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.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Moody, officey, itchy for road
I don't like working in offices, but i like doing exactly the same office work at a coffee shop. And, truth be told, I get about the same amount of work done at both venues.
Someone said 'ambiance'. Now, maybe - maybe it is the cool indie tunes playing over the coffee shop speakers (compared to tinny lap-top speakers), maybe it's the moving scenery through the massive windows compared to the tiny window behind you. Maybe it's the moving scenery indoors - instead of stinky farts by the guy you share the office with (it's funny on weekends on social outings when it's a recollected anecdote or it's happening to someone else) - instead - it's a constant changing scene of people of all types, and you see everything in your periphery. Maybe it's the artificial(?) sense of pressure put on you in a place of walls, cubicles, efficiency, progress and stifled, fart-smelling air. And maybe it's just the difference between a damn good latte and coffee you quite gladly pass on. Probably not. That same latte doesn't taste as good in an office.
Now, you say, why don't you just work in that office on the top floor of that super massive sky-scraper in Austin you once delivered some photocopiers to? HA! Great question. Now there's an office that has some hip feng shui going on for it - massive windows with a constantly changing view of 360 degree Austin, with the weather always moving. And i'm sure the coffee is better there.
Well, friend, after staying at lovely hotels on the road, visiting lovely schools, meeting lovely families in lovely houses, karma says that the loveliness has to stop somewhere, sometime, and that sometime is in the office. One cannot have too much loveliness without turning sour. That is an ancient office saying i just created to make me feel more zen about my time served. The thing is, i work extra hard in that office, and i work hard already. And the reason i work extra hard in that office is so that opportunities, many opportunities, will be set up outside of the office. Otherwise, it's just more hard work in the office. And we're not talking Austin top-level-sky-scraper dream office here. We're talking Pennsylvania (hang on - i like PA, bear with me), office slightly below ground so you see ground outside window at eye-level whilst twirling on OK chair office. Different. And we're talking no smashingly beautiful women office. Smashingly beautiful women, placed anywhere in an office, is good feng shui, one must think.
The road is calling, and yet, the office is calling louder and closer and will pull me by the ear back to it's sweaty gross chest tomorrow, because it's the office's day to have custody of me. So i work hard, diligently churning over paperwork that is all electronic these days (electronicwork), as my eyes ache, and then behind my eyes ache, and then my head aches at the front, and somehow i must be closer to being on the road again, and must be closer to being on the road in a greater capacity - surely!
Someone said 'ambiance'. Now, maybe - maybe it is the cool indie tunes playing over the coffee shop speakers (compared to tinny lap-top speakers), maybe it's the moving scenery through the massive windows compared to the tiny window behind you. Maybe it's the moving scenery indoors - instead of stinky farts by the guy you share the office with (it's funny on weekends on social outings when it's a recollected anecdote or it's happening to someone else) - instead - it's a constant changing scene of people of all types, and you see everything in your periphery. Maybe it's the artificial(?) sense of pressure put on you in a place of walls, cubicles, efficiency, progress and stifled, fart-smelling air. And maybe it's just the difference between a damn good latte and coffee you quite gladly pass on. Probably not. That same latte doesn't taste as good in an office.
Now, you say, why don't you just work in that office on the top floor of that super massive sky-scraper in Austin you once delivered some photocopiers to? HA! Great question. Now there's an office that has some hip feng shui going on for it - massive windows with a constantly changing view of 360 degree Austin, with the weather always moving. And i'm sure the coffee is better there.
Well, friend, after staying at lovely hotels on the road, visiting lovely schools, meeting lovely families in lovely houses, karma says that the loveliness has to stop somewhere, sometime, and that sometime is in the office. One cannot have too much loveliness without turning sour. That is an ancient office saying i just created to make me feel more zen about my time served. The thing is, i work extra hard in that office, and i work hard already. And the reason i work extra hard in that office is so that opportunities, many opportunities, will be set up outside of the office. Otherwise, it's just more hard work in the office. And we're not talking Austin top-level-sky-scraper dream office here. We're talking Pennsylvania (hang on - i like PA, bear with me), office slightly below ground so you see ground outside window at eye-level whilst twirling on OK chair office. Different. And we're talking no smashingly beautiful women office. Smashingly beautiful women, placed anywhere in an office, is good feng shui, one must think.
