*Sigh* ... Halloween again

Trick or treat.

I like finding new singers.

Well, I'm here at home, sitting with my sister at the computer, listening to a wonderful singer by the name of Hayley Westenra... a New Zealand singer who is kind of like Charlotte Church, but, in my opinion, she might be better (sorry Sharon, but I think she is.. you'll have to hear her -- I think you'd like). Okay, so now she's done and I'm listening to Maire Brennan, who is equally as entertaining. Although she's singing a song right now that I think is supposed to say "change the words, don't change the feeling" but we think it is really saying "change the herds, don't change the feeding". What a funny song.
So I have just had WAY too much theatre rehersal for anybody's good, especially mine. Because we're on reading break right now that means.. lots of rehersal time! We had practice 7-10 Wednesday night, 9-1 Thursday and 10-4 today. Wow. We worked on the second act. And I'm so proud to say that I have basically commited all of act 2 to memory! Yeeehaw! I have one scene that I have to memorize yet, but that should go pretty quickly since in the course of one rehersal I go over those lines at least 4-5 times. Now I just have to work on the stuff at the beginning, and my page and a 1/2 monologue, ending act 1. wahoo. I am starting to get a little nervous -- I have never had to memorize as much as I do for this play .. it's sooo overwhelming.. and the play is less than a month away! ACH! But I'm really enjoying working with the cast and director and stage managers etc.. I love my character and this play seems so ... fulfilling somehow, I don't know.
My head still hurts, but not as much. I'm not too worried since I did some research and I think I sustained a mild concussion when I wacked it on the table. Who knew you could get a mild concussion from hitting your head on a table?!?! But yeah, I've had lots of headaches, dizziness, nausea.. all that fun stuff. Not cool.
So yeah, I'm a little sore, but basically happy. Maire Brennan is still entertaining. And Viggo Mortensen is still darn sexy. Life is good.

Why am I such a klutz?

On top of the blooming headache I have from the bump on the back of my head, I just burned three of the fingers on my right hand. My thumb, my peter pointer, and my middle finger -- the three that I use to write with. What a cruel cruel world.

Buff firemen. My specialty.

Mmmmmmmmm.... Joaquin Pheonix. On friday I went to go see Ladder 49 with two of my roomates Amy and Cheryl.. Okay, first of all, it has come to my attention that I watch too many movies. Honestly, I don't think 2 movies a week is all that bad. I mean really, I am a theatre major.... heeeellloo. And I still get my work done. But yet my roomates tell me that myself and my fellow movie buff, Sharon, watch too many movies. You'd think there would be other things to do besides watching movies (and studying of course) around here. But let me give you an example situation: the other day Sharon and I were scotch free of stuff to do (and in self-denial that I had a paper due in a day) so she said to me "let's do something" ...I frantically searched my brain for something exciting and exhilerating to do other than watching a movie.... and wouldn't you know it. NOTHING came up. Therefore, we watched a movie. Now see, if we had found something to do that really didn't require much energy and that allowed us to escape from our menial existence for a couple hours, then heck, I don't believe we would have watched a movie. But the point in fact is that we didn't. What a sad world we live in.
Okay, so now I come to Joaquin Pheonix ---- so sorry to have put him on hold. Yes, we saw Ladder 49 on friday... I'm still reeling. It was such a good movie. And how much do I enjoy my wonderful Leaf Pheonix. I think this movie was one of his better ones to date. Of course L49 couldn't quite beat his fabulous portrayal of Commodus in Gladiator... but it takes a lot to do that! But this movie is really good publicity for him because he's the big gahoona in this one. Although it makes me kind of sad now that he's becoming way more famous, because he's no longer a wonderful well-kept secret.. :( But this movie... seriously cried and cried. And yet, I came out of there really wanting to marry a firefighter... especially if it is Mr. Pheonix. Yum yum yum. He is one buff and attractive man. John Travolta was surprising alright. I'm not a huge fan of him, but he wasn't too bad.
So yeah, four thumbs up, and definate ownerige when it hits stores.
In other news I hit my head... again. I think I'm going to have perminate brain damage some day. This time I hit the back of my head in that spot right where your neck stops and your head begins. I was sitting down and I went to lie down and I wacked it really hard on a rediculously low children's table. We were having a break during rehersal yesterday. Let's just say the rest of rehersal was rather painful and a little out of focus. I really should stop doing these things.
My cousin Heather got married yesterday. She's three years older than me and we hung out together at every family thing. I'm so incredibly happy for her, yet completely weirded out. It still hasn't really sunk in that she's married -- she's only 3 years older than me! And the family all thinks that I'm going to be next. Yikes. That means I have hit "you-could-possibly-get-married" age. Double yikes. Someone help me.

Women...sheesh

It's been one of those days... you know, when you wake up kind of mopey and it sticks with you the whole day, even though you can't really pin down why you feel that way and everything kind of gross that happens in your day becomes 10x worse and even though some really great things happen to you during the day, you just can't shake the "I'm not in a good mood" feeling... and other people can sense it too and avoid you, which just perpetuates your mood because who the heck likes to be alone. Grr. Thought for the day : If I'm not in a happy mood people, just GIVE ME A HUG! I won't bite, I promise.

Stress should be covered in honey, then thrown into a den of bears. Sleepy bears, who become violently angry when disturbed. And who think you're after their babies. Maybe then I'd be able to relax.

Theatre: the world as we imagine it to be...

