Home sweet home

Well I have safely arrived back in good old london. Very sorry that i won't be able to post up the last three calander doors (I kinda left the calander back in france). However I thought I would just bid you all a happy holidays and I will blog to you all soon.

I'M GOING HOME!!!!!

*singing*
One more day to go, One more day of sorrow,
One more day in this old dump and I'll be gone tomorrow.
*singing*

OK so Philips isn't really a dump and I'm not in sorrow, but even so I just can't wait till today is over. People keep asking when I'm off home and I just grin like a cheshire cat and beam- Tomorrow!!!
I don't know how on earth I'm going to manage to concentrate on my work today- it might just not be possible!! Pobably should try though, after all they are still paying me to be here!
Just think this time tomorrow (10ish) I shall be well on my way to Paris. WEHEY.
I'm guessing you can all sense my excitement by now.

What day is it?

Maybe it's just because I'm so tiered, or maybe it's because I went out on a sunday- not something I would normally do, but I can't work out the days this week. All day yesterday I kept thinking it was tuesday! and I woke up today convinced that it was wednesday and that I was going home tommorrow. Sadly I still have today and another day of work left before that happy event. I can't wait. I did realise during the cause of my packing yesterday that I'm going to have to do another load of washing this evening- and hope that it is dry in time to pack wednesday. Oh well I don't care. I'M GOING HOME!!!!!!

BTW photos are up of sunday evening. Click here

long weekend and not much sleep

What a weekend! I am completely dead now- soooo tiered. It's completely my fault though so I can't complain.


Friday evening was the youth groups end of year christmas do. It was a 'crepe' evening, though through lack of the proper equipment etc they were really just pancakes. However strange though pancakes are for a christmas meal they were yummy and I had a great time.
photo curtesy of Armelle
Once we had munched our way through a huge pile of pancakes and chatted though every subect we could think of (ok well not quite) we sat down to watch a film. The film is called the road to redemption. It's an american film which they had with french audio and english sutitles (just for me). It was actually quite funny and I got so see how many mistakes the subtitles contained.


Saturday was laundry day. So while my clothes were busy getting dizzy down stairs I popped round to Elaine's to say bye. It was strange there not being anyone else in the flat- she was the last to go. So I waved goodbye and went to go and make a tent out of my newly washed bedsheet and some string slung across my room.
Then after a bit of food it was off to church for the christmas show rehersal. I have to say I was thoughroughly consused by the drama- I had no idea what was going on. Thankfully it wasn't just me and the others in the choir were no wiser than I. But they had a mime/dance thing which was really good. I decided that since it was only the rehersal I'd watch it from the front rather than from behind them on the stage- I'm glad I did, it was very good and the music was lovely. The evening rounded off with an emergercy rehersal for the choir- far too many things going wrong!


Sunday I decided for once not to go to church in the morning. I was worn out and really wanted to go to the market. So I got up a bit later than normal and headed out into the cold to buy myself some tangerines- actually the might be clementines, I never know. I love the market- it's just so much fun and just like the markets I know back home you always have some one with a very loud voice anouncing their very good prices for such and such a fruit. Back home I remember it being pound for a pound of banans, here we had an anana (pineapple) for one euro!!
The christmas service at church was at 4 (not 6 as I had originally thought- 24 hour clock still gets me!) and to be honest the drama only made a little more sense. I understood who everyone was ment to be with their costumes but to me it didn't really explaine the christmas story. If I was a non-christian I think I would probably be completely lost! But the little kids were adorable- going round the wrong way and breaking their props, the choir didn't make any big 'quacks' (or mistakes), and ther was losts of yummy food afterwards.
It was very stange saying goodbye to everyone knowing that I'm not going to see them till next year. In a way I'm a bit sad that I'm not here for christmas itself. I would hate not to be home, but it would be fun to experience christmas day itself in france. But as it is I only have a few days till I go back home and I can't wait.

