9/30/2011

Oh those sweet memories...

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Although this one seems to be a lot easier, I remember when I had my sporty welcome to NRG.
Wake up at 5am, some exercises, then school, then some more sports. Then 2 weeks of pain in the legs....
Oh, sweet sweet memories. Wish someone had taken videos of our Sports day.

9/28/2011

Am I going slightly mad?

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It's altogether 20 classes for the next 15 days.

PS: We have got summer now! It's more than 20 degrees (68 in Fahrenheit) here now. And they are promising 28 degrees (82,4 degrees in Fahrenheit). Yeah, as they told today- it's the hottest end of September since 1895. And it was the biggest storm since 1996 and the coldest summer in the last 18 years. Now thats the country to come to.

9/27/2011

Happy, happy, happy, happy!

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I was in the leisure centre today and in Aqua Fit class. There are some people with learning disabilities occasionally attending the class. And they were there today. With them was one new girl who looked at me during the whole class and then, as the class was nearly over, she came and told me her name. And then she just stood next to me and continued with the class. Then we did some swimming around and she went and talked to the only guy in the room- the lifeguard and then came back to me. And when she got to me, she told "Here you are! The second person I like here!".
There were about 20 people attending the class altogether....

It's the second time some person with learning disabilities has approached me out of all the people surrounding them.

I seem to be some kind of a magnet!

But I love it!

Im so so so happy right now! I can't believe how couple of sentences could make me so happy!
But it's definetely one of the happiest moments I have had here for a long time.
I just want to sing and jump and cheer around now!

Wiii!

9/25/2011

Blogging here is an excuse not to do more important things...

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Yeah, they promised that in October we will have snow.
It's been raining every day in here.
Now they told it will be +28 degrees next week.
The apples are ready on the trees and I've been eating them for the past 2 weeks already. And I will continue.
The leaves are changing their colours. And falling to the ground as well.

I made some Turkish pizza today. Me and Timi both love it very hot, so it was hot and just lovely. She loved the turkish pizza :)

I have become addicted to Torchwood.

I am ready for the winter.

... like reading books, playing guitar, going out for a walk, studying.

It's all about self-confidence

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This week has been pretty much usual. On Monday I was out the whole day in Tiverton again, where the residents of different homes had their representatives meeting. All the other days were usual- working in the house, doing a lot of things in the IT. Went to the leisure centre a lot, tried not to eat too much. The result- when I weighed myself the end of the week, I found I had put on a kilo! How come is that possible? Timi tells me that I have gained lots of muscles, and that she can actually see that from my body shape. But what the hell? I wanna lose some weight, not put on! Maybe I should reduce the amount of milk I drink? Never mind. I'm gonna continue my balanced and healthy active lifestyle. In the hope that it will actually have an effect.
And to be honest, I can't stop- I am addicted to the leisure centre. I just feel bad when I haven't done my usual workout in the evening. I tried Aqua Zumba again this week and realized it still isn't for me- the usual Zumba is brilliant, but aqua version of it is just too slow for me. I also went to the Yoga class on Thursday and I loved it. Will add it now to my timetable. It was nice to stretch all my hurting muscles and relax.
One of the residents died on Friday morning in the hospital. I'm glad that I hadn't worked with that residents too much because it is easier for me. I didn't react to it as bad as I thought I would have.

Then. As usually, I get pissed off by some tiny (big to me) things at work that are related to other worker's attitudes or things they say sometimes. There are lots of things I would like to say to some people, but I'm too scared of them. I'm scared of some people in the place I go to work. I can't write much of it here, but I really wish I could have the self-confidence to go and actually tell them about things I think are wrong and should be given thought of. To improve the working quality of all the people.
But I can't. Not at least now. I'm thinking about doing it right before I come to Estonia, I hope I will be given the chance. I hope I won't ruin it by being too scared. I would like to be more self-confident to stand up for the things that I think are right. Because if I won't stand up it will stay haunting in my head and heart for my entire life. I know that. Because if I don't do that, I will regret letting go the opportunity to improve the lives of the people I care for.
I wish I could be like G, who's not afraid to tell things out loud even if it might cost him his job.
I'd like to be like him- to be confident enough to fight for the things that I know are right.

Because otherwize I'm just torturing myself for not doing the right thing.

PS: my apartement-mate is really good- I don't know what I'd do without her.

9/18/2011

Well, what can I say?

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Nothing really....

Today was a lazy day. It was Saturday. I was home, watched how I met your mother and Dr. Who new episode. I went to the shop and got some wine. I drank some wine with my roommate while watching a movie "Marley and me". It made me cry. It made me miss my dog.
I'm drunk right now.

I shouldn't have gone to that Zumba class yesterday because I felt like I'm gonna collapse in the middle of it- luckily I didn't.

I'm drunk and I'm happy.
I hope.

I haven't drank that much since I came back from that bicycle trip with G. It was a month ago. I feel goood... na na na na na nana.
A bottle and a half more of wine with coke is good. I love wine with coke. My apartement-mate is brilliant for being Hungarian and introducing me to this lovely habit.