How much do I love the theatre. This past weekend, a group of my theatre friends and I decided that we were going to have a theatre weekend. What an AWESOME idea. On friday night we all went to see Ovid's "Metamorphoses" at Theatre and Company. I enjoy Theatre and Company. I had already seen the play (it's a string of myths about love of different kinds) but the second time was just as fabulous as the first. Of course I didn't have as good of seats as the first time... but it was okay.. I could still see all the people flesh that graced the stage (and there was lots of flesh! :P). The set was a big pool which was just fabulous -- provided such creativity and beautful movement that just isn't capable with a normal set. Jealousy burned. I want to play in a pool on a stage.
The next day (after an emotionally and physically exhausting rehersal for Perfect Pie) the same troup of us (plus two more -- one of my friends, Sharon, and another friend) went to the opening night performance of Donizetti's "Don Pasquale" at Opera Hamilton.. I love Opera!!!! I honestly think it is a wonderful form of entertainment. The first act wasn't quite up to snuff to me, in terms of quality of acting... but the singing through out the whole opera was BEAUTIFUL. It had some wonderful chorus numbers and the leads had some fabulous ensemble pieces. The acting did pick up so that was good. I don't know if this opera was better than "Barber of Seville" because Seville was my first opera, and I think that the story line of Seville was funnier and it had one character that was funny through out the opera. "Don Pasquale" didn't really have that... but it definately had its moments that were just wonderful. I mean I completely loved the opera, just in comparison.... We also got to go backstage and walk through the FABULOUS sets -- it was all wild wild west... definately cool.
Anyways.... theatre theatre theatre.... and I only spent 35 dollars in total! Yeah for student tickets and having connections. I love connections.
This morning I drove to St. Thomas with my sister to catch up with the music group 'North of OK' .. they were doing a worship service there and it was also the church that I went to Kansas (where NofOK is from) with, on a SERVE project. Catching up with people is a wonderful thing. Often times rather awkward, but still wonderful.
Sigh. What a wonderful weekend. Too bad I have to leave my theatre fantasy world for another week of classes, papers and torture. Thank goodness I still have Josh Groban to keep me happy. mmmmmm

Miss Stephanie Woodsworth

Why couldn't I have been born into a British aristocratic household of the 1800's??? This truely puzzles me. I am currently taking British Literature and the more novels I read and the more movies I watch of that time period (Emma, Jane Eyre, Persuasion, Portrait of a Lady etc) the more I believe I was born in the wrong century. How I pine for the curteous chivalry that seems to have all but dissappeared in our day in age! To have nothing to do but paint and read literature and walk through the extensive and beautiful grounds of your luxurious home, with a wonderful British gentleman on your arm who is trying to win your affections in such a polite and chivalrous manner and who speaks in such an aristocratic form of English and with such a charming accent! sigh. Of course much of this picture of life is Hollywoodized and there would be the problematic 17th/18th century views of females in society to deal with (if Jane Austen could break free from the mold so could I!) .. but still. I would not complain with having a Mr. Knightley on my arm or having a man stand up on my entering the room or having men refer to me as Miss Elgersma (um, well, the Elgersma will have to go obviously.. I can not be aristocratically British with a Dutch name, especially a Friesan one. Maybe I'll be Miss Woodsworth or Miss Elliot ... delightful ... Miss Stephanie Woodsworth).
It is a truely sad state that I am in... Perhaps that is why I am a theatre major.. I can reenter the century that I was supposed to live in. It will be a reawakening... I will be home!

A little thankfulness never hurt nobody

Thanksgiving.. a time for thanks.
I am thankful for the home that I am sitting in right now
I am thankful for the huge group of people that love and support me, despite the fact that I am horrible at emailing and communicating my appreciation of them
I am thankful for all the experiences that I've had at Redeemer -- the good and bad -- and the profs who continue to teach us new things day after day
I am thankful for my talents in Theatre and English because I love my right brain more than my left
I am thankful for planes
I am thankful for literature, movies, and music -- even though sometimes they can hinder rather than help
I am thankful for my roomates and my really good friends from Woodland and elsewhere
I am thankful for a loving God -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- who forgives me when I continually fall and loves me unconditionally no matter what
I am thankful for the people who are in businesses -- becuase then I don't have to be and I can remain wierdly-dressed and a little crazy
I am thankful for my family whom I love with my whole heart (and my cats and my fish and the little hamster that lives with us at school, even though she bites)
I am thankful for Europe and other wonderfully beautiful places of the world
I am thankful I can drive
I am thankful for my neice and nephew (I realize that they are part of the "family" catergory but they're special so they get their own...)
I am thankful for so many other things that I don't really want to write down becuase the list will be tooo long and I'm kind of sick of writing "I am thankful for" over and over and I am just thankful for sooo many more things that it would be hard to name them all
That's about all for now... and no, they are in no particular order
Cheers

