Life goes on

Life goes on, even when it's not going too well.

The fighting has 'stopped', at least in the past few days, and now it's just another spell of 'cold war', which basically comes down to a total absence of communications between certain people in the family, and not even seeing one another. Even though my parents are only here for two weeks, we've sort of developed this routine, which seems to maintain the peace, and keep everyone more or less out of someone else's way, and so avoid confrontation. Again, I am the only one in the family everyone can and is willing to talk to, and the only one everyone talks to.

Basically brother goes off to work in the morning, whereas I go to uni or work, and mum goes out on her own to places she likes to (re)visit. Dad we practically never sees, since he stays in his (actually my) room and only comes down when everyone else is out of the house. And by the time I come home in the afternoon, my dad has also disappeared, off to his beloved gambling den, and won't be back until around midnight. He'd come home while I'm sitting in the dinning room and doing my work... walk up to me and in a hushed and almost apologetic tone ask what I'm studying... We'd converse a little bit, but soon enough the conversation would die down, and he'd head upstairs to bed.

So I've been spending most of my free time with my mum, even missing a few lectures and missing work, and catching up on the reading and homework in the evenings. It's tiring, but do-able, and I'd rather be tired during the day than let these precious moments of being together with mum go by... because, well, you never know.

We've been out and about, trying to retrace the times and places we once were, going to a few museums and visiting some old friends of hers, and even doing some shopping. It's nice, just the two of us, free and happy to do whatever and go wherever we'd like, without having to think about or take dad's odd temperments into account. And already it's almost the end of the visit, and at times when I'm enjoying myself with mum, in the back of my mind I'd uncontrollably sigh a little and think: " How much longer can I enjoy this before she leaves...?" I dread to think of the parting moment at the airport come Sunday...

Despite being occupied with family most the time, there's some good news with my studies and work. Honestly I haven;t been putting too much effort into my studies lately, and just rush through the readings and papers we have to hand in...but even so, I'm still getting really high grades :) And just yesterday, I was told by my professor that I'm "one of the select few" which the law department will 'officially endorse' for a number of prestigeous internship programmes at the tribunals and institutes here in The Hague. I was pretty surprised to be chosen, since even friends of mine I consider to be much 'better' than me were selected... So, maybe in the coming months I could have something waiting for me when I graduate in the summer; something other than unemployment.

As for work, a colleague of mine and I went to see a potential sponsor this morning with hopes that they will support us in a big party we're organising in April. It's with Dance4Life, an international camapaign originally started here in The Netherlands to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS among youngsters (see right banner!). Like the name suggests, the organisation organises dance events, getting volunteer DJs like the famous and amazing Tiesto to play at the events, in order to raise money for supporting organisations that combat HIV/AIDS around the world. After a good talk with the organisation, we were promised some promotional goodies, CDs, and even a DJ to play at the party! If all goes well and according to plan, it'll be quite a big hit of a party~

So... despite the string of horrible arguments and the difficult task of 'peacekeeping', there are still some things that are going right.