precious moments

23 mar 2012

photo taken from my mobile phone

yesterday i was with maroquinha hilra at lattes cafe, highfield campus, from 9.35am until 1.50pm. the initial plan was to meet, have some coffee, catch up a bit, and go about our business for the day. instead, we stayed longer than planned, half ignoring that we both have a life filled with commitments and deadlines. once in a while we said 'i have to go soon' but never left. when we finally left the cafe, almost 2pm, we still went together to the uni shop; then, hilra wait for me by the cash point and there was still some more conversation. yey!!! sooooo good to talk freely with no fear of being misunderstood. this is precious.

i walked back to avenue campus and only did a few more things. it was not the productive academic day i had hopes for, but fine. hilra and i talked a lot about my research, which was 'work' and much enlightening.

now telling from the beginning: - sometime before 9am i walked from home to the office [at avenue campus] to drop off some bag weight here and go to highfield, where i was to meet up with hilra. when i got to the office rob was already here, and we talked . . . he seemed to want to chat more but i had to leave and told him we'd talk more later on. 'ok', he said. i was headed to highfield when there comes fabricio, this very nice brazilian guy who is in his third year phd in oceanography [i think]. he got off his bike and we walked together until the uni clinic, where i went to collect a prescription. fabricio is going back home to brazil this april. i would love to see him again before he leaves. we might plan a big brazilian gathering for him.
 
thanks for the great chat, nene :-) after all, 'cada um eh si' (joao)

new year's curry in winchester

about last night 7 may 2011



photo 1: the starter; photo 2: maudie, marie, and jc; photo 3: the cuties

mike and I met with steven at the train station and traveled together to winchester for our 2010 – 2011 new year’s curry at the nepalese and indian restaurant gurkha chef.

we were ten for the night: from the uk: mike (welsh), and the english ones: johnny, jc, marie, steven, the team leader maudie, and warren; and the foreigners murielle and celine (both French), and myself with my verde amarelo branco azul anil heart. In other words, we were ten people, with four nationalities, and from three different languages.

winchester greeted us with rain, but we carried on walking to fulfil our protocol, which is pub – restaurant – pub. Then, we head home. I want to make a point that now I understand better the itinerary that really gives everyone opportunities to interact with various of us.

the pub was the hyde tavern, a cozy but not so comfortable one. I had diet coke and a small glass of their- not-so-special house wine. at the pub I had a chat with murielle. she is french, from a small island near mauritius island. she is a chemist, lives near here, but will move soon to germany, relocated to work there. we talked about this and also about phd life and about brazil. she asked me how my research is going. i smiled and she smiled back, sharing the inherent sticks and stones we come across throughout the process. a friend of murielle’s came by her place and took away her tv when she was doing her phd so that murielle would have one less distraction and could concentrate properly on the duties. later on the friend threatened to take away her phone if she kept spending hours talking to people. we had a good laugh.

then we went to gurkha chef, the nepalese and indian restaurant. i had pork palak (barbequed pork with pork cooked in spinach, tomatoes and onions) with mushroom rice for dinner. i also tried mike’s food, as usual. it was all very good. at the restaurant i the chat was about travelling, mostly with steven, mike, and murielle.

after food food food and chat chat chat we left the restaurant. murielle and celine went home, the others went to another pub. mike and i walked back to the train station to get the 12.07 train to southampton, because it comes by the train station near his place. on our way back both to the station in winchester and in southampton we walk in the rain again. we waited for a while at the train station sitting in a bench and talking: precious moments. this was a much expected rain that did many things: it washed away my makeup and my blow dried hair, as well as some pollen from the trees. i think the long and quiet rain also cleansed both southampton and winchester and gave them a lighter, greener, and more beautiful view. it was so lovely to walk in the rain.

we finally got into the train and back home sometime around 1am today. What a night.

my fruitful friday

about yesterday, 25 mar 2011

last night, talking with mike i realised i had an unexpectedly productive day. i was if truth be told not expecting that much because i have been slow lately. here is the report:

1. 7 – 8 am: started off the day having breakfast with mike, a good start . . .

