mitchenstein

Crossing the Atlantic: Part Six

2010-04-18T23:05:00.000+01:00

When I heard we were going to be in Denmark for another day, I decided I had to go and do SOMETHING exciting, so I went to Sweden (it's only half an hour or so away by train). The train was PACKED - full of people trying to get home any way they could.

Arriving at Malmø Central Station, I knew I wanted to go somewhere else, but I didn't know where. I've been to Malmø before (see June 2008 in the right-hand column), and although I really like it, I spent an entire day looking around it and I knew there wouldn't be much more to see.

Walking into the information office at the station, I saw a huge map of southern Sweden on the wall. I had a quick glance round to see where else I could go and still be able to get back to Copenhagen in good time. As I scanned the map, my eye caught the name "Ystad". Hmm. Ystad is the town where the Wallander books and films (by Henning Mankell) are (set/filmed). I'm a big fan of the series, but Ystad (or Oosh-tard, as Branagh and his buddies call it) did seem rather a long way away... I looked around and saw that the train to Ystad was about to leave the staion. I had to make a decision there and then. Oh, what the heck. I went to Ystad.

Arriving in Ystad (and still feeling like a bit of a geek), I sought out the tourist office. That wasn't actually hard, because it was opposite the train station. Although it was shut, they had left a lot of leaflets about the town out. One caught my eye:

I decided to jump on the geek bandwagon altogether and go with it (I hadn't got anything else to do, so why not?).

Ystad is a lovely looking town actually - with little cobbled streets and small houses (OK, this street isn't cobbled.):

I didn't go to EVERY place my guide suggested I should go to, but there were a couple I did check out:

Wallander's street:

Wallander's favourite café (where you can apparently buy a Wallander police blue pastry. Whatever that is. It doesn't sound particularly appetising. I never got to find out because by the time I got round to having my Wallander police blue pastry, it was shut.):

One final thing: what is it with this crazy continental tendency to shut every thing at about 2pm on a Saturday? To keep my spirits up, I decided it would be a nice touch to buy a Wallander book from Ystad. Could I find anywhere selling books at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon?

(No.)

Crossing the Atlantic: Part Five

2010-04-17T00:52:00.005+01:00

When I was in the Faroes, I heard that the Danish Queen, Margrethe II, was due to have her seventieth birthday soon, but I didn't think much more of it. However, once stranded in Copenhagen, I realised I was going to be around for it and saw that it was a pretty big deal for the Danes.

AC told me that there was going to be a parade through Copenhagen, but after checking the internet we realised we'd missed it. Bummer.

(AC reading from the newspaper) "But John, she is going to wave from the Town Hall just before 2 o'clock".

I stopped and thought about it. I had about fifty minutes and didn't even know how to get to the centre of Copenhagen from the hotel. I was sure I wouldn't make it. But then I hadn't got anything else to do and it could end up being an experience... After umming and ah-ing for a few minutes (whilst losing time), I decided to go for it. Why not?

So I did a quick Google Map check, memorised the route to the station and rushed off. There were reminders about the birthday all over the place. Every bus had two Danish flags flying and most buildings were adorned with the Danish red-and-white (The last part of that sentence is a little more poetic than mitchenstein usually gets. Apart from when I wrote that ode to Aldgate Station):

I got to Copenhagen Town Hall (I made it!) and there were a LOT of people there:

A large screen was relaying the proceedings from inside the hall to those of us waiting on the square. Royalty from Sweden and Norway was there, but a lot of the guests hadn't been able to make it because of some volcano or something ;) So it was good that I had made the effort to go, as I now saw myself as the United Kingdom's official representative.
And then she came out to see me!
This very short video is just to give you an idea of the scenes as she came out. I warn you now, it's loud. You were warned. Just there. And then there again. There.

She wasn't there for long, but it was pretty cool. I'm a bit of a royalist and I've never seen our Queen, so it was kinda cool to see Margrethe on her special day :) But the fun didn't stop there! As soon as she'd left, they unveiled a massive load of huge Danish pastries, enough for about two thousand people, they said (not quite enough). But it was free!

The crowd rushed off to get a piece of the action/cake:
But I was a little too cool for that, so I didn't get a piece. And I went off on my way.

Only joking!

Crossing the Atlantic: Part Four

2010-04-16T23:16:00.003+01:00

Well, this wasn't quite how I had expected today to pan out... Up at 5am this morning, I managed to get to Copenhagen Airport on time, get checked-in, and get all set for my flight to Greenland.

Kangerlussuaq, here we come!

At 9.00am we were told about a volcano eruption in Iceland and that they weren't sure when we'd be able to leave. At 10.00am they told us the flight had been cancelled. So, I'm not going anywhere today (apparently the airport's going to close tonight). Argh.

10.35am
So now I'm sitting in the Transfer Centre, waiting for my number to be called so I can go and find out what they're going to do with me... If I'd realised they were using the number system, I would have been a little quicker in getting here! I have number 099, and they're currently on 059. Hmm.

My View.

11.00am
Number 077.

11.08am
Glad I'm flying with Air Greenland. The guy from SAS just announced over the system: "My colleagues are doing all they can. We didn't have any control over the volcano. We're not masters of nature." The mood I'm in (just tired), that would have made me angry!

11:30am
Number 099! (The last bit went quickly as they told all the Danes to go home!)

There's something unsatisfactory about arriving at an airport, going through check-in, customs, etc. only to leave the same airport again 4 hours later.

Fortunately I managed to find my case!

Well, I'm lucky because they've put me in a hotel for the night - from what I've heard from England, that's not happening over there. I'm sat on a bus full of Greenlanders and being taken somewhere. Well, this is an adventure in itself. Although I wish I'd learned more Greenlandic, because an old man just started singing a song and all the others laughed.

11:53am
I've just decided I'm going to treat myself to a bag of Haribo fried eggs tonight. Still on the bus...

12:02pm
The hotel is very nice, but absolutely in the middle of nowhere. So there probably won't be any Haribo eggs. And check-in isn't possible until 3pm. Right.

12:26pm
But all is forgiven! Lunch AND dinner all thrown in! And I don't know what have the stuff is, so it must be good!

Waiting... So I took a photo of myself.

16:15pm
Well THIS is an interesting development! The hotel doesn't have enough rooms, so we have to share... Not great. Another traveller, AC (that's the name, not me being secretive) came and asked if I had anyone to go with. Which I obviously didn't. So, in a rather awkward situation (for both of us), the two of us went to find our room and get to know each other!

We're getting on really well, and we're going into the centre of Copenhagen tonight. It looks like we'll be here for a couple of nights, so it's great we've hit it off (I keep imagining how it could have gone...).

A weird day. And one that hasn't quite finished in the country I'd intended it to!

But this card in the hotel room cheered me up (I'm shattered - that's the only explanation I have. It means 'speed' in Danish):

Crossing the Atlantic: Part Three

2010-04-13T00:15:00.000+01:00

(Yes, this post is out of sync, but I had to wait for the photos. I'll put it in its right place in a little while. So now, you have to imagine I'm back in the Faroe Islands. Which, if you're located anywhere other than the Faroe Islands or Denmark, where I actually am, you might actually think I was anyway).

Once a year, sometimes more often, the Salvation Army in the Faroe Islands is responsible for one television meeting. Every Sunday, at four o'clock, there's an hour long service on the TV from one of the churches on the islands. Nearly every time I go the Faroes I just miss being able to take part in the TV meeting. But this time (I actually didn't know), I managed to be there for it!

I was pretty excited about the whole thing. Fortunately I wasn't doing anything high-profile (other than singing in the choir/playing in the band, so I'd just be able sit back and enjoy it. Which I did for about the first twenty minutes.

We were really getting in to it: the choir had sung twice, we'd had the introductions, a Bible reading and thought, a congregational song - and then the sound guy came in and said: "Sorry we need to do it again. The sound's wrong". We thought he just meant the congregational song we'd just done. But no. He meant the whole thing so far! I felt very sorry for the people who had already spoken really well of the cuff - that's very hard to repeat!

All in all it was a lot of fun in the end. And watching it was pretty cool too - and there were a couple of unintentially funny moments. Hopefully somebody watching it got something from it.

So this can be a picture blog. Enjoy:

The choir kick things off. Again ;)

When these four girls sing together in Faroese, it's stunning. I'm a big fan!

Me giving it some on my euphonium. Concentrating a little too hard here... (but the manuscript was handwritten - that's not easy! That's my excuse).

Me singing away. You may not believe me, but I didn't know the camera was looking at me. If you were to see the full programme, you'd be able to tell that I definitely wasn't able to tell when the camera was looking at me.

Good fun, all round.

In other news, I wanted to find a Faroese book to read in the evenings when I don't feel like reading anything particularly challenging. I've heard a lot about these Twilight books. I'm roughly 100% sure they're not aimed at me, but they've been such a phenomenon, I thought I should have a look, before I can say I don't rate them. When I arrived in the Faroes, I saw that the first book was now available in Faroese, so I'm giving it a go! I'll keep you posted.

Crossing the Atlantic: Part Two

2010-04-10T22:08:00.000+01:00

Well it's great being back in the Faroes. It's only been five months since I was here last, but a few things have changed...

One thing you learn when you visit the Islands regularly is that business names never stay the same for long. Every time I go back, something will have changed its name. Last time, all the Shell petrol stations had become "Magn", but this time, it was the turn of the Statoil petrol stations (now "Effo" - which actually sounds like someone struggling to say "Esso") and the post office (Postverk Føroya has become "Posta". Catchier, I suppose, but I can never really see the point. Do you remember when Royal Mail became "Consignia"? That didn't last long. Because it was stupid.) and apparently, by the next time I go back, one of the two main banks, Føroya Banki, will have become "BankNordik". Just Weird.

The only other thing I noticed is that everyone has bought a silver car. I don't mean they've all clubbed together to buy a single silver car, I mean that silver seems to be the colour of choice for new cars for just about everyone. Oh, and now the Faroe Islands have a sushi bar.

Anyway, my first few days were spent in Tórshavn, seeing everyone again and catching up (and working!). But then I was off to Tvøroyri, the biggest town on the South Island (but still about fourteen times smaller than Tórshavn, so not a massive place.

Tvøroyri

I'd not really spent much time in Tvøroyri before, so it was great to have a look around there and get to know it a bit better. The following day I had to visit a school on the island, which was a really interesting experience. Following on from that I had three hours to spend on the island before I could get the ferry back to Tórshavn. I decided to travel to the other main 'town' on the island, Vágur, as I didn't really think there was anything left to look at in Tvøroyri. Vágur is a really nice little town, with some great views and nice little shops, but it does only have a population of like 1,500, so entertainment is somewhat limited. And, not surprisingly, it started to rain. Fortunately - and this is when I really began to feel I'd made it in the Faroes - I bumped into someone I knew on the street, who invited me back to their place to sit and watch TV and wait for the ferry back in the warm. (And they actually drove me to the terminal!)

Vágur

Speaking of that, when I was walking in Tórshavn and met with two cars (we were all trying to go down the same street) and I saw I knew the people in both cars, I realised I was becoming much more of a local. When I'm out and about in the city, I almost always see someone I know now. Which is pretty cool, but it means you always have to make your hair look nice before going out.

Finally, the cinema on the South Island is a little different to the Odeon we generally go to...

Crossing the Atlantic: Part One

2010-04-09T19:12:00.000+01:00

It's been a really long time since I updated this, although I have written a few posts I haven't got round to, well, posting yet. But I really enjoy this blogging malarky, and it's been a great way of keeping a record of the non-academic side of my PhD travels, so I'm going to stick with it!

I'm just about to set off on a very exciting, if slightly nervewracking trip to Greenland, via the Faroes. To make up for my blogging slackness, I'm planning to blog a little bit every day during the Greenland leg of the trip, and a few times from the Faroes (as I've written rather a lot about the Faroes already!).

I'll add the earlier posts later on, but for now, happy reading!

PS. By the time I posted this, I was already in the Faroes. I thought I'd just leave this photo with you!It might look like a fairly regular photo of Faroese landscape, but there's something slightly weird about it. Undortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so I took this on my phone. If you look at the zoomed-in photo, you can make out a dark patch on the roof, which, believe it or not, was a sheep. No idea how it managed to get up or down, but when there's grass on the roof, I guess it can get a little confusing!

Eleven Hours in Iceland...

2009-10-29T19:32:00.003Z

When I was booking my flight back to the Faroes, I was pretty excited when I worked out that, this time, it would actually be cheaper to fly via Iceland than via Denmark, That meant I'd get to see my Icelandic friend, Jóhanna, who I hadn't seen for a couple of years, and, well, Iceland is just a pretty cool place anyway!

There's something I love about a country where people use a beautiful, ancient language to discuss pizzas, clubbing and cinema times, where the scenery looks like something from another planet and where the cleanest people smell like egg.*

The only downside was that I'd just get eleven hours there. That would give me time to get to Keflavík Airport, get to Jóhanna's place, sleep a little bit, get up and get back to Reykjavík City Airport - this wasn't going to be a big sightseeing trip!

Fortunately, we actually managed to spend about half an hour in the city centre - and the fact I was limited to half an hour was probably a good thing. Due to the economic situation, Iceland has become MUCH cheaper than it was when I was last there, five years ago (for now - and Icelandic cheap still doesn't mean cheap cheap), which meant that books, clothes, etc. seemed pretty tempting. It was good for my own economic situation that my shopping spree was somewhat limited. And then it was straight off to the airport for my flight to the Faroes (on which there was an Icelandic AND a Faroese popstar!).

So this photo is the only proof I have that I was in Iceland at all:

And here's a rather nice photo of me and Jóhanna:
And, the way we were - the two of us back in 2005:
* I should add that this is due to the amount of sulphur in Icelandic water, I believe. The smell does go away very quickly, but anyone just leaving the shower will have the beautiful smell of egg about them for a good ten minutes or so...

The Summer of 09

2009-09-13T22:42:00.003+01:00

And another summer has been and gone - and it was a great one this year. I managed to cram loads of things in. If I tried to write about everything, it'd just be boring, so I thought I'd just choose ten pictures which more or less cover what I got up to. Obviously I got a lot of work done too, but that isn't really fun to write about. Or take pictures of.

1. At the start of the summer I took part in my first ever car rally. And it was a great day - although unbelievably tiring! None of us had expected that the rally would take us all over South East Essex. Or that there would be so much walking involved (it was a CAR rally). But Fiesta Resistance and the Poddington Peas did their best and finished up in second place. (Robbed, I have to say).
2. Hayley Westenra came to Southend as part of her tour and I went along with the family. It was a great night - and she was a real professional, especially when the torrential rain came into the auditorium. Due to my contacts :) I was able to meet her afterwards, and she was very cool. Here's the proof!

3. Still in July, my brother went to a music camp in Swansea, Wales, and, as I have a bit of a thing for all things Welsh, I didn't pass up the chance to tag along with the parents. Swansea is a strange town - roughly divided in half, with half of the centre (around the train station) being not so nice and half of the centre being really nice. Mumbles and the Gower Peninsula were, however, stunning, and Gower reminded me a little of the Faroes...

4. I took the opprtunity to brush up on my Welsh and buy a few books, having my first ever proper Welsh conversation (admittedly only a few lines) with the lady in WHSmith (she started it!). Just a warning to anyone who ever visits a part of the world where they speak a different language with me - I have an incredibly annoying tendency (I'm sure) to read every single sign I see out loud.

5. Music Camp. What can I say? It's ALWAYS a major highlight of my year, and this year rocked, just as I knew it would. I won't say much more, because it's only really fun if you were there, but I just love the time spent with great people, in a great setting. With great ice cream.

6. After Music Camp, I got to hang out with my friend Grit (on the right) for a bit. Great catching up!

7. And then Katie used a large courgette as a telephone.

8. And the final few photographs are from Portugal, where I went with the family for a few days in September. A great view over Lisbon, just up from the Marques de Pombal.

9. Now I'm not really a fan of zoos or anything like that, but Lisbon Zoo is fantastic, and I got some pretty cool pictures.

10. A real highlight for me was when I went to the Salvation Army in Lisbon. It was great as I was walking through the streets of Picheleira alone (understandably, my parents didn't feel they would get much from a Portuguese service), it was very cool to hear the sounds of a brass band playing 'By the Pathway of Duty'. It was an excellent experience: the little band of about 6 or 7 that played really well, the joy and the relaxed atmosphere, the very friendly people, including those that helped us understand everything that was going on. I've said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again, but that's one of the things I love about the Salvation Army - I can go practically anywhere in the world and instantly find a group of friends. Immense.

Oh! What's Occurring?!

2009-09-10T17:11:00.000+01:00

Dear Readers of Mitchenstein and Mitchenstein 365,

What's going on?? There hasn't been an update on here or on the mitchenstein365 picture blog for months! I can tell you now that I haven't given up at all - I'm still a massive fan of the ol' blogging and I'm planning to keep it up. It's just been a very manic time. Although you haven't seen anything new for a good long while, I can assure you that all the photos have been taken, the blog posts are in my mind and new stuff will be coming soon!

Thanks for checking by - keep on doing so, and maybe the next time you check in on mitchenstein (providing it's not like later today or tomorrow), there could well be more to read!

All the best - hope all's well with you!

John :)

Walthamstow! (Part Two)

2009-09-01T10:12:00.000+01:00

One of the teams had the task of sorting out this:

And it's always amazing what sort of things end up in a place like this:

This rather fancy coat:

Chris with a corps flag from Chingford - anyone know when the corps in Chingford closed? Anyway, I'm a firm believer that there'll be another need for a Chingford flag at some point in the future, but I think we'll let them have a new one...

I REALLY wanted to take this crest home...

And quite a few stepladders...

(And obviously the usual supply of Salvation Army bonnets and mannequins were there).

And the day was rounded off with an excellent barbecue (seriously, seriously good food).

It was a fantastic day - great to be hanging out with a good group of people, and great to be doing something really worthwhile. Here's to a great future for Walthamstow Corps!

Walthamstow! (Part One)

2009-08-31T09:39:00.005+01:00

OK, so it's been a little while since I blogged (but as I took so long to get all the Faroese stuff up, you've had a nice lot to read over the summer!), but here's something a little more recent...

A group of young people from The Salvation Army in our region went to Walthamstow for the day (can anyone hear that name without thinking of East 17?? Or am I just showing my age there?). The Salvation Army there stopped having Sunday meetings a couple of years ago, but efforts are being made to get the place up and running again and turn it into a real centre for the community. The plans I've heard for it sound fantastic. It's a massive building and in a great location.

Anyway, it needed a little bit of a face-lift - hence our journey for the day. I for one had an excellent day - it was great to meet new people, catch up with old friends I hadn't seen in a long time, and spend the day doing something really worthwhile (although a lot of hard work was involved!). So here's a few pictures from the day:

The upstairs team (which included me) await their instructions:

And then it's off to work!

I really got into this painting malarky (But it's hard work!).

But then all work and no play would have been boring...

The kitchen team:

Beth and Katie did quite a lot of this during the day...

The toilets team:

More to follow!

FAR23.1: Going home...

2009-07-05T11:52:00.000+01:00

P.S. It was about 5am when I recorded this, and I was shattered! I think that comes across...

FAR22.1: Excursion Thursday (Part Three)

2009-06-29T10:19:00.003+01:00

Destination: Vestmannabjørgini

It’s often said that there are three places you have to visit if you want to be able to say you’ve ‘seen’ the Faroe Islands: Suðuroy (the South Island), Mykines and Vestmannabjørgini, or the Vestmanna Bird Cliffs.* I’d seen the first two (see here and here for Suðuroy, and here for Mykines), but still needed to see the Vestmanna Bird Cliffs, the top tourist attraction on the Faroe Islands.

