Call centers

Younger daughter and I have recently spent hours on the phone with different Indian gentlemen trying to explain that our Internet connection doesn't work. It's exhausting and oh, so time consuming, plus when it comes to spelling my name in that special code that they have adopted I am at loss. What's wrong with A like in armpit,  N like in news, D like in dishwasher,  E like in eggs, and R like in roses, and S like in sandpit, and O like in orange, and finally again N like in news, instead of all that military stuff, Alpha , Bravo, Delta, whatever.  By the way this would then spell Anderson which is a relatively common name but not my name.  For goodness sake, this is not the second World War and we don't have to speak in code anymore ( or do we?)

This leads me to an incident that our daughter in Senegal told me about recently. She was on the bus and this elegant Senegalese lady was engrossed in a book. Our daughter just glanced at it and saw that it was in Swedish, her mother's native tongue and also a language that she is fluent in. She couldn't help herself but had to ask the lady "Are you Swedish?" in Swedish.  The lady said "No I am not" in a very distinct and particular Swedish accent from the south of Sweden. She asked her if she had lived in Sweden and the lady said no. She then asked her if she had ever been there and the lady said no. She clearly wanted to get on with reading her book.

She did say just as she was getting off the bus,  that she worked in that green building that they could see, in a call center and that their teacher was Swedish,  from the south of Sweden, from Ystad (of Wallander fame) so that all the people in the call center had that accent and she had only been learning Swedish for 7 months. I guess it goes to show you that you can learn fast if the motivation is there. And also that the call centers are everywhere where cheap labour is to be had. Apparently in Chile where our youngest daughter lived previously,  their call centers were all in Columbia.

Let's see, what else has happened since last we spoke... well, we have had Mother's Day here in Australia and we all went to a lovely restaurant in Cronulla  called Alphabet Street where they served a sort of Thai Fusion Menu. It was fabulous, every dish was a piece of art.

Other than that, we are already preparing for our trip to Europe in June.  I can't believe that it is already a year since last time This time it is nice to leave someone behind to look after the house. I am talking about younger daughter and boyfriend who have been with us for a while.

Last but not least I wanted to tell you that we went to an opening at Hazelhurst Art Gallery where my art teacher had a painting exhibited. During the somewhat drawn out speeches I went outside to sit in the park. I was surrounded by birds and all of a sudden one of them let go of his (or her) load right on my hand. Trying to wash it off in the bathroom was almost impossible. I think they should adapt this glue to the industry somehow. It just stuck right away.

This was almost impossible to wash off.

Time to say goodbye and go and prepare
Sunday lunch.

Found a house!

As you know my whole life has evolved around trying to find a house, i.e. reading the ads, surfing the web, and visiting houses, and at the same time being here for people coming to visit this house. I make a point of coming to the door with my big ear muffs on so they understand what it is like to live here.
The noise level these days is beyond anything.  I am very glad to get away from here.

The house we have found is not so far away. It is a little less expensive and has a pool and polished floorboards. These were my main criteria when I was searching.

I have been going to the beach for a couple of hours each day to get away from the noise and every time I am kicking myself for not having brought the camera. There is this person who is so-o-o tattooed you would not believe it. The whole chest is covered from neck to stomach with a very colourful tattoo. The one arm and one leg as well, maybe the back too, but I haven't seen.  It's just that yesterday the person sat up and it was a woman. First of all, it is not that common here in Australia to sun bathe topless, so that in itself was something, but the tattoos ... it must have hurt!  If I have the camera tomorrow I am going to ask her if she would mind if I take a photo. First I was just going to sneak off one of the beach and accidentally she would be in it but this way maybe she will show it all!

The week end was peaceful. I went to my old art school Hazelhurst for a sort of happening in their gardens. It was called Artexpress, and they had young artists painting together and later on there was live music.

This was on of the big murals.

Even the trees were decorated with  crocheted scarves

Don't you wish you had hair like that?

Next time you hear from me might be from the new place. By the way the address is Cuthbert Place. Here is why it is so suitable:

Saint Cuthbert (c. 634 – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria. After his death he became one of the most important medieval saints of England, with a cult centred at Durham Cathedral.

If you know us, and especially if you know hubby, you know that he often goes to Durham University so I thought very appropriate to move to this address.

Painting class

I always feel buoyant and inspired when I come from my painting class. After the first lesson about a year ago, I almost gave up because I felt intimidated by the others, some who had been painting for several years, but I persevered and now I really enjoy it.

The place I go to is called Hazelhurst and it is a lovely place with possibilities to do pottery, jewellery, drawing, photography and painting. It also has a museum and a great restaurant and a lovely garden.

Well, I managed to drag hubby to the cinema tonight to see a cute movie about the elderly. He hates going usually, but this time he grudgingly said after we sat down that "at least there is enough leg room " so that bodes well for future cinema visits.

The name of the movie was 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' and I am not going to reveal anything for those who have not seen it yet.  However I will retain a few good expressions, for example "Everything will be alright in the end... and if it's not alright, then it's not the end". Hmm, deep and meaningful! The other one was "If I want to hear your opinion, I'll give it to you". This was said to a hen-pecked husband, and my hubby snickered knowingly. Apparently Samuel Goldwin got there first however, and you can even buy tee shirts with this quote printed on it.