I miss my dog. And my cat who was born on the same day as me and was able to catch fish and unfortunately when some idiot drove with a 4x4 wheel landrover over him and just crushed him when I was 15. I miss my cat. I miss my dog who has gotten old every since I left Estonia. He didn't even pick up the toy I gave him when I went home. Such a change in 4 months.

I'm drunk and I'm feeling things more powerful than they are in undrunken world. That's what happens when you have some wine.

Oh gosh, I should stop typing because when I'm gonna read this post tomorrow it'll probably sound rubbish. But I WILL NOT delete it, because I never delete the posts I have made.

Anyway.

Have a nice evening, everybody

And also- all my friends, people from Maarja küla, family, UK friends, everybody that make my life as pretty as it is, my pets through my whole life- I love you. And I truly love you. And I don't want you to forget that. Just because I'm drunk (a bit) it doesn't mean that I don't love you when I'm more sober. It's just that it's easy to say things when you're drunk (and obviously you want to talk a lot when you have gotten some degrees of hot grown-ups drinks into you). And well, I mean it.

I love you all!

Ghoooooooooood night! Nos weidth dda! Gutte Nacht! Dobrõi notš! Head und!

9/15/2011

470 ml in 4 mins 21 sec.

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I went to donate blood today in this country for the first time.

Firstly, you had to book an appointment to do it, so I had one. Secondly, I had to go there by bicyle because that was my only form of transportation.
But....

In comparison to donating in Estonia, I can say that it was a bit funny experience in here.
Firsly, when I stepped into the house it was a usual house which was turned into donation centre just for one day. It looked like some kind of hospital for the wounded people during war time. The people were laying on the donation beds and nurses were walking around in long uniforms and there were medical things everywhere. The place was full of people.
Then, to measure my hemoglobine rate, they didn't do the test with the machine but had some kind of liquid where they put my blood into and it just sunk to the bottom. And if it hadn't sunk then they would've done the test with the machine.
When I donated blood, they didn't measure my blood pressure. Oh and when they took the blood from my finger to test hemoglobine rate, the took the blood from the right hand and middle finger. In Estonia they take it from the 4th finger of the left hand.
Anyway, they took 470 ml's and the time for this was 4:21 for me. Really nice and quick. And then they thought in the beginning that I was first time donating, but I told that I've done it around 7-8 times in Estonia. So when I had given my blood one of the nurses came and gave me the bronze certificate and a pin that I can fasten to my jacket. Because it was about the 1oth time for me to donate blood. Lovely :) I quite like England now.
Oh yes, almost forgot- they didn't manage to get the needle into the vein at the first trial so they had to move the needle around in my hand a little bit. It hurts at the moment a little bit and I think I might have a bruise tomorrow. But well, never mind. At least I got to donate blood!

Anyway. I feel really good right now. Cycled back home after the donation and well, I feel as good as I usually feel after donating, so everything's cool.



Oh and when I came home then my Estonian friends told me that there is a picture of the Into-the-wild guy I had met in the pub in Tartu (my hometown, pub is named Zavood) right before I left. It's silly that he didn't contact me through the email I gave him, but well, how often would you contact a drunken woman who says that they live in another country? Anyway, I now know his name- it's Mattias.

Would be nice to get in touch with him. He seems to be a very interesting guy. Well, maybe when I get back home and will go to the pub again, I will see him. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

And also. I have to mention that I'm really happy here. I've met some really nice people and life is just beautiful. And the weather seems to get a bit better, too. We have some sun and it feels like a typical autumn. Only the leaves on the trees are still greenish. Soon it will be colourful, too. Can't wait!

9/11/2011

Strawberry line aka route 26

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I had a pretty efficient day today. The original plan to be lazy and do nothing didn't work out.

So to start with, in the morning I cleaned the bathroom. After that I decided that it's nice and sunny and it will probably be like that for the next 2 hrs so I took my bicycle and went to Yatton. The bicycle path that I always cycle is called the Strawberry line and the only part of it that's completely ready is going from Cheddar to Yatton. It's 11 miles long.
So I cycled the whole way to Yatton. It was a lovely path- in the nature, almost no dual carriageways or any other roads the cars drive on. There were lots of people cycling and picking blackberries. There were people fundraising money to build some new cycle paths (they wanted 5 quid a month which I obviously couldn't give them).
In the end of the cycle path there was a cafe named Strawberry line and it was held by people with learning disabilities. One of my reasons to cycle the path was to go to this cafe. I had an ice cream and a tea there and some of the workers in the cafe were indeed with learning disabilities. Lovely way for them to earn some money. The cafe itself was cosy and reminded a little bit of Genialistide club in Tartu. It had tradeable books and all kinds of ads on the walls. And it was tiny, had some couches in it. The cafe is in the railway station so you could see the trains going past you all the time.

On my way back I talked to a man who told me that there are some really nice cycle paths on the coast of south England in Cornwall county. I have been thinking about going there already for a while and now I think I might actually do it. Cycle to Weston, catch a train from there to Penzance and make it a day trip.

When I got home it was still sunny so I decided to go and pick some apples and blackberries. The last ones I turned into jam and made some pancakes to eat with the jam. Lush!

