Sky Castle

With a good tan, a day and night rythme that has been all but turned around (bedtime? Isn't that around 5 in the morning?), four new CD's, a couple of new friends and a bucket load of experiences. In other words, I'm back and I had an absolutely wonderful time.

I'm not going to give you a day to day description, because that would be undoable (not in the least because all the days kind of blend together in one big cloud of experiences) but to give you an impression...

~ I danced and danced and danced on a lot of new, different, interesting music with influences from Spain, South Africa, Wales, Argentina, Breton, Estonia, England and... Well, where ever else.
~ I learned that the Dutch just don't do Bretonish dances like the Bretons do, and got fairly addicted to it. I also can't feed that addiction because I'd have to immigrate to France to do it...
~ And while I can now actually order une grande boteil ou sil vour ple (a big bottle of water please), and am able to wrap my tongue around many of the wackier little places they have (unlike on the way there, which is NOT useful when trying to navigate ^^;; ) the sentences I've used most in the last few days are still 'Je ne compre pas' (I don't understand) and 'Je ne parle pas Francais' (I don't speak French).
~ I followed a couple of really cool workshops, among which 'sex ou mazurka' which were a great lot of fun. Also learned a Fandango (two hours of hopping, jumping and falling over your feet) and tried to wrap my tongue around unspeakable French in a workshop for singing in Bretonish dances.
~ I met a lot of fun Germans who talked German to me while I spoke English back, which worked great! Good to know I can still understand it even if I can't speak more than a couple of sentenses!
~ I learned to lead a basic tango... But not to follow.
~ I learned a card game where you make the rules while playing but never say what they are and is confusing as hell be oh so fun!
~ I was burned out of my tent at 10 in the morning and dragged my air mattress out to sleep in the shade
~ I danced until it was past 6 in the morning and walked back to my tent while the sun rose and the cocks where crowing their good mornings
~ I was named camp mommy for being the one always taking care of everyone and everything
~ I made sure to drink at least 3 litres of water a day and needed it!
~ I only showered warm (more or less) once, all the other times the showers were cold
~ I flirted and danced with this very cute German guy all festival. No contact info since the other side of Germany is way too far.
~ I made some unexpected friends with Dutch people I'd never really paid any mind before but who are unexpectedly awesome.
~ There were 16 tents for dancing and there was always music going on in at least one or two, more if there was an actual program.
~ I learned that I really like cashew and pistachio nuts but don't like couscous.
~ We did loads and loads and loads of dancing and it was wonderful.

<3

Hey everyone!

I'm off to France tomorrow to dance for a glorious eight days in a row. I'll leave for Utrecht tomorrow night and early on Saturday morning we're headed for Gennetines, a little place in Auvergne, France. (for anyone wondering, that's smack dip in the middle of France, whatever way you look at it). We'll be driving for about eight hours in a mini-van with 9 dance-a-holics and loads of lugage. I can't wait! My bags are already packed even though I'm only leaving for Utrecht in the evening.

That does, of course, mean that from tomorrow at about 17:00 to monday next week (the 26th) I won't have any internet. See you in 10 days! :D

... ... There is a rabbit the size of a small dog walking around in our house and making a mess of my mom's knitting. I knew my household was crazy, but this is bordering on Alice Anne in Wonderland.

So a bit of a follow-up on my last post.

A very, very nice lady found my wallet, called the police and they put her through to my house. All my cards were still there and even the 30 cent(!!!) that was still in it, was there. I was incredibly happy.

On financial news; I went from being completely and utterly broke to actually having a LOT of money. I still have debts but I have money to pay 10 more drivinglessons (which is really a load off my shoulders) and 2/3 of the money I need to go dancing in France come summer. I also got to work two days last week so I get payed for that as well and when that happens I'll have all the money I need for my trip to France. Eight days of dancing, here I come! <3

Random Note: And if it doesn't work, we'll just alter the laws of physics.

Yes ladies and gentle...ladies, I am indeed still alive. Just... Majorly behind on my flist, very busy with my studies and trying to battle off a case of flu. When I'm not doing any of the aforementioned things, I (attempt to) drive a car or I dance or I sew or I hunt for student housing. Failing all that, then I will check LJ. Isn't that bad (or good, depending on your point of view) of me? I mean... I have a life! The guinine article. I'm honestly amazed.