2. 1.45pm: sent out an abstract to the Bloomsbury conference. I was freaking out and did fear not meeting the deadline, which was today. hurray!!! can’t really tell how pleased I was to manage something that may be just a simple task, something I have made so many times, but that has been a struggle for the past few months.

3. 2.30: met up for coffee at trago lounge with diana and sue. topics of the day: (a) how we relate to our families back home, how much we miss them, how much support we receive and give them, how much we tell or hide from them, . . . and (b) cosmetic surgery. it is a big thing in brazil, I know. it is not so big in romania, diana said, but it is a hot topic in south korea. so, sue was the one to do most of the talk. here are some facts about cosmetic surgery in korea: - yes, many loads of boys and girls do the eyes in search of a more westernised look; - they do it so often and ordinarily they don’t even call it ‘plastic surgery’, it is rather referred to as ‘make up’; - people place big time value on their looks, even professionally speaking; - girls may undergo ‘make up’ for a job interview; and finally that korean surgeons have a reputation of being highly skilled.

4. about 4.10: did some shopping at waitrose and was – surprise surprise – again excellent managing my time and doing all I wanted, I mean, buying all I needed to cook the dinner for later on.

5. about 5pm: got back home. waited for the U1C bus for more than 20 minutes. got back home and cooked dinner for me and mike. this time the cooking took me no more than two hours. such a success I hadn’t thought I would achieve because the first time I cooked it took me the whole day, not counting the trips to supermarkets and hours to decide on a menu. well, menu of the day: ‘summer in winter chicken’ (chicken on a pesto sauce with crème fraiche and basil; chicken with cream and parmesan and another cheese; - rice; dessert: blueberries and strawberries in a bowl with cream. English tea to drink. am very pleased mike enjoy the food very much. finished with eating mike helped me do the dishes. Four hands can be do so much more than just two. amazing!!!

6. about 9:10pm: we went to bellemoor tavern, in hill lane, shirley. It was to meet up with maudie, her friend aidan, jc, marie, and warren. I liked the pub: spacious and with a good menu for food, and good price; but we have drinks only. people here don’t drink and eat much. I had two glasses of wine, which helped me relax.

7. about 11.45: we took another taxi back home, to mike's place; and finished up the day in good hands / arms. . .

tea for two

12 mar 2011

i met with diana at trago lounge this afternoon for some coffee and chatting. as usual, we talked very long about both academic and personal life. . . then we went shopping in portswood road. diana is a great company for shopping and a friend i like very much. these days she almost never shows up at the office as she prefers to work from home. i think if you manage to be productive from home it is always a better option.

cheers to life

1 sept 2010

hilra & kalina at the highfield campus. photographer: Clarissa

I met with hilra and her troupe this afternoon on the highfield campus. What a great surprise to see the little ones all with lovely cards written to me saying they love me and missed me. I hugged them as we met. It is always a funny moment because they know I want a big cuddle. Hilra had bought the cards to give away to friends and they asked to write one for me, nominating me the first chosen one. I got two lovely cards and a cute book marker with nice words from hilra, leonard and clarissa and also a prayer. So so so sweet and heart warming!!!

It was fantastic to spend this time together. Because we were at first at the workstation at Hartley library we all had to whisper our words not to bother people. The kids behaved nicely. I think that when they saw me using a computer at the workstation they thought I had something there that was my own. Clarissa asked: ‘have you got a house?’ sooo cute. she knows I do, she’s been here to my place a number of times. I told her I do and that that place was where I went to study.