Two of my Faroese friends, Sámal and Henrietta, had never been to the bird cliffs either (so I guess they have never really ‘seen’ the Faroe Islands), so I thought it would be good if the three of us went and checked them out – I also wanted it to be a little thank you to them for everything they’ve done for me while I’ve been here.

The weather was terrible during the day, but turned wonderful as soon as we stepped onto the boat for the tour – after the fantastic weather in Mykines, my Faroese friends have begun to think that I always bring sunshine with me. I like that.

I’ll just show you a few pictures from the tour – the scenery was amazing, but, as everyone knows, it never looks as great on photos as it does when you’re actually there: This was our tour guide – and in thirty years (or something like that), he’d never been able to do a tour in just Faroese, with no Danish or English translation needed. I liked that too.
Sámal and Henrietta sporting the lovely hats we had to wear as the boat sailed in and out of the cliffs. *Obviously Tórshavn is another place you’d have to visit, but I can’t get my head around the idea that anyone would actually come to the Faroe Islands without coming to Tórshavn, so that doesn’t need to be on the list.

Happy Third Birthday!

2009-06-23T11:04:00.000+01:00

Three years! Today marks the third birthday of this, the mitchenstein blog. When I started this blog, I was 22, an undergraduate, in England and sporting shoulder-length hair. Today I’m 25, a doctoral student, in the Faroe Islands and have an ever-increasing forehead. But still going strong!

This year’s been somewhat unusual – downright surreal at times – full of highs and lows, of course, and quite an adventure. In the past year I’ve spent six months in the Faroes, been on (Faroese) national TV, had a double-page write-up about me in a (Faroese) national newspaper, completed my first year of the mitchenstein365 project, completed the first year of my PhD, met Dr. Karl Kennedy and got a Gospel Choir going. Blog-wise, I also started doing some videos, which is kinda cool and fun to do – not sure how much fun they are to watch!

Usually, whenever this blog has had a birthday, I’ve done a huge blogging spree, blogging every day for a whole week. But not this year. This year it’s all in the one blog post!

I usually do a big thing about Mitchenstein in Statistics, but I think we’ll leave that this year too. All I’ll say is that I have written 181 posts on mitchenstein – 55 in my first year, 64 in my second year, and 62 this year, but that is an increase, because 4 of last year’s posts weren’t written by me! :)

Every year I look back at the ambitions I set for myself the year before, and see whether or not I’ve managed to achieve any of them. Last year’s ambitions were:

1. Keep this blog going.
ACHIEVED

2. Get a book published.
NOT ACHIEVED (but I hadn’t written one, so it was unlikely).

3. Raise some money for charity.
NOT REALLY ACHIEVED (I took part in some events that raised money for charity, but unfortunately I didn’t really achieve anything myself).

4. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army.
NOT ACHIEVED (But again, I didn’t write anything, so the odds were against me).

5. Learn to speak another language fluently.
ACHIEVED (Admittedly it wasn’t completely from scratch, but my Faroese is about fifteen million times better than this time last year. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m so glad I insisted on doing everything in Faroese when I arrived here).

6. Start a gospel choir.
ACHIEVED

7. Read more.
MEGA-ACHIEVED (see here!)

8. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
NOT REALLY ACHIEVED

9. Learn Welsh.
NOT ACHIEVED (I’ve managed to pick up quite a bit from watching Gavin and Stacey with Welsh subtitles, but I wouldn’t really say that got me fluent... By any stretch of the imagination. But I can tell you that ‘What’s occurin’?’ is ‘Pa newydd?’).

So some new ambitions for this year are needed, namely:

1. Keep this blog going.
2. Learn the guitar. I don’t even really like guitars, but while I’ve been away I’ve realised how useful it is to be able to play chords on the guitar. If I could achieve this, it would be excellent.
3. Get a book published. Or just something.
4. Keep up my reading this year. At least 12 books.
5. Not lose the Faroese I’ve learned while I’ve been here.
6. Read a book in a language I’ve not read a book in before.
7. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
8. Write some music.
9. Be fitter.

Thanks to everyone who checks the blog, and the mitchenstein365 blog. Who knows what the next year will bring? But whatever happens, I’ll try to make sure I get the interesting bits on here. And I'll make those bits that aren’t so interesting a little more interesting than they are, and get them on here too.

And, because it’s tradition:

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

FAR21.4: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (3/3)

2009-06-21T23:50:00.000+01:00

After a lot more walking, we reached our destination, and it was beautiful:

And I was shattered!

Looking out over the Atlantic, from the westernmost point in the islands.

Once back in the village (and after some of the islanders had very kindly made waffles for us!) we played a few tunes for the locals - the whole village turned out to listen.

The whole gang.

Sailing away from Mykines.

Passing some pretty cool islands and formations on the way.

FAR21.3: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (2/3)

2009-06-21T22:00:00.000+01:00

Not long into the journey, I saw my very first puffins!

Then I saw quite a lot more...

Walking... (Again the camera doesn't show the steep drop on our right).

Still walking, with Mykines Village in the background. And this photo really doesn't show how steep it was or how far we'd already walked.

By this point it was like 'So what else is new?' ;)

More walking... And we were fooled into thinking we were going to have nice handrails the whole way...

We sat down for a well-deserved break - and at this point the weather got really hot. So much for having to cancel the day because of rain!

And then we carried on! More to follow...

FAR21.2: Excursion Thursday (Part Two) (1/3)

2009-06-21T09:21:00.004+01:00

Destination: Mykines

My second Excursion Thursday was a little different from the first, in that it took place on a Saturday. Today it wasn’t just me either – the band from The Salvation Army made a trip out to Mykines Island. In the words of the Bradt Guide to the Faroe Islands (I never leave home without it):

Mykines really is something special. Geographically the Faroes’ most westerly outpost, the rugged isle, barely 10km², is certainly the most enigmatic of the 18 Faroe Islands and the one that ranks, time and again, as the absolute favourite among Faroese and visitors alike.

and

Mykines is the most remote of all the Faroe Islands and certainly the most beautiful.

and

It’s Mykines that really steals the show. A must for any visitor to the islands, this remote outpost is quite simply the best of all the Faroes... This is the most verdant of all the islands and, without a doubt, the most enjoyable destination in the entire country.

Not a bad write-up, eh? So I was feeling pretty excited about the opportunity to visit Mykines. Even better, most of the band hadn’t been there either, so we would all be discovering something together. And I feel a certain affinity with the island, as its name is pronounced ‘mitchiness’, and I always think people are talking about me when they mention it.

However, in times of bad weather (not too infrequent on the Faroe Islands), Mykines can also be cut off for days, so no matter how far in advance you plan your trip, there’s always a chance you won’t be able to go anyway. After two weeks of really good weather (not even just by Faroese standards), the weather took a turn for the worse in the days leading up to the trip, so I was a little worried that we wouldn’t get to go at all.

But go we did, and it turned out to be – in all honesty – one of the best days I’ve ever had. And I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (with the odd extra comment...)

The boat to Mykines - a 45 minute journey on some fairly choppy waters...

The two of us had unfortunately chosen the wettest place to sit on the boat (but unlike practically everyone else, we didn't need the sick boxes :) )

At Mykines - we made it! - and started off with a pretty steep climb up to the village.

The instruments on the lift (but I carried mine myself :D )

Mykines Village

Getting our bearings (which didn't take too long).

And we set off to explore! More to follow...

FAR21.1: A Stroll Around Tórshavn

2009-06-19T22:00:00.000+01:00

Another thing I love about Tórshavn is that it’s a town you can just stroll around, particularly when you live where I live. I’ve walked the streets around the centre of town so often, but this time it was a little different:

I had planned just to go and make the video and then go back home, but there was something quite cool about wandering around in the middle of the night while you can still appreciate the views and atmosphere without the tourists, so my quick walk lasted a good hour or so. This photo was taken at about quarter past midnight down by the harbour:

FAR20.3: Linda!

2009-06-14T13:50:00.000+01:00

I’ve never lived in a capital city before (although obviously I spend a lot of time in London), and one of the (many) things I love about it is that there’s always something going on. Even in a small city like Tórshavn, if there’s an event in the Faroes, it’s most likely going to be here. And living in the heart of downtown Tórshavn (that actually rhymes quite nicely if you pronounce Tórshavn right), as I currently am, there’s nearly always something going on very close to where I live. Today Linda came back to town.

The Faroese do remarkably well in other countries’ talent competitions – not having their own, they have to go abroad to take part. A couple of years ago, Jógvan from Klaksvík won X-Factor in Iceland; a kid from Tórshavn, Ragnar, came third on Talent 08, Denmark’s answer to Britain’s Got Talent, and this year, Linda Andrews from Tórshavn won the Danish X-Factor. Quite an achievement really. She’d also win an award for the Faroese person with the least Faroese name if there was one, but there’s not so she won’t (she’s actually Linda Andreasen).

Anyway, Linda is quite a star among the locals here – when I came back to the Faroes in April, I was playing football with a group of kids, and we were choosing team names. They made me the Faroe Islands, and another kid was going to be Denmark. I asked a little girl who she wanted to be and she said ‘Linda’. Fortunately I’d be keeping up with Faroese goings-on while I’d been away, and I knew who she was talking about.

So today Linda Andrews was performing at the SMS Shopping Centre, just down from where I live. And there was quite a big crowd:And I was very impressed! I’d seen a couple of performances on YouTube, and although I liked her version of ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’, I didn’t think all her performances were fantastic. They certainly weren’t bad by any means, but I was a little surprised at how popular she was in Denmark (obviously she’d be popular here). Until I saw her perform live today. Obviously she’d be getting more and more confident after so much performing anyway – today I thought she was excellent. She sang like a recording, if you know what I mean – every note spot on, and we’re not talking easy stuff. And what was also great was the total lack of ‘divaness’ – she was completely normal, laughing and joking with the crowd. What was quite funny was the number of guys who had clearly come to see Linda, but were pretending to be looking in the bookshop instead.

Well, we’ll see whether she cracks the British market (not that she’ll necessarily try) – just remember, you read about her here first! (Unless you’re from the Faroe Islands or Denmark).

If you’re interested, this is ‘our Linda’ singing ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ on X-Factor:

FAR20.2: Excursion Thursday (Part One)

2009-06-13T22:32:00.000+01:00

Destination: Nólsoy

I only have a few weeks left in the Faroes now... There’s a fair few places I still want to see before I go home, but I also have rather a lot of work to do. Consequently I decided to start having Excursion Thursdays. Thursday is when the library shuts early anyway, so I thought I could work every other day, and use my Thursdays to see a little more of the Faroes. This week marked the first Excursion Thursday, and my destination was to be the island of Nólsoy.

Anybody who reads this blog regularly will probably already be familiar with Nólsoy. It’s right opposite Tórshavn and has featured in a lot of my photos (see here and here, for example), as it’s nearly always visible wherever you are in the city, but I’d never made it over there. Bright and early on Excursion Thursday morning, I set off down to the quay to catch the boat for the twenty minute journey over the imaginatively named Nólsoyarfjørður (Nólsoy Fjord/Sound).

(Well that’s what should have happened – what actually happened was that I woke up bright and early, turned off my alarm, fell asleep again, and was woken by my friend Danni who just happened to text twenty minutes before the boat was due to sail. D’oh! But I made it – another benefit of living downtown!)

I was very excited – I have a bit of a thing about islands (clearly), and I love the idea of sailing to a new one I haven’t been to before. I’ve always wanted to live on an island (and in a way, I guess I do, but with its 60 million inhabitants, the UK doesn’t really have the same island community feel, does it?).

Sailing across the sound: As soon as we sailed into Nólsoy, I fell in love with the place. Look at the whalebone entrance to the village: How perfect is that?

I strolled around the island for a good long while (three hours in fact), just taking it all in. With its 250 inhabitants and no cars, Nósloy couldn’t be more different from Tórshavn (although a tractor did attempt to run me over within seconds of me arriving).

Here’s a few views of Nólsoy:

I don’t know why, I just thought this fire station was cool: This is evidently the centre of Nólsoy’s nightlife – Undirbeat, which with its ‘over 18s only’ sign appears to be a night club: Only 20 minutes away from the metropolis: Nólsoy, seemingly a place that has too many road names and not enough roads... These are some ruins, which were apparently where a princess from Scotland fled to when her father wouldn’t let her marry her lover. One final thing – there’s a bench in the centre of the village that’s famous for the old men that sit on it, putting the world to rights and observing the island’s few visitors. And they were really there! I desperately wanted to take a photo, but I can tell you that they looked a lot like this (taken from a postcard): That’s it – if I ever move to the Faroes, I’m buying me a house on Nólsoy. I’m sold.

P.S. I’ve been updating the mitchenstein365 blog.

FAR20.1: FØROYAR! (clap, clap, clap)

2009-06-12T22:00:00.000+01:00

A Picture Blog
After the cool game against Austria back in October (see here), I was mega-excited about seeing my second international game in the Faroes – Faroe Islands vs. Serbia. Serbia are currently leading the group, and the Faroes are trailing in fifth place (which is a nice way of saying they’re bottom in the group, but when you consider the fact that not all the players are professionals, and the entire country is the size of a small town in one of the other countries, that’s hardly surprising!).

That said, the Faroes had every reason to be a little optimistic – this was the first game with the new manager, Brian Kerr (former manager of the Republic of Ireland), the Serbs had played at the weekend, whereas the Faroese were able to rest, and the day before, the Faroese U-21 team had spectacularly beaten Russia 1-0.

I used a video when I wrote about the last game, so for something different, here’s the story in pictures:
1. The poster advertising the game, and the fact that this will be the first game with the new manager.
2. It was a little surprising to be walking down Tórshavn’s main pedestrian street the day before the game and pass the Serbian national team, looking somewhat bemused (them, not me).
3. Game day arrives – and we’re very excited!
4. The little group from Serbia – I’m always impressed by the fans who follow their team wherever they go. A trip from Serbia to the Faroes certainly won’t have come cheap... 5. The singing of the anthems... 6. And off we go! 7. There was a scary moment about fifteen minutes into the game when arguably the Faroes’ best player looked like he might have to go off injured, but we all cheered when it looked like he was going to be able to carry on.*
8. Twenty minutes into the game and it’s still 0-0. This is pretty good! And in fact, this continued until the 43rd minute, when the Serbs scored. The Faroese played AMAZINGLY well and nearly scored a fair few times.
9. At half-time the heroes from the day before (the U-21 team) were brought on to the pitch and given a massive cheer by the crowd.
10. I’m guessing the construction workers working next to the pitch weren’t particularly productive during the game. Hopefully their bosses won’t read this.
11. The game finished: Faroe Islands 0 – 2 Serbia. That’s actually pretty impressive, although the Faroese played so well in the first half that a goal would have been nice (and well-deserved)...

*This guy played really, really well. I turned to my friend and told her how impressed I was. ‘His dad and my dad are cousins,’ she replied. Where else could that happen?

FAR19.2: Mentunarnáttin (Part Two)

2009-06-07T13:07:00.002+01:00

At 7.30, the coolest event of the night took place, as far as I was concerned. I’ve been in the Faroes now for five months, but never seen the traditional Faroese chain dance. I’ve heard so much about it, but our paths have never crossed. It’s performed at cultural events, weddings, parties, and is particularly special to the Faroese as it was their way of maintaining the Faroese language during the years when Danish seriously threatened its survival. But you can see all about that in this video:

Later on, I went to see one of my friends sing as a backing singer at a mini-concert at the home of the Faroese record label, TUTL, which was very cool, and they sang really well.
From there it was on to a Christian concert featuring the band T.O.S. (I can’t remember what it stands for, but when read out it means ‘speech’) who were excellent. Every time I looked at the main singer he was playing a different instrument. After that, the ‘godfather’ of Faroese gospel music, Heine Lützen, played a set finishing around 1am. That was really good too.Shattered, but mega-happy, I headed off home after having had a great time. I know this blog post read a little like a diary, and was perhaps not particularly interesting for anyone other than me, but I need a way of remembering the experience this has become.

FAR19.1: Mentunarnáttin (Part One)

2009-06-06T11:32:00.000+01:00

Week 19 of my time in the Faroes was, without a doubt, the most physically exhausting time I think I’ve ever had. Two days running I was working until 2am and getting up at 4am (yes, just two hours later). And I had to do a lot of walking (ruining three pairs of socks). I haven’t known a physical or mental tiredness like it, but thankfully, it has also been an unbelievably productive week. All the same, Friday came and I needed to relax somehow. And coincidence of coincidences, Friday also happened to be Mentunarnáttin in Tórshavn – ultimately not relaxing in the least, but really, really good fun.
I could be mistaken, but I’m guessing that the Faroese Mentunarnátt (‘Culture Night’) is taken from the Kulturnatt in Copenhagen, something I’ve never been to, but apparently it’s quite an event. Here, all the shops in the centre of town were open until 11pm, various shows and displays were put on, entry to museums and galleries was free, there was live music at various venues across the town, and gardens, etc. that are usually not open to the public were free to walk around.

I picked up my Mentunarnátt leaflet with all the events displayed, and worked out what I was going to check out. Most events weren’t until the evening, but I decided to be REALLY cultural and go to the Faroese National Art Gallery, Listasavn Føroya. I have never been to an art gallery in my life, not even the TATE or anything like that, and I felt mighty proud of myself as I strolled through the park to the gallery, not entirely sure I would know how to appreciate the art when I got there.
I had to make it look like I wasn’t only there because it was free: ‘Really? It’s free today? That’s a nice surprise!’ I don’t know why I had to do that, but I just needed the guy behind the counter to know that I’m very into culture and art and all things cultural and arty. I wasn’t allowed to take any photos in there, so I can’t show you anything, but it was actually pretty interesting. Some of it I didn’t get and some I could have done better myself, but there are/were certainly some very talented artists in the Faroes. Are you impressed with me? I think you should be.

From the National Gallery I headed to downtown Tórshavn, armed with my list of things to do and the times to do them.
An unusual sight: the open gate of the Danish Representative’s Residence, enabling us all to look around the gardens – an experience which took all of ten seconds, but all the same, if a gate’s nearly always closed, you’re going to go in there and have a look when it’s open.

Sitting down by the quayside, Tórshavn Town Band (Havnar Hornorkestur) came marching down the road, followed by a mass of people. I met up with some friends and we walked further along the quay to a pretty weird, but somewhat cool, event.
The Faroese population is (from what I understand, but it’s a topic I avoid, because it's none of my business) roughly divided in half as far as calls for independence are concerned. The Faroese rock band 200 is well-known for being very pro-independence, but on this night, they decided they were going to award their own ‘Knight’s Cross’ to two unionists who they considered cool – even though they didn’t agree with them, it should be acknowledged that these particular unionists had destroyed all the stereotypes of unionists, and should be recognised accordingly as ‘coolir sambandsmenn’ (‘cool unionists’). A bit of a bizarre event, but there were loads of people there.
One of my friends happens to be related to one of the cool unionists, so I was able to get this picture of the ‘Knight’s Cross’ itself:

But the best part of the night was still to come...

FAR18.1: OK!

2009-05-30T15:17:00.006+01:00

I’ve mentioned on this blog before that now and again I stop and think: ‘How did I ever end up here?’

I had another one of those moments this week, as I was standing on a hill holding a Danish-English dictionary, with one hand on my chin and a man taking a good twenty photos of me. Surreal.

One of the two big Faroese newspapers, Sosialurin, decided to write an article about me and about what I’m doing in the Faroes. The fact I’m from England, have come to the Faroes, have learned Faroese and am now writing about their language situation is apparently a little unusual. Pretty nervous, I walked down to the Sosialurin office in downtown Tórshavn. The guy who interviewed me was really nice and we were talking for a good hour or so. At the end he told me ‘We’ll need to get a picture of you’. That had come as a slight surprise, as I had assumed what he was going to write was just going to be a side column somewhere in the paper. But fair enough, I guessed a little picture would add a nice touch (I can’t say I was completely surprised. One of my friends had warned me that might be the case, and I’d worn my Faroese jumper specially).

