Adventures Of The Childlike Empress

Happy valentines......

2012-02-14T22:20:00.003+01:00

I didnt get to spend Valentines with my Captain.

but a knock at the door just revealed

3 gentlemen (my downstair neighbours)

holding out a twix bar each for me and my roommate.

Let's just say there was Singing, Can-Canning and Spirit fingers

Spread the Love!

Where in the World?

2012-02-10T14:16:00.004+01:00

As i sat on the Metro today,

I looked up from the book i had been immersed in

and slowly replaced my mind to where my body was.

My mind was in a fictional Indian cottage.

My body was on an Egyptian Metro.

My heart was left in Slovenia and is now being carried over oceans.

My roots are in Scotland.

Welcome To My World.

Yum yum....

2012-02-09T13:10:00.002+01:00

I love that feeling that you get when you cook a new recipe and its a success.

Pride, satisfaction and a full stomach....

I'm loving Pinterest for all the new cooking tips i'm finding.

With recipe books there are normally so many things in there that i'd never eat...but now i'm compiling my very own recipe book with things that i'd actually like to eat and cook.

Anyhows today i made a simple tomato sauce for my pasta...

from scratch.

(picture is totally not mine but from the website i took the recipe from)

from here

and it was delicious, and simple, and made me feel

accomplished and healthy at the same time.

And okay,

so i realise that this recipe had like 3 ingredients and was not rocket science,

and i've cooked harder things in the past...

but i feel at the moment like i'll never have to buy a jar of pasta sauce ever again...

Bummed....

2012-02-07T18:15:00.002+01:00

picture

so i'm feeling a little bit down today.

Been working hard for the past month on Swan Lake,

and performance were meant to start in just over a week today.

I was beginning to feel in good form and ready to get on stage,

and especially after the rather blue experience i had with Nutcracker this year,

was quite looking forward to it.

But things in the ballet world are never stable....

and here in Egypt with the current political climate its even worse.

Today we turned up at work and told that all rehearsals/performances are postponed.

We should have a meeting tomorrow to let us know a bit more....

I feel like all my hard work will have gone to waste,

and i'm not sure that i can keep up my enthusiasm for that long

not knowing when we will next actually get on the stage...

Looking Forward to....

2012-02-05T10:54:00.002+01:00

I should probably write about how i'm stuck at home again,

because getting to work is a bit dangerous again.

But instead i'm just going to post this.

Ooooooh, I can't wait!

Fragmented thoughts....

2012-01-27T23:13:00.005+01:00

I kicked the conductor today, pretty hard, whilst warming up in the wings...

'THWACK!'

Fortunately he laughed and passed me his baton

and told me i'd have to lead the orchestra tonight....

i'm a bit nervous about my new partner for pas de trois in Swan Lake,

he's young and new and reckless,

thinks he's Baryishnikov

he is not.

he needs to hold me so i dont fall over.....

I'm not confident he will.

I went out a couple of evenings ago for dinner with friends.

it was the first time this month that i have done any form of social activity.

Realised that having social activities with friends

should happen more often so as to help me keep my sanity.

One year anniversary of the Egyptian revolution....

are things all that different?

hmmmm.....

better not get into Middle Eastern Politics,

its really not my forte.

I dreamed about eating Philadelphia Cream Cheese the other night,

it was amazing!

Better than the dream i had about George Clooney the night before.

Was pretty sad at the grocery store today when

i had to put back my tub of Philadelphia Cream Cheese

as i dint have enough cash on me and had more important things to buy.

I wont make that mistake twice.

Been loving having nightly chats with Captain Tim on skype recently,

it appears we can spend hours talking about nothing.

mini-disclaimer!

(as much as i'd like it to be its definitely not me in the picture....

if only....

its just one i saw on pinterest tonight and loved,

i guess i should probably start sourcing my pictures...

although if you want to think that is me, please feel free to do so....)

Jumanjied....

2012-01-24T23:09:00.000+01:00

After having a massive fight with my boyfriend

the other night we came to a new resolution....

We had gotten to the point in the fight where it had gotten

so big that we were pretty much bringing up every fight that we had ever had.

Re-hashing them all....

really not resolving anything....

bringing up old issues and grievances that being years old really should be forgotten about....

we are not the people we were when we had those fights,

so why are we still having them?

So we came up with a code word,

for when we are in a fight and bring up topics that

we have now officially been vetoed....

as in they are resolved (or unresolved but remaining that way)

we are going to say those topics are JUMANJIED...

mainly because i thought Jumanjied was a pretty funny word

Let's see how it works out.....

Remembering to be grateful....

2012-01-23T13:50:00.000+01:00

As i shared a video of me doing some of my

dancing in Nutcracker with Captain Tim,

he was quite impressed.

'Oh! its just you on the stage,

i dont have to pretend that i spotted you

out of all the other girls who look just the same'

And he's right,

even though i complain a lot to him about the pain

and the rehearsals

and my Russian Dictator Coach (she is well hard!)

i can be thankful that i'm not still in my last company

where i was constantly the understudy,

or in the back of the corps de ballet.

where i dont feel the need to bring a book to work as

i know that i'm going to actually be dancing in the rehearsals rather than sitting watching everybody else waiting for one of them to get sick.

Although i do miss out on all that reading time i had,

which is what i thought when i saw this picture!

Pointe Skating....

2012-01-22T13:44:00.000+01:00

Oh dear,

this blog is starting to show you just how

much of my day is wasted on youtube....

but i have to share this, it's amazing.

She is dancing on pointe on ice,

out of home made ice skates...

there is some skill there i can tell you

I love to watch the figure skating,

at one point i loved it so much i was like

i'm going to learn to skate and go to the Olympics.

and then i got my self a pair of skates and went

ice-skating and realised that even though i can twirl around on my tippy toes

i can barely stand upright on the ice.

I am the worst ice skater ever...

there went that dream down the toilet....

Swan Graduation....

2012-01-20T13:29:00.004+01:00

It's finally happened....

i finally feel like i've graduated into a fully fledged Swan

We've started on rehearsals for Swan Lake.....

again.....

My mother always tells me when i was a little girl i

dreamed of doing swan lake and she had to have tutu especially

made for me with feathers stuck to it as apparently

it wasnt a real tutu unless it had feathers on it.

Well after 10 years of doing Swan Lakes (and Nutcrackers)

I can tell you how fed up of it i am.

Mainly because all this beautiful music is being played

and there you are standing at the side of the stage playing musical statues...

wondering how you will be able to dance when

your music starts as you've been standing still so

long your muscles have cramped into that position

and your not sure that you can move them.

But this year for the very first time I'm not dancing in the corps de ballet.

Last year i danced Big Swans and but i also learned the corps de ballet,

but not this year...

this year i get to move to the music,

i get to actually dance to it.

I'm quite excited...

I would also like to berate the Common Joe Blogg

Please....

There are other ballets to be enjoyed than The Nutcracker and Swan Lake

Ballet companies get stuck doing them

year after year as they are the only ballets

that are guaranteed to pull in the punters.

Ballet-Goers of the world and First Timers....

open your horizon, go and see a ballet you have never heard of...

you might just be presently surprised....

then again you might not,

but how will you know until you try.

Stuff Ballet Dancers say....

2012-01-16T22:22:00.004+01:00

I love this video which my friend posted on facebook.

its so true....

i must have said nearly all of them at least once!

a few of my favourites...

can we just mark it this time?

how many ibuprofen can i take in one day?

that class did not put me on my leg...

how many more nutcrackers do we have?

is this rehearsal costume/make up?

do you know my schedule?

