Reviewing my last post - I was sick, but it's all gone now. You know how when you're NOT sick, you can't remember ever being sick? Well...that's how my brain works.
Anyway, I had a GREAT time in England. So thanks for that, Pommies and ex-pats. Staying with Amanda and Jayse was great, and then staying with my brother David and Lynelle was also super awesome. Dave and I played some pool, drank some beers, watched some movies - the day trip to Bath was a highlight, and all in all, it was really, really great catching up time.
Weekend trips to London were good too - Charlotte Mee has turned into one foxy momma, and exploring Brick Lane with her and the lovely ladies in her family was good fun. Hampstead Heath with Giulia Boracci and Craig Abrahams and friends - just sensational. I believe that day was the hottest day EVER RECORDED in England, and it was nice that I was comfortable in jeans still.
One Saturday I caught up with Patricia McCormick near Hyde Park, and, all excited to see Speaker's Corner, I was madly let down when there was no-one speaking, and no-one even THERE. Luckily, things picked up when on Buckingham Palace Road, a huge parade was happening with many grand looking horses and gentlemen trouncing along. Eccentrics, tourists and police were out in force, and a lovely morning was had by all.
Patricia and I bought a sandwich and a lager, caught up and ate/drank whilst watching street performers in Covent Gardens Market, pulled together a half-dozen more friends (including the lovely known-to-roll-a-car-at-Kakadu, Carole Irwin), and we drank Pimms at Udderbelly underneath the London Eye. Not entirely satisfied (but really we were, you know), we had another round at Blackfriars, before I wished Carole goodbye after a sensational catch-up afternoon. Love ya, Carole!
To Brick Lane - curry and beer and some bowling with Amanda, Jayse, Patricia and Anne. More beer. Good night. Back to Thatcham.
And, after a last-second hang-out with Trevor Letcher at the Imperial War Museum (everyone should go there - it's GREAT!), I had Dave and Lynelle drop me off at Heathrow on the same day, saw the silly English goalie allow a US goal to slip through his fingers, and then I nicked off to Athens.
So - with 38 teenager school girls in tow, we did Athens, Delphi, Paros and Santorini. The weather was hot, the trip was over before it began, I'm a little tired right now, but overall - life's great. I'm flying to Frankfurt tomorrow to chaperon the next 'Greece' group of teens back to Athens. I'm getting to go to Istanbul for a day-trip on this next tour! Yay!
Well...yeah....life's pretty good. Greece has been fantastic - swimming, food, sunsets, history, a funny guy selling cherries and a cute kid trying to coyly steal my camera. Check my photos on facebook. For now - I sign off from my light-hearted musings on my life. Much love to y'all.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Sickness strikes
Isn't that a dramatic title for this post?
You know, I haven't been sick for a long, long time now - so it's quite a shock to have this sore throat and achey body - thinking I was going to die at first was possibly a slight over-reaction.
I stayed with Amanda and Jayson at their place in Sevenoaks, Kent, last week. The weekend before last was a great time of not doing much at all and recuperating. I played the part of the lazy housewife for the next week - doing office work, trip planning and trip research writing on my laptop whilst neglecting to feed the children or clean the pets' mess up. Luckily, there were no children or pets living with us at the time. A good choice of time for Amanda and Jayson to have me stay with them, really.
I popped into London on Tuesday night and enjoyed my slightly-lost-but-heading-in-the-general-right-direction walk from London Bridge station to Brick Lane. I walked past monument for the first time - which is KICK ARSE - such a hidden treasure. I've probably transferred tube stops there a half dozen times or something. I walked past the gherkin and some cool old churches, past Petticoat Lane when it wasn't raining and windy (that was eventful, the last time), but those great old markets that are posh and full of 'suits'...got slightly lost, and then met my mate, Richard, at Vibe Bar at the Old Truman Brewery.
It was super sweet meeting up with Richard, who i first kinda met in Siem Reap, Cambodia, at the hostel I was staying at, then i properly became friends with when I rocked up to a random dorm room at a hostel on Phi Phi Island, Thailand - and there he was ago. It was such a nice coincidence, we decided to get a beer. That beer (actually, maybe we just had a juice first of all) steamrolled into another beer with some girls we just met, and then suddenly there was 12 of us getting dinner together, drinking and then dancing like penguins on the beach whilst jumping through fire rings. Ahh, Richard got sick from something at dinner, so he missed out on the penguin dancing etc....and I'm pretty sure he didn't really enjoy the drinks after dinner either.
Back in London, present day, and Richard IS enjoying his beer as we chat about what's been happening in our lives since south-east Asia. Brick Lane - fun - curry - not bad! We went to The Macbeth in Shoreditch and got our heads blasted off by electronica heavy bands, Sleigh Bells from NYC closing out the very fun night out in London.
I just spent a long time on that one little anecdote, hey? Well, after getting a whole bunch of travel in, for me it felt really nice to not travel, do something on just one day of the week - and that definitely made the experience richer. Like when you don't have a beer all week - that first one on Friday night tastes so much sweeter.
