Grill Me!

Sunday I was over at ‘Petty Pieces’ by ‘Bitter Chocolate’, to read her latest post. I rarely accept ‘memes’ or ‘tags’ or anything similar but this one seems different and I actually really like it. I think because you have to come up with questions for the person who’s interested in being interviewed, so if you want to you can really grill someone *kidding*.

Bitter Chocolate has been kind to me though, you can find her questions and my answers below. Please read the rules if you would like ‘a challenge’ as well.

Rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

1) What was the most awkward date you’ve ever been on?

*LOL* I guess that must have been the one where I went to this famous Dutch place called ‘de Keukenhof’ with a Moroccan guy who was nine years older, I must have been seventeen. I wanted to show him Dutch culture. He wasn’t interested, I could tell by how quickly he walked through the park in search for the exit *hehe*. He couldn’t wait to get back to his car…

We sat in the car for a while talking, deciding what to do next while I, in a subtle way, tried to reject his unwelcome advances. He took me to The Hague where he owned a business that he wanted to show me but I wasn’t allowed to go in. Culture clash supreme. Obviously he’d had other plans on his mind but I wasn’t thát ignorant. Most boring and cringing date.

2) What personal accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?

Passing for my driver license exam on my first try. I’d been taking lessons on and off for a while and had to stop several times unexpectedly for different reasons: I had surgery which took six months to recover, I had a back injury etc. In the Lowlands lessons are extremely expensive and the exams seem to be the toughest ones. Less than 40% pass their exams annually and each year the tests seem to get more and more difficult.

Also, you’re not allowed to rent a car in the Lowlands in the first two years, they want you to get experience first. So two weeks after my exam, I was at Gatwick Airport and the other person had forgotten the second part of the UK driver’s license and guess what… I had to drive for an hour and half while it was pitch black, in pissing down rain, on bendy narrow country roads and on the left side of the road [who invented that?]. That was a very deep end.

3) Can music make you cry?

It most certainly can. I have a few CDs that I used to listen to when I went through some rough periods in my life and even today when I listen to them again they can evoke strong emotions.

4) Do you have a pretty handwriting?

If I try my best and don’t rush I think it is [see picture below], I have been writing in capitals ever since I can remember because my dad used to write in capitals and I thought that was pretty cool. I was once told by a graphologist that my handwriting clearly shows my creativity.

5) Do you prefer trains or buses?

That depends on the country… in London I’d prefer buses because of the obvious: most are double-deckers and you have an amazing view from the front seats on the top level! It was something I really enjoyed when I first got here and I still enjoy the view from the bus these days, it’s relaxing in a way [though not in rush hour!].

In the Lowlands I’d prefer buses outside Amsterdam, the staff of the public transport in Amsterdam are the grumpiest lot I’ve ever had to deal with. Only a few really enjoy their job but they’re rare, you can recognise them by the friendly smile on their face when you get on the bus, tram etc.

It’s readable… if I’m not in a rush ;)

I Forgive You

‘Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears.’

~Marcus Aurelius

If you have been wronged, you can choose:

• to be humble and forgive

or

• to be bitter and vengeful

I refuse to become bitter, I’ve seen what it does to people from a very close perspective -a maternal one- ever since I was a child so I learned my lesson at a young age. I had to literally take distance to be able to forgive after all those years and learn to love and communicate again with her. It’s not easy but we’re getting there slowly but surely…

These days when I see others breaking promises, betray my confidence, tell me lies, my first natural reaction is to be angry at the person. I made a decision some time ago to allow myself to be angry for a few and then to forgive so I’d be able to move on and not let it fester… But at times things get cloudy, thanks my friend for reminding me to be me and just ‘be’!

So today I turn to you and say:

Whatever has been done, although I don’t understand your reason(s), I don’t wish to carry the negativity that came with it as a result and I won’t dwell while I could use this energy in a much better way. You don’t know any better, it wasn’t personal, you were just playing your part responding to the signals I was giving out and for that I forgive you… and myself.

No commenting on this post, instead I’d ask you to use those minutes to contemplate…