What was a surprise was when I walked into the local supermarket on the day the paper came out, to see myself, my dictionary and my chin on the front page, accompanied by the words ‘pages 28-29’ – two pages?! I opened the paper up and saw that my article had indeed taken up two pages, including a huge photograph of me almost covering one entire side. OK! I have to say I was pretty chuffed with the whole thing – the article was really good, and made everything sound quite interesting, which is cool, because often when doing a PhD there are moments when you stop and think: ‘Why?’

That evening I went to a party, as one of my friends had completed his apprenticeship, and another friend said to me, ‘We heard about you on the radio!’ I smiled and said ‘You mean in the newspaper?’ ‘No, they were advertising the newspaper on the radio and mentioned you and the article’. OK!

The next day I checked online to find that, not only was the article also there, I was currently second in their ‘Most read’ column. Two places above ‘Deaths and Funerals’. OK!

Home (and Eurovision!)

2009-05-25T16:32:00.005+01:00

London, baby! (Even got a black cab in there!)

I’ve just been home for ten days, and it was great – and unbelievably tiring. In those ten days I managed to fit in five choir rehearsals (three different choirs), a trip to the cinema (the new Star Trek film is really good), a visit to my godson, a meeting with my supervisors, the most productive week I have EVER had in terms of my PhD (with several very late nights up studying, but well worth it) and the Eurovision Song Contest (viewing, not taking part yet). I came back to the Faroes absolutely shattered.

It was nice to be home again for a little bit – although I kept accidentally referring to the Faroes as ‘home’ (‘When I get back home, I can...’) which didn’t go down too well with my mum... But then she did it too (‘We can post that when you get home...’) so we’re even.

Now it wouldn’t be mitchenstein if I didn’t say something about Eurovision, although I would just like to point out that not being able to vote in the Faroes wasn’t my reason for coming home.

So let me just say that I thought it was the best Eurovision yet – the songs were much better and the staging was jaw-dropping. It was great to see the ol’ United Kingdom doing so well!

But the night belonged to Norway, and in particular, Alexander Rybak:
The dancer closest to Rybak looks like he’s been dropped.

So I’ll finish with a few comments:

1. The French entry made me feel sick. Wouldn’t you clear your throat out before singing?

2. The Russian entry was the worst thing ever. And not just on TV (hat-tip Chandler).

3. I thought Iceland were really good – but I reckon quite a few Icelanders were glad the Norwegians were there...

4. No Terry Wogan! Finally that moron’s out of the picture. Graham Norton was so much better. The funniest line of the night was when the woman from Montenegro was giving her country’s points (‘That’s either a national dress... Or a horrible dress’). But you had to be there.

On my way home, I had a few hours to spend in Copenhagen – unfortunately it was really hot (not usually a problem, but I was dressed for the Faroes), and all the shops were shut as it was some public holiday (Ascension Day, I think). But it was nice to have a look around:

And somebody has obviously spent a lot of time and effort on these trees by the Danish Parliament (unless they grow like that), so I thought they deserved a photo:

FAR17.3: Driving in My Car (Part Three)

2009-05-21T11:16:00.000+01:00

FAR17.2: Driving in My Car (Part Two)

2009-05-18T08:23:00.001+01:00

PS. It's 7,000 (You'll see what I mean).

FAR17.1: Driving in My Car (Part One)

2009-05-05T14:21:00.000+01:00

FAR16.1: Family Fun in the Faroes

2009-04-27T12:00:00.000+01:00

So this weekend my parents and my brother came out to visit me. My parents have been here before (see here and here), but this was Paul’s first time on the Faroes. And I think they made a good impression! (The Faroes, I mean, I don’t know what sort of impression my family make).

The weather leading up to their visit had been fantastic for about three/four days. Good weather doesn’t usually last that long here, so when a guy from the Army said ‘I fear this weather won’t hold out’, he just confirmed what I’d been thinking. Although rain is all part of the Faroese experience, when you only have three days in which to show someone as much as you can, it does make things difficult.

But the weather did hold out – in fact, as you’ll see from the photos, it was excellent!

After making everyone walk a lot on Thursday, on Friday we set off to the metropolis of Klaksvík (the Faroese second town with a population of just under 5,000) and the village of Viðareiði. My mum fell in love with the village last time she was here, and we now have a big picture of the church in our dining room at home, so she really wanted Paul to see it:

Back in Klaksvík, my mum was rather taken (read ‘confused’) by this statue: Actually, if you look between the rocks, you’ll see the Logos Hope, which stopped in Klaksvík for two days before setting off to Belfast.

We were having a great time, but I was very conscious that although this was the first time for everything for Paul, my parents were getting pretty much the exact same trip they had last time they came. Consequently, we decided to hire a car and check out the island of Eysturoy on the third day. Driving round the north of the island, we passed Risin and Kellingin. According to legend, these two rocks were a giant and giantess who were trying to pull the islands over to Iceland. The giantess tried to climb up the mountain to attach a rope, but the mountain cracked (see it?). When the sun came up, the two of them turned to stone...

Our main destination was the village of Gjógv, often called the most beautiful village in the Faroes, and I think you’ll see why from these two pictures: Whilst in Gjógv, we ate at a fantastic guesthouse, where we were presented with all kinds of Faroese speciality. We were a bit taken aback when we went in and the guy said ‘So what would you like?’ No menus, no specials, nothing, just whatever we wanted. You don’t get that too often at home! Come to think of it, I should have asked for a Big Mac.

Back in Tórshavn, we caught the procession marking Flag Day (the day when the Faroese flag was officially recognised by the British in 1940, as the flag of occupied Denmark could no longer be used): It was a really nice weekend – although very tiring – and hopefully they enjoyed themselves as much as I did!

FAR15.2: Back on the Hope

2009-04-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

The leaders of the Logos Hope boat ( see here) decided to invite leaders and representatives of various churches in Tórshavn and the surrounding islands to meet together one evening while the boat was docked here. Somehow – I don’t know how I get into these things – I was one of the representatives of The Salvation Army. Five of us from the Army were there, and it was a really good night. The ship’s galley provided food for us (and man, if the meals are always like that, then the crew certainly aren’t slumming it), and then we went to the church area of the ship for the evening’s meeting.

This is a guy from Malaysia who hosted the evening – he was good – and the interpreters did a sterling job, particularly when a guy from Australia, the speaker for the night, got going (the poor Faroese guy having to translate ‘tall poppy syndrome’ on the spot)...

Various people spoke, and then a band from the Faroes played and we got to have a sing along (this was ‘How Great Thou Art’, but you knew that): There was a slight moment of panic as the Australian decided we should get into groups of three with people we didn’t know, which isn’t actually that easy in the Faroes. As it was, the other two people in my group of three were related. As soon as he said ‘Ok, get into your groups’, various people made a beeline for me, saying ‘I don’t know you!’ but I got through it.*

Anyway, it was a great evening and I got to meet some really nice people – the guys in my group were both very nice (and complimentary about my Faroese, which pretty much makes me like anyone). After travelling to Belfast and Dublin, Logos Hope is on its way to London for the second half of June. If you get the chance, go and have a look at it and find out a little more about what they do (although they’re going to be a little disappointed if they’re expecting a band to play, crowds and a welcome from the Prime Minister when they arrive...).

*I should just clarify this: obviously not everyone knows everyone in the Faroes, but it is remarkable how quickly you get to recognise people’s faces – that man works in the library, she works in the tourist office, etc. And when a group of church leaders get together, they’re going to recognise each other. I’m sure people here know me as ‘the English weirdo who hangs around in bookshops’.

FAR15.1: Suðuroy

2009-04-20T11:33:00.000+01:00

Back in November I made my first trip down to the South Island, Suðuroy, to stay with some friends and visit the second Salvation Army corps in the Faroe Islands (see here). This last weekend saw me go back to Suðuroy, together with the band from the Salvation Army in Tórshavn, to lead a music festival down there. I didn’t actually take too many photos there this time (I hear a sigh of relief), but I’ll just write a little bit about what we got up to.

After arriving very early Saturday morning (the journey only takes 2 hours, but when you had to get up at 5am, it feels quite an ordeal), we travelled around the island putting up a few posters advertising the concert. Unfortunately it turned out there was another concert in the north of the island the same night, but I’m sure they felt just as threatened as we did.

As the rehearsal wasn’t until late afternoon, a couple of guys from the band very kindly offered to take me sightseeing – I’d seen quite a lot of the island on my first visit, but I had been hoping to get to the village of Fámjin, on the west coast of the island, to see the original Faroese flag, which is displayed in the church there. A student from Fámjin designed the flag in Copenhagen in 1919 – you can’t say you don’t learn stuff here. The guys from the band very kindly said they’d take me there. After a little drive, we arrived in the very picturesque village, and found the church. I say ‘found’ the church, but that wasn’t particularly difficult when the village had about twenty houses, which were centred around the church:

Another group of home-grown tourists arrived just before we did (the village is something of a Mecca to Faroese living further north) who discovered for us that the church was locked. But all was not lost, as there was a perfectly good view of the flag from outside: (As nice as the flag is, I can’t help but think they rejected one of the earlier designs a little too quickly...)

From Fámjin we travelled down to Akraberg, which is the southernmost point on the islands:

This is me wearing the jeans that I’m using as a half-way point to skinny jeans...

Before heading back to the corps, one of the guys, Ole, wanted to track down a geocache. Now this was a word I’d never heard before, but it’s a kind of cool idea. All over the world people hide these geocaches, a kind of box, and record their co-ordinates on a website. Others then have to try to find these geocaches using GPS. Upon finding one, you write something, or leave something, etc. (there’s a range of options). Ole had heard that there was a geocache on Suðuroy, and as something of a keen geocacher, he wanted to find it – and find it he did (after a fairly dangerous stretch over the side of a mountain):

And he got the certificate for being the first person ever to find this geocache. I don’t think it’s a hobby I’ll get involved in, but trekking over the hills, looking for this thing with the GPS system on Ole’s phone was actually kind of exciting.Anyway, the concert went well – I was asked to sing, and I sang ‘Because He Lives’ (that song has fantastic words) – and we ate a LOT of pizza afterwards. Next morning we caught the ferry at 7am, and still made it back for the morning meeting at the Salvation Army in Tórshavn. How good are we?!

FAR14.3: Logos Hope and A Nice Surprise

2009-04-18T12:00:00.000+01:00

Do you ever get that happen, where you have to go to some kind of event, and you’re not particularly excited or thrilled about it, but then it turns out that you have an absolutely excellent time and are probably a little better for having been there?

Yes? Well, that’s what happened to me.

Our bandmaster asked us whether we were able to play at the arrival of a boat in Tórshavn. We would have to stand at the side of the quay and play a few tunes as the boat came into dock. Yes, I was available, but it didn’t sound particularly exciting. Apparently the old Norröna that used to sail between the Faroes and Denmark/Norway (there’s a new one now) had become a ship which was used by Christians and it was coming home to the Faroes before continuing on its travels. That was all I knew.

This is me walking from the car to the quay, not really knowing what the point of this whole event was. I think I capture that look well:

The quay had been nicely decorated with Faroese flags. We started playing a few tunes, and rather a lot of people started to turn up. Including the Prime Minister, and I began to realise that this might be a slightly more important event than I’d thought.

After about twenty minutes, this huge boat came into sight and into the harbour (clearly, these next two pictures were not taken by me): On board, I could see hundreds of people, with flags from all over the world. They were cheering and screaming and waving and it all got pretty exciting: As the boat pulled in, the Prime Minister (there’s something about that guy that makes you want to be his friend... And he used to play in the national football team, but that’s not particularly relevant here) and Mayor of Tórshavn gave a speech, the Faroese sang their national anthem (very nice) and the Captain and someone else from the boat gave speeches, made presentations, etc.

The Prime Minister welcoming the ship to the Faroe Islands: After a little bit of waiting, we were invited on board, and I had an excellent time. As it turns out, the Logos Hope, as it’s now called, is owned and run by an organisation named OM (I want to say that stands for Operation Ministries...) and Christians can volunteer to spend anything between two months and two years serving on board in some capacity. The boat sails around the world aiming to spread hope (the Christian message, the sense that people aren’t alone), help (in whatever way they can) and information (by providing books from ‘How Things Work’ to religious books to dictionaries) to the people in the harbours it docks at. We saw pictures of them helping in the Philippines, India, Indonesia, everywhere. The crew of 400 represents a whopping 45 countries, and – as anyone who knows me will know – meeting people, Christians, from all over the world was a bit of a highlight for me. The ship does a fantastic job and it was very hard to leave that boat and not feel inspired. The fact that the boat continues to sail under the Faroese flag was a real source of pride for the people here. The fact that their tiny country is the home of a ship that they know so well and yet does such fantastic work has really caught local imagination, and I reckon you’d be hard pressed to find many people in Tórshavn that didn’t visit Logos Hope during the week that it was docked here.

This is three of us from the Army with a really nice girl from Siberia:The fact that I was in my uniform was also pretty cool, as I had a fair few people ask me about, mostly from countries where the Army is little known, and I was able to speak with them about it (I knew me knowing the name of The Salvation Army in a load of obscure languages would come in handy one day!) and it also meant that people who knew The Salvation Army already were able to come and chat with me about it. Excellent!

It just shows how you have no idea how some things are going to turn out.

PS. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the effort from the UK flag waving team...

FAR14.2: Happy Faroeaster! (Part Two)

2009-04-15T23:29:00.000+01:00

As at home, Easter Sunday here begins with breakfast at The Salvation Army. It’s one of my favourite things about Easter at home, and I was actually really looking forward to it, although slightly concerned about whether or not I’d wake up in time (as the libraries and shops, etc. open at 10am, I’m not generally used to being at places really early*). As it turned out, I needn’t have worried, as another church near where I live – whose members are evidently holier than us – were up and about (loudly) at 5.21am. I’m sure that’s not the time they were actually meeting – who arranges things at 5.21am? Who arranges things at 5.anything.am? But that’s the time I jumped out of bed and looked at my clock, panicking that I’d missed Easter breakfast.

The Easter Bunny didn’t seem to know I was in the Faroes, so he didn’t leave any eggs here for me, but I had spent my entire month’s food allowance on this little chocolate egg, so I didn’t miss out:

Easter breakfast was really hugnaligt. That’s a word we don’t really have in English, but it translates at cosy/pleasant/lovely, etc. Actually, I’d enjoy any event where someone gave me a hard-boiled egg, but it was really good. We sang the classics (‘Up from the Grave He Arose’, etc. but in Faroese, something we very rarely do at home...) and ate ourselves full – I’d already had two Cadbury’s Cream Eggs by that point anyway.

After the breakfast, the band went to play outside the hospital: I really love doing this sort of thing. We should be seen on Easter Sunday.

Some friends invited me round for Sunday dinner (I’ve been very lucky in that respect ever since I arrived in the Faroes), and after dinner we went for a little drive north of Tórshavn. Beautiful, isn’t it?

After Easter Monday’s morning meeting (hardcore, aren’t they?) I went for a stroll around Tórshavn with Henrietta and Sámal – the weather was great. We were looking for somewhere to get lunch, but were a little put off by the £25 price of the buffet at one restaurant near the corps. Everywhere else was shut, so we raided the fridge at Sámal’s parents’ house.

Later on, some of the young people from the corps got together for pizza and to play the Faroese board game ‘Manna’ – and it was a great end to what became a really hugnaligt Easter-time.Hope you had a great Easter too!

*In my defence, I do generally stay at the libraries until 8pm, so I do work fairly long days!

FAR14.1: Happy Faroeaster! (Part One)

2009-04-14T12:14:00.002+01:00

Firstly, I hope you had a great Easter!

I knew that a week after arriving, I would have the chance to see how the Faroese celebrate Easter. Well, evidently, they celebrate it behind closed doors with their families. As I mentioned in the last video, the entire country shut down for five days, from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday, and the people seemed to disappear. The streets were empty, the shops were shut, as were the libraries and the university, bus services were either irregular or non-existent, I had no internet access, and although there was a meeting every day at The Salvation Army (apart from Easter Saturday), I was a little concerned about how I was going to fill my days...

But it actually worked out rather nicely in the end. I managed to get lots of reading done (so I’m doing particularly well on my new year’s resolution to read more books) and it was nice to go out walking and see places I hadn’t been to before.

So, on Maundy Thursday, I set off on one of these walks, and the results of that were in the last video. Here I am half-way up the hill, and I think I’m doing a pretty good job of not looking absolutely knackered.

Back home, Good Friday always starts with hot cross buns, but they don’t have those here, so I assumed that was a tradition I was going to have to skip this year – but little did I know. My parents had actually sent me a little envelope with the writing ‘Not to be opened until Good Friday’ on the front. I’d had no idea what was in the envelope and opened it first thing Good Friday morning, and there were these little marzipan hot cross buns: I was mega-impressed!

Good Friday evening was actually really good – after the meeting, I went to a friend’s house with loads of people from the corps to celebrate someone’s birthday, and then four of us went to a Christian concert at a huge church on the island of Eysturoy. There were various Faroese Christian artists – all very good – and the words were there for us to sing along. And sing along we did.

Easter Saturday saw me take another big walk, and I went to have a look at the Vesturkirkja (Western Church) in Tórshavn. It’s a pretty weird building you can see from pretty much everywhere in Tórshavn, but it has a certain charm...:

Part Two to follow...

FAR13.2: Greetings from that Day Before Good Friday

2009-04-09T12:35:00.000+01:00

The sound of the wind blocks out my voice for a few sentences, but they’re not particularly important ones, so that’s OK. Well, actually, in the grand scheme of things, very few of the things I say on here are of particular importance, but I do it all the same. :)

FAR13.1: Can This Be Right?

2009-04-08T16:00:00.000+01:00

Back to the Faroes

2009-04-04T14:00:00.000+01:00

I should really be packing right now. I set the evening aside to pack, and have done nothing. D’oh. This weekend I’m flying back to the Faroes. The beginning of April has come around very quickly...

I absolutely love the Faroe Islands. It’s a beautiful place – wherever you are, you can almost always see stunning views of the sea or mountains. I love the laid-back life style, the people, the language. I love the capital, Tórshavn. But, if I’m really honest, I don’t quite feel like going back just yet.

Those of you that read this blog regularly, of have at least read some of my more recent posts, will know that I recently got a gospel choir going at my church, and it’s been going really well. At the first rehearsal I was hoping we’d get 15 singers, and now, just three months later, we’re almost up to 40. We did our first concert the other week, and there were nearly 180 people there, which was fantastic and much more than I could ever have hoped for. Things are taking off, and I don’t really want to leave it just now (although it will be carrying on, which is a GREAT relief – and I’m very grateful to those who are helping me!).

But there are some good sides too – the last few months have been majorly busy, and it will be good to get away for a little bit and concentrate on my work. I’m also going to use my time away as an opportunity to get fit – when I was last there, I was doing sixty press-ups a morning. Sixty?! Can you believe it? I did one the other day and nearly flatlined. Since coming home I’ve put on a whopping stone and a half or something like that, so it’ll be good to get that sorted out – it’s a great place to go walking, or maybe even running... we’ll see how that goes.

Me eating my last pain au chocolat from Whistlestop. Seriously, you have to try one of those – the chocolate is proper hard :) None of this soft chocolate rubbish...

It’ll also be very cool to catch up with my Faroese friends again – so many people were really good to me when I was there before, so it’ll be great to see them. I’m interested to know how I’ll get on with the language once more. Plus it’s always fun to be the weird outsider who doesn’t really get the jokes and says stupid things. Maybe other people who have lived abroad will confirm that for me: sometimes you just say really ridiculous things, because they’re things you CAN say, and then you think ‘Man, these people must think I’m an absolute moron.’