I thought it was even more relevant when my boyfriend who

before he knew me knew nothing about ballet, also found it pretty funny.

Mainly because he's heard me say a few of them more than once.

Christmas and Cupcakes...

2012-01-15T21:38:00.000+01:00

Just one more post about my fleeting trip to the Uk...

I mean who wouldnt be excited by such a HUGE Christmas tree

and GIGANTUOS Christmas baubles

A trip to London is never complete

without a visit with one of my Besties, Steven!!!!

After a lovely lunch we headed over to The Humming Bird Bakery in Soho for some cupcakes.

My sister has their cookbook at home so i was pretty excited...

to be honest i wasn't all that impressed,

sure it was delicious,

but we got there at the end of the day and there were only 2 options of

cupcakes chocolate or vanilla....how dull!

I also begrudge spending so much on a cupcake....

i know its London and its a cupcakes are all hip and in at the moment...

but honestly,

give me a four pack of chocolate chip muffins

from Tesco's any day for 99p and i'd be happy...

A slightly late Christmas Dinner....

2012-01-14T21:11:00.005+01:00

As it turned out after my last Nutcracker performance (29th Dec) i had a few days free.

So i hopped on a plane and went to the UKto see the New Year in....

I spent a couple of days with Captain Tim and his family in Bournemouth

and then we headed to London to visit my sisters

(and introduce them to Tim....

nearly 3 years and they still hadn't met him yet!)

I persuaded my Big Sister to cook me a Christmas dinner because i'd missed out on one.

And i'm personally of the opinion that Christmas is not over until you have sat down and enjoyed a Christmas dinner....oh and by the way I LOVE CHRISTMAS CRACKERS!

My sister, the ultimate chef,

Oh here is Joel with the Monk Mug that I picked up at

a crazy ass Antiques shop that we found on the drive over to London.....

(also bought was an owl tea pot for my sister the owl collector)

A visit was also made to Del-Boy....

my lovely little tortoise who is not so little any more....i

n fact he is practically a dinosaur, i couldnt believe how big he has gotten!

I was only in the Uk for 5 days but i cant tell you what wonders it did for re-charging my batteries...and even though i was a little bit late at getting into the Christmas Spirit, get into it i did with maximum enthusiasm....

In fact Tim got a little bit anxious taking me out in

public at my squeals of glee at all Christmas decorations....

i guess i was winding up as everyone else was winding down!

The Essence of Dance....

2012-01-10T23:46:00.002+01:00

I came across this video on my friends facebook the other day.

To me it captures the Essence of Ballet.

That part,

that sometimes with all the corrections that i get given in rehearsals,

i forget to focus on.

It's so free!

and i love his 'pirouettes'....

just TWIRL!

maybe in my rehearsal tomorrow

instead of doing pirouettes i'll just twirl,

unfortunately

i think only 4 year olds get away with that....

Backstage At The ballet

2012-01-07T18:22:00.007+01:00

Another year over,

Another Nutcracker finished.

The Nutcracker is not one of my favourite ballets to perform,

and this year it seemed more hectic than ever.

I was dancing in the roles of,

Parents,

Soloist Snowflake,

Corps De Ballet Snowflake

Spanish

Arabian

Soloist Waltz of the Flowers

Okay, okay not all at the same time....

but having to juggle so many rehearsals and keep my stamina

(and sanity) was pretty hard work.

Especially seeing this is the time of the year when people get sick,

and if a dancer gets sick or injured,

all your thinking about is

Dang! what am i going to have to re-learn

in order to compensate for one missing person in the performance tonight!

Before one particular performance a girl came into work and quit her job.

Enough was enough.

And so we juggled around the cast,

and it was stressful,

because at the moment we dont have a lot of spare dancers....

and i went on stage dancing a role that i hadn't expected to.

Feeling exhausted and run down.

But,

as i sat on the Metro heading home that evening a girl came up to me

and asked if i had just been in the ballet.

She had her programme and wanted me to sign it.

She told me how much she had loved the ballet.

It was the first time that she had seen one in real life, and not just on tv.

How she thought it was so magical....

She was blown away.

And it made me realise that even though backstage

half the dancers are wanting to kill each other,

and are bodies are falling apart out of exhaustion.

The audience cant see that (thank goodness)

And although at times the magic gets a bit stale for me,

there are others out there who can still see it.

It's also nice to be on stage too.

Dancers spend a majority of our time in the studio

but when i'm on stage and it goes well....

Nothing Beats That.....

Behind the times....

2012-01-05T21:22:00.003+01:00

Technologically speaking i am a Grandma.

I have a phone that is not even in colour,

and all it can do is make phonecalls...

The other day i saw a Kindle for the first time,

and i'm not kidding my reaction to it was very much akin to

an old lady trying to put a cd in a cassette palyer.

At first i thought it was a toy version of a Kindle.

I could clearly see that it had Kindle written on it,

and i am aware of what a Kindle is,

but it was so lightweight and tiny i thought it was a toy.

I tried to peel off what i thought was the sticker which had the words on it,

ie...the screen.

My sister thought i was joking at first and couldn't quite

grasp the fact that i was really that stupid.

until i started waving it around still thinking it was a plastic toy.

To which she informed me that it really was the real thing,

and that i am a Technology Grandma.

She is right.

But be it 2012

or any other year,

give me a book and a second hand book market any day.

Even if it fills up my whole luggage allowance.

Just a wee quote....

2012-01-01T20:59:00.002+01:00

"The greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man's heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be master of the situation. Know thyself. The crown of character is self-control"

Anon.

This is how i spent my Christmas day....

2011-12-29T01:16:00.002+01:00

introducing Harry.....

2011-12-22T23:38:00.000+01:00

I would like to introduce Harry to you.

Harry is my Christmas tree,

i was walking by the 2.50le (25p) shop the other day

and became exceedingly excited to see that they were selling Christmas trees.

Okay,

so tiny Christmas trees,

but they are the only ones i have seen.

And Harry makes me so happy.

Charlie Brown would be proud methinks.

Merry Future Christmas...

2011-12-21T23:26:00.000+01:00

I just officially became an organ donor.

i added my name to the uk's online NHS organ donation list.

Organ donation is not something that i had ever really thought about until recently

It is not something that i think sounds particularly pleasant,

being dissected after death

(especially from a girl who cant even give blood for my ridiculous needle phobia)

but when you think about it the Undertakers do

all that embalming stuff afterwards too,

which aint much better.

But i got thinking about it recently after speaking to a man i know.

His daughter was waiting for her second lung transplant.

She was suffering from cystic fibrosis.

Her first transplant had given her 5 happy years,

but now she was in need again.

And he told me of the joy that the first transplant had given their family

and how they so much wanted to share that joy with the donor's family.

Wanted to let them know that their kindness during the time of their loss

brought so much happiness to their family and saved others from feeling a similar loss.

He also spoke of the dilemma they felt now.

Wanting their daughter to get better,

but not wanting another family to have to suffer so that she could.

How they were praying to God to help them come to terms with what was meant to be.

And she died, a couple of weeks ago.

I guess this time it was her turn to go.

And this short conversation that i had with him took place

in a kitchen rather off-handly whilst peeling potatoes for a lunch we were making.

But i felt there and then that when i die i want to be able to give someone else

that new lease of life and joy.