I had put the cards in my backpack to read them later on because I wanted to keep our presence there as quiet as possible. but Leo whispered determined: ‘when are you going to open the card?’ I whispered back ‘now’ and opened them to read. It was so much fun, Leo crouched down the chair to hide his shy face. He knew I was going to grab him for a big hug and a thank you kiss. We all laughed, I mean, quietly laughed. Then I got Clarissa’s card to read and she did the same crouching down the chair. One thing that was lovely was that the students around didn’t make any unhappy face with the presence of the kids in the room. They’re good fellas!!!

Hilra was finished with the printing thing and we were headed to enjoy the beautiful day at the gorgeous park we have at uni, where we stayed until nearly 5pm. Oh my was it good! The kids were joyfully running around and making friends with a girl their age. Oh and mr spider man paid a visit. Hilra and I talked non-stop – what a surprise! – and yes, it was refreshing and a perfect break even from big stressful deadlines I had for the day. We always simply talk, I feel so safe and tranquil to think hilra is around. It really gives me a sense of security. Amem!

After the great time at the park they left and I went back to Hartley library where I stayed until it was about to close, which is 9pm during the summer. at the library i did some more of my work which was due today. i am pleased i at least managed to complete a task and send it on the deadline, although i think i messed the application process. i am now also left with an important reflection about my slow and threating last minute approach to things that seems to want to become a pattern in my life. oh no!!! On my way to the bus stop I passed by Ros, who was I think walking home from avenue campus. ‘Hello kalina’ ‘hello ros’ and I rushed to the U1C bus that was coming. I ran not to miss it and when I got into it asked the driver if he had seen me run and if he would leave me there waiting for the next – 20 minutes later – bus. He said he did and that he would not leave me behind. I gave him a thankful smile and the trip home was safe and pleasant. from the middle of the bus i thanked nice bus driver before leaving bus. He responded back ‘cheers’.

journey into myself

9 aug 2010

Sadie Parker is back here in southampton for the summer job with the uni pre-sessional course. i am very pleased to have her around again. we became friends last summer when we shared a flat with other pre-sessional tutors in monterfiore 3. that was a time of discoveries, lots of chat around a bottle of wine and good food, and also high level of stress. i learned a lot from it and don't miss it. sadie was one of the nicest things out of the whole experience. she is a good woman, good at heart and in search of some things in life still, in a way like myself i would say.

well, we decided to walk from the avenue campus at about 3.40pm to the cowherds yesterday to catch up on our chat, and stayed there until 7.30pm. i was at first sad i didn't have my camera with me because it seems to me now that my memories and all of my posts start out from an image. while i can still question why that is the case, i can try and write anyway. i found this image in my files and thought it serves the purpose of illustrating a synthesis of our conversation today. yes, go beyond the very comfort, the familiar zone, challenge yourself, trust the unknown that will not exactly hurt you badly and this might provide you with what you want. this is the main lesson from our insightful chat. we drank cider and ate greek and middle eastern food: eastern spiced houmous, Roquito pepper aioli, Greek Kalamata olives, minted feta tzatziki and warm falafel, served with grilled flatbread. good food indeed.

autumn is in the air, the days are shorter, and another year announces itself to my soul in this land. i have been pensive about my life and of my choices. it has been made clear to me that every choice offers an inevitable, not always desided, consequence. what is the role of love, afterall? what is so risky about it?

the warmth of friendship

11 july 2010

i met jana long long ago, maybe around the year 1994. she was actually my mother’s classmate in a french language course they were both attending at yazigi. jana was also going to uni then (her subject was computer sciences) and came to our apartment to see my mother a few times because mom ordered some address labels jana made to get some pocket money. we became friends right away. i remember in the beginning i didn’t really know much about her yet but she invited me to go to the movies. we first started talking about movies, and to move on to other subjects was just a matter of time. since then we’ve been friends and meeting up when life makes it possible. this time jana wanted to see the two old time friends of hers: my mom and myself. we indeed had a great time together, talking about marriage, men, children, discipline, birthday parties, life. beatriz planned to come back on a later date to sleep over at my mom’s. so cute! we ought to pay close attention to what these little people say for they utter wise truths and reveal a lot about life.

