Graduation day

So, now everything about the food is told we can go on to the actual graduation day. This was such a different one than we ever do in The Netherlands. At 10 I had to pick up my robe and the tickets for myself and my parents. Stress! I had a great plan where my hair would have lovely curls, but by 5 to 10, there was no single decent curl to be found yet. So I ditched the idea and went for shoving in some bobby pins and running to uni to pick everything up. The strong wind made my attempt to curls even less impressive and the robe turned out to be mainly super annoying. his means I was just stressing out (for no real reason) by the time we had to go in. Maybe it's fair to mention that I was only wearing my dress, nylons and the robe, while it was absolutely freezing. But by the time we were all sitting in the warm Great Hall I felt a lot better.
The ceremony looked a lot like a scene from Harry Potter and was slightly ridiculous. And the moment I had to go on the stage to receive my diploma was rather nerve wrecking (yes, the whole 10 seconds of it). So much could go wrong! I could trip on my way up, could get caught in  my robe or hood, drop my diploma, trip on my way down or have my body doing some kind of uncontrolled movement. But luckily none of this happened and me and my diploma made it back to my seat safely.
After the ceremony, it was picture time! and lucky us, it was raining. So much fun to graduate in December. We decided to take most of our pictures inside the Parkinson building, and some brave ones in front of it on the steps. We even took a picture with out professor Jane (now people can see who this lady is I keep telling all these funny stories about).
When the picture banter was over, it was  (guess, guess) food time again (not surprising). We had a lovely lunch at Thai Edge with a groups of us and the parents.

In the evening I went to my last zumba class with Sara. So sad! I'm afraid I will have to come and do some zumba in Italy with her so it's definitely justified to take some trips there. 

Me, Evanne, Sara and Mo in the hood

us with Jane

Last zumba class

Fabiola, Sara, me and Amie

Sta stage for graduation

trowing hats, yay!

crazy (and pretending not to be cold) in front of parky

xx

Graduation week

Last week was my graduation. This means that lots of people traveled to Leeds! Among them my parents and lots of people I haven't seen for a while. This meant food banter. Because after all, these are good times to celebrate! I think this is one of the things that I can better show than tell, so here are some of the pictures:

Mega Dolma!

At the best Indian restaurant of the UK!

The famous Zumba Dinner 

sinterklaas evening!

Pre-graduation day at Chili Red

At L'ornaise

Admittedly, there was a lot more eating out involved these days. But not all is captured in pictures. But maybe that's good, it could have been slightly embarrassing to see all the meals I've had last week. 

xx

So much to load-out!

Yesterday was the final performance of Cabaret and also the last day of backstage work. It meant this was the show where you are allowed to put in funny non-scripted jokes. Me and my fellow stage-right backstager wrote a very touchy love letter  to the main character Cliff Bradshaw (after all, we were the ones taking care of his typewriter so it was easy to slip it in).
After the show was finished and we got an answer to our letter, the after party started. For the cast that is. Us crew had to start the load-out, due to a mistake in planning that was made where someone seemed to have thought that this whole process was just a matter of minutes. To be fair, I thought it would not take more than half an hour. Little did I know that load-out does not just mean that you get the chairs and scenery out. It actually mean you have to take down and pack every single microphone (and there are more than you would think), prop, piece of garbage on the floor, music stand, extra stage piece and cable. And boy, cables there are. Miles and miles of cable. All to be uncluttered, unplugged, coiled (a new life-skill i learned that night), taped (just on one spot, or else we'll get a fine!) and put neatly into the box of Bob (that's the man we hire all the stuff from). Somewhere in the process you need to take all the access take off (I could have filled all the walls in my room with all that tape). And I won't even start on the unrigging of lights, taking down of sounds boxes packing up the sound and light desk (mainly because I don't know how most of those things work).
instead of my estimated half hour, this all took us more then three hours with 12 people working on it. By the time we were finished, most of us forgot about the after party.

XOXO


Some older photo's:

Yasmine and I in Cambridge

Zumbathon (yes I survived those 3 hours of zumba)

Love letter to Cliff

Jessica & me at Hema, dressing up in kids toys

Charlotte and me in Breda

Good times in Genova

Camping banter

On the road

The other side of the stage

This week I've been very busy of the fun kind. because next to all my normal activities I've been experiencing how it feels to be on the other side of the stage then performing; backstage. Next to backstage for costume and props during an outdoor performance in Millennium Square I have never done any backstaging. Pretty bad for someone with a Masters degree in Theatre. But now I am a stagehand for the musical Cabaret that one of the musical theatre societies is performing. So that means wearing lots of black, seeing the same show many times, running on and of stage with furniture and plugging in microphone cables in the dark. I can also proudly say that the engagement banner for Herr Schultz & Frau Schneider and the Kit Kat Klub sign are partly made by me.

