The Grass is always greener...

Rise Up

2011-03-17T17:22:00.001-07:00

Just listening to Dave Dobbyn's "Loyal" on the telly on the memorial day service for Christchurch. It is such a beautiful song that it always puts a wee tear in my eye. It is also a lovely song for the situation here in Christchurch.

While he was playing it panned to a huge airplane banner for the Chch group Rise up. I suddenly remembered a song that I wrote a few years ago called "Rise Up". It occurred to me that this also could be transferred to the situation.

Here are the lyrics. If anyone is interested in hearing it (and can tell me how and where I can post it on line, as I have a recording) I will put it up so you can hear it. Of course not all of it is appropriate for the earthquake, so don't take it literally. I did write it about 8 years ago. However, the sentiment for the song was always one of hope and rebuilding (in the case of the song it was yourself and making your life mean something but I think a bit of it can be translated to be for the hope for the city. Rise up and be counted. Anyhoo, if anyone if interested in a listen, let me know how I can post it on the internet (it's a winamp file) and I will put it somewhere.

Rise Up,
Written by me

I never thought i'd go this way
It wasn't on the cards
but I'm happy that I dealt this hand
Won't you give my best regards
to Broadway and the big bright lights
I'm headed out that way
I'm listening to the satellites
sometimes I hear them say

You've got to rise up
Rise up and be counted
don't be afraid don't shy away
You've got to rise up
Rise up and be counted
Make the most of every day

A touch of solar solitude
Is the blueprint for the mind
Carry with you all the tools you need
A quintessestial life design
Sun breaks through the rain cloud
Rainbows light the darkest sky
Endless beauty of reality
A crazy haze of calm surprise

So Rise up
Rise up and be counted
Don't be afraid don't shy away
You've got to rise up
Rise up and be counted
Make the most of every day

Take a chance
You don't have to search for cover
It will be ok
In stronger hands
there'll be less demands
Trust in each other

Rise up
Rise up and be counted
Don't be afraid
don't shy away
You've got to rise up
Rise up and be counted
Make the most of every day x2

2011-03-11T14:10:00.001-08:00

So apparently it takes a disaster to get me back writing on here. And even then it has taken almost 3 weeks to write (has it only been that long? I actually had to stop there and check that because it felt like it had been at least a month).

So, I guess time to immortalise my account of what happened on February 22nd 2011. The day that Christchurch changed forever.

I was on placement at Burwood Primary, and had just gone out to the field with my supervising teacher, Cathy to do duty. It was the second day of my placement and I was absolutely loving it. The kids were great, Cathy was great and I had a feeling it was going to be a great term! I was also really looking forward to going to camp with them. So here we were chatting away to each other on the field, and I think I was starting to talk about the series of Oral Language lessons that I was going to start teaching as of the next day.

However, I never got the chance, as the earth literally split apart before my very eyes (about 10 metres away), and I dropped to the ground and ushered the few kids that were out there (lunch had only just begun). It was 12.51pm, and I knew I had just experienced a big big earthquake, but had of course absolutely no idea how much it would change the city. At that point though, I wasn't thinking about any of that. I had switched to carer mode and consoled terrified crying children for the next couple of hours, before thinking "I should really check on my family". A lot of people that were in a building that day, said the thing that they will remember forever was the noise. Being outside, I didn't get the noise, but I will never froget those frightened children and what they were saying. It was just too mature. Two kids' words will always stay with me. Amongst the concern for pets' safety and wanting their Mum or Dad, one wee girl in my class said "I've already lost my dad, I don't want to lose my Mum as well!". It was at moments like that when I almost lost my strong exterior and bowed down to the tears that I knew were in me somewhere. Somehow though, I found the strength for the kids.

The other one was also a girl from my class, and I was accompanying over to the toilet, and I asked her how she was doing. She said "I have to be strong for the little ones". I held her hand and said "yes but you don't have to be strong in front of me. That's what I'm here for." She broke down into tears and I put my arm around her.

Slowly, parents started picking up kids. Our area was badly damaged and so I heard accounts of parents having had to walk from the other side of town to get there. Accounts of the severity were also starting to creep in and I overheard a guy saying "possible multiple fatalities...the central city is really bad."

I think that's when my own thoughts starting creeping in. Cathy went back to the classroom (an absolute mess but still standing) and retrieved my bag with my phone in it so I could contact my family. Some of my them worked in the CBD. I started to get a bit scared. The phone system was understandably overloaded but I managed to get a message to and from my Mum and sister, so I knew at least that they were ok.

