Updates: Video Camera

Amandio, the sweetheart, decided to surprise me with an early birthday present.. yeah, REALLY early!! He came back from the Maldives with a Singapore Duty Free Bag which could only spell a credit card impulse buy :-) Out comes a flashy new JVC Camcorder with 40GB and a light for night filming.... The zoom is amazing - better than binoculors and not only is having the ability to actually zoom WHILE filming but also a swivel screen display so I can see what I am filming properly, a huge plus. This morning I put my new toy to the test capturing the water reptile which regularly patrols the canal below. It was quite a scary experience seeing it so close.. enormous! The canal is even dirtier than we thought - nauseating ;-O.
Then came the challenge.. is this video file compatable with Windows Movie Maker? Can I still edit the clips, add music and voiceovers? Unfortunately, the immediate answer was NO!!
All I got was a horrible 'bling' sound and this cold, unhelpful message...
"The file :\MyWorks\EverioBackup\vids\reptile\MOV001.MOD is not a supported file type, and it cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker".
A wise person once taught me that with calm research and persistence everything is possible with technology .... and not to give up when I hit a brick wall. What a rush to discover that it was possible afterall, I just had to do some patient reading.. first in the manuals to see if there was a solution there, then by googling my problem and finding various ways to overcome it on different websites. However, after two attempts of following some complex advice posted on a 'techie' website, I was almost giving up hope.. everything worked except the sound file. Finally, downloading some new software and meticulously following what looked like bloody scary instructions later, I succeeded! I just had to share this small accomplishment - feels so good to figure something out on your own despite having the huge hurdle of being somewhat techno-phobic. Thanks love ;-)

Updates: NC & Birthday

Happy Birthday Feetje! I hope you had a wonderful day out. Around this time last year we (family Martins) spent a glorious time being received so beautifully by you in the South of France. The flowers that you both so carefully tend to were in full bloom - Spring is a terrific time to have your birthday :-)




These are some of my current students studying in the new Self-Access Centre. We just finished a course today, with a new one starting next week (they requested me again.. which is always cool and keeps me busy ;-).


We have finally moved to our new office (same building, up one floor). There is a great atmosphere now that we have space to stretch our legs..we used to be cramped into a tiny teachers' room, fighting for a seat. The reception is very welcoming with walnut imported from Italy as the main feature - yeah, that is meant to impress! LOL!

I started healthy eating again a few days ago .... fresh ginger and hot water, followed by the veggie/fruit juice made by our maid, natural yoghurt and pumpkin/oat cereal for breakfast, green salad and chicken for lunch, oat crackers and pineapple for snacks, and veggies and meat/fish or noodle soup for dinner. I am starving!! The next step is to go to the gym again on a regular basis.. instead of going when guilty pangs hit me after eating lashings of chocolate mousse. Here's hoping that writing it here on my blog will motivate me to actually go. We have a three day weekend coming up so it looks like .. no excuses! Damn!

Updates: Father's dream

Edward Hopper - Nighthawks

I also thought I would share an email that I received from my father that deeply moved me.... both for the sentiment and the beautiful way he captured a dream with his words.