SATURDAY, i hit up London again - and what's this - it was hot??? No, of course not - it doesn't get hot in London, but for Londoners, relatively speaking - it was a scorcher! I still wore jeans and had no worries doing so. I met my old buddy, Giulia near London Bridge and we went and had a simple picnic lunch at Hampstead Heath and caught up. I went and met Craig (who I met at a super-fun-times youth hostel in St Petersburg) and his old-uni mates at another part of Hampstead Heath - the place is huge and it took us an hour of mainly-me getting lost to meet up. I had a great time at picnic (round two) and drinksies (rounds 1 through 5). Have I just been super lucky to meet such great English folk so far...or is Britain just a super friendly place? I lean towards "they're jolly good". Finished the evening with Amanda and her friends at a bar near Mayfair. Had a laff, pretty much lost my voice and headed with Amanda back to Sevenoaks.
The next day, my brother Davo, and sister-in-law, Lion, picked me up and now I'm staying with them. This is when I got sick. Ugh, just one morning I woke up with a really acute pain in my throat. So I slowed down my office work a little, struggled through, tried to be disciplined and eat and drink better, but eventually just gave in and had a number of beers whilst we watched a movie last night. Still a little bit of a pain, but it's not too bad.
Off to have dinner at Amanda and Jayson's tonight (all of us) and might head back to Brick Lane for the curry festival tomorrow. It's kinda nice to be heading back to some visited places that I like!
You know, I haven't been sick for a long, long time now - so it's quite a shock to have this sore throat and achey body - thinking I was going to die at first was possibly a slight over-reaction.
I stayed with Amanda and Jayson at their place in Sevenoaks, Kent, last week. The weekend before last was a great time of not doing much at all and recuperating. I played the part of the lazy housewife for the next week - doing office work, trip planning and trip research writing on my laptop whilst neglecting to feed the children or clean the pets' mess up. Luckily, there were no children or pets living with us at the time. A good choice of time for Amanda and Jayson to have me stay with them, really.
I popped into London on Tuesday night and enjoyed my slightly-lost-but-heading-in-the-general-right-direction walk from London Bridge station to Brick Lane. I walked past monument for the first time - which is KICK ARSE - such a hidden treasure. I've probably transferred tube stops there a half dozen times or something. I walked past the gherkin and some cool old churches, past Petticoat Lane when it wasn't raining and windy (that was eventful, the last time), but those great old markets that are posh and full of 'suits'...got slightly lost, and then met my mate, Richard, at Vibe Bar at the Old Truman Brewery.
It was super sweet meeting up with Richard, who i first kinda met in Siem Reap, Cambodia, at the hostel I was staying at, then i properly became friends with when I rocked up to a random dorm room at a hostel on Phi Phi Island, Thailand - and there he was ago. It was such a nice coincidence, we decided to get a beer. That beer (actually, maybe we just had a juice first of all) steamrolled into another beer with some girls we just met, and then suddenly there was 12 of us getting dinner together, drinking and then dancing like penguins on the beach whilst jumping through fire rings. Ahh, Richard got sick from something at dinner, so he missed out on the penguin dancing etc....and I'm pretty sure he didn't really enjoy the drinks after dinner either.
Back in London, present day, and Richard IS enjoying his beer as we chat about what's been happening in our lives since south-east Asia. Brick Lane - fun - curry - not bad! We went to The Macbeth in Shoreditch and got our heads blasted off by electronica heavy bands, Sleigh Bells from NYC closing out the very fun night out in London.
I just spent a long time on that one little anecdote, hey? Well, after getting a whole bunch of travel in, for me it felt really nice to not travel, do something on just one day of the week - and that definitely made the experience richer. Like when you don't have a beer all week - that first one on Friday night tastes so much sweeter.
SATURDAY, i hit up London again - and what's this - it was hot??? No, of course not - it doesn't get hot in London, but for Londoners, relatively speaking - it was a scorcher! I still wore jeans and had no worries doing so. I met my old buddy, Giulia near London Bridge and we went and had a simple picnic lunch at Hampstead Heath and caught up. I went and met Craig (who I met at a super-fun-times youth hostel in St Petersburg) and his old-uni mates at another part of Hampstead Heath - the place is huge and it took us an hour of mainly-me getting lost to meet up. I had a great time at picnic (round two) and drinksies (rounds 1 through 5). Have I just been super lucky to meet such great English folk so far...or is Britain just a super friendly place? I lean towards "they're jolly good". Finished the evening with Amanda and her friends at a bar near Mayfair. Had a laff, pretty much lost my voice and headed with Amanda back to Sevenoaks.
The next day, my brother Davo, and sister-in-law, Lion, picked me up and now I'm staying with them. This is when I got sick. Ugh, just one morning I woke up with a really acute pain in my throat. So I slowed down my office work a little, struggled through, tried to be disciplined and eat and drink better, but eventually just gave in and had a number of beers whilst we watched a movie last night. Still a little bit of a pain, but it's not too bad.