Today i saw a link on facebook,

and i followed it through,

and am now official organ donor.

anyone in the uk can register here.

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/consent.jsp

Merry Future Christmas....

Christmas Music...

2011-12-21T14:20:00.001+01:00

Oh dear,

my blog has been a bit mopey and depressive as of late, whilst everyone else's are full of holiday cheer.

So i thought i'd share some of my favourite Christmas songs from this year....

i love listening to them, even though it's not Christmassy outside,

when i walk along listening to them on my ipod,

i can imagine myself a million miles away.

Muppets, Where Ever You Find Love -

This one sums up for me the feeling of what the Spirit of Christmas is.

Its about the moments of joy that you find.

Michael Buble- Santa Clause is coming to town -

So i dont actually have this one on my ipod,

but i do LOVE how Gene-Kelly-esque this video is!

Fantasia -

Again, not on my ipod, but this is the music i'm listening to

everyday for the past two months...Nutcracker....

but as a little girl i could watch the Fantasia movie on repeat....

that Walt Disney, what a guy....

Kari Jobe - Bethlehem

I just discovered her album this Christmas,

i think she has an angelic voice that suits Christmas Carols to a T -

Robert Downey Jr - River

The Ally McBeal Christmas Album has been one of my faves for such a long time now. And i love R-D Jr singing this song....he is so delightsome....plus this song rings up my feelings right about now

Love/hate....

2011-12-18T12:08:00.003+01:00

I've been having a love/hate relationship will Ballet over the past few weeks.

In fact scrap that, it's been a hate/hate.

The other day was one of those rehearsals where i cried from start to finish.

They happen every now and then.

The frustration of always trying to reach that perfection

and knowing that i'll never be able to make it

can just become too much sometimes.

My teacher told me i had to relax, to stop worrying,

and that watching me dance she doesnt see the joy in it any more,

she sees the manual labour.

And she is right,

which it hit me to the core,

as it has been something i had been worrying about.

i spend so much time worrying that my technique is not good enough,

that my feet are not pointed or turned out,

that my port de bras is ugly, that legs are not high enough, t

hat i no longer have time to actually enjoy what i'm doing.

So i'm trying,

i'm trying to relax and to find that feeling when i dance that makes me happy.

that feeling that reminds me why i go through all this sadness and turmoil,

because i know that when i find it,

its amazing

Breaking pointe.....

2011-12-13T12:37:00.002+01:00

There comes a point in before a show when everybody starts to go a bit crazy.

Everyone is tired,

muscles are aching,

everyone feels that they are worse off

than the person next to them.

And going to 'the office' is not a fun place to be.

I guess in that way its just like a regular job,

when the pressure is on people get narky.

and boy oh boy

have i been narky in the studio lately.

as well as everyone else around me....

My teacher also told me yesterday,

that people didnt buy tickets to the Nutcracker

to watch me look like i'm dying,

save that for some other ballet.

They want to see sparkles and glitter....

dang....

its hard to try and achieve that when the muscles in my

back are so tight that it feels like i cant gasp in enough oxygen

Still one more week till for performances,

lets hope we make it....

Christmas Blues.....

2011-12-10T23:37:00.003+01:00

As much as i'm trying to dream about a White Christmas,

or even a Holly Jolly Christmas,

I just don't seem to be able to.

People complain about the commercialism of Christmas,

but what i wouldn't give at the moment to walk into a superarket and hear Christmas Carols play.

How much would i like to see some twinkling Christmas lights,

to go to a Christmas Concert.....

to see a Christmas tree....

to have time to go to a Christmas Party.

To have a present to open on Christmas Day.

Maybe these things are commercial,

but i can tell you living in a country where they dont exist,

that Christmas Spirit is just so much harder to come by.

Plus i just found out that i have two performances on Christmas Day.

I've always worked Christmas Eve before, Nutcrackering of course,

but Christmas day i always managed to eat some turkey ad squeeze in a Christmas movie before...

not this year....

Blue.

why pandas are black and white...

2011-12-04T22:12:00.000+01:00

TIJI "COLOUR" HD from AKAMA STUDIO on Vimeo.

Retail Therapy...

2011-11-30T17:27:00.004+01:00

My return to work yesterday,

which included 3 hours of rehearsals resulted in -

me hyperventilating

collapsing

ambulance being called

and then sucking up the O2 for half an hour

That will teach not to put those Red Shoes on

so fast after not getting out of bed for week.

Needless to say today was spent doing

some far more gentle exercise

ie.

Retail Therapy....

life.....

2011-11-28T11:03:00.004+01:00

So after 6 nights of crippling headaches

i finally went to the doctor last night.

I kept putting it off hoping that i would just get better au natural,

but i gave up hope and am now waiting for the drugs to kick in.

Besides i'm uber bored at home.

Work started back yesterday and seeing as i havent

gotten out of bed in a week my muscles are wasting away.

When i mentioned this to my friend who

drove me to the doctors yesterday she was

a bit surprised that i would feel like a week off

work would make such a difference to my body.

Ordinarily not so much ,

but i'm working on the solo for Spanish in the Nutcracker

at the moment and it requires a lot of stamina and strength.

When i took a few days off the other week it

did take a few days before i was up to par again....

and i dont like dancing under par!

Although i have been enjoying

watching the Life series by Sir David Attenborough,

its so beautiful.....

Pinned down....

2011-11-26T12:25:00.003+01:00

So i've spent the last week housebound.

its not so dangerous outside,

but i've got some kind of virus or something that has rendered me bedridden

which i guess is not so bad seeing as work has been shut down all week any hows.

at anyrate...

i've become addicted to Pinterest

I'm not sure what the actual point of it is, or if i'm using it right cause basically everytime i see a pretty picture i'm like 'repin'....

surely there is more depth to it than that.

I'm loving the recipes that i've found on it.

Like hows AMAZING is this Panda Bread....

Under Cairo Curfew

2011-11-22T13:06:00.004+01:00

So here i am again, under curfew.

Although this time i just dont have quite the

same fear factor as i had back in January.

Sure things are crazy down at Tahrir,

but i no longer liver in that area,

and in the area where i live now (about half an hour away)

life is going on as normal.

Well i say normal,

i havent been to work in 3 days,

because of its proximity to Tahrir.

In fact,

i'm more annoyed about the fact that i haven't had

any water in my apartment for the last 4 days

(unconnected to any protest problems)

I just wonder how much longer Egypt is going to

keep ebbing and flowing in this violent way.

I really dont know enough about Egyptian politics

to be able to make any sound comments on the situation here....

but i do know that nobody can want

to continually live in this type of unrest.

If dinosaurs were ballerinas....

2011-11-20T11:51:00.000+01:00

Of Chalk and Moustaches....

2011-11-18T12:42:00.002+01:00

Some pictures from the Chalkboard photobooth from my sisters wedding....

Beach Bum....

2011-11-15T10:04:00.000+01:00

I have lots of underwater pictures that Captain Tim took,

but blogger doesnt seem to want me to upload them.

So until then,

here are some pictures of me practising being a beach bum to fill in the time.

Oh how i do enjoy being a beach bum....

Growing Wings...

2011-11-14T21:52:00.001+01:00

"I love the recklessness of Faith,

first you leap and then you grow wings"

William Sloane Coffin

Birthdays and beaches....

2011-11-13T09:00:00.003+01:00

My holiday was just what i needed.

No work.

