Inside my head....hmm

November 29, 2006

So the past few days I have been in somewhat of a mood… some might say grumpy, some might say just mad, but I think I would call it more of a bitter mood, or disenchanted. And last night I did a lot of thinking about stuff, and mostly, I think my mood was a result of just realizing that we are all humans, and can never make all the right decisions, and never know completely 100% whether we’re doing the right thing or not.
And sure, this seems like a simple idea to grasp and whatnot, but I think…. Hmm…. This is hard to write out. I think that sometimes we have people that we really look up to, for example, for me right now one group is Godly men. I find these great guy friends who serve the Lord to be attractive in almost every area and I root for them to find great things: a great job, successful fulfilling career, a fantastic relationship with Jesus, a great Godly woman to hook up with [and I enjoy it even more if it’s one of my friends]. The problem is, however, that because I’ve tagged them as “Godly men”, I have high expectations of them first of all, and second of all, I put them on an inhuman pedestal where I am blind to their faults. This is where the being bitter that we’re all human part comes in.
And I don’t just do this with guys, it happens with my female friends too. But it’s just sort of a crash when you realize that we are all humans, and no matter how close we are to God, we’re still sinners and are still going to screw things up somehow.
I am frustrated right now. I wish that I knew all things…shoot, not even all things. I would settle for just a few simple instructions for that whole “this is who you should talk to and who you should let know about what you are thinking and feeling”. I feel like generally that’s what I want to do, work out the problems be honest and upfront. But lately, it’s become more of the question: is it worth it? You know, is this person going to be responsive to me making an issue about this or that, and are they going to listen to what I say, are they going to think about it, are they actually going to be able to talk about it with me? Or are they going to be that person who might listen to you but has nothing to say because they think that they are right and should not have to defend themselves or their actions. Bleh. Puke on those people. And then the whole thing about how many times do you approach someone about the same issues? [shakes head]. Sheesh. Are you confused yet? I might be.
Anyway, there are just a lot of ideas floating around in my head at the moment, and I’m slowly but surely making sense of most of them. I think sometimes, because of the neighborhood that we live in and the things that we have experienced and seen these last few months, I sort of view Springfield as the good place where nothing bad happens, and the friends I have there/made there are great Godly people who are living right. When in reality, Springfield is just another town with as much sin as this one. We see different aspects of it, sure…. But sinful, unholy and human just the same…. [sigh]. Man, all this talk makes me think that heaven is going to be pretty freakin awesome [smile].
So I think that’s it for tonight. I have somewhat of a story to share…. But I’m still forming it…. It might be a long one, ‘cause it’s hard to explain everything that goes with it [physically, factually and emotionally]. But hopefully when I get it up here it will be good.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Thanksgiving....

So, recap of the last few significant events in my life:

*got a great job, which I absolutely love [well, perhaps ‘absolute’ is a bit of a strong word, ‘cause there are definitely elements that I fight with….but for the majority of the time, I really love it].

*took a random “gas-is-under-$2” trip to St. Louis!

*continued our Thursday night dinner and salsa dancing trend.

*had a fantastic Thanksgiving feast with the Indy folks [we all cooked stuff from scratch: cornbread, creamed green beans, mashed potatoes, pumpkin bread, noodle salad stuff….and turkey of course!].

*drove to St. Louis/Springfield/Branson for Thanksgiving break! [Neubia had never been to St. Louis so we did the arch, and the loop….good times:].

*salsa’d in Springfield at our favorite ghetto bar [which is finally getting a new dance floor this month!].

*experienced the X-mas in Branson…. X-mas lights, shopping, a show and all! [also a first for Neubia].

On the drive back to Indy I was thinking about how I was excited about coming back to Indy…. But it’s more than coming back to a city that I like, or people that I like, or a home…. It’s more of coming back to MY life. Ya know? And I love visiting parts of my past, whether that’s in Marshall, Arkansas, Springfield or New Mexico….. [shrug]…. I absolutely love traveling. But there is something to say about coming back to my life and my routines, and freedom [nod].

I really did have a great week. It made me wish that I had all the important people closer to me…. specifically in the same city that I’m living… [smile]… but I guess that’s the deal, right? If you want adventure, you can’t likely pull everyone through it with you.

More to come later, I promise…. I’m in a writing kind of mood.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Sweet Action

Guess who's working at a photo studio starting tomorow? Yeah! I sure did get the job, how exciting is that. I'll be working in the productions room to start with, and learning a lot, a lot a lot...which is way exciting. How awesome?! I am expected to enter photo competitions, and expected to go on the weekend retreat things in other cities to hear speakers talk about everything photographic. I still can't believe it's real. I have lunch with them tomorow to talk about all the details and then I start working in the afternoon [grin].

Crazy.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

God's timing is, hmm, not quite insync with mine.

Oh my gosh… okay, so we’ve all wanted something at some point in our lives, right…. Of course we have. Well, then there’s the moments, when you want something, you go after it with all you’ve got and….well, God laughs in your face and basically says ‘no, that’s not really what I have in mind’ [rolls eyes]. So I blogged about the whole coming to Indy and being shot down about the photography thing, but knowing that God had something bigger planned out for me.

Well, then I got the job at the chiropractic office, which at the time I thought was right on and something I could definitely do for a year to pay the bills. And the very first time I met with my current boss, she told me about a photographer who was a patient of theirs, and if I wanted to, she would drop off my portfolio and my resume and put in a good word for me. Well, I obviously took her up on it, and now, 4 weeks later she has finally dropped off my portfolio and my resume…… And they called me on Tuesday to see if I could come in for an interview!…..yeah….I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating when I heard the message.