one good thing about old time, true friendships is that whenever we meet, no matter the time span, we just smile and converse and swap details and or facts of our lives that have taken place in the meantime, so much naturally. with jana i feel particularly comfortable to talk about whatever, and she apparently does feel the same. it’s about trust, i think. she contacted me right before i left to brazil, because she read in my blog I was going there and she was going to teresina as well, as a vacation trip for her, her chatty daughter beatriz. jana is 5-month pregnant with felipe, and is married to fabio. they have lived in brasilia for a good while now.

lunch with fatima

9 july 2010

today i had lunch with my old time dear friend Fatima. believe me, this was another non-stop, women’s conversation. we met long ago, when we worked as English teachers at Yazigi. at that time she was pregnant with Segundo and divorced her husband. now segundo is a big man, studying at university, which means we’re growing old, and she is married to Humberto, ‘o super sincero’, so she says of him.

first thing in the morning i went to tribunal de justica to sort out some things. fatima picked me up there about 10.30am and from there we went to the Municipal Secretary of Education, where i expected to meet with the secretary for a booked interview. well, not quite, as he was not there. that was not a problem at all and fatima and i ended up having more time together. we had lunch at the restaurant which used to be called “Peixaria do Alfredo”. there we had a scrumptious ‘peixe à delicia’, and drank cajuina. fatima is a mature, funny and very family oriented woman. i admire her multi skills as a mother, daughter, wife, and professional. she is often running up and down the city, she even works in a different state a few times a week, and always has a smile to her face. way to go, girl. every time we meet we talk about our professional experiences and plans and frustrations, well, on life. i hope she manages to go to the UK or anywhere in Europe for a conference some day while i am still there. it’d lovely to go visit some places with her here.

loo at the secretary of education

while still at the municipal secretary of education i went to the loo anyway and found this rather intriguing note on the toilet door. what does it tell about its habitués?

le plat du jour: food and thought

28 june 2010

le plat: pizza and a great chat

l'assiete: null

la boisson: diet coke for me, orange juice for hilra.

dear nene,
it was great to enjoy part of this warm summer day with you in highfield, first walking to the stag's head, then going to your office. LOL the music was loud, huh. i'm glad we found this time to have a meal together and catch up a little on our endless conversations. ah, the pizza was good, wasn't it? i like it there but it is too much per person if we are two only. it becomes ideal for three people. anyway, for the rest of the day i only ate grapes and had a cup of tea. my name is guilt.

it is always interesting how we talk about so many things and never lose track of the topic. is it a woman thing or is it that we really trust each other and thus feel free to talk whatever? people may think women talk most of the time about foolish things. that is not our case. thanks a lot for the truthful tips on that subject. i really appreciate them. when i am back from Brazil we'll get together and talk more.

big hugs,
maroca

carpe diem

24 june 2010

I worked all day completing the plan for the course. There are still many things to do, from photocopies to designing questionnaires and getting the final version to course plan and other things. It was a productive day and I feel tired but very much knowing what to do and how to go about this. This is very comforting. The feeling of familiarity with my study, the readings, the decisions I have to make about the course, they are all so important. I love it when I have the sessions with Ros, like we did have one yesterday, and I present my understandings and my work to her and she agrees and helps me out keep the focus and in the right track. It is fantastic. I am in love with my research study.


Of course, at the end of the day, about 6pm, Rob (British), Mariko (Japanese), Diana (Rumanian), and I were headed to a pub and enjoyed the warm sunshine of the day. It was The Stag’s head, the pub right there on the highfield campus. We had clear plans, as stated before, to go as cheap as possible. Diana and I ordered a pint of cider each. The bartender offered some options but our answer was: the cheapest one, please. The cider was cheap and nice. Mariko and Rob had cider too, but of the more expensive brand. LOL.

