A Few Days Away

So last week there were a string of bank holidays in a row, from Monday to Wednesday, so we decided to make the most of this time and have a little trip away. Myself, Noly and his parents packed our little bags and off we trundled to Cafayate!

Cafayate is about four hours away from Salta. Though a lot of the journey is long, winding and sick-ifying roads where you have to look strictly forward to avoid feeling very sick, the journey is actually really amazing! You’re driving through huge red rocky mountains, contrasted with the greenery and a little river sparkling and glittering in the sun. I always tell people the rocks are all a bit like the grand canyon in colour, but to get to Cafayate you drive through them. Photos don’t really capture it, but here are a few I took anyways and then I would most higy recommend you give it a little Google if you’re curious.

Oh and what’s also quite fun is spotting the wild animals! Goats, donkeys, the occasional parrot!

Anyways so we arrived and we were staying in this cute little cottage basically 😊 twas funny because it said it was fully equipped with everything we might possibly need and then when we opened the cutlery drawer there was knives, forks and one little teaspoon 😂 but never mind! Didn’t really matter as the plan was to eat out 😏 the host said that would actually be cheaper so definitely not complaining!

I must admit, a lot of food was consumed over the following days. We went to a restaurant called Bad Brothers. No idea why its named like that, didn’t seem to fit, but it was super yummy there! We ended up sitting outside in the patio area and there was a live guitarist singing and it was all very romantic (before the other guy came on who was significantly louder lol) and Noly said he thought it would be a good place to propose and should we act it out and see if we get any free food 😏 but we controlled ourselves and just ate the yummy food with no antics!

The following day we went to a vineyard that’s just opened up! Noly’s rents know one of the owners so we got a lovely tour of the place. I was very proud of myself actually because obviously there were bits of the Spanish that I didn’t understand bc it was specific to wine but the majority I understood 😎 then afters we ate in the restaurant and had some very lovely sweet wine!

In the afternoon Monica and I headed out to have a little look around the shops but unfortunately most of them were closed what with the bank holidays, but we got to our 10,000 steps and then soon enough it was time for another meal 😏

The following day, (we’re up to Tuesday now), we went for lunch in La Estancia which is the fancy place we stayed in at the beginning of the year. Its called a “country club” here but its basically like in a private neighbourhood and lots of the houses can be rented out and there’s a restaurant, a spa, a golf course, a polo court (Court? Field?) and stuff like that. The food was super yum and I finally gave in and had a pudding which was divine 😋

In the afternoon we had another go at looking at some shops and this time had more success! And had a little pootle around for a while before the next meal! See what I mean about constant eating? Haha.

Then on the Wednesday it was time to make our way home. So we packed our little bagsies again and off we went! Got back to Salta at about 4:30 and just hung out the rest of the day. I must say, I could get used to a 2 day working week!

So all in all it was such a lovely holiday! Did us all the world of good to get away for a few days, be in a different place and spend some quality time together 😊

For I Know The Plans I Have For You (Part 2)

So about a year and a half ago I wrote a blog post with this title. In said blog post, I mentioned that two huge blessings had come thru in life, but one of them I couldn’t really go into in the blog. I suspect at the time that some people maybe thought that Nolz and I had got engaged or married on the hush haha but it wasn’t that!

What it was, was my job at Franklin Institute. In fact, in my blog I couldn’t talk about the process of getting my job, nor reveal how amazing it was that in the same day, I had two job offers, both willing to employ me and sort me out with a work visa. Which was really amazing and such provision from God. At the end of the year (December 2019), Nolz and I had been despairing because it seemed like I would never find my own place at a price I could afford, nor a job that would give me a work visa. And then in the same day I had two offers! Haha. I had already accepted the first when the second offer had come, and I don’t regret it. The second job offer place had asked me to do the interview in Spanish, which I found all a bit weird as the job role was to be an English teacher. So why would they get me to do the interview in Spanish? It was especially hard as I really didn’t speak all that much Spanish at the time.