Anyway, we met this morning….and I want this job so bad…. So bad. I would have access to the studio [which is huge!], but it seems like my job would be mostly in multi-tasking and sending out orders, getting photographs ready for clients, and digitally editing images. I want it so so bad…and they could tell [smile]. They [there were three of them interviewing me-sorta], at one point, asked if I had digital images from the weddings I shot, and I said I did….and that I actually thought about bringing my laptop in, just in case…but decided against it because I didn’t want to seem to eager. Which the one man then said “But you are eager, right. I can see it. You want this job so bad!”….and I was like “Yeah, you’re right…I’m not going to lie. I do”…and then he asked me to tell them how much I wanted this job… and I should have been able to come up with a better answer for them, because there are so many reasons….so so many reasons. But I said that words can’t even begin to describe how much I would love to work for them.

Which brought us around to what days I could work, which I then sighed and said that that was the only sticky part of it. Because I have a prior commitment to the Chiropractic office, and when hiring me my boss explained that she was a bit hesitant because she didn’t want me to get up and quit after working there for three months, because I had a better job offer. And so I assured her that if they hired me it would be the end of my job searching. I said I couldn’t promise anything after a year. And I was for real. I haven’t done any more searching. But now, this studio has contacted me and [sigh]…yeah, what now?! So anyway, I explained to my interviewers the situation, and the main photographer basically said that it would be taken care of, and that they’d be able to smooth things over with the Chiropractic office [and I wonder what I looked like, ‘cause I could have cried…seriously].

So now I’m waiting, and praying that I’m what they want and that they’ll hire me and that I’ll really be able to be a part of something. I was thinking about it, and….if I was hired, I could stay in Indy for longer than the year. Yeah, with a job that I love…. That provided me with the kind of opportunities that I think this studio will….absolutely. There are a lot of things that are important to me, but this, this would be so incredible.

Anyway, your prayers are welcomed. And I thank you for them. Dear God, please let me get this job…please, please, please……[fingers crossed]. I know that things are in your control, and so I trust that you will put me where I’m meant to be.

<><.
*maike rinaye*

Ah Salsa Dancing....

I hate to admit it, I really do….but I think I’ve become a dancing snob…maybe it’s not REAL snobbery [shrug]…..but it’s some form of it, at least for salsa dancing.

Last Thursday Whit, Neubia and I ventured out to the Jazz Kitchen as we usually do on Thursday nights [and we will continue to do as long as women get in free before 10:]. And like normal, we each danced with a number of different guys…the thing that hit me as snobbery though, was that after I danced with a particular guy that had limited actual salsa skills, I attempted to not make eye contact with him for the remainder of the night. And I want to convince myself that it’s not because I mind dancing with bad dancers, I don’t usually….but when you know that there are really good dancers on the floor and around you that might ask you to dance, you don’t want to sacrifice a dance with one of them because you got suckered into dancing with the bad dancer!

And I was thinking through all of this….and the thing is, I don’t mind dancing with guys that KNOW they suck at dancing, and are wanting you to help them. But when it comes to the guys that think you want to dance with them because they are the stuff or whatever….umm, no. I want to dance with a guy because he’ll spin me around, and make me feel like a princess [I know, clique, but there’s some truth to it]. So I like the beginners ‘cause they want to learn how to be the guy to spin the princess around, and I LOVE dancing with the great dancers….but it’s the others that I don’t want to end up on the floor with. Especially because I feel like they are just waiting for that slow dance song that takes no talent and allows them to just get close to your body and act like you are intimately involved….please [rolls eyes]. If you have no talent, and don’t want to learn how to dance then just don’t ask me ‘cause honestly….I might be a “yes” girl, but only once for that kind of dance partner.

Anyway [smile]. Not to discourage any boys from asking. You should ALWAYS ask. But if you happen to be in it just so that you have a chance at going home with a girl….give it up. We know who you are and we think you suck at dancing….Go to some other club and try to pick up the women who are dancing for the same reasons you are…hmm.

And lastly…I miss our Springfield boys…. Andrew, Jason, Mat, James, Yemi ….you guys are great. There are some amazing dancers here…. so amazing there are times where I wonder if I can actually keep up with them on the cramped dance floor…but none of them are as fun as you guys were [smile].

<><,
*maike rinaye*

So I have a car stereo with the removable face, right....and I remove it almost all the time....but not for the reasons you might think. They [the damn criminals in my neighborhood that keep waking me up at ungodly hours of the night/morning] could take the stereo for all I care! I remove the face because I don't want to have to pay for a busted window they would leave for me to find the next morning! Sheesh.

<><

Fall

Fall

I love it when you wake up and realize that fall has finally arrived. You’re laying in bed, and slowly open your eyes and attempt to take a breath through your nose...which you quickly realize is not an option, and remember that because of your clogged snout you were breathing through your mouth all night. Then on to step two….the mad dash to the hot shower so you don’t freeze your butt off in the cold air between your warm sheet and the hot H2O. Unless of course, you decide that you don’t really need to shower this morning, in which case you stay in bed an extra half-hour and then try to warm your cold clothes up with the blow dryer or by shoving them into the clothes dryer right before putting them on.