Next to that I have had a job interview last week for a pretty fancy function on a big arts project in Leeds. Fingers crossed I get to hear some good news about it next Monday! And on the topic of jobs, I found out about Camp America. I knew about its existence for years, but now it finally really got my attention. AND I WANT IT. There are creative arts camps with theatre and dance and crafting, which sound like a dream.  And the great thing is that I actually can offer them a massive amount of experience in artsy things as well as working with children. And you get to hang out in America all summer. So now my goal is to start saving up for the plane ticket (and, well, apply of course).

I'm still doing well on the front of not buying clothes!  I have had some amazing founds at the clothes swap though. See some pic's of my new treasures below.

XOXO


Camp America Fund: £0

Home sweet home

Because of my super cheap flight I ended up going back home for the almost rediculously short period of 6 days, of which the last one ends at 8.25am and the first one starts late afternoon. But it's nontheless nice to be back for a bit!
My sister picked me up from the airport to drive me back to my parents house. I did nothing else all day - quite obviously (I'm quite a lazy erson after all). Next day, the madness started. I met Jessica in Tilburg (good old Tilly, where we always meet and always eat and drink at the same places) to have a day full of food, coffee, smoothies and cocktails. Inbetween all the food consumption I bought two bags of pepernoten (yay for Sinterklaas feelings in the UK) and some other small things. No clthes of course, I'm still not allowed and keeping my word. Jessica bought me presents to celebrate I passed my Masters (I love presents!) so I ended up with three bags full of new things (lucky for me my carry on was only half full on my way home).
On Saturday I met Charlotte in Breda to once again eat and drink at not so very original, but still very nice, places. We also watched the musical we were in last year on DVD in her flat (God, I looked awful in that performance) for some good old memories. After dinner at the Italian place we ate izza's many times before I took the train to Helmond to visit Samra so we could go out to an Urban party in Eindhoven. When I got there I was lucky enough to recieve graduation presents again (my friends are the best!). Only when it was almost midnight, we left the house to drive to the party, so that still hasn't changed after al those years. We ended up queueing for 45 minutes to get into the venue (haleluja for us not being Brittish and bringing coats like normal people). The party started of really awesome but the music slowly changed from good R&B and Hiphop remixes to some kind of electro banging that made my ears hurt. So we decided to leave before the party ended (I guess we're getting old) to eat something and cruise back.
Next day it was time to visit sme family here and there so I could see everyone again. Now I'm up for watching a movie and ignoring the urge to visit online clothing shops. Instead I am gonna order a handbook for TEFL, whoop!

Jep, this dear old man arrived in The Netherlands today on his boat. I was lucky enough to be stuck in a Sinterklaas parade twice (both Saturday in Breda and Sunday when we came back from visiting my grandpa). And the Zwarte Pieten did not even give me any sweets!

The Pledge

For a while now I've been fascinated by this phenomenon of The Wardrobe Refashion. People make a vow  to not buy new clothes for a certain period of time. Instead they buy clothes from charity shops, get them at clothing swaps or remake old clothes into new clothes. Since my job is still not present whatshowever, I decided that this would be a good thing for me to do. I had a go at an old skirt and dress and made them into a new dress (see pictures for proof of my great craftsmanship). and now I want to take it a step further. I want to take the actual vow. Of course, as a shopaholic, I will only choose the shortest contract they have on the website (2 months). But I think doing that would still be quite an achievement. So, here it is, my vow;

I Sabine pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months, starting on November 1st. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! 
Signed Sabine. 