Off to have dinner at Amanda and Jayson's tonight (all of us) and might head back to Brick Lane for the curry festival tomorrow. It's kinda nice to be heading back to some visited places that I like!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Being stationary is GREAT
Hey everybody! (a tribute to my soon to be sister-in-law, Dr Nic)
Phew. To say the last three weeks have been busy is a bit of an understatement. To my memory, this last dash granted me the most severe dose of travel fatigue that I've had to date - and it just gradually creeped up on me.
Interlaken was amazing - I know I've talked about this already, but I met just such great people, the place is extraordinarily beautiful, and there's just lots of fun outdoorsy things to do - very me. Fresh on the road, I felt fairly good and full of energy.
My first time in Munich was brilliant - I thought it would be just the Oktoberfest drunken party destination, but the city is gorgeous and fascinating. In a limited time, I crammed in some tours, checked out some hotels for work and managed to then duck down to the last hour of 'Spring Fest' on Friday night and grab myself a beer. I started to be a little tired from this point though.
Kyiv was big and beautiful, and although a little tired on arrival, I went straight out to Independence Square for May day celebrations - although the atmosphere wasn't electric, there was a nice excited buzz amongst the Ukrainian population who came out in mass. Over the next couple of days, I squeezed into the Lavra, added somewhat to my Munich sun-burn, lined up for a long time for the caves, checked out the massive 'Mother Motherland' statue and tanks, rocket and guns at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, went to the Pyrohovo Open-Air museum... and then flew to Lviv.
By Lviv I was quite sluggish. The Pharmacy Museum immediately perked me up - fascinating displays and rooms. The guided tour was super enlightening and although in a slightly zombie-like-state, the city through its inherent European beauty managed to continually boost my energy levels. The airport was hilarious by the way - runway of pot-holes, it was one of the scariest and roughest landings from Kyiv (and then you lift your own suitcase out of the wooden wagon) and the check-in counter at the terminal on exiting - it's basically at the gate. I dragged my checked bag to the steps up to the plane until they took it from me. Lviv has great coffee and pastries, a beautiful old town and is a charming walking-city. Well worth a look!
It was my second time in Warsaw as I'd flown there from St Petersburg last year. Compared to Moscow and St Petersburg, Warsaw does not have nearly the same level of amazement, awe and sophistication - but the underground sub-culture is a nice shining light. I saw an amazing documentary on the history of Warsaw - before the war and then the massive obliteration, and then the almost unbelievable clean-up. The devastation would've just been heartbreaking, and it is to the people's credit that they worked so hard and rebuilt a city that no longer existed. The Royal Castle was charming, Chopin's museum, sadly was sold-out (it had recently opened during this year, his 200th birthday), the palace gardens were gorgeous, the university roof-top garden was uber cool...the weather was PERFECT. I can't remember more perfect weather, in-fact, so a waffle in the park was just bliss. The tribute to the recent plane crash and deaths of the president and associated executive was very sad, sobering, noble and important to recognize. I connected via Skype for staff-training in Philadelphia for those two days also...so it was a super hectic weekend, and then I flew to Gdansk.
Gdask, in northern Poland on the Baltic Sea, is the old-city tourist town of a tricity area including Gdynia and Sopot. I researched the area at tourist agents, scoped some hotels, loved exploring the old-city, caught a bus to Sobieszewo Island and walked the half hour forest path to the Baltic Sea. I was exhausted, but the simple joy of spending thirty minutes hunting for amber amongst the shells and driftwood washed up on shore - it was just super fun and energizing again. The search for the small handful of amber that I collected was the fun and rewarding part. I'll aim to hold onto the amber til i see mum again, and then I'll give it to her.
Probably the last day of touring was the most hard work! A train to Gdynia, then eventually I worked out (through hand gestures and rudimentary communication) the correct train to catch to Wieżyca, from where I would walk 3 miles to my destination of Symbark. Well, the tourism staff member got it a little wrong - the sign posts were not clear and my 3 mile walk turned into probably about 5 miles or more and I eventually arrived. The tour of the educational site (the highlight being a house built upside down to represent life under communism) was good...and then I rushed back in thirty minutes to make the last train for the next two hours.
So now I'm in Sevenoaks, Kent, and very, very much enjoying a weekend-off being in the one place. In fact, I'm quickly feeling refreshed...and will probably be ready and excited to travel again next weekend! Although I'm not going to travel...except maybe just to London.
Phew. To say the last three weeks have been busy is a bit of an understatement. To my memory, this last dash granted me the most severe dose of travel fatigue that I've had to date - and it just gradually creeped up on me.
Interlaken was amazing - I know I've talked about this already, but I met just such great people, the place is extraordinarily beautiful, and there's just lots of fun outdoorsy things to do - very me. Fresh on the road, I felt fairly good and full of energy.