Return to the rat race

I am not dead.
No really. It has been sooo long since I have written on this blog -- one could begin to wonder. The world which enveloped this blog from the start (aka Europe) seems soooo painfully far away. So many times I have had sudden pangs of longing for the lands of beautiful lilting accents and rolling green hills. I have had so many conflicting feelings about traveling of late ... the more I see of Ireland and England (in movies, pictures, books etc), the more I feel like I don't belong in Canada. But yet I don't think I could perminately leave the safe shroud of the ones I dearly love. I don't want to live in Canada anymore, but I can't leave my family and friends and the security of my world here. What is beautiful scenery if you don't have those close to you to share it with?
My life since returning to Canada has been hectic. It makes me long for the tranquility and peacefulness of Ire/England even more, but in some respects I enjoy being busy. I did miss Redeemer during the summer and it's nice to be back, but there have been many a struggle in the short month since I've returned. My first biggest struggle was jetleg. Jetleg coming back from a trip is WAY worse than when going there. It also didn't help that I went to a concert the day after our return, basically pulling an allnighter, according to my body (the concert was from 7-12PM, -- 1-6AM to me). But the singer was my good friend Joel Geleynse so it was a good cause. And he even kept me awake -- that's how good he is! :) Besides the concert, I moved into my dorm and got shoved into middle of things at Redeemer. I was a week late so all my classes had already met at least once... it was a struggle to get everything I missed and stay on top of the new stuff.. Second year is much more stressful and time-consuming than first year! I have no time to do anything anymore. All I do is read and go to class.
There have also been major computer issues to deal with.. such as not having the internet until YESTERDAY... and also having problems with my floppy drive, preventing me from handing in papers.. grrr
And on top of all that, I had auditions for this year's mainstage... it was a full week process becuase there are only four roles to hand out (all of which are female -- so I was okay in that catergory), but by the end I found out that I had gotten one!!! This is a MAJORLY EXCITING thing for me. But there being only four roles, it's also MAJORLY time consuming! That, with my six other courses, keeps me pretty busy! The play is called Perfect Pie and it's by a Torontonian, Judith Thompson. It is going to be soooo good -- the techies almost started crying just on the first read through.. we weren't even acting yet! It's a really powerful play and I encourage anyone and everyone to come out... November 23-27.. more details will come as I continue the rehersal process.
It's 2:00 AM (my usual bedtime since I got here... ), need to go read history and work on a theatre presentation... I love school

There's no place like home.

Well, now it's really back to reality... and I hate it.
I am sitting at my computer at home, wishing desperately to be back among the cows and the sloten, where there are achres of land between houses and windmills along the highways. It's hard to imagine that three weeks have come and gone. I feel like my whole person has expanded and become much bigger.. it's really hard to explain -- but I feel different. Nothing feels as satisfactory here, but yet there is still a Canadian pride that keeps me going... Everybody loves Canadians in Europe (but not Americans... Europeans usually asked for our forgiveness if they had assumed we were Americans tee hee) . It is also helps knowing that there are people here I love and dearly miss.. But without that...
Our last couple of days in Holland were pretty fun. On Monday we relaxed all morning, then mom, Trish, my aunt Pat and myself went to Utrecht on the train (just hadn't had enough train travel for one trip) to do some shopping. Shopping with my mother can get a little wearisome (as we found out in Amsterdam) but it was still fun none the less. Utrecht is a pretty nice city, full of narrow streets and shops. Trish and I didn't buy anything but it was still a fun cultural experience.
On Tuesday my family spent the day in Amsterdam. When we arrived (we went again by train) our first order of business was ... a coffee! Go figure. I had a hot chocolate and they gave me a whole bowl of whipped cream to go on top! Yummy yummy... We then took a boat tour on the canals. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. The streets are full of narrow houses all connected together. They are so tall and narrow that most of the houses have pulleys jutting out of the roofs so that when they are moving they can tie up their furniture and hoist it up to the appropriate room. It was rather fascinating. We then went to the Anne Frank huis (or house) which was exciting and depressing all at the same time. Being rather tired, I felt like crying most of the way through the house. I'm sure lots of you are familiar with Anne Frank and her diaries, but if not, Anne Frank was a dutch Jewish girl that went into hiding during WW2 and wrote diaries during that time which were later found and kept by friends. Her family was discovered and brought to a concentration camp. She died a month before the camp was liberated, thinking her whole family was dead, not knowing that her dad still lived. Her dad survived the war and made the diaries into a book. It was quite a moving "museum".. we went through the actual house and all the rooms and stuff. They had eight people crammed into this small little place.. sad sad sad. After that we toured around the city for the rest of the afternoon and tried to find T-shirts for my neice and nephew (which prooved to be quite a trial --- we had had quite enough of souvenir shops by the end of the day!) Our tour also included going through the red light district. I don't think I've seen anything so blatently and publically geared to sex in all my life. It was disgusting. The streets were full of sex shops and sex shows and obsene fountains (dad wanted to take a picture of one of the fountains but my mom wouldn't let him.. it was quite the masterpiece!). One man called out to us to come to some sex show, telling us that we could get family discounts! :) We had a good laugh over that one. In many of the doors and windows, women were just standing there, scantily clad, to try and entice men to come in. It was so sad. You just have to wonder what is going through these prostitute's heads.. And we were there at maybe 2:00 in the afternoon! I would hate to be walking there at night.
Yesterday was another relaxing day. We went to a big garage sale in an old village (I bought two shirts and a really cool guinness glass that ended up breaking.. I was rather bummed about that one), we saw a Dutch castle that was right by my aunt and uncle's house, and we went to my cousin's place where we got to go on a boat ride on one of the dikes.. The boat was about 40 years old though, so halfway through our ride we had to stop and bail... :) It was fun. Then last night was our last night with my dutch relatives. It was really sad to leave them because I hardly ever see them so who knows when the next time will be.
And today we left. We were at the airport by 7:00 in the morning .. meaning we were up at 6:00.. My mom's aunt and uncle surprised us by showing up to say good bye... and then my aunt/uncle/cousins etc all had a coffee with us and we said good bye. It was really sad to leave. Our plane left at about 9:30 and then we had a 8 and 1/2 hour plane ride. I was exhausted by the end of that one. But we had three in flight movies -- Raising Helen, 13 going on 30 and Love Actually. All chick flicks. But ah well, it kept the time going and it was something to watch. We arrived at about 12 our time here and now we have returned and am starting to unpack. My enegy is draining though because it's now getting to be 10:00 PM Holland time. Jetleg is such a wonderful thing.
I can't wait to catch up with everyone and get my pictures developed!
Hopefully I'll be back in Europe in my dreams.