 And here are the rules (and also important, the exceptions):

• 1.
  No buying new! (handmade is excepted; So this allows for Etsy purchases etc!!) All clothing must be Recycled, Renovated, Preloved or Thrifted, or Handmade only for the term. Employment related and special needs clothing (ie sports, school), shoes and undies are excepted from the rules, although you are encouraged to have a go at making these.
• 2.
  In extreme circumstances, maybe a special event, or the worlds greatest and most amazing never to be repeated sale that you simply can not pass up, you may use the Get out of Refashionista Jail Free card. You are able to use this card once during the 2 month part of your contract; ie 1 for 2 months, 2 for 4 months etc. Of course you need to fess up on the blog and display the button!
• 3.
  You need to be honest and admit when you've fallen off the Refashionista Wagon! Go directly to Refashionista Jail, do not pass GO and do not collect $200! Apply for parole once there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  So technically I have been doing this for over a week now, since all have have bought was from a charity shop, needed basics (socks & leggings) or special needs (my beloved tap shoes!). And I also might just allow myself to buy a dress for my graduation ceremony. After all, that is definitely a special event and therefore a good reason to break the rules. But to be honest, I would feel even better turning up in an absolutely fabulous outfit saying; "Well thank you for loving my outfit, I customized it myself!" Before you know it, I'm on Project Runway and Heidi Klum is telling me I get to show my collection at fashion week.
  
  XOXO
  
  

  

  The result

  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  The skirt

  
  

  

  The dress

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Visitors

This was a weekend full of visitors. On Thursday evening, Michele came back from all her traveling around the UK to stay over a few nights before she went off for her diving course. On Friday Amie came up from Cambridge. And also on Friday, Sara's big surprise arrived. Everyone except for her knew that Leila was going to come to Leeds for a whole week. So Sara thought I was picking my friend up from the coach station, just before we would go out to dinner. Little did she know that I was bringing her sister back to her house. That was a very awesome surprise moment with lots of screaming. And it all ended up at a dinner at La Bella Italia with everyone. Good times!
On Saturday morning I was picking my friend up from the coach station for real, because Charlotte came over to visit me! We kicked of right away with an English breakfast. After that it was time for the clothing swap. A wonderful concept. Instead of just donating your old clothes you can get something back for them because all donated clothes form a little shop where you can buy things with the tokens you get for your own clothes. I found shoes, a belt, some dresses and a bag. It was great. i can't for the next one so I can turn more old clothes into new stuff! Charlotte and I ended the day with an opera, Queen of Spades (Thee cards!), which was, besides the uncomfortable chairs, absolutely great!
next day we had a lie in before we attacked town to see shops suck as Primark, Dorothy Perkins, H&M, some charity shops and Topshop. In the break we gave ourselves we had a chocolate fondue at a new desert place. This all made it a great day already. To make it even better we had a gigantic burger at GBK for dinner and cocktails at Slug and Lettuce after. We hoped to show of our performing skills at OK Karaoke, but unfortunately it seemed to be closed all evening. Shame!
On Monday we had too little time and energy to do much more than going to the coach station and having breakfast. After that, Charlotte already had to go back to the airport. Luckily I'll be back in the Netherlands in just over two weeks. Time for more fun!

Older picture - me Heide and Sara at Mook

Older picture - Michele and me at random pub

At Heidi's Birthday party

 

Gramm-ah!-r

Not studying and not working either allows me to have lots of fun in my life. Last Wednesday my accessorise course in the morning (I’m making my own bag!) and Opera soc. rehearsal in the evening (so great to see everyone again! I also will be singing Mozart, so artsy of me). Last Thursday Jamie Oliver Cooking Course (Thai Green Curry yummm) and Swing dance in the evening. Yesterday is was Light Night in Leeds, which means you get to go to a lot of free performances spread over Leeds City Centre and campus area. After that I want straight to a house party.

But it’s not all fun for me. I also have to work for my TEFL course, or else I will never get to go to all these warm and lovely countries to teach English. I started with a module about classroom management and teaching professional English. Great! Tacky example video’s and lots of games and exercises. But then I got to the second module - oh horror! – Elementary grammar. Immediately I got all these flashbacks to high school where the teacher was holding up a certain amount of fingers to show which type of verb was being used in the sentence he was reading out. I think we were supposed to follow him, but I never got my head wrapped around this system (or the names of all the types of verbs) so I spend most of my times just sitting there in confusion. I learned to accept that it’s easiest just to learn the verbs case by case, because remembering all the rules is fairly impossible. But now I will have to teach English to others. And I have the vague feeling that telling them  that they “just have to know it” is going to form quite a book class.  Perhaps we can fill the rest of our time with games? Hmm, maybe not. Maybe it’s best if I just write down all those weird little rules in my notebook so that by the time I’m teaching I can actually tell the students what they are. Why these rules apply? No idea. Just accept that English grammar sucks. But now that it could always have been worse, it could have been Dutch.

Some photo's from the last weeks:

Leprechaun museum

October fest

They know me here!

