Simone's a Cow Girl Now...

Travel Bug is Back!

2010-11-07T17:38:00.002+11:00

So, I have really been missing this blogging spot for me to write all about my travels as it appears as though not much has been happening lately... My head has been buried in the sand of reality and it completely and utterly sucks.

But now, I am already looking forward to my Thailand holiday which is half booked! We have our flights ready to go and we're flying with Air Asia to KL and then on some dodgy little Asian airline to go to Koh Samui. It's a propellor jet plane so I am a little scared but I am sure it will all be fine. Like I've told Dylan, as long as if the plane is going to crash it can do it on the way back so at least we've had one last relaxing holiday.

We've booked our 3 and a half day PADI Dive Course and are pumped to be getting accredited on Koh Tao which is one of the best places in the world to dive. And it's also ridiculously cheap. We are spending $400 each to get our certification and 4 nights of accommodation. Pretty cruisy!

Koh Samui is proving to be a little more expensive than Dylan remembers and this is one place we haven't booked yet so if you have any recommendations on places to stay, it'd be great to hear from you!

Til January...

xoxo

Heading into Unmarked Territory!

2009-06-18T07:16:00.010+10:00

Okay so perhaps not unmarked territory but definitely into a place which is a sore spot amoung Canadians - we went to the USA! Yep, we hit up MONTANA!

Dylan has Wednesday's off thanks to having his hours cut due to "the recession" so we decided to do a day trip to Montana seeing as though it is only a few hours away.

We get a car for the day - this time one which doesn't have a punctured tire - and set off bright and early to make our way across the Canadian border and into the U

.S of A! We get to the border, flash our passports, get fingerprinted (American security measures suck) and then wait for half an hour while they check our passports and finally stamp them so we can get through to Montana.

Immediately, there is a different feel in the air. The praries look different.. the sun hits us in a unusual light, we feel... Americanized. I feel like shouting "Hey Ya'll" out the car window and Dylan may or may not have felt like screaming "yeehaw" which unfortunately he forgot to do - ah well, next time!

Our first stop is of course a bathroom stop and food! We wanted American grub and we wanted it now! Stopping off in some hick town with loads of Natives we manage to find a bathroom for me and a diner which served cheeseburgers (NO substitutes) which consisted of two slabs of greasy meat and something that resembled cheese but wasn't quite the cheese we're used to and a side of fries... greasy but it sure hit the spot.

We keep driving to Glacier National Park and one word... WOW! We went to St Mary's and saw this absolutely stunning lake for which the picture does not do justice...

We drive around and are impressed by the beauty that is Montana when Dylan says... "I think we should stay the night." I agreed so we went in search of a place to stay... we drove to these dodgy looking campground/cabin site which had an old guy standing around - it looked like a scene from a horror movie. Woods. Old guy. Axe... okay maybe I made up the axe part but it looked kind of scary so I said a hell no to that place. We drove around a little more and found a place just before the entrance to Glacier National Park which was.... doable... and decided to go grab some dinner before going back to the hotel... went to an awesome restaurant where I ordered the pulled pork BBQ burger, which is basically pork which has been pulled apart and marinated in BBQ sauce - yummy - and the owner of the restaurant told us about these cute little log cabins and was so friendly we couldn't resist when he told us to go and check the cabins out... so off we go... back to the same place where the axe murder lived.. and it turns out the log cabins were gorgeous AND they were the same price as the 'doable' hotel! So we grabbed the lucky last cabin (luck seems to follow the both of us) and settled in for the night.

We wake up bright and not-so-early the next morning. Dylan is feeling less stressed after having lied to work that his buddies car broke down in Edmonton and we set off for the day... only to discover our $25 seven day Glacier National Park pass has gone M.I.A! Oh no! We go down anyway, bypassing my need for breakfast and juice (again, never listen to Dylan!) and go straight to the park where we get let in for free because the same lady as yesterday was working... but we couldn't get out! And there are no drinks or food in the park because of BEARS! So, we leave the park and get food and juice and explore other areas...

Now, you have to know the entire time we were driving through the park I was looking for bears and kept yelling at Dylan to SLOW DOWN because we might miss a bear if you drive too fast! So, at this point I'd stopped actively looking for bears... and Dylan stops the car. Says "Oh. My. Gosh." - I look up and see a HUGE grizzly bear crossing the road with four baby cubs trailing behind! It was the most amazing thing ever but it happened so quick we didn't have a chance to grab our cameras but in our hearts and burned into our memories will be the USA Grizzlies!

We also saw a real live moose the day before and driving home we saw a coyote so I've now seen quite a few Canadian animals so I was pretty stoked.

Since we lost our park pass, we decided that we'd drive out of Glacier and back through the Canadian border - which they didn't even check our car for booze so we could have brought back tons dammit - bought a soda on Canadian soil and found $50 which the cashier promptly said in her old lady voice "Oh I'll return that to its owner" and which Dylan quickly said, after glancing in his wallet "Oh, actually that's mine" and $50 made its way into our pockets. Sweet.

In typical Simone and Dylan style we had some random adventures. Driving down the highway we come across two little dogs - a small black one and a small white one... come to think of it, Michael Jackson was playing on the radio too... and I made Dylan pull over so we could rescue the cute little rascals because I was scared they'd otherwise get run over. The white one was quite happy to be caught and came easily. The black dog, not so much. We chased it - on foot and by car. Gave up after it ran through a field to a house - so we deliver the white dog there too and hope for the best.

On the way to visit Dylan's best buddy in Fernie, we drove through what used to be a town but is now called Frank's Slide - the wall of the mountain collapsed and buried the whole town and now the mountain face looks like a slide! Pretty amazing and so sad.

Made it to Fernie and had some pretty amazing curry at a curry house in Fernie and did not tip the stupid Aussie server because she was too lazy and refused to walk upstairs to bring us our bill. No tip from me and Dylan copped a pretty nasty look when I went to the bathroom. Do your job woman and we'll tip you next time.

As I drove back from Fernie, Dylan told me to watch out for deer as dusk is prime deer time and ... "riding along in my automobile", Dylan grabbed my shoulder and shouted "stop" - and thank gosh because a deer bounded right in front of the car and I definitely tested out the car breaks only to discover they work quite well! Phew. No, we didn't hit the deer and we ended up eating a vegetarian meal for dinner that night, damn. I was a little shaky but was okay to drive home!

Pretty amazing trip - two Canadian provinces and the USA all in 2 days! We are thinking of heading back to Montana to do some camping but we'll see how we go for time. Should be amazing if we do though, there are some gorgeous spots to camp!

That's all for now folks... Be prepared for another update next week after our camping trip in Jasper!

Dinosaurs in Drumheller

2009-06-18T06:46:00.004+10:00

This is going back a few weekends but I figure I ought to update as I've actually been doing some fun stuff lately thanks to meeting fellow Aussie Dylan and his cheap as car rentals...

A few weekends ago we were meant to go camping but due to shitty weather we decided to stay in town... however, we still had a car. We decided to go to a place just out of Calgary called Drumheller. Dylan calls a buddy of his to see how to get to this place... and... after driving 100km MORE than we needed to on the highway (because Dylan kept telling me we hadn't passed the place his friend told him to turn at yet even though on the map I could see we were a zillion miles away from where we were supposed to be...) we head back the way we came...

Finally on the right track and we stop in this town so I can use the bathroom... and we discover one of our back tires is flat... so, we try to find gas in this tiny little hick town on the praries... Reckon any service station has frickin' air? Of course not... We buy magic foam to put that in the tire to get us through but then Dylan decides to change the tire.

I go back and get a refund for the magic foam... Dylan decides he can't be bothered changing the tire... He re-buys the magic foam (I refused because I just got the money back, haha).... So tire is magic foamed, it has been hours since we set off on our adventure, a small detour of 200km later and we're back on our way... only to discover the tire was flat again, which is when we discovered it had a puncture! Oh great! All good, it's not that bad *yet* so we keep driving until we finally reach Drumheller.

Anyways, to sum up Drumheller, apparently was home to the dinosaur many, many moons ago - hence all the cheap and tacky touristy dinosaur figures that litter the streets. It is also home to the World's Largest Dinosaur which you can also climb up the 106 stairs to the top of and stand in the dinosaurs mouth...

After surviving our wacky tourist attack, we decided we were in need of a beer before setting off on a Dinosaur Trail... a 48km round trip of the surrounding area of Drumheller to see the valley... kind of a cool bar so I've chucked in a photo too.
Anyway, with our punctured tire, we set off on the road again and attempted to drive this somewhat spectacular Dinosaur Trail, only to discover that we had gotten lost and had ended up on the wrong highway hence why we did not see much of the spectacular drive that Canada's Lonely Planet guide book was raving about... so, defeated we start the drive back to Drumheller city centre (and on the way see the actual sign for the Dinosaur Trail which we missed about 30kms back) and decided instead to go in search of this saloon which Dylan was adamant he wanted to go to... seriously, if this man can learn anything from me it definitely must be listen to my bloody directions because you are going the wrong way!

Yes, again we managed to get side-tracked and ended up passing the sign to the saloon (after following directions from a dodgy servo dude (that's cashier at a service station to all you non-abbreviating non-Aussies out there) who told us to go over the 11 bridges of Wayne... so we drive... and drive... and pass some Hoodoos which are kind of cool - and see an old coal mine... before turning back and getting on the road which I told Dylan before was probably the road we needed to have taken... however, I pretend I'm annoyed but in reality if we hadn't gotten side-tracked then we would never have seen the old coal mine or the Hoodoos so the detour was actually interesting!

Hoodoos - Sounds kind of creepy but basically what they are is mushroom shaped rocks which are formed by the layers of soft rock which are protected by sheets of hard rock on top. The softer rock erodes pretty quickly but the hard layer of rock on top protects the stone underneath it from eroding so quickly so the layers without harder rock on top erode, leaving the hard rock as a barrier which means these mushroom shaped Hoodoos are formed. Hopefully you get what I'm saying with that but you can check out the Drumheller website for more info if you so desire!
So cutting this post short, we pump up the tire yet again 'cause we're still too lazy to change it and manage to witness a pretty decent sunset at Horseshoe Canyon and head home to call it a night!

Trek Through the Banff Wilderness

2009-06-05T03:21:00.009+10:00

My weekend was spent camping out in Banff National Park. My buddy, Dylan, chose our camping ground which was at a place called Two Jack Lake. I stipulated that showers and toilets were a must, even though I could have gone without them I decided I didn't want to.

Our campground was amazing. We had the lake right beside us and it was just full of lush, green trees. I talk a lot but I have to say, seeing this lake I was absolutely breathless. The photos are gorgeous but still don't do it the justice it deserves.

We set up our tent, well, actually Dylan tried setting up the tent and I wandered off to find a washroom and came back 10 minutes later to find him still struggling with the tent... so, I check it out and have the tent set up in about 30 seconds flat.

Dylan was a little peeved that I managed to figure out the tent so fast and he kept asking if I was really sure the tent was supposed to be set up the way I had set it up - mind you, his way of setting up the tent kind of involved stretching the tent into odd shapes which were really obviously wrong and my way was pretty simple. I was pleased with myself ;)

We ended up doing that trail, Johnston Canyon, which I was excited about doing last time I went to Banff but Kylie whinged about breaking her ankle over.... It was really pretty. We walked along and saw these gushing waterfalls and we could go into this tiny cave which led directly in front of the waterfall and we could feel the spray of the water. It was nice but so cold!

We were then going to drive up to Lake Louise to take a photo cos the ice had since melted on the lake but decided to go to Banff and get our supplies - which pretty much consisted sausages, ingredients for s'mores and booze.

It was a good thing we continued to drive because we saw more elk (we'd already seen them earlier in the day and I may or may not have turned into a rambling mess of excitement that couldn't sit still). At one stage, we saw our second herd of elk when driving past in our vehicle. They were on the opposite side of the road, so pulled over (probably not in the safest way, I was too excited).. jumped out of the car and slowly ran over to take a photo... I promptly got scared after I asked Dylan if it was safe and he advised me not to get too close to the elk... so, I ran back to the car, jumped in, reversed, changed direction and took photos of the elk out of the car window - we had to keep accelerating because the elk kept walking and munching on leaves so we had follow them so I could get the perfect shot!

We also saw big horned sheep

and a chipmunk (on our walk of Johnston Canyon) so I was feeling pretty excited about all the wilderness at this stage!

As we kept driving we ended up upon this trail. I like to drive, randomly, and I find that these are the times you find really cool things... which we did. We jumped out of the car and saw this trail - Upper Bankhead it was called. It was getting late but we still had a fair bit of time before it got dark so Dylan and I started this trail. It was 4.2kms each way so we knew we weren't going to do the entire thing but figured we'd check it out and if it was nice we'd go back the following day. It was more like a real trail, meaning it wasn't paved like Johnston Canyon, which was more what we were after. So, we walked up a bit and Dylan freaked me out by telling me that we were probably within 500m of a bear.. so, of course, after that I kept "hearing" bears. As we kept walking on the trail, it got narrower and the trees began to close in a little more and we heard a coyote... which promptly freaked me out even more and we decided (okay, I decided) it was time to go back... well, it was starting to get darker and Dylan also told me that this was the time when bears were feeding - awesome! I wanted to see a bear, not get eaten by one!

We were just about out of the trail and could pretty much see the parking lot from where we were standing... and all of a sudden we heard the trees rustle (Dylan later told me he thought it was a bear) and out pops this white tailed deer... it runs right in front of us and leaps over a fallen tree branch which must have been over 2 meters high and bounds off into the forest. It was amazing. Again, I was speechless. I looked over at Dylan and asked him in absolute awe "did you see that?" and he was also a little speechless and said "yep"... It was the most amazing thing on our trip. The photo below shows me standing in front of the spot where the deer bounded over...

Because it happened so fast there was no way we could have gotten a photo. So, we headed back to our campsite, we walked around the lake and discovered that the lake water was literally crystal clear and we brought plastic cups along our walk and we drank the lake water... it was some of the best water I've had. So clear and fresh. We even saw fish jumping out of the lake and could hear their plop as they landed back in the water.

Headed back to the campfire, stuck our sausages on a metal skewer we bought from Safeway and then after cooking and splitting one open, we realised the Canadian fire pits are pretty awesome and have a little side thing for actually BBQing things so we quickly put the other sausages on to BBQ instead of holding them on these dodgy little skewers, burning our fingers. We cooked up some s'mores (Dylan was impressed, he'd never had them before) and drank our vodka with sourpuss and apple juice (my creation, which he was also impressed with).

(Dylan set the timer on the camera and the flash went off as I had a big

gob of sausage in my mouth! Attractive!)

On Sunday morning, I woke up with massive cramps and was in so much pain I cried... so we had to cut our trip short and ended up getting home at 9am which I was so sad about because there was so much else to do out there but we agreed to go camping this weekend and we were going to go back to the same place but then Dylan suggested we go to Fernie, B.C which to me, sounds amazing. There are SO many camping spots out there that it makes me not want to go back home because they are all just so amazing. Next time I am hoping to see a bear and a moose (hopefully from the safe confines of our car rather than on a trail) but I am pretty pumped. Dylan actually said I am lucky with spotting wildlife, he said he'd never seen as many animals as he had out with me - even in Calgary, we spotted baby squirrels yesterday and baby Canadian Geese so a bear we shall definitely see! Love camping and had a blast on our trip even if it was short lived.

Moose and Baby Geese and Bears... Oh My!

2009-05-27T02:58:00.005+10:00

Working 12 hour shifts are never much fun and I have vowed that I never want to do this again, however, on a positive - my Canadian credit card has been paid off!

I have 7 weeks remaining in Calgary and am planning to make the most of it (as best I can with limited funds) and this weekend I am heading up to the mountains to do some camping. I stipulated that in order to go camping, there must be toilet and shower facilities around as I do not feel like starting my first (and quite possibly last) Canadian camping experience smelling like a feral.

Our plans so far include Johnston Canyon which last time I was in Banff I missed out on due to cries of 'oh but it's too icy' and 'oh but if I go I might break an ankle' - right, next time don't come to Banff if you just want to sit in the car and complain the entire time. The Rockies are home to many of the most beautiful hikes in the world and I plan on enjoying them whilst I am here!

We also are going to attempt 'a little bit of paddling' - aka - canoeing! This I have not done in a very long time so I am a little concerned I may end up drenched in icy cold water and I have images of my friend whipping out the camera and him laughing hysterically whilst I am floundering around the bottom of some lake being attacked by underwater grizzly bears.
Funnily enough, I was reading up on the Banff National Park website and there are quite a few mentions of bears and how to protect yourself against them by:

not leaving food around your campsite;
traveling in groups of 4+ on certain hikes that are in bear territory;
carrying bear spray.

I am excited to see a bear and am going to demand my National Park entrance fee back if I do not see a bear (and also a moose, and perhaps an elk) whilst camping. That being said, if a bear comes to the edge of my tent and pokes its snout in, I may just well have a heart attack and keel over so I guess I should be careful of what I wish for.

Nevertheless, I am beyond excited for this upcoming weekend and should post a few pics up when I get back as I've been a little slack

in doing that for this site seeing as all my photos are posted on the social site known to all as Facebook!

Oh and one random other thing I feel like sharing

- a few days ago I went for a walk along the Bow River and

it was beautiful and sunny.. actually, I rollerbladed... and saw some baby geese. They were so cute and fluffy but of course, no camera, so I am going to go back tonight and hope some of these little baby geese are till there! Super cute!

Fail Blog

2009-05-21T07:35:00.002+10:00

There is this hilarious website which Steph, a girl I work with, introduced me to - here are some hilarious pictures which are on the website and for more laughs you can check out Fail Blog for more laughs.

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

There are loads more hilarious ones on the site but I don't want to post too many of them here. This is what I do at work when I don't have much work to do. $15 an hour to do this. Pretty sweet.

Gripe & Moan

2009-05-19T07:35:00.003+10:00

To all those out there who actually read this thing - an update at long last.

To sum up everything in Calgary - not a whole bunch has been going on. I went to Banff with my room mate and another couple of friends for a weekend which proceeded to be the biggest let-down because they complained about it being too icy and cold to do any form of hike which was pretty much the entire point of why I wanted to go - so wasted my money there even though Banff and Lake Louise itself are quite beautiful. I will try to go back before I come home...

...Yes! Home. July I will be gracing the good earth of Australia with my presence. Would like to stay in Canada longer, however, figure money kind of might be more useful than living in a country that makes it hard for me to teach, thus, not enabling me to earn good coin.

Got told a few home truths recently which were not much fun so even more 'personal growth' to work on which I am pretty sure money and a car would definitely help solve (money would help the lack of being able to do fun things ANYWHERE and car would help because it is a convenience).

Feeling pretty damn grumpy working 12 hour days - 7 days a week, which my friends do NOT understand at all as per shown by sending me texts asking if I want to hang out and getting pissy when I keep saying 'no, I am freaking tired I want to go home and chill out in my apartment which is couchless and pretty much TV-less' - but that is a whole differnet story and let's save one bout of grumpiness for another posting at least.

So, pretty much my whole existance at the moment is geared towards feeling sorry for myself working so much, being a grumpy bitch who is really going to miss Canada but is really looking forward to going back home cos of friends, car, job and money.

Only another 4 more hours of work-induced boredom before I get to go home to sleep before Groundhog Day starts ALL over again.

You wonder why I've not blogged in a while - well may this post remind you of why!

Canadian Musts vs Aussie Musts

2009-04-08T09:07:00.002+10:00

In Canada you must:

Try real maple syrup (don't worry, I'll bring some home)

Take a photo of a moose, beaver, elk, etc

Eat Elk!!!

Use words like 'brutal', 'super', 'sketchy', 'perfect' and 'right on'

Go to the Rockies

Try Beef Jerky

Drink a Caesar - which is tomato and clam juice with some alcohol (vodka?) in it! I have not yet tried one.

Snowboard

Lose a tooth and spit like crazy

In Australia you must:

Eat fish and chips by the beach and feed lone chips to lone seagulls

Go to the beach

See the outback

Contrary to popular belief, do not say 'Chuck a shrimp on the Barbie'

Have a BBQ

Try Fosters and VB (although no real Aussie would drink such crap)

Learn to surf

And probably a shitload more to add to this list but I will keep updating.

Sims

Character Building

2009-04-08T08:57:00.003+10:00

After coming back from my attempt at a run down by the river I am feeling pretty damn unfit right now. My old fitness levels have definitely abandoned me due to lack of nurturing them through my years of living overseas and all my excuses... but now the weather is starting to sun up and I have my cute blue and white Aussie shorts which are determined to see Calgary summer so I am feeling pretty optimistic. Salad for dinner with 'spicy satay' tuna that almost burnt my tongue off.. great start!

I had a job interview today for a school... before you jump to conclusions, I applied for an admin position... since I can't teach here. It's pretty dodgy hours, pretty crap pay ... but ... they have a teaching course that they PAY for us to go on, we just have to commit to those hours in order to obtain the whatever it is the course does. Sooo I kind of figure that it may be worth being in a school environment because it may look my resume a little more desirable when I apply for teaching positions back at home.

Still, the whole job hunting experience has been frustrating and not fun because I am used to getting paid reasonably well - I was getting $18 an hour working in hospitality back in Melbourne, let alone what I was getting paid as a teacher so with what I am getting offered here I feel like I want to die! Still, character building right? It's the experience and what not. To an extent it is, but at the same time, still frustrating.

I am loving living with Kylie though! Has changed my Calgary experience from a negative one to a positive one. We get along well and it's fun! Speaking of, I am going to get ready so we can go to Walmart and find me roller blades!

xo

Who-Do, You-Do, We-Do VOODOO

2009-03-16T08:58:00.003+11:00

I was sure I had some witty and funny story to write about but heavens if I remember what it was actually about so I'm guessing it can't be that entertaining after all..

Random bit of quality information - it has been 171 days since I have moved to Canada... I know, I know.. 'come home' but for some stupid reason ... I can't.. Good luck trying to reason with me as to why not!

You know, I've come to the conclusion that someone has made a voodoo doll of me because I get all these random cuts over my skin that I swear I do not remember obtaining and I've actually been super sober lately (yes, really) so the only logical explanation left is voodoo! Someone has 100% made me into a voodoo doll and randomly creates little cuts and nicks into my skin because there is no way of course I could be doing this myself and not remember... lol! Weird.

Sorry guys not much to report at the moment but I will keep you updated as per requested :o)

Canada Post is a Royal Pain!

2009-02-25T14:52:00.003+11:00

I rediscovered ebay after finding a pair of boots I liked in a shop but refused to pay $185 (plus 5% GST) so one of my friends suggested ebay... Perfect solution, found boots at almost half price and had them shipped to my new apartment because as I am moving out in a couple of days (well, tomorrow) there was no point getting them shipped here..

My gmail account tells me that I have one new message, so I click it open to find that my ebay seller has sent my boots and enclosed a tracking number, so of course, I check the status of my boots... And they had been delivered - but because I am in an apartment, they take all packages directly to the post office and leave a little slip in the letter box telling you where you can pick it up... now of course, I don't have my little slip as I haven't yet moved in so I ring Canada Post and ask what ID I need to collect my mail.

For lack of better description as I can only go by his voice, but the douche bag at Canada Post proceeds to inform me that as I have no proof of address that I cannot claim MY package... to which I say 'that is ridiculous, I have ID with my name on it and have the tracking number and can tell you where the package was shipped from and when'... no dice. He sighs... 'well, I will look into this to see what we can do...' - apparently nothing ... oh so my package gets shipped back to Edmonton in 15 days if I can't produce something with my address on it to confirm... however, I can envision him scratching his head as he ponders this thought.. 'but what you could do is get your current room mate to pick it up for you. Of course, because the package is in your name you would have to authorize her to do so, like write a letter of authorization'... at which point I flipped and pretty much told him that was the most absurd thing I have ever heard because they would give the package to Kylie because she was listed as at that address but wouldn't give it to me even though I had 100% of the other details including ID with MY name on it...

He was getting a bit pissy at this point too and I did feel as though I had to clarify just one thing... and it went something like this and yes, it was a little ridiculous but you need to understand that he was telling me I couldn't pick up my own package due to security reasons (but would let Kylie pick it up?!)... I pretty much argued and asked him if Canada Post checked ID of people who lived in houses when they delivered packages.. he said 'uh no'... and I asked 'well why not?' and apparently if someone is living in the house then it is assumed that they have the authority to be there... I was just being painful now and bitchy so I asked 'well what would happen if a robber was robbing my house but decided to be polite and open the door and took my package?' - silence on the phone - I continued - 'does that mean he has a right to my package?'... I don't think he quite knew what to say but he mentioned something about circles and going round and round so I pretty much told him he was useless and did he even work for the post office I was asking about anyway and he said no... so I asked him for the number of my post office which he told me to google ... asshole ... so I googled it and rang..

Of course, I got someone who couldn't speak English which was great but after another 5 minutes of confusion to determine whether or not my package was there (which it was because the tracking system said so but she was just being frustrating by not speaking English) and told me all I needed was one piece of photo ID!

Ahhh the chaos of trying to pick up the package and stupid people who work at Canada Post!

Lesson be learned - do not put men in charge of anything!

A little bit of pressure goes the wrong way!

2009-02-23T05:55:00.005+11:00

I hate pressure. Air pressure that is! Ever since moving to Calgary my sinuses have gone to shit. Something about Chinooks and the wind from the mountains, whatever, makes my sinuses not very happy and today I'm feeling kind of flat because of this stupid pressure. It doesn't happen every day and I'm sure if I popped a sinus tablet I'd be fine, but, I am against taking unnecessary medication. At least it isn't as bad as Seattle. I found it to be much worse at my mums, I always thought it may have just been my mum who made my head spin ... *kidding* ... but even in Vancouver I had horrible headaches so I'm guessing I didn't spend long enough there to adjust!

The big day arrives on Wednesday when I move into my new apartment! I am pretty excited about this as I have my own bathroom, I can decorate however I want because it is MINE and not someone else's house that I'm moving into, although Kylie will have her stuff there but it's not like someone owns the house and we've moved in like the houses before this.. so... I'm excited. Half my stuff is there now and I've just got my bed and a few random things to move as well so should be fairly painless. I have the cutest shower curtain in the world and this is the teacher coming out in me because it is of little fish with googly eyes! Definitely not what I would have in my own house however because it is so expensive to have a co-ordinated bathroom I figure I can have cute fish for the time

being. Looooooove Walmart!

Another bit of exciting, albeit ridiculous news considering the event I'm excited for is 4 months away ... but I bought my cowboy hat for Calgary Stampede! I went to the mall, saw a hat and decided, heck, why not buy this thing right here and now. So, off I trot to the counter, cowboy hat in hand.. I hand over my magical plastic card which they proceed to swipe... I wait, in anticipation.. accepted... phew, I was worried for a second there when I saw his brow crease in confusion, but soon enough the hat was mine... along with a necklace, earrings, a movie (well, okay so technically I didn't take that home with me, but still!), random house stuff like food storage containers and excited with those purchases, Kylie and I made our way to Moxies, after saying goodbye to Michelle, and proceeded to bitch out boys and girls alike over quite a few Bellinis (her) and Raspberry Temptations (me) be

fore deciding to go home and hit the hay for a reasonably quite Saturday night.

It's Sunday now and my plans for the day include going for a walk to enjoy the niceish weather... considering my room looks like a clothes bomb has gone off, I may even continue tossing things into bags to prepare for M Day but I am pretty sure my enthusiasm won't last for longer than 5 minutes, hence why my clothes are still strewn over the floor right now. Oh, I also acquired a plant from one of my friends who is moving up to Fort McMurray (oil fields) for a few months so now I've been given this daunting task of looking

after Roxanne (see picture)... how do you keep a plant alive...??? I lost fish so I am scared that he will come back only to find Roxanne gone and I will be in b.i.g trouble!!!

London, Fog & Rain

2009-02-20T14:37:00.003+11:00

10 things I miss about the UK...