Ready? Ha! I was born ready!

We have returned to Holland! Sadly our trip to Ire/England has ended, but it’s not too sad because we still have one more day here in Holland! It is Tuesday now, so it has been 4 days since I’ve written. So much has happened in those four days it’s hard to know where to start. The Saturday we spent in England was one of the best days of our trip. I wrote about 6 pages front and back about that day in my journal so I’ll have try to give the abridged version here. We got up at 5:30 to get on the 6:15 train to Stratford. Blech, not a big fan of waking up that early. But when we got there, the town was just beginning to wake up so it was really neat to see that. Of course our first matter of business was Shakespeare’s birthplace. We were not dissappointed! It was sooo cute and quaint! It was rather weird to think that the great Shakepeare himself was born there! Nuts. We then walked around the village, hit a big garage sale they were having and then made our way to Warwick to see the infamous Warwick castle. Warwick castle was the funnest castle that we went to. It was also the biggest I believe, and the most touristy (which kind of sucked but in this case it was a lot of fun too). There were people all around the grounds that were in costume of the medieval time period (such as a knight -- he was soooo cute! He was australian and reminded me of Russell Crowe.. I got a picture with him. Awww what a cutie -- a keeper of the dungeon – who was also not too shabby of a guy -- a duke and duchess, and a jester). These people gave little demonstrations or entertained or gave history on the castle and the time period in which it would have been used (the title of this blog is from one of the demonstrations). The rooms in the castle were also all decorated in the time period décor and in some they had wax figures doing the trade things they would have done back then. Across a little river they had tents set up in a little “village” and there were real people there doing such things as sewing, calligraphy, cooking, etc. all in period costumes again. A lot of the demonstrations in the castle were geared towards more children, but it was still tons of fun and was a great way to relax for the morning (you know me, a child at heart.) Once done there, we made our way to Oxford … the city “of dreaming spires”. That saying is not a lie. Oxford is a beautiful city! I only hope that I can return some day as a student… Of course, Oxford is also the place where J.R.R. Tolkien lived (the author of the Hobbit and the infamous the Lord of the Rings) so I had made a Tolkien tour for us to do. :) We saw five out of his six houses, his church, his college, and the Eagle and Child!!!! (his pub) We were going to have supper in the pub, in the very room where the Inklings would have sat and talked about their books and what not, but the pub’s kitchen was closed for the evening. So we contented ourselves with just going inside and walking around the place. It wasn’t very big. I also got a picture in front of the building which I hope to put on this page when I get back to Canada. While we were infront of the building a guy from Turkey tried to “pick us up”, so that was kind of fun. He was going to school in London and so he really wanted to know how much longer we were going to be there… but we said we were leaving the next day. Too bad for him! He was in the picture too, but to the side, watching me pose. Kind of creepy but he was really nice so it was okay. And he wasn’t old!! Yippee! We then walked around the city… and lo and behold… I met my philosophy prof from Redeemer walking down a little street in Oxford!!! Holywell St.— where one of Tolkien’s houses was.. It was the craziest thing ever!!!!! He recognized me and we chatted for a little bit. Had we been a little bit later or earlier, we would have missed each other completely… all away across the world. Man, the world is small. We went back to our hostel where both Trish and I managed to get hit on again by another guy. This one was definitely desperate because he tried to pick me up with the line “nice glasses, where did you get them from?” I think that has got to be the LAMEST pick up line ever!!! Where do guys get these things??? He also told me that fifteen minutes with me would be heaven, but he would take one minute if he could.. and when I left him he said he was going to kill himself. I mean really.Our last day in London was spent touring the rest of the city. We saw Buckingham palace and the British museum (I saw the Rosetta stone, which I’m sure I’ll be proud of some day) and then went back to the Theatreland museum to go to the costume workshop. That was soooo worth it because Trish and I were the only ones there, so we got to try on what ever we wanted! I tried on a dress worn by Carlotta in Phantom of the Opera, an Elizibethan dress, and the skirt worn by Sandy in Grease! It was a blast! But the cost of such a fun thing was that we were late for leaving for the airport. Our plane left at 4:10 and we didn’t leave the TheatreLand building till1:30. We then had to take the underground to our hostel, run in and get our bags, take the underground to Hyde Park, stop for two seconds at Speaker’s Corner, run through Hyde park (yeah, that park is big and it was hot – around 30 degrees – and we had our big backpacks on.. man were we sweating and red faced!!!) catch the subway and arrived at the airport at 3:00… an hour before our flight. Luckily we made the plane but then our plane was delayed for 1 ½ hours. Lovely. But we made it to Amsterdam and now we have been here for two days. Since this blog is already pretty big I won’t really elaborate on what we have done, but Monday we went to Uterecht for the afternoon (did some shopping) and yesterday Amsterdam. We also went through the Red Light district in Amsterdam.. wow what an eye opener!! A rather depressing and revolting area of the city. But this also means I have seen every capital of every country I visited in Europe.. Each is soo different but all are beautiful and unique in their own way. Today we are relaxing – going to a town which has many secondhand shops (yeah second hand stuff!) and seeing a castle – because we are leaving early tomorrow morning. :( Truly truly sad… Anyways this is pretty long so I will write more later.. I will be home in 2 days!

Your brother will die tomorow. Content yourself!

