a good day

a good day is when one of your students tells you that you are very professional, that he's amazed about it, that he's never had such a good teacher, and that i should really know this because it's very important. this being my VIP student, a director at a very select Swiss bank.

beautiful France...

so here i was, driving through beautiful France. or was i?

France is always depicted as this amazingly beautiful place. don't get me wrong, i think a lot of places in France are beautiful. it's just that i had higher expectations for this part i was in. driving away from Toulouse, we had to get quite a way beyond Auch before i started liking what i saw and calling it beautiful. i voiced this feeling, explaining that, when i was in Japan (or Denmark), the countryside had always been amazing, and i'd never thought a place wasn't beautiful. after some discussion, we came to the conclusion that there were two reasons for this:
1. French people don't care about nature the way Japanese people do. in Japan, Nature is to be respected and cherished. in France, it's just there.
2. in France, there are not only road signs everywhere, but also various advertising signs, letting you know that supermarkets, hotels, and various other facilities are within driving range, but also signs for big clothes stores, DIY, etc. they're everywhere and it really ruins the natural look.

once we got away from Auch, things were a lot better. we were in the real countryside. nothing for miles but rolling hills, farmhouses, small villages, vineyards, roads bordered by huge trees. and that, i liked.

not a transcontinental flight...

yet it could have been! flew up to Copenhagen for the day, flew back the next morning at some insane hour, went home to shower, change, finish packing, took another flight down to Toulouse, drove about two hours north-west, saw the new house (my dad's), spent a night in a very nice, but quite cold, medieval castle, spent half a day waiting around while my sister filmed away, then another 3 hours in the car driving north, past Bordeaux, to my dad's girlfriend's house, and took an hour walk before celebrating my dad's birthday. woke up the next morning feeling still very exhausted despite over 10 hrs sleep, spent another 2 hrs in the car to get to Bordeaux airport, spent 2 hrs waiting for my plane, and another hour on it, until i was picked up by friends, whom i drove back home before i could finally do the same myself. i refuse to even count how many hours i've thus sat down, but it feels like a lot more than one ever should!

anniversary

two years ago, my mother died.

being set up

went to this local wine party last night, with one of my very good friends, M. some of her new friends were joining us, and it was quite a lot of fun to meet them all. they were mostly going to be sent off in the world in the next 2 weeks, as they are working for the Red Cross. i think there were just 3 of us who were local residents. as we sat in one of the huge marquees set up for the occasion, i was talking to one of those locals, a nice guy. my friend came up and said: 'wow, we're all going, but you're staying here (to me), and you're staying here (to him). isn't it cool?' wink. wink.

she has a habit of saying things like that. like, a week ago, having told her that this guy had asked me whether i'd be willing to move to another European country (see blog on men), she wanted to know if we'd then discussed it, and whether i'd asked him what he meant, what i meant to him, whether he loved me, etc. and me trying to point out that she was perhaps jumping over quite a few steps!

anyway, i'm used to it, so i didn't mind, but i must admit it got slightly more annoying when, back in town a few hours later, walking to a nightclub that we never went to in the end, and then back, everyone sort of seemed to want to let us walk side by side, alone, so we could, i don't know, talk, get intimate or whatever. don't get me wrong, he was really nice, and we seemed to have some things in common, but to me there didn't seem to be much of a connection between us. not that kind of connection. and that, more than anything, has to be there.

as i dropped M. off, she asked whether i'd taken this guy's number. well, no, i hadn't. thought that as we knew each other through friends, we'd be able to make contact later, through them. i wouldn't mind seeing him again, but, as i told M., she shouldn't start getting all hyped up about it cos, as far as i'm concerned, we'd only be friends.

the Archaeologist vs the Site Director

while discussing random facts with him, the Site Director mentioned in passing something about the Archaeologist working weekends. the Archaeologist said she'd rather not. conversation:

SD: but you have to.
A: why?
SD: because if you don't work weekends, you won't be offered regular work.
A: why?
SD: cos it says so in your contract.
A: no, it doesn't.
SD: yes, it does.
A: it doesn't say so in my contract.
SD:that's strange. i'm sure i'd asked the Dean to put it in. well, i'll ask him again.

and the Archaeologist thinking 'i don't care what the Dean puts into any new contract, as it really won't affect my contract', and leaving it at that, as the SD seemed rather frazzled. the Archaeologist was not a little pissed off. how was the SD running this dig? she didn't mind working weekends, she just wasn't prepared to be threatened about it. this SD seriously lacked people skills. it started to remind her of an old dig ahe'd been on. same problem. didn't people ever learn that threatening people into work was not the best way to go?? present things sensibly, and people will generally understand and accept. do it the other way and have a very bad feeling on any dig, ultimately ruining the whole excavation.

alarm!

so, getting home today, i heard an alarm ringing. bear in mind that i was still 100m from the source of the noise and the radio was going. to figure out where it came from, i switched off the radio, and was astonished to find out that it came from my house! i drove super fast down the lane, hoping that the dog had been left outside and wasn't going mad! i jumped out of the car, relieved to see the dog jumping around me. he was upset, but he hadn't been too close to the noise! raced inside to switch off the bloody machine. couldn't find what had set if off. apparently, everything was as it should have been. the phone wouldn't work, except for telling me what we were being burgled, and could i call someone about it!

