2012 is... back to that pledge

Remember that at some point in November I pledged to not buy any new clothes for two months? Well, I did succeed. I only made my mum buy my a dress for the graduation ceremony, but I was not the one buying it so it does not count! Sadly, I still pretty much in the same situation because of my slightly unhealthy bank account. So I decided to continue the refashioning of old clothes and making my own. And actually it's a lot of fun!


Here are some results (the pictures won't do what I want to, so just ignore that):

   

Home made pillow

                                                    

plus a skirt =

Becomes

                                                 

This was made into...

A similar skirt as the striped one above

and arm warmers for my Don Giovanni performance, which is set in the 80's

I made this green dress myself.

On to more refashioning I would say!

XOXO

Job hunting.... Application forms.

So it turns out I'm still job hunting. Why? Well, quite frankly, the current economy simply sucks. Every time I see the count of the number of applicants being on 40 or more for a simple temporary administration assistant job, I get a little depressed. I apply anyway, because what else can i do?

I've tried handing out CVs in shops, but that is about at useful as straightening your hair just before you walk out to a rainstorm. No reply at all. So there does not seem to be an easy shortcut to a money earning job, even if it is a job every 15 year old could do (actually, that might just be the problem).
Next step; filling in application forms. I found the website of each store in Leeds from a chain and downloaded or filled in every application form I could find. Were these gonna be my big solution? Well, no. Why? Most of them seem at the least a bit odd. And by odd I mean for example that Costa Coffee wanted an example of a time I made a difference with my outstanding costumer service (I've never seen any of their employers make any changes of such caliber?), because apparently that is what comes with making coffee. Starbucks wanted to know how working there would influence my life and my career (in their defense, being able to pay my rent is a good influence on my life). Because making coffee at Starbucks is apparently a great career move. Boots wanted me to fill in a 88 question long survey about how often i lie, am late or how much I respect my colleges (or maybe it was just to see if I actually read the questions, because there was a suspicious amount of repetition). After that I finally got to fill in some profile questions and it turned out I was not even eligible for the job. Kudos for picking that order Boots!
Then there are the forms where you can apparently only be of white ethnic background if you are from a UK country. Or the ones that tell you to hand write the form and then give you 2 square centimeter to fill in your former employer, their address and your tasks. Seems like they are not actually interested in reading this information (or they can read very tiny handwriting).
Then there is always the handing in of the form, where they ask you if you want to work full-time or part-time, while you have already filled that in on the form. I secretly feel like this is a trick question. When you say full-time, they say they are only looking for part-time employers and the other way around. I mean, what other reason could there be for this useless question?

Well, it is clear that application forms did not work for me either. So I'm back on the track of writing cover letters for vacancies that are more popular than water in the dessert. I did make an improvement though. I now spend my time on vacancies that I actually like and that really match my experience and education. This way I might get some actual feedback rather that the standard "not enough experience". So by now i applied for some pretty awesome things. Fingers crossed!

      

2012 is... more funny taxi drivers?

Because taking a taxi in Leeds is so amazingly cheap, I end up taking one quite a lot. Most people just do their work. They ask you where you need to go and then drive you there. You pay then, say thank you and get out. But some of them are rather extraordinary...

