A trip home

After a long and difficult week, a trip home seemed like the perfect remedy. On Friday, I dashed for the train and once seated I felt myself begin to relax. Nothing was going to spoil this for me. No one, not a thing!

Apart from myself, of course...

I arrived home to a spookily quiet house. Mum is still in Poland, having herself a good rest - very much deserved. However, that did not stop me from wishing for teleportation to exist, so that she could pop in for the weekend. I am a little afraid of being in that house by myself during the night. I hear things go 'bump.' My heart starts to pound, adrenalin pumps in my veins - & then I cannot fall asleep until 3 am. SO much for a restful weekend.

Saturday was spent on the couch nursing my irritating headache/migraine. My meninges couldn't decide on what the pain threshold was to be, which made me even more irritated.

Sunday, however, was a lovely day. I felt an urge to visit the mountains, so I jumped in my little runaround and sped towards them.

It was a rather strange little journey. I was going back to places where my father and I had trudged up before. God, how I miss those days. When I saw the village of Rowan, I just had to turn right and wind my way through a narrow road to reach it. Once there, bittersweet memories came back. Suddenly, I saw a road leading upwards, so I thought, 'Why not?' There should have been a LARGE sign stating why not! The so-called road narrowed down to a one-car-width lane, so there was no going back, only forward. When I came upon a small gulley, whereupon my beloved little samochod began to lose power...not good! Thankfully, I had had a fantastic driving teacher in my late teens, so I only felt a tinge of mild panic. Made it over, only to find my way blocked by a gate!

Crap, was the first thought that popped into the springing blackness in my head. However! I am a woman who goes forth even when blocked by bars of steel! Hehe, all I had to do was to open it and close it behind me. My malutkie trudged forward over a worn through road (by this stage I am quite far up). A road appears before me. Time to flip a coin on this decision! Heads it was, and the choice was to crawl further up the mountain path (it had really ceased to be a road - too narrow by half!) What I came to, was wonderful.

A small carpark was etched into the side of the mountain, so I parked and got out to fully appreciate what I had arrived to...

What beauty.

Before me lay the mountain's glory. The bushes of amber hue, dusted all around amongst the green grass where multitudes of sheep were quietly munching away. All that could be heard was the sound of a running stream. The quietness I experienced is something I cannot forget. The sun shone over the landscape stretching away from me, bathing all in its warmth and golden light. From a small rock , I watched this vision feeling as though I had merged with a painting.

Leaving this Eden, my little blue bug and I went on a rollacoaster ride down, down, down until I hit the main road and then found myself in Llanrwst. This was really turning out to be a journey with my father. I went to the Church called St Grwst, which was erected around 1170, and is where my great-grandparents (from my father's side) were married. One of my ancestors, Robert Williams (who was a harpist and is famous for writing Englynion) resides there amongst the trees and the flowing river.

Monday, and I disembarked from the train at Crewe to catch my connection to London. However, there was time to moosh around before it came, so I trotted to the W H Smith on platform 5 to buy an Innocent Smoothie. What a fantastic piece of luck that turned out to be!

As I came round one of the shelves, I saw James from my A-Level class! Gosh, 7-8 had passed since we last saw one another! I knew that it was him, but I couldn't work up the nerve to go up to him and say, 'Hi, remember me?' Cringeworthy stuff!

So, like a chicken, I left the shop and went to wait on the platform. James is, of course, made of braver, tougher stuff than me, and he came out of the shop towards me saying, 'Kasia, right?!' A lovely reunion. :) James is an army man now, he's been to Afghanistan, and he told me that in a week's time he is going to be shipped there again. I felt rather alarmed and sad to hear this. However, my joker side raised herself and said to him, 'James, I have one piece of advice for you.' He grinned and asked, 'What?'

'Duck.'

We all know I did not mean the feathered variety.

Ouch and Yuck

Yes, as I predicted my French teacher not only smacked me over the head again, but it was a thicker book...You can say one thing for him. He makes good on his promises!

Trotting to the station this morning, I espied an old gentleman standing on the corner. He is there nearly every morning. Why, I am not sure. Is it because he is involved in some social experiment; watching people rushing to work, watching their body language, seeing the earnest determined looks on their faces as they rush to catch their preferred mode of transportation. Could it be that he is an anthropologist?

Or could he be lonely? By watching the people rushing past allows him to somehow remained connected?

Or is he just crazy drug dealer and waiting there for the next batch of crack?

I can make hundreds of assumptions, as to why that old chap stands there in the mornings, and not arrive to the truth. At the end of the day, does it really matter why he stands there and does what he does? I suppose it is just because I'm a nosy so-and-so

On another note...

In this instance, I could not assume, it was a damn fact! After I popped down on my seat on the train, a couple came and sat in the seats in front of me. No objection there. However! It became quickly apparent that he had a stinker of a cold. He was blowing his nose into an already threadbare tissue, but that was not my main objection...