My first time in Munich was brilliant - I thought it would be just the Oktoberfest drunken party destination, but the city is gorgeous and fascinating. In a limited time, I crammed in some tours, checked out some hotels for work and managed to then duck down to the last hour of 'Spring Fest' on Friday night and grab myself a beer. I started to be a little tired from this point though.
Kyiv was big and beautiful, and although a little tired on arrival, I went straight out to Independence Square for May day celebrations - although the atmosphere wasn't electric, there was a nice excited buzz amongst the Ukrainian population who came out in mass. Over the next couple of days, I squeezed into the Lavra, added somewhat to my Munich sun-burn, lined up for a long time for the caves, checked out the massive 'Mother Motherland' statue and tanks, rocket and guns at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, went to the Pyrohovo Open-Air museum... and then flew to Lviv.
By Lviv I was quite sluggish. The Pharmacy Museum immediately perked me up - fascinating displays and rooms. The guided tour was super enlightening and although in a slightly zombie-like-state, the city through its inherent European beauty managed to continually boost my energy levels. The airport was hilarious by the way - runway of pot-holes, it was one of the scariest and roughest landings from Kyiv (and then you lift your own suitcase out of the wooden wagon) and the check-in counter at the terminal on exiting - it's basically at the gate. I dragged my checked bag to the steps up to the plane until they took it from me. Lviv has great coffee and pastries, a beautiful old town and is a charming walking-city. Well worth a look!
It was my second time in Warsaw as I'd flown there from St Petersburg last year. Compared to Moscow and St Petersburg, Warsaw does not have nearly the same level of amazement, awe and sophistication - but the underground sub-culture is a nice shining light. I saw an amazing documentary on the history of Warsaw - before the war and then the massive obliteration, and then the almost unbelievable clean-up. The devastation would've just been heartbreaking, and it is to the people's credit that they worked so hard and rebuilt a city that no longer existed. The Royal Castle was charming, Chopin's museum, sadly was sold-out (it had recently opened during this year, his 200th birthday), the palace gardens were gorgeous, the university roof-top garden was uber cool...the weather was PERFECT. I can't remember more perfect weather, in-fact, so a waffle in the park was just bliss. The tribute to the recent plane crash and deaths of the president and associated executive was very sad, sobering, noble and important to recognize. I connected via Skype for staff-training in Philadelphia for those two days also...so it was a super hectic weekend, and then I flew to Gdansk.
Gdask, in northern Poland on the Baltic Sea, is the old-city tourist town of a tricity area including Gdynia and Sopot. I researched the area at tourist agents, scoped some hotels, loved exploring the old-city, caught a bus to Sobieszewo Island and walked the half hour forest path to the Baltic Sea. I was exhausted, but the simple joy of spending thirty minutes hunting for amber amongst the shells and driftwood washed up on shore - it was just super fun and energizing again. The search for the small handful of amber that I collected was the fun and rewarding part. I'll aim to hold onto the amber til i see mum again, and then I'll give it to her.
Probably the last day of touring was the most hard work! A train to Gdynia, then eventually I worked out (through hand gestures and rudimentary communication) the correct train to catch to Wieżyca, from where I would walk 3 miles to my destination of Symbark. Well, the tourism staff member got it a little wrong - the sign posts were not clear and my 3 mile walk turned into probably about 5 miles or more and I eventually arrived. The tour of the educational site (the highlight being a house built upside down to represent life under communism) was good...and then I rushed back in thirty minutes to make the last train for the next two hours.
So now I'm in Sevenoaks, Kent, and very, very much enjoying a weekend-off being in the one place. In fact, I'm quickly feeling refreshed...and will probably be ready and excited to travel again next weekend! Although I'm not going to travel...except maybe just to London.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Mistakes are funny
So, after the GREAT school trip in Paris, I hung out with my now great mate, Mathieu de Chalvron at his place in Paris. Lots of preparation work for the research I was about to take part on - so it was far from a relaxing time. However, the family retreat in Normandy - bloody amazing!
I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a weekend off to...just...relax - and this house in Normandy had no internet - which was perfect. Armed with Nelson Mandela's autobiography and a body and mind prepared to help do a lot of handy-man work (it was a fix-it-up weekend), it turned out the Chalvron family knew how to have a productive yet simultaneously relaxing weekend - just amazing. We cleaned a lot of rooms out, stacked and re-stacked a wood pile, we swept, we organized equipment - but they were easy 5 hour work days, broken up with a long lunch - very tasty and finished nicely with aperitifs of tasty baguettes (the best in France from the local town boulangerie) and cheese (i fell in love with unpasteurized Epoisses). We played board games, I read my novel, took photos of sunset on the Seine, lit a fire in the huge fireplace - just a really good time - thanks Chalvrons!!
