ok so where was I... I think I'll stop raving about Dover Castle, you get the idea, it was awesome.
So I got back to London from Dover Friday evening and rushed straight off to see Hairspray in the West End... G&G very kindly bought me a ticket and it was absolutely amazing!! One of the best shows I've ever seen! Yesterday was spent sleeping and figuring out next week... oh and I spent a lot of my time helping grandpa peel and cook the apples from the ODH orchard in Dorset. The dining room is absolutely full of them, they're on every surface. So I also used about a tray worth of them in a HUGE upside-down apple cake, i mean this thing is monster. It just fit in the oven, but came out amazing! There's so much left still!
So today Dad flew in from Wassenaar for G&G's special church service celebrating their golden anniversary. I went & Mike did too, so it was mini reunion! The service was absolutely amazing, a professional choir came and sang some of their favorite songs, and there was wine & food afterwards... haha old people drinking at 11am... solid :) Then we all went to lunch at Brinkleys which is fancy fancy aka Madonna eats there and last time they were there they saw Kylie Minogue, no big deal. Oh and we walked past Madonna's old house & Frank Lampards house. So good times. Then we walked around the Physic Garden accross the road from the flat which is the second oldest herb garden IN THE WORLD! And don't fret, I'm not going to bore you with details of the plants, but let's just say there was a plant that cured just about every illness under the sun, as well as plants that could kill you if you touched them. Good combo.
And then Dad left :( and I've been planning and booking this coming week!
Here's the plan:
Manana: leave for Edinburgh, 2 nights there
Wednesday: to the Lake District, Grasmere to be precise for a little mountain climbing/R&R... 2 nights
Friday: to Leeds to see my godmother & her family... very excited about that!!
Sunday: to Durham, one night
Monday: to Teesside aka where I lived for 10 years, that's gonna be weird!!... 2 nights
Wednesday: York, one night
Thursday: back to London to do laundry/regroup/get some sleep because dorms of 8-10 hostellers and me don't mix so well
Then the week after is a mystery at the moment...
Sooooooooo that's about it for now, I'm about to embark on another internet-less week until Friday, it's so weird not being able to talk to my friends for that long but I'm starting to accept that I can't know everything! But I'm very excited about the next 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! VERY
I'll update you as soon as possible :) :) :)
Lots of Love to all!
Sunday, 28 September 2008
More Kent & back to London :)
Can you believe I'm writing? This will mean I have blogged twice in one week! Shocking...
So I'm back in London now after a great 3 days in Kent as previously mentioned. On my final day which was Friday I got the train down to Dover, about 20 minutes, and walked around the Castle. Wasn't really sure what to expect because it gets very mixed reviews, but I was absolutely fascinated start to finish. From the moment you get off the train, you can see the castle high on the cliffs above you, and once you get up there (which involved about a million stairs with my heavy backpack on) the views of the Channel and the surrounding countryside are absolutely increidble. The guide to the Castle organized a sort of walking route so that you start at the oldest part of the castle then work your way through the years. So first stop was the Roman pharos which is literally a 2000 year old lighthouse, juist incredible, and it's basically all still there. I mean you just look at it and imagine Roman's walking around and ships sailing into the bay... yikes. Then you move onto the medieval part (haha it skipped about 1000 years, not sure how that worked...) and that's when the Keep was built, which is this amazing walled in fortified building surrounded by little buildings, not too dissimilar from the White Tower in the Tower of London. So you got to walk around all the little rooms where Henry VIII had dinner parties and meetings with advisors etc. (I imagine he had very strong people to carry him around because there were steps absolutely everywhere and if I had walked around even for a day, I doubt he would have weighed as much). Then you get to climb the tower and look out over the castle and the Channel and you get a glimpse of the white cliffs, gorgeous. Then back out for a walk around the battlements with the original cannons used to fire at enemy ships still in place. Then it's underground to the secret wartime tunnels which were first constructed in Napoleon's time, then later expanded during the World Wars. This was my favorite part, you have a tour guide b/c otherwise you'd get hopelessly lost, and they lead you around the 3 levels of tunnels. First of all the fact that someone constructed these in 1800 is "mind-boggling" as Mr. Phillip's might say. Secondly, the fact that people actually lived and worked in these cramped, cold tunnels with no windows for years and years is just amazing. They were so secret, that the people who worked there were forbidden to tell anyone what their job was. And they were often locked down there to prevent them from communicating confidential info with the outside world. This was also where the Evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940 and D-Day in 1944 were planned, start to finish. So it was cool because I was walking around thinking about how my Great Grandfather Stuart would have walked through those tunnels and planned those operations. Wowzers.
