'll never find a job' and 'nobody is ever going to hire me' and 'I'm a big failure and should have stayed in the Netherlands'. After that this determination came over me and I decided I was not defeated yet!

So I started searching all over again and send in my resume to various agencies, which got me a number of invitations to come around and introduce myself. Don't know why it worked this time, but never question a good thing, right? And now it seems the quest is almost over: next week I have to discuss the details (minor things like salary and all that), but it sure looks like I've found a job for 3 days a week until July! Hurray!

Holiday is over

2006-01-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

It was very nice lazing around for a week, hiking through the Snowy Mountains (38 degrees!), fighting of the varocious flies, listening to the abundance of kookaburra's and eating cold baked beans, because of the total fire ban. Now, however, a new year has started and the goal is to find a job. Preferably one not to boring and paying not to badly, but for now any job will do. Good thing is I got another job interview on Monday. Less good is that I have to do another presentation, 10 minutes for an audience of 6 and 7 year olds, on any subject regarding 'historical site interpretation'. Right. So far, I had 50 ideas, none of them useful. Well, still 3 days to go. Hope they call to offer me the teaching job beforehand though. Big sigh ........

Job interview

2005-12-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

I had a job interview this week and it was totally different from all the other interviews I ever had before. They did not ask ANY of the questions everybody else always asks, like 'why should we employ you', 'why did you leave your last job' and 'what are your weak points'. (Tempting but wrong answers to these questions are by the way: 'because I'm the best', 'the boss was an arsehole' and 'I don't have any'). Also no questions about my cover letter, my CV or my three pages addressing of the nine selection criteria.

Anyway, we had a nice talk, crammed with four people in a tiny office, around a round coffee table. Our knees almost touched, so formality was out of the question, which suits me fine. I felt right at home and would love to start. Rather sooner than later. Got the impression though, that they got a part timer lined up for the full time job, because they asked me if I would mind working part time. Well, actually I prefer that. No probs!

So, keep my fingers crossed till January (after I finished typing of course), cause they will take that long to let me know.

Saint Nicolas-day

2005-12-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

Yep, today is the day. Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicolas birthday. Surprisingly he managed to find me here in Oz, cause I got a chocolate letter in my uggie this morning. For the unknowing: your are supposed to get it out and eat it, not walk around with it in your shoe. Our half-Dutch cousins are coming tonight to celebrate with us, which means I have to go out and buy some presents and then give my best shot to making the mandatory poems in English. Scary!

Been busy

2005-11-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, because I've been busy writing job applications, addressing selection criteria and more boring stuff. Also been having nice lunches with friends and done a lot of reading. Of course. And had an, expensive, haircut. Have to enjoy the free time while it lasts, won't I? That's why I go to the reception at the Dutch Embassy this afternoon, to welcome our female national hockey team. Wonder if they serve raw herring, white bread and Dutch cheese for fingerfood?? I'm hoping for 'bitterballen' though. Mjummie.

Snot

2005-11-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'm a terrible hayfever sufferer on the best of days and today it is really windy, so really horrible. All the way to the city I was sniffing and sneezing to the extent that I didn't even bother to get out my hanky anymore, cause there was no way of keeping up with it. In stead I tried to sniff it back up, which is gros, but is actually recommended by doctors as being more healthy. Anyway, I was browsing through this shop full of kitschy Oz stuff in order to buy presents for the Dutch Sinterklaas, on the 5th of Decembre. Maybe you heard about it: it is like Christmas, but then just for fun.

while browsing I was still sniffing and sneezing. And not until I finally had chosen 6 presents and reached into my backpack for my wallet, I noticed this big blob of snot on my purple cladded left breast. Yeah, even grosser. How do you solve that and keep your dignity? I honestly cannot tell you. Don't think I can ever go back to that store again.

Enjoying

2005-11-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

I have a neighbour that I never met, but I know one thing about him of her: he or she plays the violin. Beautifully. And does so in daytime. So I sit behind my laptop with the windows open and lovely music streams in. The sun is shining too. And the postie brought a nice postcard from my sister in the Netherlands and a package from my mother. Is this the good life or what? (I mean, who cares about stupid headhunters not calling back, people unreachable by phone or other down to earth stuff? Not me, not today!)

No hurry

2005-11-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

This weekend I realised that for the first time I left home when I turned 18, I do not have to find a job in any hurry. I'm used to having to take care of myself and to earn my own money. Worked through uni, started fulltime work 2 weeks after graduation. And now I have this wonderful husband. Who tells me not to hurry, but in stead look for something nice, interesting and/or fun. Because he will earn the money for a while. So I can enjoy this feeling of freedom for a while. There is someone that wants to take care of me. And likes to do that. This makes me feel like a totally new person. Weird.