My first stop on my research trip for work was Interlaken, Switzerland. AMAZING! Just a really brilliant time of chocolating, high-ropes coursing (a really good course - actually, I've never done a high-ropes course before and I had so much fun being quite challenged), canyoning, hiking - the place and the surrounding towns are just gorgeous. I went at probably the quietest time of the year, which had its good and bad points, but one of the good points was hanging out with the owner and staff of a massive hotel (think the hotel from The Shining) and having a couple of quiet drinks - and then getting up for breakfast the next morning - only an old lady behind the desk, I walk down a massive corridor and enter a massive dining room - there's no-one else around. The old lady enters and indicates toward the breakfast buffet:"Enjoy - it's all for you!"
Munich was the next stop. I discovered that it's a really cool city too! A lot of beer everywhere - and some very cool gardens. Dachau concentration camp was sobering, whilst Dachau palace gardens was rather enchanting. Both the walking and bike tours I did were ultra fun and enlightening - and I got to go to the last hour and a half of a night of mini-Oktoberfest (aka Spring Fest). Most fun - apart from the drunk sixteen year-old kid who was looking for a fight - and almost got one courtesy of my fun Czech Republic room-mates slash new kick-boxer friends.
So this is where I elaborate on the title of this blog post - the mistakes started happening in Kiev. Actually, on the way to Kiev I realised I had left my belt on the security x-ray in Munich airport (I don't think it came out...hmm).
After withdrawing some hryvnias from a local ATM, I found myself stuck between the glass door I had entered, and the glass door to the main part of the bank - which was shut. Switzerland and German are easy places to navigate - a lot of English is spoken, and the systems they have in place for directions, public transport and facilities are just so clear and simple to understand. Kiev is not so easy. On the one hand, I wasn't as shocked by Cyrillic being everywhere as I'd been to Moscow and St Petersburg before. On the other hand, things just aren't as easy and straightforward as what the German speakers manage. And barely anyone speaks English.
So here I am, stuck in this glass door box, with just an ATM and instructions in Cyrillic. Honestly - the doors weren't opening, and there was no clear button or function to make them open. Eventually, I gain some construction workers' attention (in the bank) and the security guard gruffily screams at me and points. Seeing no other button, I press the small white button that in English reads "EMERGENCY" and the door opens. I think that one got a little lost in translation.
I bought a pizza at a local restaurant - but I had no idea what toppings I was ordering. Ended up being very tasty - that wasn't a mistake. I had a successful shopping experience - bottles of water, cereal, milk, some pastries and some chocolate. All for less than 7 Euro. It's also nice paying 17 euro cents for a ride on the metro.
Next morning, when pouring my 'milk' onto my cereal - i discovered it was thicker than I thought milk should be. The bottle looks like a milk bottle - 1 litre, typical milk bottle shape, white, with a cow on the front. Turns out it was sour cream. Having my lunch of borsch and cheese pancakes later that day - i noticed the huge dobs of sour cream included with both of my dishes, and everything made more sense again.
Oh, and I wrote a blog the other day for my work website about Interlaken - this fascinating, brilliant, mysterious creature that I stumbled across in the middle of the night after a couple of drinks - I had NO IDEA what it was - so I asked for help in my blog. Apparently, it was a plain old hedgehog. Umm...whoops. Maybe I could have guessed that one. It was the first hedgehog I'd ever seen, me thinks, but you'd think I could have been a little bit more wiser on the uptake. The good thing was that I was completely enamored with this animal - being ignorant can sometimes be the icing on the cake of a brilliant day.
I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a weekend off to...just...relax - and this house in Normandy had no internet - which was perfect. Armed with Nelson Mandela's autobiography and a body and mind prepared to help do a lot of handy-man work (it was a fix-it-up weekend), it turned out the Chalvron family knew how to have a productive yet simultaneously relaxing weekend - just amazing. We cleaned a lot of rooms out, stacked and re-stacked a wood pile, we swept, we organized equipment - but they were easy 5 hour work days, broken up with a long lunch - very tasty and finished nicely with aperitifs of tasty baguettes (the best in France from the local town boulangerie) and cheese (i fell in love with unpasteurized Epoisses). We played board games, I read my novel, took photos of sunset on the Seine, lit a fire in the huge fireplace - just a really good time - thanks Chalvrons!!
My first stop on my research trip for work was Interlaken, Switzerland. AMAZING! Just a really brilliant time of chocolating, high-ropes coursing (a really good course - actually, I've never done a high-ropes course before and I had so much fun being quite challenged), canyoning, hiking - the place and the surrounding towns are just gorgeous. I went at probably the quietest time of the year, which had its good and bad points, but one of the good points was hanging out with the owner and staff of a massive hotel (think the hotel from The Shining) and having a couple of quiet drinks - and then getting up for breakfast the next morning - only an old lady behind the desk, I walk down a massive corridor and enter a massive dining room - there's no-one else around. The old lady enters and indicates toward the breakfast buffet:"Enjoy - it's all for you!"