The road is calling, and yet, the office is calling louder and closer and will pull me by the ear back to it's sweaty gross chest tomorrow, because it's the office's day to have custody of me. So i work hard, diligently churning over paperwork that is all electronic these days (electronicwork), as my eyes ache, and then behind my eyes ache, and then my head aches at the front, and somehow i must be closer to being on the road again, and must be closer to being on the road in a greater capacity - surely!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Whether the Weather...
Snow.
I had seen very little of it. Nowadays, I still haven't seen a super tonne-load (like they're getting in Philly/Baltimore/DC), but i've seen enough to make me giggle and then go all silent, tilt my head and open my mouth a wee bit.
The pretty kind.
And, as a side point, i've discovered that when it snows, it's often not even that cold. Two points here: since I arrived in the USA on January 14th, i have quickly adjusted to what is truly cold. At first i felt cold when it was something like 40 degrees farenheit. Now i've discovered that those people wearing t-shirts during that weather weren't completely, ludicrously crazy, but maybe just a touch silly. The second point is that, other than relativity, it's the cussing wind that is the eerk of all living creatures. It is the wind that makes my ears want to divorce my body but only after stabbing me multiple times in rapid succession in the side of the head. That one night - walking back to my car from the bar in Harvard Square, Boston - ugh - it was a deathly cold walk of fear at wind's evil doing. The guy wearing shorts and a t-shirt that night was completely, ludicrously crazy...and then some.
It's about time i told you what i'm doing in the USA.
Wells...i'm keeping busy, that's for sure.
Basically, my volunteering for Travel for Teens involves me driving around the country (currently in my little Toyota Yaris hatchback rental), going to super lovely prep type schools; camp fairs; and house visits in super lovely areas, and promoting our company's spring break and summer trips.
It's been fun!
First of all i studied up on the trips - the Travel for Teens office in Philly is a hot-bed for people Skype messaging each other when they are actually only 4 decent-efforted leaps apart. Since it's also not at all top secret but also not that much interesting, mum's the word for the rest of the goings ons (pssst...i will tell you - just between you and me - that there's also a dog in the office named Se7en who could possibly be super evil but by all appearances is friendly, placid and never barks).
Next i did some further on-the-road training with Fritz. Fritz has one foot in a post-surgery mega boot. He couldn't drive, and sometimes when he walks he sounds like a pirate, so i, after having never driven for a sustained period of time in the USA before, took the wheel and drove to NYC. All hell broke lose when it was discovered that Fritz was into hip-hop and so was his entire CD collection that he brought. Needless to say, i'm writing this blog now, so all's well that ends well.
I learnt the company craft from Fritz, then we crashed on the upper west side, with a pitcher or two of the finest cheapest beer we could find, in between.
NYC is gorgeous in the winter. We walked the city, caught the subway around, did some research, and found a coffee shop to crash out at and do all our laptop and phone business type things that are essential and boring and made tolerable and faster by lattes.
Before too long, Fritz is gone, I'm visiting schools in Massachusetts, I'm making friends with couchsurfers, I'm doing house visits in areas where celebrities such as Bill Clinton live, I'm catching up with old buddies in New Jersey (great times), I'm flying from Philly to Miami and visiting schools down there, I'm catching up with my roller-coaster buddy in Fort Lauderdale, I'm talking to the guy I'm sitting next to eating my dinner with at a sports bar (and we're having another great time), I'm watching silky smooth Dwayne Wade get schooled at basketball by my countryman, Andrew Bogut, I'm flying back to Philly just in time to drive like the evil wind to Boston and escape the heaviest snowstorm in Philly in forever and ever (the accuracy of this statement can be attributed to Fox News), and after schools and fairs in Massachusetts and Connecticut, I'm now in New Hampshire, writing this.
I talked about Ned and Kate's parents in the last blog...
Seems like I'm doing a US tour named: 'Travel for Teens staff - meet their parents'...with me last night getting a home cooked meal that was delightfully delicious from Nic Emery's parents. Fantastic stuff, there. I could write a blog, indeed two blogs, about Jerry's intrepid edge-of-your-seat stories and Juliette's split pea soup. Divine. Had i ever met these people before? No. I was just scared of snow, they lived close to the school that I was going to the next morning, so Nic hooked me up. Best couch-surfing-gone-sleeping-on-Nic-Emery's-bed-surfing ever.
Watch out Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA. I'm heading in your direction....
...and this time: i have a beanie.
