globetrottingrosie

 28th December 2020.  As I sit in my living room (the norm of the year) watching a comedy which looked back on how  ridiculous 2020 has been, I can feel anger rising, and I'm not normally an angry person.  For my entire life, I've always felt like I've been searching. Searching for what, I don't know, but in the last couple of months, I've had a lot of flashlight moments, and a lot of anger building up inside.  Augusto Boal, a theatre director famous for his creations of the Forum and Invisible Theatre techniques (where the audience, or witnesses, are fully involved with the actors) claims that politics is our 'sovereign art' while Paulo Freire- an educator and philosopher- claims that 'education should create freedom'.  Now, the comedy I was watching, combined with debates and essays I've written on my MA- have given me another flashlight moment: it's not the coronavirus that's breaking the world- it's actually proving how much we DE

 Recently at my drama school, there was a poster up on the toilet doors (on the inside, yes!) asking, "What is the best thing about being a woman?" It was probably up for about a month or so.  Yet, only ONE person had written on any of the posters that had been stuck up. The answer was: "THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS!" So basically, their body. But what does this mean? Firstly, I was shocked that only one person had written anything. Secondly, that the only thing that person could reply was that their body was the best thing about being female.  I've noticed, particularly over the course of 2020 (the year of doom) or at least I feel- do we, as women, talk enough to each other about being women? 2020 has been a year of constant health worries for everyone, all genders alike.  There are certain aspects of my health as a woman that I've really struggled with, emotionally as well as mentally.  But it's only since opening up and talking to my friends about these issue

 I've navigated myself across the subway in NYC; through the crazy  Asian cities of Bankok and Ho Chi Minh; waited for hours and  hours for delayed flights on my travels in Vietnam;  and even clutched onto a puppy for dear life  while on the back of a moped.  I've also had an extra night in Boston when a flight wasn't going out due to  weather...or something along those lines.  (Bankok skyeline) I have so many travelling nightmares, but in all that time I managed  to navigate myself in  not just one, but a few foreign countries where English  was far from the first language.  Yet the two times I've experienced panic attacks have both been in London.  How does this make sense? The first attack struck on my way to Roehampton Uni, about two years ago,  when I was runningvery late and none of the taxi services were available.  (I arrived half an hour late on the first evening.) This week on my way up to Mountview, I got lost trying to find Waterloo East.  Normally I wouldgo

 As I embark not on a plane, but on my MA, I feel a new sense of beginnings, amongst a world of chaos.  I recently began typing up the diaries I had kept while travelling in Thailand and Vietnam, and it got me wondering about how we are all searching for the same thing in life: a sense of belonging.  I remember landing in Bankok airport, suddenly feeling as though I belonged. It was a very new feeling, and I couldn't recall feeling that sense of ease and happiness anywhere else.  My expedition in Vietnam didn't quite go according to plan. I should technically still be there, but it seemed as though the world had other plans... Yesterday was my first day on campus for my Masters degree. As I came out of Peckham Rye station, I suddenly realised that we don't always need to travel hundreds of miles to find  the culture fix we might want, or for an exciting new life abroad that we all dream of. I noticed that I was walking through an African area. Street-markets, nail salons, t

So, I've been wanting to write this one for a while,  but have been unsure how to write it, as I will have lots of  ex-colleagues who may well be reading this. I'm going to try and be 'positively' realistic - if that's actually a phrase! Dyspraxia is one of those that some of you may know a little about,  but might confuse it with dyslexia. For those of you that have't heard of dyspraxia at all,  the best way to describe it (without using any dictionary definitions)  is as a struggle with co-ordination, spacial awareness,  and a different way of thinking- how we process the information around us, and given to us.  While I was  still working as a Learning Support Assistant,  my colleagues put on a video in an assembly about autism.  The narrator asked, 'Is the wold too bright, too loud and too fast?' This made me really stop and think about who I am,  and how my dyspraxia affects me.  My answer to this question is- YES. The world IS too bright, too loud a