But anyways, I accepted the job at Franklin and I was there, in person, for a week (I did about 4 classes), before the first case of COVID hit Salta and everything closed down. The timing of all that is just so incredible. Imagine if I hadn’t got that job offer in time? I don’t know quite where I’d be right now!

Like everyone else, I had to get used to zoom classes, working out the best way to do things, endless marking, and, as I’m sure for most people, it was a hard year. And weird, to be working somewhere and know virtually none of my colleagues!

And now this year, things have improved again. As I mentioned before, I got a promotion, which has obviously helped with my finances. My work visa has finally come through and I’m substantially less stressed about work this year than I was last year. Which is a good thing too, since trying to plan a wedding during the uncertainties of COVID is enough to be dealing with!

So whilst things have been far from easy, I can really see God’s guiding hand through everything. I’m reminded of that verse in Romans 8:28 which says: and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. And my prayer and trust is that God will keep making the way ahead for me and for Noly, as only he can.

Tonsils 0, Nadia 1

Well chaps, the deed is done and the ol’ tonsils are out! Yesterday, Tuesday, I had the operation to remove them. Most people probably don’t know that generally in the winter I get sore throats pretty much constantly. This has been the case for the last few years-it would happen in England as well as here in Argentina. Tbh, it was never a huge cause of concern, just part of the course and then after a while it would go.

However, this year I have been plagued by throat infections, one after another after another. Other than having laringhytis the other year, it’s the first time I’ve had white flecks on my tonsils. I first got it treated and they slowly went down and down, and I think it went away fully but a few days later, after getting particularly worked up about something, guess what was back? And ever since then they’d come and go until recently when they’ve just stayed and no treatment seemed to touch them. Again, I got stressed and the next minute I checked and saw I had huuuge blister looking like things on my tongue which was a bit scary! This whole business has really shown me how much our health is affected by our mind and I’m actively trying to change my thought process and work on my stress levels. Any tips on this would be much appreciated!

But anyways, the long and the short of it is that I have this virus called citomegalovirus or CMV. In fact, more than half the population have it according to Google! But it doesnt really affect most people. However if your immune system is weakened, because it just is or because of stress or because of getting upset, then it will just keep coming back and keep coming back and could potentially affect other things too.

So with that in mind, I was advised to get them taken out. Initially I was quite teary about the prospect. Never had an operation before, let alone managing something like that when everyone will be speaking in Spanish and not being able to have Noly in with me because of COVID. But as time came round I got used to the idea and actually just wanted to go for it. I’m fed up of having sore throats constantly and it’s not like I can avoid talking because of my job! And i like singing in band at church which I haven’t been able to do for ages. Plus having a sore throat is just another thing on top of all the things that I’ve been trying to deal with and get thru (living abroad, COVID, uncertainty for future plans for me and Noly getting married, when I’ll see my family etc), so I was keen to take this one off my plate.

So anyways, the surgery went well! It was a little surreal to begin with-the first doctor came in to hook me up to the drip which was probably the worst part tbh and asked me what music I wanted to listen to, so on came Ed Sheeran! Very surreal, lying in the surgery room pre-operation listening to Shape of You! Then a while later the next doctor comes in and says in a very Argentinian accent “guuut morneeng”, as obviously word had reached her that there was an English speaking lass in! So we were having a little chat and ended up giving her my number as she wants to have English classes with a native, which was not especially a situation I had imagined I would be able to promote myself as an English teacher but there you have it! Then when it came to the general anaesthetic I didn’t even realise that’s what they were doing! So I breathed in the air mask thing for a second and next thing I knew they were asking me to move on to the other bed. Twas all a bit tricky because was feeling very groggy, dizzy and weak.

Then from there they wheeled me off to the recuperation room and slowly I started waking up a bit more and feeling better. They got me my phone so I could text Nolz and my family, to their astonishment! And they sorted me out with some ice cream, yoghurt and water 😋

Then after a coupla hours I was free to go and now I’m just resting at the Matus’ house. My food count thus far is three lots of ice cream, six lots of jellies and two yoghurts aha.