Munich was the next stop. I discovered that it's a really cool city too! A lot of beer everywhere - and some very cool gardens. Dachau concentration camp was sobering, whilst Dachau palace gardens was rather enchanting. Both the walking and bike tours I did were ultra fun and enlightening - and I got to go to the last hour and a half of a night of mini-Oktoberfest (aka Spring Fest). Most fun - apart from the drunk sixteen year-old kid who was looking for a fight - and almost got one courtesy of my fun Czech Republic room-mates slash new kick-boxer friends.
So this is where I elaborate on the title of this blog post - the mistakes started happening in Kiev. Actually, on the way to Kiev I realised I had left my belt on the security x-ray in Munich airport (I don't think it came out...hmm).
After withdrawing some hryvnias from a local ATM, I found myself stuck between the glass door I had entered, and the glass door to the main part of the bank - which was shut. Switzerland and German are easy places to navigate - a lot of English is spoken, and the systems they have in place for directions, public transport and facilities are just so clear and simple to understand. Kiev is not so easy. On the one hand, I wasn't as shocked by Cyrillic being everywhere as I'd been to Moscow and St Petersburg before. On the other hand, things just aren't as easy and straightforward as what the German speakers manage. And barely anyone speaks English.
So here I am, stuck in this glass door box, with just an ATM and instructions in Cyrillic. Honestly - the doors weren't opening, and there was no clear button or function to make them open. Eventually, I gain some construction workers' attention (in the bank) and the security guard gruffily screams at me and points. Seeing no other button, I press the small white button that in English reads "EMERGENCY" and the door opens. I think that one got a little lost in translation.
I bought a pizza at a local restaurant - but I had no idea what toppings I was ordering. Ended up being very tasty - that wasn't a mistake. I had a successful shopping experience - bottles of water, cereal, milk, some pastries and some chocolate. All for less than 7 Euro. It's also nice paying 17 euro cents for a ride on the metro.
Next morning, when pouring my 'milk' onto my cereal - i discovered it was thicker than I thought milk should be. The bottle looks like a milk bottle - 1 litre, typical milk bottle shape, white, with a cow on the front. Turns out it was sour cream. Having my lunch of borsch and cheese pancakes later that day - i noticed the huge dobs of sour cream included with both of my dishes, and everything made more sense again.
Oh, and I wrote a blog the other day for my work website about Interlaken - this fascinating, brilliant, mysterious creature that I stumbled across in the middle of the night after a couple of drinks - I had NO IDEA what it was - so I asked for help in my blog. Apparently, it was a plain old hedgehog. Umm...whoops. Maybe I could have guessed that one. It was the first hedgehog I'd ever seen, me thinks, but you'd think I could have been a little bit more wiser on the uptake. The good thing was that I was completely enamored with this animal - being ignorant can sometimes be the icing on the cake of a brilliant day.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Paris
I’m in Paris!
I love this city and yesterday was a simply amazing day – sunny, 66 degrees (aka perfect) and the awesome school group I am travelling with did a bike tour of Paris. I recommend this bike tour over every other attraction in Paris – on a sunny day.
Unfortunately one of the girls touring with us came down quite ill, so she missed out on the whole day. I really felt sad for her but news is that she’s doing well today, so that’s happy news. Whilst the Paris touring continued today, I jumped on a tour bus to Bruges, Belgium, for my own little private-amongst-fifty tour. Funny little story – having to visit Bruges for company research purposes (scoping out hotels to make sure all is well), Ned decided today was the best day for having one less counselor with the Paris girls. Only thing was that the last train heading back to Paris would leave Bruges at 3:10pm or thereabouts…not really enough time since I would only arrive at perhaps 11:30am. But I found this 50-seater coach day-trip from Paris – it would give me a longer time in Bruges, save hassles of changing trains at Brussels, and would only cost about $20 more. So I was probably the only party-of-one on the tour today, more work than pleasure, but gladly eating up the bonus information from the guide. Found out later there were strikes on Paris rail today – so I definitely made the right transport decision.
Bruges was very pretty. At first I was in horror of being shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of older people not really looking where they were going…but then I walked to the other side of the road where no-one had realized the pavement was empty. Very much a quaint “tourist town” – this concept shouldn’t always be a bad thing, and again wasn’t in Bruges’ case. Chocolate stores were everywhere, the canals and cobbled roads were full of movement and beautiful heritage – and I always love seeing lots of bicycles.
Krakow on the weekend was good, but lonely. Being such a Catholic country everything was shut on the weekend (Easter), apart from hotels and restaurants. On the bright side, those were the most important things for my research purposes. I had a light lunch in Market Square at the oldest operating restaurant in Europe (since 1342 – all class), I did a great bike tour on Sunday, and I hung out with a small group of English-teaching Australians on Friday night. Jet lag really, really affected me over this weekend (two bad stints this year – getting worse as I’m getting older), and although staying at a hotel was comfortable, I missed having people around me – like at a hostel. It was good to join everyone again in Paris on Monday.
