Saturday 12th July

Dear Leeds,

What a beautiful day!  Kirkstall Festival was so much fun.

There were really at lot of people.

 Bengali dancing.

 And English dancing :D (Morris Dance)

The happy monks of Kirkstall Abbey.

A very cheery Big Band type band.

Shaved ice, yummmm.

Today was a perfect summer day. Let's do this again some time.

Love,

Anna-Maria

Saturday 28th June

Dear Leeds,

Can you blame me for fleeing to the south from your clouds, rain and freezing cold temperatures?
London and Brighton are pretty as always. This phone takes funny shaped pictures...

 

Apparently floating people are all the rage around Covent Garden and Leicester Square now.

 Look at my awesome Korean food: bulgogi and patbingsu for dessert.

Bye London.

 Hello Brighton.

Right click -> show picture for full sized pictures.

 Shopping in the North Laine, yay!

Cool graffiti stuffs.

 

Aaaand Brasil goes through to the quarter finals. Good for them :D

Bye for now.

Love,

Anna-Maria

Friday 20th June

Dear Leeds,

Lots to catch up on since my last post.

 

Last time singing at a rugby game, nice weather in Bradford.

 Food festival in Leeds!

 Lots of delicious street food.

I had some Sudanese food. Very similar to the Caribbean food in Costa Rica! So good.

And of course it's all about the football here in Leeds, too. We went to watch the England - Uruguay match last night. The best thing about it was clearly the German sausages they sold! I'm gonna go next Tuesday just to get another Bratwurst.

 

Here is a very short video from last night that just cracks me up so much :D

 

 (Costa Rica just beat Italy, so England is out...)

That's enough for now. Expect some pictures from London and Brighton next week, yay!

Love,

Anna-Maria

Saturday 7th June

Hey Leeds,

I don't even want to think about our time coming to an end but the preparations for China are taking up quite a lot of my time at the moment. I guess I should start a China blog soon...
But I'm not gone yet!
I've tried a lot of new things since coming here, big things and little things. A while ago I went to the Leeds Community Clothes Exchange to participate in my first ever clothes swap. Together with shopping at charity shops that was part of my sustainable living plan. That day we had the heaviest rain all year I think so walking around getting drenched trying to find the place wasn't fun but my mood got a lot better after I found four really nice pieces. Yay.
The light in the place wasn't great and I didn't want to draw too much attention with a flash, so the pictures were very blurry.

Remember the Rugby League Wold Cup last year? Singing with CHANT at the Leeds matches was also a new experience which I really enjoyed. So when they asked us to sing again for the Tetley Challenge Cup (or something) I said yes of course. Here are some pics from last night's match.

These fans were pretty excited and loud. Their team is called Centurions so they're doing a Roman salute, I think, not the other one...

 There's some rugbying going on.

 In the break the little ones get to play. So cute.

That Yorkshire Tea kiosk thing sells tea at a sports event. Not beer, not coffee, just tea! And there was quite a queue. England, you are awesome.

And a sunny day ended with a lovely sunset.

Today we're back to grey skies and rain, boooh! We didn't mean it when we sang "sunshine, she's here, you can take a break" yesterday.

Talk soon.

Love,

Anna-Maria

 

Monday 12th May

Dear Leeds,

I've been so busy lately and the weather hasn't exactly been great, so I haven't taken a lot of pictures.
I have my last class on Wednesday, possibly my last class as a student ever :o Well, I'm not any less busy...

So here are some photos starring: today's sunset!

Not much time left for me here...

Love,
Anna-Maria

Friday 18th April

Dear Leeds,

Spring is here and rainbows are back! Now if we can keep the sunshine and get the temperature up a few degrees, wouldn't that be great?

Time flies...

Love,
Anna-Maria

Saturday 5th April

Dear Leeds,

If that fricking ice cream van with its stupid "music" comes back a 9th time today, I will throw something down at it! It's not even ice cream weather, far from it...

Apropos weather, the weather during our trip to Edinburgh was particularly bad but we still really enjoyed our stay. Which makes Edinburgh truly awesome. Take away the cold, the fog and the rain, and I would seriously consider cheating on you, Leeds!

It was my first time in Scotland and I tried everything I felt I should. Haggis is delicious and not at all gross, Irn Bru on the other hand is fizzy liquid bubble gum water and I suspect the bright orange colour is to warn people about its potential toxicity. I don't think ginger beer and hog roast are typically Scottish but I love both. Frying Mars bars is completely unnecessary and a trick to sell them for triple their price.

We also went inside the Scottish Parlament to listen to some lovely Scottish accents and hear a little about Scottish independence. I don't know whether I stand on the Yes or No side, but it's their decision anyway, not mine. I just hope they can make a rational decision about what's best for Scotland and not be blinded by chauvinistic, nationalist sentiments.

Picture time!

 Unlike this one, most of the pictures I took are half covered by fog...

 We escaped from the rain to the National Museum, which is a pretty amazing museum!

 The most depressing clock I have ever seen, the Millenium Clock depicts human suffering. Be glad you can't see the details...

 Portobello beach...

 Part of Edinburgh castle from inside one of its buildings

Edinburgh is amazing and if you're planning to go and you're the hostel type, you should know that Castle Rock Hostel is by far the coolest hostel I've ever stayed in. Seriously, stay there.


Now I would really appreciate some sunshine, Leeds. Please?

Love,
Anna-Maria