The ridiculously overcrowded tube in which people are packed in as tight as sardines. I especially miss the stinky armpits pushed up against my nose from the sweaty business men who look like they could use a ten-year free gym membership... eww;
Terrace style housing that are old and run down with cracks in the wall but somehow always managed to feel like home;
Rain and rain and rain and the dusty fog that always manages to accompany this relentless rain;
Ahh the nightlife... the bars, the clubs, the action!! The REDBACK (yes, I know, lame, but some seriously good nights to be had there!)
Music festivals at Hyde Park;
Sharing a room for 8 months with a girl who never washed her sheets and had a dildo hidden in between the sheets... hilarious night when we discovered that!
Random hostel stories that accumulated with travel adventures;
Walking down Oxford Street and getting frustrated at the hoards of people who would stand, awestruck, at the city of London;
Going for walks down the Thames;
My one night job as a bartender on a riverboat that cruised down the Thames!

But all that being said, I loved my time in London, wish I utilised it better but I love my life where I am now and love what I have achieved. I feel so good about how things have turned out (minus the lack of money thing) but I've learnt a lot about who I am and what I want in life..

I can never get London back, nor would I want to - I loved what I had but it was time for me to leave and here I am in Canada and whether I will stay here for years or whether I go home at the end of 2009, whatever choice I make, I will survive - and that is something I often forget. Choices can be made but they are only a choice. Nothing will ever break me down so badly that I can't pick myself back up. I've always been able to jump back up, brush off the dust and start again.

At the end of this month I move into my new house and am excited about that. I have a wicked room mate and she will be a lot of fun. Work is going well, I am still indecisive about what exactly I want to do but welcome to the life of Simone - indecisive is my middle name! Speaking of names, in Canada, I have gotten such a variety of names...

~ Simeron

~ Samantha

~ Tim

~ Simoen

~ Tamera (this one is my favourite!)

And other random names... Apparently they don't understand my accent. Speaking of accents, apparently Janelle (work colleague) thinks my accent is still really thick, Aussie accent. Surprising since I've been gone for two years and even when I went home I felt that my accent wasn't as strong as it once was.... but I guess she has been here six years so her accent would be weaker than mine....

Choices... if only someone could give me a crystal ball and tell me which choice would be the best one to make.

I'm Still a Melbourne Girl

2009-02-12T13:31:00.004+11:00

Yes, I know, slap my wrists and tie me to a chair, I've been slack in the old blogging department but after much demand from... well, okay, my mother, I have taken some time out on this chilly Wednesday evening to continue blogging.

Considering my last post was in December, I am not entirely sure where to begin as so much has happened since then... It freaks me out how fast time has flown because it seems that it was only yesterday that I was traveling Europe, living the high life of the travel bug that I consider myself to be. I miss London more than I ever thought I would and wish I had the chance to go back and do it all again, but knowing what I know now.

February already and to sum up my life since my last post I will list:

I've moved out of my first house, am in my second now and am moving into my third (and hopefully last) place at the end of this month!
My job is going well although I am finding it frustrating at times due to stupid people and I am going to eventually have to write a blog on the stupidity of people I have been interviewing...
Finally ditched that guy in my life who did nothing but drive me insane for all the wrong reasons, can't believe I was stupid enough to go down that road but lesson 110% learnt.
Tried snowboarding for the first time and am able to board down the hill backwards but have yet to master the forward skills.... and have mastered the falling on my ass prerequisite required for beginner boarders.
Surely there is more but I can't think of them right now.

Whilst I am in my listing mood, here is what I miss from home:

Real Milo
Caramello koalas and other Aussie chocolate
The gentle tapping of rain on my window at night while I'm trying to sleep (and the harsh rain that makes you scared your window will break!)
Driving to the beach and having fish and chips, even feeding the chips to the seagulls.
Watching a massive thunderstorm at the beach
My car
All my friends - especially Michelle!!! Zara!!!!! Belinda!!!! and Rita!!!!!
Sand between my toes
My dad
Williamstown
Southbank and the entire city of Melbourne....

Hmmm... lol...

What do I like about Canada:

Hot Canadian accents
My Canadian friends
Being close to my mum
It's pretty here
Snowboarding
Being able to be completely independent
My job
Trucks!

Shitty post, sorry but I have lost my creative writing ability tonight but I will try to update on a more regular basis.

Snow Filled Update

2008-12-04T08:26:00.004+11:00

Wow it's been a while since the last post which I guess has to do with the fact that not alot has been happening... Well, actually, I lie! A lot has happened however I think it best that perhaps I don't share everything I've been up to because... well, let's just say I know how to cause trouble on occasion!

I will say that my hands, in fact, my whole body, is not reacting well to this Calgary coldness. It dries you up something shocking and everybody loves to remind me to moisturise but I never have enough time in the morning because if you know me, I leave getting out of bed as late as I possibly can... in fact, I've been leaving getting out of bed so late for the past two weeks at this job that I have been catching the bus to the hospital I am working at, at 8.20am when I am actually meant to be arriving at work at 8am... So, you can see how I just don't have time to slather and applicate moisturiser to my body in the mornings.. perhaps this will need to change, especially since I have decided to attend the gym in the mornings before work when I start my new job - wow, I think I have a lot to update on in this one blog entry!!

Yes, you read correctly. I am no longer working for the surgeon anymore but I have moved on to bigger and better things and am now going to be working for a 'boutique' recruitment company downtown. This means that the benefits aren't so great (read: non-existant), the salary is low (read: draw salary so pretty much commission only) but then again, there are perks - I am stepping out of my comfort zone and am challenging myself in a career which I am excited about. I will be working in the finance, legal and accounting division and I hear you all going 'oh shit' - my thoughts exactly, but the thing is, I want to get into HR or something eventually - first of all, recruitment skills - brilliant, second of all, learning about legal, finance and accounting skills would be excellent too! So, I am excited and can I just add right now that if you are going to comment with something negative then please don't bother and let me be excited. If this doesn't work out for whatever reason then I will move on but I am sick of people judging this job before I have even started - my theory is that if there are people who have been working there for 5-6 years with this draw salary system then it must work and if it works for them it can work for me. The only reason it won't work for me is if I don't like the job - and in which case, I wouldn't stay!

So what else has been happening in Simone's world...

Our crazy house mate - I don't think I have the finger-typing patience for the extended details right now... She's gotten better, I think the whole yelling, threatening, 'I won't take shit from you' thing just needed to come out and now we're never going to be BFFs but we are all okay now.

I joined a gym - finally - and have been attempting to go but it's so easy to want to go home when it is cold outside... although, I did that last night and got home and was completely bored so ended up wishing I'd just gone to the gym anyway!

There are boy stories, of course, nothing exciting, just that the guys I like aren't interested and the ones who I have no interest in are too available and needy which I don't like... so, yeah that's my life for now!

Oh and I can't believe I forgot to mention this - Kirsty, Courtney, Lisa and I went to a hockey game at the Saddle Dome!! I have included some pics. It was amazing - they skate so fast and get into so many fights. On occasion they bang against the plastic window that is protecting us which managed to scare Kirsty on quite a few occasions. It was strange because they served POPCORN at a hockey game so we were sitting there munching our buttery popcorn which was so oily and delicious!

And, on this end note - guess where I will be going after New Years - LAS VEGAS!!! So excited to be going there! Kirsty and her brother will be heading there after they've done Christmas in Ottowa so Courtney and I are meeting them in Vegas! That means my New Years will be pretty quiet and I won't be doing much (if anything) but I can handle that if I go to Vegas! Christmas will also be a sad and lonely affair as well because the whole house will be gone with the exception of Nathan but I bet he has somewhere he can go soooo it'll just be me... so sad :-(

House and All That Jazz

2008-11-13T16:14:00.002+11:00

Just a quick one tonight to give you a brief update on what is happening in Simone Land!

I'm still in the process of trying to find an amazing job and have an interview lined up on Tuesday for a recruiting company. It's actually my 2nd interview and it is with the founder of the company so hopefully all goes well because this is a job I really want. It'd be a stressful and demanding job but it's what I want. First I would have to get companies to sign up to the recruiting company and once I've got them signed up, I would then need to find candidates to fill the empty positions within the company. A lot of work involved but whoa, it'd be an achievement once I did it all. Every day would not be boring that's for sure. Although at the start it may be a little tough but lucky for me I'm determined!

We now have 2 other people in our house, an Aussie guy who is cool and a Canadian girl who I have a feeing doesn't like me very much. I'm sure the kinks will work themselves out once we learn more about each other. It is always hard at first. I also know I can come across as bitchy towards new people because I am trying to figure them out and while I am trying to figure them out I come across as snobbish. I may need to work on that perhaps. There are loads of things I need to work on. Over trying to figure what 'those things' are because it drives me insane. I just want to be perfect already.

Not missing home, just missing people. You know who you are. And if you are thinking 'is she missing me?' then YES I am missing you! Unless of course I have never met you in my life and then no I'm probably not missing you very much at all.

I manage to always feel like such an uber bitch at times which I hate. I think I'm nice and usually AM nice but sometimes I really don't feel nice. Having a self-doubt day I guess. I just wish I was easy to get along with and laid back but I guess that's not me initially! Gotta be happy with what I've got.

So I am still working at the hospital for a surgeon which is cool although a Dr emailed me today to complain about something the other girl before me did which I had no idea how to change... so I emailed her back and politely told her I had no idea what she was on about and that I was new to the position and appreciated her being patient and understanding while I learnt the new position which I thought was a nice email. I never heard back from her regarding the issue so obviously she decided not to bother. I was wasting her precious Dr time apparently! Ah, such is life.

My goal is to think of at least three positive things that happen each day so to focus on the good events rather than the shitty little stuff that I should just not worry about. Easier said than done!

I am still enjoying Canada and the weather is surprisingly nice. I was expecting really cold weather and snow but it changes quite frequently. Today was nice and on the weekend it was so sunny we could wear t-shirts but it changed pretty quickly and we got cold! We went down to the park though and it was gorgeous!

Will keep you updated on the job front as well as the rest of what is happening on this side of the world. If anyone ever decides to come and visit, we have some awesomely comfy couches!

Miss ya all
S

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T10:51:00.002+11:00

So, yesterday was Halloween... You know how in the movies you see kids dressed up in costumes and they come to the door shouting 'trick or treat' and they are so cute... well, this was like a movie! Kids came to our door and they were adorable. We had one kid who knocked on our door and shouted 'trick or treat' so we moved the candy bowl in front of him and he kept grabbing and grabbing and GRABBING more and more chocolate from our half empty bowl... Kirsty went to move the bowl away and his hands kept coming but this time grabbing air. The parent he was with reminded the child of what do they say now, and the kid looked us straight in the eye and demanded 'I WANT MORE CHOCOLATE' - to which we tried to politely laugh while stuffing the chocolate away before slamming the door shut... okay, bit dramatic and we thought he was cute but oh my goodness, the parents need to work on that child's manners!

Kirsty and I got all dressed up - her in a witches costume and me in a vampire costume although my fangs wouldn't work so I decided against them after the first 5 minutes. We had fun, drank way too much and met a load of people which was great. We had a mini-party at our house which went until around 11 and then we decided we should probably head out... So, we went to this place called The Back Alley and the line was huge so we ended up Downtown at some random place that was dead before heading onto another club called Amsterdam Rhino where I proceeded to talk to the ghost from PacMan... it was fun to see everyone all dressed up in costume! Some people went to extremes and made some amazing costumes..

Can't wait to celebrate again next year!

Just a quick note on the job sitch - still temping but now at the hospital. Have interview tomorrow for call centre job but decided I don't really want it but will take it for consistency with job. Had an interview for a recruiting company on Thursday last week which I think went really well and I need to call the manager so I can talk to the bigger manager who will apparently try to scare me out of the job to make sure I am really right for this company! Bit scared cos this job would be amazingly hard and stressful but really rewarding too!

As for the boy situation, have met a few, been on a few dates which has been fun but so far I haven't really been overly interested in the guys that I have met but, will keep you posted!

Love love love to you all
Simone
xxx

One Month In!

2008-10-30T13:47:00.003+11:00

So, it's been a month since I've arrived on Canadian soil and I've been hunting for a decent job for a while now. Well, probably only the past 2 and a half weeks of serious looking since I managed to score a temping job with an agency but quickly realised that the agency would only give me the shitty jobs no one else wants to do!

I thought I could handle the admin type jobs, to get office experience, but after 3 weeks of doing nothing but make boxes, photocopy, occasionally be allowed the odd job of binding reports if I'm lucky and typing up other peoples terrible handwritten notes, has got to be one of the mindless jobs ever. I always thought doing nothing at work would be fun but I honestly do much prefer the fast-paced, stressful environment because I feel useful! Oh, did I mention I'm on reception for two hours a day - and spend the whole time on Facebook, Gmail or whatever other random site I feel like perusing.

Back to the job situation though - I've had a few interviews and was 'unsuccessful' even though I was 'great but just lack experience' (seriously you should be able to tell that from my RESUME so don't give me that bullshit) and instead of feeling knocked back, it's just making me more determined to get the job I really want.. which is heading into HR. Now, I've been told I need experience... but, there are loads of recruiting jobs which you don't need loads of experience for which is my foot into HR... so, let's hope my interview for a recruiting company tomorrow goes well. But then I also have an interview for another company which is a call centre type job - which would mean - way more friends because it's a large organization, better benefits, less stress and the potential to move up within the company... OR if I got the recruitment job with the smaller company.. it'd mean working with older people, more stressful BUT my foot in the HR door... I hate decisions. Then again I don't even know which (if any) of the jobs I will get so guess I will just need to wait and see.

Missing home a lot lately too. The warm weather, my car, friends, Spring Racing Carnival.... loving it here too, but ... hard without a car and I just feel like I am only half living here because the visa is restricting - like, can't get a car loan (not that I'd want to) and jobs are less willing to take you on because of your visa... but, persistence pays off!

More soon!

xxx

Simone Hearts Calgary

2008-10-19T10:13:00.004+11:00

It has been two and a half weeks since Kirsty and I have shuffled ourselves over to the province of Alberta and set up a life in Calgary. At first, I hated it and was contemplating moving back to Vancouver but then I got a temp job working downtown and doing boring shit but at least it got me out of bed and social which made me happier. I've also been applying for other jobs that I actually want too and have an interview for one job on Monday as a recruiter so cross your fingers for me that I get it! If I don't get a good job in Calgary then I think I will end up moving back to Vancouver earlier than 6 months but we'll see what happens.

Kirsty and I are loving the house. It is gorgeous and even though it is a bit far from downtown it is a nice area and well worth it. We're still looking for our ideal house mate though. There are a few people coming tomorrow to check things out so hopefully one of them pans out okay!

Last night we had a few quiet drinks at home with a couple of guys we'd randomly met. They came to our place and turned out that they were really boring. One of them went home and the other one was Canadian so we convinced him to drive us to a pub down the road... which he did.. when we got there, we drank quite a fair bit more and started speaking to a group of boys from Saskatchewan who were in Alberta for a friends wedding. They invited us back to their hotel to party it up some more when the bar closed so of course we went back with them.

Oh my goodness.. from the moment we made that decision, life got crazy! I jumped in the back of some guys truck, I don't even know if it was owned by the people we were with or a random car! I said I'd drive, which was ridiculous cos I was wasted but I would never have actually gotten behind the wheel. We caught a taxi to the hotel and partied it up with the boys and Jason, the guy who I was getting friendly with, convinced me to go swimming in the hotel pool at 3am. The security guard found us in there and kicked us out so we ended up going on a huge adventure trying to hide from the security guard and ended up behind the scenes of the hotel and in their function rooms and kitchens. Probably not a good idea but it was heaps of fun. We ended up with a few free bottles of soft drink and juice. We ended up crashing with them in their hotel room and got woken up by my phone at 5am and then again at 8am which is when they had to wake up to help set up the decorations for the wedding. So, Kirsty and I left and ended up getting home just after 9 and I slept until 2pm! Excellent way to spend a Saturday. I haven't done that for so long so I didn't mind too much.

More happened that I should probably not say so I'm going to end this now! Overall a fun night!

Sun and Snow and JOBS in Calgary!

2008-10-10T09:47:00.003+11:00

WoW! It snowed yesterday in Calgary - just little tiny snowflakes but it was exciting. Kirsty was more excited than me. My reaction was more "oh shit if it's snowing already then what's it going to be like in 3 months." Still, I knew that before I moved here and it'll be exciting or, really annoying!

I bought a pair of black Airwalks which are totally not my style of shoe but I figure getting to and from work in sneakers is not a good way to go because you end up at work with wet feet. Even though it is okay walking through snow, the snow melts and then your feet end up wet - it is not fun and I learnt that the hard way in London. Not making that mistake twice. So even though they may not be my style they will keep my feet warm and I figure that I can either keep my work shoes at work or pack them in a bag and take them with me each day. Too easy!

Job prospects have been slowly happening... I had an interview with a recruitment agency and they have set me up with a two week block working in admin in some kind of company that is looking for someone with more accounting experience - I'm worried because I have no accounting background at all and I actually suck at maths in any form so here's to hoping they don't expect much from a temp on the accounting side of things. I think it is more just invoices but I guess I'll find out next week.

While I am happy to have had this job lined up for next week, I just went for an impromptu interview as a Recruitment Consultant for another company. I met with the manager and he wants me back for a second interview but he said he'd call tomorrow to line up the time and date which is screwed because he wants to interview Tues/Wed next week which is when I am meant to be in the admin role. I'm not too sure what to do because if I go for the second interview but don't get the job then I am out of work for 2 weeks... tricky!

I've also started getting random calls from other companies that I've applied to so I think I will be fine getting a job. I really want the recruitment position because it pays well and sounds like it will be fast paced and challenging - not to mention completely different from what I have done before.

So, it's all starting to happen. Kirsty and I have been told we can keep the house for a little longer than we expected, we just need to find a third person for the house because the landlord wants to up our rent. I think it'll be fun having a third person in the house. We're hoping for a male to even out the dynamics, I think another female would make the house too bitchy. Not that it is bitchy now but it could get that way with three of us. We'll see.

ROAD TRIP!!!

2008-10-05T11:11:00.003+11:00

Well I have finally decided it is about time that I sat down and spent some time blogging rather than emailing off a zillion resumes to potential employees - but we will get to that later.

I think I have been in Canada for just over a week now and - WOW - I am loving it. I don't think I am coming home for a while considering I can keep getting a visa until I am 30.. I spent a few days in Vancouver and had some amazing weather. I got my bank account and SIN set up which is basically like a tax file number in Australia. When I met up with Kirsty the day before we drove to Calgary she took me to get my mobile phone. I went with Koodo which is a cheap phone provider. Phones aren't like they are back home, they're pretty shitty but hey, it's cheap and it will get the job done. I was shocked at first but then I thought that if these are the only options open to Canadians then it can't be that bad. $25 a month gets me unlimited texts - international too - and 100 minutes, although, stupidly, when people call me on their phones, I still get minutes charged from MY phone - happens on all networks. Canada is a little backwards.

So, the road trip was hilarious! Kirsty and I are going to be so much trouble together.. It's amazing what happened in the whole day drive it took us to get to Calgary.

We saw a dead cow in the back of some rednecks ute with its poor hoof dangling lifelessly over the edge which was one of the two times that Kirsty and I actually stopped talking the entire trip. We were shocked. Poor cow. Oh, did I mention we had hamburgers for lunch? Actually, we stopped off at White Spot and grabbed some burgers and fries (is that more American than Canadian?) but as I was parking the car, Kirsty was excitedly yelling "Maccas" and because she was garbling on about that I kind of accidently forgot to brake and our nice, new, RENTED Chrysler ended up with a nasty scratch on the front bumper.. oops. Luckily they had included a fee that covered us for such stupid incidents.

It was a really long drive and Kirsty and I took shifts. Whenever I was driving, Kirsty would FREAK out and shriek for me to get back in the lane - she had this fear that I would hit the side railings, which I was totally never anywhere near! Whenever Kirsty drove, I was gripping the edges of my seat tightly! Needless to say, neither of us slept on the drive. Neither of us veered onto the Australian side of the road either, we both managed to stay completely alert to the new and weird Canadian driving expectations of driving on the right... Awesome. At one point, I freaked out because I thought someone was driving on our side of the road and was heading straight for us - turns out the other side of the road had an overtaking lane added for a few kms... but a few hours later, the unthinkable actually happened and we really DID have someone veering onto our side of the road because they were overtaking a truck but chose to ignore the double yellow lines ... I acted really calmly and slowed down and they managed to scrape back into their lane in the nick of time. This was the second time that Kirsty and I managed to say zilch because real fear had kicked in. It was quite scary.

Anyways, continuing on our way, Kirsty randomly blurts out "Simone, do you want to steal a traffic cone?" and of course, I say "sure". So, she pulls over and out I jump trying to grab one of these bright orange sticks with the fluorescent white strips at the top... It's amazing - the once empty road was now littered with cars. So I pretend to stand there stretching waiting for them to leave when suddenly a car pulls over on the opposite side of the road.. Kirsty and I were like "fuck, let's hope they aren't coming over to us" because we had a traffic cone sitting right next to our open car door - turns out they just wanted a stretch too and went on their merry way. We hoisted the traffic cone and continued onto Calgary!

We finally reach Calgary at ridiculous o'clock at night and we were exhausted. We were so happy that we were FINALLY there and almost at our awesome house - and drove down the highway for ages trying to find our turnoff... except, we drove about 20 minutes too far. At the time we didn't know this and stopped off at a petrol station to figure out where we had to go and got about 3 people trying to give us directions. I was tired and cranky so was a little rude and walked out while Kirsty got the rest of the details and we backtracked so we could find our house! Another half an hour later and about 4 cop cars later we still had no idea where we were going and Kirsty was freaking out with all the cop cars driving past and pulling people over so we decided to ditch the traffic cone... *sorry sigh*

It seems that after we did this good deed it didn't take us long to find the house and we passed no more cop cars. Damn, we could have had a bright orange traffic cone as a backyard decoration.. We were so excited to finally reach our house and we went looking for the keys which they said they'd put under one of the pot plants... Now, this pot plant was fucking heavy and it was placed on wooden decking, so of course, what happens.... the keys fall UNDER the decking and onto the grass - at 1am! Why would we have ever thought to have brought a flashlight, so we had to use our phones to try and see where the keys had fallen - Kirsty used her camera to try and see if she could see it from the flash and took a million photos of grass.. excellent! We couldn't find the keys on the grass at all - turns out they'd fallen into this super tiny bucket which was full of disgustingly dirty looking stuff... Kirsty got the keys out... :-)

Quickly explored the house which is awesome and jumped into bed.

The house is double story and it's a 1/4 acre block that goes right along to the river. It's a gorgeous view. We have a backyard decking which is great and a massive kitchen. There is an upstairs living area where we spend most of our time and a downstairs living area with a fireplace and really comfy leather couches. Two bathrooms but we're only using the upstairs one because it is nicer and bigger than the downstairs one and will be easier to keep clean. Kirsty is in the master bedroom upstairs and I chose the downstairs bedroom because it was the only other room with a double bed and the single beds are kid beds and really springy and uncomfortable. I want to take the canoe out but it is really dirty and gross and I am scared of bugs hiding in there and getting stuck on the river!

Have more random thoughts about Canada and the differences with home but am running out of battery power and I need to keep you coming back for more now, don't I!?

Hope you are all well back at home
xxx

@ Mum's in Seattle

2008-09-25T01:43:00.001+10:00

After spending six enjoyable weeks being on the go pretty much the whole time, it has been nice to come to mums house and be able to relax and unwind. Jet lag was fun, I spent the first few nights in bed by 6pm and waking up ridiculously early. Still, I am well over that and am starting to get into this time zone. Perfect because it means when I get to Canada my body will already be set to that time zone.

Mum and I have gone shopping, we went to a Chinese buffet which is really nice food considering it is a buffet... Mum took me to a shopping centre where I got a couple of pairs of jeans because it is cold here considering I have been in 30 degree heat for the past 6 weeks. I'm looking out the window of mums house and it is cloudy and cool outside. Guess I will need to get ready for the cold weather. We went to a fair which was similar to the Melbourne Show - except it was smaller and had no show-bags. It was fun. There were rides but it was raining so I decided against going on any. Mum bought fairy floss, I haven't had that in years! I didn't go into Seattle this time around.. we were too busy doing other stuff. No Space Needle for me, but I figure Calgary Tower will be just as exciting!

I decided that I'd get my hair done while I was here because blonde hair with six weeks of brown roots is not a good look. What a bad idea. I told the hairdresser what I wanted done.. but she insisted she was the expert and I therefore ended up with orange looking hair with a bad cut. I was so upset but the colour toned down the next day and turned out okay, thank goodness, although the roots aren't the colour I wanted them to be because she didn't listen to me when I told her my hair finds it harder to hold colour. I hate how they think they know everything just because we aren't trained hairdressers - but I've had my hair died before by someone different therefore, I think I know what happens when my hair gets dyed... Frustrating.

Then, I wanted to get my eyebrows waxed - once again, six weeks of no waxing and no time for tweezing left them looking a little untidy... so, stupidly went back to the same place because mum swears by this salon... Fair enough, mum likes it there, let's give the waxing a go.. All I have to say is I am NEVER going back there again. She took way too long to wax each eye resulting in more pain because she doubled up on waxing parts of my eyebrow and that hurt. She also plucked what felt like 5 hairs at once and it felt like hair was being yanked out of my eyebrow instead of carefully plucked. The worst thing of all was when she decided to CUT the hair on my eyebrows with a pair of scissors. I almost cried. I didn't want my eyebrows snipped. I told her not to cut the other eyebrow hair because when you cut the hair, you cut the point off therefore making the hair appear THICKER which defeats the purpose of getting your eyebrows waxed because you want them to look less bushy. She thought I was crazy but didn't cut the other eyebrow and when I got home I could tell that one eyebrow (the one she cut) looks darker than the one she didn't cut. I was... actually no.. I AM furious. She snipped it before I even had a chance to do anything. The point of my eyebrow will never come back now. Stupid woman. To top it all off I had to tip her because that is what American's do! ergh. Not happy Jan

** Tomorrow I will be in Vancouver!! ** I am a little excited about this but also a little nervous. I will spend 5 days there and am hoping to set up a bank account and stuff before Kirsty and I move to Calgary. I'm not sure how long I want to spend in Calgary at the moment but I'm thinking between 3-6 months... we'll see.

Thinking Thoughts

2008-09-13T04:48:00.003+10:00

Oh! This is my last night in Turkey. While I have enjoyed every moment of the last six weeks I am really looking forward to having ten days where I can unpack my suitcase and not have to worry about where my passport is or having to hand wash my undies in the sink or sharing a room with an annoying American who talks when I am obviously trying to sleep! There have been ups and downs to this trip - there always are. Can't escape that. I am proud to admit that so far there have been no tears. I've come close twice but have kept it under control.

Overall, comparing trips, I absolutely LOVED Spain and had such an amazing time in Spain that I was ready to pack up and go straight to Canada from there because to me, nothing could beat Spain. Even though Turkey was pretty amazing, Spain still kicked Turkey's ass. There were too many ruins in Turkey and the tour didn't allow enough free time or even relaxation time to do as we pleased, we were always literally on the go.

Another reason why I liked Spain so much is because I had awesome people on my tour. Morocco and Turkey there were a few older people and it kind of took the fun level down a bit - I think subconsciously people toned down their behavior to 'respect' the elders. To be honest, by the time I got to Turkey I was over it especially cos in my mind I was already telling myself there was no way it could be as fun as Spain... I miss the friends I made in Spain and half of them are living in London and I wish I could have met them earlier cos they were such good value...

I think my travel bug is complete for a while. I still want to go to Africa and South America but I think I need to start thinking about saving money and... *gasp* my future, so travel plans are on hold at the moment. I should be excited about Canada but I am a pile of nerves. Starting AGAIN. I guess that is part of the reason why I was so excited to go to Calgary with Kirsty because she is a familiar face and it won't be so scary if there is two of us.

Thinking about it, I kind of miss London. Not living there because the weather really was shit but I miss the freedom that I had and I just don't think it will feel the same in Canada. Unless you have lived in London I don't think you can really understand what I mean. Life in London is so totally different from anything else I have experienced. Antipodean central.. which isn't always such a great thing. It was almost like being back at home with all the familiar accents yet at the same time you were so far away from home that these unfamiliar Aussies became so familiar that they become your family. I miss feeling like I was a part of something because at the moment I don't really fit anywhere.. not Australia because I have left yet again... not London because that was always temporary and in some ways very fake... not Canada either... I'm actually really looking forward to finding a new house and a job and settling in one spot for a while.. Give me a few months and I'll be hanging for another holiday.. always!