For example, I once had this conversation while walking along:

Man: Do you have pavements as wide as this at home in London?
Me: I love Tórshavn.

And at least going back to the Faroes means that Liz won’t have to change my name on her list of friends who blog (‘Faroe John’).

And I left my favourite jumper there.

So keep checking back for the updates, videos, etc. And feel free to drop me a line and let me know how life’s going for YOU!

All the best,

John

PS. Sometimes I like to write blogposts a bit like letters... This was one of those times.

The Post I Never Wrote (Part Two)

2009-03-14T00:39:00.003Z

Back in February, I wrote a few things I’d been meaning to put on my blog, but never got round to. This is the second part – a few more things I’d been planning to write, but never did.

For example, I’d decided I was going to write a list of things that annoy me, like when people stick two fingers up behind someone’s head in photos (by no stretch of the imagination is that funny); when the people on A Place in the Sun: Home or Away constantly call Jasmine by her name; when people in SubWay ask if you’d like extra cheese in your sub, and you think ‘Oh that’s very nice’, not knowing that they’re just out to shaft you... or Tim Wonnacott.

But then I thought, ‘well that’s not very happy or inspiring’, so I stopped writing down things that annoy me.

I also never wrote about the time when, last summer in Australia, I decided I was going to take my photography a little more seriously, and invested in a mini-tripod for my camera. I was quite excited by this development. My photos would be shaky no more. The next day, armed with my camera and mini-tripod, the family paid a trip to Luna Park in Melbourne.

We go in through the gate and see, of all things, this:
?!

The Awful German Language*

2009-03-04T13:11:00.001Z

Those of you who know me well, and those of you who probably don’t know me so well, but have read this blog, will know that I love languages. Like a lot.

I just can’t get enough.

Well, I also like reading books by Arnaldur Indriðason. He’s an Icelandic writer who writes pretty gripping books. I’ve only just got into them after finding one on sale at Copenhagen Airport (The Silence of the Grave, well worth reading) and I decided I’d try to read all his books, but read each one in a different language. Why not? I also know the woman who’s translated some of them into English, so that made me particularly interested in checking them out.

After reading three, I realised I was going to have to read one in German. Argh. Although I studied German at university, feel really comfortable with the language and love speaking it with my friends, I hate reading books in German. Actually, I don’t know whether I’ve ever finished one (that doesn’t look too good from someone who did a German degree).

You just can’t relax with a German book, mainly because you often don’t know what the sentence is about until you’ve got to the end of it, when you’re finally given a verb.

For example (I made this one up myself):

The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. It was particularly memorable, because I the sweet little bird, which was singing so merrily on the branch outside my window, singing with such a beautiful sound, that there and then I realised I had reached a higher state of consciousness as I dressed myself and set off for work, with a spring in my step and a gleam in my eye, shot.

See what I’m saying?

You think the sentence is headed a certain way, and then you’re like ‘oh’. Sometimes, I have to stop reading and flick over to the next page, just so I can understand what’s going on. How can Germans sit down and relax with a good book?

P.S. You’ll notice mitchenstein has had a bit of an overhaul. You might notice that half of the William Booth quotes in the right-hand column have disappeared, but they’ll be back! You can sleep easy now.

* The title for this blog is, of course, not from me, but comes from a pretty funny article by Mark Twain – one little bit I really like:

"Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print--I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:

Gretchen: Wilhelm, where is the turnip?

Wilhelm: She has gone to the kitchen.

Gretchen: Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?

Wilhelm: It has gone to the opera."

Germany

2009-02-24T13:57:00.005Z

This weekend I managed to get off to Germany for a couple of days to catch up with a few friends. And it was great to relax a little. The destination was Essen (a name meaning ‘Food’), but I almost didn’t get there at all. Whose stupid idea was it to have two flights to Düsseldorf leaving from the same airport at the same time?!

(“What? I’m supposed to leave from Gate 54 five minutes ago? But this is Gate 12, and there’s no way of getting back on the stupid ‘transit’ [?!] to get to Gate 54!” – fortunately a man in a bus came to my rescue. Not for the first time.)

But get there I did. And it was a lot of fun. I won’t go into too much detail about what we did, because I don’t know how interesting that would be (also because we spent a lot of time in Starbucks and SubWay), but I’ll show you a few pictures:

Four of us went to play pool, changing teams each time we played. Now, I may have been on the losing team each time (I swear I’m not that bad!), but at least I looked the part...

Other than Essen, I also got to experience the delights of Gelsenkirchen, another city about fifteen minutes away. I went to the Salvation Army corps there and took what I thought was a lovely photo of me and my friend Lucia, before realising that she hadn’t done her best smile...

In Gelsenkirchen, Daniel thought I should take a photo of this... art work?! ... from below, thinking that it would look like a road into the sky... Well, I guess it kinda does.

Daniel setting off down his road to the sky (who knows?!).

I had been to Essen once before, back in 2005, when I came to see the German Staff Band play at the Old Synagogue (I know that’s a slightly unusual place for a Salvation Army band to play, but it’s now used as a cultural centre and concert hall – although it’s currently being refurbished). That was the first time I met a lot of the young people from the Salvation Army in Germany, and from there I ended up going to music school and got a lot of great friends. So it was kinda cool to come back and think about how much had changed since I first came (those of you who read this blog regularly will know I’m a little bit thinky like that).

In Starbucks I was told I wasn’t allowed to take a photo, but I did, just because I could.

The Post I Never Wrote (Part One)

2009-02-16T13:46:00.006Z

I’ve been blogging now for two and a half years. And that’s quite a long time.

When you’re a keen blogger, like I am, it means you’re constantly thinking ‘would that make a good blog post?’ or ‘I’ll have to put that on my blog’ or something along those lines. But quite often, I’ll never actually get around to writing those posts I’ve been intending to write.

For example, I never wrote about how the party poppers at Katie and Stacey’s joint birthday party nearly killed me:
Or about how Stacey and Anna acted out a puppet drama using aforementioned party poppers:
Or about being in this phone box with my friend, Kersten, and a photo of two other friends:
Or about this lamp:
And that’s just some of the stuff I’ve never written about.

Why Not?

2009-02-13T08:43:00.005Z

A lot of people I know have been writing these lists of 25 facts about themselves, and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. I don't usually like this kind of thing, but it's actually been pretty cool learning new things about people you've known for years. Regular readers of this blog will have seen a couple of these before...

1. I am mega-proud to be a Christian and a Salvationist.

2. I own ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ in 19 languages.

3. When I was 20, I had a bike accident in Sweden and woke up in hospital with no idea why and no recollection of the previous two weeks.

4. I, bizarrely, have frequent dreams where I’m friends with Amy Winehouse.

5. I once presented the ‘God-spot’ on Faroese national television. In Faroese.

6. My favourite number is 51.

7. I often pretend to be Australian when shopping (occasionally Scottish or Welsh), and even convinced an Australian shop worker.

8. I have taken a photo every day since 30th November 2007, and have posted them all at here. Some are boring, but then so are some days.

9. I don’t like even numbers.

10. I go crazy when British people use the word ‘gotten’. It’s ‘got’. It’s always ‘got’. It’s not like ‘who’ and ‘whom’, you know, sometimes ‘who’, sometimes ‘whom’. It’s always ‘got’. Every time you write the word ‘gotten’, stop, press delete three times, and carry on. Just a little tip to help make the world a better place.

11. I reckon I spend a good 50% of my time in my imagination. Seriously. I’m there now.

12. Because of my studies, I have lived for a time in Germany, Sweden and the Faroe Islands. The best and the toughest times of my life.

13. My brother and I have exactly the same sense of humour. It can get quite freaky when we say exactly the same thing at exactly the same time. Once we both, completely spontaneously, burst into ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ in exactly the same key, with no indication from either of us that we were going to start singing. Bizarre. We just stopped and stared at each other.

14. I recently started a gospel choir and am loving it. I am at my very happiest when singing fantastic songs with great friends. It doesn’t matter what kind of day I’ve had, or what worries are usually at the back of my mind – when I’m singing, I’m in a whole other world.

15. I love Elmo, Mars Bars and Christmas Cake.

16. I actually wrote a letter of complaint (well, more a ‘letter of concern’) when they took Yoghurty Special K off the shelves. But who’s had the last laugh now?

17. People blowing raspberries makes me feel sick – me telling you that involves a considerable amount of trust.

18. Whenever I’m writing a list of things to do, I always put some things I’ve done already so I can tick them off.

19. I was once stopped on Tottenham Court Road and photographed for a modelling agency. True!

20. At school I once got three detentions in one day, including one for fighting. I’m not proud of it. But I obviously am, or I wouldn’t have put it on here.

21. I’m a bit of a fan of lists (clearly) – I even have a list of every Salvation Army corps (church) I’ve ever seen (and have occasionally been on fairly lengthy walks to find them... Apologies to anyone I’ve ever dragged on one of those).

22. I seem to be quite changeable in appearance – what that means is that I always get a slight surprise whenever I look in the mirror, because I don’t look quite how I was expecting. It also means that people who knew me when I was younger never recognise me in the street. That has its plus sides.

23. I started to lose my hair about 2 years ago, I reckon. I got so worked up about it, but now I really couldn’t care less. I have a nice face ;)

24. I don’t lend out books to my friends, because I can’t stand it when they get creases down their spines. So don’t even ask, and we’ll save ourselves embarrassment.

25. John doesn’t share food.

Joy!

2009-01-23T21:29:00.008Z

Those of you who haven’t been reading this blog for very long should probably read this post before continuing...

Bearing all that in mind, imagine my joy when I came home from band practice and saw THIS waiting for me: I actually gasped.

It was like old friends meeting up again: Stephen had actually sent me a message while I was in the Faroes to let me know, but I thought it was his idea of a joke (albeit tasteless*), or just something they had int’ North. I sent my parents out looking for it, but they didn’t find it.

Until yesterday.

Dreams really can come true. I hope this story of love and loss and love again will inspire you to follow your own dreams.

On another note, I thought I’d upload this video from the Faroes. We had a guest conductor over from Norway for the band’s anniversary (see here) and we told him it was traditional to play a verse of Joy in The Salvation Army in our band festivals. As he stood up to conduct us, we started to sing our parts instead of play. It took us a little while to get going (as you’ll hear), but I think it sounds pretty cool. It only really worked because it just so happens that nearly all the girly instruments (cornet, horn) are played by girls, while the men are playing the big, tough, manly instruments (euphonium, bass). In the band rehearsal when we first practiced, I was like ‘Have you seen the euphonium part?’ but I think I got it... I know I’m quite loud, but I was standing right next to the microphone!

Enjoy!

*unlike Yoghurty Special K.

Before and After

2009-01-10T09:50:00.004Z

Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Somewhat late, I know!)

BEFORE

Ok, so we’re here. Today’s a day I’ve been really excited about, but now I’m a little nervous. Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that it’s always been a dream of mine to get a gospel choir going at my church (Salvation Army) – not just because I love gospel music, but because I think it’s something that others will enjoy, invite their friends to and get excited about. And we all need a little excitement, don’t we?

Well, I started making plans a year ago, but for various reasons (me being out of the country was a big one), it got pushed back and back, and I didn’t know whether it would be possible at all.

But here we are!

The first rehearsal is tonight. Reaction to posters, leaflets and invitations has been really positive. I’ve been preparing, but I have NO idea how many people are going to be there tonight. Fifteen would be a good number, I reckon. Yep, I’d be very happy with fifteen.

So, here goes nothing!

AFTER

Ten minutes before the rehearsal was due to start, there were two of us.

But I was trying to keep positive.

Five minutes before the rehearsal was due to start, there were five of us.

But I was trying to keep positive.

And then, just as the rehearsal was due to start, fifteen others came, meaning we had twenty singers, and a very happy John!

The rehearsal went really well – it was great to see so many people there. The sound was great, and people really seemed to be enjoying themselves. I know I did. Obviously the true indicator is how many come back next time, but I’m hopeful. And thankful that so many people were prepared to give something new a go.

Let’s see where this takes us!

Christmas Day and Boxing Day

2008-12-28T10:49:00.006Z

I'd planned to do a little write-up of Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but I decided against it - every family has their own traditions and way of doing things, and to be honest, it's not that interesting hearing about other people's, is it? But all the same, I thought I'd just choose 5 photos from Christmas Day that summed up what we did (so my Aussie sister can see it) and a couple from Boxing Day. I hope you all had a great Christmas and that you have an excellent New Year!

Christmas Day

1. It's great when the family can all get together. This is my aunt and Nanna.

2. The cooks at work (my cousin Molly and Uncle John).

3. Christmas wouldn't be complete without the family singalong!

4. Or presents!

5. Rounding the day off by playing Cranium (our team won!).

Boxing Day

1. I experienced the joys - for the first time - of Guitar Hero. And I rocked.

2. Anna decides to take on Paul in an Expert challenge (a brave choice).

And finally, when we played Cranium on Christmas Day, I had to draw sweat with my eyes closed - not an easy task! But I don't think I did a bad job - they got it! I thought I'd share my artwork with you as a Christmas gift:

Carolling

2008-12-26T12:11:00.000Z

And it's lovely to be home!

Coming home just two weeks before Christmas meant I was straight into the carolling period (although I had already done some carolling in the Faroes). I really enjoy carolling – and there was quite a bit to do. In my first week back we sang at an old people’s home, played at an old people’s home, played at a local scout carol service and played and sang in the high street.

But for me, the highlight of the carolling season is on Christmas Eve, when the younger people from the Salvation Army go to various people’s houses from the corps who might be on their own/are unwell, etc. One of the families from the corps provides us with food at the end, before most of us go to the late night service at the hall. There were 16 of us this year, and it we had a great time. The last couple of years we’ve also taken a four-part band out with us, which really adds to it (and means that the people we sing to realise it’s The Salvation Army, and open the door!).

So here’s a few pictures from the evening (the quality’s not great, because I left my camera at home and had to use my phone, which doesn’t cope brilliantly with darkness):

Sitting in one living room:

Stacey playing the horn (very beautifully, I might add!):

And my favourite picture from the evening. This is me and my Nanna on the doorstep as we sang Silent Night, which she requested. This photo was made possible by the unbelievably boring baritone part in Silent Night, which is all on the same note until the final line.

FAR12.1: My Final Week

2008-12-13T10:13:00.008Z

So this post marks my final week in the Faroes (for a little while – I will be back later in the new year). And a busy ol’ week it’s been!

In most parts of Europe (and the USA and Australia, I think), the Salvation Army uses big collection pots when collecting money for its work at Christmas. In the UK we use hand-held collecting tins (which I kinda like, because otherwise it’s hard to know what to do with your hands when standing there!), but you know the saying – when in the Faroes... so I gave it a go.

This week I did two collecting stints at the SMS Shopping Centre. Now I love doing this kind of thing. I love being out there, on the street, so that people can come and speak to me if they want, and so I can give a personal thank-you to the people who support the work of the Army so generously. So on the one hand I was looking forward to it. On the other hand, I was having to do the whole thing in Faroese and that’s a little more intimidating!

But I got through it – one seven-year girl came and asked me where the money was going, but she seemed satisfied with my answer as she skipped off.

On my way to the centre (a little nervous).

My pot.

Help Us to Help

What was funny is that people said exactly the same things here as they say at home: ‘I always support The Salvation Army – they do such good work’ or ‘Only pennies I’m afraid, but every little helps!’ and so on. I liked that.

Obviously I did a lot of finishing off for my work during the final week, but that doesn’t make a good blog post.

One thing I like about the Army in Tórshavn is that they have a games night every fortnight, where the younger ones (or anyone who wants to come actually) get together to play a load of games, and then finish the evening with a big game of football or volleyball. And it was a great way to spend my last night in the Faroes – although I was responsible for the religious ‘thought’ halfway through, but that seemed to go well (I also had to lead a meeting on my last Sunday – I think the officers there were doing their best to make my time in the Faroes an officership training programme). Just some of the gang.

I’m really going to miss the Faroes and the people here – I’ve had a great time and made some really good friends.

PS. I’ve begun to update mitchenstein 365, so make sure you have a look. And I think the photos are of a slightly higher standard this year, even if I do say so myself!

PPS. I’ve also added William Booth’s quote (in the right-hand column) in Faroese. This is the first one I’ve translated myself. And remember, if you know the quote, or can translate it, into a language I don’t have, let me know!

FAR11.2: Gjøgnum viðarlundina/Through the Park

2008-12-08T20:00:00.001Z

The first thing you notice when you arrive in the Faroe Islands is that there are no trees. None. On all sides you’re surrounded by rocky mountains (well, not on all sides, because chances are that water will be on at least one of the sides, but on the other side of the water, chances are, you’ll see mountains, so actually, my original sentence can still stand). There have been attempts to add trees, but the Faroese wind doesn’t treat them too kindly – plant a tree, and chances are it won’t be there when you come back.

All this makes the beautiful park in the centre of Tórshavn quite a special place...

I went to the park for the first time on my third or fourth day in the Faroes, and immediately thought how great it would look once the snow came. The other week, the snow did come and I ran (yes) to the park with my camera to find that the rain had washed the snow away. I ended up with this picture of ducks walking on the frozen pond, which is quite cool in itself, actually:So today when I woke up and saw that a few inches of snow had come overnight, I rushed back to the park, which – as I had hoped – was looking very Narniary.*

So here’s a few pictures: *In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe obviously.

FAR11.1: Advent Starts, Faroese Style

2008-12-05T08:40:00.001Z

Man, I am so fired up about Christmas this year. More than ever (well, that’s probably not completely true). But I’ve been good – I didn’t let myself listen to any Christmas music until 1st December, but then I made up for it! (Obviously, I heard Christmas music in shops, band practice, etc. but I had very little control over that).*

I was really excited about seeing how the Faroese would welcome in the Christmas season. As you’ve probably seen from the pictures, large parts of the Faroes look like a Christmas village anyway, so lights and snow just make it perfect.

This weekend I went to the lighting of the main tree in the centre of Tórshavn. There were so many people there, and the atmosphere was great.

Waiting for something to happen:

After a couple of readings (nicely aimed at kids and nicely religious – I haven’t spoken about religion in the Faroe Islands yet, have I?) and carols by the town band, Father Christmas (Jólamaðurin) arrived on a sleigh to light the tree. Impressed? I don’t think the crane was as invisible as the organisers may have hoped, but all the same. As he came out of the sleigh, there was a gasp around the crowd, and it was one of those moments: ‘Was that supposed to happen?’Fortunately it was, and he did his stuff and lit the tree. (This picture does look somewhat tragic, doesn't it?)

The crowd dispersed pretty quickly, but the surroundings they left behind were beautiful.Of course, Christmas is a busy time for the Salvationist, even when he’s living in the Faroe Islands. This weekend marked my first carolling of 2008, at the lighting of the Christmas tree in Hoyvík. I LOVE carolling :)

*Plus the Faroese carols don’t sound Christmassy anyway. Well, obviously to the Faroese they do. They would hear those songs and get a warm glow, whereas I’m like ‘What’s this?’ In the same way, they asked what I wanted to play, and I said ‘As with Gladness Men of Old’ (only because it has a nice euphonium part, and it was on the page I was looking at), and they didn’t think that was particularly Christmassy at all. I hear it, and immediately picture a little group of Salvation Army bandsmen, wrapped up warmly, playing on a street corner in deep snow, with a little lantern, and... But that’s just me.

FAR10.2: I DID IT!

2008-11-29T13:07:00.002Z

Allow me to blow my own euphonium: I did it! I took a photo every day of the past year. They said I’d never manage it (well, they didn’t, but Lisa did think I’d given up after Day 4). But no, the photo you see here is photo 365 – there were, of course, 366 days in the past year, but on one fateful day in June, my phone deleted the photo I’d taken (see here) – but I did take a photo every day!