I had seen very little of it. Nowadays, I still haven't seen a super tonne-load (like they're getting in Philly/Baltimore/DC), but i've seen enough to make me giggle and then go all silent, tilt my head and open my mouth a wee bit.
The pretty kind.
And, as a side point, i've discovered that when it snows, it's often not even that cold. Two points here: since I arrived in the USA on January 14th, i have quickly adjusted to what is truly cold. At first i felt cold when it was something like 40 degrees farenheit. Now i've discovered that those people wearing t-shirts during that weather weren't completely, ludicrously crazy, but maybe just a touch silly. The second point is that, other than relativity, it's the cussing wind that is the eerk of all living creatures. It is the wind that makes my ears want to divorce my body but only after stabbing me multiple times in rapid succession in the side of the head. That one night - walking back to my car from the bar in Harvard Square, Boston - ugh - it was a deathly cold walk of fear at wind's evil doing. The guy wearing shorts and a t-shirt that night was completely, ludicrously crazy...and then some.
It's about time i told you what i'm doing in the USA.
Wells...i'm keeping busy, that's for sure.
Basically, my volunteering for Travel for Teens involves me driving around the country (currently in my little Toyota Yaris hatchback rental), going to super lovely prep type schools; camp fairs; and house visits in super lovely areas, and promoting our company's spring break and summer trips.
It's been fun!
First of all i studied up on the trips - the Travel for Teens office in Philly is a hot-bed for people Skype messaging each other when they are actually only 4 decent-efforted leaps apart. Since it's also not at all top secret but also not that much interesting, mum's the word for the rest of the goings ons (pssst...i will tell you - just between you and me - that there's also a dog in the office named Se7en who could possibly be super evil but by all appearances is friendly, placid and never barks).
Next i did some further on-the-road training with Fritz. Fritz has one foot in a post-surgery mega boot. He couldn't drive, and sometimes when he walks he sounds like a pirate, so i, after having never driven for a sustained period of time in the USA before, took the wheel and drove to NYC. All hell broke lose when it was discovered that Fritz was into hip-hop and so was his entire CD collection that he brought. Needless to say, i'm writing this blog now, so all's well that ends well.
I learnt the company craft from Fritz, then we crashed on the upper west side, with a pitcher or two of the finest cheapest beer we could find, in between.
NYC is gorgeous in the winter. We walked the city, caught the subway around, did some research, and found a coffee shop to crash out at and do all our laptop and phone business type things that are essential and boring and made tolerable and faster by lattes.
Before too long, Fritz is gone, I'm visiting schools in Massachusetts, I'm making friends with couchsurfers, I'm doing house visits in areas where celebrities such as Bill Clinton live, I'm catching up with old buddies in New Jersey (great times), I'm flying from Philly to Miami and visiting schools down there, I'm catching up with my roller-coaster buddy in Fort Lauderdale, I'm talking to the guy I'm sitting next to eating my dinner with at a sports bar (and we're having another great time), I'm watching silky smooth Dwayne Wade get schooled at basketball by my countryman, Andrew Bogut, I'm flying back to Philly just in time to drive like the evil wind to Boston and escape the heaviest snowstorm in Philly in forever and ever (the accuracy of this statement can be attributed to Fox News), and after schools and fairs in Massachusetts and Connecticut, I'm now in New Hampshire, writing this.
I talked about Ned and Kate's parents in the last blog...
Seems like I'm doing a US tour named: 'Travel for Teens staff - meet their parents'...with me last night getting a home cooked meal that was delightfully delicious from Nic Emery's parents. Fantastic stuff, there. I could write a blog, indeed two blogs, about Jerry's intrepid edge-of-your-seat stories and Juliette's split pea soup. Divine. Had i ever met these people before? No. I was just scared of snow, they lived close to the school that I was going to the next morning, so Nic hooked me up. Best couch-surfing-gone-sleeping-on-Nic-Emery's-bed-surfing ever.
Watch out Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA. I'm heading in your direction....
...and this time: i have a beanie.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Disoriented Landing
This is how I flew from Adelaide to Philadelphia:
via Auckland (with a pat-down in both ADL and AKL)
via San Francisco (with another pat down, i believe, and a long enough stop-over that i could get the BART train into town, and have an awesome Indian lunch in Mission with my mate Pat and his Indian boyfriend, Waylon)
...and then i landed in Philly the same day, after 25 hours of travel. C'mon - that 'going back in time' time difference thing, never gets old.
