Littlest Things

I think I've discussed on here before how the small things can have the biggest of impacts. Today seems to have been one of those days where everything had an effect on something else. I had an SOS training session at lunch where we were given our assignment for the week: think about how you appear to other people. It reminded me of Psychology this morning - we had a test first thing and as I handed it in, Nigel (teacher) grinned at me. My response was (obviously) "why are you grinning at me?" - he said it was because I was pulling a face as if to say I'd hated the test, I really didn't think I had been...

I then encountered my old GCSE Spanish teacher while walking home who grinned at me slightly insanely from her car and let me cross the road before turning into the road I was trying to cross. It made me smile, for reasons unknown, but it struck me that she was clearly appearing happy to see me, even though we didn't talk (I see her quite a lot in that spot, though). This is my first example of a little thing having a big impact because it made me smile for most of the way home.


Unfortunately I then encountered two men delivering leaflets who followed me for the last five minutes of my journey, which kind of put a downer on my random good mood. It's really not fun being followed by two men making noises and shouting at you, just in case you were wondering. I ended up hiding from them when they knocked at the front door to try and deliver a leaflet (who does that by knocking rather than posting through the letterbox anyway?!)


And then for most of this evening I've been doing my Media double page spread assignment - not as fun as it may sound and actually intensely frustrating. 


However then I ended up talking to Oliver from the Amnesty Group which cheered me up because it was just generally light-hearted and joking about stuff...and talking about stalkers. I know I've probably said it before on here, but I really do love the Amnesty Group - everybody is so nice and we all seem to get along quite well :)

'Labas' to my Lithuanian visitors :)


Besos ♥
Rachel

Las Vacaciones

I've been ill for about two weeks now. Not bad ill, but enough to make me want to just sleep forever and not leave the house, which is handy because it's been half term ('las vacaciones'...) so I've had all week off :)

I never seem to have a point to anything when I write blog posts anymore. College seems to suck the life out of anything. In a way, that's good I suppose because I don't have much time to think about things during the week and I'm always busy at weekends, so I never end up overthinking anything or getting bothered by stuff.

College finally feels normal, properly normal. It's kind of nice because I'm at that point where I'm so OK with things that I can actually appreciate them better. Like last Thursday, I had an interview for something college-related but I didn't get it. My tutor then tried to convince me it was his fault because he helped me with my application - small things like that make college a lot more bearable. We also had a nice conversation about tolerance last Tuesday. It's good that I can talk to my teachers about stuff.


I tried learning some Swedish tenses on Monday. I drew up a verb grid and copied out some nouns, prepositions etc so that I'd be able to form sentences with the tenses. It's not actually that hard, just a bit confusing how there are two groups of verbs and then the irregulars as well. They're easy to form though, group one verbs basically have an 'r' added to the end (e.g. 'att tala' is 'to speak' but becomes 'jag talar' to mean 'I speak') while group two have the 'a' removed and 'er' added (e.g. 'att heta' meaning something along the lines of 'to have the name' becomes 'jag heter' to mean 'I am called' or 'my name is'. I've found that it's a lot easier to deal with tenses in foreign languages when you already speak a second language. It also helps that the verbs are like Spanish ones in reverse. I'm itching to 'randomly drop it into conversation' with my Spanish teacher to see what she'd say...though it'd probably be something about the fact that she's learning Arabic. She likes telling us that...


I've also been listening to Jack Johnson a lot this week and have therefore suddenly got back into Hawaiian. I'd been desperate to know what he says at the end of Angel/Better Together on the En Concert album...and last night I figured it out thanks to http://www.alohafriendsluau.com/words.html - turns out he says 'mahalo nui loa' which means 'thank you very much'. I also learnt 'me ke aloha' which means 'with love'.


Last night, I edited together the Amnesty Group video and uploaded a few others from the Burmese Festival campaign we did on Wednesday 16th. The main video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBtPalRHhS0 

Besos ♥
Rachel

The Untranslatables

I bought a book called The Untranslatables quite a while ago, it's basically a book full of foreign words that don't translate well into English. I've never actually read the whole book, but I did read another book on random foreign words and I loved it, so here are my favourite obscure foreign words...

