FIRST LOVE - FIRST POST
Date: Sunday, 10 January 2010 @ 3:27PM
I've just moved in to my new web-home. I'm living with my man online. :P Who ever would have thought that I'd have a boyfriend who'd be able to host my website? Match made in heaven much? :)
I'm listening to First Love at the moment and it has the funny effect of lifting my heart and making it dreary also. It seems sort of fitting though for my post to be a song with such a title.
Adele - First Love
Love,
Cathrine
WHEN ALL IS FULL OF LOVE
Date: Thursday, 14 January 2010 @ 7:42PM
I thought I could run a site without a blog. I guess I was wrong. :) I found myself last night wondering where to offload my thoughts if I didn't have a blog. I wrote in a paper journal instead but the habit of writing in a online blog is just too ingrained to lose completely.
This new year has been really incredible of late. I got back from the Philippines on the 3rd of January - just over ten days ago - and I have such a different understanding of myself and my family. I was over there for two weeks for Christmas and New Years. I met my mum's family for the first time, I ate Filo food, I rode their unique trasportation and I got used to their idiosyncrasies (don't expect there to be toilet paper or even a toilet seat, only drinking bottled water, always eating fish and rice - rice, rice, rice!). I have developed a liking for fish that I never had. :) I grew to see the beauty in their everyday, the nipa huts, the way sugar cane is grown everywhere (include right next to their government house), the way houses become colourful on washing days as every spare piece of space is strewn with wet clothes.
I didn't like the pollution (mostly air pollution), but I loved that they recycle and re-use materials for many practical everyday things. I liked that our Australian dollar stretched so far, but felt uncomfortable when I found out that going to McDonalds was something reserved for the rich because it cost so much. I was impressed that people living in houses made from tin and concrete, with bare concrete floors, still had computers and the internet. I wasn't impressed that electricity bills were paid monthly and you need to go in person and queue for hours to pay them. Oh and grocery shopping? Standing in line for more than 20 minutes is normal. It would not be pleasant to spend so much time waiting. And the amounts of people working in department stores, yet it still takes just as long to be served. It's hard to understand.
So here are some photos from my time over there.
Some us at the Christmas Eve Dinner
Me playing a game with the kids
Sizzling fish!
Making ice at my mum's cousin's house. We filled these plastic bags with filtered water and she freezes them and sells them for 1 peso. Not many people have freezers.
Recycling and Non-Recycling. The bins are made from reused tyres. :)
Beautiful rice terraces.
While I was away I missed church a lot. It was only 2 weeks but it felt so long being away from the familiar music I sang to praise God. I normally read my bible in the morning and pray daily but couldn't do that very easily in the Philippines. And Christmas without church? Without candles? Without Midnight Mass? Without Christmas lunch with family? You don't realise how much all of that means to you until it's taken away. Christmas and New Years without Tom? I missed him a lot.
While I was away too I had a dream that I was back at work and I saw one of the girls that I missed. As soon as she saw me she ran up to me and gave me a huge hug. It was a lovely little dream. I saw her on Tuesday and it was different to my dream, instead of a running hug I was shown her drawing of dragonflies. :D I think this year is shaping up to be a good one. I'm only going to be there for another 7 months because I'm going back to Uni. I'm mentally preparing for how hard it will be to leave them. I've known these kids since the middle of 2008. :)
Maybe my next blog won't be an epic summary of what has been happening over the last month and more managable, but I couldn't help but write all this stuff out. Better head off...
Love,
Cathrine
BON IVER / JUSTIN VERNON
Date: Sunday, 24 January 2010 @ 7:01PM
It's been 9 days since I wrote in here. Not for lack of material to talk about... more for lack of time and will. My golden sunshine has been overrun by the demands of work and the disappointment of not getting my drivers license. I really wanted to get it and now I will need to wait many more months before I can attempt it. It's a shame and I'm trying to be philosophical about it. I will get it in the end... the delay will seem like a breath after I've had it for a few years.
In the mean time, music again is a great part of my consolation. I have been listening to Bon Iver lately so I decided to look up the main guy (Justin Vernon) and listen to some of his music. Bon Iver doesn't have a lot of material... so this is very welcome.
Justin Vernon - Nothing Better Than A Journey To You
PAUL DEMPSEY
Date: Saturday, 30 January 2010 @ 5:37PM
I've loved Paul Dempsey since I first heard Echolalia in 2001. I bought the album based on a review I read in Sa!n, a magazine the music store Sanity put out. I don't know if they still do... I don't like the store anymore, so I don't go in. :P
The best thing about Paul to me is his live performances. I saw this performance of "Dumb Things" (Paul Kelly cover) and had to share it. It's so full of energy! If you ever get a chance to see this man play live... take it. :)
TOM-LOVE
Date: Sunday, 31 January 2010 @ 10:01PM
It's the last day of January and it seems to have flown by. I got back from the Philippines in the 3rd and had a week at home before work started back... and then three weeks of work. I feel like so much has happened. Throughout all of it, I have been blessed to have Tom by my side. Tom sent me this photo from last year that his dad took outside the ESP gallery in Marrickville where he has some art exhibited. We don't have a lot of couple photos and looking at it tonight compelled me to write this blog and share it. :)
I can't wait to see what the rest of the year holds for us. :)