London oh London!
Once again, we join you from a little internet cafe.. I really like these things. Especially the cheep ones. I think I'm going to get a bunch of computers together and start one myself. Look at me -- a little entraprenaur. Too bad I can't really spell it. But I'll be a good one.. just you watch.
Anyways, we have made the transition from Ireland to England! I seriously felt like crying as the Ireland coast drifted from view. I love that country and it will always have a very special place in my heart (let me dry my eyes a second). I was also a little bit sad becasuse Trish and I had met two WONDERFUL and goodlooking young men that morning .. and had to leave them in Dublin. A Swede (that would be from Sweden) and a Brit (and that would mean Britain -- Liverpool to be exact) . That was definately crying worthy. Anyways, our ferry ride back was absolutely fabulous compared to the one there! There was a casino, three restaurants, a play area for kids (and no.. I didn't go in there -- tempting) a store, a bar.. you name it! It was just wonderful! And no one getting sick.. Once we hit British soil, it was train time! I think that day we spent about 8 hours on the train. Talk about fun. :) To liven things up a little bit, Trish and I stopped over in Shrewsbury -- which may be actually said shrowsbury but we're not exactly sure -- the birthplace of the infamous DARWIN. But that's not really why we went (we did see his statue though!). We toured around the little town and all it's little alley ways (Trish and I took a little walk through grope lane.. which surprisingly still lives up to its name -- yummy) and then stopped for supper in.... McDonalds! It definately lived up to all of my low opinions of that fast food chain. BLECH. But hey, we were hungry and it was cheap.
So we finally pulled into Paddington Station (which is where the bear is from.. how cute!) at 11:45. I needed sleep. We went to our hostel -- no swede there :( -- and went to beddy-by.
Today was our second last full day in England. :( This trip has gone by soo fast! London is definately alot bigger than Dublin. We took the underground (our new best friend) to all sorts places -- starting with the parliamentry buildings, Big Ben (oh yeah! In real life! And yes, it's big -- no false advertising there), and Westminster Abbey. All of which were exciting. Then it was Theatre time. Right up my alley. Trish and I first went to the TheatreLand Musem (free of cost) which was all about the WestEnd (which is the area of London where all the Theatres are), how it came to be, it's history etc etc. There was also exhibits on the Redgraves (a very famous British acting family -- where Natasha Richardson is from) and on staging stuff (such as lighting, different costumes, weird stages etc). It was really fascinating. We were also there in time to see a makeup workshop. A guy did the make up of the Restoration period (the white powder, small lips, big hair).. it was so great! We then headed to London Bridge (and it didn't fall) and went to Shakespeare's globe theatre to see Measure for Measure -- one of Shakespeare's lesser known plays but one that I particularily wanted to see because I had done a scene from it in theatre class. Trish and I stood in the "yard" (which is where all the commoners would have stood in Shakespeare's day) and we were right infront of the stage -- I actually leaned on the stage the whole time and almost got kicked by an actor and hit with a sword -- that's how close I was! It was sooo awesome! I have never felt that close to the actors on stage before. The play itself was really good. The actors were very fun to watch, even though they didn't do my scene as well as me and my partner Todd did. But how could they have?!?? It's just not possible.
Anyways, the rest of our day was spent looking at the Tower Bridge, the London Tower, and riding the underground. We looked all over for Dicken's house but could not find it, so we'll just have to content ourselves with having seen his neighbourhood.
So now we are planning to go back to the hostel, have showers (something everybody on the subway should have done too... I love eau de B.O. ) and then hit the hay... we have to be at Paddington station by 6:15 tomorow so it's going to be an early morning!
Hope everyone is doing well... I do miss Canada.. kind of... okay, I miss all the people -- yes, you guys do still mean something to me! (although that swede... brown piercing eyes, tall, curly shaggy hair -- and interested in me too! sigh. If only I had gotten a name.)
Well, I'm knackered. (that means tired)
Cheers.
ps. the title is a line from Measure for Measure