No stress.

No Cairo.

Dahab was also pretty quite too

(tourism still suffering from effects of the revolution)

which was great also.

I'll head back to work today and see if i'm in any trouble!

It was my birthday whilst we were away and Captain Tim even managed to arrange me a surprise party with all the people we had met during the week whilst diving, with a special birthday cake with Diver Rebekah written on it.

We were having dinner on the beach so

when they brought the cake out it was pretty funny trying to

light the candles as it was windy,

i think in the end we got one to hold long enough for me to blow it out!

Forbidden Holiday....

2011-11-07T09:37:00.000+01:00

I'm offski!

Onto my Forbidden Holiday....

but surely things that are forbidden make them so much more fun.

Although i'm not best pleased as i've got a cold and

your not allowed to dive if you have a cold.

So i'm pushing the drugs hoping that it will clear up in the next 12 hours.

The three main things i learned from my diving lessons so far are -

1- If you stop breathing underwater your lungs can explode

2-If you have a cold and go diving your head can explode.

3- If you surface too quickly you blood can fizz up...ie explode.

oh yes...

okay so they didnt quite voice it in those words

but that's the way my brain processed the information...

So here's to hoping i survive my holiday,

although the way i've been feeling and acting this week i

may be on the receiving end of some Bad Karma....

A different kind of Halloween?....

2011-11-06T09:25:00.006+01:00

So facebook has been filled with Halloween this week.

Pumpkins and crazy costumes everywhere.

There is very little Halloween here at all,

on the other hand this week see's one of the big Muslim holidays.

The Eid Festivities.

One of the main things that happens during these days is that a sheep/goat is sacrificed.

So popping up all over town are little makeshift barns where you can come and pick your sheep.

i guess its a bit like us having a turkey for Christmas but having to do the killing part yourself rather than just picking it up from Tescos.

In fact, i even went into one supermarket where

next to the Pringles they had set up a mini stall with a couple

of baby lambs that you could pick up and put in your trolley if you so desired.

Most of the mini barns are set up right next to the butchers though....

who have been working over time in the last week.

I havent left the house yet today as i've heard that this

morning is the big sacrificing morning and the streets can be filled with blood.

Real blood,

not the red corn syrup type...

i guess that's kind of Halloweeenish

at any rate,

Happy Holidays....

update

so i did leave the house for a couple of minutes and witnessed -

-2 cows lying down tied up about to have their throats slit

- a sheep being hacked up with an axe

- a stall full of animal heads

-various random animal limbs all over the street

- pools of blood

-a terrible stench

i quickly decided to return home to see the

cows had already been skinned and beheaded

Pretty Dresses....

2011-11-05T10:06:00.003+01:00

Its not so cold here (still warmer than a Scottish summer)

but i've been feeling a bit poorly so decided to wrap up warm this morning.

As in donning a pair of jeans, and wearing boots instead of sandals.

On my walk to the Metro station one of the local shopkeepers shouted out to me.

'Where are your pretty dresses? I like your pretty dresses.'

It made me laugh.

Being pretty much the only 'white' (blonde/blue) girl living in a pretty Egyptian area

sometimes i feel like a bit of a celebrity.

i really don't make that much effort with my clothes styling here,

because most of the time i'm trying to be as incognito as possible,

seeing as the blonde/blue thing gets me enough unwanted attention all by itself

but i do like my pretty dresses.....

Little Darth Vader Mermaid....

2011-11-02T21:47:00.000+01:00

On the topic of my not-so-legit-holiday.

I've been taking scuba diving lessons.

ummmm... one of the main reasons i'm not

backing down on giving up my day off!!!!

i've already payed for the lessons!

I havent done the Open Water dives yet,

i'll do them when i get to the beach.

but did have fun in the swimming pool.

I thought i was going to feel like a mermaid,

but instead i just felt a bit like Darth Vader

what with all that breathing apparatus...

but i figured that was equally as cool!

At any rate, it got me googling mermaid pictures....

Is Honesty the Best Policy?

2011-11-01T21:13:00.006+01:00

So i had a slight dilemma over the past

couple of days having an issue of honesty.

I dont want to go into too much detail,

but basically my boyfriend is flying out to visit me for my birthday next week.

We have a few days holiday coming up and i've booked a holiday away at the beach with him.

Which i was planning to extend by calling in sick for an extra 2 days .

And then three days ago work put an 'optional' folk dancing

performance on my day off/birthday.

When i say optional,

i mean it is not mandatory,

but for some people (ie me, the suckers) it is.

And a performance means that if i call in sick,

i will be leaving people with an extra work load trying to cover for me.

I've been on the end of that a lot, and its just not fun.

I tried to skip out of the rehearsal....

but couldnt do it.

i was racked with guilt.

I was racked with the responsibility

towards my leaders and my fellow dancers.

So i apologised for skipping the rehearsal but also

at the same time adamantly told them i would not do the 'optional' performance.

I told the truth and said that my boyfriend who i get to see

for a few days every six months is coming to visit and

i do not want to work on my day off.

I have given them plenty of notice please cast it with someone else

as there are plenty of people going spare.

Needless to say this got me into a lot of trouble.

But what makes me mad is that here,

people take time off all the time, they call in sick,

they just dont turn up,

they dont come to rehearsals but turn up for performances....

in general a lot of bad attiutude.

I have never once taken a day off or missed

any rehearsal since i have been here,

and i am fed up of carrying everyone else's load.

The problem is that i didn't play by their rules or system.

I was told that if i had just kept on skipping rehearsal there

would have been no problem,

if i just came to some of the rehearsals but turned up for

performance then there wouldnt be a problem.

i disagree.

I prefer that people are upfront and honest in their dealings.

I was told that i was a foreigner and different standards were expected of me,

(ie its okay for the egyptians to choose when and they want to work, but not for me)

I disagree, i think that it should be the same rules for everyone.

So i was adamant,

and i have been threatened that there will be repercussions.

And i came home and i was upset,

and was thinking if i was wrong?

Should i have just sneaked around?

Should i follow suit?

Should i just be the general dogsbody that i normally am?

And although i'm still going to have to call in sick

for that extra day that i'm going to take,

in that i know that yes, in that i am not right.

But at the same time now my 'sick leave' will not

leave other people in the lurch.

And i was reminded by my Gentleman Caller,

that i had made a decision to be upfront and honest

about my reasons for not doing the performance

because i didnt like the way just sneaking out of it felt.

So i guess whatever repercussions come my way

my conscience in that is clear.

Personal Rival....

2011-10-27T10:42:00.010+02:00

So i have another dancer in the company who is my Personal Rival.

She doesnt know it.

In fact, she's a pretty good friend of mine.

But in my head we are Rivals.

We are similar body shapes and standards (in my opinion)

and so in my head she is My Competition.

If they are casting for a role,

most likely they will think between me and her.

And sometimes she 'wins', and thats okay,

because she is a hard worker and totally deserves it,

but i think to myself what can i do to improve so that i get picked next time.

I think its just a way for me to keep trying to improve myself.

Keeping myself on my toes..

(hehe...i couldnt resist!)

At any rate,

she 'won' the last two roles i had my eye on,

but i found out yesterday i will be dancing the Spanish solo in Nutcracker,

so i just earned a 'notch' on my belt.....

(picture from National Ballet Of Cuba)

Dancers Diets....

2011-10-24T22:44:00.003+02:00

One of the most common questions

i get asked as a dancer is if i have to have a special diet?