For the next coupla days, at least up until the weekend, I’ll be recovering, apparently. The first three days are the worst and then I’ll slowly start feeling better, and because I’m an adult its likely to hurt more. But I’m seriously super grateful to God that I’ve had the operation and that actually I’m not feeling too awful as it is at the moment just a fairly sore throat, tired and a little groggy, but not horrendous. Hoping it won’t hit me too hard but we’ve started off well, no side effects as of yet.

So, there ya have it! Ya gal Nadz was super brave and had an operation abroad 💪🏻 I’m not really sure what photo to end on-the doctor sent us a picture of the tonsils afterwards so we could see (super gross!) but probably shouldn’t inflict that on you! She did say that it’s really good that we took them out since they were literally falling apart 😬

Ya know what, I’ll give you a completely unrelated photo. Just for the lols and you best be grateful I’m not showing you my dodgy tonsils!! Over and out xxox

Adulting Level Up

So I confess that over the last little while of writing this blog, there’s been something that I’ve had to keep to myself. It probably would have been fine to write about it in my blog, but I steered clear just in case.

But I can now tell you, after quite a lengthy and difficult process, I officially have my work visa! This means, that ya gal Nadz officially has her residency here in Argentina confirmed for the moment! The next step is to look into residency through marriage, but having my work visa is such a weight off my mind! It might also help when it comes to my family hoopefullyy coming out in November, as it puts us in a slightly different category when it comes to restrictions and what you’re allowed to do etc, but time will tell if we get that far.

So, you might have noticed that if I have a work visa, I must have a job right? Well, how very astute of you! Yes, in fact I even had a promotion and am now a supervisor would you believe it! I’m working at an English institute here in Salta, called Franklin Institute. The majority of my work is from home, which suits me just fine! Most of my hours are taken up with a new project that we’re trying to launch at Franklin, and the rest of my hours with a few zoom speaking classes as well as sometimes visiting various classes in the institute to give the students exposure to a native English speaker. Then, on top of my Franklin work, I also have my private students. All of this keeps me very busy indeed I must say! In fact I have quite a long waiting list of private students who would like to have lessons with me. I guess being a native English speaker abroad has its perks as as far as I know I’m the only native speaker giving private English lessons here currently.

Well, there you have it! That’s one of the big life-admin jobs checked off the list, just a bazillion others to go! For anyone who would be interested in prayer points, would really appreciate prayers on sorting out the legal side of the marriage paperwork, which is something we’re just starting to tackle. Also, prayers for my health as things have been kicking off recently and generally wellbeing as I carry on facing the challenges of being abroad in a time of life that is very uncertain with COVID and all the uncertainty of the next couple of months too. Thanks chums!

My neighbour’s dog loves to oversee the happenings of the street lol

He Said Yes!

So, me and Nolz are engaged. Old news, right? Well. Yes. But also.. No. But yes 😂

Huh?

If you follow my blog or know me, you’ll know that we got engaged in December of last year 🥰 but what you potentially don’t know, is that I’ve always thought it was a bit unfair that the girl gets a nice ring, and everyone knows that the girl is engaged and not in the field, but what about the guy?! Seems a bit unfair to me.

So, two weeks ago on Sunday I asked Noly if he would marry me! And he said yes! 🥳

It wasn’t anything especially extravagant haha. I went to a shop where I had my eye on a manly bracelet and bought that 💪🏻 (well done me! Sounds like a v small thing to do but the Spanish behind that stressed me out a bit). Then, on Sunday we went for a lil walk to our plot of land. On the lead up I was wondering what on earth I was going to do if he continued with his monologue about a game he was playing which just keeept going! But he paused for breath when I got to our little plot of land, and down I went on my knee!

I had been pondering whether to go on one knee or not. Seems rather undignified for a girl. But I figure that we’re both equal and should be willing to do that for him.

