Thursday, September 28, 2006

nights out

so, monday night was a fabulous one because we went to the pub with 2 ex housemates (Jose and Louis). And besides the fact that Marion was not there, it was just like it used to be when i moved into the house almost a year ago... it truely was beautiful, beautiful, it's beautiful it's true!

oh and then last night schelle and i went to see 'We Will Rock You' at the Dominion Theatre. I thought it was quite a clever show and well, the voices were really strong!! i think it is quite possibly one of the best shows i have seen (talent wise). i have been disappointed with some of the voices and enthusiasm in other shows casts, but man, these guys were FANTASTIC!!! really did rock me (ahhh).

ok, well, back to the school work. i am teaching history and RE today, so need to get my head around that.

love you all
deev

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

the joys of being a high school teacher...

walking past students and hearing them talking about you being well fit. crazy world we live in!!

Monday, September 25, 2006

a weekend of firsts...

ok, so photos first, then info. well, this first one is the gang, (i have made anglisised the names to make it easier for me). back row is... derrik, sjoerd, kun, robbie, umm, then front line, martin, gisella, partick and me. and then arnout at the front. the photo below is me sjoerd and arnout at the campfire... ahhhh, arnout was the first member of the gang i met.

me and arnout in the car on the way to stonehenge. are we there yet??? and then look, on the mountain, is that a horse??

my sock puppet eating stonehenge (don't ask the story there!!! yes i am strange!) and below, stonehenge before it was eaten... he said it tasted lovely, a bit crumbly, but lovely.

dismantling the tent.... ahhh, our home for 2 nights (8peoples worth! and 6 of them boys, mmm, oh and we had no running water at the camsite... mmm, breathe in the fresh air!) may i present to you, stonehenge!! (below)
ummm, robbie, is that peanut butter and sugar??

so, here's the story! last weekend was my first visit to stonehenge, my first weekend camping in the UK and my first weekend driving in over a year.

the first challenge i arose to was driving. Now, whilst that doesn't sound like too daunting, i haven't driven overseas EVER before and the friends i went to stonehenge with drive a car from holland. so, i get to the car on friday night (just after midnight) to hear 'here are the keys, you're driving'/ to which i reply, 'you have to be joking', 'nope, i'm not'. so in i hop to the left hand side of the car where i am meant to sit to drive and contemplate the car most of which is to my right. a very foreign experience for me. the gear stick was also on the right, so when i went to put the car into reverse, i used my left hand. Patrick tutt tutted that, so i had to try and use my very unco-ordinated right hand. oh, and english roads are in miles and this car was in kms, just another trick y thing to figure out. well, i am really proud of myself. i drove a manual car down to our campsite on the english road, stalling only once at the beginning of the journey and not crashing. Hooray for me. (patrick has a photo of this i will put up, i look to be concentrating very hard!! oh and thank you arnout, for being very positive with me whilst i was driving! i do like the game stay on your side of the lane!!!

the next first was camping. i had a great weekend and it only rained once on sunday morning when we were asleep in the tent, so not too bad. and i know stonehenge is just a bunch of rocks, but the people i was with made it a really enjoyable experience.

so, got to the campsite, sat by the fire, met a whole heap of dutch people (there were 8of them all up) and chatted for a while before heading to bed. it was not too cold which was lovely. then saturday, was Patricks birthday, so we gave him a cake in bed. and jumped in the car ready to find a nice place for breakfast. ended up having our picnic breakkie outside a golf course. then onto the rocks! they were beautiful. but they are unfortunately no longer there (note my piccy of my sock puppet eating stonehenge). oh well, sorry to those who never made it there and now never will!!! hehe. the rest of the day was spent driving around looking at chalk horses in the countryside and generally having a laugh in the cars. then back to the campsite for a lovely bbq, sleep, yet another good camp breakfast and then unfortunately, say goodbye to my dutch friends. (some of them quite new friends).

oh this weekend was also a first for trying peanut butter sandwich with sugar on it.

so i have just come back from a great weekend and wanted to share the experience with you.