Yeah, that part is refreshing [smile]….the tormenting parts are those falls that shoot from “Mondays high’s in the mid to upper 80’s” to “Tuesday night’s low’s will be mid 30’s for the night, make sure to get an early start to scrape your widows tomorrow!” And of course the weather people are all perky like the general public actually wants to wake up the extra 15 minutes to scour our windshields from the white ice particles that prevent us from distinguishing the road from the sidewalk. Oh, but it doesn’t stop there…..the forecasters then let us in on the fact that not only will the temperatures go from 80’s on Monday to 50’s on Tuesday, but the rest of the week will do the SAME thing. So we end trying to figure out which is better: sweating in a warm winter fleece, or freezing in a short-sleeved blouse.

Yeah, I love fall….the changing colors of the leaves, the fact that I’m no longer expected to shave my legs, my dripping or stuffy nasal cavities, the altering sweating and freezing my body must undergo, the fact that it is vital to straighten my hair to prevent illness. [Sigh], I LOVE this time of year [smile].

<><,
*maike rinaye*

step up, take the lead, shall we dance, dirty dancing....love it.

To dance is to live….or at least to live more enjoyably….salsa is still incredible and it’s great to know that we still got moves! This place in Indy is fantastic…seriously….chicks in free before 10, crowded dance floor, not really sketchy at all [sorta ritzy], and fabuloso dancing!

So this week…hip hop….2 weeks late, which sux…but [shrug]….better to start 2 weeks late, than to never start at all, right? [how many other clichés can I use?].

I have a job [finally a way to finance my life!]. This morning I actually got up and thought to myself “yay, tomorrow I have to go to work!”….and then I smiled at myself and hoped that I would be able to continue that for the majority of my life…here’s hoping!

God’s great…nope, better than that, he’s amazing. And I thank him for what he’s doing in my life, that’s for sure… good, bad…. easy, hard… enjoyable, bearable…..etc.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

real life vs. television

I’m pretty sure that if Maury would come to our neighborhood he’d have an entire season’s worth of subject matter just from the people who live in our apartment complex. Crazy, huh? And really sad too.

Just this morning, we had the widows open and I was still laying in bed when I overheard a conversation that went something like: “...Anyone can be a father, just put your d*ck in some woman and there you go….but it takes a bigger man to be a daddy!” I prayed for her and for him. That’s one of those things that you will hear all the time on trashy shows like Maury and Montell and Jerry Springer…but in real life?! Right outside your window? Yeah, it’s crazy how real some television is for some people and how made up it is for others. It’s hard realizing that stuff really does happen and that it’s happening to people I have met and know.

Crazy.

Lullabies

In our neighborhood we have a slightly different version of lullabies…. Instead of a soft voice whispering into the quietness, it’s sirens from the numerous police cars roaming our drug infested location, with a solo by the random car alarm [which last night lasted 10 min! no kidding], and then some harmony of a helicopter circling above probably attempting to spot the runaway convict. And then, when you think you are finally relaxed enough to drift into the nothingness of sleep…some crazy Mexican speaking men start yelling at each other outside even though it’s 2 am and the rest of the world is sleeping! Yes, between the car alarms, the honking, the sirens…it’s crazy. Life changing I’m sure….after this year I will probably never be able to sleep in a quiet room again.

dirty dishes no more!

Dude, so we bought a dishwasher this weekend from a garage sale….we come home and say to the roommate “Hey, we bought a dishwasher and we’re wondering if we can use your car to transport it”….she looked at us like we were speaking Chinese and then said “You guys just don’t make small purchases do you?!” [laugh]…nope. But then it was like, issue after issue after issue…..we didn’t fit it into the car….so we paid the owner $10 to haul it over to our apartment…..then we get it all plugged in and everything and no water…[of course]…so we do some research, we tip it upside down decide that it’s probably the hose that’s it’s clogged or something…so we attempt to replace the hose [we totally took pictures of the dishwasher, the hose, the plug in and then headed off to the home improvement store with the digital camera to make sure we were doing the right thing].

So we then buy the wrong hose to hook up, decide to bring the old hose with us this time to the hardware store…but this takes so much longer than it should ‘cause it’s metal end it sealed to the next piece because of all the corrosion. So like, two hours later we finally have the new hose in place [we never actually got the two pieces apart ourselves…we took it to the hardware store to the boy Neubia was flirting with on the first trip, and he took it back to the cleaners section of the store and just started spraying all sorts of chemicals on it (laugh)…and it finally came apart].

So back at the house, with the new hose in place, we attempt it again, with no luck…still no water. After many phone calls to fathers, and numerous attempts to research it on-line, we call the GE 1800 number and they give us a few suggestions….we do it….then it actually pumps the water in [hurray!], but when we look in at the end of the cycle there is like 4 inches of water still in it….not right.

We look all over the internet, end up calling the GE lady again….follow her suggestions, nothing works. So, because we had no other ideas we decide to just run it again and see what happens.

So around midnight, we have finally came to the end of the second run through and because we are aware that we might have just made the situation worse, I suggest we roll the dishwasher halfway out the door before we open it [in case there is more water in it than before]…..Luckily however, after rolling it into the darkness, Whit opened it and nothing….all water was properly drained…hallelujah!

I swear, we don’t always go looking for crazy crap to happen to us…a lot of the time it just finds us [shrug]….[smile].

<><

woah...I know, it's been forever

Man, I don’t even know how to start the freakin blog anymore [smile]. But I guess that I’ll just bust up into what is actually going on.
I’M IN INDY! Woo Hoo! [for the most part anyway].