Back to the states on Saturday – it has been GREAT being back in Europe, particularly Paris. I’ve felt quite tired at times but I’ve also sprung back with energy soon afterwards. Busy again in the states – but fun as well – POSSIBLY seeing Wilco the day back (pending how tired I am and if I can get a ticket off a scalper for a reasonable price) and then off to New York City on Sunday – work and pleasure.
Aurevoir.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Spring time revival
I've been back in the Philly area since mid-March, and it's been really nice. The trip at the start of the month, covering Atlanta, Charlotte & Virginia was hectic, and more tiring than I thought it would be. Oh well.
So, spring time has emerged and being my first transition from cold winter to spring - it's exciting and spectacular. First, the rain came (and when it rains it pours here in the north-east) and washed away all the snow. It had been a good whiles since I had seen green grass near my place! Lately, the trees have just come into blossom - a few awesome reds, pinks and oranges popping out early, grabbing all the attention from the drab brown trees around them.
Fritz took me out to Rittenhouse Square on the first really warm and excellent night of the year. It happened to be a Friday night, and was the first time I had been to the fantastic square. The atmosphere was just electric: everyone was out, feeding off the new season's collective energy. Lauren and I went back to Rittenhouse Square on Sunday afternoon again - in beautiful weather, a million dogs and toddlers wandered around whilst the rest of us lazed, happily soaking up the sun.
March madness (college basketball end-of-season tournament) is on TV, and some of the games have been super brilliant. I've been working long days in the office, then coming home and watching basketball or watching DVDs on the off-nights. It's been nice slumping into a very comfortable, non-hectic routine.
Ned & Kate have been entertaining like crazy - which has been brilliant for reasons of: good food and drink at home, new people to meet all the time, general fun times and sitting outside on the backyard patio has been even better than expected. I didn't realise how much I missed hanging out outside until I started doing it again.
So, one more week in the office, preparing for more international, then domestic travel. On April 1st (hopefully no joke), I'm off to Paris...Airport. I'm shooting straight over to Krakow to do research for Travel for Teens' 'Eastern Europe' trip in the summer - and hopefully Easter won't make the research difficult. Back in Paris on Monday, I will be a counselor on a school trip before popping over to Bruges the next day (more research), then doing uninterrupted work with the Paris school group until we fly back to Philly on the 10th.
Should be good!
So, spring time has emerged and being my first transition from cold winter to spring - it's exciting and spectacular. First, the rain came (and when it rains it pours here in the north-east) and washed away all the snow. It had been a good whiles since I had seen green grass near my place! Lately, the trees have just come into blossom - a few awesome reds, pinks and oranges popping out early, grabbing all the attention from the drab brown trees around them.
Fritz took me out to Rittenhouse Square on the first really warm and excellent night of the year. It happened to be a Friday night, and was the first time I had been to the fantastic square. The atmosphere was just electric: everyone was out, feeding off the new season's collective energy. Lauren and I went back to Rittenhouse Square on Sunday afternoon again - in beautiful weather, a million dogs and toddlers wandered around whilst the rest of us lazed, happily soaking up the sun.
March madness (college basketball end-of-season tournament) is on TV, and some of the games have been super brilliant. I've been working long days in the office, then coming home and watching basketball or watching DVDs on the off-nights. It's been nice slumping into a very comfortable, non-hectic routine.
Ned & Kate have been entertaining like crazy - which has been brilliant for reasons of: good food and drink at home, new people to meet all the time, general fun times and sitting outside on the backyard patio has been even better than expected. I didn't realise how much I missed hanging out outside until I started doing it again.
So, one more week in the office, preparing for more international, then domestic travel. On April 1st (hopefully no joke), I'm off to Paris...Airport. I'm shooting straight over to Krakow to do research for Travel for Teens' 'Eastern Europe' trip in the summer - and hopefully Easter won't make the research difficult. Back in Paris on Monday, I will be a counselor on a school trip before popping over to Bruges the next day (more research), then doing uninterrupted work with the Paris school group until we fly back to Philly on the 10th.
Should be good!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Lucky perspective
A few years ago, I met and made a dear friend who influenced me tremendously. In short, her influence was her clear demonstration of being grateful for all the great things in her life. Far from boasting, she simply stated that she'd been able to do travel so much, see great things, and had met such amazing people - she was lucky. If you met the girl, chances are you too would be caught up in her optimism and lust for life.
Anyway, I think I've been a much more grateful person since meeting this girl. Since then, when I stop and reflect I realise I'm lucky.
Perspective is so very pliable. Tiredness, excitement, personal drive and success, stress, amazement, love - there are so many factors that obviously influence our mood, but they also so often shift my perspective. I put my head down into something, eventually burn myself out, and then realise this fantastic thing that I'm doing - isn't fantastic at all.
So - here's why I've been lucky, lately:
I've met cool couchsurfers in Boston and Philly.
Relaxed at a dive bar in New Hampshire after a long day, gone in alone and made about 12 friends.