Once again, Boris Johnson has claimed that  obesity is a massive problem in the UK. Watching the news headlines over the last couple of weeks,  has made me really question  the Western ways of life, and our culture as a whole.  For some reason, the coronavirus has hit the West pretty awfully. But why -  is it the way our government have handled the pandemic? Is it our possible lack of cleanliness that we hadn't realised before?  (Which is ironic, because a doctor in Vietnam commented  that I had come from a clean country!) Is it our 'over- confidence' in the NHS? Or have we developed other deeper habits that have affected us,  without us even noticing? Vietnam have only had 300 cases, and ALL of them survived.  So where have we gone wrong? As I listened to a radio discussion yesterday about various current political topics,  including obesity, I wondered if we have created a negative culture. Maybe by some way o

Recently, I've written a lot of reflective posts on depression,  and how 2020 has been a year of endings and change. If, like me, you're somebody who feels as though you are constantly  swimming against the tide, and can't figure why things aren't quite  working out like you hoped, I would absolutely recommend journaling. I sat down one morning this week with my notebook,  with a list of questions in front of me, and I just wrote. I didn't even have to think, or pause, or reflect. I just knew. What was I writing? What did I re-discover about myself? ( Happy House Cafe, Ha Tinh, Vietnam-  the ideal place for reflection,  and where I spent my first few months of this year. ) Now, I've been off work, or not working, since the end of January.  I've followed the global pandemic quite literally, almost across the globe,  from Vietnam to the UK. I'm sure for a lot of people, lock-down has  been a chance to th

As we watch the devastating news on the British gymnastics, it's gotten me thinking about how we treat our own bodies. I'm not meaning to have a go at anyone at all- it's another topic that seems particularly prominent this day and age. While I worked as an LSA, I noticed that nearly ALL my colleagues were on diets, going to the gym, or running. Or all of the above. For the entire time I worked with them, I didn't really get it- or at least, I understood to an extent, but is there a point where dieting and weight becomes an excessive worry that none of us need? Now, you're probably wondering, why on earth is tiny Rosie talking about weight? Well. I have one question for you. Hands up, who feels confident in their own body? You probably won't believe me, but it's taken me a LONG time to even BEGIN to feel comfortable in my own skin. I've had lots of compliments about my own height and weight/general body alignment. However, I'm not

Okay. Another hard-hitting subject- apologies. Not many people seem to discuss depression in their 20's.  I wrote a post a while ago on the quarter life crisis  (which I still need to copy and paste onto this one.)  But I thought I would make dedicate a slightly deeper post.  What is depression?  Have you ever felt depressed?  Our 20's is possibly one of the most stressful, yet most important of our decades. We go through so much change. Physically, mentally and emotionally.  I don't know about you, but I've gone from wanting to be a ballet dancer,  to a fashion designer, to famous actress, to writer, to director, to teacher.  I'm nearly 28 and I'm still not sure where my life is going.  Now, I applied for university through clearing. I remember sitting  at my laptop all day on clearing day, 2013,  searching for suitable courses, then, finally,  I received an acceptance email.  I packed up my suitcase, and

So...it's Pride month, and I thought I'd write something a little different.  I've never really opened up about my sexuality-  perhaps to my closest friends and family I've briefly spoken about it,  but not publicly.  What is sexuality? Should we let it define us?  Sexuality is a long, confusing journey. For some, at least.  I've met many people who firmly believe they are 'straight'  and they might say something like 'I'm straight as a barge pole'-  not that I like any language such as this defining sexuality, but,  it's what I've heard from others.  Okay, so for many, it's easy- you're a woman and you like men,  or you're a man and you like women.  My journey, however, has been somewhat bumpy. A long and winding road,  as The Beatles might say.  As a teenager, I always felt different. In life generally,  I've never known where I quite 'belong'.  As most of you know, I

This is one of those posts that I really want to write, but now I've opened the page, I'm not actually sure how I want to begin... or even what I want to share... Anyway. I don't know about you, but 2020 seems to have been thrown  somewhere into the abyss. I've spent my 20's worrying about what my future will look like, then just  as I was beginning to make plans, the world went BAM,  not gonna happen this year! Back in February, I went to Ninh Binh (in Vietnam) for a few days.  I was chilling in the hostel restaurant, when my boss called. "I think it is best if you go home now, rather than later" she decided. It was almost like she knew. I got home the week before all the flights were cut, and a week or so before  Boris Johnson confirmed lock-down in the UK. In the last few months, I lost my job, my granddad passed away,  and our dog has  been diagnosed with lymphoma (a form of cancer.) I&