As briely intimated on this blog not so long ago, Stonehenge to me is truly a bunch of rocks. Say, just for an example, that I'd been a druid a little good while ago, I might have been willing to alter my take on the topic. Maybe this place indeed is a mystic place where the weird and the wonderful materialised and people got enlightened with the ways of the magic.
Yahdi-yah and blah blah blah. I've said it. Merci beacoup!
On another note, and still referring to the previous entry by my beloved Xinola, it is really nice to receive some family visits. You might want to ask me later and in particular after the visits, if it was such a fulfilling experience. For the moment being, nevertheless, I'm thrilled to bits.
Xinola's aunt will be an interesting case. Not least because we dont share a common lingua but also for the reasons outlined below. My personal perceptions and feelings towards England have changed so dramatically within the duration of my 'visit' that I'm not sure what and how I could elaborate. For Xinola's aunt, however, we'll be looking towards showing some real English things and not just London. One should not misread this, I actually really like London, at least to visit every now and then that is...
Then the following entrance to our little house on the prairie will be my brother, contemplating his passage through the years. 40 of them, to be exact. My plan was to take him to the Kop (if you dont know what this is, there is no need to know) but this has proved to be a formidable task and in this case a task of a financial kind. 200 pounds for a bloody ticket!!!!! Me-not-get-robbed-in-clear-daylight. Honestly, you can get these cheaper but only if you belong to a supporters club, are an CEO of a MNC, or just happen to be in a right place at the right time. Unfortunately for my brother, netiher of this applies to me. I'm sure we'll have a good time still and we'll be able to make the most of it.
My retired parents have also decided that it is a good idea to see the countryside in England. This, me thinks, should be quite straight forward. They are retired, they know how to spend time without really having anything to do. That's why I'm not worried. We'll just have to wait and see.
Then there is something else. Recently I've been going through a lot of emotions. I need to figure out how to go ahead with my working life. Work really sucks and even if you're getting paid and all, it still sucks. How could I find a passion for something and then the will to pursue it? What do I need to do realise that this has to be done? All questions, no answers... Shit.
I'll leave it there.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Another Autumn Begins
This autumn is bringing some new things over. We are living in the countryside, which seems to suit me quite well since i am a kindda loner. We are expecting a few visitors to come over, my aunt from Mexico (who does not know a word of English, truly); Nygard's bro to celebrate his 40 at a footy match; and my parents-in-law who have time to do anything they can because they are retired. That's cool I guess.
My aunt is coming only for a week, and she is arriving this weekend. She has never travelled outside her home country, so i cannot begin to imagine how she actually feels about going all the way across the pond just to come to an island. Well, she does not see it this way, that's a fact. She is coming to Europe, to London. Hum, we begin there with some misunderstandings, in a way she is coming to Europe, but not really. On the other hand, she will be visiting London, but she is not 'coming to London' solely.
I don't know if you have had any relatives from abroad with little understanding of places, who enjoy misplacing the setting where you actually live. Yes, I know i am being silly and rigid by giving attention to this, but when I have actually gone home and met friends of my relatives and they had asked me 'how is your life in London', i said that I don't live in London and then they asked 'where then?', and the interest is lost. It is like meeting someone who confuse you with a famous person and then realises you are just not the person and drops the attention off you. Well, not that it matters, but it happens. It's an ackward gain and loss of unwanted attention.
Yes, many lay people do only equalise England to London. Unless the person knows about football or history or music, which can make a conversation slightly better and they can be able to recognise that there are a couple of other places of interest in this country. Really, through the years it has been a process of learning that there is no need to bother oneself with explaining to people that England as well as London are more than just the Big Ben and the deceased princess Di. There are pubs, pop music, fish&chips, the controversial countryside, chavs, pop culture, TK Maxx, terrible junk food culture, celebrities, Misters Blair and Brown, Ales, did I mention pop culture? Better skip this for the average tourist. They don't want to know about England, they want to visit England and take as many pictures as possible to show that they had been in 'the sightseeings and tourist attractions you must visit'.
This means that with my aunt I will be going for the first time ever to the Buckingham and Kesington Palaces and will take a london tourist bus. Gosh, oh gosh. Hahahahahaha, that's all i think about me and this adventure. I wanted to top it up with a quick visit to Stonehenge, but Nygard looked at me weirdly and told me off that idea with "it's just a bunch of rocks". I agree with him, but well, everybody who travels to England gets to go to bloody Stonehenge, but not my aunt. She is gonna go to the East Anglian countryside, which we like quite a lot.
Other thing that is finally coming up for me is the feedback over my thesis draft!!! This week i'll learn about what needs to be done and will get my hands on it as soon as 'humanly' possible.
My aunt is coming only for a week, and she is arriving this weekend. She has never travelled outside her home country, so i cannot begin to imagine how she actually feels about going all the way across the pond just to come to an island. Well, she does not see it this way, that's a fact. She is coming to Europe, to London. Hum, we begin there with some misunderstandings, in a way she is coming to Europe, but not really. On the other hand, she will be visiting London, but she is not 'coming to London' solely.
I don't know if you have had any relatives from abroad with little understanding of places, who enjoy misplacing the setting where you actually live. Yes, I know i am being silly and rigid by giving attention to this, but when I have actually gone home and met friends of my relatives and they had asked me 'how is your life in London', i said that I don't live in London and then they asked 'where then?', and the interest is lost. It is like meeting someone who confuse you with a famous person and then realises you are just not the person and drops the attention off you. Well, not that it matters, but it happens. It's an ackward gain and loss of unwanted attention.