I've never had a weight issue,

so the answer to that is normally no.

But here is what i have eaten today -

a home made apple cake

(yes the whole thing, i had half for lunch and half for dinner,

i was originally going to make it to share with my roommates until

i tasted how good it was)

half a tub of cream cheese eaten with breadsticks.

a can of mountain dew.

yeah....

thats it....

hehe...

i promise this isnt my

normal daily intake of food.

Normally there are some carbs, some veggies

and what not.

i'm pretty sensible.

But every now and then a girl ought to be

allowed to eat a whole cake and enjoy it

without a shred of remorse....

Right?

Vintage Grandparents....

2011-10-20T21:10:00.008+02:00

I just discovered these photos that someone

in my family put up on photobucket....

that i've never seen before

Let me tell you a little bit about my Grandad,

he ran away from home and joined the Navy when he was 13 years old.

Look at these cute pictures of him....

just a kid.

and here he is with my Nana on their wedding day....babies....

My granddad, sailor that he was after meeting my nana went out and got her name tattooed on his arm.

My nana, good Christian girl that she was mortified!

And is a picture of them with me at my sisters wedding last month.

Injury Time....

2011-10-17T01:16:00.004+02:00

I came home from performance tonight and plonked myself on the sofa and as i sat with an ice pack on one part of my body whilst rubbing cream into another,

my roommate asked why do dancers get injured so often?

(i guess he hears me complaining a lot!)

I thought about the answer.

Some injuries come from unpreventable accidents,

Some come from poor technical training.

Some come from poorly looking after your body.

Some come from general daily wear and tear.

Some come from being over-worked.

i pulled my groin muscle yesterday in performance.

This one was from not looking after my body.

I had a gap (maybe 15mins) between two of the dance parts i do.

The music inbetween is almost trance-like,

i sat down in the wings and i began to doze off....

and then Wham!

i hear my music,

i run on stage,

kick my leg up 180 degrees,

and pop!

There it goes.

Captain Tim was informed and

told me i should take a couple of days off.

Yeah right!

A couple of days off in the middle of performances for a measly groin strain.

I told him i'll survive,

groin strains are just an annoyance more than anything

(am i using the word groin too much)

cause they take a while to recover,

but can be danced through.

I remember once going to a Physio

when i had back problems and he noted that i had

pulled my hamstring during the last week since i had seen him.

'oh yeah, that....it heal'

He informed me that people came to him specifically for that problem,

really?

a hamstring pull just seems to me pat and parcel

with kicking my leg around like crazy,

it happens,

it will recover.

My knee on the other hand bothers me.

Its been a long term thing now (6months)

I'm being careful to not push it too much,

keep it always warm,

do my physio exercises.

I had to pay to go see a physiotherapist on my own time during my holidays.

I could only afford one session although he told me i needed follow-ups

Injuries could probably be prevented/looked after better if their was more money for the dance companies too.

The bigger better funded ones probably have better facilities to care for their dancers,

but go down the scale a little and you'll find dancers being given no care for their injuries at all and being pushed to work through them.

I had a friend made to dance the Black Swan on a broken toe recently,

another from another company crying down the phone

to me this week that all her toenails had fallen off and they wouldnt let her take sick leave....

she could barely walk, never mind make it to rehearsals.

(i know this isnt the best of photos, it was taken just quickly

before curtain up, one of my legs looks huge and the other one tiny!)

My Family and other Animals....

2011-10-15T13:16:00.006+02:00

I come from a large family.

2 parents

10kids

(5girls and 5boys)

I find this a useful topic to bring up on a dull first date,

it gets an interesting reaction and then i can waste ample

time talking about my various siblings.

Its not very often that we are all together anymore,

my sisters wedding was the nearest we've been for a while

(missing one brother who is on a mission for my church)

and because we cant stay serious for very long.....

Movie under the Moon....

2011-10-10T13:17:00.004+02:00

I came home from work last night to find that my roommate

had borrowed a projector and set up a mini-cinema on our balcony.

It was lovely to sit out side under the moon

(i would say stars but in Cairo its pretty hard to see them)

and eat cold pizza

(it had been warm but by the time i got there it was cold)

and the movie we watched....

O Brother Where Art Thou,

its a corker!

Fight talk....

2011-10-08T13:29:00.002+02:00

Ugh

I hate fighting.

When mean and nasty things are

said in the heat of the moment.

And when the temperature has cooled down

and we have all made nice,

do we just forget those things?

Do we put them down to just being 'fight talk'

and move on and forget about it.

Or do we have to stop and think if those words are the truth,

and they bubbled up to the surface when the person felt pushed to the edge,

but actually they are the root of what the person really thinks?

Today,

the words are still hurting,

they have left bruises from the fight.

But bruises heal,

right?

I want a House Hippo....

2011-10-06T21:33:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine works in a school here and

was sharing with me this video that she showed to her 2nd Grade class.

The point being that they shouldn't believe everything

that they see on tv as it can be edited an doctored.

Unfortunately,

all they came away with was that they thought the Hippo was cute

and how they really want a pet Hippo.

Me too....

I want a House Hippo.

So cute!

Magic Music....

2011-10-05T01:16:00.003+02:00

Dang, i just heard this song today,

and i honestly listened to it on repeat about 5 times.

It just sums up a whole bunch of feelings that i have right now.

it's been a while since a song has done that for me,

and this one probably wont do it for you....

it isnt it magic when a song does that?

like this person on the other side of the world

who you will never know

knows exactly what it feels like to be you

at this precise moment.

Isn't it a little bit comforting to know that

other people out there

have been through and feel and understand

what i'm going through.

It makes me feel a little bit less small,

and a little bit less odd....

Shape-Shifting....

2011-10-03T00:01:00.002+02:00

This summer was the first summer

where i really took a break from ballet.

In 6 weeks i did about 3 ballet classes.

The main reason being i'd had some knee pain that i wanted to rest,

i took 3 weeks off and when i did a class and the pain was still there

i took the next 3 weeks off too and had a

physiotherapist check it over

(no major problems just over-straining).

Being the first time i completely let myself go (ever)

its also the first time i've really had difficulty getting

myself back into shape after a holiday.

My muscles have withered away to sponge

and my flexibility has aged like an old woman.

And although i've found it frustration i've so

found it extremely interesting how in tune it has made me with my body.

I feel which muscle groups are responding slower,

which side of my body needs to be stretched more...

and i'm kinda enjoying the re-learning of it.

It scares me too though,

as when i dont dance there isn't any form of exercise that i actually

like doing, and one day i'm going to have to stop dancing

in the extreme way in which i do it now...

and its the first time that i've realised that my body is going to change

and i wont be able to do things like

touch my toes or balance around on leg.....

but then its probably gonna feel good not to have to push

my body to ridiculous limits on a regular basis too right?

(picture Boston Ballet)

Idealist....

2011-10-01T22:08:00.002+02:00

"It's true i'm an idealist, but i've never had the courage to believe in nothing"

Man of la Mancha (movie)

Water....

2011-09-26T12:32:00.000+02:00

In Egypt,

A litre of Petrol (Gas)

and a litre bottle of water

are roughly the same price.....

Doll-face....

2011-09-25T12:19:00.003+02:00

(me with Amy a long time ago)

So this is one of those thing that i shouldnt admit,

but last night i found myself missing my doll.