Oh and last surprise.. I am actually considering teaching in Canada.. I think this realisation came because I am scared of finding a job outside of teaching because it is out of my comfort zone... funny how I can travel the world independently yet when it comes to thinking about a job outside of teaching I get nervous. Why is that?

Cappadocia

2008-09-12T04:52:00.003+10:00

Once upon a time with a good friend of mine, we created lists of things that we wanted to do. Some things were random like... buying a new camera or going for a drive down the Great Ocean Road.... I think we even had strawberry picking which we did together... and I'm not sure whether this was on that particular list or if this was on a new list but I wanted to go hot air ballooning. What better chance to go hot air ballooning then in Cappadocia in Turkey! Apparently this is meant to be the 2nd best spot in the world. The best spot is meant to be somewhere in France.

Anyways, up we get at 5.30am and head down to the ballooning site where they are preparing our balloons. Coffee, tea and cakes are there for us to munch on whilst we wait but it's too early for sweet stuff so I hop around taking photos of the balloons being inflated. I was really excited. Our balloons were ready and 20 people can fit in each balloon. The way the baskets are set up, they are spilt into four sections with five people in each section. There is a section in the middle for the pilot with two sections on either side of him. To get into the basket you have to climb in and stupidly I wore thongs (flip flops, sandals, whatever) which kept trying to slip off. Interesting times. I thought that it'd be a little bit more exciting than it actually was. We just floated up into the sky gently and stayed quite close to the ground although we did go up quite high a few times which made my legs feel a little bit weak and I grasped onto the rails just that little bit tighter - because of course, grabbing onto the rails tighter would totally help me if the balloon actually fell... Funny how small things make you feel more secure even though in reality it would do nothing to help you.

The flight was around 1 hour and the view was spectacular. I will upload a video when I get a chance and you will see what I'm talking about!

Cappadocia is such a cool place because there are so many rock formations thanks to volcanic activity (once again, tuned out to tour guides loooong monologue so only have a vague idea) but a long time ago people carved into the rock and created man-made caves. They lived in these caves until around the 60s when I'm pretty sure they were forced out. We went to an open air museum where we could walk around the caves and see how they used to live. It would have taken them ages to carve out the rocks. They had made stairs in the rocks and also foot-holes so they could climb up to other levels.

We also went to an underground city which has a similar idea to that of the mountain caves except this was underground! Now, this was spectacular. They had dug up to 35m underground and set up life underground. They only used the underground system during the winter months and in summer they lived on land and worked on the farms to provide the food for the winter. According to the Turkish, there are around 36 discovered underground cities but there are expected to be 200 in total. Some of them are obviously destroyed and have been caved in but the one that we saw was really well preserved. The way they set up the ventilation shafts and used them also as a well is just sheer brilliance. Very clever people, but seriously, I don't know why they just couldn't have lived on land and just made a fire instead of spending all this time digging 35m underground... It was so cold too - very chilly. Claustrophobic too. The tunnels were steep and very narrow in some points which was to stop the enemy from gaining easy access to their city.

Its only been two days and I am already struggling to think of what we did in Cappadocia. Today we went to the Ihlara Valley and went on a baby hike down the canyon. It was gorgeous. Huge canyons on either side of me and in the middle were gorgeous trees and a stream running through it. Very pretty. We saw a turtle and he came out of the water before getting scared by the 15 of us surrounding him so he scurried back into the water. Lunch was spent sitting on the stream - literally. There had been mini platforms built over the water and we could sit on them. The only problem was the wasps. I hate bugs and creepy crawlies so everytime one came near me I let out a mini shriek... only when they came and landed right beside me. I think I squealed twice. Yes, I know it is childish and they are just bugs and I won't die if I got stung but I still don't like the thought of that happening and I don't know if I am allergic so yes, I am scared. Anyways, one of the older guys on the tour, I think he is 55-56, told me off. When I squealed the very first time he said to me in a dad-like voice 'SIMONE. SETTLE. DOWN' and I told him I don't like the wasps. He replied that they wouldn't hurt me and then another one came near me, I didn't shriek but I was moving and obviously trying to make the wasp disappear and he shouted at me again. I felt ridiculously like a child and felt annoyed that he was speaking to me like that. Sure, it may not have been very adult-like to be scared of a wasp and I never said that it was a 'mature' reaction but nevertheless, I bet he would not have spoken like that to one of the other older people on the tour if they had reacted in such a way and I think that is what annoyed me the most.

I just don't have the patience for the people on this tour. I am tired of touring and spending time in hotels. Don't get me wrong, I have loved every minute but there comes a point when I have reached my tolerance level and I think I hit that point a week ago. I don't want to have someone come into the room and try to talk to me about pointless shit every night or to knock on the bathroom door after I've been in there barely a minute to ask how long I'm going to be or all the other annoying shit that room sharing brings. Once again, this just comes down to tolerance levels and I've lost patience.

I'm also feeling really unsure about things at the moment. I think that's just because I'm tired and finding it hard to focus. I resigned from my job at CSC and I feel relieved but now I am thinking about teaching in Canada which totally contradicts EVERYTHING I have ever said about Canada and even in general. I still don't know what I want and sometimes I think that at 24 I should know exactly what I want. It seems like everyone else knows and I am stuck in some limbo land still trying to figure it out. Whatever 'it' is. I know that isn't true and it's only been the last two days I've felt like this and I think it is also partly because I have let a few comments that people have made get under my skin even though they are nothing comments.

On a final note, there is this stupid fly buzzing around the hotel room and I can't catch it and it is really bugging me... pardon the pun. How many days does it take flies to die cos this one has been in here for 2 days now! Ugh!

Simone
xx

Elevator Love

2008-09-09T04:51:00.004+10:00

I just got stuck in an elevator in our Turkish hotel! Seriously! There were four of us in the lift and were just about ready to push the number buttons to go up to our floor level when the big, fat Lebanese girl decided to squish in with us... As soon as she went to get in, alarm bells were ringing in my head but what could I say?

We went up half a floor and I was watching as we fell straight back down.. but we fell a little below the bottom floor and this meant the lift door would not open as we were not in the correct lift alignment.

So we spent 10 minutes in the lift, cramped in together, sweating like pigs. Mark was screaming and swearing his head off at the Turkish hotel workers complaining because he couldn't believe this hadn't happened before and they couldn't fix it IMMEDIATELY. I was laughing hysterically cos I thought it was funny - I would not have thought it was as funny if we'd been stuck in between floors or stuck on any floor other than the bottom floor. The fat Lebanese girl was huffing by the door, pounding it as though her pounding would somehow make the door magical open.

A few of the guys we went to dinner with were standing outside the lift door giving us a commentary on what was happening. One of the girls, Amanda, made us laugh cos she told the others, very seriously, to make sure we were updated while she went out for a cigarette. Thanks Amanda!

So we get rescued 10 minutes later and decide to climb the stairs to our fourth and fifth floor rooms! I get to my room and bang on the door and my American room mate answers. I tell her my story and she goes 'oh no' and then proceeds to talk about her day.. I'm like 'seriously, we were just STUCK IN THE LIFT' and she said nothing. So, now I am ignoring all her rubbish because she is still talking to me whilst I am typing this and I hate when people try talking to me when I am obviously not interested in what they are saying.

Overall, interesting experience that has never happened to me before and of all places for me to get stuck in a lift, it happens in Turkey!

Ruins and ruins and ruins and MORE ruins...

2008-09-08T21:17:00.004+10:00

I am so sick of seeing ruins. Seriously they all start to look the same after a while and then our tour guide talks for 15 minutes about each area of the ruins and my attention span does not last that long so I tune out and end up getting bored. Still, today we went to an old Roman amphitheater which was brilliant because the acoustics were great... some people from our tour climbed to the top while our tour guide was giving his spiel and when they came back down they said they could hear him from all the way up the top. Go the Romans!
We have also visited a Hellenistic amphitheater somewhere else in Turkey which was quite different to the Roman one. Hellenistic amphitheaters focus more on the background scenery whereas Roman amphitheaters focus on the acoustics. Even the structure is different because Hellenistic amphitheaters are half-moon shaped to show the background scenery whereas Roman amphitheaters are a complete circle to maintain the acoustics I guess. I had fun attempting to whistle and speak in the Roman one and you could hear people so clearly no

matter where you were standing - I decided now was not the time to bitch about the annoying American I'm room sharing with. Even when people were walking up the stairs, you could hear it echo. It was fun.

Other news... I am extremely dehydrated from sunning myself out on the gulet deck and am trying to keep my water intake under control to re-hydrate. I am enjoyin

g sitting in the air-conditioned hotel room because to be honest I am getting sick of constantly being round people 24/7, especially the annoying American. She asked if she could share a room with someone else last night so she doesn't like me either... but then had the audacity to ask if she could borrow my laptop.. I told her a bit fat NO. Well, I kind of hinted that I didn't want her using it and she got the hint...

This is the view from the Hellenistic Amphitheater

I'm meant to be meeting up with red-headed Pommy Tim later to go for a walk around Antalya but he hasn't come to find me so I think he's ditched me. He is hilarious. He is a red-headed Brit who is SO uncoordinated that he provides such a fantastic source of entertainment for the bus. Today I went to get on the bus only to hear that he'd managed to lock his key in his room with all his luggage inside... anyways, his door finally gets opened and we're all on the bus waiting for him... He comes down with his whole set of luggage only to get on the bus to find us all laughing hysterically because we are staying at the hotel one more night - and he'd checked himself out... nevermind the sunscreen smears that are constantly on his face.. he works with computers and he is the typical stereotype of a computer geek... glasses and hunched over, very amusing. If he read this though he probably wouldn't think it so amusing. Oh, he is 33.. yeah, he missed the lessons on personal grooming too. There are constantly bits that he has missed shaving over a couple of days so he has parts of growth that are stubbly and others clean-shaven. I don't understand how anyone can be THAT unco?!

I love to observe others and find watching people quite entertaining. I was waiting for a friend at Liverpool Street Station a few months ago and she was running late so I found a seat and sat and watched people and the time flew by. Sometimes I chuck my iPod in and I often forget that iPods do not make me invisible and get caught out people watching... hmm.. I would not work well as a spy.

Gonna end this now cos it has turned into a bit of a ramble post.

Cruising the Mediterranean

2008-09-08T05:38:00.003+10:00

The past three days have been spent sailing the Med. I got the choice to either continue on with the group or go off and do a gulet cruise for three days. I had to decide before I went on the trip so I decided to go on the gulet which is a kind of boat. Turns out I was quite unlucky in choosing this option because it meant I missed out on Saklikent Gorge which is one of the reasons I chose to do the 15 day tour and not the shorter tours - my tour company told me 4 times that I would be able to do both if I chose this option yet the day before the cruise I found out that this was a lie. So, they will be receiving a pretty horrible letter from me because I was really disappointed about missing out on the gorge.

Luckily, the gulet was really relaxing and I had a fantastic time cruising around the Med and we stopped off quite a lot to have swimming time. We were able to just dive out of the boat and use our noodles and inflatables to entertain us whilst swimming in the dead sea. There were times when one of the people from my tour who were also doing the gulet cruise freaked me out by saying they saw jelly fish and laughed so much they almost drowned when they saw me trying to paddle quickly back to the boat...

Oh and it was hilarious because we would hear a 'put-put' boat which was amusing in itself because it really did sound just like put-put and these small boats came up to our gulet and each boat had something different. There were ice-cream boats which were ridiculously expensive (7 TYL for a magnum which is the same in dollars), other boats had Turkish pancakes, another boat sold slices of cake... we saw one boat selling grapes. There were boats with banana boats on the back and parasailing which they were coming up to us asking if we wanted. It was fun. We tried to bargain with them to get cheaper ice-creams but they wouldn't budge so we ended up without. No way was I going to pay the equivalent to $7 AUD for an ice-cream.

There were five of us from my original tour and six other randoms which was cool. I learnt how to play 'cheat' which is a card game and I discovered that I suck at card games but it was fun. We spent many hours playing cards when it got too dark for us to swim. I lazed about and spent my days swimming and sunbaking on the deck. There was a hammock which I lay about on a few times but mostly I just had my iPod in or a book and was either on the wooden deck or on a cushy sunbaking pad.

A very enjoyable time although a few of the girls got bored. I really enjoyed just kicking back and doing absolutely nothing. Having the crew cook for us was good and we had an amazing meal of roasted eggplant with minced meat on top which was delicious. I've decided I really like eggplant so may need to incorporate that into my cooking when I get 'home'.

I keep saying home but I really don't have a home... It's a strange feeling being in limbo. I like not having plans though. I have just resigned from CSC which is a liberating feeling. I knew I was always going to resign but now that I've sent the email I feel really relieved, another weight off my shoulders. At the moment I'm not even scared because in my mind, reality is so far away even though it is actually only a few weeks...

Stay tuned...

Pamukkale

2008-09-08T04:53:00.005+10:00

Wow this was such a fun day. We went to a place called Pamukkale which in Turkey means 'Cotton Castles'. When you see the photos you will understand why! It was amazing because underground there is water which has calcium in it and when the water runs over land it leaves calcium deposits which ended up creating calcium rocks. The Turkish call them the Cotton Castles because they are such a pure white and I guess, look like cotton.

We got to walk around this place and paddle our feet in the calcium waters which apparently have 'healing properties'. Doctors have recommended some people to go to these mineral springs to help them with their ailments. I kind of felt a bit yuk walking through the pools because sometimes the bottom was a bit squishy and if you know me, even in the tiniest, you will know that squishy things under my feet is not something I consider highly fun - if you have ever seen me around the beach and seaweed you will know exactly what I am talking about. Still, once I semi got over the squishy factor and pulled several disgusting faces I enjoyed paddling around in the pools. After that, I wandered up to the 'Ancient Pools' which cost 20 TYL to get into which is roughly the equivalent to $20 AUD so I didn't go in the pools but I took a few photos cos you were allowed to do that and watch everyone in the pool. It was cool because there were marble columns inside the pool and old ruins. I think it actually used to be an ancient bath but now they have 'safened' it up for people to use. Absolutely a gorgeous spot and one of the highlights so far.

After this I don't remember where we went... oh, Fethiye. We continued our drive down to the coast and for dinner we went to an amazing seafood market where we could choose exactly what fish we wanted to eat (they were already dead not swimming in a tank) and four of us went in together and got two types of fish - bream and bass - and 3 calamari and two prawns (cos only two of us wanted one) and shared that. Once we bought our fish we took it to a restaurant that was in the seafood square and told them whether we wanted it grilled or fried. They charged 5 TYL for cooking our food and for this price also provided the yummiest bread ever and served up a decent salad. I think in the end the meal cost me about $15 AUD which is pretty good for seafood. Even if I had wanted to buy more seafood it wouldn't have cost me more than $20 AUD which is a bargain. It was amazing. Definitely one of the yummiest meals I have had in Turkey so far.

Comparing cuisines - I think they all vary and each are wonderful in their own way. I found Spain to have the least tasty food, mainly because we were eating in touristy places where the food isn't the greatest - although on occasions we had brilliant meals. It's just that we were on the go so much we didn't have the time to find a good restaurant, we had to quickly choose. Morocco was great with its tagines although I was sick of meat by the end. I thought there'd be more seafood in Turkey but I haven't really had that much. I will definitely be incorporating more fish into my diet when I get 'home' because I forgot how good fish actually tastes!

As for my tour - definitely not as good as Spain in regards to the company. I miss my Spanish crew. We had an awesome time. The people on this tour range greatly in age. We have quite a few older, married couples, a few younger couples, a pair of old ladies (like, I'm guessing 60-70) and a few people traveling on their own. At first, I was sharing a room with this fat Lebanese girl who I did just not get along with. She was really difficult to talk to and I'd say something and then she would throw in a completely random comment as though I hadn't even spoken. I don't like that. I don't think anyone really does like that. I eventually stopped talking to her by the second day because I can't be arsed dealing with that. I also turned quite childish and took the key out of the slot while she was still in the room and that meant no lights for her. Really it was just payback for the day before when she took the keys out while I was using the bathroom and ended up in darkness. She also has a fat waddle. You know how fat people start to not be able to walk normally after a while and develop the waddle.. well she has one of those. On the first day we met we went to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul together and she tried to look at something I was looking at but fat people seem to forget that they actually DO take up a larger amount of space than normal sized people. I actually get quite frustrated when they do this because they invade my personal space bubble when they don't realise that just because their head wants to go somewhere their body is actually rounder than normal and they squash up against me and I really don't like it. Actually it kind of freaks me out a lot. Yes, possibly a weird, random thing to get freaked out about but I don't like an unknown persons fat squidge smushed against my body just because they want to see what I'm looking at. That's what hands are for. I'll pass it over to you if you want to look at it, just don't squash me!

Luckily we are now not sharing a room and I am now stuck with an annoying American... I seriously cannot wait for my OWN bed without someone next to me snoring their head off or coughing every 30 seconds...

25 April 1915 - Gallipoli

2008-09-02T04:11:00.002+10:00

Today I was in Gallipoli. I learnt a lot of things that I never knew, which I guess is the point of traveling, but at the same time it sometimes makes me feel like I should know more about the history of my own country. I don't even know where to start. Gallipoli was quite a haunting experience because I stood there looking at the most amazing view of ANZAC Cove but my head was going back to April 25, 1915 and thinking of the onset of slaughter that would begin that day.

4.30am and the Australian and NZ troops were heading to a certain spot on the coast but the current swept them 2km away from their intended destination so when they reached land, instead of reaching land that had easy terrain they got land that had steep cliffs up to 800m high. Being brave Aussies and Kiwis the 2000 soldiers attempted to climb up these steep cliffs - but even though they caught the 200 Turkish soliders unaware, the Turks had a huge advantage because they were up the top of the cliffs so could easily see their targets - hence how on that day many Aussies and Kiwis (ANZACs) lost their lives in a pointless battle.

This battle went on for approximately 290 days (I can't remember the exact number) with a quarter of a million British allies lives lost and a quarter of a million Turkish soliders lives lost.

The whole war was pointless because neither side achieved its objective. For the British side, this was to secure a path to Russia which allowed better access to the country and to have more of a open area to attack Germany (once again, details semi-fuzzy and this is where the 'I wish I were smarter and could retain facts better' side of me kicks in) but it was something about Russia. Mind you, Russia were not even a part of this... it was Britain trying to show their alliance to Russia I guess. Whatever way you look at it, both sides failed miserably which made me question why Gallipoli was even such a big deal... as if reading my mind one of the people on my tour started to explain... he said that even though neither side 'won', both sides fought damn hard and as well as they could for what they believed was right. The Turks managed to gain control of the troop that was 10 times the size of theirs even though they were caught unaware. The Aussie and Kiwi troops never gave up no matter how hard things got.

On the documentary we watched it mentioned how soldiers in the trench would die and automatically the next soldiers in line would go and fill their spaces without hesitation - even though they knew they would face the same fate. They knew they would die for their country and they accepted it. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the letters that the troops wrote to their loved ones back home because they didn't know if they would ever see them again but the letters that we heard read on the documentary the men seemed to remain so strong.

Nothing could prepare me for the images of what went on in the war though... barbed wire in the water, shrapnel and wounds... imagining the cries of pain of the injured soldiers.... in the trenches that the soldiers dug out we were told that there were 3m deep of bodies in there. Even on the ocean shore there were bodies scattered everywhere and you could not even see the sand... to get anywhere you had to walk over dead bodies. With dead bodies also came flies and disease. Many soldiers got sick from the stench and could not eat. They also had diseases like typhoid, diahorrea, etc.

What amazed me was how they climbed up the steep hills and through the shrubs. It would not have been easy. They have to be such brave people and they do deserve to be commemorated because even though I disagree with why they were at war they were fighting with a passion that ran deep.

So, back to my point which I think I skipped - ANZAC Day and Gallipoli is to commemorate ALL the soldiers who lost their lives that day - British, Australian, New Zealand, Turkish - because towards the end the ANZACs and Turks were giving each other gifts and passing on messages to each other - whilst still fighting - but out of a horrible war came the friendship of these countries. Their land is scattered with the remains of our bodies - and there was a memorial that basically stated something along the lines of -we are your mother now because you have lost your lives on our land and now we will keep you in peace- which I think is sweet because it is I guess part forgiveness from the Turks and acceptance for that which has happened.

So much is running through my head and I can't be bothered re-reading this to check if it makes sense and flows so if this is all over the place, sorry! I will add more if and when I remember but feel free to comment and add information for me because mine is quite scattered!

The start of Turkey - Istanbul

2008-09-02T04:07:00.000+10:00

Istanbul is actually not a bad city! I thought it would be like Morocco with no major shops and dirty, dingy streets. Okay, the streets weren't exactly the nicest but they were well made streets and Istanbul even has trams... that surprised me. Apparently though the trams are quite new. I went to the Grand Bazaar which is known for its jewelry and many other items of shopping... remembering that I am on a BUDGET... yeah.. well... after the Grand Bazaar I walked away with my budget completely shattered to smithereens... I think I spent about 3/4 of my budget in one day.. and what did I buy, I can imagine you asking - pfft... let's just say that yes, I got ripped off.. but my theory is I LOVE what I bought and so far on this trip I haven't spent loads on tacky souvenirs so that's how I justified my lack of budgeting control. Oh and I also loved the shop assistants who had conversations with my breasts... I really liked a piece of jewelry at one of the shops but the assistant would not look at my face so I decided against trying to even barter with him!

Istanbul isn't the kind of city that gets my pulse racing though. I went to the Blue Mosque which was actually really nice inside. I'm cathedraled and churched out from Europe travels and most recently Spain and thought I was also mosqued out but the Blue Mosque was cool. Lots of bluish tiles inside and a huge dome in the middle. Very pretty. You had to take your shoes off to go inside so the mosque stunk like smelly feet which was not overly pleasant... Mosques are meant to be sacred to muslims - and in Marrakesh, the main mosque there is not open to anyone who is not a muslim because it is a sacred place to them... Turkey does not appear to have that same level of commitment as Morocco!

We also went to an underground cistern which was cool. It was dark and there was lots of water and I don't think it is still used today as anything other than a tourist attraction but it was fun to see. There are 300 pillars used to secure the cistern and towards the back there are two medusas heads which no one knows why they are there. It is thought that they were brought from an ancient building from the late roman period.

I skipped the Hagia Sofia which was another mosque/church thing that I honestly never even heard of so I figured I could skip it. I figure the main attraction in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque - seen that so not going to pay to see another mosque which looks the same. I found an internet cafe and checked the damage to my bank balance and the guy behind the counter tried to rip me off for the internet cafe, telling me I owed 4 Euro when it stated that the minimum charge was 2 Euro for an hour - and I was less than an hour... so I told him so and he looks at me, huffs and says 'oh ok then, 3 Euro'... lol, I had to BARGAIN to pay the SET price at this internet cafe... I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh.

After that I found the group and we spent what felt like forever at Topkapi Palace - but it had nice gardens and good views of the city. We looked in some rooms that had pretty, sparkly jewelry and I saw an 86 karat gold ring with diamonds. Pretty. I'm not a gold girl though... I prefer white gold or silver. I used to like gold but not recently...

Back to the hotel after this exhausting day and after dinner a few of us decided to head out and smoke some shisha... was I up for that? Like you even need to ask! Apple flavoured shisha is fun to smoke. It can get harsh though and is not fun for the throat but when they make it right and it's smooth it is so good. Not a late night because tomorrow - Gallipoli!

Ibiza

2008-08-29T03:35:00.001+10:00

WoW! Yesterday we left Granada and made our way to the party island of Ibiza (pronounced I-bi-tha) and that was an all day trip so we arrived at our hotel around 7.30pm. Plenty of time for us to grab some dinner before returning to our rooms to shower and freshen up before hitting our first club in Ibiza.

Hed Kandi were playing at El Divino so we decided to start off at a bar on 'shark street' which is a street lined with bars that clubbers go to before heading out. You can buy tickets here for all the clubs as well as having pre-drinks. The bars also have guys walking around selling drugs (they are discreet as drugs are not legal in Spain, even on Ibiza, but because police can't control the drug situation they kind of tolerate it) and a parade each night to promote the different clubs.

In Spain, people do not tend to leave for a club any earlier than 1am... we struggled with this concept before Ibiza but as our tour guide said, if we wanted to go and stand alone like a loser in this massive club waiting for other people to arrive, go ahead, but we'd be standing alone for hours. So, we stayed at this bar for a while and enjoyed the pumping atmosphere of Ibiza. There were transvestites walking around in skimpy clothes, topless chicks promoting some of the clubs and big banners being held up. It was interesting.

To get to El Divino we caught a ferry across to a small island a few minutes away and walked to the club. It was so relaxing... the club wasn't as spectacular as I thought. It was small and the lighting was average considering it was Ibiza - I was expecting something huge but El Divino isn't as popular as some of the other clubs I'm going to so in a way I shouldn't have expected too much. The music was quite commercial which surprised me because I was expecting something a little harder and not as touristy as it was. Still, people went nuts and it was a really fun night. Think I ended up at home around 6am...

I woke up at 11am and pottered around for a while until it was ready to go to another club. Everyone was heading to Pacha to Flower Power. I wanted to go elsewhere but I followed the group because I didn't want to go to a club on my own. So, Pacha it was and it was a good night. Lots of 60s, 70s and 80s music which surprised me for Ibiza, I never thought I'd hear that in a club here. It was a great night, another late one and I woke up around 11am and went for a wander down the streets before coming back once again to get ready to go out.

We went to this place called Cafe Del Mar - it is really famous because it is right along the beach and plays really chilled out music which starts to pump up as the night goes on - to try and pump you up to go out clubbing. It really works because I was so exhausted and ready to go to bed but then the music started pumping up and I was ready to go out again! The point of going to Cafe Del Mar is to watch the sunset and have a chilled out afternoon. The sunset was gorgeous and everyone clapped after the sun went down. That night, I really wanted to go to Tiesto at Privilege but majority were going back to Pacha to see Roger Sanchez so once again I followed the crowd but I have a little regret I did that now... still, Sanchez was amazing and yet again, another late one. Our tour ended the next morning and the girls I'd become friends with had left Ibiza so I moved to my new hotel and.. wanted to go out again that night but decided sleep before Turkey would be the best thing!

I have been in Ibiza for 4 days and have still not been to the beach. I am just about to go to the beach now and then maybe later I will head back to Cafe Del Mar and watch the sun set one last time before I leave Ibiza.

Yes, drugs and partying are a huge thing on this island but the beaches here are meant to be pretty cool and it is not as bad as some people have made it out to be. I would love to come back here and party some more because I have had the best time here. In fact, I have had the best time in Spain and would be totally ready to finish my traveling now because I am exhausted and I feel that Spain has just been so amazing that nothing else can beat it at this stage.

Gibraltar, Monkeys and Granada

2008-08-29T03:34:00.000+10:00

Oh wow. I loved going back into English speaking land! Gibraltar is part of the UK because in 1704 the British managed to secure this land during the War of Spanish Succession and it is now a military base and a fortified town. There is a huge rock here which is called the Rock of Gibraltar which is huge and if it is a clear day you can see across to Morocco - unfortunately, when we went it was not a clear day so we did not see Morocco. We went up the rock by taxi and stopped off at some caves which were cute... I've seen better. The best thing was seeing all the Barbarian Monkeys! They were so cute (and dirty) and there was one who was eating a magnum and then a man threw a banana at another monkey and he unwrapped it SO fast and started eating his banana. I had to take a photo. We then went further up the mountain and stopped to get photos with the monkeys. One jumped on my shoulder and I couldn't help but shriek because the taxi driver we went with quite liked telling me that the monkeys were not potty trained so I kind of wanted this monkey off my shoulder quite quickly after that. Still I got a couple of classic photos with the monkeys and ended up with dirty paw prints on my back. We headed back down the rock and managed to get some very oily but yummy fish and chips for lunch.

Gibraltar was great because everyone spoke English and there were English phone boxes and post boxes and even English shops. It was nice being back in England for a few hours. We even needed our passports to cross the border because the Spanish obviously do not recognise Gibraltar as their own.

