Last week was mega-hectic. The changes of situation could be compared to high-class action movies... In the end, after a lot of stress, difficult, quick decision-making and long, long journey, we arrived at home for Christmas - on Christmas Eve, at 4.00am... Now nothing else really matters anymore, since we all are here together...
Why no graduation? Because they do these only for those who are awarded a degree. As simple as that. Oh well. We will go out for dinner anyway. In the end, soon I will be able to put "Dip, RS" after my name. Like I would do it ;)
So there are three candles lighted up already on the Advent wreath and I still don't know if in a week time, on Wednesday evening, "I'll be home for Christmas"... Honestly I would rather wait longer than find out quickly and receive bad news! So for now it's all about fingers crossed and waiting... ...also for my final results from Open University, which are announced online on the 17th December - hopefully I should be able to access them on Thursday after midnight :) It's funny how it all seems to so far away and so long ago - studying, making notes and the day of the exam itself. I am not stressed at all anymore, just curious... On the 17th, but a bit later (during the day;)) we also have our Christmas lunch at work - my team goes out for a special meal. I hope it will be nice. It's quite a new group of people to me, and some of them seem to know each other for ages, but they are all very friendly and open. We also organised Secret Santa, so we shall have some fun during the lunch unwrapping our gifts :) In the meantime, while counting down days to Christmas and holiday break (I am running out of energy, and I can't wait to get some rest, proper sleep and "not working" time!), I try to figure out how to bake a proper poppy seed cake and gingerbread cookies without the traditional ingredients I cannot buy in here, where to get a nice Christmas tree and how it's going to be like if in the end we stay here...
A small addition - I watched the third part of "The Chronicles of Narnia", a new movie based on another novel from the famous series by C. S. Lewis. It was heart-warming and moving, especially one of the last scenes, with Aslan. I hope to spend more time with Narnia in my spare moments... maybe during Christmas? It seems like a perfect time to come back to this story.
A trailer just to get a little taste of the amazing picture. The real value however lies deeper than in the form :)
And so the moment has come that I had to face the family tradition and bake the Christmas cookies... without my Mum's help! I think I am really bad in cooking and all that kitchen stuff, I always need a very detailed recipe and when something goes slightly wrong I panic. But the cookies had to be made. I had to save my honour :) Luckily, they turned out to be not too bad :) The colourful decor, created by me and by my very talented beloved, made them look very special :) I am proud of us :)
This is a snowman made from a cookie and a delicious layer of white marshmallow on top of it :) And this was just the sweet beginning of the good news we got yesterday: 1. my beloved got his passport back, and in the passport - a very important document which allows him to live here with me, peacefully, for the next two years (so at least for year now we don't have to worry about anything) 2. my Mum (or Santa Claus! I am not sure...) sent us a package with presents and chocolates :) cosy and yummy surprise :) 3. I managed to book some theatre tickets for bargain thanks to a special action Get Into London Theatre. A visit to a theatre in London can be extremely expensive and although it is an amazing experience, it is not something we can afford to do regularly... And now I got two tickets for two fantastic musicals for a really small money! And the seats are good, too. Seems like we'll have some special Saturdays in January and February then...
...until Christmas of course! This year it has looked like it would be another stressful rather than cheerful time of counting, with high hopes mixed with moments of depression. And in the end of the struggle, it looks like we will not spend Christmas with our family, but we will stay here, on our own, just the two of us. But since there is really nothing more I can do, I decided to at least stop crying about this and try to prepare best Christmas ever. It's gonna be different this year, I know - but it can be nice and cosy and lovely anyway!
To start with, we prepared our Advent wreath ad Advent calendar. Well, the calendar was actually hand-made in secret by my beloved, because we didn't manage to get one in the shops (we wanted to buy it today, one day late, and we couldn't find any, how ridiculous!). Anyway, I love it and I think it is the most original and delicious Advent calendar, filled with extra love :)
God surprises me, seriously. Gives me unexpected opportunities. Shows ways out when my hopes are as tiny as the light of a candle. Opens the doors when I am climbing up to the window. Proves that there can be a happy ending, although I managed to bury my dreams and nearly moved on. Nothing is promised, obviously. But nothing is to be taken away without a reason and without a fight, whether it is inside or outside us.
The birthday celebrations have officially finished :) Tonight we went to see a stand-up comedy show and we had a great time. I was very happy to see my beloved laughing so hard again. After several weeks of stress he really deserves a break from reality, which from time to time becomes too complicated, unfair and barely understandable and bearable...