Mamihlapinatapei - Yagan (Indigenous language of Tierro del Fuego)
"The wordless, yet meaningful, look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start." - Altalang.com

Jayus - Indonesian
"A joke so poorly told and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh." - Altalang.com
"Indonesian slang for someone who tells a joke so unfunny you can't help but laugh." - UrbanDictionary.com


Schadenfreude - German
"Pleasure dervied from the misfortunes of others." - Wikipedia.org

Tingo - Pascuense (Easter Island)
"The act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing them." - Altalang.com

Mokita - Kiriwana (Papua New Guinea)
"The truth that all know but no one talks about." - The Meaning of Tingo... - Adam Jacot de Boinod

Vokabulyu - Russian
"Passion for foreign words." - The Meaning of Tingo... - Adam Jacot de Boinod

Physiggomai - Ancient Greek
"Excited by eating garlic." - Toujours Tingo - Adam Jacot de Boinod


Truzzo - Italian
"A slang word used in Northern Italy to describe a boy, usually a teenager, who strongly believes he is really up-to-date on the latest trends and fashion but is clearly not." - Untranslatables - a Guide To Translingual Dialogue

Do you have any untranslatables?


Besos ♥
Rachel

ESC season has begun!

Yes, Eurovision season has officially begun, which means it's time for my first mini review of the songs already selected.

Armenia: Aurela Gaçe - Kënga ime
One of the first songs selected for this year's contest, and I still can't decide whether I like it or hate it. It somehow just doesn't seem to match its singer. It picks up a bit more towards the end, making it a little more likeable, but I've got a feeling it definitely won't be one of my favourites.

Finland: Paradise Oskar - Da Da Dam
For some reason I ended up paying close attention to Euroviisut this year. I preferred Father McKenzie, but I don't mind this one at all. There's an obvious British influence to this song, which should make it popular over here. Perhaps influenced by Lena? Either way, I think I'll get to like this one after a few more listens. 

Switzerland: Anna Rossinelli - In Love For a While
Another early selection for Switzerland, and definitely a vast improvement on their entry last year (Michael von der Heide - Il pleut de l'or). For some reason she reminds me a little of Anna Bergendahl crossed with Lena (I'm guessing Lena is a big influence this year...) It's definitely catchy and an early entry that I liked the first time I heard it. She's got a strong live voice, but whether it will carry to the ESC stage remains to be seen.

Ireland: Jedward - Lipstick
Do not even get me started on how much hatred I have for Jedward. Seriously, I could be here all week ranting about how hideous I find them. But, the song? Well, it wouldn't be bad if, and this is a big one, they could actually sing it. It would also be better if the stage performance hadn't been a kind of mash up of X Factor rejects. The sad thing is: they'll probably be well liked...but then completely fail on the ESC stage because they couldn't even manage the Late Late Show stage properly. What a shame that Ireland and the UK can't vote in their semi final...

Romania: Hotel FM - Change
I like it, but in that very safe ESC song way. Reminiscent of Simon Mathew - All Night Long, somehow. What's good/likeable about this song is that it very much captures the 'cheesy' aspect of ESC that it's famous for. Perhaps not up to the standards that have slowly been changed over the last few years, but nevertheless a very safe, catchy song.  


I missed Destino Eurovisión last night, but apparently Auryn made it through (= happy me). And now for Iceland...
 
Besos ♥
Rachel

Novo

“We’re in Trogir, not far from Split now, traffic’s not great round here though.” Darja said, turning the radio down a little and leaning against the window. I smiled to myself, wondering how many times she had made this journey. Margaret was dosing in the front seat, quiet for the first time all week – a fact that was not left unnoticed. The rest of us were all waking up for the first time since the tollbooth. Shining directly above us, the sun had followed us across the countryside, determining our every move.

The city was different, I decided, and I was glad we hadn’t been anywhere near one all week. My camera was resting on my knee, fatigued with excessive use and displaying the last picture I would take of the coast. I flicked through my memory card, laughing at the one of Natalie sleeping yet smiling at the memory.

Our bus journeys had become our lifeline. They were the first things we did together, and soon they would also be our last. I remembered how, back in the car park a week ago, we had all reluctantly climbed into a minibus and left everything behind. Jasmine’s desperate wails ringing in my ears and the rattle of the sunroof, it all suddenly flooded back to me - the way we had met on the grass at Brunel on that first night and discussed what we all expected of the coming week, the arguments we’d had and the battles we’d either won or lost, depending entirely on whether we were fully exhausted, or almost exhausted.