So, i'm sitting on the train on the way into San Francisco, and my mind is racing, and a smile is growing huge on my internal face. And i'm walking down Mission - definitely not San Francisco's 'poster street' - and i'm radiating happiness, completely overcoming tiredness. It's all these little, irrelevant American nuances - eavesdropping on loud conversations that are difficult not to; ridiculously cheap things (relatively speaking); a warm, sunny winter day in San Fran (now how can you go wrong with that); a girl wearing thrift shop clothes and a Belle and Sebastian sticker on her bag.
What can i say - i like the USA - and i know all the negatives - probably the biggest negative being the blandness and repetition of shops and restaurants as you cross the country - not a family-owned fish & chip shop in sight. That's what you were going to say, right? Ugh, those diners and fast food chains turn me off. OK so maybe i've changed...but on the other hand, i don't think i've ever enjoyed Denny's. Not a single good memory.
So, arriving in Philly i hit the ground running - with a slight sleep-in, i'm in the office the next morning.
I'm staying with Ned, the Vice President of Travel for Teens, and his wife, Kate. The house, in Conshohocken, PA, is a dream house for someone like me - that is, late 20s, with a disposition to be hospitable. Funny, that's a pretty similar non-detailed description of Ned and Kate, too.
I'm using the master bedroom, and N&K have been brilliantly welcoming. Watching football or basketball on the massive TV, eating good food, drinking great wine (a very tidy little cellar in the basement) - Ned and Kate are fun to be around - it's getting a little serious, i gotta say: I've met their parents.
Ned's parents are cool - dad watches football and mum makes sensational art. Quality. Kate's mum cooks a mean roast, and Kate's dad is hilarious. I pretty much fell in love with Kate's dad because his wit is cutting, and, on his advice, i even had a little horse-radish on my roast meat (ahh the things you do when you're in love. Actually, a little horseradish is a good thing, and i knew this already, but it's always good to give credit to 'love' - it brings about good karma).
I don't believe in blogs being too long (see i have changed), and although this one hasn't gotten across the info i intended...
...there's always the next blog.
via Auckland (with a pat-down in both ADL and AKL)
via San Francisco (with another pat down, i believe, and a long enough stop-over that i could get the BART train into town, and have an awesome Indian lunch in Mission with my mate Pat and his Indian boyfriend, Waylon)
...and then i landed in Philly the same day, after 25 hours of travel. C'mon - that 'going back in time' time difference thing, never gets old.
So, i'm sitting on the train on the way into San Francisco, and my mind is racing, and a smile is growing huge on my internal face. And i'm walking down Mission - definitely not San Francisco's 'poster street' - and i'm radiating happiness, completely overcoming tiredness. It's all these little, irrelevant American nuances - eavesdropping on loud conversations that are difficult not to; ridiculously cheap things (relatively speaking); a warm, sunny winter day in San Fran (now how can you go wrong with that); a girl wearing thrift shop clothes and a Belle and Sebastian sticker on her bag.
What can i say - i like the USA - and i know all the negatives - probably the biggest negative being the blandness and repetition of shops and restaurants as you cross the country - not a family-owned fish & chip shop in sight. That's what you were going to say, right? Ugh, those diners and fast food chains turn me off. OK so maybe i've changed...but on the other hand, i don't think i've ever enjoyed Denny's. Not a single good memory.
So, arriving in Philly i hit the ground running - with a slight sleep-in, i'm in the office the next morning.
I'm staying with Ned, the Vice President of Travel for Teens, and his wife, Kate. The house, in Conshohocken, PA, is a dream house for someone like me - that is, late 20s, with a disposition to be hospitable. Funny, that's a pretty similar non-detailed description of Ned and Kate, too.
I'm using the master bedroom, and N&K have been brilliantly welcoming. Watching football or basketball on the massive TV, eating good food, drinking great wine (a very tidy little cellar in the basement) - Ned and Kate are fun to be around - it's getting a little serious, i gotta say: I've met their parents.
Ned's parents are cool - dad watches football and mum makes sensational art. Quality. Kate's mum cooks a mean roast, and Kate's dad is hilarious. I pretty much fell in love with Kate's dad because his wit is cutting, and, on his advice, i even had a little horse-radish on my roast meat (ahh the things you do when you're in love. Actually, a little horseradish is a good thing, and i knew this already, but it's always good to give credit to 'love' - it brings about good karma).
I don't believe in blogs being too long (see i have changed), and although this one hasn't gotten across the info i intended...