We had a great chat until sometime after 11pm. We sat outside, enjoying the breeze, drinking our ciders, and talking about so many interesting things. I really love to spend time with people who have stories to tell and are happy to share them. Rob has just been to Asia: China, Thailand and Taiwan, on a field trip for his research study. Mariko got back from her trip to Southeast Asia, also data collection for her research, somewhere in February. She went to China, South Korea, and Japan. Diana has been to many places: Israel, Amsterdam, Berlin, and last week she interviewed somebody in London, all of these are field work trips. I went to Brazil for four weeks in December (data collection) and also visited Prague, Vienna, and Budapest this past Easter break. These experiences leave loaded with impressions and stories to tell. The nice thing is that we have an open, peculiar eye to differences we encounter in the different places we visit. So we talked about isolated events and then our impressions and how we managed unpredicted situations in a foreign land. It was wonderful talk!!! I didn’t know Rob could get so funny and be such an open young man. If I need to say one word to summarize the focus of our interest in the conversation among these different places and peoples it can be ‘identity’, concerning language and culture.

Besides the cider, we had pizzas. We buy two pizzas for £4.50, which is really a good deal. When we had one last slice of pizza, it was sitting there for a while until we started asking ‘who’s going to eat it?’ everyone said ‘you have it’, ‘go ahead, have it’. Then we talked about this situation in our cultures. I explained to them that in Brazil when we have one last slice or piece of food on the table, called ‘the piece of shame’, there is a joke that we should switch off the light so that we feel fine to go for the piece of food. The problem is that some people go with hands and some with their fork (guns) and when the light is switched back on, well. We bursted into laughter. It was really very funny. Mariko said that in Japan, in Tokyo the piece will always go to the bin, as no one is impolite enough to get it. People are very polite in Japan normally. However, in Osaka yes, someone would have the piece. What we did? We called Rob ‘the Osaka man’ and said he should have the piece, which is how our pizza was finished.

Because we get two pizzas it is common that it is too much if people are not hungry. Well, in a nearby table there were three students also drinking something and having pizza. We didn’t even realize when they left. Diana and Mariko decided to go to the loo. As soon as they stood up we had the vision of untouched three slices of pizza in the next table folks’ tray. Their leftover looked like a whole half of a pizza, baked and ready to be eaten, of the type that makes us feel sorry it we don’t do so. Once again we all bursted into laughter. Inspired Rob said ‘osaka’, which was rightly understood and agreed upon by us: we, we should grab the bounty and have the feast. It was a highlight in the night. Diana got the pizza and brought to our table. It was really quick because it was the next table. Then she decided to put the tray back there and keep only the pizza in our tray. Smart one! The girls went to the loo and Ron and I treated ourselves to the slices of pizza.

It is summer now but it still gets a little chilly in the night sometimes. I put on my coat and we all left sometime after 11pm.

Carpe diem, Kassandra.

a hectic day

20 may 2010

today i exceeded all acceptable practice of social engagement. yes, i did. guilt is my neighbour, ops, my name. it was a very intense and nice, yet stressful, day.

1. went early in the morning to highfield, to teach at 9am. worked until 10.30;

2. went to the saudy day event and there stayed until past 1pm;

3. walked to avenue hoping to get there and be productive;

4. back from a visit to the loo i came across alma rodriguez in the corridor, by our pgr kitchen. she was preparing a tea. there we stayed, standing, taaaalking forever. i wanted to leave, but she kinda ignored my moves to leave and kept telling her family stories, which i found highly interesting. i was interested in the talk, but worried about work. we also, of course, talked a great deal about our research projects, vivas and so on. diana stopped by but not for long.
(i was planning to come home afterwards because i was getting really tired)

5. wildson told me we brazilian students were to meet at the stag's head, this on-campus pub. i know every thursday there is this brazilian gathering at this pub. it is a nice place, very conveniently located, i really like it, but the music is way too loud if one wants to talk.