Ok well I will write more later but I'm being summoned by G&G and Dad to walk to the Physic Garden... woooooooo :)
Ciao for now!
So I'm back in London now after a great 3 days in Kent as previously mentioned. On my final day which was Friday I got the train down to Dover, about 20 minutes, and walked around the Castle. Wasn't really sure what to expect because it gets very mixed reviews, but I was absolutely fascinated start to finish. From the moment you get off the train, you can see the castle high on the cliffs above you, and once you get up there (which involved about a million stairs with my heavy backpack on) the views of the Channel and the surrounding countryside are absolutely increidble. The guide to the Castle organized a sort of walking route so that you start at the oldest part of the castle then work your way through the years. So first stop was the Roman pharos which is literally a 2000 year old lighthouse, juist incredible, and it's basically all still there. I mean you just look at it and imagine Roman's walking around and ships sailing into the bay... yikes. Then you move onto the medieval part (haha it skipped about 1000 years, not sure how that worked...) and that's when the Keep was built, which is this amazing walled in fortified building surrounded by little buildings, not too dissimilar from the White Tower in the Tower of London. So you got to walk around all the little rooms where Henry VIII had dinner parties and meetings with advisors etc. (I imagine he had very strong people to carry him around because there were steps absolutely everywhere and if I had walked around even for a day, I doubt he would have weighed as much). Then you get to climb the tower and look out over the castle and the Channel and you get a glimpse of the white cliffs, gorgeous. Then back out for a walk around the battlements with the original cannons used to fire at enemy ships still in place. Then it's underground to the secret wartime tunnels which were first constructed in Napoleon's time, then later expanded during the World Wars. This was my favorite part, you have a tour guide b/c otherwise you'd get hopelessly lost, and they lead you around the 3 levels of tunnels. First of all the fact that someone constructed these in 1800 is "mind-boggling" as Mr. Phillip's might say. Secondly, the fact that people actually lived and worked in these cramped, cold tunnels with no windows for years and years is just amazing. They were so secret, that the people who worked there were forbidden to tell anyone what their job was. And they were often locked down there to prevent them from communicating confidential info with the outside world. This was also where the Evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940 and D-Day in 1944 were planned, start to finish. So it was cool because I was walking around thinking about how my Great Grandfather Stuart would have walked through those tunnels and planned those operations. Wowzers.
Ok well I will write more later but I'm being summoned by G&G and Dad to walk to the Physic Garden... woooooooo :)
Ciao for now!
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Last week in NDL & beginning of UK (London & Kent)
It's been forever, I know, but to be honest I completely forgot I even had a blog until today... oops
So I had one more week of Dutch classes last week, then G&G and Mike arrived on Friday to celebrate G&G's golden wedding anniversary :) Daniel & Aunt J drove from Hamburg on Saturday, and mum & cooked a huge dinner for everyone, really really fun. Oh, and we watched the video from G&G's wedding which was absolutely GORGEOUS. Then of course we had to watch home videos of Dad, Clare, Celia, & Mike growing up which was hilarious. Then we migrated to me, Chris, & Paul growing up which was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. I completely understand why everyone called me boss-boots, I was calling the shots in just about every video... haha, and all in a British accent, a Teesside one no less. Great fun...
Monday I got the train to London with G&G and Mike... slight chaos aka the train broke down so I had to change trains then our Eurostar from Brussels to London got cancelled so we were stuck in horrible Brussels train station for 3 hours. Then we arrived in glorious grey, raining, England.