Dont get me wrong,

i'm fairly sure that i'm a all-rounded normal 26 year old,

but yes,

last night i was thinking about my doll Amy.

I've had Amy since i was knee high to a grass hopper,

and when i go home for the summer i pull her out of storage

(ie. a black bag in a cupboard in the house)

and like to have her in my bed with me.

i dont know,

does this make me odd?

Perhaps it does...

but then again being called odd

is not unfamiliar territory.

Cairo LIfe....

2011-09-24T00:19:00.004+02:00

To be honest,

i dont feel particularly inspired to write very much right now,

even when i grasp a small amount of internet time,

no interesting things appear in my thoughts to blog about and i think....

next time....

My days seem monotonous at the moment.

Each day like every other,

i can barely tell them apart.

On the other hand

the other day as i walked to the Metro

i saw a naked baby walking down the street,

(by walking, i'm meaning the balancing wobble

that a very new walker is so proud to show),

i looked around slighty to see if i

could see any parents....

didnt...

.and walked on by.

Perhaps this makes me sound cruel and heartless.

Perhaps i am.

If i were in the Uk i would not walk on by...

i would pick up the baby,

franticly look for parents and contact the police.

But this is not the Uk,

and this is not Europe,

and the sight of a naked baby walking down the street does

not encourage anyone to bat an extra eye.

Life here is different....

perhaps these are things that i should write about

in the midst of my monotony.

not quite dead...

2011-09-19T20:18:00.003+02:00

My blog has not died....well not completely....

I'm working on getting an interent connection up

and running in my apartment.

Most days i'm calling up my landlord telling him

that the connection is still not existent.

He sends round some little man who does something...

but whatever that something is it does not manage

to connect me to the world wide web.

I've got to the point where i hate the sound of my own voice as

i call him up and winge once again that whatever its

is the little man did this time its was still unsuccessful.

Today he implanted to large very ugly cable

that connects from outside my window....

through my bedroom to the living room....

they are just hanging there connecting to nothing

(well probasbly to something but def not to the internet),

looking ugly, and obstructing my ability to

close my window any doors in the apartment....

i'm thinking i should take the high ground and

pretend that i can live without the interent.

but it would be a lie

i cannot

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer....

2011-09-12T13:08:00.003+02:00

So somehow at my sisters wedding

i managed to stumble into the role of self head caterer.

Boy oh boy, it was tiring.

Running around like a headless chicken trying

to make sure everyone was well fed

(some of the werent but lets not mention that)

But best part was i finally got to wear my new dress,

me likey,

i'm just glad that i'm not a famous celebrity who only get to wear outfits once or the paparazzi are all over you.

Now i just need to someone else to get married so i can wear it again....

anybody?

Turkey : Finish up....

2011-09-12T12:56:00.003+02:00

I'm back in Cairo and internetless.

Was sick sick sick,

my last week in Scotland and then

busy busy busy

for my Sisters wedding.

Anyhows,

just thought i'd stick up a wee round up of the last few days

in Turkey rather than dragging it out even more!

Turkey : Disco Shower

2011-09-02T15:39:00.000+02:00

Oh yes,

The Disco Shower

which is getting its very own post.

Whilst turning up at some tiny little town

looking for a hotel to stay at,

we walked into the reception we got an exceedingly warm welcome.

'Do you have any rooms?'

'Aha! yes, yes, yes, come with me i have

something very exciting to show you'"

He is acting very excited

about his something exciting.

We are intrigued.

He takes us to a fairly average room.

'Ummm......'

we try to think of polite things to say.

"No,no...

you do not see exciting thing look....."

and he swings open the bathroom door

and proudly shows us

The Disco Shower.

"Is Disco Shower, is so much fun!"

he pushes some buttons,

and flashing lights come on, music starts

to blast surround sound.

He explains to us the multi functional ways

in which it can spritz its Disco Shower Water.

The bathroom is completed with a mini Disco-Ball lampshade.

And as i giggle

and laugh

and test out The Disco Shower,

he knows he has us hook line and sinker,

we are Disco Shower people,

and we will look no further.

And was it worth it?

let me tell you

when Michael Jacksons Beat It

came on during my Shampooing,

the answer is an astounding

YES!

Turkey : The Aegean

2011-09-01T07:30:00.000+02:00

After Troy we drove down the coast and stopped at Assos,

which had been recommended to us by our waitress the night before.

(can i just mention at the this point that the Turks are some

of the friendliest people i've ever met)

What an amazing view that place had of the Aegean.

And then onwards we went,

not before taking a beach break to sit

and feel the breeze whilst reading my book.

originally i was up for a swim,

but forsook it for a paddle,

leaving the Swim up toCaptain Tim.

What can i say The Aegean was not quite up

to my required swimming temperatures.

Turkey : Troy

2011-08-30T19:14:00.003+02:00

Troy was our next destination,

and it was a major disappointment,

Even my over-active imagination had trouble conjuring up

some images other than the pile of rubble that we walked around.

I did try and picture Brad Pitt in his little mini kilt,

all buff and battling....

that helped a bit,

but Captain Tim was not best pleased when

i mentioned that was what i was doing.

In fact,

we spent most of our time there watching an ant colony hard at work,

those insects are amazing.

Oh yes....

i went to an ancient wonder of the world

and the best thing i can blog about it is their ant colony.

Turkey : Virus

2011-08-30T18:05:00.004+02:00

my plan had been to stick up some pictures from my holiday all for this week.

But instead i've spent the past three days in bed or on route to the bathroom.

All thanks to the lovely souvenir of a Virus

that i'm pretty sure i picked up at the health spa i went to there.

Managed to hall my ass out of bed today to get to the doctors,

who prescribed me some nice drugs and

then proceeded to show me his ballroom dancing skills.

I was very polite and smiling away meanwhile thinking,

just give the damn pills so i can stop exploding all over the place...

then again it may have

been a feverish hallucination....

Turkey : Galipolli....

2011-08-26T17:50:00.004+02:00

As mentioned,

the past week has been spent in Turkey.

Where i went to visit my Ex-ex-boyfriend

(yeah, if you can figure it out your about on

the same level of understanding as i am).

He had planned a 5 day trip driving

around Turkey to see some sights.

First Stop Galipolli.

Gallipoli is a place that i remember from my school history lessons,

we also watched the Mel Gibson movie in class as part of our learning,

watching-movie-learning was always my favourite.

A brief history on Gallipoli

is that it was the area where the Allies landed

(mainly Brits, Aussies and New Zealanders)

during WW1 on an attempt to control the Dardenelles,

an important piece of land that would have

opened up access to parts of Europe.

The plan was a disaster,

bad leadership alongside bad weather,

and dysentery in the trenches killed off most soldiers.

The only part of the plan that actual worked

was the Emergency Evacuation to get everyone out.

Now, its a mountainside filled with graveyards and war memorials.

Beaches with the occasional gun lookout still around.

And its also an incredibly beautiful place.

Especially at ANZAC cove,

this was the spot where the Australian/new zealanders landed

Its a beautiful piece of beach, over-looked by beautiful mountains.

Unfortunately not very tactical, and was landed on by mistake.

In fact, we stopped and admired the view for a

while not realising that this tranquil view we were looking

at was indeed ANZAC cove and the home

to so much pain and suffering.

Over the Rainbow.....

2011-08-26T12:54:00.004+02:00

I've been on holiday in Turkey,

(sorry, lots of holiday photos will soon be coming....

whether you like it or not)

But i've also recently been reading a biography

of Judy Garland by David Shipman.