Dance teacher

2005-11-01T17:42:00.000-08:00

Considering the name of this blog, I feel obliged to tell that I've been to a job interview for a position as dance teacher. It sounded like fun, dancing in stead of sitting on a chair, but as expected working hours are in the evening and the pay is lousy. I would also have to invest 6 weeks of 4 hours a day into a training, in order to be able to teach people the English walsh or the Lindy Hop. Unpaid, of course. Wait and see. I got the distinct feeling that I was way too old in the eyes of the boss, so he will probably not ask me anyway. Ah well, something else will turn up. At least I really enjoyed the contra dance night yesterday: having fun, getting tired, relaxing the mind. Bliss!

Life is easy

2005-10-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

if you're about to finish your manuscipt, had a nice lunch with an ex colleague who is becoming a friend, have a chat lined up with someone useful network wise, are looking forward to having a nice tea session with an interesting lady and the sun is shining too. Sometimes, life is just so easy.

Flamenco: yes!

2005-10-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Consistent with the name of this blog and my username, I have at last been to a flamenco class. Although I already got a terrible cramp in my thighs after 5 minutes, I really loved it. It has been over a year since I've been to a class and I'm happy I did. After 2 hours all my muscles were sore, my shoulders hurt and my feet were killing me. Cann't wait till next week! ;-)

Sobering thoughts

2005-10-14T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I rode back from my last day at work, I suddenly wondered why I am so stressed out about finding a 'good' job right away. The reason we came here, was because we wanted to experience what it is like to live in another country and that is what we are doing. Why on earth should I make a career move at the same time? Miss Perfectionist strikes again, let's leave it at that.

I sneezed my way home (very hayfeverish) while smelling not only the roses, enjoyed our luxurious freestanding (rental) home when I swung into the garden, feeling very silly. Again. I am going to enjoy this experience more from now on, promiss to me.

Courage under fire

2005-10-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

Is sometimes just quitting. Refusing to be there any longer. So, that is what I did today: quit the job. Boy, that feels good! I'll take two weeks to finish our book and then I can finally focus on finding a job in education. Or any other job that does not require being glued to a chair in front of a computer for 8 hours a day while pretending to be brain dead.

Right away decided to check out a flamenco class next Sunday too. See, it is working wonders already. I'm happy. Watch out world, here I come! :-))

Coward

2005-10-06T20:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll admit I'm being a coward at the moment. What I should do is just quit the job right now, finish the book and find a proper job. It is not that there is nothing for me to do, it is just that I don't get the chance of doing it. So I spend a lot of hours in the day feeling very very unuseful. And frustrated, cause I see what I could improve or contribute to. On the positive site is that I learn a lot of things that will benefit me personally: about working in Oz, about Ozzies, about the 'no worries mate'-mentality (but how long does it take to become a mate???). Sticking it out for the money, doesn't that sound horrible. Did I turn into a cowardish horrible person all of a sudden? How did that happen?

Most boring lunch ever

2005-09-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

Picture this: 6 people sharing lunch in a nice Thai restaurant. 4 people talking about old times, 2 people staring into the blue getting totally ignored. Nobody asks them anything, nobody speaks to them. Did I tell you they all work at the same office?? Must have been the most boring lunch I ever attended. Only positive thing was that I could really concentrate on my food and try to chew each bite 36 times, since that is supposed to work wonders for you digestive system. Give me a Dutch cheese sandwich (broodje kaas) anytime!

It never rains in Canberra

2005-09-26T00:13:00.000-07:00

and I'm really glad about that, cause if it rained any more than it has done for the past months, I'm afraid we would drown. :-(

Anniversary

2005-09-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

With a clairvoyant view on the future, we got married 4 years ago. Which did help in obtaining a visa for Oz. Today is our anniversary, which we normally celebrate by going to a nice Italian restaurant (mind you: not a pizzajoint!) in Breda. Since that is a bit far from Canberra to go for a dinner, we will settle for good Vietnamese instead. Gosh, what a dissapointment .... ;-)

Girlie talk

2005-09-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I always said I did not want to live in Queensland, since they do have the most horrendous weather over there. Think humid and hot. Think mosquitos and cockcroaches. Definitely not me. But, and this is a biggie, that weather at least leaves you looking good. Canberra means dryer than dry, even when it rains oddly enough. So since I moved here, my hair is getting oily within no time, while at the same time it is horribly dry and frizzy. Where are the curls I still had in Malaysia??? I spend like a fortune on stuff to put on my skin and it is still dry and itchy. Two years further and I'll look like I'm 85. Some good advice anyone??