We are in the middle of the birthday celebrations of my beloved. Tonight we went to 30 Seconds To Mars concert, for which we've been waiting for several weeks. The band was awesome on the stage, their performance created fantastic atmosphere... Some pics will come soon, now I am so tired I can barely see. Tomorrow just half day at work, thank God... :)
Okay, just a few pics from the amazing, rockin's evening with amazing Jared Leto :) Fans on the stage singing the last song - "Kings and Queens" - together with the band. Such things only on 30 Seconds To Mars concerts :)
So I watched four movies already - half of the movies I got the tickets for. And four evenings in a row spent in the cinema. Old style (it is actually 100 years old!), lovely, cosy Duke of York's Picturehouse. With a cup of green tea instead of popcorn (although you can get that too), and with a slice of delicious carrot cake on one occasion :)
I am happy to say that so far the movies I picked were really good - again, my movie-maniac intuition worked well ;) The one I liked the most, so far, was French "Of Gods and Men", which actually won Grand Prix on this year's Cannes Film Festival. Very quiet (but not boring!), very moving (but not sentimental or cheap), very real and simple in its form, but yet beautiful.
You can read a short review revealing a bit of the story here.
For the record, the other movies I saw so far were: - "The King's Speech" - with marvellous Colin Firth as king George VI in pre-war Britain - "Never Let Me Go" - beautiful and immensely tragic story of three young friends - "Fleurs du Mal" - movie created in memory of the dramatic protests which arise after the presidential election in Iran in June 2009 - matters really close to my heart
So many interesting things happened at work last week, that when my manager asked me about the bookings in my calendar for the next week, I was sadly surprised that there was nothing in it! Oh well, it cannot always be like that, but I so wish it was... Except from getting involved - voluntarily - in different projects, I need to give myself some extra push towards changing my job profile for good... I know I can do it, probably I am somewhere half way already. If only I knew that in the end this could really happen! There is nothing "more" encouraging than a brick wall in the shape of budget cuts and no positions available in the role I aspire to...
Well, anyway, there's still perspective of some fun in the next two weeks - the competition about the childhood pictures has just begun! :)
Reading a 600 pages book is not an easy and quick thing to do... especially when it's so busy around! That's why I'm not here too much... I take part in a couple of interesting projects at work, which is good, because they keep me alive - before I die out totally and bring my resignation letter. I also try to keep up the gym rhythm and I am currently preparing - spiritually ;) - for the film festival which starts this week. And above all this it is inevitably the time of awaiting Christmas... Lots of colourful lights outside, Christmas songs, decorations and gift offers in every shop. And I still don't know where would I be during those special days this year... but I have a feeling it would be nice, wherever I am. Last weekend we bought a special Christmas tree holder and a white table cloth (yes, we didn't have any!). So officially preparations for Christmas began :)
Oh yes, the book - so I am trying to get through 600 pages of Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". I am somewhere in the middle now... Hope I can make it before December :)
Once there were was a Jewish couple who loved God with their whole hearts. They also had two sons, which they loved the most in the whole world. One day, when the father was praying in the synagogue and the mother was at home with the sons, the children got very sick and suddenly died. The mother put their bodies into their beds and covered with a blanket. When the father came back, he asked: - Where are our sons The mother said: - Let's first have dinner, shall we? After they ate, the father asked his wife again about their children. She replied: - First I wanted to ask you about something. I have borrowed very precious items from someone and now they want me to return them. What should I do? The father said: - Obviously, you should return them to their owner. Then the mother showed her husband the bodies of their dead children and said: - God has given, God has taken back.
I had a great day today. I haven't been to the theatre for ages, and I love theatre, especially musicals... and we went to London to see "The Lion King"! One of my favourite Disney stories, with so many beautiful songs... On the stage it looked and sounded incredibly fantastic! I was impressed with the costumes, decorations, and with the voices! Very moving experience. I hope we'll be back soon :)
I've gone crazy. I went shopping, carried heavy bags, spent the whole evening in the kitchen measuring, pouring, mixing, burning... :) The result - 35 medium sized muffins (36 actually, but I had to eat one to check if they are fine). The size is not overwhelming as for muffins, someone could call them rather big cupcakes, but at least it is very clear that they are home made :) The last stage was decorating. I used icing to make flowers and funny faces. Some of them look rather scary though. Well, I'm not a professional. I just don't know how I will pack them all tomorrow morning to take them for the cake sale... Hope they are not squeezed too much :(
Surprisingly, looks like cooking time for has begun... But seriously - just tried to impress my family with my skills, preparing American-style pancakes :)
I think it is hard for one heart to keep two homes inside. There's just not enough space, at least at the beginning. It seems impossible to be able to love so much two worlds and do not suffer, do not let the heart tear apart. After a while however the heart might just simply grow a bit. And handling the overwhelming feeling becomes slightly easier. It's never easy enough, though. The comfort of knowing that ones who love us are spread in different places does not drown the consciousness that all of them are equally loved back and very rarely can be gathered altogether in one time and space.
