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puddlelilies.com / proofreading negates the immediacy of feeling

Category: Travel

  • So here I am in Jerez de la Frontera, Andelucia, Spain, going to my first flameco class tomorrow.  If I happen to run across myself from 2 or so years ago and told me what I was up to, I’d be all “what the fuckitty-do is going on here, miss classy pants, and what the hell have you done to your hair???  It looks GREAT.”

    We went grocery shopping tonight.  (There are five of us now,  the sixth joining us tomorrow at noon.)  I did ok reading the ingredients looking for “leche”. I found some vanilla soy milk and also some soy yogurt. I’m scared to try the soy yogurt just in case I missed something. I might be living on bread and meat for the next two weeks.

  • We arrived by train in Seville around noon or noon-thirty. Nearly caused a riot at the taxi queue by having too much luggage for the first taxi available.  The driver we got was a woman with thick black eyeliner who charged us by the person. No one said anything about this, because it looked as though the whole cab driving thing was a cover for her real job as a professional hit-person. That’s probably why she drove off so fast afted dropping us off– had to get to her next “job. ”

    I have some awful jetlag. I slept only 3.5 hours last night due to it being afternoon where my body is usually located.  I’ve been hovering on the edge of a nap all day but I Shall Not Sleep untll tonight.  Right?  Please?

    Seville is home to the world’s largest cathedral. I was there today and it was very cold inside.

    Now it’s ninish at night and so it’s suppertime.  Food.

  • Madrid

    We arrived in Madrid late due to mechanical problems at Heathrow. All so tired.  The hotel is nice.  The room has a living room and then a sliding door into the bedroom, which works out well for thlse of us (me) who don’t recover well from jetlag. I’ve sequestered myself in the outer room since I’m awake anyway.

    There was red wine last night at the restaurant up the street from the hotel that we immediately recognised as an establishment used to tourists as the hostess took one look at us and gave us English menus.

  • I forgot how much it suuuuucks to fly to England.  8.5 hours this time and at 1.5 hours in I’m all Oh My God we’re not even close to Halfway There : HURRY UUUUUP! Luckily though I slept for a while, which is rather a coup for me. Usually I don’t sleep on transit.

    image

    Please note the little boxes of raisins that came with my lunch. 

  • I’m going to miss a few places in Victoria while I’m out of the country.  The Thrifty foods by my house.  The dance studio. The library.  I don’t go to the library very often (I go to the downtown branch)  but I was there the other day returning a book before I left so I didn’t have to pay a fine and I appreciated how nice it is to be in a familiar place.

    I was at my neighbourhood Thrifty foods this morning to pick up some candied ginger and again, I looked around, and noted that I wouldn’t be visiting for a few weeks and I was pleased to be breaking my routine for a little while.  But I’ll get back to it soon,  and then I’ll be pleased to get back to it.

    I’ve spent the late afternoon today at the Vancouver airport.  We arrived 4.5 hours early for our flight.  This is entirely due to us taking the ferry over: always take an earlier ferry,  just in case.

    I’m traveling with 3 other smart women, so that’s why my pronoun might occasionally switch.

    I’m about to board my first plane: one to London, then the second to Madrid. I’m going to nest in and have a cozy overnight flight. I have a Chatelaine magazine to read and Melatonin. Good night.

  • Yesterday was the one year anniversary of me working at the place I do. Quite an accomplishment if I do say so myself. The day also marks 4 years with government. Don’t know what to think about that. Been getting paid the whole time, so that’s good.

    In other news, 46 days until Spain.

  • 2011 by Lindsie

    January.
    Nothing. I don’t remember. No wait. I started a new job. Did I report on this last year? I started a new position with Liquor Licensing (BC Gov) on Jan 4, 2011, the same date I started with them in 2008. It was a pleasant reunion with everyone (there was hugs!) and I’ve had a good year working there. It’s nice to have a permanant job*.

    *For now**

    **Mum doesn’t like it when I add that part. Hehehe.

    February.
    Nothing. February sucks.

    March.
    My birthday. Everyone celebrate!

    April.
    Nothing. Oh! Except I moved at the end of the month, so I spent most of April worrying about that and packing. Fun story: on April 29 I decided that I Would Watch The Royal Wedding (as this is something that Lindsie is meant to do, having memories of the other royal wedding that happened in 1981). In order to stay up that late- the thing started at 2 in the morning or something,-I needed to keep myself occupied. As I was about to move, the kitchen needed that end-of-occupancy clean out, so I watched the wedding coverage while scrubbing out my fridge and pulling out the stove. I made it all shiney. My landlord was super impressed, and also amused with my Royal Wedding Story.

    May.

    Dance recitals. I was in two this year, since I was doing classes with two studios. Fun and all but I’m only at one studio this year so hopefully only one recital. This year I did tap with the teacher I had in Duncan (Nanna!) at a new school. We danced to Michael Jackson. That show was at Victoria Event Centre, where they serve alcohol. Note: performing at a place where they serve booze the whole time makes for a fun show, especially if you are late in the line-up. The other show was at the Royal, which isn’t as intimate as the other place, but has a really nice backstage area. Mum and dad came and watched, and my friend Susan, as I did some flamenco and ballet. Good show. We went for dinner afterwards.