We then continued onto Granada. By this stage I was exhausted with the tour and did not enjoy Granada as much as I could have. We went to the Albaicin which was where the first houses of Granada were first built because they were in prime location. We walked through the narrow streets and saw the pretty houses and once again, flowers hanging from balconies before going to La Cartuja which was a monastery. Kind of cool but also I was over it so wasn't overly fussed. Back to the hotel once again and in the afternoon we went to the Alhambra which was kind of like the alcazar in Cordoba. There was too much walking involved and though it was very pretty I was just not in the mood and was cursing myself for not staying by the pool at the hotel. Everyone was wrecked and needed a good night of sleep... which we all did before the loooong drive the next day to... IBIZA!!!

Seville

2008-08-29T03:29:00.000+10:00

This was one of my favourite places. I really liked it here. It was bloody hot and I was sweating like a pig but it was such a pretty place. We went to some fountain to get our group photo taken and then we headed to the Seville bullring... I loved it! Pete, our tour manager, told us the story behind bullfighting and tried to convince us bullfighting is not as cruel as we think... I'm almost convinced... He said that the bulls who get lead into the ring lead fantastic lives. They spend six months of the year with the boys and six months of the year with the girls.. and can get friendly with whoever they feel like... unlike the bulls who are bred primarily for slaughtering who live in horrendous conditions and don't get the freedom to roam the open fields and smell the fresh air. The bullfighters also live a year longer than the bulls who are slaughtered and Pete said that the slaughtered bulls get a bullet to the back of their brain and the bulls who are lead into the ring get 15 minutes of torture but they have lived a life of bliss... as opposed to the bulls who get slaughtered who have just let a shit life all round and end it with a bullet. I wouldn't say I like the idea of bullfighting but if I had to choose which life I'd rather lead I think I'd choose to be a bullfighter as opposed to a slaughter house bull.

Bulls primed especially for bullfighting are wild bulls. They have never seen people before and when they get into the ring they will charge at anything. There is this man, I think he is called a madagar, and he is responsible for killing the bull. They don't just kill the bull, there are a series of stages they must go through before the bull is killed. I can't remember all the stages but basically the end stage is the final stage where the bull must be killed. Someone of high importance within the crowd, if they are impressed with the way the madagar has killed the bull then he holds up a certain coloured handkerchief and the madagar can cut off the bulls ear. If the person of importance is semi-impressed with the way the madagar has killed the bull then he holds up a different coloured handkerchief and the madagar is allowed to cut off the tail. The madagar is allowed three attempts at killing the bull - and if he doesn't manage it by the third time then he is deemed unworthy to kill the bull and either another person is brought into the ring to kill the bull or he is shot because they don't want the bull to suffer more than it has to. If the bull kills the madagar then that bull is killed and so is its mother because they don't want that bloodline alive anymore. I think this rule is crazy because they breed the bulls to kill them but as soon as a bull kills a madagar they want to destroy its bloodline. The Spanish love this sport and pay quite a lot of money to go and see a bullfight. I think a bullfight would be way too gory for me to watch because bulls DO die in front of you. It all sounds okay written down but seeing it actually happen would freak me out.

In Seville, there is the third largest cathedral in the world. I had to go inside because I've been to 3 out of 4 of the largest cathedrals in the world so I figured I may as well go into this one. In order, here are the 4 largest cathedrals in the world...
1. Saint Peters Basilica in Rome
2. St Pauls in London (although I haven't been inside)
3. Cathedral in Seville
4. Domeo in Florence, Italy.

Inside the cathedral there was Christopher Columbus's tomb... so, I took a photo, had a quick look around the cathedral and headed out to find a tapas bar. I am really over cathedrals. Yes, they are pretty but once you've seen a few of them you do get over them pretty quickly. We had the best tapas and Sangria in Seville. We were going to get Starbucks because it was close, air-conditioned and we were beyond hot and sweaty but there were no seats so we ended up at this delicious tapas bar. Expensive but well worth it. We got some anchovies in oil and vinegar which sounds gross but was actually nice, prawn salad, some beef dish, squid... etc. The choice is endless and different at each tapas bar. Our tour manager told us that the best way to tell a good tapas bar is if there are a lot of napkins on the floor and lots of locals. This was a decent tapas bar though so no napkins on the floor. We also had the best sangria. Definitely worth the money spent.

That night was flamenco dancing which overall was terrible. I spent the night talking to the other people on my table because they were as bored as me and we kept looking at our watches wondering when we'd get to leave.

Spanish Spree

2008-08-29T03:25:00.000+10:00

Spain is amazing! I am having so much fun. I'm actually feeling a little lame at the moment because half of the tour group is going out partying tonight but I am staying at the hotel to get some much needed sleep... We're saving ourselves for the clubs in Ibiza... and I am getting this stupid Contiki Cough... it is a pretty nasty cough and so far I only have an itch so I am going to buy some antibiotics to prepare for the worst.. you can buy them over the counter here and I figure I may get a few packets in case of getting sick in Canada, I won't have to worry about seeing a doctor. Yep, I am now a pharmacist...

As for Spain itself, I am loving it. This country is amazing. The history, the culture, the clubs... it seems as they don't do anything half-arsed. The Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona is amazing and was designed by a famous architect called Gaudi. He was really into gothic architecture and started building this beautiful cathedral but ended up running out of money and not being able to fund it.. he then died getting hit by a car because he stepped onto the road to admire the cathedral and work on this building stopped for years before it was decided to that the building should be finished. It is set to be finished in 2010 and each year a different architect is asked to give his opinions on the designs of the building to keep with the original idea of Gaudi's work. It's amazing because Gaudi actually didn't plan the cathedral before he started building it which makes it hard for the Spanish to keep building it because there are no plans. I was disappointed though because the inside is definitely not as dramatic and as beautiful as the outside. It will look even more amazing when it is finished.

We saw the 1992 Olympic Stadium and briefly poked our head through the gate to take a photo but couldn't really see much. I couldn't find the Olympic rings either.. disappointing. That's the thing with Contiki - they take you to loads of places and let you stop off for photo opportunities but they don't always take you inside or let you wander around for a while. If you want to see it in more detail you have to go back later.

There was so much to do in Barcelona and I was only there for two days. I went down to the beach and marina which were not as nice as others that I've been to but I am a sucker for harbours and the beach so I thought it was still okay. I asked a lady to take a photo of me and afterwards she told me to check to see if it was an okay photo and I took my hand off my bag to look at the photo... she gasped and said that I must always keep my hand on my bag because the day before she had been pick-pocketed. Spain, especially Barcelona and Madrid, are renowned for pickpocketers who target tourists. I spoke to quite a few people who had told me their own stories about them or their friends being pick-pocketed and our tour guide has been stressing the point a lot as we've been touring.

After a long drive, and a quick stop off at Zaragoza where we saw the basilica, we made it to Madrid but were pretty exhausted because the night before we went out to some random bar in Barcelona. We wandered around slowly but it was a Monday and apparently there is not much open in Madrid on a Monday which was frustrating. We went on a tour of the Royal Palace which LOOKED amazing but the tour was SO boring because I couldn't hear the guide and I was feeling pretty tired thanks to the night before. So I just looked around at the pretty building and counted down until the tour was finally over. We went to the station where the M11 bombings were in 2004 and saw the memorial. It was really pretty, lots of greenery. Basically, the day was spent wandering around Madrid, snapping photos, until we got so tired that we headed back to the hotel and relaxed until dinner. We went to this place called Los Galayos which was in this square in Madrid and had some of the yummiest tapas ever. There were five different kinds of tapas - olives, fried calamari rings, roasted capsicum, fried onions and a potato and egg Spanish omelette. We then had the most amazing salmon but by this stage we were all full because the tapas were filling.. and we still had desert to go which was kind of like a matchstick like you can get back home, you know, the custard and cream thing with pastry.. normally has chocolate on top but this one didn't. By this stage I was ready to pop so I only had a little taste.

Our plan was to go to a salsa bar after dinner which was fine but I wasn't feeling very well so I only went for half an hour before heading back to the hotel and didn't even try salsa... I ended up vomiting up half my dinner but luckily whatever it was had passed by the time I woke up in the morning. I've been very lucky to not get sick on this trip. We made our way down to Toledo where we went to a sword making demonstration to which I once again did not listen to so I have no idea how swords are made. I got a couple of swords out and did some role playing with one of the girls on my tour... that was fun... we pretended to chop each others necks off...

Then we went into town and enjoyed a guided tour of the city. It was a very pretty place and definitely looked like a real part of Spain. Very quaint, narrow streets with lots of balconies with flower baskets hanging off them. More cathedrals and then we went to McDonalds and got ice-cream before jumping back on the bus and headed to Cordoba.

The next morning in Cordoba we headed to the Pagan Church which is now a mosque and was once tried to be turned into a cathedral... it was really cool because inside this mosque you could see elements of Pagan design as well as part of the cathedral and some structure of a church. There were Christian sculptures around the room yet right next to it there were Pagan designs and features of a mosque. I can't entirely remember why the people of Cordoba had changed it around so much from so many different religions. Then we went to the Alcazar which had the most amazing gardens. There were small pools filled with water and had fish inside with little water fountains spurting water back into the pools. There were blooming flowers everywhere and they smelt so nice. If there weren't so many people there it would have been a beautiful place to sit down with a good book and relax. We then found a place to eat lunch where I got the most revolting sandwich. I randomly chose something which was written in Spanish thinking I couldn't go too wrong with a sandwich.. yeah, I ended up with.. well, I still don't actually know. I took one bite, spat it back out and prodded with this alien stuff on my bread... I think it was either cured or raw meat but whatever it was it was not nice. Never again will I do the random selection in a foreign country. Yuk.

Fez and the Local Guide...

2008-08-15T04:59:00.000+10:00

Trying to get a decent night sleep, I was in bed by 9.30pm last night... I was dozing off peacefully when a peculiar noise arouses me from my slumber... It was the phone. Four shrill beeps sounded before I decided to answer it... and who was on the other end, none other than Mr Friendly from down at reception, checking to confirm whether I still wanted my local tour guide for tomorrow to take me around the Medina. After replying that yes, I did still want the tour guide, I crept back under the covers.. only to hear the phone ring again about 30 seconds later. This time, Mr Friendly asked if I was asleep to which I felt like saying 'yeah which is why I'm talking to you now, dickhead' but I kept that to myself. He then proceeded to ask if I wanted to come downstairs because the guide was there now to meet me so I would recognise his face tomorrow - seriously, what is wrong with the people of Fez? I didn't know how to say 'no, I'm not coming down wanker' nicely so I chucked on some clothes and went down stairs to meet the guide...

By the time I got back to bed I was fired up at the stupidity of the whole of Fez and it took me ages to get to sleep. I finally awoke the next morning and got ready to meet my tour guide who proceeded to tell me I was five minutes late... they have issues with lateness apparently.

My tour guide - well, I real wish I had the skill to adequately explain what a creepy guy he was. He took me down all these strange, dark and narrow alley ways that kept twisting and turning like a giant maze. From time to time we popped up in 'civilization' which basically meant more people which reassured me that he was not going to get me completely and utterly lost... He smoked like a chimney and after his ninth cigarette (in an hour) he asked me if I minded if he smoked... I actually found his smoking quite amusing because he smoked and then he had to stop and catch his breath while he coughed up his lungs before pretending that he had stopped to explain a part of the Medina. He in himself was actually worth the money because he was so amusing - okay, so I was laughing at his ailments and not his running commentary but nevertheless, humorous. I found myself pretending to understand what he was saying because he was talking so fast and so unclearly I really had no idea. It was like he was speaking another language but chucking a few words of English in there in-between. He kept telling me how everyone in Fez is crazy... 'ooo they smoke shisha and hash of the night' he kept saying. Morocco is a muslim country and people aren't meant to smoke... hmm.. anyways, he kept pointing out 'crazy' people to me and by the end of the tour I think all he wanted to do was get home so he could have his hit of hash!

He took me to some great places in the Medina though and I am grateful that I had a guide because there is no way I'd have felt safe walking around there on my own. Also, it was so big that I would have gotten lost and I was not in the mood to be harassed by people trying to sell me things. I heard so many 'ooo so beautiful' and 'oooo nice' that I felt like smacking someone.

The main thing I wanted to see was the leather tanning and I had thought that was out of Fez but it was actually in the Medina so he took me to two leather tanning places. The first one we went to, a man explained how the leather was made. It was really interesting but I never want anything leather. Yuk. First, they kill the sheep and then they sell the meat. They take the skin off and then take it to the leather tanning pots.I can't exactly remember what happens next but I think they then take the wool off the sheep and they wash and dry it and use this wool to fill doonas and pillows, etc. They only use live wool to make clothes. Once they've pulled off the wool they put the skin into a bath of water with limestone and pigeon poo. Apparently this takes away all the dirt from the skin... it stays there for 25 days before they take the skin and put it into a huge wooden 'washing machine'. They fill it with water and leave the leather in there for 3 hours, changing the water every hour to make sure it is clean. Once they have done this, the leather then goes into a coloured tanning pot which they leave in there also for 25 days. It was interesting to discover the methods they use to create the colours. I can't exactly remember exactly but they use different spices to create the different colours. I can't remember the different spices that are used to make the different colours but I am pretty sure saffron creates red, mint creates green... I am not sure of other colours. He rattled them off too fast for me to remember. They then take the leather out of the pots, let it dry and then make bags, shoes, belts, etc with it.

We went to a carpet weaving house - again - and saw how they made carpets in Fez. Once again, quite interesting. The women move their fingers so fast and I am surprised they don't have huge blisters on their fingers. It must be painful. I was shown a gorgeous carpet made of silk and it was so pretty and because I said it was pretty I was trying to be pressured to buy it. Pfft, as if I can afford $2500 for a carpet! The carpet man said that the wool they use is imported from Australia because our government helps Morocco. He said that our wool is supplied on the condition that no young children are allowed to work or make the carpets. Apparently an Australian official comes every six months to check that this regulation is abided by.

The smell of the Medina was not pleasing. I found that it stunk like rotting food and the smell from the tanning pots was not nice. However, occasionally I caught a whiff of orange juice which was nice. Donkeys were loaded with so much stock and guided through the Medina, there were stalls with fresh fruit which I eyed off enviously because a peach, nectarine and banana sound so good to eat! I am sick of meat because it feels that is all I have been eating. I don't like being stuck to a menu even though the food is nice, all I really want is a nice, big, leafy salad with vermicelli rice noodles and tuna.

Oh, I am now in my new hotel which I was promised air conditioning. When I was shown a room yesterday it had air con... but, when I was give my room today - no air con. I am pissed off but I can't be bothered complaining. I really have not enjoyed Fez so much which is disappointing, but I am happy that I got to see the leather tanning pots. That was pretty much the only reason I wanted to come to Fez. I have found the people here to be rude and not very helpful. Still, Spain tomorrow and I am excited about that...

First impressions of Fez

2008-08-15T04:58:00.000+10:00

I immensely dislike Fez and I have only been here for 30 minutes. I was impressed by the amount of taxis at the station however was disappointed to find that they were impossible to grab.. until someone came up to me asking if I wanted a taxi - to which I replied 'yes'. So, in I get and in gets another lady... who the taxi driver detours me around for to drop her off. Fair enough, no dramas there. Then, he starts to mock my English... to which I playfully respond to because by this point I was getting creeped out. He then proceeded to start whacking me on my legs trying to use my suntan as an excuse ... tap tap tap on the legs and then making some random hand gestures to signify the sun... I discreetly moved my backpack over my legs because I had NO idea how long it'd take to get to the hotel and was hoping we were actually GOING to the hotel and not some random paddock where he'd rape and murder me - honestly, it is creepy being trapped in a car with a random guy. Just because he is a taxi driver does not mean he is a Saint! I always seem to cop the weird ones who want to grope me... honestly..

Finally made it to the hotel only to be greeted with (and I kid you not) 'You're 3 hours LATE, you were meant to arrive at 4pm'... I smile and try to make a joke out of it... 'oh was I?' to which I got the reply of 'you only have two nights here now, not three' and I laughed because I thought he was kidding... He wasn't kidding... Turns out they have some fucked up policy that states if you are going to be later than 4pm then you need to call in advance and let them know otherwise they reissue your room to someone else... I calmly accepted that for a few brief seconds while I thought he was still kidding before I flared up and argued what morons they are. Turns out they don't appreciate being argued with so I decide to calm down and apologise for being such a 'pain', meanwhile cursing him evil death wishes and I am still left with no room for night three. 'It's okay we will find you a NEW hotel', they tell me - fucking brilliant. Just what I want, a NEW hotel, more taxi money, more moving, more pain in my ass. I told him to look for a hotel NOW (lost my calmness again by this point) and he was just about to but then I realised I couldn't be bothered catching another taxi and going to another hotel, I really just wanted a cold shower and some food after my long train journey from Marrakech so I sigh with resignation and huff off to my room.

So, to sum things up, I am not enjoying Fez which is disappointing. I don't even want to leave the hotel, I just want to sit by the pool for the next two days... Maybe I will. I can't be bothered dealing with wankers anymore who try to grope me or tell me to come look in their shops, or whatever.

Maybe I just need sleep because at the moment I am extremely irritated... So, speaking of food and that cold shower, I'm going to go.

*few hours later*

Okay have had cold shower and went to the hotel restaurant for food and I am still not in a better mood. Mr. Pleasant down at reception smiles cheerily at me and I smile back although my face totally gives away the fact that I am not happy with the whole situation. I have decided on my plan of attack for the next two days in Fez... Pool and sunbake all day tomorrow and then the day after I will hire a guide to take me down to the Medina. I wanted to go to see the leather tanning pots but I think the dick-job downstairs said the whole trip would cost MAD800 which equates to around $115. That is a decent price and I guess I could afford it but the trip is a taxi driver taking me places and I don't exactly feel safe spending the day with a Moroccan taxi driver for some reason... Plus I've spent way more than I intended to in Morocco so I need to keep my budget in tight control for Spain and Turkey!

I was so ready to unleash a floodgate of tears about an hour earlier but I managed to contain it and am now reasonably calmer... still pissed off but much better. I've been surprisingly good.. it's been five weeks since I have left home and there have been no tears... well, maybe a few trickles but no floodgates.. does that mean I am getting stronger and more tolerant? Let's hope so.. and let's hope it lasts!

Random Moroccan Thoughts...

2008-08-11T18:22:00.003+10:00

Some random thoughts I have on Morocco..

* I paid 50c for a can of soft drink yesterday... Ridiculously cheap!
* I did not know that French is the second official language of Morocco!
* Taxi's are different colours in different cities.
* It is not unusual to see donkeys, cars, horses and scooters on the roads in Marrakech simultaneously.
* You can actually flush the toilet paper in Morocco, unlike Egypt where you have to put it in a waste paper basket because the plumbing sucks and can't handle the paper.
* You DO climatise to the heat.. 40 degrees no longer feels as hot as it did 10 days ago.
* I am mastering the art of my bartering skills and managed to score quite a lot of goodies for approximately AUD$70... Unfortunately, I do not have room in my suitcase so I've had to toss out quite a few items of random clothing already. Perhaps if I packed my suitcase better.. but who has time?!
* I have learnt that I am almost a vegetarian.. or am about to become a vegetarian because I am getting sick to death of red meat... every meal... lamb, or beef... and chicken too but I am even tired of chicken. And did you know it takes days to digest red meat.. gross. So, the lamb I had 3 days ago is still sitting in my stomach.. eww... that thought alone makes me not want to eat meat.
* Wondering why the waiter is so intrigued by the fact that I have a laptop and keeps coming over to check what I am doing.... kind of creepy..
* I REALLY want this shop to open so I can buy a drink before I get on the train but it is closed and I have a feeling it won't open until I have left... oh no wait, I see a man.. in front of the shop.. he looks like he is opening the shop.. OH YES! HE IS!

There is no doubt I have more random thoughts but I have no idea what they are right now because my mind is over excited by the prospect of fizzy soda!

*love*love*love* to you all
xxx

Surfin' Safari

2008-08-10T21:47:00.001+10:00

Last night (well ok, last Tuesday cos I wrote this a while ago) we made the trek into the Sahara Desert. I'd been to the desert before in Egypt but this was different again because the desert seems endless. It is bigger than the desert in Australia and crosses through eleven countries. We picked up our camels (I named mine Sabrina) and they walked us the 4kms into the Sahara desert to camp with the Berbers. They are a kind of people that live in the desert. Brahim (our tour guide) recommended that we buy turbans in case of sandstorms - and lucky we bought them because we had a massive sandstorm. I never realised how useful a piece of cotton could be. It was wrapped around our head and then we could let it hang loose if there was no wind and we could then stick the loose bit behind our ear to cover our nose and mouth if it was windy. So useful. I looked like a twat with it on but hey, beats sand in the mouth.

So, I arrive in the desert and find that the W.C is this dodgy swat port-a-loo thing or the option of peeing behind a dune... well, one look at the toilet and swatting in dunes it was for me! It wasn't so bad actually, it was kind of fun and we had to bury the toilet paper in the sand and I have never loved anti-bacterial hand cream so much in my life!

Brahim, our thoughtful tour guide, brought sandboards up to the dunes. We trekked up one of the dunes and I tried sandboarding for the first time. My first go resulted in me going about 2 meters before crashing painfully onto my ass. My determination then kicked in and I had about another nine attempts at sandboarding and by the third go I was pretty balanced and made it down to the bottom with minimal effort.. Bringing the board back up the hill was a task in itself. Snowboarding in Canada, here I come! I loved it. I really think that was one of the highlights of my trip into the desert... Sandboarding!

We headed back to camp (well, I raced another girl down the sand dunes on our sandboards) and a soccer ball was then brought out. By this stage it was dusk so there we were, a group of 10 of us, trying to play soccer with the sun going down. It was pretty crazy and there were a few falls but no major injuries to report and I can happily say that I assisted our team score a goal...

The Sahara is amazing. As we went in it wasn't windy but as we went further in, it's almost like the wind could sense 'intruders' so to speak. It felt like the wind had emotions because it felt so angry and rough. The sand from the dunes whipped my legs and face but when we neared the Berber camp, the wind suddenly died down and there was such a sense of serenity. Because it is constantly windy, the dunes never have footprints in them, they are always there for a while but disappear. It's almost like taunting you saying 'haha I know what the secrets of the desert are but you will never find out because you don't have the power to cover them up'. It was an amazing feeling. The one thing that surprised me and I didn't like was the rubbish that was being chucked around in the air by the wind. There were a few empty water bottles and plastic bags and it makes me sad that even in this country and in such a beautiful place, it can still be tainted.

We ate our Berber dinner of rice and some beef (which I am sure is what gave me my upset stomach for three days!) before listening to some Moroccan music on drums... we slept underneath the stars and woke up early to watch the sun rise.

I totally rate this experience as one of a kind. Definitely a highlight of the trip, even the peeing behind sand dunes.

Flying Carpets

2008-08-07T20:26:00.001+10:00

After leaving Marrakesh we headed to the heart of Morocco! We drove for hours on this long, windy road and along the way we passed countless mountains which were the most amazing browns and reds and occasionally a hint of orange. We spent the night at this gorgeous hotel which overlooked Gorge du Dades and the scenery was amazing. The next day we climbed up to the top of the gorge and got some amazing views. It was hot and it was very rocky and surprisingly quite an easy walk to the top. I'm not particularly fond of hiking, especially in hot weather but the weather in Morocco is actually quite bearable. The heat is dry and generally there is a breeze which helps keep me cool.

Our tour included a visit to a carpet making place where they showed us how the handmade carpets are weaved and I fell in love with a carpet that I wanted to buy you mum but two reasons stopped me - lack of money and lack of room in my suitcase, so sorry about that! A big Moroccan carpet takes about four months to make. Can you imagine anyone in a big city spending four months trying to make a carpet? We also tried Berber Whisky which unfortunately is just green tea with mint. I was excited - alcohol, I thought - but alas, no, just tea. They showed us how to make it by putting the tea leaves in and then water, mix it up to clean the leaves. Strain the leaves them put them back into the pot and add more water. Place it onto a hot fire, wait for it to boil and then add the mint in at the end. If you want sugar in your tea then you must add this before you put the 'clean' tea leaves back into the pot. I'm not normally a tea drinker but it was really nice actually. I want to start drinking green tea anyway because it is meant to be good for you.

Just a quick side note because it is on my mind - the Polish girl I'm sharing a room with is angry at me because I refused to barter for a bracelet that she wanted. I told her if she wanted to buy the bracelet she needed to barter for it herself. So, now she is having a bit of a teary because she told me "friend's are meant to do stuff for each other" and I thought to myself 'yeah and I've known you for 3 days and you snore like a camel, I'm not exactly sure that qualifies for a D&M friendship right now. Buy your own damn bracelet.' I felt a bit bad thinking that but she is so moody and can't take a joke and takes everything I say too seriously and I just can't be bothered.

Food is amazing! Tagines full of meat and vegetables, cous cous with the most amazing sauces, skewers, Moroccan salads which consist of rice, beetroot, cucumbers, tomato, red onion and a delicious dressing... I never want to leave! They also serve bread like it's going out of fashion! We've also had awesome soup! Speaking of food, it's almost dinner time so I'm going to go find the restaurant. Enjoy your spag bol tonight while I am off to feast on some delicious Moroccan cuisine.

Sim
x

Magical Marrakesh

2008-08-07T17:56:00.001+10:00

Words cannot describe my first impressions of Morocco. Vibrant, bustling, friendly are just some of the words that spring to mind. Marrakesh greeted me with a blistering 39 degrees but it actually isn't as hot as it sounds because there is such a sweet breeze that drifts by and really cools you down.

Marrakesh is the most amazing city and I have already had such a blast. I met a girl in London at the airport who is doing the same tour as me so we checked into our hotel and pretty much chucked our luggage in our rooms and disappeared in the hunt for food... We found this cute restaurant and sat on the balcony which overlooked the main street just before the souks. I had a lamb tangine which was very tasty! Tangine is a traditional Moroccan dish (I think it is also in Turkey too) which is cooked in a clay pot. The aim is that the pot is sealed so that the water from the top drips back into the dish making the meat really tender. It was really nice and as you can see in this cheesy photo, I am enjoying it!

We then decided to head into the souks which is basically just a term for MASSIVE market place! By the time we went it was dusk and there were people everywhere. They had games out where you had a fishing rod and a cap and had to try and pick up a bottle of coke to win... then there were muslim girls trying to sell us henna tattoos, young girls running up to us trying to sell us slippers. I was surprised at how well they took 'no' because after being in Egypt and being so hassled I was expecting them to be more pushy but they were okay.

There were nut stalls, dried fruit stalls, fresh orange juice stalls, sandal stalls, bag stalls, traditional Moroccan dress stalls, spice stalls, sunglasses stalls - you name it! They had a bit of everything. The best bit is everything is really cheap and it is so much fun haggling with them to make a sale.

I wish I could put this into a way which describes how amazing the city of Marrakesh is. Every person we have encountered so far has been extremely friendly and helpful. Sure, they are talking to us in the hopes that we will buy something, or become their sixth wife but hey, it's all in good fun and they know not to take things too seriously - much unlike Egypt. I actually felt quite safe walking around the souks although I probably wouldn't have liked walking around there at night so much if I'd been alone - although I still would have.

We got to hold a chameleon whose owner was selling spices in the souks. We took a few more cheesy photos and decided it was time for us to head back to the hotel and get some rest before tomorrow! We're planning on going swimming at the hotels pool in the morning and then heading back to the souks to check it out before our tour pre-departure meeting tomorrow night.

Our second day in Marrakesh was spent lazing about and taking things at our own pace. The city is really is vibrant and bustling but it comes alive at night more so than during the day. The Moroccans who are out and about during the day seem to be the ones who are aimed at the tourists and they chase you around offering you henna, photos with monkeys, photos with cobras, orange juices, etc. There was this one kid who came up to us trying to sell biscuits and he couldn't have been older than six. He was beautiful, I wanted to take him home with me. It makes me sad that children so young are subjected to haggling with tourists on the streets because their family needs the money. Compared to Egypt it is not as bad but still a complete culture shock.

Another thing that makes me really sad is the animals.. the poor horses are so thin and the donkeys even look sad. I swear I saw one look at me and then it brayed ' Simone, please save me' and I wanted to cry. In a way, the Moroccans can't help the way the animals are treated - it is a world of survival and it is either them or the animals. In your position, which would you choose to spend your money on? The animals are their income.