It has been a while since I visited my own blog for the last time... Not much has been happening really, but the business of random, quickly passing days keeps me away from slowing down to relax and reflect... What can I do? A couple of emails to my friends still wait to be written and I cannot gather five or ten minutes for proper writing...
In the meantime, however, I managed to do some things.
I had my final exam for Diploma in Religious Studies. The place where we were writing essays was so cold that I had to sit in my jacket. On the other hand, I think it helped my brain to stay cool ;) The results? In December...
I also used the rest of my annual leave and the opportunity to buy really cheap tickets, and went home for a couple of days. A well deserved rest after stressful study time. At the same time I realised that the cool autumn breeze turned into freezing cold wind, the days became shorter and evenings - immensely dark.
I saw "Despicable me" in 3D and I was laughing loudly in the cinema, just like a kid... not feeling guilty at all, because all the kids around were laughing loudly as well :) The movie was pure fun with some really moving bits. Also I cannot wait to see tomorrow amazingly looking and sounding (in the trailers) "Legends of the Guardians".
Relieved after the exam and a bit upset that - for now - the studies are over, I got myself a pile of books. If I add the pile I already had at home, it makes a pretty high number of things I really want to read but I didn't have time due to my studies... for the whole two years! :D
I booked birthday presents for my beloved. One is a surprise, so I won't reveal anything for now. The other is a present, honestly, equally nice for him and for me - we are going to see 30 Seconds to Mars concert, a band that we both discovered pretty recently... They will play in our small town in the end of November, in the same place were we went for our very first concert together. It was Velvet Revolver and their last performance before they split up, so quite memorable...
Some time ago I read a new book by one of my favourite contemporary writers, Jostein Gaarder - "The Castle in the Pyrenees". The book doesn't seem extremely original in its form, as well as in the subject (who knows Gaarder's books, knows what to expect). But it was lovely to indulge myself in good literature again.
The story is told through email correspondence between two people, who used to be a couple in their twenties (or even more - soulmates, I'd say) and after 30 years they meet again for a while. Why did they break up and what has led to their meeting after so many years? In the emails they come back to events which had place when they were young and which in some way led to their break up. They also write about their world views, beliefs, ideas about the world, life and death.
The ending is quite surprising, the story finishes in such a moment that the reader can hardly leave and just forget about it. The characters from "The Castle in the Pyrenees" where hanging around in my head for a while, going away and coming back. Together with them - thoughts about what life really is, what the universe is, where is the end of the world and what its beginning was. And who are we?
Lovely movie. Based on a book, which is a real story of a woman leaving her everyday life and starting a journey of her dreams. What else can I write? Probably most of you know the book (I haven't read it), and even if not, you will definitely be enticed by the breathtaking views of Italy, India and Bali, and by the role of Julia Roberts (sweet and so authentic, as usual).
The movie leaves us with well-known thoughts about how to discover ourselves and what we really need in life, and with alive dreams about travelling... Some of us might have enough courage (or enough luck) to undertake a trip of a lifetime. Most of us will just heave a sigh. Maybe some other time. The only downside I notice is the fact that India and Bali again will become one of the most popular holiday destinations, the prices will rise and rise, and I won't be able to afford even a small exotic journey... And I was thinking about Bali for a while now... :(
First day of October - for me autumn starts today. It arrived in our town with dark clouds and heavy rain, wet streets and pavements covered with puddles and yellow and brown leaves. From now on I probably won't leave the house without an umbrella too often. I miss greek sun, hot (very hot!) days and long warm evenings. And I also miss amazing food from Alexandra restaurant, where we have met really friendly people. But autumn means not only rainy days, thank God. It also means long evenings when I can indulge into books and movies (so many of them to read and to watch!) and enjoy time with my beloved :)
Thursday 30 September 2010
There is an unbelievable amount of things do to after you come back home after holidays! Sunday was a cleaning day (unfortunately for us, sleepy and tired, but still - thank you landlord for the new tiles in the bathroom, looks gooood!), Monday was a laundry day, and Tuesday was little things day. And I still haven't done all I needed! And I have my final exam coming. And I will try to go to the gym tonight :)
Finally it's Friday and I am packing for our holidays in Greece! We didn't get much sun this summer, not mentioning proper heat... So I really cannot wait to land in Rhodes, the island of the sun :) We have tickets, passports, money, some maps and a list of places we want to visit :) Some pics will definitely show up in here... But the earliest in nine days' time!