• There was the one that asked me if I heard about the student protests. Yes I did hear about them. Well, in his opinion the peaceful protest did not have any use. They should use violence to reach something. He spend the rest of the trip listing all his ideas of violent protest manners and continued for quite a bit after we reached the destination. I was just holding my purse and getting ready to get out of the car, but no, he really wanted me to hear all of it. Well sir, thanks for the info, but don't mind if I ignore the suggestions.
• Then there was this time I was moving out of my halls to a flat. I moved my stuff a suitcase and two big bags at a time by taxi. This had been perfectly fine for the first two rides. But the third taxi driver told me he has to charge me ten pound extra because I was moving. We got into a bit of a discussion where I either wanted to get the rest of my stuff as well or just wanted to pay the normal rate. He did not agree to either and so we got into a lot of discussion. He ended up driving away and I ended up calling another taxi company. One that just charges me normal rate without any problems. 
• When my parents were in Leeds for graduation we happened to have a taxi driver from Yorkshire. With the accent that comes with it. I could barely understand what he was saying, and my parents even understood less. But nevertheless, he told us all about his graduation in the town hall, where the benches were so hard they hurt to sit on (and so on, and so on). at least, that's what I think he said...
• Many taxi drivers seem to think they know better where I live than I do. I tell them my address and that I need to go to the back of it. So when we are at the street and I tell them not to turn left yet, some of them object. One of them actually stopped the car to tell me I really needed to turn left. I told him that I know where I live, but he did not seem very sure of that. Well, I finally got my way. And you know what? Turns out I really live there. Take that taxi driver!
• But the winner must have been the one that I called just after I bought a new suitcase, which was too big to carry all the way home. When I told him I needed to be at the back of the street, he told me did not not drop people off at back streets because there tend to be a lot of glass there. When we arrived at the start of my street he had apparently changed his mind  and told me this didn't look so bad so he would drive me there. I let him stop just next to the wall that's around my building, about 5 meters from the opening in the wall. He asked me; "You live here? How do you get in?!" whilst staring at the wall. It took me some time to realize he was serious so I answered: "Don't worry, I can get it. It's just like in Harry Potter." Confusion was upon him. I'm pretty sure I saw him waiting to see how i actually did get in - just walking that little distance to the opening of the wall.  

XOXO

2012 is... the penny project

"Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day you have good luck."

Ever since i heard that I wondered why people did not just leave their pennies around on the street for other people to have good luck  I mean, they are barely worth anything anyway. You might as well find a good cause for them. So I started collecting all my pennies so one day I could spread the love and happiness of good luck in big numbers. And what better day to spread good luck than on Friday the 13^th? So today I went out with my pockets filled with almost 50 pennies. I made my way to the city centre passing the Parkinson steps and I walked back crossing Millennium Square, passing the gym. Whilst doing that, I left a trail of pennies. On the ground, in the sand, on walls, on ledges and on poles. I had to do it all without people noticing. Because having someone following me with a “you dropped something” would be quite lame for a penny. Also, it might come across slightly strange to be throwing pennies around on the street. But the whole thing made me feel like I was Amelie (who is also a rather strange character, so I guess the aspect of being strange stays). I succeeded (at least I hope so) to drop most of my coins unnoticed, except for one guy looking around in confusion after hearing the sound of the dropping coin, luckily he could not figure out what it was. I like to think that I gave many people a lucky day now, or whenever the pennies will be found. If you happen to find one, I think your task is to give it to someone else so both of you get good luck. Please do so. It’s exam period and almost hand-in day for essays. And some people are desperately applying for jobs (and my some people, I mean myself). Those people can use all the luck they need! 

My lucky moments today:

- I found the best skirt EVER but it didn't have a tag. I turned out to be the last one in the store and was a size S. Well, my bum is really not a size S (at least, not in the last 10 years). But magically the skirt fits me. More magically, the price tuned out to be 1 pound (no typo!). See, even pool and jobless people can buy great clothes. 

- It was very nice and sunning during my morning run. Unfortunately it was still freezing cold, but hey, you can;t have it all. After all, it's still winter. 

My not so lucky moments:

- I missed my phone interview for the summer language camp job. I spoke to them and apparently they tried to call me yesterday. But my phone did not have reception in my flat. So now we need to reschedule. Again. Damn not existing signal.

- I did not manage to get a hold of the person who was going to call me about an interview for a library job. He very possibly did call me, but in that case I had no reception once again. Time to get this phone sim-unlocked and get back to the old provider.