Moroccan roads are crazy. Less crazy than Egypt but still crazy. There don't appear to be any specific rules. Cars stay on their respective sides of the road but our taxi overtook other cars by going over the other side of the road when there were no cars there. Donkeys, horses and scooters are a common sight on all roads. It's normal to see a car giving way to a horse and cart or a scooter zipping in and out of traffic. The amount of times I've had to dodge getting hit by a scooter is laughable. It's so much fun though, I'm looking at the scooter trying to judge what it's going to do and they're looking at me trying to figure out where I'm going and in the end we do one of those left-right dances until I pretty much jump out of the way and it zooms around me (usually followed by a beep of the horn).

I am in love with this city. Nice to visit, nice to spend a few days in and I would love to come back and do some shopping but unfortunately my suitcase and budget both don't allow me to do this so I have to be content with many happy photo memories.

More to follow as my adventures continue!

Eek! FIRE!!

2008-07-29T19:13:00.003+10:00

Okay, pretty sure I mentioned my bizarre dream that our hostel was on fire and we had to be evacuated.. and then the next morning the fire alarms actually really went off and we really were evacuated....

This morning... I headed downstairs to get some breakfast and on the T.V I hear 'breaking news, there is a fire at a hostel in Shepherd's Bush. No casualties noted at the moment..' - what the? How random is that? I used to live in Shepherd's Bush too and know exactly where that hostel is!

Kind of freaked me out a little.. Lucky I didn't stay there hey!

Brighton

2008-07-27T21:30:00.006+10:00

As I write this I am sitting in my London hostel clutching my stomach, nursing a massive hangover. I wasn't planning on drinking quite so much but seemed to have a continuous supply of alcohol being delivered to me, courtesy of the South African guy in my dorm room. Nice. He was traveling with three other Aussie guys and they were nuts! Within five minutes of me being in the room they were trying to get me to have a 3-some with them... 'Hi, my name is X, want to have a 3-some?'... my reply 'yeah, sure, let's go!' They were so crude... asking all these sexual questions and sharing their stories - which were quite entertaining, if not a little disturbing that guys can be such. arseholes. One of the guys was walking around naked and came up to me and was like 'so, you gonna suck it?' - oh yeah baby yeah...

Turned out to be a fun night once they realised I wasn't going to be up for their games and we went down to the bar for a few drinks at which point things become a little blurry. I remember trying to arm wrestle a guy who was 3 times bigger then me and then I met a random guy who decided it'd be fun to go to the casino where we got pens from the casino and used them as swizzle sticks in our drinks... After deciding the casino was not cool (casino - think dodgy RSL with a few blackjack/poker tables scattered around) we decided to go swimming in the beach at 2am! The beach is really pebbly and walking on the pebbles barefoot was painful! I was expecting the water to be freezing but it was surprisingly nice and refreshing. I walked into the hostel absolutely drenched and was so tired and drunk that I jumped straight into bed with my wet clothes on. The manager of the hostel told me the next morning that someone had drowned in the beach by doing the same thing I did a few weeks ago.. oops.

As for Brighton itself, I was surprised with how big the town is! I was expecting a really small beach town but it is huge. There are so many shops and it has a really chilled out feel. The pier was okay, very pretty at night. There is an indoor arcade and rides at the end of the pier. They serve fish and chips everywhere in Brighton and doughnuts on the pier. I couldn't resist hot doughnuts so got some -and they were the worst doughnuts of my life. So, I sat on the pier and wrote my postcards (which I did not post because I lost them) and some random guy came up to me, looked at my doughnut bag and asked if he could have a bite of my doughnut... I told him he could have them all cos they were disgusting.

I was a little bit sad at the start of the weekend just because I'd been feeling a bit lonely but I ended up having a blast just cos of the people I met and during the day I just sat on the pebbly beach and chilled! It was great. I went down to the shops, looked around, had a peek at the Royal Pavilion which looked cool, took a photo and went back to the beach. Surprisingly I did not swim during the day..

Four more whole days in London and then I am off to Morocco. I am kind of scared because it is going to be SO hot in Morocco. It's 27 degrees in London today and I am struggling. Morocco will be ten times worse... ugh...

Bored & Broke = Blog entry!

2008-07-22T22:36:00.003+10:00

For lack of anything better to do I figure I'd blog. I've run out of money already due to me thinking it probably would be a good idea to pay off my UK credit card... which I originally wasn't going to do but I guess my conscience got the better of me. So today I went to HSBC and had a really frustrating experience with this gay Italian guy who was born in Australia yet is now living in the UK. Yeah, we went through his whole life story and he tried to 'bond' with me because he originated from Melbourne. Did not work and I saw through his whole facade of trying to make me feel at ease. Stupid banks. You would not imagine how hard it was to close my account. Okay, so maybe not entirely all his fault because if I had played by the HSBC rules then it would not have been as frustrating... Since I chose not to play by their rules, it ended up being very complex and trying and we went round in circles due to the stupidity of some of the so called rules. In the end, my credit card is now paid off but I have very little Aussie dollars which will make the next few months extremely difficult but hey... I really do love a challenge... Give me a dare and I will most certainly take it.

So, back to London... as a result of having NO cash I have not been doing very much. I had some theatre tickets booked and have a show I'm going to see tonight - Avenue Q - should be good. I've been bumming around the hostel, going for a walks down to Harrods and the museums since they are 10 min walk away. Hyde Park is close too so I've been there a few times. I have 10 more days here and am hoping to spend as little as possible... can totally do that if I keep stealing fruit from the hostel breakfast! Good thing I love apples.

I was told that the British summer is pretty much over. They reckon it'll be an Indian summer which means that there will be a few hot days scattered around in September. Brilliant for me, I won't be here. By then I should have an amazing Mediterranean tan so I can't complain.

Missing you guys but thanks for the emails to keep me updated on life in Melbourne. There have been no pangs of homesickness as such but there have definitely been pangs of wanting to have a good chat with friends from back home. I can't wait to meet up with Kirsty in Canada and hit the snow! I'm well excited about that. Am also very excited to be going on my tours.

Will keep you guys posted on anything interesting... or, will just write again for the sake of it due to boredom!
x

p.s just thought of something interesting to tell! At the hostel there was a STABBING! Yes, you read right. We were having a few drinks at the hostel on Friday night and I ended up going out with a few people to a bar down the road. Anyways, come back the next day and this guy I was talking to the night before shows me his stab wound! Apparently there was a disagreement of some kind between him and this French guy. The Frenchie went nuts (apparently high on cocaine) and grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed the poor Aussie guy in the arm. The Aussie was so proud of his wound though. The police came, arrested the French guy and yeah there was blood everywhere. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to witness this for myself but nevertheless still makes for an interesting conversation piece.

Evacuation

2008-07-16T00:31:00.000+10:00

I am laying in my hostel bed at 3pm not able to move because I feel so terrible. My back is killing me and it hurts to walk and I can't even cough because it hurts so much. My body feels like it has been covered in cement and I am finding it so hard to move. Lucky I am still considered a resident of the UK because I've booked a doctors appointment for Friday because this is ridiculous. More so my back but if he can figure out why I am so fatigued then that's great. I'm really grateful right now that there is only me in the room because I do not have the energy to have any kind of conversation right now and I feel like I am close to tears so don't really want to have a witness to that.

A few nights ago I had the strangest dream that our hostel was on fire and the only way to escape was by jumping out the window - and I am on the 4th floor! I shared this dream with a few of my roomies and they all laughed and said I was crazy, that'd never happen. Well, this morning we all woke up to the sounds of the hostel fire alarm going beserk and we had no idea what was going on but decided we should probably go downstairs to check out what's happening just in case. Everyone was heading downstairs and we finally made it out the front, only to see Ricky, the manager, laughing at us saying that it was only burnt coffee that had set the alarm off. I was not impressed considering the dream I had only a few nights ago!

Cambridge

2008-07-14T06:18:00.001+10:00

After getting lost on my way to the hostel, I was very thankful that I had my laptop and that there was an unsecured wireless connection I could hook up to while I logged onto streetmap.co.uk! Stupid me on my behalf for not writing down directions (because I thought I would remember them - pfft) but anyway, I got there in the end after a half hour detour.

Cambridge itself is a gorgeous place and it is actually bigger than I was expecting. Much nicer than Oxford. There is no 'Cambridge University' as such, rather there are 32 colleges which converge together to create 'Cambridge University'. So, no matter what college you attend, you will end up with a degree from Cambridge. There are the more famous colleges, such as Kings, Trinity and St Johns which are much harder to get into due to the large demands of people trying to get into them but the education throughout all the colleges is the same.

Trinity College is the largest college in Cambridge and was founded by King Henry VIII in 1546. I am pretty sure that I was told that there have been 71 Nobel Prize winners from Trinity College alone and many more from Cambridge University as a whole.

Kings College is the postcard picture of Cambridge which is why their entrance fee is a ridiculous £5 to view the grounds and you don't even get to go inside any of the buildings except the chapel which has a fantastic fan-vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. Kings was founded by King Henry VI and is one of the most expensive and exclusive universities in the University. Although, not so much in this day and age but it used to be very exclusive. I can't remember the exact details but King Henry VI had a huge interest in this college and he somehow acquired a lot of money - in the millions - and he gave HALF of his millions of pounds to Kings College. I wish I could remember the full details because I did find it interesting.

St Johns College is just absolutely beautiful. I loved this college because the gardens were just so beautiful and the buildings were pretty. I was lucky enough to hear the choir sing and they are amazing. They are a highly acclaimed choir and regularly broadcast on BBC Radio. After hearing them, I can understand why. I sat and listened to them for a while. St Johns is also home to the Bridge of Sighs which, like Venice, refers to freedom on one side and terror on the other... although in Venice - the terror side means death whereas in Cambridge, this refers to exams!

Another interesting fact I learnt about the colleges is when the plague hit London and wiped out thousands of lives, there was a huge shortage of doctors and lawyers. Therefore, one of the colleges was turned into a college of law and medicine to quickly educate people in these areas to make up for the lack of people in these professions. I'm not too sure how much I would have liked to have been treated by somebody who had barely been trained in this field but I guess it would have to be better than nothing!

I went on a punt down the River Cam and it was so relaxing - despite the rain! Our punter, Tim, was very entertaining and was quite informative about the different colleges that are along the river. He managed to lose our punting stick which would have been awful had there not been lots of boats also floating along the river, so some nice person in another boat picked up our stick and handed it back over to us. Tim told us that the River Cam has varying depths from 20cm to 3.5m. Quite a big difference. He said that many people fall in the river because they are like gondoliers in Venice and stand at the end of the punt to row and sometimes lose their balance.

I'm really glad that I made the effort to come to Cambridge because it has been fun and really nice to get out of London!

Take 2 - London

2008-07-11T04:46:00.000+10:00

There is this really annoying American girl in my hostel room at the moment. She is painful. There was a mix up with the beds and they thought they'd overbooked.. and she was running around like crazy, talking a million miles a minute to see what how she was going to be affected by this dilemma (as she was the one without a bed). She is acting like she is on speed and I don't have patience for people like her.. Ricky (the manager) and I shared a eye rolled gaze because she is a fruit loop.

So many thoughts are running through my head and I am feeling a little bit homesick because I hate having to think about things all by myself with no one to run ideas by.

Yesterday was a frustrating day because I had so much stuff I needed to do and it was pouring with rain. I was sitting on the tube looking completely miserable and was soaking wet thanks to a bus hitting the curb a little too close and resulted in me getting splashed with dirty London water. I happened to glance around and caught eyes with some random sitting on the tube who gave me the most cheekiest, genuine grin which completely lifted my mood. It's amazing how such a simple thing can do so much and made me appreciate the small things. Sounds completely corny and I know it is but smiles are great so I am deciding that I am going to randomly smile at people each day... Although, knowing me, my smiles will come out more like a grimace so maybe I need to practice genuine smiles in front of the mirror otherwise people may think I'm snarling at them : )

I've been bumming around the hostel all day because I had stuff to do in the morning and then one of the girls in my dorm and I cooked up a storm for lunch before I decided that I needed to do washing and by that stage it was 3pm so ended up just lazing around here. Speaking of people in my dorm, I was talking to one of the girls who is from Melbourne last night and mentioned where I used to teach.. and she asked if I knew Becky - which I did because we both taught Prep in 2006. Turns out they are cousins. What a small world. Makes me wonder if I can ever escape.

To finish off with - I feel the onset of a sore throat which may have to do with the fact that I walked around London yesterday in thongs and a dress while it was pouring down with rain. Probably not my smartest moment ever but I didn't pack any jumpers because
1. it is meant to be summer and
2. Trudy had my luggage with some jumpers in there so I didn't see why I should pack more.

Back in London

2008-07-09T04:28:00.001+10:00

I am in London and made it safe and sound. It was so familiar catching the tube to the hostel and making my way around. I didn't feel like a tourist. I love that.

Although I have to admit - I have been in London for 4 hours and realise there are many reasons why I really dislike London...

1. People are exceptionally RUDE and obnoxious in ALL situations. Very few exceptions.
2. It is cloudy and it's meant to be summer, although, I am wearing a dress and am not shivering!
3. British accents

I have a mind blank at the moment which I am putting down to jet lag and lack of sleep so I will add more as I think of them.

On the bright side, so far, being back in London has been great. I forgot how much fun hostels can be and I'm looking forward to spending three weeks in London as a semi-tourist (on a massive budget - totally doable if you have lived here and know how to be conscious about where your money goes!)

I am also residing in Gloucester Road while I am here which is great because I am seeing so many rich hotties and their sexy cars... eye candy deluxe.

I'm a little bit grumpy at the moment thanks to tiredness so maybe I shall add more at a later stage.

Melbourne - Hong Kong

2008-07-07T18:04:00.002+10:00

Last time I waved goodbye at the departure gates at Tullamarine I ended up getting kicked back out thanks to my carry on luggage being too heavy. This time, my carry on luggage was fine, however, my ticket was not.

Apparently when the travel agent changed the ticket she didn't abide by the ticket conditions - and my ticket only allows me to depart from Melbourne at night... my flight was in the morning... they discussed the situation and after many smiles and 'oh your so helpfuls' from me they decided that it would be okay if I boarded the flight... *phew*. I'm pretty sure this was because I'd booked my flight with a UK travel agent and the Aussie travel agent had no idea what was going on and assumed she could do whatever...

So, I ended up on this half empty flight to Hong Kong and had four seats to myself... Bonus! Well, that is until some Hong Kong dude decided that he wanted to sit in the seat next to me so his wife could sleep on their stingy two seats that they had. He was so rude about it though, he picked up my stuff that I'd littered all over the four seats specifically so that this wouldn't happen and literally dumped it on the floor - while I was sitting in my seat... so of course, I gave him a very dirty look (which continued for the rest of the flight since his wife would not stop staring at me and I played the staring game - who would look away first - and I always won!)

Then, when I went to the bathroom, I came back to find the husband had a friend who he was trying to shuffle into MY seat. Not the seat next to mine, or any of the other seats (which technically were mine because I had claimed earlier) but MY seat... So I put a stop to that just as he was trying to get in and made up some crap about the footrest on the other seat being broken so I had to sit in that seat. It worked. Imagine - my four seats got reduced to three and he tried to make it two.. I do not think so! He soon worked out that this was not going to work and stopped trying although he did try the fight over the armrest which was fun.

Food was pretty shit on todays flight. I stopped being nervous pretty quickly and am feeling so happy... until those phone calls come again Belinda... No cute guys on the flight, disappointing... well, there were a few but they were taken... always the way!

Now it's just a matter of sitting around Hong Kong airport which is humid even though the aircon is on and waiting for my flight to the UK which is tomorrow morning - Cathay Pacific were stars and managed to get me on an earlier flight so I only have a 19 hour wait instead of a 25 hour wait... hahaha

Next update - London... unless something interesting happens in Hong Kong airport like... well, who knows.

Til London...!

11 Hours

2008-07-06T20:49:00.003+10:00

Feeling nervous and sad all over again. Things have changed so much in the past 3 months and I am not the same person I was when I arrived back in Melbourne but I'm not the same person I was when I left London.. so I'm not exactly sure who I am at the moment which kind of scares me a little.

I've said my goodbyes with no tears although at times I have had to bite my lip to ensure that remained true. Saying goodbye to Belinda, Zara and Mel was the hardest. Belinda has been there for me 100% of the way when I was in London answering my somewhat drunken and hysterical phone calls at ridiculous hours in the morning for reasons I can never remember. Just knowing that I have such amazing friends here makes me feel all warm inside. It is also the reason that I know that I can cope on my own overseas, because if I didn't have such an amazing network of friends then I think I would feel pretty lonely and wouldn't have ventured out of my comfort zone in the first place. They've all told me that if I hate Canada then I can always come home - made me see things in such a simple way which is why my nerves aren't as full on as the normally would be.

I'm going to miss everyone.. see you when I see you... and don't bother asking when that will be because I don't have any idea (unless you decide to come and visit me... ... *ahem* ... Zara... lol)

Crazy Capers... Hostels

2008-06-30T17:54:00.002+10:00

I am suffering from house arrest and along impending travels has got me thinking reminiscing about past travels especially in regards to hostels... I am going to be spending ALOT of time in hostels over the next 3-4 months and it is kind of exciting because I've met so many cool people at hostels.. I've also met a lot of freaks.

Going back through previous entries, I couldn't find anything on Dave or Louise so I just have to give tribute a post to these two people who were absolutely crazy but made hostel life so interesting (because they really were so crazy).

Dave... A 30 year old Lithuanian man who had come to the UK to make a better life for himself... by DEALING DRUGS! The first night I met him, he seemed so sweet and had a cute accent and wasn't bad looking... and then the second night I met him he pulled a bag of small white tablets out of his suitcase and offered me a free sample (which I quickly stashed somewhere 'safe' and later flushed down the toilet)... He then kept asking me if I would like to come with him on his drug dealing escapades which I politely refused - he couldn't understand why I wasn't interested because you make so much money apparently!

Then, he used to come into the hostel room off his face at random hours of the morning and when he fell asleep, he shook the bed... it drove me nuts. One day, the room stunk and I found about a dozen banana peels on the floor next to the wall of my bed. I was horrified. Dave came in that afternoon and I was lying on my bed and he came over to me and started patting and playing with my hair and trying to talk to me about random stuff. I'd had enough so I calmly told him to eff off and to never, EVER, leave banana peels lying next to my bed because it was dirty and disgusting and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't remember now. He walked out of the room and was a little bit more reserved towards me from that day on... I think by that stage I was ready to leave the hostel and had had enough so didn't care either way.

Then, there was Louise.. the crazy cane woman who used to go to Oxford Street chanting and shaking her stick at people. She used to mutter and talk to herself in the hostel room and would start singing at random. She would pick her moods as to when she wanted to speak to you and she never did like me, mainly because I thought she was a nutter and didn't want anything to do with her! Kelly liked her though. Kel and I went for a walk down Oxford Street, many months after we'd moved on from the hostel and saw Louise with her cane shaking it around and ranting and raving about... well, we're not sure what she was on about but it was something to do with religion.

They are the two who stand out in my mind mainly because I spent a month sharing a room with them - not by choice - and I am excited by the new people I will meet on my adventures.

Sweet Little Old Ladies and Gentlemen...

2008-06-16T18:05:00.002+10:00

This has been something that bugged me on the drive home from work today. Everyone seems to think that old people are so sweet and innocent. I was listening to the radio and the presenter said something along the lines of 'there was an armed robbery last night and there was an old lady in the store when the robbery occured' and I went 'awww I hope the little old lady is okay' but then was thinking about it the rest of the drive home. I have a theory.

The little old lady may APPEAR sweet and innocent but she is really not. She was probably a bitch in high school and treated everyone like shit so now she is getting her bad karma by being held up by some scared 17 year old kid who needs money to buy a baby food for his pregnant girlfriend. Okay, so the guy holding up the store isn't innocent either but it really bugs me that they make all old people appear innocent. She may have been in jail herself when she was younger for dealing drugs but because she is old, the media makes her out to be some innocent victim when she has probably been more dangerous than the kid with the gun shoved in her face.

See where I'm going with this?

Yes, a totally random thought but I think it is a valid point. Just because someone is old does not automatically mean they should get an 'aww you're so sweet' card. Just because they may not be able to run fast (or run at all) and need a walking stick (which they could probably use to trip you over or if you're unlucky, belt you over the head with) does not mean that they are nice people. We as a population should say NO to treating old people nicely just for the sake of it. Take a stand and if that old biddy decides to glare at you or tut at you under his breath then don't smile nicely at him and say 'ohhh he's just old and bitter'. Being old does not mean that you can all of a sudden repent for the years of bad behaviour and shitty treatment of other people.

And what also really annoys me is the old people who LOOK sweet and innocent. You know the ones I mean. The ones who are real grandmothery with their bags of lollies and presents for the grandkids and any kids. The ones who are all smiles and seem really genuine. Well, I think they are hiding something. I think they are shifty and I don't trust them because they look too good to be true. They are probably the worst offenders. Check under their grandmothery attire and I am sure you will come across wrinkly, discoloured tattoos and scars from belly button and nipple piercings. It almost makes me think of that old witch from the Hansel and Gretel who lures the kids in with sweets and once she's got them under her wing she wants taint them with her cynical ways.

Okay can I just state that I do not really believe this (well, I do believe that not all old people are sweet and shouldn't be trusted) and that this is just a random post gone haywire!

So, you have been warned. Old people = keep an eye out because they were young once too. Just because they don't have the stamina they once had does not mean that they are nice people. Just because they are old does not mean that they deserve our respect. Sure, if they smile at you, smile back - if only for the fact that you don't know that they're going use their wrinkled fingers to call their drug lord son who will get his mob onto you just because you didn't smile at them when they were wheeling their trolley past the lolly aisle... Old people are scary at the best of times.

Memories... not so long ago

2008-06-15T22:03:00.002+10:00

Just a quick post before I head off to bed! I don't miss London as such but I have been reminiscing on some fun times that were had while I was there and I thought I'd share a few of them even though I've probably posted about them before...

Lots of my favourite memories involve Kelly in some way or another because she always made me laugh with her random comments and upbeat attitude...

There was a time went we went to Leicester Square to see a movie but got to the theatre only to find out that it was a ridiculously expensive price to go and see the movie (Kelly wanted to see Music and Lyrics or whatever it was called) so instead, we sat outside the theatre in FREEZING cold London weather and had some random take a photo of us - only to find that the billboard for the movie was directly behind us in the shot which made us laugh even harder because we felt like such losers.

Then there was the time we went to Amsterdam and probably inhaled too much of other people's polluted air and ended up with a ridiculous amount of the giggles - so much so that walking into the chemist Kelly started talking to shampoo bottles thinking they were me... and the bikes - I have NEVER seen someone more unco on a bike than Kelly! The amount of times she crashed into objects that were METERS away from her was ridiculous... So, I ended up going on a nice bike ride in the country on my own while Kelly had a picnic in the park... and I was taught how to roll my own joints by some random guy named Nick at the hostel we stayed at.. A useful skill no doubt...

Karaoke in Sweden with our new Swedish friends... This was one of the best nights ever although probably not for Kelly after she was attacked by one of the guys who we went with from our hostel. He was South African so that explains everything. Okay, so not really but it wouldn't surprise me. Up until that point it was a great night and I'm pretty sure we got a kebab at the end of the night and some random guy asked us to suck his dick - yeah, you get wankers in every country!

Other random things that I miss are messy nights at the Reddy where everyone is so shit-faced but it is just a given and if you're sober you should not be there.

Catching the tube and being squashed in like a sardine and feeling like you're going to vomit because you have a smelly armpit squashed right up against your nose. Okay - I don't miss that at all.

I miss Pret and the banana cake and I miss walking down Oxford Street oh shit I just remembered I owe one of my friends a dinner when I get back to the UK... Let's hope he forgets that he paid for my dinner last time! I went out with one of my friends, Alex, a few days before I flew back to Melbourne and as I do, I started playing with the packets of sugar that were left on the table. I decide that it would be fun to put the sugar on the spoon and melt it - which Alex was quite intrigued by and he decided that once it had melted it would be a great idea to stick his finger in the gooy liquid. I did warn him that it would be quite hot which he laughed off - until he stuck his finger into the spoon and burnt his finger.. I felt torn... should I laugh or should I be compassionate? I went for the former and laughed my head off while he sat there and tried his best to laugh it off - until the pain became too much and he asked if he could please have the rest of my water - to which I agreed and he hastily dunked his finger into my glass of water and breathed a sigh of relief. Highly entertaining - he reckons his finger hurt for days after... as it would after being burnt! Someone once told me that liquid sugar can get hotter than boiling water. I'm not sure if this is accurate but after his reaction it wouldn't surprise me.

I just never want to forget anything. I don't want to forget how I felt on particular days or when particular things happened because some of those feelings were just so real and so amazing that I never want them to leave. When I write things down and come back to them later, they re-create those feelings and I love it!

Oh I could go on forever, I am in a writing mood which is a pain because it is definitely time for me to go to bed because I have to work tomorrow. Fun fun fun...

Well, til next time...

Tax and Money

2008-06-04T19:47:00.005+10:00

Well my UK tax has been posted to the tax offices in the UK and hopefully they have enough information to complete them! After the numerous emails sent back and forth between the tax offices in London I think that I should be okay. Now it is just a waiting game to see how long it takes before I get my cheque - which I won't be here to cash in... Ugh. Still that is easy enough to work around.

I am also looking forward to completing my Australian tax return thanks to a really smart lady at work who decided that it would be a fabulous idea to tax me in the highest possible tax bracket resulting in a terrible pay for a fortnight! I have had so many people say 'yeah but think of it as prolonged saving' but that doesn't help when I am leaving the country in 5 weeks.

So, money is thankfully trickling in from places here and there. I'm not looking forward to these 3 weeks spent in the UK cos I just know they are going to cost me a fortune but at least I have lived there and can be savvy with my money when I'm there. I think I will spend a lot of time hanging out in parks and relaxing. I'm just looking forward to getting my pale white skin out into the sun and working on my tan.

Regrets

2008-05-30T17:48:00.003+10:00

It is funny how the world works. In many ways, I have no regrets but at the same time I have loads. It is hard for me to differentiate which of the regrets are real and which are just 'what ifs'.

One of my major regrets is that I chose to teach. I have regretted that decision for so long and that's not to say I haven't enjoyed aspects of teaching but on the whole it's not something I ever envisioned myself doing. I used to feel that I had no choice in what happened in my life because dad would always shake his head and direct me to something he thought was more appropriate. Which, in his mind, was the more appropriate option and generally was a good option - but not always necessarily the best option for me. Dad forgets that I am 24 and have 'younger' opinions than him. It's either dad's way or it's a stupid idea.

On the other hand, had I of not done teaching I probably would have ended up with a job I really enjoyed and wouldn't have felt the desperate need to escape and probably would have kept London as a pipe dream instead of turning it into a reality.

Prime example of one of those things I'm not sure I regret or not. I don't think I regret teaching because I have learnt so much from it that I wouldn't have learnt had I of been happy from the start. Not sure if this is making sense or not?!

I don't regret going to London and living over there. In fact, I am proud that I had the courage to go in the first place. People have asked whether I am disappointed because I didn't stay over there longer. I'm not disappointed because at the end I was getting so unhappy. Not because I missed home but... more because my house was too big and crazy and I was starting to get over sharing a room with another person. I absolutely hated supplying over there because the kids were CRAZY and going to a different school every day drove me nuts. I also hated my agency because they just did not look after their teachers very well. They were great at the start but went downhill in the last 4 months and everyone who worked through them was noticing. Yeah, I could have gone back when I was meant to but then I wouldn't have stayed longer in Australia and had this 6 week teaching block which made me realise that I really don't want to teach anymore!

I have some idea of what I'd like to do but who knows if I will get that job because I don't have experience and I don't want to go back to study. But, I spend so much of my time planning and analyzing that you know what - I DON'T CARE what happens because I am sick to death of being preoccupied with crap that I just end up not enjoying anything.

I spent so much time analyzing the what ifs of Canada that when I finally decided on my ORIGINAL fucking plan that it is too damn late to do what I originally wanted to do. So, I have decided to take a deep breath and see what happens when I go with the flow of things rather than try to second guess myself.

Too many decisions to think about right now so I am off!

UK Tax ... A NIGHTMARE!

2008-05-25T13:51:00.003+10:00

OH MY GOODNESS! UK tax is a nightmare without all the right forms that I need but cannot obtain because I'm not in the UK anymore!