...there's always the next blog.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Coming to America
The lead up to me leaving Australia was weird.
First of all, I landed in Australia (from travels in Europe) with aplomb - a super great 'welcome home' bbq occurred the day after my return, and then my good friends Ozland and Carly got married the day after.
I immediately went searching for work, but in the back of my mind, I thought i would probably be flying to the USA in January. Being the honest Joe that i am, speaking this probably worked to my detriment with my usual summer employer (they would want me to be there for the whole summer). I didn't work for them at all during my time back. I had a trial day at the ABC, editing a story for the show 'Behind the News'. That went really well, and when i was honest in saying i was potentially leaving, it went down very positively with my contact there - Phil was very encouraging of me travelling and having an adventure.
Alas, no income.
It didn't really matter - instead of earning money, I worked on my 'Bluebottle Kiss' documentary that had been laying dormant for over a year. For two weeks i put in strong full time hours...and then took a holiday to Alice Springs with my mate, Cameron. Again, unsure that i was leaving but wanting to make the most of my time - i thought hanging with Cam would be a good decision. And it was. Great times exploring the middle of Australia - great times.
Christmas came and time was running out, and still no confirmation i was going to the USA - no visa, no plane ticket. In a weird frame of mind then, unsure and uncertain about the future, I was momentarily distracted by my good friend Leila (an Austin, TX native) visiting me. Had a lot of fun with Leila - visting McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley (with awesome and rambunctious friends to boot), beaches, pubs...but inside i was still growing a little bit more and more unsure each day: the USA is not even confirmed, the Bluebottle Kiss documentary is super close to finished (but not finished), my savings are fast being drained and i have no income...what am i going to do if i stay in Australia?
Things with the USA worked out less than a week before i left, and there were adjustments right up to the last minute. On Wednesday morning, I found out that my flight had been changed from Friday, to Thursday morning. I frantically changed farewell party plans (with a good number of friends being able to legendary change their plans for me and say goodbye at the last minute) and packed my bags, with one last night of NBA Wednesday at Cam's going down a treat.
It wasn't at all easy making the decision to come to the USA. On the one hand, I was super excited to have this adventure, volunteering with this company I believe in and enjoy being a part of. On the other hand, my time in Adelaide was brilliant. I was having a good time up until the moment i left, so in thinking heavy thoughts of the future during my last week in Adelaide, I had to weigh up that I was leaving:
such great, great friends
probable freelance broadcast tv work (love it)
probable good income with video/broadcast freelancing and relief teaching
a potentially stable life where one can potentially have a potentially stable girlfriend
summer time and all it's benefits (beaches, Fringe Festival, Big Day Out, Womad etc.)
a great live music scene
a chance to play on a regular basketball team
fun writing for dB magazine again
probably more stuff too
For me, that's a lot of good things to give up. So it wasn't an easy decision to come to the USA at all.
But, I'm here in Boston, Massachusetts at the moment, on the road, volunteering in my 'traveling salesman' type role, promoting Travel for Teens. And...I like it. I think I made the right decision. I'll tell you about the USA in my next blog.
I do miss all that Adelaide had on offer....I guess at the end of the day, I'm grateful for my 2 months from December 2009 - mid January 2010 there. It was very special. This is one of those occasions where I'm happy that I left on a high.
And the adventure continues...
First of all, I landed in Australia (from travels in Europe) with aplomb - a super great 'welcome home' bbq occurred the day after my return, and then my good friends Ozland and Carly got married the day after.
I immediately went searching for work, but in the back of my mind, I thought i would probably be flying to the USA in January. Being the honest Joe that i am, speaking this probably worked to my detriment with my usual summer employer (they would want me to be there for the whole summer). I didn't work for them at all during my time back. I had a trial day at the ABC, editing a story for the show 'Behind the News'. That went really well, and when i was honest in saying i was potentially leaving, it went down very positively with my contact there - Phil was very encouraging of me travelling and having an adventure.
Alas, no income.
It didn't really matter - instead of earning money, I worked on my 'Bluebottle Kiss' documentary that had been laying dormant for over a year. For two weeks i put in strong full time hours...and then took a holiday to Alice Springs with my mate, Cameron. Again, unsure that i was leaving but wanting to make the most of my time - i thought hanging with Cam would be a good decision. And it was. Great times exploring the middle of Australia - great times.