Some of the photos are quite cool, some are incredibly boring, but then again, some days are like that too. It hasn’t always been easy – some days I’d know exactly what I wanted to take a photo of, other times I’d panic at 11.50pm and take a photo of a cup. But although not all of the photos are exhilarating, I remember taking every single one, and I can associate a memory with each.

And it’s kinda cool (for me), looking back over the past year: the highs and lows, the funny times, the boring or stressful times, the places I’ve been, the people I’ve met and the thoughts I’ve thunked.

So what now?

Well, I’m going to carry on, for at least one more year. I have a feeling the next 365 days will be quite an adventure, and this is a decent way of documenting it.

If you haven’t had a look, check it out.

Thanks for reading :)

FAR10.1: Language...

2008-11-25T08:15:00.002Z

FAR9.1: Making My Own Entertainment

2008-11-19T22:33:00.004Z

So this week, a lot of the regular things at the Salvation Army were cancelled for various reasons, and people were very busy, etc. so it meant that I had to make my own entertainment... And make my own entertainment I did!

(Obviously I got a lot of work done too – an awful lot of work done actually – but you need to unwind a little, don’t you?)

1. I went cultural. Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a particular fan of exhibitions and museums, etc. I’d much rather just walk around a place to experience it. But according to my guidebook to the Faroe Islands, no trip to Tórshavn is complete without a trip to the Faroese National Museum... Well, I had nothing to do, so I checked it out!

While a lot of the exhibits didn’t interest me, I thought a couple of things were very cool. Check out one of the early Faroese flags (pictured next to the actual Faroese flag):

How great is that? I don’t know why they had to change it... (although it may not have done much for the Faroese standing in the wider world).

I also saw the national treasure of the Faroe Islands. Now I’d heard a lot about the Kirkjubøur pew ends (Kirkjubøarstólarnir), and had been wanting to see them. Carved in the Middle Ages, they were taken to the National Museum in Denmark, but returned to the Faroe Islands in 2002.I don't know how many of them there are, but they surround you on all sides as you walk into the room, and they all have different designs. They’re beautiful, and the Faroese are very rightly proud of them. (You can’t say you don’t learn stuff from mitchenstein...).What else did I do?

2. I went walking. I did a LOT of walking. Like Forest Gump, only walking. (It's a pretty nice place to stroll). 3. I wrote a short story about Elmo and the National Roller Skating Team of the Faroe Islands.

4. I did this:I’d have loved to have seen my mum’s face when she saw this!

FAR8.1: Travelling South...

2008-11-10T08:16:00.001Z

I’ve been told that you can’t say you’ve been to the Faroe Islands unless you’ve been to Suðuroy, the South Island. So although I’d been here for a month and a half, I still couldn’t say I’d been to the Faroe Islands – until this weekend.

So when the opportunity arose to go to Suðuroy with a couple of officers from the Salvation Army, I jumped at the chance. And I had a fantastic time – the scenery was stunning, the people were so friendly (I ate a LOT of cake) and it was great to see some more of the country.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was the journey. It takes two and a half hours (usually it takes just two hours from Tórshavn, but the ferry is currently in Denmark being serviced, so we were using an older ferry, St. Ola) and I’d heard the scenery was great. I have a bit of a thing about islands, and I loved travelling through the fog, seeing islands I’d heard of, but never seen, suddenly appear from the mist – it must be the romantic in me!

So I made a little video of some of the trip – it’s a little different to the other videos, and I don’t know whether it’ll be particularly interesting for people that aren’t my mum (and most of you aren’t), but I quite like it...

But before you look at it, here’s a map of the Faroes (complete with spelling mistakes) so you can get your bearings:

As I said, we were using an older ferry, which had evidently come in from Estonia. Now my Estonian phrasebook was not one of the things I had expected to need in the Faroes (stupid, I know), so I was a bit concerned to see signs like this, which are clearly very important (check out the number of exclamation marks!), and not have a clue: But then I realised that you just read out the Estonian words and it sounds like English anyway...St. Ola: A highlight was a visit to the other Salvation Army corps (church) on the islands, located in the village (or, as far as the Faroes are concerned, metropolis) of Vágur (pop. 1,400):Somehow I got roped into singing a song in the meeting – and for the very first time, I accompanied myself on the piano, singing ‘He Leadeth Me’. I was so nervous, because I’m not that confident on the piano, but it seemed to go OK...

So thank you to everyone who made the weekend great :)

FAR7.1: Kavi!*

2008-11-07T23:06:00.002Z

I may be getting on in years, but I still get excited by snow (here’s some more proof). I woke up Tuesday morning to find that quite a few inches of snow had arrived overnight (it had been falling so hard that I’d actually thought it had been raining all night – something which isn’t too unusual here...). And it was proper snow! Like when you were a kid and you’d go outside and you didn’t know where the pavement finished and where the road started, until you fell into it. Well, that’s what used to happen to me. And what happened to me on no less than five occasions yesterday...

(What was even stranger was that the schools stayed open... And you know what? If the Faroese had trains, I reckon they’d have even been running... Don’t they know how dangerous snow is?!).

Anyway, I’d just got (‘got’, not ‘gotten’) used to the fact that Tórshavn was so picturesque, and stopped taking photos every 5 minutes – and then the place went and got a whole lot picturesquer!

So here’s a couple of shots. This is an old Faroese house, complete with grass roof – and I don’t remember the last time I saw icicles like this...
The old town: A view from Tórshavn Cathedral (the Cathedral is tiny – it’s not even the biggest church in Tórshavn – but it has a certain something!):The town hall: But then it had all gone. And all we were left with was a giant skating rink...*The Faroese word for ‘snow’, in case you hadn’t guessed. Or didn’t know already.

FAR6.2: Birthdays

2008-11-04T15:06:00.002Z

FAR6.1: Celebrations

2008-10-27T12:28:00.002Z

This weekend was excellent. The Salvation Army band at the corps in Tórshavn was 75 years old and a whole heap of things were planned to mark the occasion!

The excitement started on Thursday 23rd October, the actual day of the anniversary, where after a short march from the hall, we played outside the town hall and had breakfast with the Mayor of Tórshavn. (The Salvation Army, and particularly the band, has a very high profile in the Faroe Islands, playing an important part in the national day celebrations every July).

Getting ready for the march (at 8.50am – how hardcore!):

At breakfast with the Mayor: Following the breakfast, six of us went to the radio station Rás2, where the bandmaster and the bass player were interviewed, and we played four tunes live on air. Those who were interviewed did a fantastic job and made the most of a real opportunity for witness. The DJs had really done their homework too! This is just before we played on air (I always get a little overexcited... Although radio is actually a bit of a step down for me ;) ):On the Friday we had our first rehearsal with our guest from Norway, Major Jan Harald Hagen, head of music for the Norwegian Territory (The global Salvation Army is divided into territories for administrative purposes. The Faroe Islands are part of the Norwegian territory, together with Iceland... And Norway, but you probably got that). He was a great bloke and we had a good time together – although the language situation got somewhat confusing!*Saturday was marked by more rehearsals with Jan Harald, followed by a very nice meal at a hotel in Tórshavn for members of the band and their families.

Sunday night was the music festival, which we had all advertised by putting up posters around town, and we really hoped the turn-out would be good. It was fantastic – there were over 150 people there. The evening was excellent – a lot of humour, the band played really well, there were testimonies, vocal items, etc. – and although the band was the main feature for most of the night, no-one in that hall could have gone home without knowing they had been in Church and that the sole purpose of everything we do is to further the Christian message. Apparently an awful lot of the congregation had never been to an Army meeting before. Good stuff!

On two occasions during the meeting, we looked at a few photos from the band’s history, right up to the present day (I was even on some of them!) – it’s fairly unusual to be looking at photos of the old days and be sitting in a band that is bigger now than back then... (I’ll write more about the Salvation Army here in a future post).

It was a fantastic weekend, and a real privilege to be a part of it. I timed my stay pretty well, didn’t I?

As I said, the radio DJs had really done their research, and they spoke all about the Salvation Army and its history, and even played a recording of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, speaking in 1910. It was fascinating to hear. I’ve listened to it a lot now, and I’m fairly sure I have the subtitles right – enjoy: *Seriously, it did my head in: Jan Harald is Norwegian, and spoke, as you would expect, Norwegian. The Faroese can all speak Danish and understand Norwegian – many of them speak Norwegian too, so they used Danish, Norwegian or a mixture of the two when speaking to, or in front of Jan Harald, but Faroese to each other and to me. Now I understand Norwegian, and speak Swedish – Swedish and Norwegian are close enough that one person can speak Swedish and the other Norwegian, and have a decent conversation. So I spoke Swedish when speaking to or in front of Jan Harald, who would reply in Norwegian, but I spoke Faroese to everyone else. Towards the end, I got completely confused, and apologised to one girl for speaking to her in Swedish, when I was in fact speaking Faroese.

FAR4.1/5.1: Fótbóltur...

2008-10-12T15:48:00.000+01:00

Unfortunately I wasn't too well when I recorded the second part of the video, so that explains why I look/sound so rough - you might need to fiddle with the volume controls halfway through. But I sorted out my accent!

FAR3.3: Mum and Dad in the Faroes (Part Two)

2008-10-06T23:15:00.001+01:00

On Saturday evening we had a fantastic meal with some people from the corps (Salvation Army church) who really worked hard to give us an excellent evening. Thank you!

On the Sunday we decided to hire a very little car (anything bigger would have been a nightmare on some of those mountain roads!) to see some of the sights that the buses couldn’t show us. Again we saw lots of beautiful views that are hard to capture on camera – you’ll just have to come and see for yourself!

After a great evening meeting at the Salvation Army, it was back to the hotel to catch my television debut ;) (see here). Early the next day, they were off (with a slightly more tense [my computer thinks it should be ‘tenser’, but that can’t be right, can it?] trip to the airport than one would hope...):It was great having them here and they seemed pretty taken with the place!

One final thing: the hotel we stayed in had little comments written next to the doors, à la:But my particular favourites were:

FAR3.2: Mum and Dad in the Faroes (Part One)

2008-10-06T23:00:00.001+01:00

So this week Mum and Dad came to see me in the Faroes (I think they came to see me, otherwise it was just a pretty big coincidence that they came to the place I’m currently living). I had a great time with them. The weather – not traditionally one of the Faroe Islands’ key selling points – was fantastic (if cold) and we saw loads. I thought the next two blog posts could take the form of photo posts, just to show you some of the things we got up to. Ok, so the weather wasn’t fantastic when they arrived. In fact, it was a storm, but it got better!

We spent the first full day travelling up to the Northern Islands – and even had snow (the first snow this winter). This is from Klaksvík, the Faroes’ second town. I had to take them to my favourite village, Viðareiði, and they fell in love with it too (well they said they did).It’s a stunning place. You stand in the middle of the village and can see a panoramic view of seven islands, mountains, etc. Stunning, but not easy to capture on camera.

Bus drivers in the Faroes are something else. Last time I went to Viðareiði (see here) the bus driver saw I was taking photos through the window and stopped the bus so that I could get off and get some better shots. Well, this time we got out and didn’t have long until we needed to catch the bus back (we had a choice of staying in Viðareiði for fifteen minutes or two hours – beautiful as it is, it’d be hard to fill two hours). We decided to make the most of our fifteen minutes and see as much as possible. Realising this, the bus driver told us not to worry about coming back to the bus stop – he’d come and pick us up before going back, giving us nearly double the time we thought we’d have. Nice! That evening we went to one of Tórshavn’s restaurants – for a town the size of Tórshavn, the range of restaurants is fantastic. The next day was our day for sightseeing in Tórshavn:I’m adding this picture because I just like it. There aren’t many European capitals where you can get a shot like this in the town centre...

FAR3.1: So, What's New?

2008-10-06T11:21:00.000+01:00

(I know - I'm increasingly sounding like an Australian who's spent a year or two in England... I have no idea where that's come from).

FAR2.1: First Reflections

2008-09-27T13:08:00.002+01:00

(I was absolutely shattered in this photo. I think it shows).

So, for all those who were worried that my new-found interest in video-blogging would mean an end to the traditional mitchenstein format – have no fear. I’ll still be blogging in the original way from time to time. I don’t want people to say they can no longer enjoy mitchenstein at work.

Well. I’ve now been in the Faroe Islands for nearly two weeks – I can’t believe that’s all it’s been. I can just about remember what my house looks like. To be honest, I found the first week or so quite difficult, which came as a surprise to me. Being in a new country is always a strange experience, but I’ve done it twice before (as part of my degree, I had to spend a year in Germany and Sweden) and I considered myself a bit of an old-hand, but nothing prepares you for feeling like a complete alien on new ground.

I decided straightaway that I would do everything in Faroese, which definitely makes things harder, but I know that come the time I have to go home, I’ll feel much better for having done that. And it is getting easier. The language situation here is actually quite confusing – while the people only speak Faroese between themselves, they all speak fluent Danish, and most TV, subtitles on films, books, etc. are in Danish. It can be pretty confusing to be watching the TV in Danish and then be asked a question in Faroese. I’m like ‘Er... hang on’. But it makes life exciting (that’s actually only the half of it, but I’ll come to that in a later post).

And the Faroese themselves? Have been nothing but welcoming. So many people have invited me into their homes and along to things that they’ve been doing, and I’m hugely grateful for that. So ‘thank you’ to any who may be reading this. The people are so friendly and genuine (and trendy, so I fit right in) – when they tell you that you should feel free to pop in any time, you know they actually mean it (although I’m much too English to ever actually do that).

I just majorly split that infinitive and it felt good.

One thing I’m learning about though is what they call ‘Faroese time’, which basically means that nothing happens at the time it’s due to. Add a good fifteen-thirty minutes to any stated time, and you’ll be on the right track. Get this Katie, here I actually have a reputation for being early.

I’ve decided to start a new blog in Faroese (mitchenstein í føroyalandi ‘mitchenstein in faroeland’). It’s purely for my own purposes – just to make sure I’m writing a little bit of Faroese on a regular basis. I’m not expecting anyone to read it. There won’t be anything interesting on it that won’t be on here, so don’t worry, you don’t have to learn Faroese (‘Phew,’ I hear you say).

I think that’s about it for now.

PS. I may be approaching 25, but we never stop learning as we go through life:

Things You Shouldn’t Say to a Girl who Shows You Her Outfit for Netball (Part 1)

‘It’s not very flattering, is it?’

I apologise again Stacey, it is SO not what I meant. What I actually meant to say was ‘It’s weird how it goes out at the sides’. I’ve learned from my mistakes.

PPS. My postcard wall’s looking bare... ;)

FAR1.2: What Now?

2008-09-19T11:06:00.000+01:00

Hopefully my accent's ok here ;)

FAR1.1: And so it Starts...

2008-09-17T12:19:00.002+01:00

(This was my first attempt, so I don't think I quite got the volume levels right... You might need to turn it up a bit!)

Where I'm At

2008-09-03T18:20:00.002+01:00

Things have been a little quiet on the mitchenstein front over the last few weeks. The Olympics finished, and we finished in fourth place (not bad,eh?). Summer seems to have been and gone. Things are starting up again and the world rolls on.

For me, things are all a little up in the air at the moment, and in a couple of weeks, I start a bit of a new adventure. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but I’m also excited – let’s see where this baby takes us!

Check back in a fortnight or so, when I’ll kind of re-launch mitchenstein. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out my Project 365 for regular picture updates.

By the way, I had an excellent weekend this weekend. It managed to be relaxing, tiring, exciting and inspiring all in one. It was great catching up with fantastic friends, and a big thanks to all those who were there! I’m a lucky guy.

Take care and God bless,

John

Who'da Thunk?

2008-08-18T15:13:00.005+01:00

I never thought I'd see Great Britain in third place halfway through the Olympics, ahead of Germany, Australia and Russia.So we can't play football, rugby or cricket, but cycling, rowing and sailing are ours!

Whatever happens now, in the words of Mariah Carey, 'they can't take that away from us'!*

Speaking of Australia, as we were a few lines ago, I had a little more to say about my recent trip down under, but the Salvation Army music camp got in the way. I hope you'll be able to excuse the lack of chronology in mitchenstein's most recent posts.

My sister Caroline and her husband Brettmond (whose name is actually Brett, but it sounds like it should be short for something, doesn't it?) very kindly took us camping one night, in the wilds of Victoria. Now, I've not done a lot of camping in my time, well not since I was in the cubs, and even then, we didn't have to put the tents up ourselves (outrageous, isn't it?). So I was a little inexperienced and didn't really know what to do.

But while the others worked I took a photo of myself holding a hammer, so that it would look like I'd helped to put up the tent.

After a while, I was allowed to help by holding various things. They figured that I couldn't cause much damage there:

They were, of course, wrong.

So I went back to taking photos.

When we told others we were going camping, they said 'Ooh, it's gonna get cold!' I was like 'Come on, it's Australia. How cold can it get?'

What do I know?

It was, without doubt, the coldest night of my life. I can't really put it into words, and the photos can't really convey it, but... (if I carried on that sentence, I'd be trying to put it into words).

We had a great time though out in the 'bush' - and I saw an echidna. I took a photo of it (and I used to be able to see it in this picture, but I have no idea now):

We had a great trip all in all, seeing family and meeting new cousins - and we saw some great Australian tourist attractions (Australian tourist attractions are a little different from in other countries):

*Ok, Mariah Carey's actual words were 'they can't take that away from me', but I don't feel I can take all of the credit for Great Britain's performance at the Olympics. Think of the trainers.

A Normal Life

2008-08-13T01:45:00.003+01:00

Man. Today the phone’s been ringing non-stop. I’ve had emails, texts, constant ‘bings’ from MSN...

And why?

Well, word seems to have got out that I’m now quite a celebrity in Germany. Yes, ‘John Mitchinson’ is on its way to becoming a bit of household name amongst our Teutonic cousins. Consequently, friends have been ringing non-stop, desperate to ask ‘Will you still remember us when you’re rich and famous?’ Chances are, I will.

So what’s the background to all this?

When I was in Germany for a Salvation Army music camp, a very large and influential German newspaper (the Kieler Nachrichten) decided to run a story about me, along with a photo. I didn’t ask for all the attention that came with it – it just happened. I can’t say I’m not enjoying the stares of recognition as I walk down the street, but ultimately, all I want is a normal life.

Here’s the article:

And here’s the zoomed-in picture:

But through it all, I’m still just Johnny from the block.

While this may have been a lot for you to take in, I do have one other bit of news to share with you.

People, our time has come.

With the eyes of the world currently on Beijing (she wasn’t singing!), it’s only natural that our thoughts should drift towards the next Olympic games, London 2012.

We’ve seen the fantastic buildings in Beijing – and we’re compelled to think of the fine London landmarks that will house our own Olympic events: Horse Guards Parade, the Millennium Dome, Wimbledon and... a Salvation Army farm in Hadleigh, Essex.

That’s right, the mountain bike event is going to be held here in our little corner of south-east Essex and on Salvation Army land – how cool is that? (Click here for proof).

You read it here first (possibly).

(Read on for more about the music camp in Germany and my first-ever video!)

John Goes to Germany and then Makes a Video and Writes a Blogpost

2008-08-12T11:12:00.003+01:00

Apologies for the slight break, but I’m back! I’ve just been at the Salvation Army’s music camp in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany – and we had an amazing time. Check out this video I made (it was my first ever video [hence the overuse of special effects – the mark of an amateur], but I’m pretty chuffed with myself):

This was my third time at the music camp in Germany – and it was the best. I’ve been to a few different music schools, but there’s just something about the German one for me. This year topped the two other years for two main reasons:

1) I was in charge of the Bible Study group for the fifteen to eighteen-year-olds, which was daunting, hard work, but just about one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done, and

2) This year I made a real effort to speak to as many different people as I could. In previous years I’ve been a little too dependent on a smaller group, but this year I had so much fun spending time with so many different people. It was sweet!

