Oh yeah, that was my point ...

I've actually motivated myself enough to apply for a job ...

So fingers crossed I hear back from them this week and can go back down to London for an interview ...

Off the radar

A million apologies yet again for not keeping anything up to date on here.  I managed to write a daily journal all year (asides from two excruciatingly uneventful weeks in Turkey), but haven't managed to do it for the last couple of weeks I've been so busy.

I've been working flat out (like a lizard drinking) at the hostel which included having to go to London to do some PR type work (my first expense paid trip ever, woohoo) for a few days last week.  I've also had a couple of days up on the Isle of Skye with some friends from home and the huge responsibility of being "in charge" at the hostel.

I've also totally upped my nerd status by relearning how to crochet.  I used to do it when I was little, but only involved boring things that my mum started and finished for me.  I was inspired by one of the girls making a baby blanket for her nephew-to-be and got her to show me a few tricks before she left.  Since then I've basically learned to read patterns on my own and am scarily addicted to handicrafts.  It's also becoming somewhat of a sideline income for me and people are seriously going to give me money for hats with their names on them.  It all started as a joke - my friend wanted a hat with WENDY on it, but me thinking this was too scary made him one with his own name on it.  I thought it'd make him look "special", but apparently this is the new geek chic item and everyone wants one.  I have a backlog of about 8 hats to make now ... photos to come soon (internet shopping anyone?).  I now need to employ some cheap overseas labour, but as a friend pointed out, I AM the cheap overseas labour.  Le sigh.

Avast ye scurvy bilge rats!

Aye, it be that day yet again - International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

 

So hoist the mizzen and scuttle some limey curs.  If ye have nae idea what to say to your landlubbin' mates, try here.

 

We be havin' a pirate party for the occasion, and to bid farewell to our resident cap'n from PEI. 

 

Yo ho ho and a bottle (or two) of rum!

We should be dancing, yeah

I'm going away for the weekend, hooray!  Knockengorroch for a celtic blues/roots/dance festival.  It involves camping but the sun is shining after yesterdays constant downpour so I am feeling positive about putting my tent up in the swamp.  Yeah.

I am really looking forward to dancing around in the mud in my new Croc gumboots, which after a saga of epic proportions (I have been waiting for the correct shoes/size/matching pair to arrive since July) have finally arrived, an hour before departure.  Yay!

Also, I have been a little negligent with my sending of greetings (and also been a little more than poor), so Happy Father's Day to my dad and Happy Birthday to my brother, cousin and mum.  And Happy Birthdays to all my friends with birthdays in September.  You know who you are, you probably got a text message.  Woohoo.

Finally, sorry for all the exclamatories following my sentences.  W00t.

High Street Hostel / Home Sweet Home

After a couple of months of insanity I decided that my long-suffering, extremely generous flatmates could stand to have their place back to themselves so they could finish creating a home.  It coincided well with a chat to the manager of my old hostel (who needed a receptionist) and also visitors to the flat who I was going to move out for for logistical reasons. 

Now I'm all moved back in to the hostel, in my old room (one of anyway), working hard at changing beds again, about to start on reception and it feels like I never left (also helped by the fact that I already spent a considerable amount of time here during the last two months).  So much so that people were surprised to hear that I was moving back in - "Where did you go?". 

Err, contrary to popular belief, I haven't lived here for the past two years. 

"Oh ..."

The Fat Lady is Singing

It really is going to be virtually impossible for me to completely catch up on the goings on of what has been the absolute best festival season of my four festival run. I've only just caught up with my personal notes (and that took me half a day), and am not even close to finishing processing it all in my head.

I've met so many people, seen so many different shows, experienced the epitome of randomness, witnessed nearly every sunrise and virtually not seen my very understanding flatmates for three weeks.

Anyone who has ever done an intense season of performance in a show or play may have an idea of the flat feeling when it's all over. All the work, preparation and thrill of an audience is gone. For me, obviously it wasn't a performance, but I did watch as many of them as I could. Free entry to shows, discounted drinking until 5am and friends to share it all with led to average bedtimes of 6.30am. For three weeks I had somewhere to be almost every day, and if I didn't there were always options. Waiting for pubs to open again at 6am wasn't unusual either.

Thursday was the first night I didn't need to be anywhere. It was a strange feeling. Although having had two hours of sleep each on the previous two nights, I ended up asleep by the late afternoon and up again around 4am. The last three nights I've been in bed before midnight and actually awake in the mornings. I cooked a proper meal yesterday. The normality (state endorsed normality that is, not my own) is freaking me out a little.

The closing fireworks are tonight, weather permitting, and hopefully by then I'll be coming to some sort of closure. The feeling that I might never experience anything like this again is a little sobering.

But I have been promised work if I'm back again next year...

Back pouring pints for the public

I just got home from my first shift at my new bar job.  It went really smoothly and everyone there is loverly.  It was a smallish function, 50th birthday party, so perfect to ease me in.

Naturally, they love me, and the assistant manager is stressing about trying to find hours to give me so they can keep me around.

I'm pretty happy with whatever though, the handful of money I got tonight was almost what I got paid to do the whole website for the restaurant.  And at the moment that feels like a fortune!

Blip eliminated

I rearranged the posts below and added in Episode 4 and Episode 10 for your reading pleasure.  Of course all the time stamps are wrong now, but they all should have read "too late" anyway.

I haven't written any more just yet.

On the plus side, I've found a great fringe venue that is employing me as a bar wench for the festival, so that will happily combine earning some pocket money with staying up ridiculously late and maybe even getting to watch some free shows.  Hoorah.

Also, I'm going to the beach tomorrow, yay!

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Episode 10: In which she is not from Japon

Location: Everywhere!
Date: All the time!

Apparently it is perfectly acceptable for Turkish men (we didn't see that many women) to just randomly say "Japon! Japonya!" as a greeting, in passing, as a general statement.

Neither Ineke or I tended to respond to the comments, but they were noted every time.

I wish I had been able to say "Kurd! Armenia!" but I'm just not that rude.

FYI: I'm Chinese. Or Kiwi. Both, actually. Not Japanese. Also, I love Japanese people. I think they're awesome. I'm just not one of them.