hope you are all well
love deev

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

photos

ok, well, i started with the photos of eileen and me, but they are now half-way down the page and i couldn't be bothered to try and fix them, so deal with it! ha. this first photo is hmm, well, a nice group of people having a harmless picnic in the park in bucharest on a sunny day (or so we thought!!!) ahhh, i love pumas. there were some english guys staying in our hostel in brasov and one of them had just the right sized feet and these beautiful pumas. well, one night he was heaps drunk and i decided i was going to swap shoes with him for good. although i couldn't actually bring myself to do it. so i ended up with my old brown ones and he kept his aussie coloured ones.
the thinkers... or should i say the stoics. tori, me and kath (tori's egypt travel buddee) in a stoa in the acropolis. AMAZING place really. the history (and a great insight to it having a history buff there to tell me stories about Nike and Athena and other greek gods, put things into perspective. cheers tori). just amazing
me looking out over Dracula's home country in Transylvannia. the countryside here is beautiful. i would love to have spent a few weeks just exploring the mountains and walking tracks, but alas, it wasn't to be.

me whispering secrets to a funny old man in the streets of plovdiv. i can't remember what he is doing there, but he is one person who was willing to put up with my stories.
well, this is me and Eileen in Leeds, (thanks to her for looking after me for a night). it was great to see her again. and below is me and matt in a pub in Leeds (taken by schelle, thanks schelle) cheers to another good part of a great weekend away. it was a very funky pub just near the main street in leeds.
below is me being an olympian, well, an Ancient Olympian in the stadium at Olympus. Now, that was a great place to visit. (near my right hand you can see the tunnel the olympians used to go through to the stadium.) oh and look at the sunny day, ahhh, to have the warm sunshine back again. it's not too bad at the moment, but not the greatest either. still sunny, but quite cool.

ahhh, yes, the cow... well, if you use your imagination you can kind of see a cow!!!

and well, Geoff, don't know what you are doing buddy!?? singing hard to chisels or something?? but the rest of us are cheesy at the walkabout (of course) in Temple. Me, schelle, matty, geoff and richard (their friend). oh and schelle and i are wearing our new Primark tops. Man, we LOVE that shop! go Primark.

well, that is enough for the moment. don't know what will come next time, but until then, ENJOY!

love to you all

new quote i like from a book i read (who'd have thought i would be a reader??)

'kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult,
I've decided, is only sewing it shut.'

Monday, September 18, 2006

don't worry, I am alive!

well, despite my parents (and apparently a few others) thinking i am dead because I haven't updated my blog, I am actually going really well. Just lazy as usual. I was going to update my blog last weekend, but ended up going to the bricklane festival instead. And then this weekend I went to Leeds to visit a friend of schelle and mine called matt and of course a lovely relative called Eileen. I had a fantastic weekend and i know schelle did too. So, now i am kind of back, it's time to give you all an update. I am really good at making promises and not keeping my word. VERY SORRY!!!!

anyways, school has been interesting going back. High school is definitely not my passion, but saying that, I am having a lovely time at this school. I am a Year 7 form tutor and my kids are quite tricky, but it keeps me on my toes and always looking for something new. the perks of being a high school teacher are my free periods. 7 in total this year not bad, not bad. much better than primary. although at the moment i do not know whether i am coming or going being the Head of 3 Departments (Geography, History, RE) aswell as teaching literacy and having my Yr 7's for personal health and social education. i do however like to feel important as i get heaps of junk mail addressed to the Head of _____ Dept. (not too hard when you are the only one teaching the subject! ha). I feel like i have had 3 job promotions, but not even 1 pay rise! oh well, welcome to the real world. But, i can say at the end of every day that i have had a good day! And despite their faults, the kids are good kids, just need a bit of TLC (and the right attitude given to them.)

so, as for the rest of my trip, it seems like it was so long ago. I had a ball travelling through eastern europe. and copenhagen was beautiful too. but by the end, i just wanted to be back home. ummm, since being home i have caught up with people and tried to get my head around the life that went on hold for 1 month whist the bills kept coming. Today was productive. I bought a pair of boots (well, 2 and have to take 1 back when i decide with help which ones i am going to keep), i restarted my membership at the gym (and i am going to yoga class tonight) and i also got some photos developed from my digital camera (dad, to send to eileen!! finally). but i had too many shots on my camera, they wouldn't all load, so i have to go back to get some more done. but i am getting there.

oh, and on thursday i start my spanish course. I am really excited about that. Doing it with a girl from my old church. it will be nice to see her every week.
well, enough ramblings for one day. (and i need to get ready for yoga, ha, so unlike me). so, ciao for now.

i will post some more hopefully later this week!
hugs and a whole lotta love
deev

tried to put some photos, but couldn't... sorry!!