Christmas came and time was running out, and still no confirmation i was going to the USA - no visa, no plane ticket. In a weird frame of mind then, unsure and uncertain about the future, I was momentarily distracted by my good friend Leila (an Austin, TX native) visiting me. Had a lot of fun with Leila - visting McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley (with awesome and rambunctious friends to boot), beaches, pubs...but inside i was still growing a little bit more and more unsure each day: the USA is not even confirmed, the Bluebottle Kiss documentary is super close to finished (but not finished), my savings are fast being drained and i have no income...what am i going to do if i stay in Australia?
Things with the USA worked out less than a week before i left, and there were adjustments right up to the last minute. On Wednesday morning, I found out that my flight had been changed from Friday, to Thursday morning. I frantically changed farewell party plans (with a good number of friends being able to legendary change their plans for me and say goodbye at the last minute) and packed my bags, with one last night of NBA Wednesday at Cam's going down a treat.
It wasn't at all easy making the decision to come to the USA. On the one hand, I was super excited to have this adventure, volunteering with this company I believe in and enjoy being a part of. On the other hand, my time in Adelaide was brilliant. I was having a good time up until the moment i left, so in thinking heavy thoughts of the future during my last week in Adelaide, I had to weigh up that I was leaving:
such great, great friends
probable freelance broadcast tv work (love it)
probable good income with video/broadcast freelancing and relief teaching
a potentially stable life where one can potentially have a potentially stable girlfriend
summer time and all it's benefits (beaches, Fringe Festival, Big Day Out, Womad etc.)
a great live music scene
a chance to play on a regular basketball team
fun writing for dB magazine again
probably more stuff too
For me, that's a lot of good things to give up. So it wasn't an easy decision to come to the USA at all.
But, I'm here in Boston, Massachusetts at the moment, on the road, volunteering in my 'traveling salesman' type role, promoting Travel for Teens. And...I like it. I think I made the right decision. I'll tell you about the USA in my next blog.
I do miss all that Adelaide had on offer....I guess at the end of the day, I'm grateful for my 2 months from December 2009 - mid January 2010 there. It was very special. This is one of those occasions where I'm happy that I left on a high.
And the adventure continues...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
What? Blog? How! Why!
Where do I start?
I like writing. I'm aware of all the negative aspects of social networking websites - the worst of which is when you perceive that you're actually having a decent relationship with someone, meaningful time spent together, when you're not at all. You haven't spent any time in the presence of that person. And, at the end of the day, it's time actually spent amongst the presence of others that actually nourishes us. Social networking sites and information gained from the press (and let's include blogs as a new form of press, for this argument's sake) never give you as much of a perspective of a person as actually meeting them face-to-face. And interaction through technology is never as satisfying as interacting with them in the same room.
And, i'll let you know that I passed up an opportunity to meet some new people and go and have a drink to write this tonight. And, perhaps people will instantly message me on my computer whilst i write this, and without hesitation i'll start a conversation with them. But i know i've made a simple correct decision tonight.
I believe in God, i believe as in Deuteronomy it says "there's a time and a place for everything...", I believe in moderation as being a generally good guideline in life, I believe i haven't got anything new to say...I guess as individual, unique human beings who mainly all love Monty Python, or maybe, football - beauty isn't in the fact that anyone of us has a revolutionary idea or invention. I invented the digital photo-frame in my mind long before i ever knew how to actually put the electronics together and make it tangibly happen - which i won't ever do now that someone else has actually made digital photo frames...AND i will never be interested in actually making them or in acquiring the prior knowledge needed to actually make them.
That's not good writing, but for me, it's enjoyable writing.
There's this documentary i've been making about a rock band. This rock band, Bluebottle Kiss, whom i absolutely adore, will never ever make any decent money. They'll never be famous. They've been around for over a decade, and basically no-one knows who they are. To a lot of people, the question must be - why do they bother then? I would ask that same question to a lot of other bands.
The answer for Bluebottle Kiss is that they love doing it. The motivation is in writing, playing and recording music for the sake of it. Strangely enough, packing a lot of shows into a short time frame, working really hard, getting tired and then a bit sick, and then having to go back to work a day-job is what they do because they love playing music. And whether or not I admire them for doing that - they just DO enjoy playing music.