And I didn’t make this video here, but have a look – and check out that euphonium player... (credit to Jens for uploading):

And finally,

The John Mitchinson diet:

1. Go to northern Germany.,
2. Eat Haribo every morning,
3. Go to the ice-cream parlour every day (including twice on one occasion),

See the weight drop off!
I can’t understand it. I followed the above pattern rigorously and managed to lose 9lbs (4 kilo) in just under two weeks...*
*Stomach may have been pushed out/pulled in for dramatic effect.

The Best Night

2008-07-23T08:45:00.003+01:00

Last August I published a post entitled The Best Day about the day I did the Neighbours tour and met two of the guys from the show, Fraser and Ringo. It was the best day.

Well, here‘s ‘The Best Night’!

As you know, I am a little bit of a Neighbours fan. Just a tad. Being back in Melbourne this summer, I wanted to do the Neighbours tour again, but no-one wanted to come with me – and going on my own would be crossing a line I didn’t want to cross (unlike doing the Neighbours tour twice). So what to do?

Well, it just so happens that there’s a Neighbours evening held at an English pub in the city – so we went there instead! And check out these photos...

This may be the coolest photo I’ve had on my blog yet:

The Doc – the reason I’m doing my PhD. (Not really). Mum kissed him twice (but my Dad’s cool with it).

And we also met Steve and Stu Parker and Marco: It was a great evening – rounded off by Doctor Karl’s band, The Waiting Room (geddit?), who were actually really good (and much heavier than you’d think).And there was a pub quiz that night too. Our team was the Salvos, and we came in third (which was pretty good, I thought. Roughly two places behind the winning team). The quiz had absolutely nothing to do with Neighbours (which is why we only came in third), but was much more general knowledgey – do you know the four countries in Europe that drive on the left?

As the guy read out the results, he asked if we really were Salvos, to which we said ‘yes’ (because we were) and he asked for another round of applause for all the work the Salvos do, to which there was applause (as requested) and cheering. I had mixed feelings about this: on the one hand it’s great that we got to raise the profile of The Salvation Army amongst the group and to show them that there’s young people in the Army – it’s not all Harold Bishops. They all seemed to know who we were, which is also good (not really an issue in Australia, where the Salvation Army has a very high profile, but most of the people in the pub that night were from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand), but it did leave me feeling a little guilty about sharing some of the credit (which of course, we’re not in it for) for the fantastic things the Army does, when I don’t quite do as much as I should. And who’d have thought I’d come away from a Neighbours night at a British pub feeling challenged about what I do as a Salvationist?

I didn’t actually get to see much Neighbours while I was there, but be prepared for the tackiest funeral you ever did see (tacky even for Neighbours).

Ode to Aldgate

2008-07-21T23:11:00.004+01:00

Ode to Aldgate Underground Station

I can understand your sadness,
I know how hard it must be,
When someone steps on to your platform
And shouts ‘This isn’t Liverpool Street!’

Your workers must feel so unwanted.
‘Which platform for Barking, please?’
Broken-hearted, they say, with a sigh,
‘I think you want Aldgate East.’

You're the station that nobody aims for:
As soon as they’re in, they want out,
Over the footbridge or back out the door,
They never stop to see what you’re about.

Always the source of disappointment,
It’s only natural you’d want to stand out.
But now, just between friends, dear Aldgate,
What is this really all about?

I can understand your sadness,
And sometimes you must feel like a grumble,
But when, and why, dear Aldgate,
Did you start to resemble a jungle?

The Truth

2008-07-14T23:26:00.007+01:00

I edited this picture myself. Could you tell?

And so I’m back! Before I start, let me just tell you that I’ve updated the mitchenstein365 blog with photos from the Australia trip. Some of them are pretty cool!

But this blogpost has, in fact, nothing to do with Australia (that’ll come). Before I went away I posted twenty ‘facts’ about me, but three were, in fact, false. So which ones?

1. I keep a Christmas Card list throughout the year, adding/removing people as I get on well with them/they annoy me.
This is, I’m glad to say, FALSE. I can be quite sad at times, but this would be a step too far, even for me. What is a little worrying is that those people who commented on the post took this one for being true...

2. I keep a list of every Salvation Army corps (church) I’ve ever seen.
This is TRUE. 142 down, roughly 15,000 to go.

3. People blowing raspberries makes me feel sick.
This is TRUE and I’m now wondering why I put this on here. That was pretty dumb.

4. Part of me still thinks I’m going to be a pop-star.
TRUE, obviously.

5. I don’t like touching food that others are going to eat.
Yep, this is TRUE. Weirdly, I don’t mind others touching my food (within reason, obviously).

6. The same goes for cutlery and glasses that other people are going to use.
TRUE. Unloading the dishwasher is a nightmare (fortunately I don’t do it often :D )

7. Un-sporty as I may seem, I ran for my school when I was younger.
Oh, this is so TRUE. Not only did I run for my school, but I got into the final (my day of glory, aged 10)

8. As a kid, I was desperate to become an estate agent.
Sad, but TRUE. I had my company logo designed and everything.

9. When I was a kid I once lied that my mum worked at McDonalds because I thought it sounded cool.
This is TRUE too.

10. Whenever I’m writing a list of things to do, I always put some things I’ve done already so I can tick them off.
TRUE. Definitely.

11. Whenever I go on holiday I send out loads of emails so I’ll have lots of emails in my inbox when I get home.
Again, sad but TRUE. And it works without fail.

12. Whenever I need to ask anyone in London for directions, I speak with an Australian accent.
This is also TRUE. Once when shopping in Quiksilver I took the ultimate risk and pretended to be an Australian when talking to an Australian. I got away with it, but then again, my Australian accent is pretty darn convincing. (OK, this bit did have something to do with Australia.)

13. I was once stopped on Tottenham Court Road and photographed for a modelling agency.
This is also TRUE. And I was phoned twice by the agency afterwards and, stupidly, never phoned them back. How different my life could have been...

14. When I was thirteen, my best friend and I invented our own language which we spoke for nearly one whole day.
Yep, this is also TRUE. The only sentence I can remember now is Kaya mika Mike, but I can’t translate that in case Mike reads this.

15. I once had a birthday card signed by the whole Tottenham Hotspurs team.
Also TRUE. Pretty cool, eh?

16. I don’t lend out books to my friends, because I can’t stand it when they get creases down their spines (The spines of the books, I mean. I don’t care if my friends have creases on their spines).
This is so TRUE, so don’t even ask. It’ll save us both embarrassment.

17. I’m a member of the Esperanto Association of Great Britain.
This is one of those FALSE ‘facts’. I know hardly any Esperanto at all – I find it hard to take any language seriously when the word for ‘bird’ is ‘birdo’.

18. When I was younger it was my dream to work in Argos.
Absolutely TRUE. Don’t you remember that amazing feeling when you’d ordered a toy and there it appeared on the conveyer-belt behind the desk? Fantastic. And I wanted to share that feeling with others.

19. At school I once got three detentions in one day, including one for fighting.
This is also TRUE. And boy was I glad when I got home and Mum had a real headache and wasn’t really able to take in what I was telling her.

20. My bookshelves are organised in alphabetical order of each book’s country of origin.

FALSE. Come on, as if I would be that sad? I only did this with my CDs.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Seven)

2008-06-29T23:59:00.002+01:00

So here we are at the end of another Birthday Week. And I managed to blog every day!

Who knows what the next year will bring? Some time in the Faroes, yes, a birthday presumably, Christmas and Easter (assuming the next year will be like the last two thousand) – but what else?!

Have a great year – and keep reading!

What else can I say?

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Six)

2008-06-28T00:01:00.001+01:00

The Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008
(‘The Mitchies’)
“As prestigious as you want them to be.”

(The picture above is, of course, of an Oscar, and not a Mitchie).

In line with the general self-congratulatory mood of this blogging week, I decided to have my own blog awards this year too. As presumptuous and pretentious as that may be, the basic idea is really just to show which bloggers and blogs I think have done well this year and maybe to alert you to a blog or two you’re not yet familiar with. And without much further ado (and I think you’ll agree there’s been a fair bit of ado so far) here are the Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008:

Best Supporting Blogger 2008
For the blogger who encourages others by commenting on their blogs. Not in a weird way, but in an encouraging encouragy-type way.

Winner: Katie Allen, author of Random Thoughts of Katie

Most Conscientious Blogger 2008
Celebrating those bloggers who blog regularly and clearly put a lot of thought into their blog posts.

Winner: Liz Hall, author of Are We Nearly There Yet?

Most Thought-Provoking Blog 2008
For those blogs that really make us stop and think.

Winner: Shaw Coleman with Agent 832

Blogger People Would Most Like to See Return to Blogging 2008
This is a fairly self-explanatory award. So I don’t need to write anything here, although I will, otherwise it interferes with the whole look of the page.

Winner: Glyn Harries, author of Confessions of an Innocent Man

Best Newcomer 2008
Celebrating those new bloggers who have made an impact on our blogosphere (in blogging and commenting).

Winner: Anna Achermann, author of Anjushka (who is, however, slightly hindered by a lack of internet access at present!)

(Winners 2007: Katie Allen, Random Thoughts of Katie and Andy Hill, Old Enough to Know Better)

And finally, Best Blog Post 2008
I said I would go with the popular vote here, and I’m afraid it’s:

Winner: John Mitchinson with Confirmed

(Winner 2007: Glyn Harries with The Day I Lost All Respect for Andi Peters)

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Five)

2008-06-27T00:01:00.003+01:00

As I've been writing my posts this week, I've been thinking about the past year, but also thinking about what's to come. What do we have to look forward to in 2008-2009? Well the next year looks like it’s going to be quite an interesting one, as I’m going to be spending around three months in the Faroe Islands.*

Now, correct me if I’m wrong here, but not too many people know much about the Faroe Islands, and as you’re going to be reading a fair bit about them over the next year (assuming you stick with this), I thought it’d be a good idea to give you a little introduction. So here are ten facts you never knew about the Faroe Islands, which were forwarded to me by a Faroese friend. Stick with it, it’s funny (I apologise for the odd bit of language here, I changed some of it, but some of it had to stay for it to work):

The Faroe Islands – Facts (You Never Knew) You Never Knew:

1) Although the islands' main industry is fishing, most of the catch is exported (97% of Faroese exports have scales and fins). Hence it's almost impossible to buy fresh fish in the Faroes. Most supermarket fish is shrink-wrapped and imported from Denmark. The best way to obtain fresh fish in the Faroes is as follows: Go to the harbour and engage a recently arrived fisherman in conversation, suddenly point somewhere behind him and shout 'Oh my word, look at that!' When the fisherman turns round to look, scoop up an armful of fish and hot foot it from the scene.

2) The rocky terrain of the Faroes makes it virtually impossible grow fresh produce. Hence the vegetables you buy at the supermarket are, like the fish, shrink-wrapped and imported from Denmark. If you live in the Faroes and want to buy fresh fish, fruit and vegetables, your best bet is to move to Copenhagen.

3) Most older Faroese houses have turf roofs to provide insulation.

'I'm just popping out to mow the roof,' may sound like a convoluted euphemism for a visit to the toilet, but it's a phrase heard in many Faroese households during the summer months. In contrast, Faroese gardens don't have lawns – they're covered in roofing slates. They're not really, I just made that up.

4) There are thought to be twice as many sheep in the Faroes as there are people. The Faroese word for Faroe Islands, Føroyar, means 'Isles of Sheep'. There is a 1000 kroner fine for anyone hitting a sheep with their car, accidentally or otherwise, so be on your guard.

Faroese sheep are notoriously litigious creatures, and what you interpret as cute baa-ing actually means 'Nice car. Wouldn't it be a shame if the front wing got damaged, know what I mean?' Believe me, those innocent, quizzical ovine faces mask sharp financial minds fully conversant with compensation law. Where do you think the verb 'to fleece' came from?

5) The Faroese are football crazy. When the national stadium in Torshavn is full to its 6,000 capacity, that's fifteen per cent of the entire population - the equivalent of about eight million people turning up at Wembley to watch England.

Two years ago, Julian Johnsson became the first Faroese to play in the English league after signing for Hull City. Presumably he chose Hull because the prevailing smell of fish would remind him of home.

6) Until 1992, alcohol was strictly rationed in the Faroe Islands. You could apply to the government to buy alcoholic drink but, and this was a stroke of genius by the Faroese authorities, you could only apply if your taxes were all paid up to date.

It was the Faroese equivalent of the Inland Revenue taking over Oddbins and only handing over a bottle of Jacob's Creek on presentation of your latest P60. But you couldn't have it straightaway: the booze would arrive by boat from Denmark every three months and the country would grind to a halt for three days afterwards, leaving the streets full of prostrate, pie-eyed, pissed-up but paid-up Faroese.

7) The airport that serves the Faroe Islands is located on the remote western island of Vágar, a one-and-a-half hour drive from the capital Tórshavn. This is because it's the only island with a piece of flat ground long enough to accommodate a runway, and even then it's one of the shortest in Europe.

When flying with the national carrier Atlantic Airways for the first time, you may be struck by the frequency and enthusiasm with which the cabin staff ply you with free booze. Once you catch a glimpse of the tiny stretch of tarmac towards which you're barrelling out of the heavens, you soon realise why.

8) Faroese weather can best be described as changeable. 'Four seasons in one hour' is a popular local saying, and it's not unknown to experience sun, rain, snow, hail, dense fog and gale force winds in the time it takes to put the bins out.

9) Faroese is an ancient Nordic language thought to be the closest to that spoken by the Vikings (John: This isn’t quite true). During the 1940s, under Danish rule, the language was at risk of disappearing altogether but conscious effort was then made to preserve it. This even extended to placing handy grammar hints and verb declensions on the sides of milk cartons.

Faroese contains a number of useful words and phrases such as brenna krakk, which means 'burning the three-legged stool after turning down a suitor'. Fjalla is a useful verb meaning 'to go into the hills to work among the sheep', whilst skadahvalur is 'whalemeat sold at auction to defray the cost of damages to boats'. Vevlingur is 'a cord worn around the sleeve when digging for puffins' and, and this is my favourite, the skeinkjari: that popular chap, the 'man who goes among wedding guests, offering them drink'.

10) The Faroe Islands boast over 300 different species of seabird. Roast puffin is a popular local dish, and puffins stuffed with sawdust are proving to be a thriving cottage tourist industry for ornithological taxidermists. Faroese law states that you can't shoot puffins. You can, however, smack them with a big stick. Skilled puffin catchers scale the treacherous cliffs smacking puffins with big sticks and fastening them to their belts for safe passage like a feathery black and white sporran.

Guillemots are also rife in the islands but you're not allowed to catch Faroese ones, not even with big sticks. You are however allowed to catch those that have come over from Iceland. How you can tell which is which is a moot point. You could ask them, but Icelandic guillemots are canny creatures and can do a convincing Faroese accent.

*You can read my account of a trip to the Faroes here.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Four)

2008-06-26T00:01:00.001+01:00

Besides mentioning some very important facts about myself, I also listed my ambitions in my first ever post. Last year I looked at how these were going and made some new ones for the next blogging year.

They were:
1. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army.

2. Lose a little more weight (I'm nearly where I want to be!)

3. Start a gospel choir.

4. Be able to speak another language fluently by this time next year. As you know, I am a little bit of a language freak, so I'm actually trying to learn three languages at the same time... We'll see how that goes.
5. Get a new hobby.

6. Keep this blog going.
7. Seize the day more.

And how have they gone?

1. Nope, failed this again this year. But, to be fair, I haven’t actually written anything, so this always was rather unlikely.
2. I did lose the weight! I put half of it back on again, but I did lose the weight!
3. Er, nope. It’s coming.
4. I have sort of achieved this. Almost. Well, last year I spoke very little Danish, but could read it fluently. Now I can pretty much speak it fluently too, but it wasn’t a new language. However, I could only read a little Icelandic back then and now my Icelandic is much better (although not fluent), so I reckon those two facts combined mean I can say I pretty much achieved this.
5. Yep, I play the oboe. I suck at it (not literally, that’s bad for the reeds), but I play the oboe. To a degree.
6. I kept this baby going.
7. Yes, I think I did. If ‘seizing the day’ means getting around to things you’ve always wanted to do or just trying new things, then I have seized the day more. Sweet.

What’s really frustrating is that I achieved one of my 2006 aims this year, but took it off last year’s list. I (kinda) got a book published. Well, it was a very small chapter of a very small book, but it’s a first step (which incidentally was the result of a bit of day-seizing).

So, some ambitions for next year?
1. Keep this blog going.
2. Get a book published (more than just a mini-chapter this time).
3. Raise some money for charity.
4. Get a piece of music published by The Salvation Army (really can’t see this happening, but for old time’s sake).
5. Learn to speak another language fluently (I recently read about a guy who could speak 50-something languages fluently. I now have my target).
6. Start a gospel choir (one day, one day).
7. Read more (obviously I have to read a lot for university, but I mean like non-university books).
8. Be tidier and more organised, and go to bed earlier.
9. Learn Welsh (I know that’s kinda overlapping with ambition number 5).

So that’s where I am - cymer ofal!

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Three)

2008-06-25T00:01:00.001+01:00

Back in my first ever post, as I introduced myself to the few people that read this blog (fortunately this number has since grown), I gave some facts about myself, which I updated last year. And here they are for this year:

Favourite Book:
2006: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
2007: Mr Bounce
2008: The Indian in the Cupboard (Classic) But I read it in Swedish this year – does that intellectualise it a little? (Bearing in mind last year’s book)

Secret (and perhaps slightly embarrassing) Fact:
2006: I own three copies of Disney’s Hercules on DVD
2007: I accidentally went to toilet in a cupboard in McDonalds in France
2008: Earlier this month, Katie lent me The Little Mermaid on video (It’s not how it sounds. Ok, it’s exactly how it sounds. The fact it’s on video makes it so much worse...)

Favourite Character from Friends:
2006: Phoebe
2007: Still Phoebe I'm afraid (but I must say that Rachel and increasingly Ross are coming close...)
2008: Phoebe, of course (Ross?! What was I thinking?)

Thing That Annoys Me Most:
2006: People who don’t have locks on their bathrooms (mainly Australians)
2007: People who don’t know how to order in SubWay and panic
2008: Patrick Kielty. Unlike Patrick Kielty, I am able to speak more than five sentences without saying where I’m from. You’re from Ireland, we get it

Favourite TV Show:
2006: Kath & Kim
2007: Kath & Kim
2008: Gavin and Stacey, I won’t lie to you

Prized Possession:
2006: My Hokey-Cokey Elmo
2007: My Tickle-Me Elmo EXTREME
2008: I don’t think I have anything to compete with the Elmos. Maybe my elbows... No, I’m going to stop this category this year and have a new one:

Strangest Dream of the Year
2008: Amy Winehouse singing in Hadleigh Singing Company (Salvation Army children’s choir – she was one of the slightly too-cool-for-school ones on the back row [found in every singing company I believe.])

Happy Second Birthday! (Part Two)

2008-06-24T00:01:00.002+01:00

As with last year, the first part of today’s post is going to look at Mitchenstein in statistics:

Mitchenstein in Statistics

Number of posts (before this week): 119 (I managed 55 last year, so that’s 64 this year – an increase! [Although four weren’t written by me.])

Number of comments altogether: 449 (Not bad, not bad, I had 217 last year, so that’s 232 this year – I’d just like to point out that I’m not comment-crazy, but it’s interesting [for me] to see an increase).

Number of comments by me (on my blog): As with last year, this would take ages to count, but it's higher than it should be.