Its a sad story,

of a life of a woman who never felt good enough

and couldnt deal with the reality of herself

and the image she was supposed to portray in films.

She spent a life addicted to drugs

and full of insecurities mainly forced upon her

from the picture studio she was working for.

In fact reading it i see many similarities between

the biography of Marilyn Monroe who suffered

from nearly the exact same problems.....

and in fact today there are still movie and pop stars

who suffer and die from the same insecurities.

At any rate i wanted to share this video.

This is Judy in 1955,

the studios had stopped employing her for movies

because she was so erratic and she turned to stage shows,

and although she suffered from stage fright,

the instant gratification from the public pulled her through.

She is dressed in her tramp outfit from the previous song,

but for me this is Raw Judy,

not the Judy who i know from movies,

'the girl next door' who she never really was.....

Top ten things to do in Glasgow....

2011-08-13T17:45:00.005+02:00

I went to Glasgow yesterday to attend an

Open Day at my old ballet teachers Gyrotonic Studio.

Deciding to make a day trip out of it with my sister Georgia i googled,

'Top ten things to do in Glasgow'.....

i normally find it gives me a good idea of what to do in a new place.

However,

there wasn't really anything i fancied on any of the lists,

so here is one of my own that i have composited....

1) Trash Cans/ Garbage Disposal Units / Rubbish Bins

No matter what you dialect calls these,

Glasgow is bountiful in its amounts of these.

Have fun spotting ones with added decor....

2) Chippy Shop's Galore

Ye Olde Chip is a must do in Glasgow for a fine feast,

look at this delightful assortment of toppings and added extras you can get....

pickled eggs,

pickled onions,

pickled gherkins,

mayonnaise,

ketchup,

brown sauce,

vinegar.

3) Dodgy Little Alleyways

Always an excitement and thrilling adventure

travelling down the nooks and crannies of Glasgow,

never knowing if you'll come out alive.

4) Dining Al Fresco

So you maybe the only one sitting out in the rain....

more space for me i like to think.

5) Dangerous Piles of Rubble

A fingernail biting thing to see

dotted around the city,

be careful but enjoy!

6) Shops with great Variety

In Glasgow anything goes.....

7)Statue with cone on his head

I'm not sure what the reason for this is,

i think its just the Glasgow sense of humour,

but in all my very sporadic trips to Glasgow over the years

i have never seen this dude without his orange hat.

8) Okay....

so maybe i dont have 10 top things so i'm going to buffer a bit

with this accidental picture i took of mine and Georgia's feet

when i tried to take a conspicuous picture

and realised that the flash was on just as i pressed the button.

9) Amazing Fashion Spottings-

My favourite spot of the day was the all in one

bright yellow addidas tracksuit.

Unpictured

(feared for my life if i would take it,

he may have been wearing hot yellow but he still looked well hard )

10) Primark!!!!!!

I'm not kidding Primark is my most favourite shop....

next to Poundland.

Primark made the whole trip worth while.

(disclaimer -

dear Glasweegies...

please take this in jest

and do not chib me or give me any Glasgow Kisses)

The flavour of Scotland ....

2011-08-09T18:36:00.003+02:00

so i'm not normally one of these people who

take pictures of their dinner and blog about their food....

normally i like my food in my stomach.

But today i was so excited by my lunch

that it was indeed photographed....

and then devoured.

Todays lunch was a haggis and black pudding roll.

The double-layered combination was immense.

It was like the flavour of Scotland

captured in a white buttered roll.

The only thing to i should have done to complete

the meal should have to have washed it down with some irn-bru,

(there's always a re-try tomorrow.)

The last time i got this excited about food was

when i had Fried Pizza and chips from the local chippy....

oh, wait,

that was last night....

The wise words of Kevin Costner....

2011-08-07T16:09:00.004+02:00

I have a little notebook that i occassionally write down quotes in.

I like to write them down on random pages

and yesterday i came across this one that i'd forgotten about,

a quote from the lovely Kevin Costner,

"Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed,

but win out in the end because

they stayed true to their ideals and beliefs."

and this comes from a guy who has played Robin Hood,

so he must be in the know.

And now, just whilst Kevin Costner is on my mind,

i'm going to put it out their and say how much i love pretty

much all his movies that i've seen,

especially

The Postman,

which was such a box office failure.

i think i love it more because of that.

hmmmmm........

i'm thinking right now i might

watch me a bit of Waterworld....

More Museum Shenanigans...

2011-08-03T16:50:00.005+02:00

We didnt just go swimming when we went to The National Museum of Scotland,

We did many other exciting things....

Jordan practised his kissing technique on

Mary Queen of Scots tomb,

Brodie re-enacted for us what it would feel like if we

used the thumb crushers on liars

There were some seriously cool people dressing up renaissance style....

There was a very serious catapult competition....

met the taxidermied Dolly the Sheep....

Did moose impressions,

I learned that there are/were Giant Sloths that are the size of a giraffe.

I learned that i am the same weight as a Penguin

Elliott was so happy that there was something that had a sign saying,

'please touch' next to it.

He used it to its full advantage.

We went to outer space

I gave Brodie and Elliott lessons on how to pose like a mummy,

learned from my year in Egypt

some sections made me feel old,

like the mobile phone section

which had phones more up to date than the one i use

The only surviving quadruple bike in the world.

I dont know why it never caught on.

I went on Safari.....

with Georgia and Nana....

Elliott showed his breakdancing move called 'the shrimp'

and i'm so glad that Elliott looks miserable in this photo,

cause it reflects completely my feelings on Harry Potter....

IT SUCKS!

all in all

a fun day out.

30 years and 10 children.....

2011-08-02T01:12:00.002+02:00

Yesterday was my parents 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Here are some lovely pics from that day all those years ago.....

My mum is a huge Gone With The Wind fan.....

HUGE

So when buying her wedding dress she wanted

something that echoed Gone With The Wind

On her wedding day my dad,

knowing her love for G.W.T.W

looked at her lovingly and said,

'You look just like Melanie'.

UH OH!

My mother was mortifed,

who the heck wants to look like Melanie?

Everyone knows that Scarlett is the Southern Belle.

My dad you see had watched the film and disliked Scarlett

and thought that being called Melanie

who had a more beautiful character was more of a compliment.

At any rate,

it become an infamous story in our family,

and one of the few tid-bits that i actually know about their wedding day.

So i'm glad that it happened....

(and i'm totally with my mum on this one,

call me Scarlett over Melanie any day)

Swimming In Unusual Places.....

2011-07-30T23:31:00.002+02:00

I'm in charge of 5 of my younger siblings this weekend

as my mum and dad are away for the

weekend for their 30th wedding anniversary.

I took them to The National Museum of Scotland,

and ended up going for a swim.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

2011-07-27T20:54:00.006+02:00

Yesterday

we probably had the best Scottish weather possible.

Not a cloud in the sky.

Today,

i'm sitting listening to the rain tap against my window.

After a year of Solid Cairo Weather,

i'm fairly enjoying the unpredictability....

At any rates,

My Nana, my sister Georgia and I went for a little stroll down to the beach.

Oh yes with the dog.

Since i've been away they've gotten a dog.

I'm not really a doggy person, but this one is slowly growing on me.

Mandatory poses next to the ice cream van..

mandatory human/dog totem pole picture,

giant ice cream.....

this water was FFFRREEEEEEEEZZZZIIIINNNNNGGG,

the North Sea is Cold, give me the Red Sea or the Mediterranean any day.