I like blogs because i really enjoy hearing about what my friends have been doing. It was weird however, when i met up with my friend Simon, who started to share an anecdote/joke with me and i stopped him short, as I'd already read it on his Facebook a few months prior. Lol. That kinda sucked. It was cool that i laughed at the time he posted it (and dutifully clicked 'like'), but it sucked that i had had this false friendship with Simon going in my mind. I thought i knew him, but i really only knew about him. Knowing Simon came about when we were both in the same city at the same time, and had some well-wicked hanging out going on - whether we were winning at tennis in real life, winning at tennis on the wii, or not playing tennis at other great times of drinking.
Then there's Cam. Cam doesn't have a facebook - one of those 'of principle' people who can't say what that principle is. So Cam told me anecdotes, and i laffed/laughed, as i hadn't heard them him tell me it a month earlier via a public posting on facebook.
- i think that's my biggest annoyance about facebook - you have no idea what friends know what about you as you have no idea who's reading or looking at what -
I think it's important to tell my social networking world that i just patted an unchained tiger today, by updating my status. Thinly veiled boasting has become so much easier thanks to computers, and that was a need that had to be met by someone. So thankyou Mark Zutterguy. Also, Simon Bills for admitting that it's thinly veiled boasting and making us laff.
I would love to be in Wagga Wagga right now, shooting some news footage and having a beer. Simultaneously, i'd love to be hiking across Tasmania and then touring some breweries with buddies who are living there at the moment. I'd love to be watching NBA Wednesday at Cam's place, or better yet, be courtside at whatever game was playing with those very same boys who were at Cam's the other night. Also, I'd love to be in Austin, down at Clementine's having a $1 Lone Star with a whole bunch of cool Austinite friends, maybe playing some Boulderdash or Taboo. And this list could go on and on and on forever. In actuality, i'm quite content sitting in Ned and Kate's lounge room in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, writing this blog.
In May of 2008, I started travelling. In September, I stopped in Austin, Texas and sadly left there in May 2009 when my visa ran out...but on the plus side, travels of Europe were calling. In November 2009, I hung out with my friend Scott Bills in Cambodia whilst on my meandering way back to home-town Adelaide, Australia. I didn't hang out with Scott much at all when i was previously living in Adelaide, but he was an old friend and a good friend none-the-less, and it was super awesome hanging out with a friend like that when the last good, old-friend I'd hung out with (with the exception of my brother in England), had been a long time prior. Hitting home in Adelaide, I was honored to not only have a great welcome-home BBQ in my honor (complete with awesome friends), but also drive around a bridal party of excellent friends the very next day.
The main point of writing this blog was to let a lot of friends and family know what the hell i've been up to. Unless you're very close (and even then), it's ridiculously hard to keep track of me, lately. I think i've failed to fill in most of those details, so i'll do that another time. For me, writing this has been fun, so even if i missed most of the main point of writing, or digressed from writing the details i THOUGHT i'd include when i started, who cares: i've had fun. Plenty of time to fill in the gaps another time.
By the way, i'm in Pennsylvania, I was in San Fran for lunch the other day, I'll be in New York on Tuesday, Boston on the weekend, probably Baltimore the week after, Miami for a week after that (i think...these are all fairly loose ideas of plans at the moment)...
Oh, and i'm volunteering with "travel for teens" - a company that i worked with last June/July taking kids on trips in Europe and South Africa. I hopefully should get an immigrant visa through these lovely people soon, and be working and earning some cash after that.
Chaotic writing over for now.
Thanks for reading.
I like writing. I'm aware of all the negative aspects of social networking websites - the worst of which is when you perceive that you're actually having a decent relationship with someone, meaningful time spent together, when you're not at all. You haven't spent any time in the presence of that person. And, at the end of the day, it's time actually spent amongst the presence of others that actually nourishes us. Social networking sites and information gained from the press (and let's include blogs as a new form of press, for this argument's sake) never give you as much of a perspective of a person as actually meeting them face-to-face. And interaction through technology is never as satisfying as interacting with them in the same room.
And, i'll let you know that I passed up an opportunity to meet some new people and go and have a drink to write this tonight. And, perhaps people will instantly message me on my computer whilst i write this, and without hesitation i'll start a conversation with them. But i know i've made a simple correct decision tonight.
I believe in God, i believe as in Deuteronomy it says "there's a time and a place for everything...", I believe in moderation as being a generally good guideline in life, I believe i haven't got anything new to say...I guess as individual, unique human beings who mainly all love Monty Python, or maybe, football - beauty isn't in the fact that anyone of us has a revolutionary idea or invention. I invented the digital photo-frame in my mind long before i ever knew how to actually put the electronics together and make it tangibly happen - which i won't ever do now that someone else has actually made digital photo frames...AND i will never be interested in actually making them or in acquiring the prior knowledge needed to actually make them.