He wiped his nose on the back of his hand, on the front of his hand, including his other hand. My stomach turned. I am not a fan of excretions of mucus, especially spread around in that manner. His girlfriend (I am assuming here...) said something like, 'You're sick!' I thought, good for you! Tell him that he is being disgusting! Until I realised that she was being sympathetic about his cold and not the revolting habit he was displaying to the rest of us.

Hmm...

I think that the old man was indulging in a hobby similar to mine - watching and observing people.

A worthy pastime or just a waste of time?

Going Zatoichi!

*sigh*

Am feeling better now, although I would have loved to have stayed in bed to sleep my head off.

Having watched the graceful lightning moves of Beat Takeshi's character made me want to hire myself a ronin to dispose of life's little irritating mosquitoes.

I'm seeing my French teacher today and I have not done my homework, again. I'm not looking forward to being hit by a thicker book over my head. Tough as they come...! He's a laugh though. We have good lessons with a few jokes thrown in for good measure. I'm just so sorry that my job and my fustrations are draining me of any creative energy, so much so that I am unable to find the motivation to soak up all the languages I am trying to learn. Or am I letting Life's irritations drain me? It's the latter, me thinks.

If I was more relaxed about things, not so easily riled, irritated, 'going-off-on-one', then perhaps I would be sailing through my existence with a love for everyone and everything.

Even walking Molly (the pooch extraordinaire) is not a simple affair. I have to avoid the Dirty Old Man (just the DOM for short) in the park. He was pissed as a fart (it's not polite, but dammit! It's the best description for just how inebriated he was!) and he molested me...now, it does not do wonders for a Gal's self esteem when it seems that only DOMs are interested in her that way.

*sigh*

Next time, should he even come within 5 metres of me, I'm going to go Zatoichi on him...

Urgh..

Was so ill last night...I was curled up on the couch in the living room feeling as though I was going to pass out.

I worried my flatmates who could hear my 'dying aria' and melodious sounds of retching in the bathroom.

Nice.

Japanese on the way to work - a pleasure!

I have discovered something really wonderful about learning Japanese on my way into work...

Whilst reading my 'Beginner's Japanese' and listening to the CD (with my big head-muffins), I found to my delight that this activity was attracting some attention. I think that I should take the head-muffins off, so I can converse about the merits of learning a new language, and then talk about where one can have a good cup of coffee, so our conversation could continue further... ;)

However, I'm feeling a little worse for wear today. I am meeting T for lunch, so that's somethng to look forward to. We're are more or less in the same boat - not sure about the direction our lives should take.

Whenever anyone asks me what I want to do with my existence, it pains me to answer (as much as it pains them to hear) the inevitable, 'I don't know.' I think my feelings of fustration have reached levels that have soared through the upper most level and are now heading for the stratosphere.

I thought about doing voice-overs, however, that plan is on hold at the moment. I think I could do it, but as a living, hmmm. That part I am not so sure about. As a 'Voiceover Artist' one has to be firmly established to make a good living from it, and I am not in a position to start from the bottom to work my way up. I would need to be available at times when I am currently working and my current workplace is not sympathetic to my cause (whatever it may be).

Why did I think that I would be a voice-over artist? A great number of people (whose names I have recorded and I will 'visit' them one day...that is no idle threat...) have commented on the timbre of my tones. So. I thought, 'Yes! I will leave my job, and I will talk into a mic and they will pay me money to do this!' How naive. The industry is highly competitive, and those who have been 'tried & tested' are the ones who are contacted first, and the job usually will go to them. I am not using this as an excuse not to pursue this avenue, just that I am being realistic and not wanting to jump into something willy-nilly.

The current avenue, which I am currently thinking of exploring is teaching English as a foreign language.

A world away from the previous option!

Yes. I am certifiable, but first you'll have to catch me...

Learning 3 languages...

Good Day, Bonjour, Dzien dobry, Konnichiwa!

A spectacularly long and international set greeting for my very first blog! Who inspired me to start this? I believe that I can happily blame Ruth! :)

In any case, I'm such a nutter for taking on 3 languages. Why?! What hath possessed me to do this? A love of learning new languages? Or a 'healthy' masochistic streak? The jury is still out on that one, as far as I am concerned.

As I messaged Ruth, I have been trying to pronounce the letter 'r' in Japanese. I felt my friend Ayako's pain when I kept valiantly missing the mark...more practice is very much required, but I am enjoying it immensely. Learning the language, not torturing poor Ayako!

Writing in Japanese is going to be a hoot. Literally. That will be the sound I will make interred in my little white padded room...

However! All is not lost! I have already memorised quite a few Kanji (Chinese characters), but I have yet to begin learning Hiragana and Katakana. Maybe I am being a bit too ambitious?! No! I will be resolute! My ultimate goal? To be fluent in all 3 languages. Now, that's ambitious...