I have been sending emails back and forth with HMRC to determine what documents I need and how to go about getting them but by the time I get all these documents I won't even be in Australia to USE them. There is no way that I am letting my UK tax get eaten up by the UK government though. I plan on claiming it even if it kills me!

It isn't really that difficult, it is just frustrating because I need these forms and conversing over email to get all this sorted takes time because you have to wait for them to get back into the office and read the email, reply and then they need to wait for MY reply so as you can imagine - it is taking forever.

I thought I had all of the right documents ready and then I re-read one of the emails from HMRC and it mentioned a document I don't have - but ISS Group, who is my employer, said I don't need that particular form. If I am confusing YOU imagine how I feel!

It will all work itself out, it always does, but it is just going to take time and it is going to be a pain in my ass. It will all be worthwhile when I receive my tax though! Going directly through HMRC also means that I will not have to pay any agency fees... Bonus!

Why Melbourne?

2008-05-21T09:20:00.003+10:00

For what reasons did I decide to stay in Melbourne for again?

* The shitty weather
* The petrol prices
* The politics of CSC

I am almost ready to go back and get out of here again. I am loving the fact that I am seeing all my friends and the normality of things is great but I am ready to go. I am still searching for that something. I have no idea what that something is but I am not ready to be at home just yet. I want to go and visit my mum. I want to go to Canada and snowboard. I want to volunteer in an orphanage in Ecuador.

In the back of my mind though, I have this nagging voice saying 'oh but Simone, you need to go back to work. You need to live a normal life.' I hate that voice. It is the voice of reason and I don't like what it is saying. Actually, it is the voice of my dad. Ah ha! There we go - pinned the reason why I am so eager to leave this country again. I hate being dictated and even though he has learnt he can't dictate anything in my life now, I still hear that voice.

I am excited about Canada after reading Kirsty's blog and hearing what she has been up to. I had forgotten that excited feeling that you get when you start a new adventure but thanks to Kirsty for bringing it back. I think my mind has been too preoccupied with other things to even think about Canada.

Anyway 2 more months in Melbourne and then travel and Canada. Exciting times ahead.

Australia

2008-05-05T22:24:00.005+10:00

My very first post being back in Australia! Wow, so much has happened in the past month that I don't know where to begin. It has been amazing being back home and I had been looking forward to coming home since August last year. Strange really because I should have been immersed in the London life but really, I was a little bit sad. Don't get me wrong, I have had the best time ever in London and have loved every second of it and am looking forward to getting back there to do the touristy thing but to be honest, I was getting sick of the artificial environment.

Jade kept talking about this artificial environment which I didn't believe at first but then she kind of convinced me that it is true to some extent, especially now that I'm home and I hear from none of the 'friends' I have made in the UK. I guess because I kept thinking to myself that I would be coming home in April that I didn't need proper friends in London and didn't try as hard as I could have to establish good friendships so that was slack on my behalf. At the same time, the friendships that were made, especially the friendships I thought were strong and solid, have proved to be nothing more than a lie.

It's amazing how easily I have slipped back into my life here and have found that it is exactly the same as it was before I left. The only thing that has changed is me and my perceptions of things. Other people may not see this though but I see it really clearly.

Anyway it has taken me weeks to finish this post so I think I'm going to press 'Publish Post' now otherwise I never will! More soon enough I'm sure : )

Denmark

2008-04-02T23:04:00.004+11:00

Teegan and I made our way to Denmark on the weekend and spent 3 days in lovely Copenhagen. I am normally not much of a fan of traveling to cities, prefering to get off the beaten track a little but Copenhagen actually was a beautiful city to visit.

We spent our first day exploring and using the Lonely Planet's tiny map and on the second day we discovered the hostel had a larger map and we which we then looked at only to discover we'd been walking around and backtracking because we'd thought things were further away than they really were. Frustrating but we got a great workout.

On our way to the hostel, Teegs and I were consulting the map when I pulled my suitcase away and all of a sudden I heard Teegs gasp and I turned around just in time to see a man in a lycra jogging suit literally HOP over my suitcase because I had accidently pushed it right in front of his jogging path giving him no time to get out of the way. Lucky he was able to hurdle over the top of it otherwise things could have gotten nasty! Pretty funny though and I wish we'd recorded it. It was bad because I was totally oblivious to the fact that I almost tripped him over until he'd jogged off down the road... it was early in the morning ok!

We spent so much time sitting in a bar, sipping hot chocolate. It was great, such a relaxing weekend away. We went down to the canals and spent some time admiring the colourful houses and the amazing boats and I even found a boat called 'Simone L' so I was a little excited and got Teegan to take a million photos of me and this boat! We then caught a boat and sailed through the canals and got to see Copenhagen from the water.

In Norway, one of the girls at the hostel that I was staying at told me that I should find the sqautting area in Denmark. I had no idea what she was talking about until Teegan mentioned we should go to Christiania... all of a sudden, this girl's remark came flooding back to me and I was excited about going to visit this place. It is such a strange place to visit because the kind of people who live there enjoy their weed and have a pretty laid back lifestyle. Think of hippies. The buildings are run down and have graffiti all over them and the town is all paved meaning no traffic. I read an interesting sign while I was in there but I cannot remember what it said but basically it was referring to the fact that they aren't interested in materialistic or commercial things which is why they are so insistent on having their own community. When we were inside Christiania and were looking at the exit, there was a sign that said 'You are now entering the EU' which was their way of saying they don't want to be part of the EU. People were buying, selling and smoking weed on the street and although it is illegal and punishable in Denmark, police struggle to get any control over Christiania so now they don't even bother trying to stop it in this area. It was interesting because we saw all these people stoned as we were walking through and it is actually quite scary. One guy we met at a bar the night before suggested we go to Christiania for a drink and luckily we said no because it was scary during the day, let alone night! It was a culture shock for me because Copenhagen is such a nice city and it was unreal to see such a dirty side to the city. I guess every city has this side to it but Copenhagen isn't afraid to hide theirs.

We also went into this church and climbed up to the top and got an amazing view of the city and it was beautiful. Nevermind that I thought I might fall off the top thanks to the barriers being really low but it was worth it to experience the amazing view. It was a church that was just near the royal palace but I can't think of the name right now. The photo shows how windy it was but also the amazing view.

I would love to go back to Copenhagen and explore some more. It was beautiful!

Norway...

2008-03-24T00:32:00.002+11:00

Normally I try to at least attempt to think of an inventive title but today I just couldn't think of one... At least you know what my post is going to be about!

So, here I am sitting in an internet cafe in Oslo while outside the sun is shining and there is sludge lining the streets. Yes, that's right, it has been snowing in Oslo. Why I did not think of this before I packed my trainers which get water in them if they even hear the word 'puddle' beats the heck out of me...

I was meant to fly into Oslo Torp airport which I found out is actually 123km from the city centre... Anyways, on our Ryan Air flight which seems to be quite bumpy thanks to turbulance, our pilot announces that we cannot land at Oslo Torp airport due to the severe weather conditions and we must land at Oslo International... which is only a 30 minute train ride from the centre of the city! I was thrilled with my good luck!

Oslo is actually a pretty shitty city. I don't know if that is just because I've traveled over the Easter weekend and NOTHING has been open (the shops literally just opened for about 4 hours on Saturday) and I have been living off McDonalds and Burger King because they are the only food shops open... Disgusting. I really just want a banana.

Not to mention that Oslo is ridiculously expensive... for example, I spend 65NOK on McDonalds which would be 6.50GBP which would end up being about 13AUD just for a chicken burger meal... even London doesn't rip you off THAT much. I have somehow spent 180GBP in 3 days... granted that some of that money (60GBP) has paid for my accommodation but still.. the rest of it, I have no idea where it has gone. To catch a bus/tram, etc for 24 hours costs 60NOK which is the equivelant to 6GBP which is the equivilent to 12AUD... rip off.. but nevertheless, it's nice to get out of the big smoke and experience a differnet culture even if it is only doing random bits and pieces cos everything is shut.

My hostel is in a really good location. It is close to the main shopping strip (which means nothing because it's ALL closed and too damn expensive) and it is close to the central station which is brilliant for buses and trains! However, saying this... one of the girls in my room got bitten by bed bugs on my second night. I hadn't been bitten but after she'd been bitten I found out the hostel has a reputation for having bed bugs. Gross! I've been fine though and decided not to change rooms and none have bitten me so I think my bed is okay. Phew!

Yesterday I went to the Norwegien Folk Museum and saw all these cool Norwegien buildings that had been transported from around Norway and placed in this museum for gawky tourist like me. Some of the buildings were quite cool and I especially liked the stave church (with photos to follow at a later date). I even tried some Hardangerlefse which is a traditional Norwegien bread which is cooked almost like a pancake because they flatten it into a large round circle and cook it on a wooden fire... you then eat it warm with cinnamon and butter and it was really nice. It was a sweet kind of bread. Really heavy so I wouldn't want to eat a lot of it.

I then tried to go to the Viking Ship museum which was closed. I was really disappointed because I thought that would be kind of cool to go and see but nevermind. Then, I made my way to Vigelandsparken which is this park that has all these weird looking sculptures in there. Once again, photos to follow at a later stage. It was really bizarre because they were mostly of naked men and women, sometimes standing alone and sometimes with a female or with children.

Today I went to Holemkollen which is a really big touristy area because there is the ski museum and ski jump right near the T-Bane Station. You can get a really nice view of Oslo from the top of the ski jump and normally you can get the lift up to the top but today it wasn't working so you had to climb up to the top. I am not against doing some exercise, especially with all those disgusting burgers I've been eating... however, as some of you may be aware, I get really freaked out about stairs. Normally, I am okay but if the stairs don't quite connect (so you can see undreneath you as you're walking up), I start to panic. This is exactly what happened today... The metal stairs were fine, had no problems with them... but as soon as I got to the wooden stairs that had little gaps between them... whoa. I think I stood at one platform for a solid 5 minutes before I could even look at the next flight of stairs. I hated it. People kept walking past asking if I was okay and I was seriously close to tears. I couldn't stand it. The most annoying part of it was that I knew how stupid I was being. I saw one guy bounding down the stairs and here I was waiting until there was no one on each flight of stairs before I gripped the handrail and slowly walked down, each foot resting on each step before I progressed to the next step. Crazy?!

Still, the view when I got to the top was nice although my heart was still racing from the panicy walk up the stairs so I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I could. Walking down was bad but not as bad... damn those stupid gaps between stairs!

On my way to Holemkollen I was waiting at the train station and this girl dropped her mobile phone and it fell onto the tracks. I could see her pondering what she should do and then all of a sudden she jumped onto the tracks and picked up her phone... but was unable to get back onto the platform (it was about a meter drop to get back up onto the platform) so I ran over to her and tried to help her up. However, as soon as I started to help pick her up she immediately stopped trying to help herself up and I'm standing at the edge of this platform grabbing this girl by one arm while she's trying to hoist herself up onto the platform. After a bit of a struggle she got up and garbled at me in some foreign language that she had been terrified down there.. Compltely understandable but I couldn't help laughing after she left because all in all, it was pretty funny. Maybe you had to be there.

So, that's pretty much been my time in Norway. I would love to spend more time in Scandinavia and explore the countryside as that is meant to be magnificent but it is SO expensive.

New York, New York!

2008-03-20T22:01:00.002+11:00

I seem to have this compulsion when it comes to spending money. Before I know it, I rack up mounds of debt on my credit card (all of which I will be able to pay back) but nevertheless it sucks to even think about!

My most recent transaction which I have purchased is my flights to CANADA! But before I get to Canada I have decided to do some sightseeing in the USA so I have booked a flight to New York for the 8th of December and am spending a week or so there and then I will fly to Seattle on the 13th of December where I will once again spend Christmas with my mum. On the 28th of December I will then be flying to Vancouver where I am hoping that Kirsty will still be there because otherwise I will have a very boring New Years Eve alone in Canada but then there are months between now and then so who knows what will happen.

So, it's definitely happening! I'm going to Canada. With what money though, I do not know! I worked out my budget and I am extremely poor until now and then. Guess I'll have to try harder to save especially now I know that I definitely will be in Canada for snowboarding season!

Bring on the S.N.O.W!

Fickle Friends?

2008-03-07T06:08:00.002+11:00

Another gripe about London being lonely. All my friends seem to have boyfriends or just are ridiculously busy at the moment. Also I am beyond broke which means anything I do want to do needs to be carefully planned and budgeted for (although my budgeting skills are quite lame so that never quite works as well as I hope).

I am sick of sharing a room because Meg always seems to be home and hovering around which can be awesome and she is so lovely but because I'm feeling annoyed and frustrated this just adds to everything already going on! I know that once I get on top of things room sharing will go back to being okay. Maybe spending a month back in Aus with my own room around my friends will help sort me out.

As for my house, well it has really changed. I am no longer 'new' and have not been 'new' for a long time now but it has reached the point where I have been living in the house second longest... and about 5 people have moved in within the past month and a half and 4 people are moving out within the next month - so a complete house hold change. This adds to the fun of the house and it has become loads more social but at the same time I can sense trouble brewing... Last night Aimee asked if I had seen her Dove shower gel because it had gone missing (basically asking me outright if I'd taken it) and when I'd said I never seen it, let alone would never take someone else's shower gel she didn't seem so sure. I keep all of my bathroom products in a toiletries bag so I know where all my stuff is and I mentioned this to Aimee. 'That's not very homely', Aimee replied to which I told her 'at least I know none of MY things will go missing' and she shrugged her shoulders. Get over the missing shower gel if you're going to leave it in a bathroom which 11 people use on a daily basis! Okay so maybe I'm the one whose not being nice. Who bloody knows.

What else to moan about.. I could moan about the word 'moan'. English use this word like it is going out of fashion! It drives me insane but some of the stupid sayings I've picked up are driving me insane but I hardly realise I use them anymore.. for example, I notice that I've started saying 'hiya' which really irritated me for the first year of me being here ... actually, it STILL annoys me... but I just can't seem to stop that 'ya' coming out at the end once I've finished saying 'hi'.

That's it from me today! Until next time...

Scottish Highlands!

2008-02-26T23:37:00.002+11:00

Ahh, back at work today after spending a good four days in Scotland. Traveling makes me remember that living in London is all worth while because I had such a great time while I was away.

I caught the Mega Bus up to Edinburgh which is where my tour left from and it only cost me £6 return! Fabulous. I didn't even care that it was a NINE hour bus ride because it was so cheap. I explored Edinburgh for a day and it is such a gorgeous city. There is a castle that lies on top of a hill which is an extinct volcano... pretty amazing stuff. The whole city was just so vibrant and everywhere you turned you were looking at some old building or monument of some kind.

Then I started my MacBACKPACKERS tour for three days which was so much fun. There were only 12 people on my tour with 8 of them being part of a couple... lucky there were three others traveling solo and we got along so well. I got along really well with Cameron, the token Kiwi, and we ended up having a bit of a pash in the staff quarters on the first night - turns out he has a girlfriend waiting for him back in NZ and the rest of the trip he was really quiet and he apologized for this on the last day saying he felt really guilty.. Oops for him but I didn't do anything wrong, I thought they'd broken up.
As for Scotland itself... all I can say is WOW! The country is so beautiful. Everywhere we went in the Highlands we saw mountains with streams running through them and quite often we saw pretty waterfalls. We were meant to go for a hike up a mountain but it ended up raining so much that we didn't go.

I'm struggling to even find the words to use to describe how much fun and how beautiful Scotland is. I am really glad that I made an effort to go. Check out the photos and they don't even begin to show how dramatic and fantastic the landscape truly is.

Lonely..

2008-02-19T08:22:00.004+11:00

Well I can say that I've been in London for over a year now. I'm so proud of myself for seeing this through and not giving up when times have gotten tough. I've traveled loads and have made some amazing friends... yet I feel incredibly lonely. I am surrounded by these amazing people and never am bored on weekends yet I almost find myself thinking that these are people who are really good friends but at the same time aren't people I feel comfortable sharing my whole self with...

It's funny because I don't miss Australia but I miss having my close friends. I've been speaking to some of my good friends back home which almost in a way makes me think I haven't made as much as an effort with the friends over here. It's almost like in the back of my mind I keep thinking 'well I'm going to be leaving London soon, what's the point?' which is a really stupid mentality to have.

I've got a really good network of friends which has been increasing rapidly and I love that. The most frustrating part is that I'm barely going to be here to get to know these new friends that I've made because of my travel plans. I adore living in London but it has it's downsides too. That happens to be one of them.

Not much I can do about that though I suppose unless I decide to stay in London longer (which I won't because it means I'd have to teach full time and get sponsored which I don't really want to do!)

To the point, I just feel lonely.. all my good friends are either gone or have boyfriends which leaves me single and bored cos they all couple up on the weekend leaving me to do nothing... Everyone always says that being part of a couple doesn't change the way they act with their friends but they totally do... Time to start hanging out with some new, single friends I think!

Hope you guys back in Melb are all doing well - not long until I see you now!
xxx

Guess the Mystery Object!

2008-02-16T06:57:00.002+11:00

I'm not sure how much I've bitched about my room mate on this blog but I know in my head I bitch about her constantly. She drives me insane with the stupid stuff that she does. Yes, it's only LITTLE things but they really irk me because we are living in such close proximity to one another...

For example, she has taken over the rack on the back of the door which we are meant to SHARE to hang our towels to dry... so I hang my towel on the door knob of our wardrobe - she then manages to let my wet towel drop to the floor and doesn't pick it back up to hang it... so when I go to have my next shower after I get home from the gym, my towel is all wet!

She cuts her hair extensions (yes, she cuts her hair extensions, I couldn't figure this one out either...) and leaves the strands of hair on MY side of the room. So, I've taken to picking them up and hiding them under her doona because it really annoys me.

She throws her WET towel on MY bed which is just totally gross for reasons I don't think I even need to write. I chuck it back onto her side of the room. She has used my hairspray, without asking, so much that when I actually went to use it, it was empty! But I had no proof to back that up, for all I know I used the hair spray SO much that it would be empty... but, I can count the amount of times I have used that hair spray in the past 6 months on one hand so I doubt I used it all... She also uses my nail polish remover because when I first had it, it was almost full... now it's only half full... argh!

If she asked to borrow my stuff I wouldn't mind because at least I'd know she was using it and it's disrespectful to assume you can just use someone's things without asking.... if I didn't like her using my stuff I could always say no.

A few of my house mates had gotten annoyed because she dyes her hair (and the extensions so that they're all the same colour) in the bathroom and apparently cuts it in there too because one day the drain was all clogged and the bath was full of brown, matted hair. Gross! The shower curtain was covered with dye as well and she didn't wash it off... not to mention she left about 3-4 towels just lying on the bathroom floor which were there for DAYS because she didn't pick them up...

I could bitch about more (like how she leaves her straightner on the edge of my bed and I literally get it and throw it down the side of her bed so she can't find it for ages) but I will stop so I can tell you a hilarious story...

Kelly does not know how to use the washing machine (literally, she didn't know you had to buy washing powder, let alone how to turn it ON...) and has not washed her sheets in the entire two and a half months of living here... So, her bed, needless to say, is quite disgusting. There are crumbs ALL over it and she sleeps with her laptop at the end of her bed and with her hairbrush beside her and a book and lip stick and whatever else she can't be bothered putting away for the night..

So, I get a kick out of showing my friends the disgusting sheets because their reactions are priceless. I had Teegan and Trudy over for dinner and told them about the disgusting sheets that they just had to see... so up to my room they come and I lift the doona cover and they both gasp... Me, having seen the sheets before and witnessing this reaction before said "I know, how disgusting are they?" to which they replied "Um.. Simone, look at the sheets more closely" to which I did... To my horror, I found myself face-to-face with a massive vibrator which was laying amongst the two month old biscuit and toast crumbs, chap stick and vaseline.... TOTALLY DISGUSTING but we could not stop laughing for hours afterwards. Luckily she didn't come home that night because I don't know how I could have looked her in the eye without laughing. I still haven't seen her yet but I think I'll be able to contain myself...

The joys of roomshares... I can't figure out if she actually used it whilst I was in the room but I'm guessing I'd have known about it, although at times she did make loud breathing noises which I assumed was just her way of trying to get to sleep... but, maybe there was more to it.... Hmm.. not something I'm going to ponder...

WHOA Money Crisis!

2008-02-13T05:40:00.000+11:00

Now I know why I have been in such financial stress this whole year. I worked out how much I have earnt this past year and it is approximately £300 a week. This is because I spent about 2 and a half months last year out of London traveling but still - I was shocked cos Kirra earns about £280 a week and she still can't afford anything. I guess it shows that budgeting works.. but then I also spent LOADS of my own Australian funds which worked out to quite a bit of travel...

Still, I'm not complaining, the only reason I'm annoyed it cos it means I won't be able to apply for my highly skilled visa but I'm thinking if I want to stay in London I will try to get sponsored. I'm not sure what I want to do yet, I will know more once I visit Melbourne but I want to know my options for staying in London. There is SO much I want to do in England and I've done alot of traveling in Europe but have barely seen the English countryside. So, I've decided when I come back in May I will be doing some weekends away and day trips.

Ahh... the hard life I lead..

Sad House

2008-02-05T06:35:00.000+11:00

Everyone in my house is moving out and I'm a bit sad. Things have been going really well lately and as soon as I feel I've found my feet, everyone is leaving.

Also by the time I move out and get a new place I will only be in London for 3 months again before I'm off traveling. So, I may find an awesome house but only be there for a short time. I kind of wish I'd had a better house while I'd been here. By better, I mean more social but this house has been okay.

As I've already mentioned, I can't change my experience here. I can only live and learn and be happy with what's already happened. When I come back in May I will try and find a more sociable house. Who knows, I may even decide that I don't even like that kind of house! Change is good but at the same time it is really sad.

Another annoying thing is my phone bill! I seem to rack up an amazing amount each month - HOW! I try so hard not to text so to all of my friends back home, know that I love you but I will not be texting anymore - Seriously this time.

Argh, annoying work story (haven't had one of these for a while)...
Firstly, the bloody bus took FOREVER (literally 20 minutes) to arrive at the station and when it finally did arrive it was chockers full of young kids on their way to school. We were lucky to even get on that bus. Driving along with the kids being noisy and silly, trying to open the buses back doors when the bus was moving, and just being stupid. The driver got so annoyed that he stopped the bus and yelled to the kids "oi, get off the bus yeah. I'm not moving this bus til some of you get off yeah. Seriously, I'm about to call the cops yeah." I wanted to punch the bus driver out for the amount of times he said 'yeah'. You do not end a sentence with the word 'yeah' EVER!

So, I get to school and have a lovely day, with the exception of a few kids being mildly annoying. During the last session when some of the kids were playing up I warned them that the next person who spoke would be sent out of the room... Of course, a kid called out, so I pulled him up on it and sent him to the teacher next door. Ten minutes later I find out he never even went and was just sitting in the hallway. So, I send him into the other teachers room (mind you he's whinging he doesn't know why I sent him out in the first place - and he knew EXACTLY why after being warned ALL day) and another 10 minutes later he is STILL in the hallway. Whatever, I bring him back into the room, by this stage he is in tears although who knows why.

All is good til after school when I go to the office to get my time sheet signed and see him and mum standing there complaining about me... *SIGH* so I chat to mum to attempt to explain the situation and basically get called a liar and I do not know her son and shouldn't treat him so badly... What an absolute cracker of a day. The teacher spoke to me and basically said I'd done a good job in the class today and not to worry. He said he'd be happy to have me back in the school and mum is a nutcase.

Job done!

One Year Anniversary

2008-02-03T22:14:00.000+11:00

Wow!

Today marks the day when I first arrived in London 365 days ago. When I first arrived in London I was excited and ready to embark on new adventures. Everything was new and at times, a little scary. I had to navigate this thing called the tube and master all the tube lines... Jubilee, District, Circle (but wait, they go to some of the same stations, which line should I take?!), Central, Bakerloo... how do I know where I'm going? After getting disorientated many times while on the tube (I was going south bound when I really needed to be heading northbound) I managed to find my way ok. Zones and Oyster, whatever do you mean? Add cold weather to that and I really was outside my comfort zone.

Even supermarkets and areas, finding a house to live. Starting off in East Putney which was a gorgeous area but expensive I ventured down to Shepherd's Bush... Brilliant. Deciding this was still too expensive I ended up sharing a ROOM in Chiswick and spent the better part of my year sharing a room which I vowed I would "never ever" do.

Looking back, I can see how far I have come. I embarked on this adventure not knowing what to expect and not knowing what would happen in the end. At times I have cried and wanted to come home like you would not believe but I pushed through the hard times and have now found myself enjoying every second of London (minus the windy coldness).

I've explored new places and have met some amazing people and am only continuing to meet many more. It will be such a sad moment when I leave London because this has not just been a holiday destination for me - it has been my home. Definitely a culture shock too because of how multicultural London is. The accessibilty of Europe is amazing and I only just booked £40 return flights to Norway (which is cheaper than me booking return tickets from Melbourne to QLD) which means traveling is a breeze. Although, don't be fooled, even weekends away can turn quite expensive.

London has taught me so much about life and about myself. I've said it before and I'll say it again - London is one of the best things that I have ever decided to do in my life. Sometimes I feel that my London experience hasn't turned out the way I wanted but then I think about how I left everything at home to come on this crazy adventure and decide that I don't need to have my experience turning out a certain way - it will turn out the way it is meant to turn out and all I need to do is enjoy the ride.

And the ride has been amazing and is nowhere near over yet!

Summer Adventures Cont'

2008-01-31T07:35:00.001+11:00

I am just so happy right at this moment! I have absolutely NO cash and SANZA have stuffed up my pay this week so I'm getting paid a pittance but I am on such a high.

I had been really disappointed that I wasn't able to fit Portugal into my summer travels this year... I left 5 days in between Morocco and Spain and had hoped to visit Portugal then... Until I realised how difficult it would be for me to get there and by the time I made my way there I'd have to jet off to Barcelona (what a hard life I lead!)

So, I settled for the summer plans I already had which was Morocco, Spain and Turkey and resolved myself to the fact that I'd just be doing that and Scotland this year... Until I reached breaking point. I came to the conclusion that London is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'd never get this visa again so MAKE THE MOST OF IT!

Hence how I just found myself booking flights to Portugal!

It is a really bizarre way of doing it but I had to do it now before I backed out. Plus it was cheap and I couldn't find direct flights and direct flights are usually with airlines that are ridiculously expensive. Basically, I fly from Istanbul back to London and then fly from London to Lisbon - all on the same day so I really hope EasyJet doesn't have its flight from Istanbul delayed otherwise Portugal will still just be a dream. But, EasyJet are usually pretty good and I've got a few hours in between so I should be okay. I'd rather have a roundabout flight than pay LOADS of extra cash. Sounds crazy but ask any true Aussie traveler in London and they'll give you even more bizarre stories than mine (eg sleeping in toilets because they can't afford accommodation!)

I will be spending a blissful 8 days in Portugal before flying back to London... Possibly spending a few days in London catching up with friends and showing off my tan before jetting off to Canada. I was planning on doing a tour of America before I went to Canada but decided that I'd rather go and see Portugal before I worried about the states. I think when I work in Canada for a while I will save up for all of that then - and if I don't have enough money then I will get a credit card and do ALL of my travels and worry about it when I come home. What is the point in being SO close by if you don't make the most of it? This might sound crazy to alot of you but it makes sense to me and the whole thing works for me.

I just LOVE my life so much and am so glad that I had the guts to go on this amazing adventure!

Just deciding now to book flights to Norway! Heck, I love this having no money but booking everything on my credit card business. Book now, Pay later. Probably a bad philosophy but you know what - WHO CARES! I get to see the world! When else am I going to come back here again? Chances are never so I may as well make it worth it while I am actually here.

Ahhh!

Australia Day 2008

2008-01-28T02:08:00.000+11:00

Ahh... Australia Day... Nothing can get more patriotic than a bunch of Aussie's sipping on Fosters (only cos it was the cheapest beer in the pub) having a massive BBQ. And instead of all of this happening in Australia... It was all going on down at the good old Redback Tavern in Acton.

We got there at about noon and it was so quiet but we got our free T-shirt and had a few drinks. By about 5 it had picked up and we'd eating our free BBQ burgers that were actually quite tasty. At 7pm we were pretty drunk and were singing wildly to Aussie (and non-Aussie) songs.