    June.

    Nothing. Actually I think in June I went to Vancouver to see Wicked. That was with my friend Julie, who is my musical theatre friend. We both bought t-shirts even though neither of us meant to. P.S. I love musicals. They make me cry and want to sing along and I love them.

    July.
    I watched the whole of West Wing and Knitted. Summer! Also, my friends Amber and Mia visited. In our second annual summer fun time, we did fancy dinner, and took double decker busses, and went Craigdarrough castle. We also ate cupcakes.

    Aug.
    Some summer dance workshops. Some moping around. Went to work. Benefitted amply from the wealth of my dad’s garden. (Speaking of which, did you know you can buy green beans at the grocery store? Both fresh AND in cans. *Why Would Anyone Do This*? Doesn’t your dad grow way too many and make you take them?)

    September.
    Whined a lot.

    October.
    This wasn’t that long ago. I should remember. I got sick around Thanksgiving, which was also exactly when I took my vacation time. I didn’t have any big plans or anything, but I was Quite Annoyed. All year my health has been really good. My doctor suggested, though, that I’m now just catching everything I hadn’t caught yet. I’ve also figured out my asthma so that it’s under contol. I puff a puffer twice a day, with an “emergency” inhaler for when I need it, most importantly, just before my dance classes. Breathing Lindsie is happy Lindsie.

    November.
    Seriously. I bought flamenco shoes. I don’t have a couch yet, but I do have flamenco shoes. Priorities. I realize that this letter is rather dance-centric, but I think about it a lot. That and how I’m going to feed myself around all my dance classes. Two of my favorite things are dance and eating. Another favorite thing is watching TV but that’s not really something one writes about in their Christmas letter. However, I’m only writing this right now because there’s nothing on to watch.

    December.
    Hasn’t really happened yet. So far so good. I just vacuumed a bit. I’m trying to make my house clean and tidy before putting up Xmas decorations.

    January, 2012.
    This hasn’t happened yet, either, but I want to keep going….

    February 2012.
    I’m going to Spain to take some flamenco workshops. I’m also going to drink sherry, and do other Spain things. Spain has never been on my radar of somewhere to visit so I don’t know what to expect!

    And here is a bonus story .

  • New Year’s!

    I am making resolutions.  They are as follows:

    1) Be nice

    2) Travel

    3) Wear skinny jeans

    4) Write in my blog every day more than last year semi-sporatically.

    That’s all I can think of for now.  Last year I made a springtime resolution to be brave, and that went well.  So you know, I’ll set goals as they come to me.

    Valerie (Naomi’s mom – N’s blog is listed at the side) invited me to Vietnam, so I could go there.  I want to learn some things about it first.  Like, anything that isn’t war related, because that’s the only reason I’ve ever thought about Vietnam, and even that isn’t very much.  More passive paying attention (media) than active engagement in the topic.  Not like when I visited England, which I spent much school time studying.

    I’ve been in Duncan since December 24.  Mostly eating.  I also went through all the junk I have left here.  I have three piles now: take with me, keepsakes, and recycle.  Mum says I’m just like the shows on TV.  I say those shows are just like me.  My recycle pile isn’t as big as I’d like, but to be truthful, much of my stuff was already pretty organized (by me! previously) and just needed a little consolidation.  What I had to go through were the boxes that Mum dumped my stuff into when she emptied my room.  (Which is where I finally found my tiara!) I have now a bunch of stuff to take home with me to use up (things I’d abandoned when I moved and hadn’t gotten around to again).  I feel consolidated.

    Other places I want to travel to:

    France
    China
    Antartica
    Italy/Greece
    New York/Eastern US

    Places I don’t want to travel to:

    Outer Space

    Places I’d like to return to:

    Austria
    Finland
    England

  • Nov 3. At the intervals of plays, young theatre employees come into the audience with trays of ice cream to sell and audience members traipse down the aisles to purchase a treat. Not me though because I’m allergic!!! Such a party pooper. This evening the young blond woman near me is yelling “Ice cream available to buy here!” and I am tempted as it is warm in here and the aisian women in front of me are sharing a lite tub of choco icecream that looks lovely. They eat it with a little plastic paddle. In other news, there are two asian ladies sitting in front of me at this performance, which means I can see over their heads to the stage. I am grateful for this.

    It has been nearly twenty years since I last watched Phantom. (I realized this with a pang of horror before the performance began.) I have changed a lot since then. For example, Mr. Phantom makes me a little uncomfortable with his domination and power over Christine. Contol freak asshole. Get back in your hole. I did not think this way when I was 13. I just thought he was cool and romantic. I was thinkig that maybe I’d switch theatres at intermission and go to the end of the ballet for which I have an unused ticket. My secret adoration of melodrama and a cool riff shall keep me here, however.

  • Nov 3. I’m stuck at Victoria Station due to the strike on the Underground. Not really stuck, just waiting for bus transport. I did the Victoria and Albert today. My feet were sore so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I could. Also, the part with the old clothes was shut to the public so I didn’t get to see what I wanted. Grumpy day in London!

    I’ve got a ticket to Phantom tonight (walking distance from my hotel) which I’ll go to instead of the ballet. Not really a hard choise to make since I’ve done the ballet ready and I want to see Phantom (again).