Languages of posts: English, German (as with last year, but this year I’ve had titles in Welsh and Icelandic - Last year I also had a title in Lingala, but I forgot to add that - thanks Lizette!).

Languages of comments: English, German, Swedish, Icelandic, Lingala, Swiss German and Portuguese (Languages interest me somewhat).

Number of languages William Booth quote has been found in (see right-hand column): 26 – that’s only an increase of two on last year. So keep looking!

Those statistics were more for my benefit than anyone else's, but that's allowed.

Facts
Those of you that read this blog probably know me pretty well, but I thought I would use this opportunity all the same to give you twenty additional facts about me:

1. I keep a Christmas Card list throughout the year, adding/removing people as I get on well with them/they annoy me.

2. I keep a list of every Salvation Army corps (church) I’ve ever seen.

3. People blowing raspberries makes me feel sick.

4. Part of me still thinks I’m going to be a pop-star.

5. I don’t like touching food that others are going to eat.

6. The same goes for cutlery and glasses that other people are going to use.

7. Un-sporty as I may seem, I ran for my school when I was younger.

8. As a kid, I was desperate to become an estate agent.

9. When I was a kid I once lied that my mum worked at McDonalds because I thought it sounded cool.

10. Whenever I’m writing a list of things to do, I always put some things I’ve done already so I can tick them off.

11. Whenever I go on holiday I send out loads of emails so I’ll have lots of emails in my inbox when I get home.

12. Whenever I need to ask anyone in London for directions, I speak with an Australian accent.

13. I was once stopped on Tottenham Court Road and photographed for a modelling agency.

14. When I was thirteen, my best friend and I invented our own language which we spoke for nearly one whole day.

15. I once had a birthday card signed by the whole Tottenham Hotspurs team.

17. I’m a member of the Esperanto Association of Great Britain.

18. When I was younger it was my dream to work in Argos.

19. At school I once got three detentions in one day, including one for fighting.

20. My bookshelves are organised in alphabetical order of each book’s country of origin.

Any surprises there? Well, three of these ‘facts’ are, in fact, untrue.

Happy Second Birthday! (Part One)

2008-06-23T00:01:00.002+01:00

Just as Katie is unable to blink without putting it on FaceBook, I am unable to allow a blogging milestone to pass without making a big song and dance about it. So allow me to sing and dance.
Today marks exactly two years since I first sat down and started my mitchenstein blog. So for this, the second Mitchenstein Birthday Week, I will be (as with last year) attempting to blog every day, because, well, why not?

This has been a strange year in the blogging sphere. The word ‘slow’ would some it up nicely. A fair few seem to have stopped blogging altogether (come on Glyn!) while others haven’t been blogging so much. However, as for me and mine, I’ve done pretty well this year and have actually blogged more than last year. This year also marked the start of my mitchenstein365 project, whereby I have to take a photo every day. Hard work as that may be, it seems to be going pretty well too (with a slight blip earlier this month).

So, here’s a quick recap of the first two years of mitchenstein:

2006-7
2007-8
Make sure you come back during the week to see what else is going on!

John Mitchbryson (Part Three)

2008-06-06T00:34:00.004+01:00

Not only did I manage to learn a lot while I was in Denmark, but I also broke a record. I believe I hold the record for the shortest amount of time ever between walking into a Salvation Army corps on a Sunday morning and taking a seat in the band. Seriously. I stepped into the hall and my first view around the building was from the second euphonium seat. It was an absolute blur. But I had a fantastic time. It was a great corps from what I could see, and the people were so friendly. Next time I’m in Copenhagen I’ll definitely go back there. Those guys were a credit to The Salvation Army.

I took this picture on the way to the corps. I made it look like I was taking a picture of Wayne's Coffee, which I kinda was, because it's where we used to hang out when I lived in Sweden, but I was actually taking a photo of the most stupidly designed floor in the history of flooral design (see what I did there?). The black slabs were so unbelievably slippery, so every other step I took nearly sent me reeling. (Admittedly, my Army shoes have no grip whatsoever).

That afternoon I decided to catch the train to Sweden. That’s one of the things I love about the Continent – if I had land access to other countries I’d go there all the time. I remember when I lived in Germany I had a free day so I caught the train to Poland (not as sunny as we’d been led to believe) which was only two hours away. That evening my friends had asked me what I’d been doing so I told them and none of them had been there. Two hours away!? I digress again. The Swedish city of Malmö is only 35 minutes away from Copenhagen by train, and as someone who lived in Sweden, studied Swedish and had never been to Sweden’s third largest city, it seemed a good opportunity (the National Library was also closed). Aside from being absolutely ripped off on the train (I’m sorry, but nothing led me to read the tiny, tiny Danish print on the reverse of the ticket that told me I’d have to have the ticket stamped in order for it to be valid) I had a great time in Malmö. I saw a big flag when I arrived...(I don't think you'll need a translation) but unfortunately I’d missed the Sunday meeting (I thought attending two Salvation Army meetings in one day in two countries would be kinda cool, but I won’t get to experience that just yet). Malmö is a beautiful city. I had time to see all I wanted and visit SubWay (which they don’t have in Denmark. Argh.) Malmö has quite a famous tower which I wanted to see. And it’s massive. I kept thinking I was getting closer to it every time I turned a corner (I’d been able to see it for ages), but I eventually got there. And it was pretty impressive too. A lot of people seemed to have the same haircut in Sweden too, but I came to the conclusion that these were just lost Danes.

The time in Denmark was massively useful – both in terms of what I managed to get out of the 32 hours (yes) I spent in the Danish Library and how I got to know a city a little better that I’m probably going to be spending a fair bit of time in over the next few years. I also learned some stuff on the plane too, from the in-flight magazine. Did you know that Portugal is the only European country not to dub foreign films into the native language? I suppose that’s true if you ignore Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, the Netherlands and Romania.

And I know I shouldn't find it funny and I know I'm just a big kid, but it's like they got all the funny things together and put them on one sign:

John Mitchbryson (Part Two)

2008-06-05T00:14:00.007+01:00

Having settled into my room on the first day, I set off for a bit of a walk. I should think that most visitors to Copenhagen who start at the main train station would walk east, seeing as that’s where you find the shops, the tourist sites and pretty much everything else. That’s what I’ve done too on my two previous visits to Copenhagen. But this time I decided to go west, to – as in the grand tradition of Tilly, Tom and Tiny – see what I could see. I split that infinitive big time.

It was fascinating to walk through parts of the city I’d never seen before and that not many tourists would get to see. After I’d been walking for a little while, I heard fantastic music coming from somewhere. Fantastic gospel music. I turned the corner and – wouldn’t you know – it was coming from...The Salvation Army. It sounded so good. They’d left the front doors open (a great idea), so I went up and had a little look in to see a big gospel concert and what looked like a full hall. Lots of people stopped to listen as they walked by. I’m convinced that gospel music is the way forward (certainly not at the expense of other styles – but I’m still planning to get that gospel choir up and going in the new year!) and if I hadn’t already decided I was going to go to a different Salvation Army corps on the Sunday, I would have gone there.

The Saturday of my time in Copenhagen also happened to be the Saturday of the Eurovision Song Contest. Those of you who visit this blog regularly (and those of you who don’t read this blog regularly, but are reading this line) will be aware that I’m a bit of a Eurovision fan (see here and here and here), but I’ve been very good and not said very much about it this year... I’ll sum up my thoughts with a few bullet points:

* Poland must be a very sunny country;

* The winner from Russia achieved new levels of self-adoration. I’m fairly sure that if it was announced that I’d won the Eurovision Song Contest, the first thing I would do would not be to take my shirt off (I’d probably be quite surprised, because I’ve never entered). The song was... alright, but every second it went on it became more and more tacky. And was he singing about Lee Mead? (‘There is not a Lee Mead to what I can do’?) If so, extra points for mentioning an Essex celebrity;

* What was interesting this year is that instead of the usual male-female presenting team, this year’s male presenter was accompanied by a cyborg. A cyborg who also welcomed us to the Belgrade;

* Norway recovered from what can only be described as a truly horrific opening lyric to become a great song. It had my money;

* The interval acts were in keeping with the grand tradition of Eurovision interval acts and sucked. One man seemed to be singing about gas;

* I had the choice of Swedish, Danish and German commentary, so I did a bit of switching as the evening went on. The highlight was the lack of Terry Wogan on any of them :)
While waiting for Eurovision to start I had a little walk around Tivoli Gardens. In all honesty it took me nearly half an hour to find my way out again.Part Three to follow...

John Mitchbryson (Part One)

2008-06-03T00:14:00.006+01:00

I’ve long been a fan of Bill Bryson’s books. Whenever I head off to the Continent, I always check Neither Here Nor There to see whether Bryson had anything to say about the place I’m visiting. As any visitors to my Project 365 will know, I’ve recently been in Copenhagen, and I thought I’d do a Bryson style write-up about the trip – broken down into several parts (I’m not a big fan of long blog posts).

So what does Bryson say about Copenhagen? (Having said how often I read his Europe book, I actually can’t find my English copy, so I’m having to use Streifzüge durch das Abendland, the German version). He describes it as not the most beautiful city in the world, but one that has an unassuming charm, more in common with a small university town than a city that was once the capital of all Scandinavia. He wonders what Copenhageners do with their old people (and said that a director in the city could find an entire cast for a Pepsi commercial within 15 seconds, full as it is with good-looking blond types) and that the Danes are particularly friendly people (both these thoughts occurred to me as I walked through the city... Not the Pepsi bit). However, I did notice that all Danish men have the exact same haircut. It’s a good haircut though, so that’s ok.

I was going to be spending six days in the city – spending the vast majority of that time at the Danish National Library. When choosing my hotel, I was determined to avoid a particular street in Copenhagen that doesn’t have the best reputation – slightly difficult as it’s also the place with all the cheaper* hotels – but I found a good one, close enough to the train station and centre of town, but not close to afore-mentioned street. As I walked from the main station to the hotel, map in hand, I was interested to discover that not only was my hotel closer to this street than the map had (presumably intentionally) led me to believe, but it was, in fact, on it. The hotel was, however, rather nice and, address aside, fantastically located.

Having said that, the fact that the name of the long road that connected me to the National Library translated as ‘West Violence Street’, did somewhat unnerve me as I set off very early in the morning to the ‘Black Diamond’, the National Library on Slotsholmen.
I won’t write too much about the Library other than the fact that it was very useful and it was also possible to get a seat at a desk, unlike the British Library, should you arrive there after 6am. Now, the British Library is fantastic in terms of its settings and collections, but is so overrun with undergraduate students that it makes any kind of research rather difficult. I’m not saying it should be restricted at all – it is a national resource and one that we should take pride in and make the most of – but I was able to complete an entire BA and MA without a single visit to the British Library, so why are these undergraduates there every day? I digress. The National Library was also the first place I ever heard someone sneeze in a Danish accent.

*Note the use of the word ‘cheaper’ and not ‘cheap’. Nothing in Denmark goes cheap, apart from chicks.

PS. I haven't said anything about the flight, which was largely uneventful. However, anyone who has been through Stansted Airport will be familiar with the sample of hell on earth that is this: The bear that plays the drum outside Hamleys ALL THE LIVE-LONG DAY. I had been sitting there for about twenty minutes before I went completely crazy. How do the staff cope?

Part Two to follow...

183 Days Down, 183 Days to Go!

2008-06-02T12:14:00.007+01:00

Have you checked out my Project 365 yet? And they said I'd never make it (well, to my knowledge no-one ever said that, but maybe some thought it). To celebrate getting halfway through the project, I thought I'd choose my favourite picture from each of the first seven months (I realise that seven months is over half a year, but I started on the last day of a month). So here they are:

November 2007

The horrific picture that kick-started it all. As you may be able to tell from the picture, I was slightly wet and slightly stressed!

December 2007

Oh, those were happy times.

January 2008

My elephant. Nuff said. It's clearly a baby elephant.

February 2008

Why would he do that? Man, this still makes me laugh now. Potentially my favourite mitchenstein365 photo yet...

March 2008

Classic.

April 2008

Some people are just born with style.

May 2008

Preparing for exams...

Here's to the next six months!

P.S.: The new list of people and countries that have visited the blog is pretty cool, I think. I can work out who most of the people might be, but Austria, Italy and Iran have pretty much stumped me. And what's really confusing is the visitor from 'Europe'...

P.P.S.: When I was at my mate Patrick's house, they had a list of things to do when you're feeling bored. One of them I particularly liked (but it does require two bored people): Have a 'Who is less competitive?' competition. Trying to win at this will make you lose. Trying to lose makes you win, which makes you lose. Not trying at all makes you lose which makes you win which makes you lose. Enjoy.

P.P.P.S.: Have you done your vote for the Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008 yet? (See below).

Announcing...

2008-05-23T08:49:00.006+01:00

The Mitchenstein Blog Awards 2008
(The 'Mitchies')
"As prestigious as you want them to be."

Yes, that time of year has come round again. Presumptuous and pretentious it may be, but the Mitchies are back for a second year (see what I’m talking about by clicking here).* However, this time, the awards are going to have input from you, the readers. Everyone has their own group of blogs they regularly check – perhaps you know a really good one I’ve never heard of. So let me know!

Here are some ideas to help you:
The most thought-provoking blog?
Best blog photo 2008?
Best newcomer?
The person we most want to get back to blogging?
The most entertaining blog?
The most conscientious blogger?
The best supporting blogger? (Those comment-writers amongst us)
The best make-up? (Nyah, maybe not)

And, the big one:
The Best Blog Post 2008 (Any post written since 23rd June 2007 is eligible. As long as it’s good, obviously).

Email themitchies at hotmail dot co dot uk ** with any suggestions you may have and they’ll all be announced during the Mitchenstein second birthday week at the end of June. Feel free to mention them on your blog!

The only thing left to say is:

VOTE PORTUGAL AND NORWAY!!

(Iceland is good too...)
(in Eurovision now though, not the Mitchies, obviously).

*Why not? It keeps things lively. And me out of mischief.
**I've only just found out why people do this - I always thought it was to look cool.

PS. The above picture is, of course, an Oscar award and not a Mitchie.

Phlog (Photo Log)

2008-05-17T22:55:00.007+01:00

My German friend Patrick has been living in ol’ Blighty for a good eight months now. We don’t get to meet up much because we’re both lead too darn interesting lives. Last time we met up we went on a tour of all things Army (click on January 2008 in the right-hand column for the pictures) and the time before that we visited all the places on the Monopoly board (click on October 2007 to see pictures of that – see, we really don’t meet up that often). Both of those days rocked, so the pressure was on to find something interesting to do today... What could we do...

SO, I introduced him to my friend Samuel L. Jackson...
While I had a conversation with Robin Williams about bringing Mork and Mindy back. He explained why it just wasn't possible... I stopped to chat with Ant and Dec about my latest film project... Before stopping to chat with those less fortunate than ourselves... Patrick explained his latest film idea to Spielberg, who really just seemed more interested in the camera I was holding... There’s always time for a Shrek hug...But I hugged him for too long and Patrick and The Rock got annoyed with me for holding the day up. Although to be fair, it really had nothing to do with The Rock...Before finding Johnny Depp just staring into the mirror (perhaps wondering when he should have stopped making Pirate movies. After the first one, Johnny.)... I showed Warney my flipper... And cycled with Lance Armstrong... While Patrick danced with Tom Jones... We rubbed shoulders with world leaders... And checked out Simon Cowell’s hairy knuckles... I had this photo with my friend Britney, who – let’s be honest now – is a bit of a poser. Who carries a pole round with them just in case a photo opportunity turns up?

All in all, a fairly successful day.

End of an Era

2008-05-13T18:31:00.009+01:00

Do you ever get the feeling when you’re suddenly taken back to your childhood? That happened to me today. As you know, I’m a bit of a Neighbours fan – and people, it looks like it’s survived the move to five – but instead of turning off the TV at the end and getting on with some work, I left it running and on came Home and Away. I used to love that show... Coming in from school, I’d sit and watch Citv, before Home and Away started at 5.10pm on ITV, directly followed by Neighbours at 5.35pm on BBC1 (back then it didn’t go up to BBC15 or whatever we’re on now...). They were the biggest shows at school, and everyone used to talk about them – does anyone else remember that?

Anyway, just before the show started, the announcer... well, announced that this would be Sally’s final episode. Yep, after 20 years as Sally Fletcher, Kate Ritchie was moving on to bigger and better things. Finding it pretty cool that I’d managed to come across this particular episode, I sat and watched it – and wow. It was like I was a kid again. Not only was it a long time since I’d seen the show properly, they’d also brought back half the family that arrived with Sally in the very first episode – which I remember (I’ve always had a weird skill for remembering little things like that in perfect detail. Ask me what I had for tea yesterday – go on, ask – and I’ll have to think about it for a good long while. And actually I didn’t manage to have any tea yesterday, so that probably plays a part. But ask me what I had for tea on Friday and I’ll be like... well, it was fish and chips, because Friday is generally fish and chips evening... but ask me about Thursday and I’ll be like, no idea).

I digress. It was early 1989 I believe, so I would have been 5, and I remember coming home from school and Mum telling me that there was a new show from Australia which had been recommended by one of her sisters (a lot of our family live in Australia). We sat down together to watch it, and I remember seeing Sally, Pippa and Tom (and Carly, Lynne, Frank, Stephen and Bobby – I told you, this is the kind of thing I remember – I didn’t even have to check that on Wikipedia) arriving in Summer Bay. I don’t know why I felt the need to write this down, but it was kinda weird sitting (again, next to my Mum) twenty years later, watching Sally, along with Pippa, Stephen and Carly who had come back for the episode, leaving the Bay. Weird, but kinda cool.

And recognise the location of these pictures from 2005? (the top one is with my cousin, Ellie).

Bus

2008-05-11T16:28:00.011+01:00

It seemed so simple. Take the bus from the airport to the city centre. How hard can it be? So instead of ending up here:

How did we end up here?

This explains it (have the sound up high):

Yes, we were travelling to Kaunas, the former capital of Lithuania and today the country's second city. And we had a great time (once we eventually got there).

And my highlight?

These people put banana on pizzas! Banana. And man, it really works. Try it. Ham, pineapple and banana - you may scoff now, but scoff you will. It tastes great.

Here's a couple more shots...

Photo stressed... Is there a monument or landmark that Katie hasn't cut the top off?

Hedgehogs and Sealions

2008-05-06T23:33:00.003+01:00

In the middle of all the exam stress, it was nice to go out with some friends to celebrate my brother's 18th birthday...

We forced him to do the cheesy pose with his presents (although he made it cheesier than we'd expected):

Hayley laughed a LOT here - the hedgehog in the front is in fact Josh's head.

It's so weird to think my little brother is 18... Although it's sometimes hard to remember: just a word of warning to you - if you're ever having a conversation with him and you happen to leave a slight pause after the word 'but', be prepared for him to insert the words 'face' or 'head' before you get to carry on... Worth knowing ;)

So, not a paticularly long post, but a little update nonetheless, and a nice break from work! One other thing - I'm a bit of a fan of impressionists. Alastair McGowan and Ronni Ancona used to have me in stitches. (Did you ever see Ancona's Yoko Ono? Man, that made me cry with laughter - sometimes I'm just on the train or something, I'll think of it and start laughing again. Beginning to understand why no-one ever sits next to me on the train). Anyway, a friend pointed out this video to me of a Celine Dion impersonator giving a message to the fans of Eurovision (yep, it's coming round again). She nails it - and the facial expressions when she starts singing are priceless. And at the end of the video we get to see some examples of Swiss fashion. Those people have style ;)

A Bit of Everything

2008-04-29T15:23:00.010+01:00

Time this baby was updated! It's been a crazy month - besides the normal study I've been preparing for a couple of Icelandic exams (the annoying thing being that I've chosen to take them), but things are going well. So what's going on?