My Goodness My Guiness

Hello from the wonderful city of Dublin!
I am sitting in our hostel writing on a pretty darn old keyboard. We have now been 2 days in Dublin and I can definately say everything is fantastic since our problems of monday! Dublin is wonderful. It is nice to finally be situated in one place for a couple of days!
Well, let me try to sum up what we've been up to in the big capital of Ireland. We arrived on Monday night and in the morning (after eating a real breakfast! Hurah!) we set out to see the sights that Dublin had to offer. The first place we went was the Kilmainham goal or jail. This jail was used during the various rebellions in Dublin, the civil war and the famine. Having watched the movie 'Micheal Collins' in World Issues in highschool, it was like history (and movie) coming to life. It was sooooo cool! For those of you who haven't seen the movie.. watch it! It stars Liam Neeson.. very nice. Anyways, after that we just toured around the city. We saw various churches that were rather large, we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells (yeah about that... it was 6.50 Euro to go in and see this silly book -- so we weren't going to go... then when we were in the bookstore - where the entrance to the book was - Trish just walked in when the guy was gone (not on purpose mind you -- honest!) and saw the book for free! Yeah for being Dutch!), we had lamb kabobs (there's some Irish food for you) and went shopping down streets reserved only for pedestrians. It was such a wonderful day.
Today was reserved for a tour Trish and I decided to go on called the Celtic Experience. It was with a tour company but there were only allowed 14 people per tour so we knew it would be a more intimate tour. Our tour guide's name was Chris and he was great! He was a funny guy and loved talking to us about Canada and telling us interesting things about Ireland and his life. On the tour we went to a bunch of places... we started with Fourknocks which is a burial mound outside of Dublin... it had buried 65 people... it was very cool. Next was Mellifort abbey.. a ruins of what would have been a beautiful abbey.. we are soo proud of ourselves because we only took ONE picture here, despite the fact that we are SUCKERS for ruins. I just can't resist take pictures of crumbling buildings surrounded by green! It's just so appealing to the camera's eye. Anyways, from there we went to MainisterBoyne which was another abbey ruin... but this one's importance was the fact that it held the highest celtic cross in Ireland and the best preserved and best example of a celtic cross (that would be 2 different crosses). Next on the list was Slayne, where we stopped for lunch (we ate in a beer garden -- a dream for some of you, I know) and then we went to the hill of Slayne which held the abbey where St. Patrick first defied the King and lit the famous fire of Pashel. If you don't know anything about that.. then you should learn. The last leg of our tour was to the famed Hill of Tara which used to hold the powerseat of all of Ireland. The High King lived there in his big castle (no castle remains because it was built of dirt -- talk about fancy) and there is also the Lia Fail.. a big rock jutting out of the ground. This is also known as the stone of destiny. Once again... do your homework.
So yeah, once the tour was done, we bought some souvenirs, did some groceries (um, bread and chips.. or crisps as they call them here) and then got ready for a night on the town. Trish and I decided to go to Knightsbridge Pub in Dublin which had live music and dancing. And no, we're not talking clubbing dancing where you dress in scanky clothes and bop your head.. no no... this is dancing the Irish way A. K. A. --- RIVERDANCE! Wahoo! We spent 10 Euro there.. on dessert and a drink. Yep, and that would be splitting that dessert and drink. But the drink was alcoholic (GASP!) .. but it was NOT Guinness. I didn't think I'd like the stuff (sorry jody!) so we got a shandy instead. But the entertainment was totally worth it. Live Celtic dancing right infront of us! It was awesome.
So now it's off to bed because tomorow we leave for the wonderful but expensive England! We're staying at the Brown's Hostel.. tonight will be our third night. Our bedroom is being shared with 18 other beds (not all which hold people). The amount of people in our room changes each night. Last night was the most interesting because there was ourselves, one other female and about 9 males. Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Unfortunately I was already asleep when they all came in, but Trish informs me that they just strip down to their boxers and hop into bed! Man alive... why must I be so tired!??!?! But waking up to 9 guys around you is rather interesting. Let's just say I tried to make it to the bathroom as soon as possible, then once done, made my entrance. :) LOL . But don't worry, no attatchments as of yet.
WEll, I don't know how much time we have left so I better sign off.. these things always end up being soo long! Sorry but there's so much to tell!
Oh, by the way, some of you have been asking if I have pictures... I do, but they are currently in a tight little film canister. So you'll have to wait until we get back.. then I can scan them into a computer and put them up somewhere.
I hope everyone is ready for school!! (that is, if you're going...) tee hee, I won't be there for another week!
Love lots and lots -- thanks a million!

From rubbish to cubby holes to nappys

Cheers from Ireland -- the beautiful land of the drinkers!
Woweee... I'm sitting in a internet cafe in Ennis (a place where we were only planning to make a transfer... but hopefully more on that later). Man, there is sooooo much to tell! We have been in Ireland for 31/2 days now and it has been tiring, incredible, wearisome, unbelievable and always an adventure. Well, I'll see how much I can write in the 50 minutes I have left.
We had our first roadblock about an hour before we left for the airport to fly to England. Trish went to call our second hostel (it was the first one we were staying in, in Ireland -- for 2 nights) and she found out that they had given our beds away because we didn't confirm eariler... when she had told us to call the day before!!!!!! Man, I had choice words for that lady. So we had nowhere to sleep and we hadn't even got to Ireland yet! And as you might have guessed it.. yes, I had my first breakdown. :) Ah.. emotional me. But we can rejoice in God's faithful hand because both nights we managed to find a place to sleep for fairly good prices! Hallelujah! And we got to see some things we otherwise wouldn't have seen.
So yeah, after that emotional little ride, we managed to make it to England even though we had another scare because our plane was delayed. But we made it to our hostel by 1 in the morning so we were relatively happy! Then it was up again at 6 to make the train to Ireland. Yeah, no sleep. We took a ferry ride across the chanel inbetween ireland and england. Let me tell you... it was the WORST ferry ride I have EVER taken. There were people throwing up, yes VOMITING, to the left, right, front and back... and everyone else had barf bags in hand! Thankfully I had taken some gravol (yeah for gravol!) and I learned how to breathe with the roll of the rather large waves so I didn't throw up at all... The only good thing about the trip (other than either of us actually throwing up) was the breathtaking Welsh coast and the fact that we saw live dolphins!!!! Yeah, it was sooo cool! They weren't really close to the boat but we definately saw fins!
We also had our run in with our first troup of noisy, drinking, rowdy, but friendly Irish boys.. er men. They were on the ferry and surrounded us on the connecting bus. They were alot of fun though and really fun to talk to. Man those accents!!! I could melt.
Anyways, we have now spent two days touring the beautiful Ireland. My cousin once told me that he has never seen so many shades of green in his life in Ireland. I couldn't agree with him more. Ireland is all mountains, rolling hills of patches of different shades of green, surrounded by trees, with grazing sheep and cows. It is sooo beautiful here it takes your breath away.
In the past two days we have done so much! -- We went to our first castles (Castle of Cahir, Rock of Cashel and Ross Castle) all of which were soooo impressive. The Rock of Cashel was up on a hill so it stood as a huge fortress over all the city.. AMAZING. The other two castles were equally as wonderful -- Cahir castle was just kind of plopped in the middle of Cahir, and ross Castle we had a tour through old rooms and stuff -- really fascinating. We also went to an Irish Music fesitval which was very very fun! People filled the streets, celtic music was everywhere, there was an area where everyone was doing traditional dancing (an old man on the bus told me that if he saw me he would ask me for a dance... what is with me and old men??? But it was cute and no, I never saw him..) and there were vendors selling all kinds of Irish things. We also took a biking trip in Killarney. We biked through the paths in Killarney National Park -- Mountains all around and ruins and waterfalls and open water. It was indescribable. It was worth it, no matter how sore our rear ends were the next day (and after about 4 hours of biking.. they were SORE).
Today has been our first real let down day. We had planned to go to the Cliffs of Moher today and then travel to Dublin tonight. Well, we're still traveling to Dublin tonight but we're not seeing the Cliffs of Moher. We traveled on the train alll day today and got to Ennis (which is where I am writing right now). Ennis is a really nice town and it's kind of nice just to relax and walk around the town, but it would have been nicer to go to the cliffs. What happened was that when we got to Ennis, we found out that the bus from the cliffs wouldn't be back to Ennis until 7 and by that time we would have missed the train to Dublin. We also realized that we could have used our student cards for the bus system -- which we used all day Saturday, spending about 70 Euros -- and saved some of our money. So we had two big frustrations in one day. Not good for emotional Steph who is on lack of sleep. And so we kind of rode the trian all the way out to Ennis for nothing and now we have about 3 hours before the next one comes. Thank goodness we found this cafe so we could make good use of our time! I could have cried. Poor Trish has to deal with me right now.. not pretty. I can be kind of testy when put in these kind of situations on sleep deprivation, as some of you well know. But we will get through it and tomorow will be a better day! It's not a too big of a loss because heck, we're still in Ireland of all things and we're healthy and safe and there's lots to do in Ennis. But the student prices thing is a real real shame. It makes me really mad to think of it, but there's nothing we can do now so oh well.
Well, we're off now to go shopping. :)
Tomorow it's time to hit Dublin -- it will be nice to stay put in a city for a little bit.. we have been traveling every day so far. It wears you down after a little bit.
Anyways --- I could gush on and on and on about the wonderful and beautiful sites I'm seeing here (if you ever get the chance -- go to IRELAND!!!!) but we should be going.. I still have 18 minutes left and we want to do some other things..
Cheers
Steph (with imput from Trish, who sits here beside me)
PS. Go to my friend Joel's concert on the 10th of Sept. at Waterloo stage theatre!! www.joelg.ca (we'll be there so you can talk to us about our trip! there's incentive for ya...)