6. walked back to highfield to meet with the folks at the stag's head, about 8pm. well, met everyone there, got to meet new people and had a wonderful chat with wildson. we basically taked about freire, our man :-) when i left the pub it was around 11.20pm.

7. got the unilink home and here i am, happy, but drained and filled with guilt.

there is no pleasure when there is no balance. i mean, the things we did today were all great, i did enjoy everything, but a lesson i have to learn out of it: there has to be a limit to off research fun. this cannot be my routine. my routine here is clearly tied up with my research, to be short and precise. it is weekday, workday, then. this is another lesson, besides all the others learned throughout the day.

theatre - shakespeare's antony & cleopatra

8 may 2010

diana, agota, mathilde, and i went to see shakespeare's tragedy 'antony and cleopatra' at the nuffield theatre today. i had high expectations about the play, maybe because last week i saw an outstanding interpretation of another master work in english literature, 'the canterbury tales', but this one comes the from the The Nuffield Theatre Company itself, which is very good, i must say. after the play we discussed how shakespeare has really made everyone interested in presenting their interpretation of his plays.

a few lines from the play. my source is literary sparks note:
cleopatra: if it be love indeed, tell me how much.
antony: it would be a pretty stingy love if it could be counted and calculated.
cleopatra: i want to measure the extent of your love, to see how far it stretches.
antony: then you would have to go beyond heaven, beyond earth.

note: the text in blue below is the advertisement from the theatre:
The Nuffield Theatre Company
Antony and Cleopatra
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Patrick Sandford
Dates: 6 – 22 May

The tangled love story of two powerful leaders.
Their infatuation is politically disastrous and ethically irresponsible. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA lead untidy lives; ultimately they abandon any sense of duty to their nations, and yet on a personal level they fulfil each other, completely and utterly. They celebrate magnificently humanity, love and life…
Shakespeare tells us this in his most beautiful language. The play is passionate, ironic, sometimes highly comic, and finally profoundly sad. Yet audiences over the centuries have always felt uplifted by the sheer energy and generosity of spirit in this great play.

after the play we 'played' a little around the theatre making these short films to send to a girl, for her boyfriend. then we were headed to the stilo, this pub right there on university road, 3-min walk from the nuffield. i love the geography of this uni with all these amazing facilities at walking distance from each other. at the pub we ate crisps and drank white wine. the kitchen there closes at 9pm. the way pubs work here deserves a post. but let me be back to consideration on shakespeare's portrayal of love, i mean, tragic love.

here is our discussion on the play / shakespeare: - of course we should always find in any intrepretation of shakespeare's work a great deal of old english, no matter how much of modern stuff is put into it. - we cannot understand the language from beginning to end because it is really difficult, but still worth every single penny to listen to it in the original language. - well, this is a quite macho representation of human relations: 1. antony never has one woman only, and that is fine; 2. cleopatra is dramatic about everything. se is this fragile female who is always expecting this man. when he is around she needs to be ascertained ofhis love for her; 3. her lady and attendant iras is way too neurotic, crying and passing out whenever things get a little difficult; 4. the men are strong and make all the decisions. LOOOL we also pointed out that otavia, antoni's second wife, is actually more beautiful than cleopatra in the play, but cleopatra sends out a messenger to check out the woman, to make sure she is nothing special. DUH!!!!; 5. the black actress who portrays chamian, the other one of cleopatra's attendants, is a really good actress, and sings beautifully. last but not least at all: it has been a super chilly spring. all days have been cold. it was 9 degrees at night, but it felt much colder. england never gets really 'hot'.

agota's soothing breakfast

2 may 2010

i woke up quite early - about 9am - and read the material i had on me. ying, our chinese friend, just came back from data collection. she brought her husband and her child along this time to live here with her for the time of her phd. her husband will start a phd somewhere soon, too. i did not go down to speak with yang because i really wanted to do some reading, great reading, by the way.

