Overall, I would say that my life is pretty, well, boring. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a creature of habit. Although I have all sorts of grand plans and actually get to experience them once in a while (e.g. living in New York City; being a bridesmaid at my American friend's wedding), my general day-to-day existence follows a well-designed and well-paved path (nice alliteration, huh?! :P). But the last week or so has been pretty exciting, and I wanted to share.
First of all, last week on Friday I finally saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire, with big thanks to my good friend Kiran who told me to watch it and who makes me a little less uncool by association. And I gotta tell you: it is such a good movie! I think it may be my favorite which means that American Beauty has been pushed from first place for the first time since I first saw it in 1999. That's 10 years! Now, I don't pretend to be some kind of movie critic, but I can tell you why it is so amazing. To me, this movie represents the best of two worlds: although I like Hollywood films they also tend to be of the cookie-cutter kind (which is one of the reasons why I like them -- you know what to expect); I also like Bollywood films although they also seem to be a little bit over the top for me. This movie is like a mix, and not in the way Bride and Prejudice was a mix. Also, the way Jamal's life story is told through the television show is absolutely brilliant. The story is true and authentic, funny and sad, but with a (somewhat) happy ending. The music is also great. I can't say anything more about it except that you simply MUST see it!!!
On Friday Jochem and I also went to Eindhoven to have dinner with the in-laws. First we went to Okke (Jochem's older brother) and Loes' (his girlfriend) new apartment, which was small but incredibly well decorated and cute. We had some Prosecco (always a big hit with me) and then went to a nice Asian restaurant where there were chefs preparing meat and fish with loads of garlic. It was delicious.
Then on Saturday Bic, Mag, Mar and I went clubbing. We had estimated that we hadn't been clubbing since Mar's birthday in June 2008, so we decided it was time to do it again. After months of planning and replanning (because of my bad planning, can you believe it?) we finally bought tickets to the 80s and 90s Party at the Winkel van Sinkel. I was a little bit afraid we weren't gonna make it, being older now and easily tired. But, with help from Anna (who borrowed me a great top which I loved so much I wore it two days in a row), Mag (who had brought Mamma Mia! as a warming up exercise), lots of alcohol and even more bad music, we ended up partying until 4 'o clock in the morning. I was pretty surprised myself! Afterwards we had fastfood and I rolled into bed at 5.30 AM, minus hangover I should add. I am supposed to have incredibly incriminating pictures of this night, but unfortunately I keep forgetting to get the camera back from Mar, so that'll have to wait I'm afraid.
On Sunday my parents, uncle, aunt, cousin Robin and her boyfriend Jesse came to visit and see our (not so new anymore) apartment. My uncle slaved in the kitchen for hours making an old family recipe for, what we call it, Spanish spagetti, and there were lots of drinks and snacks. We had a great time, but the best thing was that my family had prepared a little surprise for us; three cards and one collage later we found out that they are going to sponsor us every month until we leave for our world trip. It was absolutely amazing, sweet, incredibly generous, and a truly touching surprise!
The rest of the week centred around work. On Tuesday Nienke and I sat behind my computer at 7.30 AM (no kidding) to spend an hour and a half talking to three very nice students from the Czech Replublic for our Language Education class. I was still in my pajamas because I refuse to get dressed before 8 AM unless I get paid for some kind of job, but the talks were really nice. Unfortunately a lot of other work is concerned with this project and I think that my entire group, including me, is getting really sick of it. I also had a big meeting in Nijmegen on Thursday with an important Dutch Social Linguist whose book I'd read, but she offered me more questions than answers. The thing about my master thesis is that I definitely don't want to do more linguistic research, but she was kind of pushing me towards exactly that. I want to do educational research instead, but it's hard to find my bearings without the help of my supervisor, who is doing his own research until April. But I have almost read every single book and article and website that I've wanted to read, and I'm starting to see more clearly. I just hope it works.
On Saturday I had to work first from 8 AM until 3 PM, but it was for the British Council, which is always a blast. Afterwards I had to rush home and then to Mag's for our little birthday surprise. Last year I gave Anna a kind of improvised spa treatment coupon, but it never happened, so this year I wanted to do it right. Bic, Mag, Mar and I made an arrangement to visit the
Veluwse Bron, an absolutely amazing spa, and to take Anna with us as a kind of early birthday celebration. Mag made her signature 'stampot andijvie' and I had made a brownie cake with pink frosting, purple flowers and pink candles shaped 25 (and no, I don't have pictures, but it was delicious if I may say so). Afterwards we spent an hour in the car which made Anna wonder where the heck we were going, because we were driving in the middle of nowhere and Anna and nature don't mix. We finally made it and spent 5 hours in a diverse arrangement of saunas, steam rooms, swimming pools and hamam-style places. It was a little weird to be NAKED, but after a while you do get used to it (Bic and I never thought we'd see the day), and before long I was lying in corpse pose and then sitting in a lotus position in the panoramic sauna. The waterfall was the best part though, because it was almost magical. I am also very proud to say that I went down in an icecold bath, and also stood underneath an icecold bucket with the rest of the girls, although we squealed like girls while that happened, which really wasn't very cool. Anna made a great picture of it (see below), that you can also find on her
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Then, on Sunday, Jochem and I celebrated our 2,5 year anniversary! Pretty special, I'd say. We weren't sure how to celebrate it, but eventually opted for just staying in, having good food, drinking champagne with rasberries and watching Vicky Christina Barcelona (also a very good movie!). It was nice.
And today it's back to work, although I haven't done that much today except running errands. I find that I get a lot more work done once the pressure is on. Today I only had to read a few chapters from the last book I want to finish before starting to write my master thesis, and instead I did loads of other things. Tomorrow it's back to the Language Education project and then work. I also have to work on Wednesday, but on Thursday morning I'm going to Almelo to visit my family. I haven't been back home in months. On Friday one of my oldest friends from high school, Jolien, is getting married, and on Saturday Anna is celebrating her 25th Birthday Party (where I'll have to wear some kind of beard or mustache apparently). So many more good things are in the making! I doubt I'll get anything more done today, because my Sivananda Hatha Yoga class starts in half an hour and afterwards it's more champagne with rasberries because Jochem received an 8.3 for his Spanish test (after almost having been expelled for failing the test in the summer), and then Grey's Anatomy starts at 8.30. Mmm...
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