There and back again

Hello again! I am writing from my aunt and uncle’s house again… hopefully this will go through. :) It’s been two days since I last wrote. I have been all over Holland in those two days! Not being a very big country, that’s not hard to do. Let me try to sum up… Yesterday we went to Freisland which is where my father grew up. Freisland is a Dutch province but it has its own language that, to me, sounds exactly like Dutch, but Mom tells me it is not at all the same. I got to see where my father grew up, where he was born, where he went to school etc etc. It was soo fascinating. We also went to this graveyard in Schraad where all my Elgersma ancestors are buried.. Man, I’ve never seen so many dead Elgersma’s in one place! I have a new reason to love Holland… this country is full of wandering cats! They are everywhere!!!! We walked through a little fishing town today called Markem and I saw at least 4 or 5.. most of which were friendly. Yesterday too I made friends with many a cat. And if there are no cats then there are sheep, chickens, horses or cows! I love it! My family was joking that while they’re here to see the sights.. I’m here to see the animals! :) Today we headed back to my aunt and uncle’s house but we took most of the day to get there. We stopped in a World War Two museum that had 7 bunkers from World War Two. You could walk through them and stuff.. It was soo incredible! I managed to smack my head on one of the entrances – yeah, that one smarted – that was hard cement. I don’t know how I managed to do these things. While at the museum, my dad ran into people that knew his family.. we talked to all the volunteers there.. each for about 10 minutes.. what friendly people! Too bad I can’t understand their language. One of the men knew my dad’s uncle .. and then when we were watching the video in the museum, my dad’s aunt was one of the 5 people who was interviewed in the movie!! She lived across the Iiselmeer (big lake) from the bunkers. You could see her house from the top of the bunkers (she’s no longer living so we didn’t visit her). So that was really neat… it made me proud to be an Elgersma! Other than that we have been relaxing. Tomorrow Trish and I leave for England. I’m a little nervous because we won’t be getting much sleep… by the time we get to our hostel it will be about 1:00 and then we have to leave again around 6:30… Oh well, we can sleep in the train. So I don’t know if I’ll be able to write for a couple days.. I believe our first hostel does not have internet access and we will be there for 2 nights. I’ll have to fill you all in when we get to Killarney. Holland is such a wonderful country, but a little wet right now. For the most part, the weather has been good, but we have hit rain more than once. Today at the bunker museum, we left to go to the car and it started to pour buckets… and since we were on a dike it hit us hard! :) We had to cross a bridge and walk a little bit to get to the car so by the time we got there we were absolutely drenched!!!! I hate sitting in the car in wet clothes. We stopped at the first gas station we could find and changed in the bathroom… they gave us some weird looks! Speaking of bathrooms, it’s kind of a game here to figure out how the different toilets here work. For the most part, they have a button on the top that you push, but my aunt’s house has a cord and other ones have been different too… nothing like in Canada.Anyways… I have been enjoying all the time spent here.. Trish and I slept in the loft yesterday which was pretty fun.. We watched a lightening storm from the top of the house. I actually finished a book which surprised me – Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. A very good read I might add. Well, time to go watch the Olympics.. in Dutch. We have found out that Canada now has 6 medals! PROPS -- Way to go! Although we’re still not beating this tiny country over here… But we still don’t know what the medals were for.. if someone wants to email me with some info I won’t mind. Alright – talk to you later… doeg