Well, a while ago I mentioned a concert I was doing and that I'd put some videos up once I could. They've still not been sorted out yet, so I thought I'd put a couple of audio clips up. Why not? The first one is a great song called 'Breath of Heaven'. The second one is a little (read: lot) more tongue in cheek. Some of it's in Icelandic and my friend Johanna (from Iceland) wanted to hear it...

Those of you who travel round in London regularly will be familiar with the various free papers that get handed out as you walk around (I say 'handed out' - the LondonPaper guy actually chased me when it looked like I was going to walk past - and I was. The ink comes off on your hands). Anyway, my personal favourite is the London Lite. Every day they have a photo of someone in London reading the Lite, and if that person sees themselves in the paper, they can win £50. You won't believe the number of times I've hung around in various hotspots holding my Lite and trying to look nonchalant, but they've not got me yet.

But is this not Ken Livingstone?!If the polls are to be believed, he might wanna pick up that £50.

Two final things:
1. Some friends of mine (and maybe of yours) are doing sponsored events to raise money for great causes. Andy and his wife Verity, are doing a fat bike ride round Essex to pick up funds for the Little Havens Children's Hospice (had to think about my apostrophe there) while Stacey and Hayley are running for Cancer Research. Click on their names to view the pages.

2. I made up a joke! And I think I did make it up (sometimes it's a tough call, isn't it? I SWEAR I made up 'cool beans!' but no-one believes me. It had to come from somewhere.).

Anyway:

Why was the Jehovah's Witness late?
Because he had to go round the houses.

I thought that was quite good. I may need to tweak the wording slightly, and I want to run it by one of my Jehovah's Witness friends...

Take care.

Chavs and Celebs

2008-04-12T08:42:00.010+01:00

This is a cab, innit?

1. I recently read this story in the Metro newspaper and thought it really deserved sharing.
This is what happens when a 19-year-old chavette thinks it would be a good idea to use Cockney rhyming slang when phoning directory enquiries to book a cab from her home in London to Bristol Airport.

Operator: Hello, Directory Enquiries.
Chavette: Hi. I wanna Joe Baxi.
Operator: Er... (checks) ... I’m afraid I can’t find anyone by that name.
Chavette: (irritated) It ain’t a person, it’s a cab, innit.

The operator duly gives her what she asks for and puts her through to the nearest supplier of cabinets, Displaysense.

The sales advisor at Displaysense seemed equally confused.

Chavette: (fuming) Look love, how hard is it? All I want is your cheapest cab, innit. I need it for 10am. How much is it?

The sales advisor tells her £180. The stroppy teenager gives her address before hanging up.

The next morning, rather than being picked up by a cab, the young woman had the cabinet dropped off.

Priceless.

2. One of the interesting things about being in London is that you occasionally see ‘famous’ people while walking around (I usually just see people from Big Brother, who generally hang around Oxford Circus – although I recently saw Connie Fisher and Dave Gorman too.*)

Have any of you seen the new Kit Kat advert with Girls Aloud? Where Sarah Harding’s walking down the steps in front of all the photographers, before she stops to have a break, have a Kit Kat. That advert was filmed on the steps of UCL. As I walk to the station, I generally walk around the front or around the back of UCL, depending on how I feel at the time – it makes no difference. However, on this night it did make a difference, because if I’d walked around the front, I would have seen this: Instead I walked around the back and saw this: Not that I’m the biggest Girls Aloud fan in the world, but it would have been interesting, and would have perhaps provided a slightly better photo for the mitchenstein365 page.

*Not together, I should add. He seemed to be wearing a t-shirt that said ‘I’m Not a Celebrity’ which threw me off at first. Just like when Girls Aloud did a French version of Can’t Speak French. My mind can’t deal with that.

We Was Robbed

2008-03-29T09:01:00.005Z

So this is the Southenders team that entered the quiz night at Hadleigh Salvation Army. We were the smallest and youngest team there (on average), but we did pretty well! We came fourth out of eight teams which wasn't bad!

Having said that, we were robbed. We came fourth, one and a half points behind the team who came in third. So how were we robbed? Well, one of the questions referred to the British Crown Dependencies. 'Name the two British Crown Dependencies'. The only problem was that I knew there were three Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man). So I got all confused. The answer was the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, but this is technically wrong as, as I understand it, the only thing that connects Jersey and Guernsey is geography. Politically they're completely seperate, so the question was WRONG.

Ok, fair enough. So we lost one point? But NO! On this round, we had played our joker, meaning we got two points for every question. Had the question been right, we would have got two more points and come in third. Third is better than fourth. It's the difference between a podium finish and a non-podium finish (There was no podium unfortunately).

And Glyn only gave our play-doh Leaning Tower of Pisa five points, when it clearly deserved more, being both recognisable and entertaining.

This was a pretty big weekend actually. On Saturday night I did the concert I mentioned a few posts ago, and I was really happy with how it went. I sang Lost, Sway (in English and Icelandic!), Everything by Michael Buble, Breath of Heaven, Bui Doi and finally We Beseech Thee from Godspell. I was pretty nervous, but really satisfied with the final result. Hopefully I'll be able to post a video or two fairly soon.

Afterwards, we went out to celebrate the concert (or was it for Anna's birthday? I forget... ;) ) to a Tapas restaurant. And it was really nice - but mega confusing. This is me working out my order:

The food was great - the only down side being that the meatballs were slightly more garlicky than we had thought. My mum refused to speak to me all day. Anna, me, Josh and Paul managed to stink out the bandroom the next morning and apparently Andy and Tracy's corner of the hall was pretty powerful during the Sunday morning meeting!

Easter and A Little Book

2008-03-24T18:18:00.010Z

I'm a big fan of Easter and it was a good Easter weekend. But busy of course!

On Good Friday we had the open-air service in the High Street which went well - and the heavens opened as soon as we'd finished, so that was lucky! The band stands at the top of the High St and people from the various churches in the town walk the length of the High St carrying a large wooden cross. We certainly get noticed (you'd have to be pretty stupid to miss a big wooden cross and a big brass band) and let's hope it made some people remember why Good Friday is a public holiday.

And then Easter Sunday came. We had Easter breakfast at the Salvation Army, but being the big kid I am, I'd already eaten two Cadbury's creme eggs and a tube of mini-eggs (and I wasn't feeling the best for it, but every year's the same).

This year for Lent I'd given up fizzy drinks - and I'd found it really difficult actually. I drink nothing else. I reckon a good 75% of my body mass was Diet Coke before Lent started...

Josh very kindly brought a bottle of Diet Coke (two in fact) to the Easter Sunday morning service for me and I got stuck into them pretty much straight away. But the amount of chocolate I'd eaten, the speed at which I drank it and the fact that I hadn't had anything fizzy for seven weeks made my face go like this:

Then we went outside and played in the snow (Fortunately my uniform dried in time for the meeting).

In other news, the little book I wrote a chapter of has been published. So that's pretty exciting:

And look what I found when I went into my favourite bookshop:

106 Not Out: Something Different

2008-03-21T00:03:00.004Z

So this post marks the end of the 100th post ‘celebrations’. Thanks to all those who guest blogged for me!

Just for something a little different, I thought I’d post a video today to round the week off. My brother has become quite the music techie, so we thought we’d try something new out. So this is the song Lost, originally by Michael Bublé, but sung here by, well, me. I will just point out that this was for fun, we only had five minutes in which to record it, and, as is my way, I have been – unintentionally – slightly creative with the lyrics (You should have heard the words I made up when I had to sing ‘O Holy Night’ at school once – some of them weren’t even words).

So here it is:

The picture incidentally is of Hobart, Australia.

The only thing that remains is for me to wish you all a fantastic Easter. And, as I wrote last year, I hope you all have a great weekend, whatever you're doing. I really love Easter Sunday - there's always such an exciting feel about it. So if you're not doing anything this Sunday, why not check out a local Salvation Army or other church and see what's going on?! You’ll never know if you don’t try! (And you can’t say I don’t try!) :D

PS: I know it took me a while, but I’ve now updated my Project 365, and I must say, a couple of the March photos are pretty good!

105 Not Out: Guest Blogger 4

2008-03-20T00:20:00.003Z

Guest Blogger: Tim Jones

Multi-talented Multilingual Men
Recently I had an interesting discussion with a man who has been retired from his career for a number of years, a man who had travelled a lot as part of his job.

He had spent a number of years in Germany, Cyprus and a number of other exciting and exotic places and was bemoaning the fact that nobody spoke English. I could kind of understand his point of view. In the Army bases where he worked (in case you hadn't figured that out), the majority of people would be Anglophones. This though doesn't mean that he shouldn't try. He was very much of the opinion that as English is one of the most widely spoken mother tongues and, arguably, the language of world business, everyone else should make the effort.

Everyone knows, and can probably identify with the British language tactic when abroad. LOUDER and SLOOOOOWWWWWEEEERRR! As painful as it is to admit, some/most/all of us have used it on occasion.

This, however, is John's blog. He is a linguist and has asked me, another linguist to guest write for him. I know that this blog is read by an audience in various locations around the globe.
The census that will be taken in 3 years time will ask participants to provide details about which language they speak. In relation to this, the census information and questions will be provided in one of 24 languages

1. Albanian/Kosovan
2. Arabic
3. Bengali
4. Cantonese
5. Croatian
6. Farsi
7. French
8. German
9. Greek
10. Gujerati
11. Hindi
12. Italian
13. Japanese
14. Polish
15. Portuguese
16. Punjabi
17. Russian
18. Serbian
19. Somali
20. Spanish
21. Swahili
22. Turkish
23. Urdu
24. Vietnamese

Plus Welsh I imagine.

In a survey conducted by Battlebridge Publications, results showed that over 300 languages were spoken by the 850,000 children asked in London.

On a fairly regular basis I am required to use another language than English. Speaking French and German and small amounts of Nordic languages, and in a central London working environment, I am sometimes needed to give directions, answer questions and on the odd occasion, translate for people who have fallen victim to crime.

I really feel that the opportunity to learn another language should be seized. Whether ordering a McDonalds when in Paris to speaking Faroese or Igbo, it demonstrates a real respect for other cultures. It is a respect that is frequently forgotten in our frankly arrogant "I speak English so everyone else should" society.

À plus tard,
Bis später,
Until next time,

Timmy Magic

Tim has his own blog here.

104 Not Out: Guest Blogger 3

2008-03-19T00:39:00.005Z

Guest Blogger: Katie Allen

World Book Day

I thought this post would be a good opportunity to promote World Book Day. Actually, it's probably a rubbish opportunity to promote World Book Day, as by the time it's published it will have long been and gone. But you can be extra prepared for next year...

On Thursday, 6th March 2008, schools and bookshops all over the country celebrated the wonder of stories by dedicating an entire day to the theme of fairytales and favourite books. And man, did our school celebrate in style... (for those of you who don't know, I'm a primary school teacher). Staff and pupils all dressed up as their favourite book character, we had a parade, wrote book reviews and generally had a great time! I am a big, big fan of the Mr. Men, and think that my enthusiasm has rubbed off on the kids. There were a few children who were dressed up in professionally made Mr. Men outfits, which was nice. But one child in my class really went to town, and made his very own cardboard cut out version of Mr. Strong. I think it's ok to put his photo on here as you can't see his face at all (it wasn't a very practical outfit, manoeuvring through doors and sitting down proved to be a bit of a problem):As for me, I just put on the first thing that I pulled out of the wardrobe that morning...It's quite hard to tell from this photo, but I haven't been very well this week. The day before this was taken I was sent home from work ill (which has never happened before) and the only reason I dragged myself in the next day was because I didn't think the chance to dress up as Alice in Wonderland would come along again for a while.

Unfortunately, having survived the entire day being cheery and pretending that my head didn't pound every time someone shouted 'ARE YOU ALICE IN WONDERLAND?', I got into my car and realised that I'd run out of petrol. Which meant that I had to stop at a petrol station. In rush hour. I didn't take any photos of the incident, but I imagine it looked something like this:Anyway, I tried to act nonchalant and went to pay for my petrol (feeling like I was in a scene from Enchanted).

The following conversation ensued:

Me: Number 7, please.

Shop Assistant: Sorry, I haven't seen it.

Me: What, the amount?

Shop Assistant: The rabbit.

The people behind the counter were still chuckling as I drove off. Next year, I'm coming as The Invisible Man...

Katie has her own blog here.

103 Not Out: Detrainment

2008-03-18T00:20:00.012Z

Is this the only country in Europe that can’t cope with any type of weather varying from the norm? It snows, our schools close. It’s sunny, our roads melt. It’s rainy, our trains stop.
We had a pretty windy and rainy night, and given what I've just told you, I was surprised to see the trains running completely to schedule.

A rainy platform:I’ve now been sitting on a stationary train for over forty minutes. We were going along quite nicely before the train suddenly stopped and the lights went out (somewhere near the M25). It was announced that the wind had brought the power cables down and that ‘we weren’t gonna be going nowhere for a while’. The deadly silence of the morning commute was suddenly interrupted by voices calling the office (‘The train’s just stopped. We were literally running nicely and then the cables came down’ [the train was literally running?]). Some workmen arrived a little while ago. I’m debating whether or not to drink my bottle of water... I don’t want to be stuck needing the toilet in case we’re here for a while... We’ve now been here over an hour. Hmm... It’s kinda cool how the ol’ East End atmosphere comes in after a while. No-one usually speaks on a morning commute, but if this goes on much longer, we’ll all be sitting around the ol’ Johanna doing the Lambeth Walk (Oi!) and eating pork scratchings.

Nothing’s happening. This is the view from my window. I’ve had a long time to examine it. Ok, he’s just announced that a new train is coming with some extra staff to help him (?). Then another train will come and they’re going to ‘transfer us’. Right, this is going to be good.

(Forty minutes later) The girls next to me have started playing the Bluetooth game now. Apparently I’m sitting on the train with a Big Daddy and some Hot Lips.

This is going to be exciting. The driver has just told us that the extra staff have arrived:
Apparently we’ll be transferred soon... He’s asked us to wait a little longer (not a lot of choice there). In a few minutes he’ll explain how the transfer will work (!). Apparently we’re going to be – and I quote – detrained in ten minutes. That’s a first.

Well, I’ve been detrained now. And it turns out that detraining is a technical term for climbing out of the driver’s door one by one (easier said than done), jumping down onto the track, crossing over the track and climbing into the next train. They’re doing it carriage by carriage. We were the first. This is going to take a long time.

Detraining 1.1:

Detraining 1.2 (My finger covered the lens in all the excitement):
Man, I got on this train two and a half hours ago. Still detraining. Just found out that the power lines actually came down on the train – apparently it was quite scary for the people in that carriage. But that was why we were unable to move forwards or backwards to the closest station.

Someone just phoned in to work and I’m sure they asked to speak to Susan McNaughty. Evidently, the guy sitting next to me is trying to get the word ‘disembark’ into his phone conversation as many times as possible.

For future reference, detraining takes well over an hour.

On the move! I left my station three and a half hours ago.

And we arrive in London. A one hour trip has taken over four, I’ve missed my lessons anyway and I’m going to treat myself to a chocolate chip shortbread biscuit. Which, to be honest, wasn’t All That Great.

And that was my train journey.

102 Not Out: Guest Blogger 2

2008-03-17T07:48:00.011Z

Guest Blogger: Anna Achermann

Journey Through Switzerland

When I was home for the holidays I bought this book for John Turner. It’s called Journey trough Switzerland. Unfortunately it was wrapped when I bought it, so I couldn’t really have a proper look at it. As soon as John unwrapped it I had a look at it... Now, I learned some interesting things just by reading the first 2 pages - I wanna share that with you!

I loved the title by the way: Switzerland - Heaven on Earth.

The people of Switzerland are widely considered to be industrious, reliable and honest, good natured (John might not quite agree after yesterday), peaceful (ooops, well, must be the bad Brazilian influence) and friendly. What they occasionally lack is a healthy dose of political correctness: there are Swiss men, Schweizer, but the female form, which would be Schweizerin, doesn’t exist. (Now that is the biggest whole lot of pure and utter rubbish I ever heard in my life, sadly enough I have to admit that this book was written by Swiss people, but I promise you, the word Schweizerin (Swiss woman) does exist, I cant honestly think of why they say that...must be that they have been living abroad for too long).

As we know, clichés die hard. Not only have we just pigeonholed the Swiss themselves: when Switzerland the country is mentioned - cross your heart now - who doesn’t immediately think of the Matterhorn or St. Moritz? (For those of you who don’t immediately think of the Matterhorn, it’s the mountain which is pictured on Toblerone Chocolate). Of a land of mountains where an alphorn blowing, yodelling race of goatherds lives in peaceful neutrality? Of Emmentaler and Appenzeller cheese and of chocolate which melts in your mouth? Or of those legendary Swiss bank accounts which in the most direct of all democracies are inviolable, even sacrosanct (dude, how many years ago was this written?) In short, who would doubt that it is pretty much heaven on earth? (This is the where you nod and make a jealous face for not having been born Swiss. Well done, now smile and continue reading).

The Swiss have grown up in Switzerland deeply rooted in the belief that it’s something very special (Are you implying that that’s wrong?). They take full credit for the unique beauty of their countryside - the snow capped mountains, the majestic glaciers, the striking lakes and river valleys and the range of rolling hills - and are proud of it (Course!).

Next comes a very political part about military and wars and I have noticed that the English and Swiss mentalities as far as war is concerned don’t quite go together, that’s why I’m gonna leave that out... It’s also terribly boring :-)

The Swiss have their national myth and their "William Tell" from none other than Friedrich Schiller. Once upon a time, the original three cantons (counties) of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed a secret alliance, swearing to fight for independence from the Habsburgs (basically the Germans... just to make it well clear that Swiss German and German is NOT the same! Hallo liebe deutsche Freunde von John, nicht persönlich nehmen #grins#). In order to test the loyalty of his peasant underlings (never heard that word before), the local Habsburg governor, Gessler, had a hat placed on a pole on the market place in Altdorf to which all who passed should bow in respect. When William Tell refused to do so, he was arrested and in punishment made to shoot an apple off his son’s head with a bow and arrow. Against all odds, he succeeded. Yet for being in possession of a second arrow Tell had intended for his tormentor, should his son have been injured, the rebellious marksman was to be thrown into the dungeons near Kuessnacht on the other side of Lake Lucerne. On his way there a föhn wind blew upon the lake. Tell, who had been handed the rudder, steered the boat towards the shore and suddenly leapt to safety on a rock, pushing the boat back into the churning waves. The next day he lay in wait for Gessler near Kuessnacht. When his second arrow finally struck its target, it did so with the same Swiss precision as the first (As you can see, we Swiss are all very good with a bow and arrow...If you want I’ll prove it - who wants to be the first one with the apple on his head?).

And now to the most important bit. Food. While I was home my aunt made a Swiss dish (I didn’t eat much, I spent my time taking the pics). The dish is called raclette and it’s the best ever in the whole wide world... even if you don’t like that taste of it, just the preparation in itself is fun.

What it is: You have a small oven you can place in the centre of your table:One oven serves usually to up to 8 people. You get a black little thingy that best could be described as a deformed very big spoon: On that "spoon" you lay a slice of cheese (there is special cheese for raclette, one that melts easily and that is square, so it goes on the spoon... good, innit?) Then you place the spoon thingy in the oven: and wait till the cheese melts (a couple of minutes) and then... enjoy!Usually you eat it with boiled potatoes, gherkins, silver onions and different spices, but really, you can have whatever takes your fancy. I love it because it’s a real family dish, no-one has to prepare for hours and hours in the kitchen, the main task is to boil potatoes and put everything on the table and because you prepare at the table, you can talk to everybody... It’s the real eating together!

Anna has her own blog here.