I scored a free Aussie flag tattoo and whacked that on my face and I wore my Aussie flag proud and strong that night. Seems that you're always more patriotic when you're in another country.

Stomp!

2008-01-24T21:35:00.000+11:00

This is a show I'd never really thought about seeing but Jade offered really cheap tickets to go and see it so I figured 'why not!'

Basically, the show consists of 8 dancers and they use random items to create music. At one stage they got rubber tubes all cut to different lengths and were tapping them on the floor. Later in the show they used newspapers. It was all very interesting but to be honest there were points when I got quite bored.

Still it was interesting to watch and the way they made their music was really creative.

Canada..

2008-01-22T08:39:00.000+11:00

Ok it is 100% decided. No backing out now.

I am going to Canada.

Definitely.

It is going to be exhausting on me financially but you know what... I can always earn more money. These experiences are worth more than a million pounds. It is worth even more than being handed it on a silver platter because I have worked so hard to get where I am and it is so rewarding. It sucks living on a budget but it has been the most amazing experience and I have learnt so much from it. Had I have stayed in Australia I would be stuck in the same mundane job, doing the same thing, following the same routine. I would never have known all these fabulous people that I have since met in London - some of those bonds are unbreakable.

I know I have whinged and complained and wished many times that I could just jump on the first plane back to Melbourne and never ever have to think about London again.. But you know what - I am so glad that I didn't do that because I would regret it so much. I think I had to learn that it is ok to be who I am and that everyone struggles from time to time. I think London can be hard at the best of times but it's something you just have to deal with. I've come so far to let a few issues worry me and it's taken a long time for me to realise that. I'm not perfect but you know what, I like who I am and that has allowed me to accept everything else that has come my way.

To those of you who have listened to me bitch and whine constantly throughout my London journey - THANK YOU and I appreeciate everything you have done for me since being over here.

Anyway aside from that big ramble... C.A.N.A.D.A!!!

Holly is in Canada and Kirsty is going to Canada. One of the girls I used to work with lived in Canada a few years ago and it just seems like it would be loads of fun. To be honest, I never even thought about Canada or even wanted to spend alot of time in Canada but really - how much fun would it be to spend 6 months in the snow! I can handle snow but I don't think I could handle 6 months of rain. Snow is fun... and I will get to learn how to snowboard... for FREE!

Now I've got to enlist the help of people who've been to Canada so that I have loads of information!

I'm SO excited. It means I won't be home to Melbourne for a while but hey, life goes on without me and I have also figured that life will always be there in Melbourne when I get back. One word comes to mind at the moment - chilled. I am so chilled about the whole thing I wonder how long it'll last before I start to stress...

P.S Thanks to the annon comment bout going home, coming back. Think I kinda decided that it wasn't worth going home and staying there. There is so much to do in London and summer will be awesome (let's just hope the weather gets nice before August cos I won't be in London after that!) Bring on the summer Pimms! Mmm

The Loop Bar

2008-01-20T23:08:00.000+11:00

Last night was awesome! We went to this place just off Oxford Circus called 'The Loop Bar' which played cheesy music and old hits. It was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday. We danced all night and you'd be proud of me for staying pretty sober (meaning I remember how I got home last night!)

Some Greek guy decided to attach himself to me for some unknown reason so I had him floating around me all night. Interesting. But I fobbed him off because it was my night and I just wanted to spend it with my friends and have a bit of a dance.

It was amazing how easy it was to get home and how cheap the night was. We never go out in the city so it was a nice change, instead of always going somewhere local. Definitely a fantastic way to start my 24th year!

Now it is Sunday and I am planning on sitting in front of the TV and watching the Bourne Identity movies with a large pizza, maybe some popcorn and chocolate. Screw the diet for today! This whole week has been birthday celebrations galore so I'm going to milk it for ONE more day just cos I can.

Summer!

2008-01-20T02:22:00.000+11:00

After hearing all about the nice sunny Melbourne weather I've been a bit depressed in rainy London... But all that has changed now that I've booked my Spain, Morocco and Turkey tours for August/September. The weather is going to be perfect for 7 whol weeks. Yep, that's right. I will be traveling for around 7 weeks. A long time, I know but I may as well make the most of the summer while I am here. Let's just hope it's not too hot!

I've got Scotland to look forward to in February and then April I'm coming home. I'm looking forward to coming home but I think I'm over the homesickness at the moment. It seems to come and go. After New Years I really just wanted to jump on a plane and never ever have to think about London again but I think it was just that I had such a shit time in Paris and was afraid of what London would be like once I got back.

For my birthday last week, I went out to Brick Lane and got sung Happy Birthday by my friends and one of the waiters brought me a little ice-cream cake which we all shared. It was so sweet. Then a few of us went to see Trudy's friends play the harp at a bar in Old Street... An interesting experience and an early night. We headed off not long after that.

Not much else to report really. Just work and gym - same old!

Luv you all
Sim

Decisions & No Internet

2008-01-07T07:34:00.000+11:00

First of all, it is really annoying because our house has NO internet connection at the moment yet we're still expected to foot the bill. Because 3 of our house mates are moving out the internet discussion has pretty much come to a halt. So, not sure how often I'll be updating you on my shenanigans from now on.

About the decisions - oh! So complex! I had almost changed my mind about coming home in April and spending time in South American, Spain and Morocco and then coming home for GOOD in August/September but then realised I wouldn't have enough money to do this. So I'm thinking I might go home in April, go back to London until September and then either go to Canada OR come home for good and do Canada next year. Seems I'm still very undecided as to what I want to do. I then pondered staying in London until September and then coming home in September for good... any ideas on what I could do? I'm so confused. I don't want to finish here before I've done at least Spain though - possibly Morocco but I'm in two minds about that now. SO complicated - at least in my head it is.

I am not liking this house. I'm feeling left out because everyone is moving out and the couple is nice but they do their own thing. I really just wanted a house where everyone meshed together and did stuff as a house... London did not turn out how I expected it to. I think I held too many expectations and as you know, when you expect something it always turns out differently. When you have the least expectations is when things turn out best I've always found!

Well the internet I'm 'borrowing' is on limited time so I'm going to end this here before I lose the entire lot.

Sim
xx

Insomnia

2008-01-04T15:20:00.000+11:00

It is 4.20am and I cannot sleep! I have been sitting awake in my bed since 10pm and have tried listening to my iPod to get to sleep, counting coloured sheep (backwards of course) and dreaming I won a lot of money (but that kept me awake as I tried to spend it all). So, I'm pretty much sitting here in bed waiting for tiredness to hit.

I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with America and then flying off to Paris straight after. In our hostel in Paris we had some stupid Brazilians in our room who left the light on til 2am and turned it on at 7am when they got up so my body is used to light at weird hours and it is struggling to recognise the hours when I should be sleeping. Hopefully this passes soon. I've set my clock for 9am so no matter how tired I am, I will get up at and hopefully shove my body into a shock so I will be able to sleep during normal sleeping hours.

I'm starting to get tired now so might head off in a few minutes. As for America, it was amazing to see my mum and I had a great time. I miss her already and the little doggies. Sam mainly because he was so cute and responded to me whereas Max was a lazy sod who really didn't care I was there at all. We had a nice Christmas and it SNOWED - my first white Christmas. I was excited although a bit worried I wouldn't make my flight the next day (although after New Years I wish my flight had been delayed because I would have had more fun with mum). I went into Seattle and browsed around in Pike's Market, had breakfast and yummy pankcake restaurant and attempted ice-skating although the ice wasn't even and the skates were dodgy so I lasted less than half an hour before we left.

Paris sucked completely for reasons which I can't even be bothered thinking about anymore but I know why it sucked and I'll have to deal with a shit start to 2008. Nevermind cos 2008 is going to be a great year. I can feel it in my bones!

Happy New Year to you all and for my Melbourne friends who I don't even think read this anymore - I will see you in APRIL!

Sober Shenannigans

2007-12-10T23:29:00.000+11:00

Well you've all heard about my drunken shenannigans and had some good laughs at those.. This time I can honestly tell you that the adventure you are about to read about next is almost alcohol free... I had only had one glass of vodka (which was only 22% based as opposed to the normal 44% I drink) so therefore I was pretty sober.

I was at Kirra and Jade's house and we were going to a club and as we were about to leave I realised I left my ID at my house. Now, we've rarely been asked for ID but at this place we were going to (Fabric) we heard that it's quite common for them to ask for ID. So, me erring on the side of caution decided that we should go back to my house, get my ID and then head out. The girls agreed and I hurried them along as a bus was coming in 10 minutes time (and they only come every half an hour).

As we were walking down their uneven, paved street, I trip.. with a glass bottle in my hand... normally I manage to regain my balance but this time, I did not. So down I go and SMASH goes the bottle... and SPLIT goes my hand. Blood goes everywhere. Kirra and Jade pick me up, by this stage I'm sobbing because I can see the blood. I close my eyes and refuse to open them. The girls try to take me back to their house which is 2 mins away but I refuse because otherwise we'll end up missing the bus back to my house.

We get to the bus station and a man walks past who sees me crying.. he shouts out 'hey love, there's no need to cry'... I hold up my bloody hand and he gives a surprised look before hurrying away. The bus comes and my hand is dripping with blood and I'm scared the driver won't let me on so we try to 'hide' the hand. It works and we get on the bus with me still sobbing until 10 minutes later I'm home.

After we wash, dry and bandage my hand we're ready to go.

Fabric was amazing and it is an awesome club and after a while I completely forgot about my hand. Although the next day I decided it would be wise if I went to the doctors to check for glass. They X-rayed it and there was no glass and thankfully I didn't need stitches.

An eventful night!

Winter Wonderland @ Hyde Park!

2007-12-05T08:57:00.000+11:00

I've recently discovered that I quite like ice-skating.. So much so that I've started taking group lessons on a Thursday night (at first they were in preparation for the outdoor ice skating event but they've turned into much more than that). Anyway Jessie, Kirra and I booked tickets to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland which is an outdoor event run over winter/Christmas.

We were all so excited about ice skating (even though Kirra had never ice-skated before...) and were looking forward to Sunday. So, Sunday arrives and I woke up around 10am because I was having a lie-in. I wake up to the room being drab and gray... normal for a wintery London... but I also woke up to gale force winds and rain thudding against our bedroom window. Not exactly the best start I was hoping to wake up to. I sadly texted Jessie and Kirra (you know, just in case it wasn't raining or windy in their neck of the woods) and prepared myself for the worst... which was skating outdoors in the pouring rain. The outdoor skating rink didn't offer refunds because of the weather.

Anyways, after pottering around a little more the day turned out to be okay. It was still cold and a bit wet but by the time we got to Hyde Park it wasn't raining and as windy. So, we were able to skate around the rink reasonably well. None of us fell over although Kirra wouldn't let go of the rails but we did manage to convince her to go around the rink by holding onto me and Jessie (and at points I thought all 3 of us would tumble but we managed okay).

I loved every second of it and almost wished I did fall down on the ice because that would have been part of the whole experience. Crazy I know!

As for a little note on my room mate - her name is Kelly and she is British. She is a drama student and is absolutely lovely. I'm so happy she has moved in with us. She even bought me an advent calander. How sweet.

Chocolatiers & Pralines!

2007-11-28T06:57:00.000+11:00

After spending copious amounts of money on chocolate (most of which is already gone) and having a royal time in Belguim I have decided I am ridiculously broke. But it was money well spent. Belguim is a beautiful country with lots of quaint medieval towns.

I flew in to Brussels but headed straight out to Antwerp where I spent a few hours enjoying the shopping district. Honestly, while it seemed like a nice city, a few hours there and I was ready to leave. I made my way back to the train station and managed to catch a train to Brugge without getting lost. I'd wanted to go to Brugge for ages and it was definitely worth the wait. It was magical due to the Christmas festivities. There were Christmas lights set up everywhere and in the square there were little stalls set up for a Christmas market with an ice skating rink in the middle. I made my way onto there for about 20 minutes before deciding that I didn't want to be run over by a 15 year old who thought that they were brilliant and didn't care that I was slowly crawling around the ice. They zoomed straight past me twice before I'd even made it around once. But it was fun and that's the whole point of experiencing Christmas during winter.

Some people say that Brugge is touristy and fake and yes, there were loads of tourists but it was nice all the same. I would recommend going there, especially at Christmas. The smell of hot chocolate was wafting through the air and while I decided I do not like waffles, you could smell their sweet scent as you walked through the town. There was no McDonalds which I found quite reassuring.

I would have liked to have spent more than a day in Brugge just to soak up the atmosphere. I had the yummiest hot chocolate where they gave me a hot chocolate in a mug, a small jug of mint syrup, a small container of clotted cream and sugar cubes (one brown sugar cube, one white - just in case!) You then added these items to your hot chocolate as you pleased - so it wasn't just a 'standard' hot chocolate, it was personalised. I really enjoyed it. They had 52 flavours of chocolate - hot and cold. I wish I could have tested more.

I went on a canal cruise which almost reminded me of Venice and Amsterdam although Brugge is unique in its scenery. It's so serene. So many people exploring such a small town but there were many times when I was exploring the streets yet I encountered no one. I felt quite safe.

I then successfully made my way to Brussels where I spent the night in a gorgeous hostel called Sleep Well (check out www.hostelworld.com) and woke up the next morning rather refreshed and ready to explore this Gothic style city. I was exhausted by this stage (even though I slept well) and was a bit over wandering around a foreign city. I lugged my backpack with me which got really heavy as I'd bought a bit in Brugge the day before. I decided I didn't want to take a suitcase with me which seemed like a great idea at the time - not so great for my back afterwards. Still it all comes down to an experience! I also got chatted up by a few Belgium boys but they were kinda scary so I stopped their conversations pretty quickly!

Anyway check out the photos! It was a pretty great weekend away if I do say so myself. I loved almost every minute of it (the minutes I didn't love was when I had a cold shower in one of the hostels!)

P.S I can't figure this out - Sweden = Swedish... Australia - Australian... France = French... Italy = Italian so Belgium = ??? and Finland does that = Finnish? Yes, I have a confused mind!

Searching for a room mate

2007-11-19T06:52:00.000+11:00

...has been such a painful experience!

We've had...
...people who can't speak English (which isn't a bad thing but it makes discussing the room over the phone extremely difficult)
...people say they want the room then change their minds.
...guys who've rung up when I've stipulated that I don't want to share with a male.
...a girl ring up who spent about 10 minutes asking me all these questions about the room that WERE ON THE FREAKING AD!
...people who we wanted to take the room but they didn't like it!

So, it has been a frustrating experience and not one that I've enjoyed so much. We've now got an English girl who is moving into the room with me. I'm not too sure about her but unfortunately she will pay the rent (hopefully) and can give Kelly her deposit which is pretty much our main concern. I was worried that she might not be the easiest person to share with but as one of my friends told me... if she really is a pain to live with then I can always move out! It's not like I am stuck here with no means of escape!

Also, I'm trying to remember the positive thinking - it could turn out to be extremely fun. She might be an awesome chick and become a good friend. Or at least it will give me another story to take home with me. There is ALWAYS something positive to come out of every experience.

She moves in on the 1st of December so only time will tell how this experience goes. I will keep you all updated I'm sure.

Simone in Sweden

2007-11-16T03:06:00.000+11:00

Imagine a light blanket of snow covering luscious green grass while reindeer prance around the beautiful scenery... Well, minus the part about the reindeer, we did see gorgeous snow falling lightly whilst in Sweden. It was wonderful. Cold but wonderful. I had several layers of clothing on yet still felt cold. I always underestimate the weather.

I didn't have any expectations of Sweden to be honest. Kelly and I decided we'd go to Stockholm because the flights were really cheap and we only realised after we'd booked that we didn't actually know where Stockholm was. We discovered it was in Sweden which excited Kelly because she really wanted to meet a Swedish man called Sven (unfortunately we didn't). We'd heard that Stockholm was an amazing city but didn't know why but we set off to discover it for ourselves.

Honestly, I am a bit bored of going just to the capital cities because while the architecture changes and the layout is a bit different ultimately they basically contain all of the same things - same shops, supermarkets, tacky souvineer shops, etc. Still, it was interesting to see that Stockholm is based on 14 small islands. We didn't see all the islands but we went to Gamla Stan which is refered to as Old Town and we thought it was beautiful there.

As we were strolling around Stockholm it was lightly snowing and we found an out door ice-skating rink and went skating in the snow. That was so much fun. A young kid named Emilio befriended us and he followed us around on the ice-skating rink and then threw tiny baby sized snow balls at me when Kelly and I had a snow fight. Absolutely gorgeous kid. I stacked it twice while skating - I think I got a bit optomistic with my speed and landed quite nicely on my bottom but it was fun. I had a massive bruise the next day on both my knees. Ouch.

We went to a bar that night and met some local Swedish boys who were lovely to chat to. I sang a few songs on karaokee which was interesting - no one booed at me so I think I did okay. We went with some guys we met at our hostel and oh my goodness.. you really do need to be careful who you trust. One of the guys was an absolute darling (a show off but nice) and the other guy who was Brazilian was a wanker. Kel and I got ready to leave and he'd decided to stay but changed his mind. I went to the toilet and left Kelly outside with him for a few minutes and when I came outside Kelly looked terrified and the Brazilian dude didn't look happy. Anyway we caught the taxi home and while Kelly and I left him so we could grab a drunken kebab to eat she told me what happened... Apparently when he came outside Kelly said something to him in a sweet voice and he grabbed her by the hair and pulled it hard and yelled something like 'DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT' and whatever else so she was freaked out. Some weird people in the world. So, he headed back to the hostel, we went in search of food and on the way we bumped into some guys who asked us if we wanted to 'suck their white nigger cock'.... yeah like I said, interesting! We got our food and started walking back to the hostel when some guy in a white car starts driving slowly beside us and tries talking to us in Swedish. By this stage Kel and I were a bit freaked out by the Brazilian and the cock guys so we bolted towards our hostel (which was a metre away) and locked the door behind us. Next thing we know we hear this tapping on the glass and Kel goes to open the door with me whispering to leave it shut - turns out if was just this guy from the hostel who'd forgotten his code. So my point is travelling independently is fine but you just need to be smart!

We decided that we didn't want to spend another day exploring Stockholm even though we'd barely touched on the city but we both wanted to get out and explore another town. We were recommended this place called Sigtuna which was an hour and a half out of Stockholm and it was the most beautiful little town. Small, local shops with real Swedish people. It was lovely and the landscape was beautiful. It didn't snow that day but there was some on the grass and around so it was very pretty.

Words really can't describe our Swedish experience but I would have to say that this would be one of my favourite trips thus far. It was so nice to take things at our own pace and explore what we wanted. We've become much more independent as travellers and feel comfortable going off the beaten track a little bit more now.

Guy Fawkes Night & Random News!

2007-11-07T08:43:00.000+11:00

Yesterday England celebrated Guy Fawkes night with loads of fireworks. Actually, the whole weekend was a series of non-stop fireworks. It was fantastic. We could see some out of our window! I actually went to Battersea Park to see a firework display but it wasn't so crash hot. Although there was a massive bonfire which was great - it reminded me of when I was younger and we used to have council bonfires to get rid of our junk - but they've stopped doing that for health and safety reasons. Funny how it worked so well for years and then all of a sudden it's starting to pose a risk... I don't get it but then again I'm not the one in charge.

As for the "random news" I have finally offically quit the job that I didn't like and go back to being just an ordinary supply which I am sure I will complain about at some point but for now I am extremely happy! I at least get to wake up and it's a surprise as to where I'll end up. I love it.

Kelly is moving out in December so we're on the hunt for a new room mate for me... So far we had a Ukranian guy who told us that he liked the house although we need to clean more and he chewed his gum like an absolute nutter. Plus I don't want to share with a guy! The next girl was a Saffa and a teacher, she seemed ok. There was a French student who seemed lovely and I'd like her to move in but we've got an Aussie coming tomorrow so we'll see what she's like and then see whether we need to re-advertise. It's actually quite fun!

I've organised my side of the room a bit better so it sort of feels a bit more homey - well, as much as it can get in a room share. I've decided I'm not a huge fan because the room is quite small although it is cheap and the house is amazing. And I think I'm starting to warm up to the house mates a little bit more now. The one I don't get along with so well is moving out which is good for me.

I looked at my budget and realised that I might be a bit screwed for money especially if I want to go to Canada. So, I think in January I will look at getting a second job working in a bar or something and working flat out for a while to save some extra cash. It's crazy but there is so much I want to do and there is no way I will let money stop me. It just means I'll have to be even more careful with what I do with it. I was meant to go to Scotland with a group of friends but now I'm not so sure I really want to go just because Scotland isn't one of my major must see countries so if I don't go then I'll save loads of money. But who knows what will end up happening anyway. Hopefully my UK tax is enormous and then I will have a decent chunk of money for Canada.

Stratford-Upon-Avon & Oxford

2007-10-30T07:37:00.000+11:00

It's been almost 9 months since I first set foot on British soil and I feel like I've spent most of that time getting pissed on the weekends and not really making the most of what Britain has to offer. So, I've begun to organise day trips out of London to all of the places that I'd like to see before I go home.

The weekend just gone I'd booked a day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon and Oxford and it was amazing. Not only did we get decent weather (it was cold but didn't rain) but both places were beautiful. Stratford-Upon-Avon is where Shakespeare was born and raised so I got to see his house before exploring the town of Stratford.

Oxford is the city but there actually isn't a university called Oxford... There are approximately 39 different universities within Oxford which is why people refer to it as 'Oxford University'. Another bit of history for you as to why Oxford is called Oxford... Apparently there was this ox crossing which they called ox ford and people started refering to it as 'are you going past the ox ford' and it just ended up as one word. Not entirely sure about that though but it would make sense.

I would loved to have spent more time in Oxford because it is huge. I went to Christ Church which is where the Harry Potter dining hall is and the actual college is the most famous in Oxford. I also climbed a church tower to get a view of Oxford and it was great because I got to see an ariel view of the city with the colleges surrounding me. Apparently it is called the city of spires because of how many spires the city has - and after seeing the view from the church I can understand that.

I don't feel like this entry has made a lot of sense but hopefully the photos will get more across to you..
Enjoy!

Brick Lane

2007-10-24T00:50:00.000+10:00

Brick Lane is in East London and it is renound for its amazing curry restaurants where you can haggle to get the best deal because there are just so many restaurants. Most restaurants offer you a free round of drinks and 30% off the bill - although the prices are marked up to represent the 30% 'discount' they offer you. So, to get a good deal you haggle. Well, I went with a group of my girlfriends and we walked up and down trying to bargain the best deal out of the men at the door. We were offered two bottles of wine and a discount, a bottle of Baileys and a discount, we were offerered three bottles of wine and a discount but the restaurant didn't look very nice so we declined. We ended up at this really nice restaurant and got three bottles of wine included and 30% off the bill. I got the nicest mango chicken curry. Our bill ended up being something like £40 for 5 people which is so cheap for such a good meal considering we got naan bread as well. We were stoked. I would love to go back to Brick Lane and get more curry and try some other restaurants.

I am on mid-term break now so I haven't been doing alot. Today I went and roamed the streets of London just because I can. I ended up buying a pair of shoes which are really not practical for the upcoming winter months but so cheap and so gorgeous! I also bought a pair of Wellies at Camden market on Saturday because when the weather starts getting cold here and rains my feet won't get wet cos I have Wellies! Yay!

p.s thanks to the person who informed me that Brick Lane is in East London and not North London! :)

Work, Fights & Travel Plans!

2007-10-19T02:25:00.000+10:00

Oh man, what a crazy week so far! I've never screamed so much in my life as I have in these past 6 weeks! I never knew my voice could get so loud - yet these kids think it is hilarious and they just don't care. Because they have such an 'I don't care' attitude to learning and school, I seem to slip into that routine as well. It doesn't help that I have 3 different classes a day at one of the lowest schools in London. It is tough and I really hate it. I've discovered that I really don't think teaching is for me. I didn't mind it so much back home as I had my own class and even supplying was ok when you had your own class for the whole day but I underestimated how tiring it could be by having 3 different classes a day. It doesn't even seem to matter that I have the same classes the same time each week because they are still little horrors. I've never encountered a school with so many terrors before! Seriously, in each CLASS there are the same amount of trouble makers you would expect in a small school. Every class has AT LEAST four extremely challenging behaviour children. There are nice kids too but they are overshadowed by the horrible ones. I feel so nasty saying that but it really does stress me out!

Luckily, next week is mid-term break which means I get a week (unpaid) off! I am planning to go and see a musical, go on the London Eye, wander down Oxford Street (for the millionth time) and do some window shopping and check out some more museums. May as well make the most of my time in London.

On Saturday, Kelly and I went out to the Reddie (Australian bar/dance club, think cheesy but loads of fun!) and we were pretty pissed before we even left home, although we thought we were fine even though we'd polished off a bottle of wine and who knows what else in a couple of hours. Anyway we got to the Reddie and were having fun dancing and giving each other random dares when Kelly decided she needed to go outside to have a smoke - but they wouldn't let us back in. So, we decided to call it a night and go home. We stopped off at a chicken shop to get chips and a chicken burger (although we took about 10 minutes to place our order as I kept insisting I wanted a cheeseburger when they didn't have it on the menu!) and then headed to the bus stop. Got to the bus stop and saw our bus drive past just as we got there - bummer. We waited around and decided to walk to the next bus stop but we missed the next bus because we walked past the bus stop. Kelly got angry at the situation and took it out on me so I stormed off on her and decided to walk home. By this stage it was 3.30am and I was wearing high heels. Both of us were too stubborn so I walked home (sobbing the whole way, hehe) while Kelly caught the bus. Funnily enough I got home 10 minutes after Kelly even though I walked. I had to call Trudy though because I got lost walking home and needed her help to suss out where I was and direct me as to which way to go. A funny night!

I've been good and went to the gym twice this week so far and I walked home from work today because I hate the 272 bus - it's always late or not running or I just miss it and have to wait half an hour for the next bus - so I walked and it only took me 45 minutes. Too bad this is the school I want to quit working for.

No other news really. I'm looking forward to Stockholm with Kelly in November and also Brussles. Then, it is America for Christmas with mum which I'm really excited about. Paris for New Years with Kirra and then I will do Scotland with a group of us in February and then home in April and hopefully a massive two months of traveling in August and September and then either back to London to do a bit more supplying or I will head home for a few months and then trek on to Canada and work in the snow fields for a few months before heading home for good! So that's it guys, a basic summary of what my plans are. Either way I'm definitely going to be in London for a few more months after April!

More Money Woes!

2007-10-13T04:54:00.000+10:00

I feel the need to whinge even though it will change absolutely nothing. It is funny how I am coping so well on my own, living out of home and not being dependant on anyone but myself - except, money can be a bitch when you're getting paid for every day you work without sick leave and holiday pay!

I was trying to work out my budget today but gave up because I came to the realisation that I'm going to be stone broke basically for the remainder of my stay in London. It doesn't help that I'm going to Stockholm in a few weeks with Kelly and then Brussles a week later - that means, hostel accommodation, food, sightseeing, etc. Which is fantastic cos I want to travel but bad for the money side of things because it means I have to scrounge around and not spend money so I can pay my rent while I am away and not working!

It's tough but I am managing - trying hard not to use Aussie funds too. My main concern is going to America for Christmas. I'm exciting to be spending Christmas with my mum and Bob (and her gorgeous dogs and Mozart the cat) but it's going to be hell for my finances. Argh! It's a pain because it's 3 weeks where I'm effectively paying dead money. It comes back down to the thought where I think should I move into a hostel and find a new place to live, should I try to rent out my room, should I just deal with it! And I can't figure it out. More so, I can't figure out which choice will be the best choice to make - I hate making decisions in case I make the wrong one. I'd prefer someone to TELL me what to do and do it but unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. So, I'm stuck with a whinging blog entry and I will just hope for the best with my finances. I've already decided that my credit card is now for emergencies only and buying a new top does not count! I seem to forget about things like my gym membership and phonebill though which is always unexpected money although it comes out every month - you think I'd know by now!

My plan is to save and save and save and then do a massive travel over the British summer and see as much as I can though it will barely cover what I want to see but can't have everything I've come to decide!

I hope you're all well and April isn't that far off - which, after complaining about money, isn't such a good thing although I'm excited to see you all! Massive drinking session for sure!