Today (monday) is Jane's birthday. She is one of the assistances living at the foyer and as there are only three of us (from our group) at the foyer when we went out sunday evening we met up with one of Jen's students and his friends to have a bit of a birthday celebration for Jane. So first we went to O'donnals, but then when at about quater past 12 they rang the 'last drinks' bell we all decanted on the london cafe just a few doors down. It was soooo much fun. Cedric- Jen's student, is a hoot. he is a real joker and really friendly, he was joinded trough the evening by his friends and friends of friends. I think we ended up with about 15 people. One very bizzare things was when I saw Ettienne arrive. He is the brother of my friend Claire (from church). He doesn't go to church but I have been round their house so have met him before. But he is also friends with Cedric. It's really something when you can go out with a group of people and find conections with others you know- I have obviously been here far too long!
I also managed to provided a sounce of entertainment for everyone by bringing one of my puzzles with my. I only brought it because Jen is always fiddling with stuff and I told he next time I was out with her I'd bring something like that. It kept them amused for litteraly hours. Of course as the evening went on a couple of them managed it, but a few just got more and more confused- the alcohol being added to their system can't have helped, but it was fun to watch. In fact by the end of the evening on of the guys had giving me his address and asked that if I manage to find another one like it could I send it to him and he will give pay me back for it.
Those conversations were the easier to follow, by about one o'clock we somehow managed to move onto Politics. I am not very good at talking Politics in english but amazingly I not only followed what was being said, but I also managed to contribute.
At 2 though I had had enough, I had little more than 8 hours before I was to be at work and my head was pounding through all the concentration. so I wander back, had a shower- pubs are such stinky places! and crawled into bed.

PS. I have photos that people took during the evening which I will post up tomorrow.
PPS. yes I did change the font of the last entry- I realised I got it wrong and I had messed up my pretty patteren. So I changed it!

Advent- part 18

Advent- part 17

New address

Well I have some good news for any of you who have been struggling to remember the full address for my site (and I admit it is a bit of a handfull). I finaly got round to getting a dot tk address- something I have been meaning to do for absolutely ages. So now my web site is avaliable through the old address uk.geocities.com/purpleblurple
Or the new one www.safetysarah.tk
Hopefully safetysarah will be easier to remember- it makes mildly more sense as well.
Happy browsing

Added note:These links open the site within the existing window (rather than in a new window) so if you are already on my site and then click one of the links you get a fabulous russian doll effect as the site oppens up again inside itself!!!
I could change it but it just so much fun that I'll think I'll leave it. If you do it and get stuck just click one of the menu options on the outermost menu and it should right itself.

Advent- part 15

mind blank

The mind is a funny thing. You can remember a ton of stuff and then one day it decided to blank on you with something stupidly simple.
Coming back from lunch today one of the guys asked me when I was doing my presentation. But some some reason I completely blanked and just kind of stared at him. I feel a complete nelly now because I didn't even think to ask him to repeat the question. However thankfully he just said it in english and I managed to jump start myself back into french. Silly old brain!

100 today

Well my blog is now officially 100!!! This is the 100th post I have written since starting- not bad going really. I guess a couple of the advent ones are just pictures so are cheating a bit, but still.

Well last night a group of us went out for dinner for a kinda end of term, christmas kind of meal. It was quite a nice restaurant (18 euro set menu) but it was fun and the food was good. There are a couple of pictures on the oasis page. It was quite bizzare going to choose our food because none of us understood the menu... until we realised it was in english. I felt thoughroughly cheated! I came to france to speak french, not be given an english translated menu. In a way though I was quite greatful- menus can be tricky to translate. It was enertaining when it came to order though because the waiter didn't really speak english, so had to have entrys pointed out to him. I refused to order in english so translated mine into french- just because. Smoked salmon and chicken are not too hard to say in french though. Then of course we had the problem of knowing which plate was which when they arrived. The waiter and waitress anounced each dish in french, but we of course never knew what the 'proper' french translation was. We had a bit of a time working out what Gemma had ordered. On the menu it was the same as what Martin had ordered, but on the plate... not. We eventually found out that the french menu was ever so slightly differently worded and it was the same dish but with a different presentation. So she sat down happy.
After pudding it was art time. Using the left over melted chocolate ice cream from Gemma's pudding a couple of small additions were made to the picture placemats.



Very pretty

seven things

I was having a mosessy at Cat's blog and saw that I was one of her 7 people to challenge to do the same, so I though I would.