Dag Saartje, I awoke from a dream and was wondering what it meant, felt a bit worried. It was a somewhat strange scene on the curb of a street in a city, it was a western city, european maybe, but there was a sort of emptiness and solitude which made me think of a Hopper painting, you know the one probably, of the diner in the night, a street and you see through the glass of the diner a lonely man sitting at the counter, that sort of solitude, but this was daylight. There is a friend of mine and his wife; I never saw this people before in my real life, but he and his wife are my friends. He is a driving instructor, his car is at the curb with the doors open, the female student is out and he is talking to her, he is a sort of mad at her because the only reason why she takes driving lessons is to have her parents driven around and see the city for free. The parents sit in the back of the car, an old couple, and my friend gets them out, the car now seems like a sort of womb where two creatures are pulled out from. Then my friend starts to get behind the wheel in order to leave, but I call him back: wait, I want you to meet my daughter. You are there standing tall, beautiful in a camel coat; the whole scene is in soft tones, colours, but soft, I feel my love for you. This is Sarah, I say, to him and his wife. Then the other people seem to fade away when you turn to me, and there are tears in your eyes.
Then it was all gone and I woke up, strangely moved and worried, I told Feetje who was awake that I had this bizarre dream about Sarah, and that maybe I should write her. Of course, in the morning, one thinks it's nothing, just a dream. She's fine.
I wanted to tell you the dream anyway, I cannot write e-mails (well, I can but it's not my machine and definitely not my thing), so I'll ask Feetje to type this in and mail to you. We don't have much contact, but I love you and a dream like this reminds me of that.

Updates: This week

This week was busy once again but with less writing homework to correct as my afternoon class finished on Tuesday. The following three afternoons were spent with a private student at home preparing for the exam on Saturday (she called straight after the exam to say that she was pleased with it and hopeful of getting a Band 6.5). There is a buzz around the school lately with the planned move of the office to another floor coming up next week. Exciting and successful times for NC.

On a personal level, it seems to have been a time to catch up with friends.. having had coffee with Gez (I did Thai lessons with her), catching up after moons of silence with my college friend Carol and seeing how suprisingly similar our lives are, lots of friends activity on Facebook (yeah.. getting slightly addicted there), having dinner last night with some of Amandio's colleague friends and having a good old natter with a Balinese friend, offloading some relationship hiccups on Sandra's shoulders (thanks babe), two hours chatting with friends/neighbours by the pool yesterday and becoming a character referee for Isla (now job hunting in Scotland)..oh, and this morning getting an email from a friend of hers who she lived with in Lisbon saying that she has been discreetly enjoying my blog for ages (that deserves a mention, thanks :)

Despite all our saving, I couldn't resist buying a new dress on sale (in above photo) for 10euros yesterday... naughty me.

I also want to wish Mary Louise, Julie and David a happy birthday.

Updates: Phuket

We just came back from Phuket. Amandio had a Sales and Marketing conference there over the long weekend. It was a last minute decision to go, but seeing as Thursday was a public holiday,I managed to postpone my Friday classes and go for a long weekend. Unfortunately there were only seats left in Business Class on Wednesday evening - so.. I had to make do :-)
Packing light, I didn't take a book with me...also bearing in mind that the resort has a library. Imagine my surprise when the only book available in English was a hard back Danielle Steel (haven't read those since I was a teenager). It definitely made for some brainless, predictable reading (cover removed so as not to be too conspicuous!) by the pool :-0 Needless to say, I finished it in record time.
The highlight of the stay must have been the gypsy themed party organised for all the conference delegates on the last night. Amandio was a sight for sore eyes with his sexy hair chest bulging out of a colourful shirt three sizes too small for him. The bright canary yellow (erm.. see through) fisherman's trousers completed the look. The party was held on the beach on the island in front of the resort. Getting there was an adventure. Earlier that day part of the jetty broke off and was closed to all guests. It was replaced by a rather precarious long floating walkway that snaked from the beach to the awaiting long tail boats. The rough sea meant that we had to balance our way along it (without any support) armed with lifejackets and raincoats. On the way to the island I was very demure, steadying myself on one of the staff's arms. However... a couple of hours.. and drinks later..putting fate in my hands, I legged it to safety - false confidence works!! It kind of felt like surfing especially when I was pushed along even faster as the waves crashed onto the shore.
We arrived back on Sunday night. Monday was a religious holiday here and Amandio's chance to get back at me for having a break while he slaved away in workshops. My school didn't take the day off (to take it in lieu over Xmas), so I had to tear myself out of bed, while Amandio slept peacefully on. Life is back to normal, working as many hours as possible.. saving..saving :-)