I am confident that God has amazing things planned for this period in my life, I know he does….but trusting him and having faith that he’s going to come through…man, so much harder to do than to say.

So I desperately want to work with a photographer… and two months ago, I thought this was entirely possible, and that if I trusted in God he would provide for me. But get this, I get here, call a few photographers in town, e-mail my resume out…and then go talk to this particular photographer, Karen. Which is great, her work is awesome and she has a few events that she’ll need an assistant photographer for in September. But in talking with her, like, my hopes for that photographer position are mostly shattered ☹. She tells me that in the last ten years sales have decreased like crazy. 5 years ago she was shooting 140 weddings a year. This year she has 35 on the books. How crazy! Anyway, after a few days of moping around and asking God what the hell I was supposed to do now, I’ve finally been able to push forward. But man, it’s so hard. Like that pushing part. I know who I am and that if I get a job I will rock it….but that whole getting a job thing…like, the career counselor at Drury said that 90% of jobs are not listed….then how are you supposed to find these jobs? [sigh]. So, I have resorted to the classified ads, and some employment magazine. It would be a bit different if I had the connections, but I don’t….so I feel so out on a limb here.

Anyway, I’ve been dealing with that like mad. And I know deep down that God is absolutely going to put me in the right place, but waiting is so cruel.

On the up side…all this uncertainty has definitely improved my prayer life. My God is amazing, and I know it, but it is truly in these moments where I am being carried and letting Him walk for me that I realize just how much I need Him. I had two great conversations tonight…..and the whole thing where you know you have to let go of things in order to really feel God and his massive amount of love…man that’s tough, but so rewarding. And it’s all sorts of things that you have to give up….sometimes it’s old friends that are unintentionally holding you back from where God wants you to be, and sometimes it’s your fears, sometimes it’s a romance, sometimes its comfortability and sometimes it’s giving up the power and control that we all feel like we need in our lives.

But I can’t help but think that when we do that to glorify God, that he’s going to see that and reward us for doing the right thing.

Man [smile]…life, huh? I know I just have to plug my nose, hold on to my top and jump in…but it’s still nerve-wracking. I’m going in to see a chiropractor tomorrow and fill out an application to be an assistant. I think it would be awesome, and it’s closer to us [like 15 min. away…how awesome would that be]. I’ve just got to shine and be all what God has let me become.

And lastly this:
“Consider it pure JOY my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be MATURE and COMPLETE, not lacking anything.”
-James 1:2-4

So here I am….joyful and desiring that place where I am found mature and complete in God.

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Germany number 2!

Hey, so its going good. Im here hanging out in Germany still....but only one more week till Im home in my own bed! (woo-hoo!).
So X-mas was good. Kinda different. We opened gifts on X-mas eve in stead of X-mas day, and then we did a few other different things, but all in all it was really neat. X-mas eve we went to the Childrens Pagent at the neighboorhood church and then we came home, but went next door for coffee and cake at Peppi and Kalle´s. Then we went back over to Tante Maria and Onkel Georgs for dinner, which was the long German hot dogs and some special white worsts from Munich, and then we also had katuffle salat (potato salad...lol...ha ha, for all of you who think I spell horrible in English, check out that Deutch....its worse!). Then (smile) after we opened some gifts in the stubbor (living room) we went back next door! lol...crazy, huh? And then we had more gifts and drinks. Then back to my aunt and uncles house to meet other people who came. We had a suprise visit from Dagmar, Jurgen and Anna from Berlin, so that was a nice suprise (I guess they decided at 5pm they were going to come and then got in the car and arrived 3.5 hours later).

The next day we took a walk along the dyke with Dagmar and Jurgen and it was so freezing. Even though there was no snow on the ground, the wind of the water was increadibly icey.
Anyway, since then there has been a lot of eating here and there and the other place, and then there is coffee and cakes here and there and the other place...but its all great.

Yesterday I got to tour the one of the fish factories. That was really cool, never in my life have I seen so many different kinds of fish...different colors, different sizes, in different states (live crabs and crawdads to packaged bits and pieces). It was really great.

On a random note, my aunt has tea thats called "Heisse Liebe", which means "hott love"...how funny is that? Since she justs keeps talking to me in Germans (shes always done this), I decided a while ago that I was just going to talk to her in English...and sometimes, like them, I mix the two together...lol...my aunts thing to say is "Kliene peeoples" which means small peoples (but they dont say "people" here and it always sounds hilarious). My uncles thing, among many, is the "car-bahn"...similar to the "auto-bahn", but American-ized...lol. He has also taught me "Drinks of Korn comes in form"....yeah, lol...I dont know exactly what that one means, but when we were around the table last night and I quoted him, everyone started cracking up...it was great.

Well, thats really all I have to say right now (smile) there are a bunch of other things that I want to make note of, but I can never think of them when Im in front of the computer. I love you all!

<><,
maike rinaye

A German Christmas

Hello from Germany, for all those of you who are still reading my blog, or perhaps, now that you have nothing to do, you are catching up on all of it. Whatever the case is...I assume that you are reading it because you are interested in what I am up to (smile). I want to start this blog out with saying that I have little control over the spelling errors here (shrug), since were in Germany I have no idea how to work the Microsoft word, and even if I did, it would correct it in German and so it would be no use for me. So my appoligies before hand. Also...since the keyboard is all different, I wanted to make it clear that I have no idea where some of the symbols are (like the apostrophe), therefor I can not use them...so sorry for that too.

