2012 is... The habits of housemates

We all have our habits. But some habits are slightly more awkward or annoying than others. Over the years I've had quite a lot of housemates, who all had their own thing. Now it's time to share some of them.

- Using the hob as a storing place for pans. Every time I come into the kitchen I wonder how it can be that so many people are cooking at the same time. Well, that is because all the pans are empty and clean and someone thinks the hob is a good place to store them. Is it really that much effort to just put them in the cupboard?

- Storing wet plates. We do have a drying rack so I don't know why or how this happens, but every time I take a plate out of our cupboard it seems to be dripping wet. It's really annoying because quite obviously they will never dry if you store them that way. But some people think else wise apparently.

- Leaving empty packaging wherever it was last used. with the bins right next to the table, it still appeared to be to much effort to just go that extra meter (literally) and leave them in the bin rather then on the table. How lazy is that?

- Applying the 'every one cleans their own dishes' after using someone else's stuff. I really don't mind if someone borrows my stuff. But I do mind if they then leave it there for me to clean. I might be a girl but that does not mean I want to clean your stuff.

- Using the kitchen counter top as a storage for full garbage bags. Some people seem to thing that that is not downright disguising. Stuffing the cupboards with full garbage bags does not seem like a good idea to me either. especially not when I find them there after they have been there for a while (judging on the rotting food in them). What is wrong with the container?

-   Eating butter flavored microwave popcorn. It makes the whole house smell like melted butter. I hate the smell of butter.

- Ask me if they can borrow my mug to keep it in their room forever. when it appeared again by the time we moved out I was very surprised to find out I did not lose it. I hadn't seen it for so long that I forgot about it.

- Meat everywhere. My current housemates seem to buy meat in wholesale amounts and I often find the fridge and freezer filed with a whole chicken or a massive bag with chucks of meat. Admittedly, I'm every so slightly creeped out by this. Next to that, it's quite annoying having most of the little space there is taken by a months worth of meat. But I cannot really say anything because all my things do take quite a lot of space in the kitchen. And in the bathroom. And even the living room. I can't help it, I just have too many things to fit them all in my room. I mean, my room is not big enough.


XOXO

My living room

2012 is... Bloopers

Some movies have a bloopers section during the credits or as an extra on the DVD. I feel like my life should have one as well because sometimes I am clumsy beyond believe. The bad thing is that I got so used to it that I don't even feel the slightest bit of embarrassment anymore. It's like I'm the dorky character in a bad comedy. I will share some recent examples with you to give you an idea of what I mean.

- I knock thing over quite frequently. When that happens in my own or a friends house it's okay. But last Tuesday it happened when I was at an assessment morning for a job. We just heard our task and I pulled the big sheet they gave us towards me to write down the answers. Unfortunately there was a cup of water in the way (who puts that there?!), which of course got knocked over and spilled over the paper sheet, and not to mention most of the table. Because we had a time limit for the task I was asked to stay where I was and someone else had to go and get tissues. There were definitely some jokes about that later in the assessment. But I guess the good thing is that they surely won't forget me. If someone asks, this was my tactic to stand out. 

- In last weeks dance show I had to dance with a book in my hand. It was a miracle that I had never dropped it while I was dancing. Unfortunately I was too busy pretending to die (it was a cruel, cruel dance) to keep the book close to me and when I was back in the wings I discovered that I no longer had it. There it was, too far on stage to grab it in a way that the audience wouldn't see it. This not only meant that I was to spend the last bit of the dance pretending to read a non existing book, but one of the other dancers also almost fell because of stepping on the book. Good thing people did not know it was mine. Whenever the topic came up I just distracted them by mentioning the guy that last his tap (the iron heel bit) on stage. Let's be honest, losing a tap is much more funny than losing a book, right?

- This week I was on the backstage crew for the musical of one of the societies. They did "Our house" and had a set with many walls and doors. The scene changes were so crazy and complicated that we did only make it through the first act by the time we had to leave the union (at 2am) of the day of the dress rehearsal. This means most of us had never seen the second act by the time of the first performance. We had a quick practice of a scene were I would turn around a door and then stick a piece of canvas between two doors to cover the gap between them. This all seemed fine at that moment. But in the actual show the lights went on a lot quicker. As a result I was still standing behind those two doors. In the middle of the stage. During the scene. For the people who know the story of the show, this was the place where Good Joe changed to Bad Joe and back. Because the changing time was so short he has someone to dress home. So it was me and those two guys behind just two doors on the middle of the stage. It was the absolute embodiment of 'being in somebodies way', although I rather like to see it as my stage debut in that society. 

Well, enough embarrassing moments for now. I'm sure more will follow. I'd be surprised if that didn't happen.

XOXO

During one of the scenes of Our House

2012 is... let me dance for you.

Last week was the second to last week before the end of term. Dance Show time! The dance show means that all dance societies work together to create a show in which they showcase what they do in their society. And it is also a chance for dancers to perform. Above all, it is great fun!