Horse Riding in Wales

2007-10-10T06:12:00.000+10:00

I love how easy it is to travel while living in London, nevermind the fact that it isn't as cheap and easy as everyone would like to think! I just got back from a horse-riding weekend in Wales. I've been to Wales before and went to Cardiff and did some sightseeing but this time it was a pure relaxation weekend with lots of good food (Tony, our host, was a chef for 23 years before he did Bush Wakkers!) Actually, the food was beyond amazing! Yum!

Horse riding was good, we got a really nice day for it with a bit of sunshine and no rain! Perfect. We set off into the Becon National Park and went horse riding all day. I managed to stay on my horse without falling off although I had trouble getting up onto the poor horse. I felt terrible as I grabbed poor Roody's maine and tore at it with my life as my legs flailed around the stirrups until I finally managed to yank myself up onto his back. I must have looked hysterical!

Back in London again and stuck in a job I hate which I think I might quit 'cos it sucks that much! I'll keep you updated.

Simone and Kelly's Malteser Eating Competition!

2007-10-01T01:42:00.000+10:00

I'm not exactly sure how this started but somehow Kelly and I got talking about who could eat the most Maltesers... Of course, I bet that I could win but she was adamant that she'd win... so we declared a war...

Down to the shops I went to buy 5 bags of Maltesers... I came back and we started counting out our Maltesers... We had 84 in our bowl each... the point of the competition was to see who could eat the most within 30 seconds...

So, we started the timer and within 5 seconds we were laughing so hard that we could barely swallow what was in our mouth, let alone add more Maltesers! We finished that run and ended up doing two 30 second intervals which I won.. we then went on to do a full minute where Kelly came first but I was the overall Malteser eating champion..

We were laughing so hard and to see us you would think that we were absolutely nuts! Two of our flat mates were watching us and thought it was hilarious!

Afterwards, I felt SO sick (Kelly felt fine!) and I was in the toilet for half an hour vomiting up Maltesers and the rest of my dinner... it wasn't a pretty sight! But it was worth it for the joy that it brought us...

Crazy - yes, but then again, didn't you always know it!

A Simone Update!

2007-09-27T07:08:00.000+10:00

I feel like writing a random entry which may or may not be due to the fact that I'm on a sugar high and can't switch off! Trudy invited me to this church event - an evening with Bear Grylls, the man who broke his back and then went on to recover and climb Mount Everest at 23. It was a really good evening and he was really interesting to listen to. On the way out they were handing out chocolate brownies (I was greedy and had two!) and I think the sugar kicked in because on the train ride home I was prancing around like an idiot.

I have been good, I went to the gym today to combat the Heathrow Injection and when I was there I spontaneously decided that I would take up personal training again (mainly because the personal trainer I was talking to was HOT). Actually, no that's not the real reason. I've barely trained for the past two months because in August I spent a lot of time traveling (ahh it's a hard life) and when I got back I was really sick for a good 3 weeks with a few spots of recovery in between. So, I kind of thought that perhaps personal training might kick start me back into good health because I certainly need it.

I've been meaning to take photos of my new house and post them up but I've been quite lazy and I'm waiting for the cleaner to come so that the house is nice when I take photos but she hasn't been for a while. Kelly and I usually keep our room quite messy so I've got to wait until Kelly cleans her side of the room.. pfft. Our room isn't dirty it's just that it is a bit ... well, it's easy to chuck stuff on the floor cos sometimes what happens is I come home late when Kelly is already asleep and I don't want to wake her by opening the wardrobe and making noise so I toss my things in a corner.. she does the same and it just ends up staying there for a while until one of us decides to clean (usually Kelly) and then we both end up tidying the room! It works for us and we're happy (and both straight!)

London has been really great lately and I've been really happy. So happy that the thought of coming home in April kind of scares me, not because I don't want to come home for a visit but because I don't want to get back to London to find that things have changed since I've been gone.

Oh, after hearing Bear Grylls speak tonight I have decided that I want to travel around South America so that may be a plan for sometime next year. I either want to stay in London and get sponsored or I want to get a Canadian VISA and work at a ski resort in a resturant/bar or something and find a hot ski instructor to teach me how to ski. Trudy is thinking of doing this and I may just decide to do it with her. But, as I've always said, I just don't know what is going to happen and I can't say for sure. It's a year away yet and I can't foresee that far in advance. Also I would love to do a volunteer project in Cambodia or some 3rd world country - there is just so much I would love to do. At this rate I'll never be home.

My travel plans for next year (aside from Aus) hopefully include: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Morrocco, Croatia, Greece (again because I loved it soo much) and then maybe a month in South America. Then I want to try and do a volunteer project and then either come back to the UK which will be hard cos if I want to travel that much I will need to be back in time for school to start in September otherwise I will go to Canada and work there for a few months, travel a bit of the US, visit mum and travel Canada. But, these are just thoughts not concrete ideas!

Last thing - I'm booking my trip home on the weekend and I am going to be back around the 7th of April til about the 4th of May (but I may be in Thailand for the last week!) so keep some time free for me. Don't go planning any holidays cos I'm coming home to see you all - even though I may not have kept in massive contact with you all I think about you guys heaps and miss all of you more than you know.

John Butler Trio @ Brixton Academy

2007-09-22T03:31:00.000+10:00

When one comes to London there are certain things you simply must do before while you are here. One of these things is to go to a gig at the Brixton Academy. You just haven't gone to a concert unless you've been there. So when Jade mentioned that a few of our friends were going to see John Butler Trio @ Brixton Academy I had to say yes - even though I'd never really listened to John Butler Trio before (apart from Funky Tonight).

It was such an ordeal to get there though. I finished work at 3.15pm and was at the bus stop by 3.45 and I waited over an hour for my bus to arrive (I could have walked home, it would have taken an hour but I had the most uncomfortable shoes on so decided against that). I called the bus company who said the bus would be there shortly - which it was but such a pain. An hour!

So, by the time I get on the bus it's peak hour which means an extremely S L O W drive home. By the time I got home it was 5.30p and I had to meet the rest of my friends at the tube station at 6... turns out they were late so I had an extra 15 minutes - excellent.

We eventually made it to Brixton, stood in a massive queue to collect our tickets and made our way inside the venue. Sandra and I played a game of who can spot the most dreads before John Butler started! Sandra won 10-2.

It was an awesome night and they performed really well. I was really impressed and have since decided to download more of their stuff. A late night which meant a grumpy Simone for work today but it was well worth it.

As for work - oh - what can I say! I don't think I've ever wanted to cry in front of a class before this week. They have been so challenging and frustrating this week. I yell at them and get no response. Normally you can yell and you get at least a shocked look from the kids because they don't expect it - these kids have no reaction. I try to reason with them but they're consistently talking, calling out, fiddling with pencils that you can't hold their attention. I turn around to tell one kid off whose being a dick head only to turn around and find a pencil flying past my face and a bunch of giggling boys who think it's hilarious. It drives me insane.

I was also told by the head teacher that since I am planning some classes and taking specific subjects that I am going to have to keep assessments and write subject reports for those classes. This is exactly what I came to London to avoid. So, I rang my agency and told them this, I basically requested a pay-rise but even so I'm not sure I want to continue working in such a stressful environment for the next year. The agency said that they'd talk to the school to see what they say about a pay-rise and I basically told them that if I didn't get one then I wouldn't go back. I can get the same amount of money with less work doing supply. I'd rather do that. Decisions!

Being sick in London

2007-09-18T06:58:00.000+10:00

I had the horrible ordeal of being sick in London but before I begin this story, let me take you back to the day where I decided to register with a doctor in Putney... I thought that before I got sick in London I'd register with a GP so that when in times of crisis I'd have help at hand... Well.. It took me a week before the doctors surgery even had time to regsiter me on their system and making an appointment was even more tiresome than getting registered. It turns out, in London, if you are going to be sick you need to know in advance and inform the doctors surgery at least 3 (preferable 4-5) days in advance so that they can see if they have a slot available for you to fit into... And then they only spend 5 minutes with you before shuffling you out to see the next 'patient'.

After an enjoyable 2 weeks in the Greek Islands I came back to London and got straight back into the routine of work... Only to then discover that one of the snotty nosed little shits that I teach had given me some disgusting illness which made me feel like I was going to die. I was in pain - I had a runny nose, an annoying dry cough, sinus issues, headaches which would not disappear even after taking 6 panadols, sore throat, loss of voice (no cheering!), earaches, sore jaw and I'm probably sure there were more symptoms which I've forgotten about.

So, after 10 days of suffering and taking several days off work I decided that I should go to the doctor. Anyways, I knew it would take ages to get an appointment if I went to my normal GP so I decided to go to a walk-in centre. I wander in around lunch-time and find a whole heap of people waiting and after hearing horror stories of people waiting 4 hours for an appointment I was a bit stressed.. Luckily I only had to wait an hour for my appointment and got shuffled in to see the nurse who told me that 'oh it looks like your problem requires you to see a doctor'... I wasn't sure what to say... I had so many thoughts running through my head mainly 'what the heck, isn't this a doctors clinic' but apparently you see a nurse who decides if you need to see a doctor and because I did I needed to get an appointment which they couldn't give me until 7pm that night! Frustrating times! Still, I was sick, I needed to get medication so I went home frustrated and came back at 7pm and got my antibiotics (which apparently you're not allowed to drink alcohol at the same time as taking them... Saturday night will be messy as a friend is having a house party!)

Anyways, it was such an interesting experience at the walk-in centre. Some of the people who came in were crazy. One guy came in with his eye pouring with blood and he pushed in front of the line to get to reception.. and one of the ladies in line had a go at him because of the fact that he pushed in even though his eye was pouring blood. He yelled at her and told her that his condition was more serious and she got really narky.

Later in the evening, a lady was in the waiting room drinking BEER and it appeared as though she'd wet herself. Hmm... and then, there was the woman who came in demanding to see a doctor because she was disorientated and was thinking about committing suicide and could she call her neighbor to look after her birds while she admitted herself to hospital! All at Charing Cross Hospital! Excellent stuff. I love the stories you get from living in London!

Anyways it's bed time for me, hopefully no more coughing fits during the night and antibiotics kick in and get rid of this chest infection/sinus congestion!!

Photos from Greece

2007-09-02T20:48:00.001+10:00

Beautiful sunset

Me in Santorini

View in Santorini

Perissa Beach *with the black sand*

Acropolis Now

2007-08-30T00:26:00.000+10:00

I can't believe I was so stupid as to think the movie was called Acropolis Now. I mentioned this to a girl I'd met at the hotel who took a few minutes before realising I was serious and then laughed and pointed out my error - whoops.

Basically, I've done my bit of sightseeing in Athens which did include the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Both of which are basically ancient ruins which were cool to visit but not like I haven't seen ancient ruins before. That sounds really ungrateful of the opportunity to travel and see new things, doesn't it?

Yesterday was an awesome day in Athens. Our ferry got in around late afternoon and I spent the afternoon exploring. I went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and then I wandered down the main shopping street - Ermou - and haggled to get a 35 Euro bag for 20 Euro! That works out to 14 pounds which for a fake Prada handbag is a reasonable price to pay. Especially in half the shops in London you'd be paying at least 15 pounds for a shitty bag (unless you go to Primark but the bags there aren't that great).

I have found the Greek to be sleazy and rude! Over the course of the holiday I have obviously bought many things and have found the Greeks to be ungrateful to their tourist populatiom. They will be talking to another Greek person and ignore you until they are ready to serve you - which is normally not until their c onversation is over and I get the impression that half the time they continue the conversation on for as long as they possibly can just to annoy you. Makes me angry because without the tourists, especially on the islands, they wouldn't make much profit. In Athens the service isn't so bad but they are quite short with you.. I asked for a water once and smiled at the person serving me and they glared at me as though I had a disease and stormed off, returning with the water several minutes later as though it was a chore for them to get - yet they WORK at a restuarant! I don't get it.

As for the sleazy part, well... I decided that after I tacked the Acropolis today I would head down to the park with my book and read. I sat myself down on the grass and started reading only to have this old guy walk past me saying hello. I chose not to answer him because foreign country, weirdos, etc and I just couldn't be bothered with chit chat (although had it been a hot, young guy the story might have been different). Anyways, more old men walked past staring at me in a creepy way which made me think they'd been let out of the institution for the day. Seriously creepy. I looked down to make sure I was fully dressed (I was) so they had no reason to be staring except for the fact that they were old sleaze bags. Ew.

One thing about Athens, even the islands, that makes me sad is the stray dogs. There are so many dogs that just roam the street which don't have real homes to go to. Apparently the government is aware of the situation and collars them and feeds them but still it makes me sad to think that these dogs don't have a real home of their own to go to.

I had so much to write about Greece and Athens but now that it's come time to write in my blog I seem to be struggling!

Ios

2007-08-27T18:36:00.000+10:00

Ah well this is my last day on Ios. To be honest, I've had a great time and am not sad that I'm leaving - just for the pure fact that traveling on sunny, Greek Islands alone really does suck.

I've been doing a bit of thinking while lazing about in the sun.. I'm not sure I want to stay in London for much longer. Not because I don't like London but more because I want to do some more study and get a new job and I feel the longer I keep putting my life on hold the longer it will take me to study and then it will be harder to climb the job ranks as I get older. I don't want to earn shit money when I am 30 just because I've left my career choices too late. So, after I come home for Easter next year I will finish working in London until August and then probably head back home. But then again my decisions are always a bit indecisive so who knows what will end up happening. That's my theory for now anyway. I wish someone could make the decisions for me!

As for Ios, it's been ok. It's the 'party' island which isn't much of a party when you're traveling alone so I've been reading alot and spending heaps of time at the beach. Got a decent tan now but it will fade within a week of getting back to London. Ios has reminded me of why I don't want to go home though - flies and mozzies galore. I think I've been bitten about 15 times in 4 days and the mozzie bites here are huge, red welts that take days to go down. Not fun, I've been itching like crazy!

The computer I am using is driving me crazy. Crappy mouse that won't move where I want it to and a shit keyboard that I have to pound in order to get the letters I want! Ugh! Time to go I think!

I'm missing you all heaps and am really looking forward to April! I may even extend my trip for longer but we'll see how I go with work.

Summer Sun in Santorini!

2007-08-24T02:04:00.000+10:00

Ahh, gotta love alliteration! So cheesy but I love it.

If you haven't already guessed, I am in Santorini! It is the best island so far because there is a bit of everything here. There is an awesome shopping area where you can find almost anything you want - jewelry, ceramics, hand blown glass, clothes, etc. Of course, I couldn't help myself and I went shopping and bought a fantastic blue glass heart shaped necklace - which I ended up breaking after I opened my suitcase, forgetting it was on the top of some clothes, and shattered the bottom part of the heart. I was upset but got over it once I went back into town and found an even nicer heart in pink, plus a silver butterfly necklace with mother of pearl wings. Retail therapy really does work!

I also found a man who did Henna tattoos so I now have a butterfly on my ankle which I love immensely. I think I'm going to get a real one when I get back to London. Just a small butterfly on the same spot on my ankle.

On our first night here, our tour guide took us out for dinner and then we went to this cocktail bar where we could get 2 cocktails for 7 Euros. Well, all I need to say was that I probably had a bit too much to drink without realising (the drinks were so sweet and so cheap that I didn't realise until much later how drunk I really was) and apparently one of the guys on my tour gave me his camera... which apparently I dropped and broke. I texted people to see what they thought I should do but I concluded that if it were my camera, I'd be pissed off and figured that until his insurance came through the least I could do was offer 100 Euros. Turns out, he had other ideas. The next day he came up to me and pushed a receipt for 200 Euros in my face - quite rudely actually. I told him I'd give him 100 Euros because I didn't have any more money. He replied with 'well there's an ATM down the road'. I told him he could either take what I was offering or leave it. He took it. I was angry at myself that I'd done something so stupid but at the same time, shit happens. Luckily it only cost me 100. One of the people who joined our tour a few nights later did something even more stupid which cost him a LOT more than 100 Euros!

and this story goes as follows...

We went out for dinner as a group and everyone went out afterwards, except me. I went to bed early that night because I wasn't feeling too good. Anyways, the rest of my room mates trickled in at different times throughout the night until the last guy trickled in at 4.40am... with a girl who did not belong in our room! Alarm bells began ringing in my head - I knew what that meant - and it wasn't a pretty thought. Anyway as it turned out the other girl in my room needed to leave for the airport at that time so she was up and getting ready - they were obviously annoyed that they had no privacy so they left the room - but came back when she had just left the room for the airport. Crap, I thought I was safe. They headed into the bathroom where they started the shower and by this stage I had ear plugs and my iPod in so I heard nothing but no amount of music or ear blockage could stop the sound of the massive **BANG** that erupted from the bathroom... I heard swearing and the girl crying... turns out they'd broken the shower in their sexual frenzy. The whole shower door was broken off - actually, snapped would probably be a better explanation! So, I guess they'd be paying more to fix the shower than I would to replace a camera. That thought made me feel slightly more better about things!

On our second night here, we had the option to go to Oia and have a picnic to watch the sunset. Apparently Oia is famous for it's beautiful sunset and I have to admit it was pretty spectacular. It's amazing how the sky lights up in all of these different reds, blues and purples. Words can't describe the beauty adequately enough (well, perhaps if I were a poet or a decent writer and had a way with words, then maybe words could express the beauty but since I have neither, photos and a dodgy explanation will have to suffice!). The Greek Islands are everything I imagined and more. The white washed houses with blue shutters and blue roofs are so quaint.

Today I spent all day at Perissa beach - it was great. The sand is black and is unbelievably hot. The water drops off suddenly so one minute you are in shallow water and then you step forward and you're up to your waist in water. That kind of scared me. There were men at the beach who were wandering around offering massages so I got a massage on the beach with the sound of waves lapping against the sand in the background with the Greek sun hitting my bare back - heaven or what?

Budgie Smugglers

2007-08-21T00:53:00.001+10:00

I am loving the Greek Islands! It is sunny all the time and I have gone from baby tan to semi-brown! Fantastic stuff. Someone kindly pointed out to me yesterday that when I get back to London no one will even notice that I have a tan because it will be so cold that I'll be covering up my newfound brownness. I replied with something along the lines of 'I don't care if I have to walk around with goosebumps until my tan fades because I'm flaunting my holiday tan'!

Yesterday was one of the best days ever. We had the option to hop aboard this boat which reminded me of a pirate ship and cruise around Antiparos Island for the day. I was thinking that I would skip this excursion as it wasn't cheap but then I figured it would be kind of fun. Well, fun is definitely not the word to use to describe this day. It was amazing! Our boat took us to all these fantastic, secluded swimming spots where we literally had to dive off the boat to get into the water. The swimming spots were amazing. Crystal clear aqua water and so refreshing to jump into. One of the places we went to had a cove we could swim in and we could go under this little cave. Some of the people on the tour climbed up and jumped off the top of the cliff - I was a bit too scared. Jumping off the boat was enough for me.

Some of the boys had been laughing at all of the people on Mykonos who were wearing 'budgie smugglers' (aka speedos) and at one of the spots they decided to suprise us all by climbing to the top of this cliff and told us girls to get our cameras ready to take a photo of when they jumped.. so, I had Michael's camera in one hand, my camera in the other - we counted to 3, cameras ready.. and at the count of 3 the boys dropped their boardies and turns out they were all wearing a pair of budgie smugglers. It's amazing any photos actually got taken of them jumping because we were all laughing so hard. Kind of one of those things you had to be on tour to appreciate the humor of but it was hilarious and the boys definitely thought that idea out really well. I managed to take a decent photo of the boys in mid air so I'll have to try and post that up when it gets sent to me! The funniest thing was that they all really seemed to ENJOY wearing their speedos and even went as far as walking around the beach with them swimming with them later on. One of the guys got a budgie smuggling wedgie which did not look comfortable. Hilarious!

We had lunch at this fantastic secluded beach on the island and we had souvlaki (more like kababs) with tzakiki dip, Greek salad and bread. Yum!

Word's cannot describe how beautiful the swimming spots were. Definitely an amazing day and I wish I could do it again. Today we arrived in Santorini and I have four days here so lots of chance to explore. I think I might hire a moped or quad bike tomorrow but we'll see what happens!

Internet time has ran out so I hope you've enjoyed hearing about these latest adventures!

Skinny Dipping @ Midnight

2007-08-19T00:18:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was my last day in Mykonos and I was a little bit sad to leave because even though the accommodation wasn't so great and the land was barren, it was a great beach and the place we stayed at made up for its lack of facilities by its great atmosphere.

Last night, after bumming around on the beach all afternoon, I headed out to meet the rest of the group at 8pm. We had a few drinks but I was getting bored so I rounded up a few girls who came to the outdoor bar a few hundred meters away and we had a bit of a dance. It was great, we danced to some songs and I jumped up on some tables to dance (the night before I was dancing on the bar) which was great fun. A lot of guys came up to talk to us - mainly Italian's who we couldn't understand but they were fun to dance with.

A little while later (a few drinks later) we decided that we'd go and sit on the beach and have a chat. We met this random Aussie whose friend had passed out on one of the deck chairs so we adopted him for the night and invited James to our late night beach chill-out session. Of course, we decided that it would be fun to go swimming although it was pitch black and could barely see a thing. It was brilliant. We stayed in the water for hours, splashing around and being silly. One of the best nights so far.

Today we are in Paros which seems like a nice island. We're just about to go and have a look around but I'm feeling so hot that the idea of walking around isn't really thrilling me right now. I put on a top today that I bought not so long ago only to realise it's not fitting as comfortably as it used to. I'm a bit stressed about that small, tiny detail. But otherwise, I'm having a great time and I am totally enjoying working on my tan - it's only a baby at the moment but luckily for me, I tan quite easily so I should have a pretty decent tan by the time I get back to London.

Well, I'm off to muster up some more energy to wander around Paros!

Mykonos

2007-08-17T18:42:00.000+10:00

I've been soaking up the sun in Mykonos (in the Greek Islands) for the better part of a day now and I think I am slowly working up a baby tan. Hopefully my skin will turn into a nice shade of brown by the time I am done in the Greek Islands, rather than the pasty white colour I have adopted since my arrival into the UK.

Mykonos is quite... well... I guess you could say barren. There isn't much to look at in terms of the island itself. There are lots of brown, rocky hills and it is so windy here. The place that I am staying with BusAbout - oh my gosh - think prison cell. Actually, wait - I think even prison cells have toilets for the inmates in their cell! Apparently what we are doing is 'luxury camping'. Two single beds crammed together in a 'hut' with toilets located a million miles away (ok so maybe about 200 metres away but with a bladder like mine it may as well be a million) is definitely not my idea of 'luxury camping' but it all boils down to the experience factor. Kelly would probably say that it is 'character building'.

It has been nice to laze on the beach all day and swim in the clear blue waters of the ocean. The beach we are at - Paradise Beach - is gorgeous. No waves and it is easy to swim in. The beach isn't sandy though, it's more like little pebbles which make for an interesting time getting down to the water from your deck chair.

So far, I am having fun but it would be so much more fun if I had a bunch of friends that I came here with. I've met some people through the tour but because we all want to do different things I barely see any of them except for dinner time. Oh well, this is my holiday and I plan to relax and enjoy it!

I'm more excited about Paros (because I want to scuba dive) and Santorini (it's meant to be beautiful) and Ios (loads of water sports and more scuba diving) than Mykonos.

I'm sure you'll hear more about my relaxing, lazy days as my holiday progresses - ahhh back to bake in the sun some more (don't worry, I bought a hat and I wear sunscreen!)

Roomsharing isn't so bad!

2007-08-13T23:35:00.000+10:00

I remember swearing that I would never share a room ever while I was in London... until I got here and realised that the more money I pay for rent means the less money I have to spend on other worthwhile things like travel, clothes and alcohol.

So, I went from my gorgeous flat in Putney to my shit-hole place in Shepherd's Bush. Six months of not being happy where I was living totally sucked and made my experience in London not so fun. Where you live plays a big part in your happiness. Anyways, I decided that I was going to be fussy with the location of my new house but I was also going to be fussy about my new flatmates.

And I finally struck gold!

Okay, so I am now sharing a room with a 24 year old Kiwi but there are several benefits to this household...

There are always people home at night which means I always have someone to talk to if I so wish.
Roomsharing is kind of fun, we can have a chat and giggle before bed (and Kelly is moving into my room at the start of September so that will be even better!)
With 9 people around it means more chances to make more friends.
The house is huge and we have a sun room and a decent sized backyard (suitable for holding summer BBQs!)
We have DVD nights - I never had that at my old houses!
It's so cheap to live here!
It's 2 minutes walk to heaps of buses and the tube station.
My street runs right off Chiswick High Street which means loads of restuarants, cafes and shops in front of my doorstep.

Do I need to say more about why I love my house so much? I will take some photos and post them up when I get a chance. I haven't had the internet at home lately. Oh, the dramas with that, lol. I forgot that sometimes my new house isn't 100% fantastic. My flatmates have realised I have a laptop and I get the feeling they're going to want to use it from time to time... they've already started. I'm going to have to nip that in the bud soon cos I'm a bit too protective with my computer for them to use it!

I'm coming home

2007-08-08T00:28:00.000+10:00

I have some good and exciting news. I have decided to go home for 2 weeks during Easter next year. It is a scary thought to know that I will be visiting home again but at the same time I am so excited to know that I will be seeing familiarity again.

Even though it is ages away I can't stop thinking that it will be a weird experience. I will be seeing friends and family that I won't have seen for over a year. I will be seeing the same shops and streets and seeing how things have changed in the year that I will have been gone. Someone said that maybe when I get home I won't want to go back to London but I can't help but think that when I go home it will make me realise that I never want to go back for good. Either way it is a long time away and I am extremely excited at the prospect of seeing friends/family from home again.

I've finally settled into London really well and it's amazing how far I've come. Looking back, I can see that I've become such a strong person. I wouldn't change being here for the world which is why I think going home is going to be so strange.

On another note, I have moved into my new house in Chiswick and it is great. My room mate is nice and she doesn't snore so that's nice. I'm hoping to have a BBQ when I get back from Greece because Kelly is moving into my room with me and I think it'd be nice for us to have a BBQ to celebrate.

More about Ireland

2007-08-05T19:20:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I told you that I'd write more about Ireland so here goes! A few friends had been on a Paddywagon tour and they raved about how awesome it was so I decided to go on the same tour as them. I did the 6 day all Ireland tour which took me across Southern and Northern Island.

Basically, Northen Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and Southern Ireland is it's own country. Southern Ireland even uses Euros instead of pounds because they don't want to have anything to do with the British.

During the first two days I thought that we had a pretty awesome tour group but we soon found out that there were a lot of skanky girls on the tour. I love observing people so I found the group dynamics interesting to watch and it provided many laughs. Luckily there were a few great people on my tour who I had lots of fun with too. We drank pretty much every night and partied loads - and why not! We're still young. There are a few good clubs in Ireland which was awesome for me because I haven't really been to many clubs in London. The music was awesome and the atmosphere was great - I'm going to be seeing if my London friends want to go out to more clubby places when I get back!

Our tour pretty much covered the coast of Ireland which was amazing. We saw some beautiful sights along the way. In Belfast I did a black cab tour where they took us around to all the murals and explained the religious beliefs of the city. The Prodestants and Catholics don't get along and there are murals which show the two groups fighting because of their religious/political beliefs. I don't entirely understand it all but I did not feel safe in Belfast. We were told not to wander down certain streets at night because the people did not like tourists.

We headed towards Derry and along the way saw the Giants Causeway and walked over the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. I have to admit that I was a bit let down by the Giants Causeway. I thought it would be more impressive than what it was. Still good though. We went on to Galway which is the party capital of Ireland and I have to admit I got pretty smashed there - cheapish drinks and a good club atmosphere left me feeling a bit worse for wear in the morning.

My favourite part of Ireland was the Dingle Penninsula because it was absolutely beautiful. Killarney was amazing as well. So pretty and green. Dingle was most beautiful fishing village. It was touristy but nevertheless, the charm of the village wasn't lost on me and I bought some gorgeous jewelry from there.

We went across to Blarney Castle and I kissed the Blarney Stone so apparently I will have the gift of the gab for the next 7 years - like I need that luck!

Hannah and I are off to watch hurling at a local Irish pub. Not entirely sure what hurling is but it's some kind of sport that's played with a stick. Looks interesting though!