Tik tok tik tok

2005-09-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

4.45 pm
4.46 pm
4.47 pm
4.48 pm

Don't you just love to work?

Work and all that

2005-09-14T01:46:00.000-07:00

Okee, I know I'm not all that, but this job isn't all that either. So I decided to get back to square one and try to find another one that suits me and my abilities better. A job in education preferably. I'm excited by the idea alone, although I have no clue about how to find one. Scary! The nice Singaporian chick that is my colleague (her words by the way, in case you think I'm using disciminating language) gave me a contact at the uni. Hope that will lead to some information on how to go about it. Keep my fingers crossed.

Had a lot of fun today by the way with this same colleague. Don't know anyone who can impersonate a goldfish that well and still be cute! ;-)

Best discovery so far

2005-09-03T23:33:00.000-07:00

A month has past with the speed of lightning since my last post. Must be starting a new job. And I cannot even say 'time flies when you're having fun', cause I'm not having much fun. The general feeling is more of exhaustion so far. Well, since it is Sunday now, I'm not going on about it. Let's switch to nice subjects.

Nice as in nice food. Best discovery so far are the beer battered chips with chili mayonaise of the pub in Ainslie. Wow! I know, I know, not much vitamins and all that in it, but hey, it's the weekend!

Finished the first draft of the book and I'm very happy. We will still have to rewrite stuff, but this draft is sent off to the publisher. Keep my fingers crossed that they will actually approve of our 180 pages hard work and that they will send their feedback to us very soon. Looking forward to having some free weekends again.

Movie movie

2005-08-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

I honestly don't know what went wrong with this one. I seem to remember I wrote a nice piece about some interesting movie .... which of course I do not remember anymore. But this weekends movie was nice to: The bicycle. It shows you the importance of having a bicycle if you are a teenager in Bejing. Interesting stuff!

Magazines and tea

2005-07-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received a postpackage from the Netherlands with some very usefull things. For starters, it contained the powercabel for my new laptop-with-a-flat-battery. No need to elaborate on that one. I was also very pleased with the Dutch liquorice, or 'dropjes'. Although I hardly ever eat 'drop' at home, having more of a savoury tooth, here they all of a sudden give me that homey feeling. The best things in there though were 1. really good redbush tea with fruit and 2. Dutch magazines. Sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Ozzies have no clue about either of these items. The teas here are either very black and need a lot of diluting with milk to come close to being drinkable, or they are fruity infusions which are always sort of sour. The best I discovered so far is the green Chai tea, which also needs milk. Pickwick in the Netherlands on the other hand makes nice lightly coloured fresh tasting teas, which even got my English coffee loving friend Julie on to drinking tea. Well, have to be very careful with this one package, so I'm afraid you cannot stop by and sample it. ;-p
Never thought much about the magazines before. I mean, they were there and I read them, until we left. Here in Oz I haven't found any women's magazines so far that are not either about celebs, beauty or kids. All of them subjects I'm not particularly interested in, to tell you the truth. So I have rationed myself now to one magazine every few days, in order to enjoy the Esta's and Viva's for as long as possible. Thanks so much Martine, for sending my some FUN! J

Wintery birthday

2005-07-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

It was very very strange having my birthday in the middle of winter instead of in the middle of summer, as I'm used too. The night before it was freezing cold and I didn't sleep much, due to the horrible effect an airbed has on your bodytemperature if the floor is cold. Daytime was fine though: spend the afternoon sitting outside in the sun with my husbands parents, eating applepie. Had lots of phonecalls and e-mails and even postcards, so I don't feel forgotten although I'm on the other side of the world now. People love me, fantastic! ;-)

Pj's

2005-07-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

For the first time in many many years I bought a pair of pj's today. Unbelievable though: we move from a cold rainy country as the Netherlands to sunny Oz and need night clothing. This morning the pegs were frozen stuck to the drying lines! They are pink too, considering if you have to be square you might as well be as square as possible. I'll look like a big pink elephant no doubt, so I'll have to warn my love that it is just me and not some delirious vision, brought about by to many beers.

Readers

2005-07-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently I did something wrong with the settings, because this log still doesn't show up as 'recently changed'. Hope that is the reason I have not noticed anyone reading this yet. Thought it wouldn't matter, but it does. I need some feedback to get inspired. Have to work on that one.