“You see that market there?” Izzy gestured out of the open window, brushing her hair from her sticky face with the early afternoon heat. “I thought we’d be shopping in places like that.” She was right, we all had. The civilised campsite shops with welcoming yet terrifying assistants were a million miles from how my expectations had always imagined. I’d avoided the Starigrad shop after the blow-up over our visit to Benkovac, and anyway, we’d made a rule to stay away from the shop unless we were in charge of shopping – a rule that was mainly and regularly ignored.

“We’ll do it all…everything…” Lauren began, her sunny acoustics filling the bus. We all exchanged glances. Izzy joined in, striking the doorframe with her foot as she let herself feel the rhythm. Darja glanced back at us, chuckling to herself and smiling a smile that spoke of her own memories of being this young. I watched her move the volume and let the sound consume me.

“Let’s waste time, chasing cars, around our heads.” We all continued now, each of us facing different ways, preparing to go back to our separate lives. My eyes squeezed shut, blocking out the radiant afternoon sun. I was numb, I had been tested beyond my own abilities, my body broken by this incredible experience. I thought back to school, I remembered how thrilled I had been at the fact that this was my final association with a place that had given me five unforgettable years.

Split was within metres now. I could see the point of the airport dome and it filled me with nausea. Going home was something that I had never imagined. Even arriving in the country was something that had been near impossible to envisage. Dizzy with reality, it was as if the seat was pulling me in, calling for me to stay.

See, this had been something that was destined to be difficult, it was imprinted in its coding. From the very first day of sign-up when I realised there was nobody I knew, to the stress-inducing fundraising meetings and the tearful last days of school, it had always been intended to serve a purpose.

Every memory of the past week began pouring into my head, filling me up for the future, keeping me safe. I shook, blinking ferociously as my barrier began to fall. I saw the taxis all lined up, the car park we’d stumbled through after spending hours making calls to Heathrow about missing luggage while wading through a mass group debate on when to begin the shopping list. I saw the check-in through the doors and the marble staircase. My companions were restless, the heat suddenly all too much, the knowledge that we were headed home tantalisingly gripping. I did not move, and I did not desire to.

For one final second, I inhaled, letting all of me remember these final moments.

“OK, Split Airport guys.” Darja laughed, watching the boys stumble out from their bus just ahead. “Have a great journey.”

I already have, I thought, and I knew that it would be the best journey I would ever embark upon. The song we had been singing to began building to a crescendo, the bags and the kit began tumbling from the vans into a thick, chaotic mess of memories that would be safe forever and items that would never be used again. This was it, this was the moment that everything would shift. Slav and Darja would go back to Starigrad to collect their belongings, most likely returning to Zagreb after a month or so, Margaret would go back to Belfast and her Guides, Jasmine, Izzy and the others would be back at school in September. For one final time I strapped my bag to my shoulders and stood up straight, and it was in this moment that I knew that life was going to be different, it was going to be whatever I needed it to be and I didn’t mind. 

Notes:

- This was a creatvie writing piece

- The font size is messed up due to it being copied from my Word Document

- Novo means 'new' 

A Fine Line

So, today Eliza and I learnt a pretty important thing... there's a fine line between needing to speak with somebody often and stalking them. We ended up sitting underneath a table trying not to cover the floor in yellow paint. Long, long story...

Anyway, Fern is here this evening, which means that I have a strange girl sitting on my bed and doodling on my whiteboard. We're watching Tim Minchin's Ready For This DVD...and surprisingly she hasn't told me she needs a wee since college this afternoon (if you know Fern, this is a pretty big deal).

We filmed some more little bits of my Media project this afternoon...cue 'exclusive backstage pics' to demonstrate...

The first pic is an action shot, taken by Fern, while I was filming from a rather odd angle, the second is another publicity shot featuring Eliza, Danny and Eleanor (the YCTN? team...) We borrowed one of the drama studios again, this time without having to cover the walls in newspaper. You see the sign Danny's holding up? It tooks us 10 minutes to print. 10 whole minutes. That's ridiculous. I can't even watch the footage until Monday because I had to hand the camera back in but keep my tape.

Eliza and I also began work on the Amnesty International Burmese Festival banner...

(We're aware that it says 'Amnesty Int'...didn't have time to finish it but plan to on Monday). The President/Vice President say that the Art department are mean because they'll never help us...but I managed to get them to so clearly they're not. Julia (it's either her, or the other teacher, Julie) drew that out based on our graphic/poster that I created.

And now Fern is noseying at everything in my room so I think I'll sign off.

