No fears, only tears...

Dear all!

And then the day has come.. After all the goodbyes from the last 2 days, you really can't blame a girl for crying. I am sad to go home because I think I have found some true friends. I really enjoyed working for the British heart foundation and even though the hours I sometimes did in a week made me feel a bit exhausted, I did like it a lot. Thank heavens I was not the only one crying yesterday (though I waited until I got home and was safe and sound in my bed). One of our colleagues got upset because the assistant manager was leaving for her holiday and was in tears. another colleague was in tearing up because I was leaving, but we are going to stay in touch and a promise to celebrate my birthday abroad made me feel a lot better about leaving.

I am going to miss my party girls and the cookie master most, but will think back on this as a great summer! Thank you all!!

for everyone at home: I will see you very soon..
lots of love!
Sheila

I'm coming home

Dear all,
Last week was a lot of excitement for me. Last Friday I went to the cinema again, which is a lot cheaper than the Netherlands. I can get in for 4.90 pounds and pay 3.50 for a gigantic coke, the size of a bottle. The girls from the wycombe shop and I decided on going to "Rise of the planet of the apes", which I can say we enjoyed very much. Saturday we had a farewell party from the temporary manager of the wycombe shop and we went bowling. It was a blast! After two games we went clubbing and dragged ourselves from the local pub/disco to a nightclub called Pure. I arrived at home at 4.30 am and could wish my friend a good morning, who was doing her morning prayer and is participating in the Ramadan. Come midday, on Sunday, I was totally exhausted and kept falling asleep on the settee.

The rest of the week has not been too exciting. I have been working at the foundations since Monday and tomorrow is my last day of work this week. Sunday I am having a day off, but I am hoping to go to the parc if the weather decides to agree with me. next week will be very exicting, as it is my last week in England. I will be working from monday - wednesday and plan on going home on thursday.

that will be all for now!

See you all very soon I hope,
Love,
Sheila

Clubbin' in Wycombe

Dear all,
Lots has happened since last week. Last Friday I went out with Millie (the assistent manager of the Wycombe shop). We went to the cinema and saw Horrible bosses, which turned out to be a great film. Last Saturday I went out with a small group from the shop and we had a great night. First on the list was bowling, then we had some dinner at Franky and Benny's (an American-Italian restaurant) and ended the night in a pub, dancing our arses off.

This week was busy at the foundations, but it was fun. Thursday and Friday I had a day off. Thursday I travelled to London to see Sanae. We had a terrible time in the rain, but I was happy to see her again. Friday I saw my dad and we travelled to Aldershot to have a look at the Army medical museum, which included some frighting display items, but it was very interesting to see. We then had lunch in Marlow and went to Hughenden manor, which was the house of a former prime minister to Queen Victoria and a secret base from WWII. The house itself looks to die for, as far as a house can look like that, but what I mean is that there probably isn't anyone who does not want to live it that house. The day ended after a nice meal at Franky and Benny's. I really enjoyed spending time with my dad, but it felt really different because we usually go on holiday to England together and now we caught up to spend a day together and then went our own way when the day ended.

Yesterday and today I was back at work, because I needed to get up to 20 hours and because I promised Millie I would be in today. It was raining almost all day long, but that did not really matter as I spend most of my time inside. Tomorrow I'm of to London again to see my dad since this will be his last few day in the country.

Good night!
Love,
Sheila

Working 'round the clock, making friends

Dear all,

Gosh, I can't believe it has already been a month since I arrived in England. It goes by so fast...
Last week I worked 6 days and did 36,5 hours. I still had hours to catch up with because I started a week later than planned. I really like working in the shops because it is more relaxed, as you don't get paid you are not pushed around or feel obliged to do anything you don't want to do, which is a nice feeling.

High Wycombe shop:
I started there last Monday and they put me on tagging clothes that day. In High Wycombe there are 2 shops, a clothes/dvd/shoes etc shop and a furniture shop. I work in the clothes/dvd/shoes etc shop and most of the people working there are women. There are some men around of which most of them have also volunteered at the furniture shop. I made some friends that week and enjoy working there a lot. So far I have been on tagging, belts, bags, shoes.

Marlow shop:
I started there on a Friday, before I went to Wycombe and found out that life is totally different over there. The people who live near Marlow are richer and therefore the donations that have come in are sometimes a lot nicer. But every donation is welcome and both shops seem genuinely happy with the things people bring in. The staff is really nice and the other volunteers as well. It is always fun to work with them.   In Marlow I have so far done Bric-a-brac, books, till work, dvd's/cd's, bags, shoes, steaming clothes and registration of donations.