King of burgers

Welcome Team pre-party

Welcome Team party cake

Being ‘unemployed’

So... after coming back from Dublin (hopefully with many more trips to follow!) the real unemployed life starts. To entertain myself I signed up for a painting course and an accessorise course and joined many societies (five at the moment). This week I also start making up for all my missed cooking classes at Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food. This mean I will have lots of fabulous food ready whenever I come home (amazingness!). I had my first LUUMS choir rehearsal yesterday and found out I did not magically learn how to sight read sheet music over summer (shame!). But besides that it was lots of fun. I’m quite excited to have found this new society, especially since they have a big Christmas concert later in the year.

This morning, another first time in my oil painting class, where I got to feel young again (everyone else was at least ten years older than me). I managed to not only get the green paint we were using all over the paper, but also all over my hands and tights (the rest of my clothes got recued by the painters shirt I was wearing, phew!), which made me feel like a five year old playing with finger paint. But the class was fun and I took the first step towards becoming Picasso, so it was definitely worth it.

While doing all of this I am still looking for a job to change to an employed status. So far no luck, but I’ll keep trying!  

Postcards from all the places I've been this year

Dublin Part 3 – We art

After our overnight coach trip, two days in Dublin and Oktoberfest, we woke up (just in time for breakfast) pretty tired. Shame, because we had planned a trip to all the cultural deliciousness (not talking about food this time, but about actual art galleries and museums) on the other side of Dublin and it was quite a walk. Lucky for us it was very very sunny and we strolled along the river to the National Museum. We had to go in quickly, in order not to get caught in a huge group of screaming school children. In the museum we got more fascinated by arts students drawing the objects than the objects themselves since the museum basically was about all the many battles Ireland lost (and they were quite endless). We sat down on the grass in from of the museum for a bit while finding out how we would have to walk next. Nevertheless, we got lost. So we decided to buy a sandwich and have a picknick on another field of grass (there are many in Dublin). After this we managed to find the art galleries (with help of course) which were very nice, but the tiredness was stronger. So we ended up falling asleep in one of the rooms where a projection was shown (7 minutes long, looping endlessly). The people walking in might have thought that we were part of the art, at least the woman that was watching the movie when I woke up did not seem to find it strange that we were taking a nap there. Maybe it’s totally normal to sleep in museums in Ireland!

After our nap we certainly did not feel like walking all the way back, so we hopped on a tram to see if we could buy a ticket from the driver. We were told we did not need to buy a ticket, as long as we got off before one of the checking staff came on (free ride!). We got off without being checked and went back to The Chocolate Café for another delicious hot chocolate (with Bailey’s this time). After a quick shower it was time to return to Temple Bar for dinner and drinks with Michele’s course mate David after. But no late night for us, since we had to catch an early flight the next morning. Which sadly formed the end of our Dublin trip. This time I slept at every moment I was not moving so before I knew it we were back in good old Leeds.    

More grass

Lovely hot chocolate

Our 'view' at the river

Dublin Part 2 – Oktoberfest

Luckily we had some more sleep for our second day in Dublin and we were ready to go and explore some more. We started off with the leprechaun museum where we got told and shown all Irish leprechaun legends and got to be in a massive living room where we were midgets compared to the furniture. The tour was very probably meant for a slightly younger audience (the fact that everybody had to draw a leprechaun at the end sort or proved that), but I guess you are as old as you feel.

After lunch we went to see some more culture, just to yet again end up in a park and take a nap in the sun. After dinner we went to something called “The Chocolate Café” (best concept ever!) to eat a small version of a chocolate fondue. Just after I said to Michele that I could not have any more chocolate, the barman asked if we would like a free hot chocolate, because otherwise he had to throw it out anyway (win!). Of course we took it.

After the chocolate banter it was time for Oktoberfest. We, unoriginally, got lost on our way there and had to ask for directions. We were given them by a very drunk Irish man who we did not trust very much since he said he was almost blind and did not really seem to know what we were talking about. We decided to figure out our way ourselves and soon enough we could just follow the sound of music. We got very lucky while queuing, because two women handed us their wristbands so we could skip the waiting and walk right in. In there we met very... interesting people. Sjaloom (who walked here from Paris), Pablo (who did not like us eating his Pretzel) , a tiny Indian dancer (who made Michele look  like a tall person) and many randoms. On our way back we got lost once again (just a little bit!) so we had to consult our map. This resulted in the patrol guard giving us a ride to our hostel, including a lecture on the dangers of walking there at that time with a map. Thank you Mr. Officer!      

Midgets

chocolate fest!

leprechaun drawings