So anyways, onto my knee I went, and bless him! He was very surprised 😂 he told me afterwards he was like, what’s she doing? Is she hurt? Has her leg fallen in what’s going on… OH!

So, thankfully, he said yes and was very touched by the whole exchange. Put me firmly in his good books for a while 😏 and he kept saying “I can’t believe we’re engaged!… Again!” 😂

It’s also been quite fun, because I could understand how he was feeling when he asked me and he could understand better now how I felt when he asked since we’ve both been in the others shoes now! Even though I knew he’d say yes, I felt a little nervous. How much more must Nolz have felt to be asking asking.

So there you have it. We’re engaged. Again! Kind of 😂

Our “he said yes” pic

The Good Stuff

So I told you in my last blog post, that in amongst all the trials and difficult stuff at the moment, there have also been some fun and exciting things going on too. So thought I should be true to my word and fill you in on these things 😜

Number 1- my wedding dress arrived! And it fitted, hurrah! I’ve never had a dress made to measure (here it’s fairly common), so was a bit nervous having had to send my own measurements in! That was all a bit of a drama in of itself. Had to go and ask the kind lady who I chat to who works at a lil food kiosk near me to take my measurements 😂 but anyways, a few adjustments needed but the dress is here in Salta! 🥳

Number 2- building has started for our house! We’re about three weeks in roughly. Looking forward to when it starts going up properly as we’re still on the foundation kinda stuff atm. Nolz and I had to go and buy a whole load of plug and electric kinda things the other day. Turns out there are lots of important details involved in building a house from scratch. Who knew!

Number 3- wedding plans are underway! Obviously all depends on covid and we are very aware that we might need to postpone etc but we’re doing what we can and we’ve got a lot of the big things done 😊

Number 4- I officially have a copy of my book (Greater Than a Tourist, Salta) ! Marta, Nolys granny, v kindly brought me a copy back with her from Spain for me 😊

Number 5- arguably not as big as some of the other ones, but my hair is reaching near to my dream length! I’ve never been able to grow my hair very long and all the girls here have such long, luscious hair, but mine is getting there! And the hairdresser said its in v good condition too 😏💪🏻

Number 6- I feel like I’ve got braver recently with what I do in Spanish. Situations which are unknown to me make me feel anxious. If you then add the Spanish element in, it takes it up another notch even still! But recently, went to the dermatologist (admittedly, with Nolz but I did most of the talking), arranged to order something via Instagram and did all the associated conversing with that 💪🏻 and I went to a fancy shop on my own and talked to the shopkeeper people about something I wanted to buy!

Number 7- my throat has finally improved! I’m still trying to take it fairly easy with not singing in band at church and stuff like that but it’s better. So I’ve been able to resume my daily walks and have started pilates too.

Number 8- we found a way for me to watch the England football matches! Nolz and I watched the semi finals together and then for the finals it was me, Nolz, his parents and his granny all watching. They said normally they’d be supporting Italy (they have some Italian roots I believe) but since I was there they’d support England haha. It will be interesting next year to see what happens with the world cup. Imagine if England play Argentina….

So there we are! In amongst the hard things there are also nice things happening 😊

No Man’s Land

I imagine that being in no man’s land would be quite scary and lonely. Between two different places or sides. Alone. Wondering whether to retreat or advance, but cut off from your troops.

I’ve been reflecting recently and I feel, to a certain extent, that I’m in no man’s land. If I wanted to be less dramatic and less poetic, I guess I could also talk about being in limbo*, but I rather like the imagery and the metaphor of being between two different nationalities or places. It suits my purposes quite well. Unfortunately that’s as far as the metaphor can go though haha. I was trying to make it work for shots being fired and further the metaphor like that but it doesn’t really work. And I want to make it clear that the metaphor is somewhat flawed in that I am certainly not saying that there’s a war between people here and people in England, but I’m talking more about how it feels for me, being in the middle of two different worlds.