I saw this movie recently, although I heard about it a long time ago. Some were saying it's really boring, some - that it's beautiful. Well, what can I say. There's a lot of songs in here, less action, so if you can't stand musical-like movies, don't try. Although all in all the movie isn't long at all, so maybe you could survive? I think it is worth seeing because of the message it carries within. I guess that "Once" is about people, friendship, love, about coincidence and fate, and about those little moments and events in our lives that happen and then pass away, but somehow change everything. But most of all, I think this movie is about music. About how important it is to people, how it helps them expressing their feelings of loneliness, pain, fear, grief... and about how powerful it can be in connecting two lonely souls. The girl and the guy become very close to each other in a couple of days because music allows them to open up, share their worries and hopes. The end of the story somehow surprised me, but I guess that's the illness you might get after watching too many sweet commercial productions. This movie is also sweet, but in its own way. It is not a commercial one at all, and on top of that, the story it tells is very real. I actually liked the authenticity of the ending, of the situations and the characters. Yes, that's how true life looks like. Once something amazing might happen, but it can just last for a moment and then it might be gone. It doesn't always become a fairytale. So, maybe quite sad and bitter, but it let me really fell in love with the characters, with their real pictures and with the truth of their feelings. Enjoy. And please don't cry.
PS The music doesn't necessary have to be your favourite, but I liked it a lot! You can hear some in the trailer:
Last weekend was amazing. I decided to pack some painkillers and I flew to Edinburgh. My ear surprisingly got much better during those two days :) Scotland - at least those parts that I've seen - is beautiful, green, blue and sunny. I loved visiting the castle and walking down the Royal Mile. I wish we had time to climb the hill near Holyroodhouse Palace... Two days passed too quickly and I had to go back :( I arrived in my town about 10.30pm on Sunday and when I caught a bus, the driver (seeing me with a small suitcase) said: Oh no, don't leave home... I said: No no, I am coming back!
For the last few days I felt like crushed into pieces. I had an earache on Sunday so I went to hospital and a doctor prescribed me antibiotics and some drops, saying that my ear is a bit inflamed. Alright, I thought, quite tough medication as for a small inflammation, but at least I will get better soon. I was WRONG. Monday and Tuesday went okay and I even went to work, but the next night I couldn't sleep because of terrible pain. I went to another doctor on Wednesday and I got prescription for different drops. But still I needed heavy painkillers to survive last night. While sitting at home yesterday (what I am doing today as well, just to finally get better hopefully) and trying to write my last essay for Religious Studies, I discovered that my laptop is infected by some kind of nasty virus or whatever else... It took a whole day to fix it, and it all finished happily only thanks to my beloved, who is a computer master. And on top of all these infections and unlucky events, I have a great opportunity to go to Scotland for a weekend - this weekend. I even have my tickets booked already... So I am trying hard to get better. I still have two days. Fingers crossed!
Today we made American pancakes for the first time. I don't know pretty anything about cooking and I am terrified when I have to be spontaneus with mixing ingredients, so I didn't hope for high achievement today. But... they turned out be to be very tasty! They were fluffy and smelled a bit like waffers :)
Last week was mega-hectic. The changes of situation could be compared to high-class action movies... In the end, after a lot of stress, difficult, quick decision-making and long, long journey, we arrived at home for Christmas - on Christmas Eve, at 4.00am...
And so the moment has come that I had to face the family tradition and bake the Christmas cookies... without my Mum's help! I think I am really bad in cooking and all that kitchen stuff, I always need a very detailed recipe and when something goes slightly wrong I panic.
First snow this year... in Poland ;)
My favourite tea in my favourite cafe...
Surprisingly, looks like cooking time for has begun... But seriously - just tried to impress my family with my skills, preparing American-style pancakes :)
View on the old town from the Palace of Grand Masters in Rodos
Calithea Terms
Symi Island
Symi Island
Beautiful bay in Lindos
Acropolis - the temple of Athena - in Lindos
Greece - mixture of cultures
Archeological Museum in Rodos
Monolithos - ruins of a castle on a rock