Now, to start off. Although increadibly stressful, the last week has turned out okay after all. Mom arrived in London on Tuesday the 14th, the same day that Whitney left London (we hung out all together for an hour I think between the two flights). Mom and I had a really nice evening, and then we had to change accomidations for the next night and that was really stressful. Mom brought heavy gifts which would be perfectly fine if we were not going to do little travels with it and stay in hostels and stuff like that...but since that was our plans... (shrug) it ended up being somewhat of a nightmare. The big bag weighed like, 60lbs and we had to carry it up stairs and then down stairs (like 4 flights of stairs!), and...yeah (sigh) it was aweful. So when we got to Dusseldorf, Germany and I was still sick (with a cough), we decided that going to Munich was not a good idea and ended up simply getting on the train to my Tante Maria and Onkel Georges two days early. But it was much better this way.

The night we got here it snowed huge snowflakes and made everything absolutely beautiful. There are not as many lights on the houses here. A few people here and there have decorated a bit with the electric candles in the windows or what have you, but for the most part there isnt a lot of decorating going on. The Christmas trees inside my Aunt and Uncles house does not go up until the day before X-mas, from what I understand. So we will get to help put it up and decorate it (smile), I havent done that for a few years, it will be nice.

Anyway, we have done a little bit of shopping and went to a choir concert at the church and we have had tea and coffee everyday in the afternoon. It is great. Tonight we will go to my other Aunt and Uncles house for a Birthday dinner. Tomorow I have plans of going with a few friends here, Sandra and Melanie, to a disco to dance it up. Hopefully I will be feeling good.

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention. I can now say that I have drank before 12. I was shocked too, but the neighbor came over (MaryAnne) and came into our room, where I was still attempting to fix my hair after my shower, and said to me "Maike, mercter ein snapps? Liquour?", and I was like "now?", and my mother from the kitchen yelled, "yeah, they want to drink it now" I laughed and said, "okay, why not". That was at like, 10:45 or 11ish. Lol.

Anyway (smile), I am having a good time here. A little bored at times, but really keeping myself occupied most of the time. I hope that you are all having a great holiday and have a really blessed Christmas. If you have time to write me a note that would be wonderful, if not thats okay too (grin).

LOVE<><,
maike rinaye

ps: what is up with the Drury e-mail? Does anyone know? I have been trying to get into it for the last few day with no success. Is it my computer or are they working on it? Oh well...figures, right?

Regent College Overview

As a final piece from Regents College in London I simply want to express some of the Regent’s life benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits:
*you’re in freakin’ London!
*the cheapest flights all go through London, so you can go almost anywhere.
*it’s a great cultural experience.
*you can plan your schedule so that you only have class 3 days a week.
*you can take classes that require field trips all over London.
*you can take a class AT the National Art Gallery.
*William [aka: “GlitterBoy”] works at the desk in the lobby and is GREAT!
*school-wise there isn’t that much work.
*school food, although you’re tired of it by the end of the semester, isn’t really all that bad.
*London is huge and has so much going on in the city.
*theatre life here is great! [we could absolutely go see a different show every night for a month and still not see them all].
*unless there was a huge party in the pub the previous night, the bathrooms are usually cleanJ.
*Regent’s is engulfed by the Queens gardens and the lovely park.
*you get to meet and befriend a lot of other people from the states.
*there are students from both the US and the rest of the world.


Drawbacks:
*everything is expensive [very important part you should know before planning a trip here].
*at Regents, your bedroom walls are yellow.
*your bedroom carpet is green and about as thick as a thin piece of cardboard.
*stupid people get drunk all the time and then don’t always make it to the restroom to vomit [gross me out!].
*school-wise, the teachers, even though they are teaching at the “British AMERICAN College of London,” will grade and test very different from teachers in the USA.
*RBS students think you are not as important or smart as they are [Regents Business School]…jerks.
*you’re 200 million billion miles away from everything that you know [ie: USA].
*with some effort, folks can get their hands on numerous different things to smoke.
*there are students from both the US and the rich rest of the world.

And that’s all I have to say for right now [smile]. I’m sick. If you guys could pray for me that would be wonderful. We’re going to be moving our stuff from Regents to the hotel on Sunday and then Mom will be here on Tuesday and we’re off to Germany on Thursday. The computer lab is closing so I should go.

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

Barcelona!

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Barcelona! Yeah for Spain and TWO new pairs of shoes!!! Woo Hoo! So Barcelona was the best way to end the semester. I was a bit worried about going the weekend before finals, but there was nothing to worry about [smile].

I should add in here, however, that Rika and Whit got to see the Queen on Wednesday [I was making a presentation on the set design of Simply Heavenly at that time]. And then that afternoon Rika and I went to see the Raphael exhibit at the National Gallery. We had planned to see Woman in Black with Robi and Andrew that night, but Rika ended up getting sick and not feeling up to going. So Robi, Andrew and I went and were all three scared, totally freaky! So Thursday I took Rika with my extra suitcase to the train station to depart for the airport, and then came back to Regents to pack for Spain.

Whitney, Andrew and I ventured off for our 2 hour plane ride on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Barcelona on Thursday night. Since I had gotten up early to take Rika to the airport with one of my gigantic suitcases, I decided that I was to tired to venture off on Thursday night, so I stayed in the hostel and updated my journal and then fell asleep early.