What I like most about the 2 shops are of course the people, because the work I do there is sometimes to simple. I love their British humour, as they make fun of each other and themselves on a regular basis and always care for each other as well. This Saturday I am invited to a farewell party of a temporary manager of Wycombe. I am really excited to go, but in the meantime still have to look for a perfect outfit. Speaking of outfits, I tried on a bunny costume in Wycombe and the assistant manager took a photo of it last week. It was so much fun, though it looks terrible on me. I promissed to upload the photo, so therefore a sneak peak here.

Love,
Sheila

My first day of work

Hiya,

Yesterday was my first day of work and I loved it. I was very happy to get out of the house for longer than half a day and I was also happy to help and be useful to others. How very snobbish of me to say, but volunteering can give you a great level of satisfaction; you know, to help others and do good. I have done volunteer work before, but that was to keep a preservation society going, so it wasn't exactly the same kind of charity. Though I think I will in the end become fed up with it, because I am working in 2 shops, I will have gained enough volunteering experience to last at least another couple of years, and who knows, I might in the near future go back.

But I am getting quite ahead of myself. It is work for now and I am looking forward to Monday, as I start in High Wycombe that day. I hope to meet the same kind of people there as in Marlow. I will try to get some photos soon.

love,
Sheila

WORK!

Hello there!

Finally the working girl is there, though I haven't actually started yet. I got myself 2 jobs, both at the British Heart Foundation as a volunteer. After explaining the situation to the coordinator of the course, she wrote back to me saying I had to make up the lost time by working full time. That is the main reason for working at the same company in High Wycombe and in Marlow. Besides that, Marlow is a really nice little town, so that makes up for having to travel there. I am excited to start working in Marlow tomorrow and can only hope that the weather will be good. I start work in High Wycombe on Monday, so that I can have the weekend off to do a little sightseeing.

Today I had a quiet day. I went to the BHF here (High Wycombe) and already met some really nice people. After that I went on to Tesco for some groceries, because I craved for the salmon wrap my mother sometimes makes and I needed some anti-bacterial hand gel (that smells just lovely and can only be bought at Tesco).

Well, I am off to bed. Good night all!

Love <3

Sheila

And the story continues!

Dear all,

The last week has been horrifying to me. My palate wasn’t used to the Asian foods I had been eating, which resulted in major stomach problems. I got my hands on medication for 4 days and after that the problems has not come back. I have been doing the cooking ever since Noreen went on holiday last week, but I seem to begin to have less inspiration to come up with dishes. On top of that I received some setbacks. I had a job interview at the museum last week too, but because they need to do a CBR (criminal record check) on me, I might not start working there for at least a week. I am really disappointed since I hadn’t thought that you might need one when you are going to be working there on a volunteer basis. So I was totally bummed out about this and eventually e-mailed the coordinator of my course to see if this was becoming a main difficulty for passing the ‘stay abroad’ programme. I have been touch with many companies in High Wycombe, but so far have only received refusals.

The biggest stumbling block came yesterday after filling in an online application form for
WH Smith. Online application forms are a huge pain in the arse, they take up some time to fill in and after that you have to walk around all frustrated to wait for their answer. Some of them are really quick in sending a reply, but this almost always means that they don’t think you have the right credentials or don’t fit into their work environment. As I don’t have a patient nature and don’t have the time to play a tourist, I felt that the refusals made my mood worse. The most annoying part of it all is the answer WH Smith sent me. If I counted the refusals I received so far and this would be around number 12. First they say that they were really impressed with my CV, then they have the audacity to explain to me that I did make the cut, but am not invited for an interview because they set their eyes on someone else. So that was bye bye WH Smith for so far...

I feel like I am beginning to sound like a snob, trashing every encounter on my path, but I have been enjoying myself when I was not walking around littering my new experiences. I have actually walked the 2 miles to the town centre and the 2 miles back. My feet felt like they had fallen off halfway through the journey, but I felt good to be surrounded by the scenery. The weather was great and I was genuinely happy with my photos. I did not upload all of them, too much work and only posted the once I liked the most.

Now, today I did play a tourist a little as I went on a quest to find a job in a neighbouring town called Marlow. I have decided to love this town more than High Wycombe, because the buildings and history seems to be a lot more interesting. I first wanted to go to Micklefield, which I thought was a town since I take the bus to Micklefield when I am in the town’s centre. It turns out that Micklefield is just an area in High Wycombe and not an actual town. Pretty shameful when I found that out, but I quickly set my heart on another place. Marlow was great today and really distracted me from the obligatory job search for some hours. I picked up a copy of the autobiography of Russel Brand named: “My booky wook” and have been happy ever since.

I think I have made it all up to you by writing this amazingly blabbing story of disgust and happiness and am now going to bed.

Good night and enjoy the photos!

Love, Sheila