Wanderings Lately :: March 2018

Is March the beginning of Spring? Feels like winter is never leaving....

This month was dominated by rubbish weather; snowy, cold, rainy. There was one spring-like day when I didn't take my coat to work and the following day there was a snow storm that cancelled my flight out of Heathrow. 

I read four books this month; The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Things I Would Tell You, A feminist Manifesto and We should all be feminists. I've just started The Citadel, purely because i came to the end of We should, whilst I was travelling from from my work trip and wanted to start a new book straight away. This was the only one of my kindle that I hadn't ready already - I believe I downloaded this for my mum to borrow for a holiday many years ago. I'm not fully committed to the story yet but as I'm going away again at the beginning of April I will see if I get into the story a bit more on that trip.

Kosovo

I went of my first work trip this month to Kosovo. I was sitting on the interview panel for next year's scholarships. I saw the city covered in snow for the majority of the week, and the thrill of getting in the morning taxi and asking to go to the British Embassy didn't wane for the week. Oh to feel important! 

Kosovo is a fascinating place, as is this whole region, and I was really glad to visit and learn a little more. An important parliamentary vote was taking place during my visit and it all kicked off in Parliament when opposition party MPs threw tear gas in the chamber to disrupt the vote. 

Although I was working for the week, I did manage to leave the hotel a couple of the evenings when the light was fading to explore the main city area. The above domed building is the National Library of Kosovo, a very uniquely designed building, and the Church is actually an unfinished Orthodox Serbian Church, construction of which started in 1995, and was disrupted by the 1998-1999 conflict. It's seen as a symbol of the rule of Slobodan Milosevic, before Kosovo declared independence. It remains unfinished as the current Kosovan-Albanian majority cannot agree on it's future.

Commonwealth Day

Taking advantage of opportunities to attend events through my new job, my name was picked out of the hat for a ticket to the 2018 Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. The service was quite a mix; Liam Payne sandwiched inbetween a Gospel Choir and a spoken word poet, but it was something unique to attend and I caught a glimpse of the Royal Family and various politicians. Unfortunately the Queen is so short that I only saw to back of her hat when she was sitting down.

We should all be feminists

Female Empowerment was a theme this month. 8th March was International Womens' Day, which we marked at work (and my first event on the social committee), with plenty of cake and a fun but quite difficult quiz. That evening Jasmin and I went to watch a live podcast recording (my birthday present to her). Our little group of London girls took a trip out to Leatherhead to help Siobhan choose a wedding dress (which she found!) and that evening Ayoola took me to see our favourite author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in conversation with Reni Eddo-Lodge at the Southbank as part of the Women of the World festival. I also accompanied Carola on my second Jive party outing in Brockley. I may have forgotten most of the steps but it was a fun atmosphere and I gave it my best!

Thanks March for giving me lots of opportunities to celebrate strong female friends and role models.