Friday we woke up, and after showering and getting some breakfast, we started walking towards Gaudi’s cathedral “La Segrada Familia” [the sacred family]. On the way we found the triumphant arch, which was really cool [click on the underlined for the picture].

And then we did some shopping before we found the cathedral, which, after 100 years of work, is still in the process of being built! Crazy, huh?! But it was absolutely fabulous. It’s all designed in a very naturalistic way, he uses frogs and snails and that sort of stuff in detailing it, and the columns are based on the trunks of trees. The entrance was fabulous.

Anyway, it was really incredible! We liked it so much that when we were done we went on search of another house which he re-designed; also wonderful [can’t find any pictures ‘cause I can’t remember what it’s called]. Then we went shopping for a bit [I bought my first pair of KangaRoo’s] and to dinner on the Mediterranean at a tapas bar [not to be confused, as Andrew was, with a "tap ass" bar (lol)]; the food was so so great. Then we followed dinner with Belgian waffles [yum], and cuban cigars [smile]!

Saturday we started out going to the Picasso museum…pretty neat, but I have to say, he’s not one of my favourite artists. But anyway, we went and that was cool. Then we got baguettes for lunch. We wandered around some more and found a bunch of little outdoor markets, which we meandered through. Then we walked along the Mediterranean coast and talked and just enjoyed. We ended the day with dinner once again on the coast at a different tapas bar [not as great, but this time they had really wonderful wine], and more Belgian waffles with Dulce de Leche topping. Then we turned in early since it was raining outside and there was really nothing else that we wanted to see [and we were pretty worn out]. So we hop into bed only to be woken up at 4am by the bunch of loud obnoxious Spaniard boys who at first were talking in mixed Spanish and English talking about whether or not to turn the lights on….[shakes head]…and then they wouldn’t shut up for the next two hours. Drove me absolutely nuts, and I “shushed” them a few times. I couldn’t believe how loud they were…absolutely ridiculous.

Sunday we got up early and headed back to London [even though our plane was 30 min. late taking off]. We were really tired, needless to say, since the Spaniards kept us up late. But the trip in its entirety was really excellent. I thank the Lord that the Spaniard boys weren’t there the first two nights, and that we didn’t have but only a few instances where we worried about who we’d find in what attire or lack there of in the bathroom. Definitely Spain is a place I plan to travel more of in the future. It was so beautiful.

And that is the last of my European travels….at least during this semester. From here on out, I will be travelling Germany with Mom [smile], which, although stressful at the moment, I’m sure will end up being fantastic. I will attempt to keep the blog updated, but who knows what chances I will have to get to a computer [shrug].

I really have had a fantastic semester. But I am also ready for all the things that I am use to….my car, my phone, my school, my friends, my family, Wal-Mart and McDonalds [smile]. One more month!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Dublin, Rika and Lori

So adventure, adventure, adventure…never seems to stop. Rika arrived on Wed. at 10:30 in the morning…Whit gets the call from her at the airport at 10:45am saying that she’s sick and she can’t get there to Regents by herself…so we go off to rescue her [thank goodness Whit is with me!]. By 12:30 we’re off the train and in the airport trying to locate Rika [who we’d forgotten to ask where she was going to be waiting for us]. So we run all over the south terminal then go back to the north terminal in Gatwick, then back and forth again looking. Then we finally ask the lady at the information desk who says that they can page her in both terminals to find her. So they do…and then again. With no luck we venture down to the other terminal thinking maybe we’ll meet her on the way or something.

So at 2pm the phone starts ringing and guess who it is?….not Rika! It’s the paramedics at the hospital with her… they are really great and calmly explain she’s “at hospital.” So Whit and I take a cab to the hospital to find her. 3 hours later we’re on our way to Regents after Rika has “had bloods taken”, and a urine test we find out that she was nervous and has a urine infection.
But we arrive safely home and I go out to look for Jack Vettriano who is apparently doing a book signing to publicize a new book about his work. But I go to the place he’s supposed to be and of coarse, they have no idea what I’m talking about and tell me that he came a few weeks ago to a different store…whatever.

So Wed. night we put Rika to bed and Lori arrives at 11:45pm. We hang out and talk and whatever for a while and then I try to sleep. Rika and I then wake up at 3am [yup, it’s true] to take a taxi, to catch the train, to take another bus, to get checked into the airport and then sit and wait for our plane to Dublin. It departs on time [wow, way to go Ryanair.com], which is 7am and we arrive at 8am completely exhausted [both of us fell asleep before the stewardesses had started their spiel about the flight safety].

So we get on the bus to take us towards our hostel [which is near the Guinness Storehouse]. But get this! On the way there our bus gets hit by a taxi! LOL…how funny is that! Anyway, when we finally check into our hostel we find out that we can’t get into the rooms until 2pm [our plan of taking a nap before adventuring comes to a halt!]. So we rest for a little bit and then go out. First we took a tour of a castle which I can not remember the name of [go figure, I had maybe 2 hours of sleep!]. It was really impressive. Then we went shopping and to the national art museum when it started to rain. Then we had a nap before going on a ghost tour which was filled with historical facts and pretty entertaining. That night we went to bed as soon as we got back from the ghost tour. At 5am on Friday morning however, I was woken up to a “crap! Maryanne are you okay?!” and I look up and see the top mattress of another bunk in the room had fallen down onto the bottom bed. There’s this girl pushing the mattress back up and then the girl in the bed leans up from underneath it. It was really funny…but of coarse I was shocked that it had actually happened.