agota brought me coffee in the bedroom and received ying and her family. diana went down, too. after they were gone agora prepared a super breakfast for us three. veggie omelette, toast, and fresh coffee. we talked lots again. when diana and i left the house to go to hartley library it was past 1pm.

i stayed at hartley until almost 7pm, and got a little done. it was a very nice weekend, but i need to work. of course there was a pause for coffee at lattes cafe with ahmed and diana. maybe i am registering these to have the truth before my eyes. i do need to focus more on my studies. anyway, i do focus on it, during the week and everyday, during the day. hilra suggested i try and put all duties for the day so that i don't have to cancel the social life, which is not really that hectic, to be honest. she is so right and this wise piece of advice has come in good time.

tudo eh nada

28 apr 2010

(acabei de chegar em casa: 9.15 da noite. sai de manha e passei o dia inteiro na conferencia LASS, no turner sims music hall. apresentei minha pesquisa, comi merendas e tomei cafes e sucos e vinhos o dia inteiro, tudo entrelacado e acompanhado de papos e encontros e trocas de ideias e conversas tantas. no final do dia ainda tive que ir pro jantar no restaurante do nuffield theatre, porque ja tinha agendado, apesar de estar exausta e com o pensamento nas tantasss coisas que precisam de mim. fui jantar, comi e conversei com o povo, mais uma vez. . . . como se conversa nessa vida!!! e porque se come tanto?)

o jantar foi bom:
entrada: pate de javali com pao bacana e cebola caramelizada
prato principal: risoto de arroz com abobora e queijo stilton e mais uma amendoa. delicia!
sobremesa: morangos com sorvete de baunilha numa casquinha daquelas que tem o formato de cumbuquinha, de chocolate e mais um creme branco por cima.
nota: eu nem estava com fome.
Deus eh mais!!!

alguns dos amigos foram assistir minha apresentacao: diana (romenia), nagima (paquistao), hee (coreia do sul), mustafa (libia), alma (espanha), ahmed (arabia saudita), ji (coreia do sul), cangei (coreia do sul), rahmah (brunei) e a ros (irlanda). eh uma simpatia ter torcida.

aas vezes eh tanto, aas vezes eh nada.

"eh que no fundo, no fundo, tudo eh pouco, tudo eh insignificante."

Saramago (em entrevista a edney silvestre, sobre o nobel de literatura que ganhou em 1998)

alice in wonderland

17 apr 2010

Today Diana, Mathilde and I went to the Odeon cinema to watch Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 3D. In the movie Alice is 19 and decides to follow the white rabbit exactly as she is proposed by the ungracious son of a friend of her father’s. From this point she starts her fantastic adventures, as she used to dream of them as a child. Mia Wasikowska plays Alice, Helena Bonham Carter is the Red Queen, Johnny Depp is the fabulous Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway is the White Queen. They are all fantastic. By the way, I love all the characters, although I found the smiley blue cat a little spooky, but that’s me. Alice can only prove she is Alice when she defeats the monster. I loved Burton’s film, and the 3D was a super plus. It is great entertainment and offers loads of representations of the self and the human relations to be interpreted. I love the fact that she has different sizes as she encounters different people. Mia Wasikowska did an awesome job. As I was watching the film I thought I had seen her somewhere. Yes, she played Sophie, one of Paul’s patients in the American series In treatment. We three did not like that she comes back to her real life and sort of gives people advice. After all, life is a dance which can be felt by each one of us individually, I’m afraid. I am not certain we learn from what others have experienced.