Had Monday and Tuesday nights in London, then left on Wednesday morning for Canterbury. It was honestly the weirdest feeling I've ever had standing at the train station knowing I could get on any train and go absolutely anywhere. So I got to Canterbury and spent the day sightseeing: Roman Museum, Christchurch Cathedral, walked along the wall, and basically got lost and wandered around until I got really bored. It was very weird being by myself though, I could have just sat in a cafe all day and no one would have known... complete freedom. Then after all that sightseeing I walked to Kipp's Independent Hostel (www.kipps-hostel.com) which is FANTASTIC. Huge Oz & Kiwi population so that's a great instant connection, and amazing rooms and huge garden and kitchen and lounge. I settled for a little and hung out with the other hostellers then went back out and did some more walking and went to the TIC to figure out what I wanted to do tomorrow... Came back to Kipp's, ate dinner with Kate & Jon (2 Australians who just got back from climbing in the Alps... no big deal) then watched TV in the lounge and went to bed pretty early, although didn't sleep much with 3 others in my room who were very noisy.
This morning I left the hostel at about 9, rented a bike, and rode about 8 miles along the Crab-and-Winkle-Way to Whitstable on the coast north of Canterbury. It was VERY hilly at first and I was thinking to myself oh my god what am I doing I am not fit enough for this, but then it was flat most of the rest of the way so my spirits were raised :) Whitstable was very peaceful and very slow moving, quite a large senior population if you know what I mean, but it was really nice just wandering along the beach and browsing the galleries and drinking cups of tea in seaside cafes. I walked along the beach to Tankerton then sat and read a book I bought from the used-book shop for £2 :) Very relaxing... I feel such a huge connection to the English countryside and to small shops and wandering aka my childhood. It's just foreign enough to be exciting and I'm by myself which is new, but at the same time it feels like home and I can relate a little more to the lifestyle than I expected.
Then I rode back to Canterbury at about 3, bought some pasta to cook for dinner, and came back to the hostel. Tonight is the pub crawl with the hostel staff... should be interesting haha.
Tomorrow I'm debating between getting a bus to Leeds Castle or the train to Dover Castle. I'm going to get the hosteller's opinions tonight and then decide. Regardless of where I go I'll get the train back to London tomorrow afternoon/night.
Missing everyone but having a SWELL time...
rach xx
So I had one more week of Dutch classes last week, then G&G and Mike arrived on Friday to celebrate G&G's golden wedding anniversary :) Daniel & Aunt J drove from Hamburg on Saturday, and mum & cooked a huge dinner for everyone, really really fun. Oh, and we watched the video from G&G's wedding which was absolutely GORGEOUS. Then of course we had to watch home videos of Dad, Clare, Celia, & Mike growing up which was hilarious. Then we migrated to me, Chris, & Paul growing up which was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. I completely understand why everyone called me boss-boots, I was calling the shots in just about every video... haha, and all in a British accent, a Teesside one no less. Great fun...
Monday I got the train to London with G&G and Mike... slight chaos aka the train broke down so I had to change trains then our Eurostar from Brussels to London got cancelled so we were stuck in horrible Brussels train station for 3 hours. Then we arrived in glorious grey, raining, England.
Had Monday and Tuesday nights in London, then left on Wednesday morning for Canterbury. It was honestly the weirdest feeling I've ever had standing at the train station knowing I could get on any train and go absolutely anywhere. So I got to Canterbury and spent the day sightseeing: Roman Museum, Christchurch Cathedral, walked along the wall, and basically got lost and wandered around until I got really bored. It was very weird being by myself though, I could have just sat in a cafe all day and no one would have known... complete freedom. Then after all that sightseeing I walked to Kipp's Independent Hostel (www.kipps-hostel.com) which is FANTASTIC. Huge Oz & Kiwi population so that's a great instant connection, and amazing rooms and huge garden and kitchen and lounge. I settled for a little and hung out with the other hostellers then went back out and did some more walking and went to the TIC to figure out what I wanted to do tomorrow... Came back to Kipp's, ate dinner with Kate & Jon (2 Australians who just got back from climbing in the Alps... no big deal) then watched TV in the lounge and went to bed pretty early, although didn't sleep much with 3 others in my room who were very noisy.