Seven things to do before I die

1. Get trained up to technition level with St John Ambulance (technition= ambulance worker, almost the same level as paramedic. This is the highest level that St John trains internally)
   
2. Learn to drive
   
3. Read all of the 100 books from the BBC's big read
   
4. Get teacher training qualification
   
5. Get married (well find a bloke first)
   
6. Become completely fluent in french
   
7. Sing in the west end (on stage not just randomly in the street)
   

Seven things I cannot do

1. Fly a plane
   
2. Stay angry for long
   
3. Avoid at least mouthing the words to really good songs (I normally sing)
   
4. Understand the appeal of going out with the intention of getting drunk
   
5. do even a single press-up 'properly'
   
6. Sit still for very long (I am forever shifting possitions in my chair- even at work)
   
7. Reach the top shelf of my wardrobe.
   

Seven things that attract me to my spouse
This one is very tricky as I'm single! so instead I'm going to use Cat's extra one
Seven CDs I love

1. Casting crowns- Casting crowns
   
2. Lifehouse- lifehouse (seeing a pattern?)
   
3. Swing while your winning- Robbie Williams
   
4. Glimpses of Glory- Soul survivor live
   
5. On ne change Pas (disk 1)- Céline Dion
   
6. King Arthur soundtrack- composed by Hans Zimmer
   
7. Garden state soundtrack- various
   

Seven things I say most often a lot

1. Fairy snuff
   
2. Mahusive
   
3. Cooleos
   
4. Grooveyfied
   
5. *Really* *Are you sure* (well there had to be one from rach in there somewhere)
   
6. Pants
   
7. Je ne comprends pas
   

Seven books I love(hard to pick just 7)

1. Only you can save mankind- Terry Pratchet (best version is the audio book voiced by tony Robinson)
   
2. The Secret Garden- Frances Hodgson Burnett
   
3. The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle- Avi
   
4. The **** of Adventure (series)- Enid Blyton
   
5. The wheel of time series- Robert Jordan
   
6. Anne of Green gables- Lucy Maud Montgomery
   
7. The chronicles of Narnia (series)- CS Lewis
   

Seven movies I watch over again and again(how can I choose just 7!?!)

1. Romeo + Juliet
   
2. Peter Pan (live action version)
   
3. Titanic
   
4. Moulin Rouge
   
5. X2
   
6. Pirates of the Carribean
   
7. Hook
   

Seven people I want to take up the seven thing chalenge.

I want everyone who reads this to give it a go. If you have a blog stick the address in the comments so we can all have a look. If you don't just stick you version in a comment and post it here. It's harder than you might first think.

R&R

Well the saga of my Report continues. I knew I had to get my report read by my supervisor before sending it off. I assumed however that he would just take 5 minutes to go through it with me, but no.... I was told a list of people to e-mail it to and told to give them 'till Wednesday to read it and check over it. Problem is that it has to be at the university on Friday. Those with quick maths will realized that gives me almost no time to post it. To get next day delivery to England could cost me tonnes. Probably going to have to e-mail it to parents in England and get them to post it!
However after e-mailing the report all over the department it meant it was out of my hands for a couple of days. So for the first time in a month I had no work to worry about over the weekend- it was great.
Friday was quite exciting because my friend Elaine from the foyer came along to choir and youth group. I think she enjoyed it coz she said she was going to come again next week.
Saturday I got up early (well early for me considering it was a Saturday), did three loads of washing, discovered that if you tumble dry laundry you really have to iron it afterwards. Normally I hang everything on hangers round my room and all the creases hang out, so I don't need to iron. However due to the choir singing I needed a clean and dry white shirt and black trousers. So everything went in the dryer and came out looking rather wrinkly!! I might end up looking like a tramp until my next wash unless I manage to steal an iron off someone.
After my laundry Elaine and I got the bus to Mondville. It has the most mahusive (massive+huge) Carrefour with loads of shops round it- like a toys 'r' us!!! How much fun!!! So we had a good mooch, I got some shoes (after wearing them halfway round the store to try them out- much to Elaine's amusement), and some random food bits. By the time we got to the check out I became very glad I wasn't alone- I had left my bank card in the Jacket I wore in the morning. So I smiled sweetly at Elaine and paid her back when we got home. Saturday also had a bit of a downer as I got a call from my mum saying that one of my friends has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. But I know God can heal and today I know I big group of people from my home church are using today as a day of prayer for them. So if you too are a praying person please pray for my friend.
Sunday was another choir performance, which went swimmingly. After church a group of people stayed to help make props and costumes and stuff for the big Christmas service next week. As they were planning to be there for a while they had a picnic before hand. Nina, Maria and I also stayed- The others had Math problems to work through and I couldn't be bothered to watch home! So instead after my food I left the other two working and I played with some of the kids who had stayed with their parents. At one point I was sitting having a four year old playing with my hair and being attacked by a big black retriever dog (I was sitting on the floor with in retch distance from where he was tied, so I can't blame him for wanting to play). So I had to pick up the little girl carry her away from the dog (while she was still desperately clinging to my hair to keep what she had done) just so I didn't get licked to death! It was so much fun. After that we had choir practice- we are now singing 6 songs (some with the congregation) where as we were originally doing 3! Willianne and I had fun working out some harmonies for them.
Finally home, food and bed.