So... I am taking dancing classes. It's fascinating and awesome. I already know a lot of the dances, but I learned them by looking at others and trying to copy what they do, or by two sentence instructions of a people who would much rather dance than not dance while explaining things to me. The lessons are given in three degrees, level one which is for dancers who have only just started, level two who is for dancers who've followed classes before or have a good bit of experience at balls and level three for the really experienced dancers. I'm pleasently surprised to find myself between level two and three in terms of how good I am, after only a year of dancing. In light of this, I decided to do both... Which is wonderful because hey, it means two and a half hour of dancing rather than the usual one and a quarter! :D

In level two I relearned a waltz and found out that it's a lot harder to unlearn old habbits than to learn a dance from scratch. It's not that the way I used to dance it is bad in particular, it's just much more exhausting than the way I'm trying to learn now and this way is also much more smooth and grounded. I used to dance the whole dance on my toes. Imagine being on your toes for 3, 5 or more than 10 minutes on end, as long as the band decides to make the waltz last. You'll be exhausted.

I also learned the basis of the polska today, which is hard but really, really cool since it's a dance that I've wanted to learn for a while now. The polska is particularly hard for me because contrary to the dances I'm used to (where you basically mirror your partner unless your partner does any variations) this dance actually has different steps for the man and the woman. I'd been practicing it, learning it by watching other people dance and trying to figure out the steps and conning guys into helping me dance it, but I feel like I'm getting the hang on it a little now that someone actually took an hour to explain it properly. And believe me, it's not a dance you just learn within the hour!

I have next weekend off (nothing planned! Miracle of miracles! O.O) but the weekend after is going to be incredibly awesome; There are three balfolks that weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's going to cost me a fortune in traveling expences, but soooo worth it. I hope I'll have had a chance to buy myself some actual dancing shoes by then. The shoes I dance on now are actually shoes for PE and they just don't quite suffice anymore. I guess I'm now at a point where the quality of my shoes is starting to bother me. I kind of hopeh_johanna will have time to help me out somewhere the next 10 days since she knows where to buy these things.

I really, really, really, reeeeaaaaaaaally need to get myself a dancing icon -_-;;;

Also, I'm very excited because tshapo_chi, who is awesome by default, is making me a corset! And gods, she showed me an in progress pic and it the fabric is so pretty. I don't usually go for fabric that's shiny but gods this is gorgeous. I'm just so excited about it! 

And, because it needs to be said now and again, h_johanna ... You're a wonderful, wonderful person and I love you to bits. Thank you for being you. You're stuck with me!

Random Note: My nose is a total coward.

In other words it's running like whoa, and my head feels like it's stuffed full of snot or, alternatively, fluff. Either way, it's not a completely pleasant feeling. Price I pay for going to Boombal I assume. It's ok though, I usually get my First Cold After Summer around the beginning of the school-year and it's simply about two weeks early, that's all. I'd better get used to the feeling again because without a doubt there will be a lot of colds to come this autumn/winter/spring.

( Boombal )


( And I drove a CAR! )


It's shaping up to be a busy period for me, but I have loads of cool things planned as well, so I'm good. For everyone's reading pleasure; My scedual;

Monday; Day long studysession with h_johanna  and balfolk lessons at 7 (more for an extra chance to dance than to learn stuff).
Tuesday: Studying at home, Two hours of driving lessons at 2, sewing classes at 6:30
Wednesday: Classes from 9 till 3
Thursday:  Working 10 hours at daycare centers
Friday: More classes
Saturday and Sunday: More balfolk dancing (at least one every two weeks but most probably more) and social stuff, more studying.

Random Note: Yaaaaaawn

Dear everyone, this is just a quick note to say that I won't be back online until monday night, because I'm going to be dancing until my feet fall off over in Belgium. This, and the release of so many awesome 7thnight_smut stories make sure that I'll probably get horribly behind on my flist again.

Fear not, chances are good that I won't be able to do so much as stand up on Tuesday, so I'll catch up a great deal then ;) Love you guys!

Random Note: Alright, I really, really, really need a dance icon. I do. Remind me to go hunt down a picture... Once I've caught up with the 200 entrees on my friendlist and 6 years worth of pictures in my photo album.

So I'm kind of done waiting for the last pictures from Castlefest and am going to spam you with the pictures I already have. A bit of a disclaimer; non of these are made by me, but they are all either of me or posted on public websites anyway so I figure I can put them in my blog.

( Cut for huge loads of foto's and fun )