Rainy days

Hello again! Goet morning! It is 12 at night again here in Holland, I don’t know how I manage to do this so late when I should be sleeping. It will cost me I’m sure. You might have noticed some problems with the last blog.. blame that on computer troubles. What a headache! But that is all over. : ) Well, I feel like it is the first time I can sit at ease and chat away about my trip! I have done this once before but we lost the whole thing so the next one was short and sweet. But I’m writing this up in Word so if I loose it it won’t be such a big loss. I love Holland! We have left my aunt and Uncle’s house for 3 days. We are now in the Dutch province of Drente, where my mother was born. The past weekend was spent in serene relaxation with my aunt and uncle. I saw some of my cousins (one of which I had never met) and we took a walk out to a windmill. We had coffee and coffee and coffee and coffee … etc outside all day and the weather was beautiful! The cows were out grazing in the fields and came and checked us out a number of times. Man if I had a loonie everytime someone offered me coffee I would be stinking rich! I am so stuffed full of food and drink I don’t think I will eat again for days. But I will. Because it will be offered. Again and again and again.So yah, today we left for Drente in the morning. We rented a really cool car (the cars here are sooo small!! I love them! Joel, we saw a really great Volk’s wagon… it was a sweet little car!) and travelled most of the morning. We stopped in a little fishing town called Urk. I wish you guys could have seen it. The houses here were all connected and they had no lawns – all brick. The streets kind of bend around the houses and are so narrow they look like large sidewalks! It’s amazing. We went out the dike too but it was raining out so we didn’t stay too long. From there we went to my Oom Harm and Tante Reike’s house. I don’t recall the name of the town but it’s near Assen. They are my mom’s aunt and uncle. With them we travelled all around the area and they showed us where my mother lived (or where my mother would have lived – the house was levelled a long while ago) and different significant places that had to do with my Opa in the war. It was soooo fascinating. But yah, then we went back, filled ourselves with supper and coffee and visited my Oom Hank and Tante Iitje in Assen. There we got a tour from my Oom Harm’s grandsons (who were, unfortunately, 12 and15). It was a little difficult with the language barrier but we managed. Now we are back at the house in Drente and planning to leave tomorrow for Friesland, where my father grew up. We’ll see if we can write. I wish I could speak more Dutch, it’s proving to be quite the hinderence and annoyance, but hey, that’s why I have my parents along! Hope you’re all doing well Steph
Hey Everyone!
This is Steph's lovely sister Trish. Yesterday we lost my message so I thought I'd say hi here. I'm enjoying Holland very much, although I think that if I eat one more piece of food I will burst. They never stop here. Although it helps that I have started drinking coffee (AHH!) so I don't have to worry about falling asleep into my food. Before I never thought I would marry a Dutchman, but if I stay here much longer I just might! There is something very attractive about a tall, blond, blue-eyed Dutchman riding a bike and speaking Dutch. Although our tour guides today were a bit young for me! Well, love you all and hope you're enjoying the monotony of everyday life in Canada or elsewhere :)
Trish

Exactly what time is it???

Hello from Holland!
It is currently 12:30 Am on August 23.. so that means it’s about 6:00 in the afternoon in Ontario…. Supper time! That explains why I was mowing down on the chips!
Well, I got through my first airplane ride.. It was beautiful! I love flying! It is the craziest feeling in the world .. I can’t even begin to describe it. One minute you’re on the ground going crazy speeds.. the next you’re off the ground and looking at all the scenery. I never knew Toronto had so many trees! This can’t be too long because my mom wants to go to bed and the computer is in her room. Blech. What can I say about Holland??? It is soo beautiful! I love it here.. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle … they live in a adorable little house – both yards are covered in flowers and shrubs and beside the house is a sloten (that is what it is called in Dutch I believe – it is a canal of sorts) and on the other side are cows grazing on an open field – no more than two feet away! It’s amazing… It is soo peaceful and serene.
Tomorrow (or I guess today) we are leaving for Drente and Friesland which are the places where my parents were born. I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be able to do. So far internet access has been difficult because my aunt and uncle don’t have cable and the internet has been very frustrating. Jet lag wasn’t too bad.. I slept a lot yesterday  We’ve done a lot of walking and it’s so wonderful!
Anyways I must be going.. We wrote a much longer blog two hours ago but it didn’t make it through. FRUSTRATING. We love it here and I hope I can write more later.
I saw my first windmill today! Very cool!
Love you all
Steph

And we're off!

Good Morning! This is my blog.. yes... I've finally joined the ranks of blog users...Anyways, the purpose of this blog is so that people can check in with me on my big excursion to Europe! I'll try to post as often as I can seeing as most of our hostels have internet access … but we don't have a ton of time for sitting at a computer.. there’s too much of the world to see!Ahh.. and maybe you're wondering about the title? Well, most literary types will have no difficulty figuring out where that one came from... but for those of you who may not be so literary (I don't hold it against you.. but you are kind of missing out) the Eagle and Child is a pub in Oxford, England (also, incidently, a place where I will be visiting) where the Inklings (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and co) met to discuss all sorts of things... And since I love both of those authors and I will be visiting this quaint little place – it is my title.So yeah, follow me as I take you on a magical journey to far away lands, castles and every colour of green you've ever imagined. Oh yeah.