Advent- part 11

Advent- part 10

Advent- part 9

Advent- part 8

Dictionary? No thanks

I'm feeling mightily chuffed with myself right now. I just got an e-mail from my friend Kemuel with one of those e-mail story thingies. Thing is it was all in french. Rather than doing my normal trick of sticking it all in an on-line translater such as freetranslation.com (I know smack me on the wrists it is a naughty habit) I thought I'd try to read it in french. And shock of shocks, I didn't have to use a dictionary once! I fully understood the entire story first time through. I was very happy. I'll stick it up on the stories page and you can have a look. I'll also do an english translation at some point.

Inkblot tests

In a moment of bordom at work I decided to try tickle.com's inkblot test. This is what the result was:
You have a deep desire to be kind and fair to others. You are preoccupied with finding kindness in the world around you, far more than you may realise on a conscious level. This makes you unusually empathetic and very sensitive to other people's feelings.

Your kind nature makes you an optimist at heart and allows you to see the best in the people around you. Because you're not judgmental, others seek you out when they need a friend.

Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.

What do you recon? a good analasis?

Click here if you want to give it a go yourself

Harry Potter

Well yes I know yesterday I was telling you all about my problem of having no time due to thie silly report I have to write. However I think there are some things that just have to be done regardless. Going to see long awaited movies is one of them. I was going to wait until I had finished my report, but when Elaine called me and asked if I wanted to go, well I wasn't going to say no now was I! So we went and sat through tonnes of adverts before finally getting to see Harry Potter et la coupe de feu, yeah it was in french. So now for any that are interested here is sarah's little reveiw:
As a film it is really quite good (the others really enjoyed it). However as someone who knows the books really well I found parts of it imencely irritating, just because of the chances they made and deviations from the book. This of course was expected to some extent because films just have to do it, but some of them I couldn't work out why they had to do it.
All in all though it is a good film and I did enjoy myself. I'll probably end up going to see it in english when it comes out over here.

Next one to see is Narnia which I am imencely excited about. Unfortunately it doesn't come out here until December 21st, but hey from the looks of the trailers it will be worth the wait.

Hmmm strange just seen a christmas tree walking down the corridor! Oh ok it's Anne with the office christmas decorations. Chocolate time me thinks- door six today.

busy busy busy

I'm afraid to say I have very little of interest to write about at the moment, I also have very little time to write up about the little I do have. I have spent the last... well the last few weeks really,trying to write my report for uni. It is not going as well as I hoped and I'm comming up against all kinds of problems- such as what I am and am not allowed to put in under Philips confidentialitly arnagements and all sorts of fun things like that. So please excuse the minimal posting, trust me you are not missing anything particularly interesting at the moment. I shall keep up the advent thing for a bit though, so you too can share the joy of my calander (don't worry though I'll probably get bored soon enough)

Advent- part 5

Advent- part 4

Advent- part 3

Advent- part 2

Advent has arrived.