Reminder

Okay, this Saturday is the gettogether for my birthday and my INS "celebration".

Scheduled attendees... Karen, Tom, Kit, Kreestof, Audrey, Cherie and Katie.

Audrey, Tom says he hasn't heard from you in regards to transportation, so if you want to organise something with them, drop them a line. Otherwise I believe PreZ has already given you the details as to trainlines etc. just give us a buzz when you get near the station and we'll pick you up.

Anyone with dietary restrictions or food preferences, other than our 3 vegans? Speak now, so that I may shop/cook with that in mind. Anyone bringing food (Karen, I know you're at least bringing cake) also speak now.

Mini UN

I swear our dojo is like a miniature UN sometimes, with so many different cultures coming together. There's Japanese (obviously), Polish, Scottish, Chinese, Australian, Dutch, American, and I'm sure I'm missing a few more. Yesterday I found out I'm not the only Dutchie at the dojo either. There's a guy there who works for the Dutch consulate, Vincent. It was weird speaking some Dutch to someone again, mostly because I do it so rarely these days. I type in Dutch online enough to siblings and some Dutch friends, but speaking is something I do rarely, every couple of weeks/months or so when I phone home to talk to my brothers.

It was interesting to meet another Dutchie who has no desire to move back to his native homeland. I've found that's the thing that people don't seem to get about me, they don't understand why you would want to, or how you can feel that way. Even though I didn't speak to him for that long, he felt about it the same way I do, glad to leave, still love the place, but don't actually want to live there.

June 5th is the Summer Promotions test. Scary. Mostly because I'm not sure what to expect, or whether I'll actually be good enough to get to the next belt, which is because I don't know what they require for that step. Ah well, I know PreZ is going for that test, but then he won't have too many issues seeing as he already knows what he's doing, but was just starting over after a long hiatus. We'll see.