Finished the movie we walked to this Italian restaurant on Above Bar Street called Bella Italia. it offers a variety of Italian dishes. There we had pizza and wine and chatted and chatted and chatted. Mathilde, my flatmate here at the uni hall, is Belgium. she is here for a semester only, an Erasmus student. Diana is from Romania, i might have said this already. we're friends from uni. she is doing her PhD in the representations of the Holocaust. her research is super interesting and we have talked a lot about it already. We talked about trips, safety in different countries and many other things. It was indeed a very nice night out.

the pizza was a bit cold, which might imply it was not really fresh, but still good. wine was superb. Above Bar is a street where there are lots of other pubs. it was funny to appreciate the girls 'nearly dressed up' to go to these pubs. no matter how cold it is, they are always very brave to face the night with very little clothes. it was a chilly night and got the bus back home.

bedford place

16 apr 2010

i met with Diana Popescu today a little before 6pm right here at the avenue / the common and we walked down towards london road. our final destination was bedford place, a road with many pubs and shops. we first went to revolution pub, where we stayed for quite a long time, at first sitting at their terrace outside, enjoying the brrrr chilly breeze. there we had coffee latte. when it got very cold we got a table inside the pub, kept chatting and had white wine. we stayed there until after 9pm, when the music became very loud and unbearable for us, and super great for the newcomers.

we left the revolution pub, crossed the street, and entered another pub whose name i cannot recall just now. well, we talked about so many things, until 11.20ish. time went by so quickly we didn't realize it was so late. when the conversation is great we forget the clock. we rushed to the bus stop on london and were lucky to get into the U1E bus. diana is a nice friend from romania.

we talked about life, academic life / work, love, men, travelling, working, sharing houses with people from different cultures. . . you name it! we just let the talk flow. it was very nice. i don't go out very often. i am a quiet person. many times my favorite programme is to go somewhere and watch a movie, a theater play, or just stay a friend's house. the kind of programme i appreciate is one where we can sit and enjoy ourselves through talking and listening to good music or whatever, but i am definetely not fond of uncontrolled alcohol drinking or super loud music. this evening at the pub with diana is a sort of night out that happens sometimes around here with the folks from the post grad programme, and is something i highly appreciate. besides, it gave me the feeling of having done something for myself, really, as i didn't stay home. silly me )-:

caffe latte, tea cake, & bzzzzzz

9 apr 2010

The chatting today with Hilra at BB’s cafe was great. it is in the Mall Marlands, very strategically located as we get out of Matalan. we decided to meet there for a cup of coffee and updates on our news because she has not come to uni very often lately. we met about 9.30 and talked nonstop until almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon. we always talk about life, studies, plans, dreams, whatever one word inspires as the chain is quite free and maybe wouldn't make sense to some people as it does for us.
i really loved our coffee with loads of words today. we had caffe latte with teacake to eat. when time came she had o go pick up her kids at school. i went to uni to work a little, not much as i am out of insiration these days. still wondering wha should plug me back into real world.

the glittering glitter

09 mar 2010

i just stopped by my bank (my bank, not yours hehehehe) to ask to change my solo debit card for a visa one, as people say the visa card has more credibility.

well, i started speaking with the bank lady meant to help on the issue and she was quite formal, with no time or space for a smile. well, i decided make a simple comment on her nails: 'your nails look fantastic. awesome'. after that she turned herself into an all-over-body smile and said she only passed glitter on them because she likes her nails to look tidy. we indeed became high school gals and chat a good deal about nails, bank cards, travelling, and - guess what!!! men, of course!!! i asked her if i am going to receive my new bank card before i travel on the 21st of march and she said 'yes', and that it would be for sure. she then asked where i am heading to. i said: prague, viena, bratislava, and budapest. to each city i mentioned she showed a nice surprise and said it is all fantastic. she said prague is the city of the single men, that all the single men go there. i said that's why i am going, too.

see? a simple glitter glittering a whole day, and it did not cost me a thing to acknowledge how nice her nails look :-)

sunday around town

12 feb 2009

this was a nice sunday to go shopping and chatting. ines and we went first to asda where had lunch and then we walked around city centre. it is amazing how ines knows it all about everything, about the shops and the nice spots in town. she goes straight to the places and gets what she wants. very interesting. in spite of our obviously busy lives we always find time to meet and talk and we do talk a lot about various things. it is nice. she has helped me a lot by telling me about life here. in this cold winter she has been really helpful.