And I planted my basil seeds and now just have to hope that they will actually start growing. We will see.

I would say that I had a very nice day. And I'm a bit tired now, but I've still got loads to do.







9/10/2011

Summer=Autumn=Winter=???=rain

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You wouldn't believe what I am going to tell you now but I can guarantee that it's true. At least according to the news and scientists. Well. This summer was the coldest of the last 18 years in the UK. It seems that I picked the right summer to be here.... I have probably never seen that much rain in one summer during my whole life, that I saw here. And now, as September began, locals told, that it should be nice.
Well. It's pretty warm in here. And humid. When I went to the leisure centre on Thursday it felt like I was exercising in sauna. It was so wet and hot. 19 degrees outside (in Fahrenheit it makes 68 degrees - yes I have learnt to calculate temperature into Fahrenheit - double the celsius temperature and add 30). And then there is a hurricane rushing towards UK. It's called Katie and it hasn't hit any land yet- it was formed across the Atlantic and in the beginning was supposed to hit USA but then changed it's direction and is heading here now. Probably will get here tomorrow night. They promised 50ft waves in the seaside and 80mph wind (35 m/s). I have never seen this strong wind. Should be interesting.

So much of the warm September.

Right now I have almost no plans (except Cardiff in the beginning of Oct and hopefully Scotland in the beginning of November). I guess Scotland will stay my last big trip in this country. I'm not bothered enough to travel around too much and I also want to save some money for Estonia. I'll probably still go to Cardiff couple of times and Bradford once, too, but I think that's about it. Only local trips to Bristol, Bath, Weston.

I just borrowed some books from library and will start to remind all the psychology stuff because school and my research is not far away any more. Today, when I wanted to borrow the books, I found out that the system had changed into automatic. So- I lent books through a machine. I have never done anything like this before and it worked fine. I didn't even need any assistance. And also in the shop- I paid in cash into a machine- self-service one. I wish Estonia had developed so far that all the shops have self-services and libraries too. (Actually I think the university library is self-service, or am I wrong?)

I got myself new trainers so now I'm gonna work out nicely. Also the guitar.

Work is the same as usual.

Last week one of my co-workers told me that I am always so happy and enthusiastic and she didn't understand how I can be like this. So I explained her that in this job most of the people are too frustrated about the rules and health and safety and paperwork that they simply don't have time to smile. Or they just aren't bothered enough. But I am here for the residents and work with them all the time and if no-one else is happy then there has to be at least one. And if I'm not happy and smily all the time then who else will be? I make other people happier and try to bring some sunshine into the people's lives. That's what I'm here for.
Being unhappy or just boring means that I'm not giving my best for my work to be good.
And also, I can't bring my personal life into my work. So, when I go to work- the moment I step into the house, I leave my personal life issues behind the main entrance and they will stay there until I go out from the house again after my work finishes.

It's nice to hear from people that I'm different from all the volunteers that have worked here before because I'm so happy and enthusiastic all the time. It makes me try even harder :)

I just watched new Dr. Who episode and ate some mushroom sauce with potatoes and Estonian spices. I am satisfied and will be lazy today.

Maybe I'll do some more things tomorrow, but it depends on the weather.
The blackberries are now completely ready and apples should be ready, too.
I will go and pick some tomorrow.

But right now I'll start reading one of my psychology books and will try to educate myself.

Good night.

9/05/2011

Bath

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This weekend I had a small daytrip to an old Roman city called bath which is about 45mins away from here. I went there with one of my co-workers and another co-worker of mine showed us around because she is local.
Bath is as big as Tartu (by the amount of the inhabitants) and is an old Roman city. It's got really nice architecture dating back to Victorian age in most cases and actually to old Roman empire when Romans were ruling UK.
The city has got old Roman Therms in it- where Brutus used to go to take baths and talk to all the other aristocrats.
We also went to a Sally Lunn's bun cafe where they made really nice bun sandwiches and I bought some home with me, too. The buns are really soft and got loads of holes in them and are really nice. I loved them.
The whole day was really nice and I would like to actually live in Bath if it wasn't that crowded with tourists.
I heard that Johnny Depp has an aparement in Bath. Unfortunately didn't manage to spot him there....






9/04/2011

Videos from families evening

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I know I already uploaded one video of the songs that I performed at work, but I thought I should also upload the rest of them. So that everybody could judge me on how good/bad I was.
I can tell I was not half as nervous as I thought I would be, but this could also be due to the pint of Guinness that I had on that evening. Anyway, the evening was nice- St. Michael's Singers sang, I did my performance, Iain (my guitar teacher) did couple of songs. There were some professional performers who looked like they had stepped out of the eighties- everything about them was from this era. Though- to me they seemed to be the typical old-people's performers, so I wasn't too fond if them, but as the residents loved them, it was all good. I also saw one of my co-worjers wiwho is usually just running around the house in his domestics apron, wearing a glittery costume and doing disco and dancing around. Had a great laugh about it.
Ate a hot dog and some cake this evening. The food was really nice. And it was a nice evening. Got a wine from the activities leader also for my performance. Nice....


9/02/2011