Last year I was in two dances. since I still had ages to wait in between them, I thought it wouldn't be a problem to be in four dances this time. Little did I know that they made the entire show shorter, which gave me less time to do more dancing, costume and shoe changes and walking from and to the backstage area. A primary school PE outfit for contemporary. Feathers, glitters and very short skirts for samba. Western style for jazz. Little red riding hood, reading a book for tap. And at the end of it all back to the samba outfit for the finale. It was a LOT for changing. This all made me run around all evening and gave me the feeling I did a whole lot more than just four dances and by the end of each evening I was pretty exhausted. But is was all worth it. I love the Dance Show so very much! And that massive amount of tiny mistakes I made. Nobody had seen that. At least, that is what I tell myself.


XOXO

Jazz / end of routine

Tap / Endpose

Samba 

Casually reading a book while dancing

The finale

Contemporary on stage

Waiting to be brought backstage

Start of the tap dance

Traveling... under the Pescara sun - Italians

Amie, Fabiola and Katie had to leave Italy the really early in morning after we came back from San Martino.  Ans since it was four in the morning, I was barely awake to watch it happen. It was really sad, but lucky for me I was staying a bit longer and got to enjoy the Italian surroundings some more.

One of the things I learned in these days is that Italians think they speak English by just saying the Italian word minus the last letter. Here is a nice example Sara's flatmate Kirsty gave us (ps. fredo is cold in Italian).
Kid: I am fred.
Kirtsy: O, do you want me to call you Fred?
Kid: No. I am fred.
Yes. Indeed he was trying really hard to say he was cold.

Another great thing is the aperativo. if you order any drink after 5pm, they give you free food. I love food and I love free things. So this made me very very happy.
But then they have this awkward law. You are not allowed to leave your receipt behind in a restaurant. You are obliged to take it. Why? No idea.

I have to admit that I spend most of my time in Italy shopping and eating. And it was simply the best (better than all the rest!).

XOXO

Tv time!

time for a little party.

Sunbathing in February. 

Drinking some amazing Italian hot chocolate

Traveling... under the Pescara sun - San Martino

taking things easy is not for us. We only had three days where we would all be together, so we were going to make the most of it. This means that on the second day we made a trip within our trip. Destiny: San Martino, the village where Sara's family lives.
Before heading to the train station, we walked through Pescara and went to the beach where some (well, only two) people were actually sunbathing. But those were quite an exception. Most Italians were dressed as is Pescara was covered with snow rather than warm sunlight. A woman in a store even asked us where we were from because she found it awkward that we were not wearing coats (it was 25 degrees!).

Later that day we were received in San Martino with a delicious lunch, espresso and lots of Italian kisses (yes, there is such a this, every country has their own kisses). When we went to the house we were staying in, we discovered the mattress that was supposed to be delivered that day was not there yet. So basically we had one tiny double bed for the five of us at that moment. Surprisingly (or maybe not so much) we managed to all take a nap in it at the same time.

After napping we had some good quality friend time with wine and snacks, which seamlessly turned into us dancing to the Back Street Boys. We continued dancing in Nicola's Bar (this is not the real name, this is how we call it), which was quite a novelty. A by-passer even thought there was a special event going on since it normally does not look that lively. Yes, we really know how to get a party going. From the bar we went straight (well, after changing clothes of course) to Pescara to go out in one of the most tacky clubs ever. Of course this night needed to be ended with hot chocolate and a croissant, nothing can beat that tradition.

The next day we sadly had to leave San Martino again. But we had a walk through the town in the sun, followed by a ginseng coffee and yet another lovely lunch. No one can say we did not make the most of the short time we had!

XOXO

On a walk though the old town

all of us in the one and only bed

Aperativo

The view

Snack time

Ginseng!

Time to go out.

Traveling... under the Pescara sun - arrival

Me and my friends have been counting down to the day that we were going to visit our friend Sara for ages. Well, it was about 80 days since we came up with the idea, but that is a long time. I mean, there is a story about someone who traveled around the world in 80 days, so that proves that it is a proper chunk of time.
Last week, our countdown finally reached 0 and we were of to the land of sun, olive oil and espresso. After a quite stressful journey to the airport (don't ask!) we arrived in a very sunny Pescara at noon on Friday. The first thing we did after some screaming and hugging was (not quite shockingly) cooking pasta and having a big Italian lunch. I can yet again confirm that all the food simply tastes better in Italy.

Since Sara had to work, Amie, Fabiola, Katie and I had to entertain ourselves. And we do have a quite unique (that sounds better that strange or awkward i guess) ways of doing that. This time we invented the concept of arm dancing and leg dancing. It basically means we were laying down on the bed on our backs in one row and came up with a choreography for a song, just using our arms or legs because we were too tired/lazy to move the rest of our bodies. Yes, I admit we are slightly strange. But I swear that it is fun, you should try it!
In the evening we prepared ourselves to go out for cocktails and aperativo with some good old zumba. Of course this night simply had to be very epic. we ended the night with a bunch of shots and then had the best night of sleep ever (not surprising since we barely slept the night before). And the good thing was that the fun had only just begun!

XOXO

Yes, you do see it correctly. This is us on the BEACH

Home made apperativo

Drinking hot chocolate with Leila and Sara

Amie, Sara, Katie, me and Fabiola ready to party (and eat)!