On Friday we woke up and went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral which was absolutely fabulous! Then we picked up a Hard Rock Café shirt for Rika and some other touristy items, ate lunch and found our way to pick up our bags at the hostel and go to the Guinness Storehouse, which we did not tour, but did look a bit in the gift shop [there wasn’t enough time to do the tour before we had to leave for our flight].

Okay, get this: while waiting for our bus to the airport we hear a group of 4 Irish guys talking and one of them busts out with: “Sure as a one legged dog swims in circles!”
I think that it’s the funniest thing that I have heard here ever! It was absolutely hilarious! So at 6pm we flew back home to London, where we ended up eating Pizza for dinner.

Saturday we went out for changing of the guards, which was awesome. While on the way there we met an older British guy who told us a lot of information about the queen and which building she lives in and stuff like that. He also told us that the Queen is meeting with someone from South Korea on Wed. morning and there is going to be a grand procession to Buck House [the Brit’s word for Buckingham Palace]. So Whit and Rika are going to go do that and take some pictures for me while I am enduring the pains of giving a presentation in Theatre class.
After Buck House, we went to the Marble Arch where we met Alicia and her sister Whitney for lunch. Then we shopped on Oxford Street for a while. Then on Saturday night we went to see Bridget Jones Diary 2, which was so cool!

On Sunday Whit and I did a quick tour of the city on bus with Rika, then we met Lori, Alicia and Whitney at the Tower of London. After some lunch we went together to Camden Market to shop. Then everyone except Whitney [sister], went to a choir service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields off Trafalgar Square. Then we came back to the college [Whit, Lori, Rika and I], and hung out in our room with Andrew and Robi listening to Christmas music. It was great.

Monday I went to class and Lori and Rika did a mix of things in the city. Then in the evening we went and saw the musical “Simply Heavenly”, which I thought was really good.
Tuesday Rika, Andrew and I went inside of Westminster Abby. Lori [and Alicia and sister] left, and we’re planning on going to see Trafalgar Square’s X-mas tree lighting.

And that’s about all for now [smile]. I can’t believe that this is the last week of classes! My semester in London is almost up! It’s absolutely unbelievable. Next week is finals and then I’m off to Germany with Mom [yeah!]. I love you all, and thank you for reading this. Apparently some people “don’t have time,” so for those of you that do read this, thanks. It makes me feel better that somebody cares enough to keep up with what I’m doing. Love to all and Happy Thanksgiving late!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Oh library sweet library [rolls eyes]

So our library on campus is not as great as you would think it should be [considering the type of students that come here from all over (there was a prince here last semester)]. But no… the library here is really basically crap. But I do appreciate that I can at least find things in this library [not that there is a lot to find, but hey..]. On Thursday, Whit and I went out to make use of our extra time and attempt to be studious by finding a different library and simply getting books, sitting down, and researching. We didn’t even want to check the books out or anything. So we get there, a little place about a 25 min. walk from school, and walk in to find a room smaller than our library on campus. Okay, we think, this can’t be that bad, they have computers so we’ll just look up the list of books I need. So we attempt to do this and actually get some call numbers. Then we find the ‘art/architecture’ section and try to find these books. And we search, and we search….the call numbers are crap. I have no idea how they file these book, and the librarians that were there were mean looking so I wasn’t about to ask them. I found one book, which wasn’t even on my list but had the house I was looking for in it. So we ditched the library/studious idea and came home empty handed.

Then yesterday, we decide we’re going to the mother library: the British Library. We walk the 40 min. walk to this great building with a pretty cool sculpture in front. We walk in, already a bit confused, but go to the computers thinking this is a good place for us to start. HA! It’s just a big joke on us, I swear! No luck, so we decided that we’re going to enter the Humanities room. Oh wait, except that it says you have to have special admittance to get in! So we go down to information and ask what we need to get in there and study [once again, not to check out books! We just want to be in there and study!]. The woman then tells us we first need a list of books that we can not find at any other library and then [as if that isn’t enough], we have to have 2 forms of identification. Can you believe that? So their books are only for the elite smart people/researchers! Why don’t they put that in the title if that’s the case “The British Researchers Library” [shakes head]. I still can’t believe it. What a waist of books!
Anyway, I’m off to research on-line and write another paper [one down 3 to go!].

LOVE<><,
*maike rinaye*

Pony Trekking in Wales!

Wow [smile]. This past weekend was sooo cool [and even better because really neither Whit nor I had to plan or be prepared or worried about anything].

We started our trip on Friday and met here at Regents at 11am. Then we travelled as a group to the train station where we took a four hour train ride to Swansea, Wales. There we took a bus to the bed and breakfast that we stayed at for the weekend.
When we got there, it was so amazing, the house was huge, but so…personal. It was/is, by far, the best place that we have stayed so far. The rooms were great and had tv’s in them, and were decorated in a home-y way. We then ate a fabulous home-cooked meal and then some of us sat around and talked while drinking tea/coffee while others of us went to the game room to play charades. That night, being adventurous, half of us decided to walk to the nearby town to go to the pub [smile]. And by ‘nearby’ I mean a mile walk in the very dark woods [laugh]. It was really great. The boys scared us, we screamed, Kamani and I held on to each other for dear life, and then we got there and…well, did all the things you’re supposed to do in a pub [smile]. It was fabulous.