I’m in Argentina, but I’m not Argentinian. I’m pretty used to being here but the Argentinian way still doesn’t come completely natural to me. I can’t arrive somewhere and immediately start gushing about it. I don’t always know the right thing to say. I still find basic life things hard to do sometimes, due to the language or differences in how things are done here. I’m still British, but I’m not there, so I’m also cut off from my home culture. I’m between the two. I belong to both and I belong to neither at the same time.

Contrary to how it might seem, I’m not actually saying this with that much emotion involved. I was just pondering about it lately (it actually came to my mind when thinking about football. I was a bit sad that I can’t watch the British football matches and feel part of Britain and my culture. I can watch the Argentinian matches here, with Nolz and his family, and feel a little bit part of something. But it’s different because it’s not my country. And I was thinking about the death of Prince Philip. Something so important in my home culture, where the whole country feels kind of unified for a moment, but I was here and not part of such an important thing to happen in my country).

But anyways, where I was going, was that whilst it leaves me in quite a lonely position at points, there’s also good in it. I’m in a position where my mind is open to different ways of doing things and different perspectives. And whilst it’s hard to have a different perspective, I’m quite excited, with Nolz, to start our own little unit and take the things that we like from each of our culture’s and form our own family culture. Both cultures have things that I love and things that I don’t love so much, and being in the middle point, between the two places, gives me, and us, a very unique perspective.

It also struck me, as I was reflecting on this, that actually there’s someone who understands what I’m going through. Well, two someone’s. As a Christian, it’s encouraging to me to think of Jesus as a foreigner on this earth. Belonging but not belonging, having such a different mindset from all of those around him. But also, amazingly I hadn’t thought of this until recently, Noly too. About four and a bit years ago, Nolz lived in England for six months with a Latin Link programme. He, my main source of support here, can understand better than anyone how I might feel. Obviously not 100% as we all react to things differently and things that I might find hard will be different than things for him, but having lived it himself, but in reverse, he actually does know how it feels, not just from a theoretical basis, but from a practical being there, having lived it himself basis.

So anyways. These are just some of my thoughts that have been going round in my head. If you read my post before last, which was all a bit sad, I can assure you that I’m feeling a lot better than I was when I wrote that post, even if perhaps this blog post is rather sombre. Things are still hard and a challenge, and I think they will be for a while, but I’m feeling more emotionally stable and trying to put in measures to help myself, and be kind to myself. In amongst all the things that I have been finding difficult and a challenge recently there have also been some really exciting life stuff going on! But I’ll fill you in on that next time 😉

*since writing this post I have been informed that being in limbo is in fact very poetic and goes back to medieval theology! Didn’t even realise it has links to heaven and hell in meaning. I’m my mind when I think of limbo I just think of waiting between one thing and another. And I think of inception, as they talk about being in limbo there I believe! 😂

The last thing I wanted to say- any of my friends/family/blog readers who pray, I would really appreciate prayers at the moment. Specifically for:

– various physical ailments that I have (jaw problems and underactive thyroid- doesn’t help with my emotions). And in fact, I’ve got a very sore throat again now and I suspect I might be coming down with pharinghitis once again which is making me feel somewhat fed up

– strength and perseverance through the tricky stuff that I’m going through at the moment.

– deeper friendships where I can share these types of things with. Making deep friendships is difficult in another country and even more so during a pandemic, but I think this would do me a world of good.

– wisdom on if and when I can go home to England this year.

A Little Bit of This and That

It’s funny how often other people can see something in you that you’ve not recognised in yourself. I’ve not really particularly viewed myself as a determined person. I suppose because, ever since finishing A Levels, I’ve kind of been drifting between things. This is partly down to my unique circumstances (being in a long distance relationship for a number of years), but also because I was never 100% sure on what job to do. Then, after my A Levels didn’t go as well as planned, I’d really lost any incentive to go to university. Anyways, I suppose having all this in mind, I didn’t really view myself as being very determined.