That's not good writing, but for me, it's enjoyable writing.
There's this documentary i've been making about a rock band. This rock band, Bluebottle Kiss, whom i absolutely adore, will never ever make any decent money. They'll never be famous. They've been around for over a decade, and basically no-one knows who they are. To a lot of people, the question must be - why do they bother then? I would ask that same question to a lot of other bands.
The answer for Bluebottle Kiss is that they love doing it. The motivation is in writing, playing and recording music for the sake of it. Strangely enough, packing a lot of shows into a short time frame, working really hard, getting tired and then a bit sick, and then having to go back to work a day-job is what they do because they love playing music. And whether or not I admire them for doing that - they just DO enjoy playing music.
I like blogs because i really enjoy hearing about what my friends have been doing. It was weird however, when i met up with my friend Simon, who started to share an anecdote/joke with me and i stopped him short, as I'd already read it on his Facebook a few months prior. Lol. That kinda sucked. It was cool that i laughed at the time he posted it (and dutifully clicked 'like'), but it sucked that i had had this false friendship with Simon going in my mind. I thought i knew him, but i really only knew about him. Knowing Simon came about when we were both in the same city at the same time, and had some well-wicked hanging out going on - whether we were winning at tennis in real life, winning at tennis on the wii, or not playing tennis at other great times of drinking.
Then there's Cam. Cam doesn't have a facebook - one of those 'of principle' people who can't say what that principle is. So Cam told me anecdotes, and i laffed/laughed, as i hadn't heard them him tell me it a month earlier via a public posting on facebook.
- i think that's my biggest annoyance about facebook - you have no idea what friends know what about you as you have no idea who's reading or looking at what -
I think it's important to tell my social networking world that i just patted an unchained tiger today, by updating my status. Thinly veiled boasting has become so much easier thanks to computers, and that was a need that had to be met by someone. So thankyou Mark Zutterguy. Also, Simon Bills for admitting that it's thinly veiled boasting and making us laff.
I would love to be in Wagga Wagga right now, shooting some news footage and having a beer. Simultaneously, i'd love to be hiking across Tasmania and then touring some breweries with buddies who are living there at the moment. I'd love to be watching NBA Wednesday at Cam's place, or better yet, be courtside at whatever game was playing with those very same boys who were at Cam's the other night. Also, I'd love to be in Austin, down at Clementine's having a $1 Lone Star with a whole bunch of cool Austinite friends, maybe playing some Boulderdash or Taboo. And this list could go on and on and on forever. In actuality, i'm quite content sitting in Ned and Kate's lounge room in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, writing this blog.
In May of 2008, I started travelling. In September, I stopped in Austin, Texas and sadly left there in May 2009 when my visa ran out...but on the plus side, travels of Europe were calling. In November 2009, I hung out with my friend Scott Bills in Cambodia whilst on my meandering way back to home-town Adelaide, Australia. I didn't hang out with Scott much at all when i was previously living in Adelaide, but he was an old friend and a good friend none-the-less, and it was super awesome hanging out with a friend like that when the last good, old-friend I'd hung out with (with the exception of my brother in England), had been a long time prior. Hitting home in Adelaide, I was honored to not only have a great welcome-home BBQ in my honor (complete with awesome friends), but also drive around a bridal party of excellent friends the very next day.
The main point of writing this blog was to let a lot of friends and family know what the hell i've been up to. Unless you're very close (and even then), it's ridiculously hard to keep track of me, lately. I think i've failed to fill in most of those details, so i'll do that another time. For me, writing this has been fun, so even if i missed most of the main point of writing, or digressed from writing the details i THOUGHT i'd include when i started, who cares: i've had fun. Plenty of time to fill in the gaps another time.
By the way, i'm in Pennsylvania, I was in San Fran for lunch the other day, I'll be in New York on Tuesday, Boston on the weekend, probably Baltimore the week after, Miami for a week after that (i think...these are all fairly loose ideas of plans at the moment)...
Oh, and i'm volunteering with "travel for teens" - a company that i worked with last June/July taking kids on trips in Europe and South Africa. I hopefully should get an immigrant visa through these lovely people soon, and be working and earning some cash after that.
Chaotic writing over for now.
Thanks for reading.
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