Not much news anyway. I'm working on an educational book, which is fun, but very demanding. Hope we'll make the deadline in October! So, between working on the book and walking to the library, nothing much happening. Only inside my head ..... ;-)

Mouldy

2005-07-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

We don't have a bed yet, just mattresses on the floor. I've slept like that for years in the Netherlands and never had a problem. Now within 1 week, the mattress was soaking wet (probably also due to my illness and the profuse sweating caused by it, yuk) and starting to get mouldy! And of course it is raining today, so no chance of putting it in the sun. Been trying to get it dry before the gas heater. Hope it works. No idea if you have to treat it with special anti-mould stuff or anything. Bummer.

Sick

2005-07-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing as bad as being sick in a strange country, far away from you mother. Pretty childish huh? But still. Everything is different here. Going to a new doctor. Having to pay right away when you leave. Not quite understanding the way healthcare works here. Feeling very sick and miserable. Yesterday was definitely not my best day so far. Although it was nice that our cousin straight away came to take me to the doctor. And gave me some motherly advice. That helps. A little.

The Big Issue

2005-06-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

I used to buy the Dutch version of the Big Issue, so I decided to make it a tradition and buy the paper here too. Apart from the interesting stuff that is in it, you can have fun buying it too.

Just around the corner from the library where I go to use the internet, were 3 blokes propped up against a shopwindow. The papers were on a little table in front of them, just barely out of the dripping rain. I passed them twice and they didn't give me as much as a look. Well, I do not feel really obliged to ask if I can please please buy a newspaper from them, so no deal there.

Luckily another vendor got the idea of how to sell and was able to follow up on it. He was on his own two streets further up and smiling at everyone, while trying to make conversation. You know, saying things as 'How is your day today?' and 'How are you?'. How can you resist? Actually, a lot of fancy dressed people did, but being a just immigrated Dutchie, without any friends here, I was of course a pushover. So we started a conversation and he tried to guess my birthcountry. When I admitted being Dutch, he seamlessly went on with the remark 'Dutch women are always very beautiful. I've known one and she had the most incredible blue eyes.'

Well, to cut a long story short: you'll understand that he will be my regular vendor from now on?

Bye the way, I also had a good laugh yesterday with a guy who put up a sign reading '3 jokes for a dollar'. Works a lot better than 'I'm hungry', I can assure you.

Yes!

2005-06-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

I got a job! Hurray! And I even can cancel another second job interview. Doesn't get more luxurious then that. Great. I'm happy. :-)))))

Some weekends

2005-06-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lots of nice things happened over the weekend, as in we finally managed to get the key of the rental house that we have been waiting for the last two months. Okay, there is no working kitchen yet, nor a toilet, but the plummer should be attending to these things as we speak, so to speak. Keep my fingers crossed.

Also the audition I went to to get a part in Ruddigore went really well. At least I was able to sing a whole song this time and even sound pretty okay.

But everything was overclouded by the fact that my father in law had a stroke and is in hospital now, waiting for more information about the cause and hoping for the return of movement in his left limbs. It is great that we can go over there, since he is actually in Oz at the moment, but I had imagined our reunion in a little bit happier place than a shitty hospital (no offence). Damn.

Quick quick

2005-06-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Racing through today. The sun was out for the first time this week, so put in a shitload of washing. Took me half an hour to put it on the drying lines! (Gee, where are the days gone that I had a dryer to stuff it all in within three minutes! Those things you never think about when you try to imagine your life in a different country, now do you?)

Called the library for an internet hour but all the computers were fully booked for the day. Managed to find an odd hour during everyone else's lunchbreak. Walked in a hurry to the library in order not to miss a minute. (Very good actually, since 'brisk walking' for at least half an hour a day is highly recommended here.) Behind the computer I raced through the website of the organisation where I have a job interview on Monday and printed everything. Hope the printer managed to get all the letters this time instead of only twothird on the left side.

Tried to read up on some weblogs I love, but fat chance. Next person is already breathing down my neck here. Have to get internet at our new home. Don't care what it will cost actually. :-~

Dancing through life

2005-06-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Actually, I'm not really a person that goes through life dancing. I mean in a way I do, literally. Because I love to dance. Dancing makes me feel good, happy, without worries. Just let the music guide me. Doesn't really matter if it is on flamenco music with my shoes-con-tacons-cubano, or ballroom or disco or salsa or jazz ballet or tapdance. Every dance will do. So, that is why I choose this name for my blog. Problem is that my mind tends to be on the melancholy site. Not dancing at all. Sometimes down right noir. But I would like to be different. Get 'inner poise' as Bridget Jones tries so hard for in her struggle with life. And although I don't have a problem with drinking or smoking or nasty boyfriends, the inner poise bit would be quite useful to obtain.

So here we go, trying to look at the bright sight and subsequently dance through life. Don't be disappointed if it is a slow dance every now and then.