That is, until a chat with a sweet lady from church got me thinking. We had agreed to go out for a walk (I’m trying to do walks daily to help with my sleep and thyroid probs) and a chat. This is quite a big feat for me by the way! Chatting with new people on my own is always a challenge (because of language) and I sometimes feel a bit anxious in new situations. So anyways, we were chatting whilst walking and it was really nice! She was telling me that her sister had gone to live in Germany for a while, as her boyfriend was from Germany, but found it too difficult and came back. And so she was asking me how I’d found it, coming out to live in Argentina, which was really nice actually, because to an extent, she could understand and tapped into some of the things that people don’t generally realise that are difficult when living in a different culture.

We then started talking about all sorts (you know how it is when women chat!) and got onto the subject of cooking. I told her that I’d decided that I’m gonna try to cook one, more complicated meal each week, rather than just shoving things in the oven or roasting vegetables (👌🏻 side point: hit me up with recipes please if you’ve got some guduns!), so that I can have more meals under my belt. (I imagine I will be head chef for a while when nolz and I get married and live together as I have a lot more experience than Nolz in the cooking department. I figure it will be good if at least one of us has a good lot of knowledge on cooking haha). So I told her my current repertoire, and she turned around and said along the lines of, “ya know what I see in you. That when you set your sights on something, you complete it. You are determined and you really work towards your goals”. That was quite a surprise to me as I hadn’t particularly thought of myself like that, because of the whole university thing.

But when I think about it, I can kinda see it. Living abroad is hard and grueling. In my case, particularly last year. I remember speaking to my sister and one of my pals, and them saying, obviously it’s not ideal, but if you’re really struggling, maybe you should come home for a bit, take stock, reconnect with England for a bit and then go back again. Dya know, it sounds silly to say, but that hadn’t even occured to me that I could. I had decided that I’d be in Arg until Nolz and I had more of an idea what we’d be doing in the future and going home wasn’t really on my radar. And, thankfully, although I really miss home and some days are harder than others, I’m much happier and comfortable here than I used to be. A lot due to being able to communicate to people now in Spanish!

After having this chat with this lady, I asked Nolz for his assessment on whether this is true that I’m determined. He laughed, and reminded me that nearly six years ago, very early on in when we got together I freaked him out completely by mentioning marriage 😂 poor love. (To be fair to me, going straight into long distance does rather put things into perspective when you start “dating” someone, especially when that someone is across the ocean from you!) anyways, he then proceeded to say, well, you decided to yaself I shall marry this Noly and nearly six years later, here we are, engaged to be married! (🥳🥳)

So anyways. I’ve decided to believe that it’s true that I am determined and brave and I’ma own it 💪🏻

One Thing After Another…

I feel like for the last year and a half or so, since the beginning of COVID times, it’s been one thing after another after another after another for everybody, world over. We’re all just muddling through and coping as best we can in this suddenly very different world we’ve found ourselves in. Different people have different challenges and different wobbles, dependent on their situation.

For me, it’s been being abroad throughout covid and everything that comes with that. Being abroad is a challenge anyways, but adding covid into the mix does somewhat ramp it up. At the moment I’m feeling quite battered, worn out and wobbly, generally speaking and it feels like there has been one thing after another after another recently.

I don’t want to be too much like woe is me but I’ve had a string of unfortunate events happen lately and would appreciate some love and prayers (if you are that way inclined). In summary, I was self isolating for a few days for potentially having COVID. This is difficult when you see everyone around you isolating in their family units and you are very much on your own, thousands of miles away from your family. I’ve been having bad headaches the last few weeks too. Then I had a really not very fun night emotionally and am still quite exhausted from that. Found out I didn’t have covid 🥳 but the next day found out that I do, in fact, have tonsillitis 🙄 which I’ve never had before. But anyways, adding all this on to living abroad, uncertainty of getting married later this year in covid times, being far from family, fending for myself in many respects, being emotionally rather exhausted, coping with cultural differences…, it’s just felt like a lot to deal with.. so anyways. As I said I really don’t want to be all woe is me and I know that everyone’s got stuff going on. But would appreciate some love.