Besos ♥
Rachel (and Fern)

People

Yesterday, I told my friend Eliza 'I hate people'. And I very much did, some people I still do. I wasn't going to blog tonight because I've been busy sending off my RYLA application, paying my Poland deposit (definitely going now!) with my friend Sarah and organising the Burmese Festival, but then I finally logged back into my Googlemail account...

I haven't been on it since the beginning of December/late November - couldn't sign in - I mainly had emails such as ''*insert name here* is following you on Twitter" and other assorted spam mail, but I had an email that I wasn't expecting. It was from somebody who I will call 'S' (purely for anonymity reasons) who had been reading my blog, seen I was having a rough time with friendships and basically said we could talk if I needed/wanted to.

Firstly, I WISH I'd been on my Gmail account more over Christmas...it was really rough and I could've done with seeing that email sooner.

Secondly, today was a pretty dull day...and it wasn't helped by the fact that there was a very minor incident that just got to me this morning before lunch. This email was such a pick me up.

I don't even really have much to say except that I wanted to express my gratitude to S. The feeling of being forgotten, ignored, unimportant etc etc is way too common and I really wish there were more people like S. So, if you're reading this: thank you, and thank you for making me realise that I don't hate people after all.

Besos ♥
Rachel

Just

I write this as things are, as hinted at in my title, 'just' OK. I don't even really have a purpose to writing this except for the fact that I just wrote my article on completed TYSICs for The Watsonian Yearly Review and recapped all of my TYSICs in the process...realising I should probably blog a bit more.

Things aren't bad at the moment, which is welcome relief. This week is week three of teaching Beginners' Spanish and I'd say I probably actually have learnt something from it so far, which is quite nice to know. It's also making me enjoy Spanish overall much more...which was desperately needed after the way it was before the Christmas holidays. I did just have to write an essay on 'Los Deportes En La Televisión' - possibly the dullest essay topic anyone could ever give me, I think I managed though. I'm also in Ester's good books after mentioning that I watched TVE last Friday (and this Friday, too) which is again quite nice...she hasn't said anything weird to me in a while, though she does keep referring to her attempts at learning Arabic as if we should all be learning Arabic as well.

Having said that, I am trying to learn some Swedish which is proving both easier than expected and amusing. My friend Eliza is also doing the same, so it's amusing when we try and talk to each other using the few words and phrases we can pronounce. We can swear at each other in Croatian (kopile) and Finnish (nuppi pään) though...and we're working on Swedish. We seem to mainly discuss it in the bus queue which probably isn't wise, but at least it's amusing. I did have ''will you marry me?'' memorised but I can't remember all of it now. We were also helping our friend Eleanor with her Russian-learning for her CoPE project, and it stuck me how many languages use a variant of 'до свидания' (do svidaniya) - Polish is very similar, as is Croatian.

Speaking of Polish, I am/probably am going to Poland this summer with college. Every year, the Psychology/RS departments run their 'subject extension day(s)' to Poland with a visit to Auschwitz. I'm going to pay the deposit tomorrow which ultimately secures my place on the trip. My friends Sarah and Talor also intend to go so I'm hoping we all get our deposits paid quickly so we can all go :)

And now I've come to the end of my very random post, I probably should have given it a different name, but never mind.

Besos ♥
Rachel

Things I Don't Understand...

1. Why so many teenage girls are obsessed with making their 'friends' conform to everything they do. I don't get where the fascination in having so many friends exactly like you lies. I mean seriously, I don't think I'll ever understand why it's so important for some people to be ''the popular one'' but exactly the same as their friends - where's the fun in that?

2. Why I can't have a proper conversation with my personal tutor...a fact that wasn't helped by Eliza pointing out that there's a kid in college who looks like his lovechild. SO wrong.

3. How it's possible that my college bag has broken when there's been less in it this week than last.

4. How I'm ever supposed to understand the difference between imperfect and preterite tenses in Spanish...when the rules care so flexible they may as well not exist.

5. The fact that we're in college now, yet some people are even more immature now than they were in high school. Seriously, there's nothing clever or funny about standing next to people just to intimidate them...especially when they're ten times the person these pathetic little girls will ever be,

6. Why college's answer to people coming on college premises and causing problems is ''let's give everybody lanyards and make them wear their ID badges at all times...even though we can't afford decent printers so their pictures are all yellow/green.'' - why people can't just not come onto college premises when they don't go there is beyond me...nobody ever did that in school so why do it in college?

7. How somebody in my Media class could genuinely think that an actor cut his own arm off to shoot a scene in a film.

Besos ♥
Rachel