This morning I left the hostel at about 9, rented a bike, and rode about 8 miles along the Crab-and-Winkle-Way to Whitstable on the coast north of Canterbury. It was VERY hilly at first and I was thinking to myself oh my god what am I doing I am not fit enough for this, but then it was flat most of the rest of the way so my spirits were raised :) Whitstable was very peaceful and very slow moving, quite a large senior population if you know what I mean, but it was really nice just wandering along the beach and browsing the galleries and drinking cups of tea in seaside cafes. I walked along the beach to Tankerton then sat and read a book I bought from the used-book shop for £2 :) Very relaxing... I feel such a huge connection to the English countryside and to small shops and wandering aka my childhood. It's just foreign enough to be exciting and I'm by myself which is new, but at the same time it feels like home and I can relate a little more to the lifestyle than I expected.
Then I rode back to Canterbury at about 3, bought some pasta to cook for dinner, and came back to the hostel. Tonight is the pub crawl with the hostel staff... should be interesting haha.
Tomorrow I'm debating between getting a bus to Leeds Castle or the train to Dover Castle. I'm going to get the hosteller's opinions tonight and then decide. Regardless of where I go I'll get the train back to London tomorrow afternoon/night.
Missing everyone but having a SWELL time...
rach xx
Sunday, 14 September 2008
The past week... babysitting & Dutch lessons
Goedemiddag!! Hoe gaat hat met u?
It's been a while, I know, but I've actually been BUSY!!
After advertising a little through the boys school, I finally picked up another babysitting job with a Dutch-South African family. I lived with the mum (South African) and three small children (Max, 7 weeks old; Charlie, 3 years old; and Julia, 4 years old). I was basically being the second parent while the husband was away on business, and I had an amazing time. It was a great step forward from the usual couple-of-hours babysitting jobs I was used to and I learnt so much. I mastered the morning wake-up, breakfast, dressing, school routine and the evening games, dinner, bath, bedtime routine as well. The family was so welcoming and I felt completely comfortable there, plus I earned some more money for my travels :) It was just one big blessing. Pictures: The family (minus baby Max... sleeping), on the trampoline, girls day out :)
As if that wasn't enough for one week, my Dutch lessons also started this week! Mum & I are taking them at the British School in Den Haag, for 3 hours every morning. It was a little bit of a shock sitting in a classroom and doing homework again, but our teacher is very funny & all the other students are nice, although I am the youngest by far. They last for one more week, then we have apparently completed Dutch 1. It's a fairly easy language, not too many rules and the verbs are incredibly simple compared to French or Spanish. The hardest part is the pronunciation, because it's very very very different from English and French.
My grandparents, uncle Mike, great aunt Jennifer, and 2nd cousin Daniel arrive on Friday to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! I cannot believe they've been married for that long, absolutely amazing!! They stay until Monday, when they return to London, with me (as long as our train still goes with half the tunnel closed)!!
I'll be in London just for a few days then I'm backpacking around England for a month. I'll be in Bristol, Bath, Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Lake District, Exeter and who knows where else... it's all about spontaneous decisions :) This all came about because finding work in London was proving impossible, so why not spend the month traveling around my home country instead? Especially because there's so much I haven't seen, and it's small (relatively speaking) and the trains/buses are great, and I speak the language!
So this week I'll be going to Dutch class, fitting in some more NLD sightseeing in the afternoons, and packing my bags! I cannot believe I have already spent a month here, it actually went by fairly quickly, and it has been amazing having time to spend with my family, and time to watch the news, and time to cook, and time to think about what I want out of this year. Well worth it :)
Tot ziens!!
It's been a while, I know, but I've actually been BUSY!!