105

so, this is apparently my 105th post. wow. hadn't realised.

to mark the occasion, i thought i'd post this picture of handmade lollipops, taken in Denmark last month. i never eat them but seeing them always makes me feel happy.

enjoy!


fancy one?

Snow Falling on Cedar Trees

saw the movie last night. i knew that there was some connection with Japan, but didn't know which. but had to see it. and it was really good. i really liked the way it was filmed. and the story line. (the book is probably better, though - i'll look into reading it).

but what i liked most, was that i reminded me of my friend D. also an American who fell in love with a Japanese girl. D kind of looks like Ethan Hawke (who plays the lead part in the movie), which made me imagine throughout the movie that it was actually him. and it could have been. i can just imagine him doing the same thing. luckily for him, though, the story ended well, as he got to marry the girl in question. well done! :)

the Archaeologist's adventures

looking over, the Archaeologist saw that some of her fellow diggers had found 'it'. there they were, looking ecstatically at their 1x1 plot, smiling. they'd dug, and they'd found. the Archaeologist looked down at her plot. still empty. yet she'd been digging with so much care. some of the others, she knew, were not really being precise about it. to her it seemed like they were just children playing with trowels for fun. like Archaeology wasn't serious. it seemed so unfair that she, who had studied hard to become what she was, should be denied her 'holy grail', when these amateurs had found their happiness. was she simply on the wrong plot?

Asian weather

the weather's been quite weird, lately. i'm sure we can all see it, even if Bush can't... anyway, yesterday, there was actually an earthquake here. it's a rarity: Europe is not really a hotbed for such activity. it only lasted about 5 seconds - or at least, that's how long i felt it, having the table shaking under me - but it was an earthquake (4.5 Richter scale). it reminded me of all the ones i've lived through in Japan - although it seems it all started getting 'fun' after i left.

then, this morning, it rained. nothing strange there. what was unusual was the fact that the sun was rising with all its beauty and colours and you could see it clearly - no clouds or anything - yet it was raining from a few clouds overhead, and quite a lot. it felt like being in Kuala Lumpur. it wasn't cold either, which added to the whole thing. it was like a small tropical storm.

who writes those brochures?

there is a blatant irony in that i've spent most of my life living very close to mountains, yet i never climbed one. it wasn't before i moved to Asia that i started climbing, and thorougly hating it. nonetheless, i did it at least 3 times.

first, i spent a day climbing 6 summits in a national park in Vietnam. the brochure said it was a hard climb, but my friend argued that they definitely overstated it to make sure totally unfit people didn't participate. how wrong he was... it was very hard! as far as i was concerned, the brochure should rather have said: lots of experience needed. i nearly killed myself, but was luckily saved by a young Frenchman, who reacted very quickly as i was falling backwards onto some very sharp rocks.

a few months later, my friend invited me to climb Shiraneyama, north of Tokyo. it's funny, because at no time did i realise we were actually going to climb to the summit! and as it was foggy when we left, i couldn't see where we were headed. only once at the top did it occur to me that we had, in fact, reached the top. i gave myself a+ for paying attention.

another 6 months later, my father came to visit me and we spent a week driving around Kyushu. we came to the Aso volcanic 'range', and decided to walk up one of the summits (yes, big mistake when you consider my track record). the local brochures explained it could be done in about an hour. who writes those brochures???? it took us 45 mns to get up, and another 2 hours to get down. plus, we apparently chose the most dangerous way down (this was not labelled anywhere as being anything but easy), and again, nearly killed ourselves. i'd say my father was experienced, but he was the first one to fear for our lives. i know it sounds dramatic, but it really was bad! once at the bottom, we headed for the nearest onsen, and spent an hour relaxing there. we were so tired we couldn't even eat.

since then, i've vowed never again to climb a mountain. first of all, i don't see the point. i never felt any satisfaction finishing a climb, only sheer relief. and that really covers all my reasons...

life after the party

people came, people swam, people ate, people drank.
people enjoyes themselves, laughed, and caught up with each other.
people were entertained by musician.
people left.

i decided to clean up a bit. i found someone's bathing suit, someone's salad bowl, and someone's keys (definitely not good for that particular person).

i went to bed. i actually answered the phone at 9.30am to reassure above mentioned person that keys had indeed been found. i got up, showered, and drove off to meet said person and give him back the keys, who was then able to get home, shower and sleep. i came back, cleaned a little more, and finally started doing the work i haven't done this week cos i was sick. and in a minute, i'll dive into the blue blue waters of the pool, enjoy the sunshine and, given time, work up a little tan before autumn sets in.

party time

...is here again. this is, after all, my last real chance of having a big party that can take place outside and make use of the swimming pool, which, very soon, will no longer be mine. luckily, the weather has decided to pitch in with some sunshine and a very comfortable 28C. the pool is also at 28C, so it's all good. the BBQ is ready to be lit. now all i need to do is finish the potato salad and get the party plates and cutlery out. and get better, if possible. i have a terrible cold, and it felt like it was getting better, but it seems it really wasn't. but who cares. 20 of my friends will be here soon, and i intend to enjoy this evening as much as everybody else. go girl!