La confusion pone casa en mi cabeza...

My sexuality expedition yesterday didn't turn out well. What I expected to be an entertaining free lecture (that's how my exchange friend Maria described it and the reason why I wanted to attend the lecture without being registered for ) ended in a quite unexpected situation. A cold shower which forced me to run away as fast as possible!

Did you ever enter a room where you didn't belong, put your bag down and suddenly stood eye in eye with a Teaching Assistant, offering you an empty exam sheet? Only at that moment I realized I was surrounded by nervous students, desperately revising their human sexuality notes and textbooks. Out of pure anxiety my hand lost grip of the paper and I dropped it somewhere on the floor. " I think that one is yours," pushed the TA pointing at the floor. I nodded, but at the same time I found the opportunity to hide under the chairs and escape the lecture hall in the fraction of seconds she didn't take attention. Actually it would have been more fun if I had completed the midterm, but maybe that would have caused a lot of trouble (maybe even a earlier return to my boring European dwarf state...).


I am looking forward to the Poetry Slam in Cafe Deux Soleils in Commercial Drive on monday evening. If you want to join me, feel welcome! Doors open around 7:30. With a bit of luck I will perform for the first time on an Canadian stage (if you don't count my performance as an Indian Afghan backing vocal in Quebec ;) ). Viva poetry!

These days are rather strange than normal. I don't really know what I want, what I am here for, what I am doing, what to say, what to think, what to avoid and what to embrace. A silly thing called confusion. The default state of being of thie highly neurotic individual. The only melody which reliefs my mocking thoughts from time to time is the childish uncomplicatedness of Ode to Confusion (by the South African artist Harris Tweed).... "life should be more fun, it should be a laugh a minute going hahahahaha, but we don't know who you are (...) You know you want to let it you... ", even though I am not sure if it really should...



Actually I have to study for Cultural Psychology. There's a midterm coming up tomorrow and this time I can not just run away... In the meanwhile I take Jens' suggestion of "the Philosophy of Art" into consideration. Maybe Leuven isn't that bad after all...

Some October pictures to remember

Going out with Mikyung and her friends on the evening of Wild Asian Club life. (That evening I realized Asians are not as shy as they appear at first sight)

Colours of Universityof British Columbia

oh ah, Poetry in the Sun! (or what are Teaching Writing classes normally look like).
The smiling artist on the right is our prof Kedrick James.

The organic heaven of Choices! Food!!!!!!!

I like leafs, even the green ones!

Sushi can be funky and Vegan, as Alex and I demonstrate here.

We and the highest Mountain of Canada : Mount Robson 395400 cm!!

Bees, the world traveller!

The glacier is ours :) Frozen hands on the Columbian Icefields

Relaxing on a frozen beach

Europeans on their way to the top of Tunnel Mountain (Banff National Park)

They call him the Flying Swedish Man

Some hairy guy :), Bees and I on the beach

The everlasting duo: My backpack and I

The red mermaid (Lake Louise)

The hairy guy and I with the 'poster' of Lake Louise in the Background

Wonton!

Risking our lives in the Othello Caves

For more pictures, visit my skydrive! Or facebook (if Facebook doesn't go against your principles)

See you soon!

A Veerle who really needs to study now...

Rocky-after-math: Friendship and Coincidence

Wanted to go to the Psychological Aspect of Human Sexuality lecture (as entertainment, probably because of lack of the previous mentioned thing), but ended up in a crowdy lecture hall with a desperate and hypernervous teaching assistant trying to explain some vague exercises about rates, primes, equations and more far-away-from-my-bed math functions. Sex comes in one hour... Patience Veerle, patience...

My midterm of cultural psychology is waiting for me on friday. In the meanwhile I just keep dreaming about the Rocky Mountains, watching and re-watching the hundreds of pictures I took of this snow-dipped stoney tops. I loved it and if I had more than 10 procent of my laptop battery left, I would tell you everything about it. Now I will just quickly send you to the picture album: http://cid-623d43d05c27b292.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Photos/October%202008/Rocky%20Mountains%20Trip%2010-13%20october

Friendship... in these days I wonder what it is. Is it sending smileys in a live messenger chatbox in the internet after midnight, is it sharing food even though you don't really have enough for yourself, is it offering a shoulder to support a broken heart, let your toes almost become frozen just because the conversation is too interesting to interrupt, texting that you already miss each other after just one weekend, talking the whole night through on a cold couch in the reception hall of an some-stars hotel in the Rocky Mountains? If this is called friendship, I can say I have at least 4 very good friends here in Vancouver. But why don't I put enough effort in some other friendships that matter. Why do most of you have to put up with only my scarce news on this weblog or a short facebook message from time to time. Why is there no time left in these overbooked evenings to have a oversea-s chat? I just want to say I'm sorry for that. You all mean a lot to me, even though I'm far away. Nevertheless, on Canadian Thanksgiving (last monday) I mentioned all of you in a kinda-formal pre-vegan-dinner-speech. A moment to give thanks. to eat Tofurky (tofu-turkey) and to sing European Harvest Songs (I could only think of 'waar int bronsgroen eikenhout" and "the zomerse hei". Dad would be proud of me :P