After advertising a little through the boys school, I finally picked up another babysitting job with a Dutch-South African family. I lived with the mum (South African) and three small children (Max, 7 weeks old; Charlie, 3 years old; and Julia, 4 years old). I was basically being the second parent while the husband was away on business, and I had an amazing time. It was a great step forward from the usual couple-of-hours babysitting jobs I was used to and I learnt so much. I mastered the morning wake-up, breakfast, dressing, school routine and the evening games, dinner, bath, bedtime routine as well. The family was so welcoming and I felt completely comfortable there, plus I earned some more money for my travels :) It was just one big blessing. Pictures: The family (minus baby Max... sleeping), on the trampoline, girls day out :)
As if that wasn't enough for one week, my Dutch lessons also started this week! Mum & I are taking them at the British School in Den Haag, for 3 hours every morning. It was a little bit of a shock sitting in a classroom and doing homework again, but our teacher is very funny & all the other students are nice, although I am the youngest by far. They last for one more week, then we have apparently completed Dutch 1. It's a fairly easy language, not too many rules and the verbs are incredibly simple compared to French or Spanish. The hardest part is the pronunciation, because it's very very very different from English and French.
My grandparents, uncle Mike, great aunt Jennifer, and 2nd cousin Daniel arrive on Friday to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary! I cannot believe they've been married for that long, absolutely amazing!! They stay until Monday, when they return to London, with me (as long as our train still goes with half the tunnel closed)!!
I'll be in London just for a few days then I'm backpacking around England for a month. I'll be in Bristol, Bath, Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Lake District, Exeter and who knows where else... it's all about spontaneous decisions :) This all came about because finding work in London was proving impossible, so why not spend the month traveling around my home country instead? Especially because there's so much I haven't seen, and it's small (relatively speaking) and the trains/buses are great, and I speak the language!
So this week I'll be going to Dutch class, fitting in some more NLD sightseeing in the afternoons, and packing my bags! I cannot believe I have already spent a month here, it actually went by fairly quickly, and it has been amazing having time to spend with my family, and time to watch the news, and time to cook, and time to think about what I want out of this year. Well worth it :)
Tot ziens!!
Monday, 1 September 2008
Recent news from Wassenaar
What have I been up to this past week you ask? Not enough to write daily about is the answer...
I babysat for three fantastic Australian kids all last week and today while their mum was in Russia on vacation... nice for some. That was great because it was nice to have a little structure back into my life, and also because I earned some money! YESSSSS
Finally unpacked the final box today which was very satisfying. I believe I was the last one with an unpacked box, but I mean, I've been very busy... haha NOT.
I had the chance to meet an Australian named Caitlin whose a senior at ISH (International School of the Hague) and she took me shopping in the Hague on Saturday which was fantastic! I really needed that boost to get out and explore. I feel a lot more comfortable there now and plan on going back this week to do some more touristy things and "see the sights". Mum and I are off to IKEA tomorrow and it will be very interesting to see how much stuff we can cram into her little Golf :)
Yesterday we went to the BEACH. I know what you're thinking... sweatshirts, blankets, thermoses of hot chocolate. Well, you're wrong! It was a staggering 80 degrees here this weekend, so there was a continuous stream of cyclists heading down our street to the beach. We joined the tire-to-tire traffic on the bike path and fought for parking spots for our bikes. It honestly looked like the entire Wassenaar population had planted their picnic hampers, towels, and wind-shades on the sand. So that was fun... and unusual. Of course, today it was back down to a mild 65 degrees.
Having a miserable time finding work in London so I'm getting a little nervous about my chances to make money while I'm there. I booked my non-refundable train tickets today, so I'm going regardless. I'll be searching some temp-agency websites tomorrow and checking craigslist again.
Been talking to a ton of people on skype recently... all my friends are relatively settled into college. It's very comforting having your closest friends going through the same 'culture-shock', new environment experience that I am. I don't feel quite as distant anymore...
Well everyone is already sleeping considering that it's a school/work night here, but of course I'm wide awake so I'm gonna go read Into the Wild. I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to really challenge the way you look at the world, which is what this year is all about for me!
pictures!!
student 'parking lot' @ ASH Amsterdam
Rijksmuseum in AMS Mum & Dad in AMS
Madurodam in the rain... Miniature of bank in AMS
At Madurodam Miniature palace in AMS
Paul @ Madurodam my window!
firepit night! Paul & I attempting to be on the same team...
'Boating' in our 'canal' Making our way through the algae
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