Hung out with a great girl in Boston which included seeing gorgeous frozen ponds and rivers, eating at excellent restaurants and having a generally great time. We even were able to met up in Philly and be tourists there too for a weekend - good food, awesome street art, and a way-better-than-expected Philly Flower Show.
Caught up with good mates in Atlanta and Charlotte - and having a good time with good friends is precious.
Made new friends in Brooklyn, and caught up with old great friends too...new music and new great stories...
New friends in Philly - and slowly I'm getting to know the city.
After a long drive from Philly to Atlanta, and even with a good night's sleep, the whole of this last week has been tough. I drove around and worked like a madman, and all the hectic activity finally caught up with me. Without the workload letting up, my perspective slowly, slowly distorted for the worst.
And then I had this one, seemingly meaningless night, that I found so much meaning, joy and refreshment from. I had a few good phonecalls, emails and internet 'chats' that week, but really hadn't socialised in-person with real people at all. And it all started out rather mundanely:
I pulled up at a steakhouse, the bar-tender fascinated me with his southern drawl, and after getting a beer and a steak, I started talking to the gentleman next to me. In his 60s i would guess, i found out he was a doctor, and after short familiarities, we talked in depth about his work (his long, long hours), the universal and never-ending doctor shortage, and his opinion of what reform is (and isn't) needed of health care in the USA. And that was it. Although that might appear mundane and a non-story, to me, it was...i edited out 'just what the doctor ordered'...but really, it was all such a blessing to me. It was general socialising coupled with a unique cultural figure in a unique cultural time and place, and then layer onto that it was an engaging, intelligent conversation, and added onto that, it was so relaxed. And probably quite imperatively - the guy was a nice guy. Really friendly and obviously a hard-working, caring doctor. So I was definitely lucky to have met him.
Anyway, I'm in Charlotte now, and enjoying doing absolutely nothing this weekend. I went to a diner for a late breakfast, and I watched my beloved Longhorns basketball team lose another game (me watching their games on tv is the curse), and generally, I've slumped around my hotel room and done nothing at all. It was a pretty looking day outside.
So the batteries are recharged and I'm again thankful for my situation.
I'm lucky.
Anyway, I think I've been a much more grateful person since meeting this girl. Since then, when I stop and reflect I realise I'm lucky.
Perspective is so very pliable. Tiredness, excitement, personal drive and success, stress, amazement, love - there are so many factors that obviously influence our mood, but they also so often shift my perspective. I put my head down into something, eventually burn myself out, and then realise this fantastic thing that I'm doing - isn't fantastic at all.
So - here's why I've been lucky, lately:
I've met cool couchsurfers in Boston and Philly.
Relaxed at a dive bar in New Hampshire after a long day, gone in alone and made about 12 friends.
Hung out with a great girl in Boston which included seeing gorgeous frozen ponds and rivers, eating at excellent restaurants and having a generally great time. We even were able to met up in Philly and be tourists there too for a weekend - good food, awesome street art, and a way-better-than-expected Philly Flower Show.
Caught up with good mates in Atlanta and Charlotte - and having a good time with good friends is precious.
Made new friends in Brooklyn, and caught up with old great friends too...new music and new great stories...
New friends in Philly - and slowly I'm getting to know the city.
After a long drive from Philly to Atlanta, and even with a good night's sleep, the whole of this last week has been tough. I drove around and worked like a madman, and all the hectic activity finally caught up with me. Without the workload letting up, my perspective slowly, slowly distorted for the worst.
And then I had this one, seemingly meaningless night, that I found so much meaning, joy and refreshment from. I had a few good phonecalls, emails and internet 'chats' that week, but really hadn't socialised in-person with real people at all. And it all started out rather mundanely:
I pulled up at a steakhouse, the bar-tender fascinated me with his southern drawl, and after getting a beer and a steak, I started talking to the gentleman next to me. In his 60s i would guess, i found out he was a doctor, and after short familiarities, we talked in depth about his work (his long, long hours), the universal and never-ending doctor shortage, and his opinion of what reform is (and isn't) needed of health care in the USA. And that was it. Although that might appear mundane and a non-story, to me, it was...i edited out 'just what the doctor ordered'...but really, it was all such a blessing to me. It was general socialising coupled with a unique cultural figure in a unique cultural time and place, and then layer onto that it was an engaging, intelligent conversation, and added onto that, it was so relaxed. And probably quite imperatively - the guy was a nice guy. Really friendly and obviously a hard-working, caring doctor. So I was definitely lucky to have met him.
Anyway, I'm in Charlotte now, and enjoying doing absolutely nothing this weekend. I went to a diner for a late breakfast, and I watched my beloved Longhorns basketball team lose another game (me watching their games on tv is the curse), and generally, I've slumped around my hotel room and done nothing at all. It was a pretty looking day outside.
So the batteries are recharged and I'm again thankful for my situation.
I'm lucky.
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