Finally I am sure. My religious view is based on the laws of coincidence. Some things in life are just to 'coincidental' to be random. God (or however I can name this spiritual power) proved it to this doubting Belgian creature on sunday, to be exactly, alongside the heavenly blue shore of Lake Louise. Ok, it's the most visited touristic attraction of Canada, but that day there weren't that much tourists at all. I felt totally excited. Even though I lacked one night of sleep and I lived in some kind of memory-damaged sleepdrunk condition, I am sure that God's prove actually happened. Right at the moment my eyes crossed the blue surface of the lake, a voice reached my ears. " Sorry, did you go to Ecuador 3 years ago?". I was perplex. It was not necessary to check the name tag around her neck: this was Kim Lipscombe! My Canadian friend during my year in Ecuador. I knew she lived in Beautiful British Columbia, but how big it the chance to actually meet each other in the second biggest country of the world. Kim was guiding a group of international students of her college, I was with another group of Vancouverian International Students. And right on that moment, these fiveteen minutes of touristic exposure to the lake, our paths crossed. Isn't it planned coincidence?

Time for sexuality now. Lecture is going to start!

Enjoy the pictures and keep in mind I miss you!!!!!!!!!!

Veerle

On my own...

En daar gaat de tweede huisgenote... And there goes the second room-mate

Ik weet niet wat mijn huisgenootjes bezielt. I don't know what the matter with my housemates, but it seems there is some mean spirit bewitching this house 2710. Last sunday I saw my roummate Sarah for the second time in 5 weeks. She was standing in the middle of the corridor, her hand packing her room in carton boxes. I was happy to see her, finally I could have a conversation which could last longer than 5 minutes with my roommate Sarah, the actress, the silent invisible, who I only seem to know from Facebook (even though she was living under my room for 5 weeks now). But no, the only reason she left her room for a moment, was because of practical motives: moving out Fairview, moving it with her boyfriend (with whom she spent most of her time anyway). I didn't even have the chance to say properly goodbye, nor hello to her.

Fortunately there was still Jessica, my co-psychology student, who made the house a bit less spooky. (the other roommate Devina I only saw one when she was having dinner with some of her friends, but I'm not quite sure anymore which of them was Devina). Jessica was the one who I regularly saw studying in the coach downstairs. It's to say, I saw the back of her head and a part of her, by mp3-sound deafed, ears. One day I said 5 times 'Hello' to her while I was cooking only 3 meters away from her. She didn't take notice of it. It was only some minutes later that I could blame the headphones for it.... I decided to put up with the fact I wouldn't have a lot of company of my roommates. Fortunately there are plenty of people in this university with whom I can have a great time! Thanks Mikyung, Alex, Juan, Saori, Hiro, June, Fumi, Farah, Mio, Lenny, Yujin, Saori 2, Bruce, Antonio, Maria, IPP-group and all the others! You mean a lot to me!!

Anyway, to come back to my house-situation. When I entered the house today around 5-ish I encountered Jessica's room totally empty, wide open door, not even a single forgotten sock which could remind me of my former roommate. I felt and still feel totally abandoned... :( Now I will really be the only one using the kitchen! And the only one baring the responsibility of throwing out the overwhelming mountain of garbage... Maybe that's her reason to move! What is wrong with this house???

While I am getting myself so depressed by the moving-behavior of my invisible roommates, there is fortunately one positive thought to sooth myself with: Maybe I can get some new roommates!!! I know Farah from Malaysia is still searching for a room in Fairview, so this is her chance! I hope, I hope!

I will keep you informed about the big surprise of the new roommates. Tomorrow (at 5.30) in the morning I will go to the ROCKY MOUNTAINS till Thanksgiving (monday). So will I get a new, more social roommate (or roommates) in return? Shall we study together in the evening? Shall he or she borrow my soymilk and can I use her/his pots and pans? OMG, if not I will not be able to cook anymore, because I was always using Jessica's pots!!!! My days as kitchen queen are counted... Just now I really started to enjoy living on my own. First the herbs went away, now even the pots, pans, pepper, salt and sugar...

But tomorrow there will be Rockies! And the company of international friends!
And a lot of more positive news coming up!

Miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Veerle