Time well spent

So, my husband’s brother Enoch was here for a wee Christmas visit, and what visit to Germany is complete without seeing the city of Munich? Having been to Munich many times, and being my pregnant, easily tired self, I wondered if I would go with these two fine Rottier gentlemen and see the sights I’ve seen so many times before.

It was then that I remembered when we went to Munich only weeks earlier with Jeremy’s cousin and husband (Jess and Luke Seatter) and saw a display in one of the smaller museums (I wouldn’t even have known it was a museum if Jess hadn’t pointed it out) by an artist named Alphonse Mucha. If you haven’t heard of him, I’m 100% sure that you have seen his stuff. Google it. It’s amazing. Knowing that Jeremy would come with me to the museum, but wouldn’t necessarily LOVE to go, I offered to go alone, allowing time to really take in everything and linger at certain paintings or what have you. Having the husband that I do, he also informed me that not only was the trip to the museum part of my Christmas present, but that he also wanted to buy me a Mucha poster of my choosing. What a guy! How thoughtful is that!?

http://paddyk.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/mucha-les-saisons.jpg Here’s a link to a sweet picture by Mucha.

I discovered a few things while I was alone in this public place. 1. Standing for an hour and a half is hard work when you’re pregnant. 2. An hour and a half was not enough time 3. I enjoyed not feeling like I had to hurry through the rooms because other people might want to go sooner 4. I love Mucha.

So, instead of one big poster (they didn’t have a great selection) I got three little ones and some post cards to put up in my new apartment. I decided that our bedroom and hallway will have many a Mucha. :) Oh, and I would also like to get a Mucha tattoo. This is a goal that will take a LOT to realize, but there it is, none the less.

Necessities

I had a crazy-attack last weekend (or a panic attack, if you must know its true name), which left me with 2 feelings that I thought one wouldn’t have post-panic:

1. I did not want to be around people I’m close to.

2. I wanted to be in public.

I would have thought that post-panic attack, you’d want to be around those that love and understand you, and that you’d want to stick close to home. For whatever reasons, I felt the opposite. (Maybe because it happened at home and with people I’m close to? Maybe because the last thing I wanted to do was talk about it? Maybe because in public, the brain can’t think quite as loud?)

So, it was dinner and a movie for this gal.

Movie: Up In The Air, which was quite good, but about a man who is essentially an island, and his learning that such behaviour is not necessarily good. Interesting choice given my state of mind, I suppose.

Also: when you go to a Saturday matinee movie, you are surrounded by people who are over 40; I got to sit next to two white-haired ladies (I’m guessing they were at least in their late 60′s) who were hilarious. After a commercial that ended with “and please enjoy your show,” one responded with “We’d love to, if you’d just stop trying to sell us things.”  They also commented that something was “half-assed” and really liked one of the actresses haircuts. Furthermore, neither had any idea what the movie was about, beforehand; one just knew that the Globe & Mail had “written it up really nice.”

Dinner: Butternut Squash Ravioli and a delicious tropical fruity blended drink at L’azia.

It was okay. But I got to sit in a wonderful friends’ section, and it was nice to see a familiar face without having to really talk too much.

Anyhow, I typically spend a lot of time in public on my own; walking, shopping, eating, le cinema, etc. It’s almost a necessity when you live alone and are without a significant other. This day was just a necessity of a different sort.

Jennifer

No Big Deal

I didn’t go for a movie alone, which would have been the ultimate challenge for me, I think, but I did consider it and would have done it had I had the time. I did all of my Christmas shopping alone this year in downtown Edmonton. I also got a haircut and an eye exam, neither of which had been previously scheduled. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was 6ish hours alone wandering downtown.

I could also count all the time that I have spent in the 6 airports that I have been in over the past week and a half: Edmonton, Grand Rapids, Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix and LA. I had meals and beer alone in both LA and Phoenix, but that’s a pretty standard travel activity for me.

Rooftop Fries

My Chinese lesson finished today at 3:30 PM, so I was biking home around 3:45 PM. We had a rare blue-sky day, and I was biking down a small street lined with trees, and just loving the whole of life in that moment. I pulled out my phone and called my friends Hannah and Erica to see if either of them were around to go to Holly’s for some rooftop food with me. Alas, neither of them answered for various reasons; so I continued on my way home. Suddenly I stopped, realized that the day was fine and I had my Chinese books with me, and elected to go to Holly’s myself. I turned around, biked back, waltzed upstairs to find myself the only customer, and sat myself down in the gazebo on the roof.

The view from the gazebo-thingo

I pulled out my Chinese books and started to study, while I was waiting for my food to arrive,

Chinese Made Easier Book 4! (Note: Not Chinese made *easy*)

and then I indulged in the best French fries in the city, and an unbelievable mango lassi. Yes, friends, it was delicious.

The best fries in Chengdu, with a double order of ketchup.

(To be fair, by the end of the basket of fries I felt like I probably should have got something else. This is a basket of about 9 deep-fried potatoes.)

By the end of about an hour, I had enjoyed what remained of the sunlight and blue sky, I had enjoyed my favourite restaurant in the city, I had enjoyed some silence, and I had practiced some characters. Win!

sarajane

(I still haven’t settled on one way to sign these.)

Good Company

I went to Victoria this weekend for some meetings to with work. The whole trip became a bit of an adventure, from not knowing where I would sleep once there, to missing the bus that would take me to the ferry terminal and being entertained by actor/musicians while waiting for the next to just not quite having things turn out they way that I was hoping. It was three days of just waiting to see what would happen.

One of things I was hoping would happen was seeing a couple of friends who live in the city. And I tried, oh believe me, I tried, to get in touch with them. One friend busy, and the other apparently dropped of the planet. Couldn’t get onto them at all. So there was I, 4pm after a great day of meetings in the afternoon at the Island Ocean Hostel,  wanting some company but with none to find. And I really tried. First, to get a hold of my friends in Victoria. And then to find friends online that I could pass the time with until 9:00pm or 10:00pm, when I would be able to return to where I was staying.

Somewhere in the middle of this all it occurred to me that it could be a moment to take on something on the list. Being my own company, it was a great opportunity to hang out in a  public place on my own.

Time to take myself on a date.

Dinner and a movie.

Three cheers to the hostel for making great homemade and delicious food – all for a very affordable price. And it looks like Grandma’s home cooking on it’s Corel dishware.  $4.75 for lasagna, garlic bread and a salad. What a deal.

After I dined myself it was off to the movies. The Men Who Stare At Goats. I give myself a pat on the back for the forward thinking of putting my last Cineplex movie pass in my wallet for an impromptu movie moment such as this. All in all a good experience. The most unenjoyable moment? The act of going and finding a seat on my own. But soon discovered – there many others flying solo (what are the chances that they were also challenging themselves to hang out in a public place on their own?). I hunkered down with my popcorn and enjoyed the movie.

I am good company. And cheap company – in a good way. Give me a free movie pass and a plate of $5 lasagna any day. And maybe next time you could join me. But I’m also quite alright on my own.

HCR

Welcome to The List II

6 women (see “Participants”)

3 continents (see the locations in “Participants”)

27 challenges (see “Items of The List II”)

1.5 months (December 1, 2009 – January 15, 2010)

many reasons (see “What Is The List II?”)

1 blog (bravo! you’ve found it!)

hopefully regular updates and reflections on how we’re all faring with this undertaking…