I shall leave you with a happy picture to lighten the mood. Love, ya gal Nadz xox

A Few Self Discoveries

So recently there have been a few things I’ve discovered about myself which have come as a bit of a surprise.

The first of which, you may remember, that I mentioned I had jaw problems and was having massages for my jaw to try and stop it from cracking quite so much. I then also had to go and get a night brace because supposedly I was grinding my teeth in the night due to stress and not relaxing my jaw properly, hence the problems I was (and still have a little bit) with my jaw. Well, since I’ve had the night brace, I’ve woken myself up a few times because I’ve noticed myself biting down on my teeth in the night. How weird is that!! I didn’t really believe that I was doing it because I would sometimes share a room with my sister on holidays and of course have had sleepovers and things like that and no-one has ever said that I was grinding my teeth. But apparently I do! I guess probably it’s a recent thing with stress and all. Since I’ve had my night brace I think I do it less now because I don’t wake myself up by doing it very regularly but it does still happen on the odd occasion. Weird hey!

The other is one that Nolz and I have been analysing together. I have always found it really difficult to picture things in my mind. If I think of the beach, I think of a specific photo that I took of a beach five years ago when I was living in Poole. If I think of a person, generally speaking I think of a photo of that person. If I think of an orange I think of a specific time that I have seen an orange and I bring that to mind. Or I think about what I know an orange is like and try to come up with it from what I know it should be like but I get rather stuck on the details and can’t really do it. Anyways, where I’m going with this is that Nolz and I think I have some level of something called aphantasia. This is the inability to create mental images in one mind. Obviously we’re not 100% sure that I have it (and it doesn’t really matter if I do!) and we’ve just been analysing it ourselves, but it does make sense to me that I have some level of it when I analyse my life! For example, I find it very difficult to imagine some of the ideas for the wedding decoration, because it’s something we’re going to be creating and I can’t draw a reference from what I’ve seen. Then, when I’ve seen some pictures of it on pinterest I get it and understand how it might be like. Nolz thinks it’s why I can’t, for the life of me, remember barely any details about films or TV shows or the characters, because I struggle to see the person in my mind. I think this could also be why, in art at school, I was pretty good (if I say so myself) at copying artwork of other artists, but when it came to me having to create something from my own mind I found it pretty difficult! I can’t picture in my mind what I’d like to draw out. With lettering, I look up ideas online and then have to draft it out and I change bits but I don’t really have much of an idea initially how it’s going to turn out.

Another thing I vividly remember, is talking to my sister about revision. She told me a technique she would use whereby she imagined a russian doll (which represented some piece of information), and next to that russian doll was a rubber duck (also representing another piece of information), which then would fall over onto some other object which would be next to another object which would fall out of the window and onto the zipwire that was travelling across from our house to the house across from us in the street which would then lead to another object and another object and so on and so fourth. I remember her telling me about this technique and being completely and utterly astonished/baffled/perplexed that she could imagine all those things going on in her mind at once, and knowing there was absolutely no way I’d be able to do that at all. I get too caught up in thinking about the russian doll and as soon as I try to imagine the rubber duck next to it I forget about the doll because I’m focusing so hard on trying to conjure up the rubber duck…

Anyways, as I said it doesn’t really affect stuff that much it’s just interesting to analyse it and think about it! Nolz told me that if he’s asked to picture something in his mind he can do it just like that and even imagine what it’s texture is likely to be and how it would feel which completely blows my mind and was the moment when I was seriously like, say what? People can actually do that and aren’t necessarily all like me?! I guess probably we all have things that are harder for us to do, it’s just interesting to analyse it!

Well, that’s all from me really! No real news included in this blog post just some self discoveries that I’ve found interesting pondering about! I shall leave you now with a picture of me and a friends dog, just for the lols.