But there were people out swimming in it....

good thorough bred Scots

After we got back Georgia a I decided to give The Dog a pampering session.

A nice shower and a hair cut.

The Dog had been supporting the DreadLock look,

mainly because it lives in a house of wee boys who arent big

on grooming for themselves never mind a dog.

So we ended up mainly just cutting all the matted hair off its butt and leaving the rest of it.

it now looks hilarious like some wannabe Poodle....

i think its a look thats going to catch on

Shabby Apple Non-Giveaway....

2011-07-26T18:47:00.002+02:00

I'm not a big blogger,

and must of the time i dont really care.

I keep this blog as a sort of mini diary of sorts,

seeing as i'm so crap at keeping a real one.

But there are times when i wish i was a

fancy blogger with a gazillionfollowers,

cause then Shabby Apple might get in touch with me

to do one of their giveaways and get a dress for free in the process.

And i superduperly want this dress for my

upcoming sailing trip on the Black Sea....

I'm mean,

what is a sailing trip on a fancy yacht with out a super cute sailors dress....

oh well,

never mind....

a Polaroid Betrayal....

2011-07-23T23:49:00.006+02:00

So after only a week of owning my Polaroid camera

i have returned it to the shop.

i feel terrible,

i've wanted one for so long,

but in reality its just not worth it

and i've traded it in for the Fuji Instax Mini.

I loved my little camera

(ok its not so little its built like a brick)

but the fact of the matter is that the new film is so expensive and so unreliable.

I met my friend who i hadnt seen in a long time,

and had carted the camera all the way down to London in order to take a photo with him,

only for it be so bleached out that we are unrecognisable.

i like the idea of having an actual Polaroid camera

but i'd also like something that can actually capture the memories....

So fingers crossed the Fuji will fair me better.

i also felt pretty awful as i had to phone up my gift giver

and ask if they minded if i traded in their gift....

what awful person trades in such a thoughtful gift....

Rainy days......

2011-07-17T17:38:00.003+02:00

As i left the house early yesterday morning to catch the bus down to London it was raining.

An ordinary occurance for Scotland, nothing out of the norm....

but it was the first proper rain i'd seen in almost a year.

It made me exceedingly excited.

After a rotten 9 hour journey,

i was greeted at the station by my lovely buddy buddy steven,

who took me to the new M and M's store in Leicester

(by detour of Buckingham Palace.....

he wasnt quite sure why i was so excited by Buckingham Palace

seeing as i used to live pretty much down the road from it a year back....

which he had to remind me as i had forgotten,

that seems so long ago)

The M&M's store was ridiculous.

4 floors dedicated to m&m tack....

but the punters seemed to be loving it....

And now i'm just chilling,

folding wedding invitations at my sisters house

whilst the rain pours down outside,

i love it

RAIN!

anyhows,

seeing as i couldnt find my camera to take

any pictures of some actual London sights

(ie lots of different coloured mandm's)

here are some engagement photos of the happy couple

First Day Home In Nearly A Year......

2011-07-15T01:07:00.007+02:00

First day back home,

i nearly didnt make it after getting lost twice in Heathrow airport....

boy oh boy....

that place has got big and confusing,

Got home and said hello to all my wee brothers

who have shot up in the past year.

The tv is broken so they acted out movies for me,

(they really know their Predator stuff)

Had a bowl of Coco Shreddies with fresh milk....

FRESH MILK!

bliss...

and bacon sarnie.

One of my little brothers was

moaning that it was the cheap bacon.

I tell you this,

after living may a month bacon free....

it was good stuff.

Went to organise getting some new spectacles.

Tried on a hundred pairs,

my sister talked my out of ones they thought looked awful

into ones they thought looked only slightly awful.

(Have to wait a week to get them as apparently

they dont keep the super thick milk-bottle lenses in stock.)

I could do with a pair of these bad boys...

Oh.....

and most exciting of all, arrived home to a surprise package

a POLAROID CAMERA!

I'm a bit nervous to use it as the film is soooo expensive

(anyone know where to buy it cheap)

but the note from the gift giver said -

" I remember you REEEeeeeeeeAAAAllllly desperately wanted a polaroid,

so I thought you needed one,

I nearly didn't buy it when I found out how much the film costs -

CRAZY!

But then I thought you would like the surprise

more than the practicalities."

Oh how i love a good surprise......

The Holiday Slob.....

2011-07-11T12:35:00.003+02:00

HHHOOOLLLLIDDDAAAAYYYYYSSSSS!

So i'm now into the second day of my holiday,

the first one was spent feeling very grateful that my roommate

was already of on holiday so that i could laze around

the house in my underwear cause it's so friggin hot.

I also baked a cake, one of those ones from a box,

cause its the only 'food' i had in the house.

I ate exactly half of it

and by this time tomorrow the other half will be gone also.

I'm not going to spend my whole holiday being a

cake-eating-underwear-wearing-slob though.

In fact I'm going to be going to these nice places,

Edinburgh (aka home)

Croatia

Turkey

although i havent mentioned this to my bank

account yet as i'm not sure that he can take it....

Backstage at the Ballet...

2011-07-10T13:48:00.005+02:00

I'm currently camera-less as my charger

was one of the many items that i keep discovering went missing when i lost my bag.

But here a few pictures from our last performance

by my lovely fellow dancer Vicente....

The show must go on?

2011-07-09T00:14:00.005+02:00

The end of my first year as a dancer at The Cairo Opera Ballet is coming to a close.

One more performance to go....

maybe......

it could be cancelled,

depending on whether the current protest

that is on Tahrir Square will continue or not.

Which kind of sums up what life is like here at the moment.

I constantly receive emails from my Embassy warning me

that perhaps this Friday there will be a protest and it could become dangerous.....

in fact i receive them so often i've begun to ignore them.

Also, having moved out of The Downtown area,

i no longer feel connected to the events which are happening there.

In fact on my street right now there is a live band

and street lights and a big party going on.....

not many revolutionary thoughts going on here at all.

But, I check out the news and see that the situation at Tahrir

this week seems to be hotting up again.

The change and progress the people want is slow.

Things go on,

but the Revolution and the discontent that it brought up is still around,

under the surface,

ready at any moment to resurface.

(photo of me by Vicente)

2 birds, 1 stone.....

2011-07-04T12:59:00.004+02:00

Like most big cities Cairo has an Underground train system.

Its called the Metro.

Having recently moved further away from work and the Downtown area

(i disliked the constant threat of revolutionaries on my doorstep).

I now have a slightly longer commute to work.

The Metro in this summer heat is stinky and suffocating.

Its like half an our in a sauna....

and let me tell you this i am not the type of girl who likes to go to saunas ...ever.

But i do like to try and look on the bright side of life

and so here is one thing i do like about my commute on the metro....

shopping.

Oh yes....shopping.

Egyptians have a thing where they peddle their wears on the metro.

A little man/lady will come on, she will go down the metro car handing

out one of their items to each person there,

wailing aloud about how great their 1le product is,

they then return and either you buy it or they take it back.

There is a lot of trust involved in this little exercise....

in the London tube there is no way anyone would be returning the item....

in fact the first time it happened to me i thought that it was a free gift.

And 99% of the time the items are crap....

but every now and then they come along with something and you think,

'Yes! just what i needed'....

and it makes my commute just that little bit more worth while.