Saturday we got up and had another great home-cooked meal for breakfast and then got acquainted with our pony’s. My pony was named ‘Bottom’, apparently when he was a foal anyone that came up to him he would turn around and put his bum toward them. Everyone thought that he was going to kick, but it turned out that all he wanted to do was to say hi. The guides all said that my Bottom was handsome, and I agree, he was one hott pony [grin]. We brushed and saddled our pony’s [with English saddles], and then rode off [there were like 20 of us with the guides (3)]. We rode all over beautiful countryside and then stopped for lunch, where we left the pony’s to graze in a fenced in field. When we came back though, Bottom was covered with mud! Saddle and all was completely caked! It was so gross, apparently he enjoys rolling in the mud, but from that point on I called him the ‘dirty-good-looking-pony’. After lunch the tour girls led us along the shore…all I can say about this is wow! I took so many pictures, it was wonderful.
We got back to the house in the late afternoon and showered, cleaned up and then ate some more great home-cooked food. Then a bunch of us went into town to go clubbing, which turned out to be very different than we had imagined it. Everyone in Swansea [the town we took a bus to], was…well, wearing little to nothing [at least the chicks]. They had on the tiniest skirts I have ever seen! And then the tops…good grief, they might as well not wear any kind of top! It was crazy, but fun. And Kamani was seriously hit on by the Welsh guy [which was absolutely hilarious].

Sunday we all woke up incredibly sore, and only half of us went out trekking again. The smaller group was so much better though. We went out to where we could see water on three sides of us, and there was one point where we could see England land across the water. Then they pointed out caves and a castle and it was just really great. Even though we were incredibly sore, it was definitely worth going out. We came back to the house and packed up in the afternoon and then back to the train station to go home.

It was such a super weekend, Bottom was a wonerful pony, we had great weather [even though it was cold, at least it wasn't rainy], and we got to know a few more of our fellow students here at Regents. It was so worth every penny I paid for it. Well, I am off to write some papers. Hopefully I’ll get them all done before Rika, Lori and Alicia get here [smile]. I’m way excited about seeing you guys!

<><,
*maike rinaye*

Berlin!

So last weekend we went to Germany [sorry if this ends up being kind of jambled, I am in a computer room with loud people, not just one, but a bunch…and that makes it hard to focus].

Anyway, it was great [smile]. Whit and I flew out of London on Thursday afternoon and found our way to our great hostel. It was by far the cleanest and nicest. So then we go out in search of dinner and end up talking with a guy in German about George Bush [smile]…funny. We end the day watching The Matrix with two great Canadian guys that we met in the lobby.

On Friday our roommate Kamani flew out and met us in Berlin. My atm card didn’t work anywhere [I tried it on 4 different machines!]. We go on a three and a half hour walking tour around Berlin in the freezing cold. We were soooo cold! The tour was great and really really informative. He brought us into the very contemporary architecture area [it was super!], and of course he showed us part of the Berlin Wall, and we saw Checkpoint Charlie. He also took us to a square that has two churches and talked about how the one church is in the movie “Around the World in 50 Days” and Jackie Chan is running out of the building [in the movie it’s a bank].
After the tour we then got dinner at a Kebap place [which was excellent] and then walked up the Reichstag at night.

http://www.proasyl.de/serien/thierse/reichstag.jpg

Even though it was freezing, it was really awesome. The tour guide talked about how the government is now all about the citizens, and how the glass dome in the middle is very symbolic, because when you are up there you can actually look down onto the congress [because of this we had to go through all sorts of security stuff]. Our tour guide said that anytime the congress is in session they can look up and remember what they are there for: to represent the citizens.

Saturday we got up and had a wonderful breakfast at the hostel and then went into the Jewish Museum which was also really cool. The architecture was really cool, and the symbolism was pretty awesome too. Mom fixed my atm card for me [apparently, even though they know I’m in Europe for a semester, I took out a little more money than I normally do so they decided that my card was probably stolen; okay, whatever!] [but yea for mom for fixing it after the stupid international 1-800 number didn’t work for me!].
Then we went back to Checkpoint Charlie to check out an exhibit of crosses that was set up. Each of the crosses was for a person that died trying to get to the other side of the Berlin Wall; each cross had a name and some had pictures of people.
Then we definitely got lunch at a Mexican restaurant [smile!]. It was soooo good! Even though it took us like 30 min. just to get the single waitress to take our drink orders [we gave her the whole order, ‘cause by that time we knew exactly what we wanted].

Then started the crazyness [grin]. We started our 7 hour shopping fun [smile]. I came away with only a Berlin hoody [which is soo much fun], and some earrings, but we had a really great time. And Whit came back with tons! She now has 2 new pairs of shoes and a new coat and…hmm, that might be all. Kamani came back with some great new clothes too.
By the time we get back to the hostel we are completely exhausted. Our feet hurt, our legs hurt and the only thing we can do [when we finally get up to the fifth floor in the elevator] is lay in bed.
Then we met our roommate, who was really nice. She was from Brazil, but studying agriculture outside of Berlin. But she doesn’t speak any German and her teachers only speak in Deutch. She was neat to talk to.

So Whit and I left on Sunday morning and on the train to the airport we met this old German woman who started up a conversation about my backpack [“rucksack”] and then she explained to us in German, how to say “my mother speaks German” “Muttersprecken” (and I spell worse in German than I do in English). She was great.

And then we came home….and I’m going to die if I stay in the computer lab anymore because this group of freshman Skidmore girls are driving me nuts! They will not shut up and have completely taken over the room I am in! Ahh….I’m out of here.

LOVE TO ALL<><,
*maike rinaye*