Yes, many lay people do only equalise England to London. Unless the person knows about football or history or music, which can make a conversation slightly better and they can be able to recognise that there are a couple of other places of interest in this country. Really, through the years it has been a process of learning that there is no need to bother oneself with explaining to people that England as well as London are more than just the Big Ben and the deceased princess Di. There are pubs, pop music, fish&chips, the controversial countryside, chavs, pop culture, TK Maxx, terrible junk food culture, celebrities, Misters Blair and Brown, Ales, did I mention pop culture? Better skip this for the average tourist. They don't want to know about England, they want to visit England and take as many pictures as possible to show that they had been in 'the sightseeings and tourist attractions you must visit'.
This means that with my aunt I will be going for the first time ever to the Buckingham and Kesington Palaces and will take a london tourist bus. Gosh, oh gosh. Hahahahahaha, that's all i think about me and this adventure. I wanted to top it up with a quick visit to Stonehenge, but Nygard looked at me weirdly and told me off that idea with "it's just a bunch of rocks". I agree with him, but well, everybody who travels to England gets to go to bloody Stonehenge, but not my aunt. She is gonna go to the East Anglian countryside, which we like quite a lot.
Other thing that is finally coming up for me is the feedback over my thesis draft!!! This week i'll learn about what needs to be done and will get my hands on it as soon as 'humanly' possible.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Moving on
Lately no one has had time to add communiquees into this blog. It is not that we are experiencing coma, it is just that we haven't given ourselves time. On the other hand, there have been few things going on in my life which haven't allowed me time to sit down and to write about anything.
After a fantastic summer trip to Suomi, on the next day back in England, we had to move house to the country side. This should last for a few months only, however it implied so many arrangements and dealings with landlady, new people, utilities companies, finding our ways in the new area, etcetera.
An interesting thing was not having internet at home. I first thougth i was going to die without interenet, how could i live without being able to communicate? Well, the telly gave enough info so i didn't need the internet for that. The contryside gives the necessary relaxation to look for that in the internet. And the little need to work on the PhD made me realise that at any given time, i could easily give up internet.
Today has been the first day i have the connection at home. And just because i need to do some work, it is that i have had the pc on since the morning.
Being without internet at home while being at home without going out for a week, taught me something. That although internet is really handy, it is not as necessary as I first thougth through my own experience of it.
The only thing i felt a bit funny about is not being able to read the news. You might think that i am a lazy cow not buying the papers from a newsagent. However, my neighbour village does not have a newsagent. 30minutes walk just for a pub and a deli shop, which is fine with me at the moment.
I have also lost one of my sources of income. It was to be expected, but i was holding the hope of keeping it just for the money. This means that money-wise things will become a bit stretch.
Things to wait for during the autumn imply mainly, submitting the PhD thesis and teaching. Nygard wants, for once, to do a couple of trips, and now i feel like i can't do anything anymore. No money, no will to travel, just want to get done with the PhD. This sometimes blinds me from the pleasures of the life i have been forming with Nygard. Come on, now i don't even care for theatre, not even much film watching.
I am waiting, have been waiting since mid July for feedback on my first draft. That is all that is in my head. In order to move on I need to get started with the final work, and I don't even know how much time this will take me. But I am still waiting to be able to do so. Meanwhile, time elapses...
Moons change, weather evolves, life begins and ends, scientists discover a cure for skin cancer, the crocodile hunter died while shooting one of his documentaries, Nygard is semi-ill, my aunt is planning to come over for a super-fast visit, a friend is about to leave England for good, deers have begun running on a field nearby.
I want to move on with the cycle too
After a fantastic summer trip to Suomi, on the next day back in England, we had to move house to the country side. This should last for a few months only, however it implied so many arrangements and dealings with landlady, new people, utilities companies, finding our ways in the new area, etcetera.
An interesting thing was not having internet at home. I first thougth i was going to die without interenet, how could i live without being able to communicate? Well, the telly gave enough info so i didn't need the internet for that. The contryside gives the necessary relaxation to look for that in the internet. And the little need to work on the PhD made me realise that at any given time, i could easily give up internet.
Today has been the first day i have the connection at home. And just because i need to do some work, it is that i have had the pc on since the morning.
Being without internet at home while being at home without going out for a week, taught me something. That although internet is really handy, it is not as necessary as I first thougth through my own experience of it.
The only thing i felt a bit funny about is not being able to read the news. You might think that i am a lazy cow not buying the papers from a newsagent. However, my neighbour village does not have a newsagent. 30minutes walk just for a pub and a deli shop, which is fine with me at the moment.
I have also lost one of my sources of income. It was to be expected, but i was holding the hope of keeping it just for the money. This means that money-wise things will become a bit stretch.
Things to wait for during the autumn imply mainly, submitting the PhD thesis and teaching. Nygard wants, for once, to do a couple of trips, and now i feel like i can't do anything anymore. No money, no will to travel, just want to get done with the PhD. This sometimes blinds me from the pleasures of the life i have been forming with Nygard. Come on, now i don't even care for theatre, not even much film watching.
I am waiting, have been waiting since mid July for feedback on my first draft. That is all that is in my head. In order to move on I need to get started with the final work, and I don't even know how much time this will take me. But I am still waiting to be able to do so. Meanwhile, time elapses...
Moons change, weather evolves, life begins and ends, scientists discover a cure for skin cancer, the crocodile hunter died while shooting one of his documentaries, Nygard is semi-ill, my aunt is planning to come over for a super-fast visit, a friend is about to leave England for good, deers have begun running on a field nearby.
I want to move on with the cycle too
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