Of pancakes and sunshine

Today is Pancake Day. In Belgium, this is know as "Vastenavond", the evening before Lent and in this country a complete outburst of pancakery. I have been invited to two different houses to join in the festivities and am very excited to celebrate it with my friend Anne. This week Spring has truly hit Liverpool (despite a continuation of cold temperatures), with flowers butting everywhere and sun shining most of the day. It has also started a new period of Jobseeker's Allowance in my life, as my boss cannot support all his staff due to financial problems. Though I will certainly be needed after Easter when the new product comes out, at the moment, I have to rely yet again on the government to survive. In a way it is good, as it is an extra motivation and help to find a full-time job, but on the other hand I feel like I'm leeching on the system yet again and it pains me. Apart from that there's is also the utter boredom, as I have now officially left uni, which means I have nothing to do. But there is always a way out of this: I am booking my days full of events, lectures and friends. Yesterday I went to the World Museum with Anne (which has an aquarium in it, which is pretty great) and to pub in the evening, cramming in mass in the Catholic cathedral in between. Today I had lunch with my friends in the Guild (got some free chocolate with it), withdrew from university, got an appointment to get my Jobseeker's going and in a few hours I'll be going for pancakes at Anne's and pub with frisbee after. Now Spring has come to town it is a lot more pleasant to go into town and visit things, as well as taking walks. Now I will no longer have access to the library to spend endless hours pointlessly surfing the net, I will now hopefully have the opportunity to read a lot more books, in the sunshine or around campus. On top of this I am trying to start up a new Student Improv Team at the university, which should take up some of my time too. And I might already have a job I could do, translating videogames into Dutch. But I have to apply for that and I need the help of the Jobcentre from that.

Over the next few months, I will certainly be staying in Liverpool and I will try to absorb as much of the city and life as possible. My goal is to learn about new things, read new books, see new things and make new friends. This year so far has enriched my life thoroughly and I cannot wait to see what the rest of it brings.