2012 is... surprising people

My friend Sara is about to move to Italy to teach English to little drama queens and kings. This marvelous job does unfortunately mean that she will leave all of us behind. Now she was just going to be back for 2 days to pick up her suitcase at her aunts house and then fly to Italy. Because we wanted to make the most of this short time Amie, Fabiola and I decided to surprise Sara. So we booked train tickets to Manchester airport to go and pick her up. Sadly, this meant we had to take a taxi to the train station at 5.25am. Painful! Our train arrived just a couple of minutes before the plane was landing so we literally had to run to the arrival hall. Did I mention that we were all wearing a different version of the Zumba classic cargo trousers? People might have been staring at us... But it was worth all the pain to be there and see Sara arrive while playing Zumba songs. The waiting for the train and the trip are a bit of a blur, and I also seem to remember that Amie and I went to KFC after arriving in Leeds. But the nap after coming home was the best one EVER! In the evening it was time for Mexican food at Fabiola's house. We had the most amazing time eating, dancing Zumba in the living room and doing some other slightly awkward activities (toe kissing? train zumba? whut!?). It was the best night ever. I can't wait to continue this banter when we visit Sara in Italia!

XOXO

The table

Zumba Train

Really early at Man Airport

Pile of people

Couch dancing

The start of the food

At the airport

 

2012 is... exhausting

Every year I manage to get a major cold at some point. This year, that took me exactly one day. I guess the lack of sleep during new years eve and the night before combined with the cold rain was just to much. The two nights that followed, the cold took over my sleep. Not good. By the time I came back in Leeds I was exhausted. But luckily I was okay for most of my time at home!
When I arrived at Amsterdam airport, Samra and Noortje were there to pick me up. we had a coffee and some food before we all had to take the train home. This definitely made the trip a lot more fun.
I spend the first few days visiting family and just hanging around until Christmas was over. After that, I went ice skating in Tilburg with Jessica. It was one of those temporary rinks, with extreme crap ice (smooth was nowhere to be found) and kids had taken over that place. They were ignoring the one way movement, falling down all the time and guided by parents (why did not even wear skates). It was a true accomplishment not to trip over someone, bump into someone or being pushed over. This, in combination with the bad ice, made it a genuine work out.
The day after, Samra and I went to Eindhoven. We were planning on doing a bit of shopping, but somehow the all you can eat sushi took most of our time. The coffee after that took ages as well, but that was not really our fault. Somehow none of the waitresses seemed to have seen us in the first 15 minutes, while one of them was only standing one meter from us, talking to some visitors she knew. So much for good service.
Friday I had my little reunion with Linda and Mariken (I hadn't seen them since before I moved to England). We drove to Den Bosch for high tea (which was fully booked, so we ended up just having lunch). And the funny thing is that none of us really changed a lot (which Linda proved by asking if the employers of the chip/fries factory had to peel potatoes all day). That was a good thing, because we needed to keep each other company during the closing down party of the theatre we all had worked/did a placement. Most of the people at the party were strangers to us. I knew about 10 people, of which half was too busy running around because they actually did know people. But, me and the few people I know had lots of fun! We even were the last group of people to stay.
And the partying was of course continued on new years eve. After facing two disaster concerning public transport (first finding out that the fist bus back is only at 10am and then finding out that buses towards the city simply did not come) everything was solved (parents dropped us of and we could stay over at Jessica's sister's place) it was time for fun. For the fist time in 4 years I saw fireworks on NYE (the last couple of years I have been inside at some big party) and I must say it's quite scary stuff. Nevertheless, some people thought it was a good idea to drive a car just after midnight (insane). After the firework banter we all walked to the I Love 80's and 90's party in 013 for a good old fun evening. O loved it! But being home at 7am and having to get up and moving at noon was not that much fun. I spend the afternoon sleeping on the couch and was meeting Charlotte in the evening. I have to say that we did have more energetic dinners and drinks. Despite that it was still lots of fun. And my last fun, because not long after coming come that evening my cold showed up. So now it's time to heal myself so I'm ready for some good old Leeds fun.

XOXO

ice skating

My little doggy and my sister

Me with Mariken and Linda