At four o'clock, the numbers of children had started to dwindle, and so Cathy said that I could go home. Our farewell was strange, as we didn't know whether I would be coming back, although I really wanted to. Having gone through something like that with the kids, I felt a strange loyalty and desire to return, even though it had only been one and a half days. Walking through the school, I saw how much of a mess it was. Ashphalt was buckled and cracked everywhere you looked and emotion was starting to get me. I just had to hold it in long enough to get to the car. I was on the other side of the city and I had no idea of the state of the roads. All I knew was that everyone on them was trying to get home or to their family. Or out of the city altogether (although i'm not sure if the exodus had begun by that point.)

I had been calm and collected for the kids. As soon as I got into the car, I started sobbing, big huge sobs that I couldn't control. The drive was slow, a crawl speed, and everywhere I saw destruction; buildings down, holes in the road, huge areas of liquefaction and waterlogged streets. I was listening to the radio so I started to get a little idea of the extent. The scariest part was after seeing these huge holes in the road (and cars stuck in them) I had to drive along a road that was completely flooded. I had no idea what I was driving over or through, and to make it worse, my car was almost completely out of petrol and I was worried that I would get stuck one way or the other. Slowly, I made it to my flat. There was a cordon over my street, so I explained that I lived just up there and he let me through. My reaction when I got home was strange. The place was a mess. Everything was on the floor. It looked wrecked. One of my flatmates had been home for a while and had cleaned up a little, but it still looked pretty bad when I got there. He left for his girlfriend's house, and I was on my own. There was no power or water so I couldn't watch the news. I had a half open pack of biscuits and I sat there, shivering in a duvet robotically eating them. My other flatmate came home, and I explained that I couldn't be in the flat; that I needed to get to my parents' house. I now knew that the death toll was likely to be pretty large and people had been crushed in the city. My Dad and brother worked in town. I needed to know that they were ok. I had sent off a text message to Mum but hadn't heard back. I had no petrol in the car, and really did not think that I could make it over there. He suggested that I borrow his car to get there. I'm so glad that he told me to take it and make the decision for me. I really don't think that I could have done it on my own.

Driving across town on the motorway, the sights changed. On the other side of the city, it had been apparent devastation, but here you could barely tell that anything had happened. Walking up my parents' driveway, I was so anxious to see them, that the moment of disappointment when I reached the door handle and found it locked was huge. I stood there for a few seconds angry and upset that they weren't there when I needed them the most, but then I got it together and realised that there was only one place they could be. I walked the two minutes to my brother's house, and sighed a huge sigh of relief when I saw them all there safe and sound. I broke down a little when I got there, and my brother gave me a huge hug (a lovely thing as he is not usually a huggy type). My Dad said "she needs a wine" which was very true and I got to play with my little nephew which lifted all our spirits. We stayed there because they had a gas barbecue. We were just finishing off our dinner, when the power came back on. The next stage had begun.

I call this stage, watching scenes of destruction on TV while not quite being able to comprehend that this is the same city that you live in. I was glued to the TV for the next few days. Scenes of utter chaos in the centre city, video captured by people in the central city. My experience had been traumatic for sure, but nothing compared with being in the central city, with buildings coming down, dust and rubble everywhere. I realised then just how lucky I had been that I hadn't been in the city.

Colombo St before quake
Colombo St after quake
City before quake
City after quake
Cathedral before quake
Cathedral after quake
A few days of that, and I just needed to help! My flat still had no power or water, but my parents' had both, so I stayed there and helped out in a welfare centre nearby. Just doing something was keeping me and my mind largely occupied. Unless you were allowed to be in the city centre it is still completely off limits. Apparently 75% of the CBD will be destroyed. There are still large areas without power, water and sewage, 3 weeks on. The roads are cut up and closed everywhere you look. The most devastating part of course is the loss of life. So far 166 and possibly more to come.

I have survivor guilt. My flat has surfaced largely unscathed. I don't know any of the people identified as part of the death toll (although I know people that do) and I heave a huge sigh of relief each time I read that list and don't recognise any of the names. I haven't lost my job (although it is in the cordon so it is off limits at the moment).

I was so looking forward to going back to Burwood school, and seeing the kids again. Unfortunately that was not to be as it is pretty damaged. Grad school has swapped schools so I get the most out of the placement. I understand their reasoning, for sure. It makes sense. I am sad though that I won't get the chance to see the kids again. I start Monday.

Right now, I am in Whangaparoa (an hour north of Auckland) staying with my sister to get away from the aftershocks. I have found myself getting more and more anxious and jittery with each aftershock. I felt so silly to be complaining about anything when I was so lucky. But really, I wasn't coping too well. I didn't quite realise it, but helping others was just a way of keeping my own feelings at bay. I'm ok, and feel lucky, but the enormity of losing my city and the grief over the deaths of those unfortunate ones (even though I don't know them) coupled with the aftershocks mean that I needed to get away. I'm glad I did. I feeling rested, and should be able to cope with Christchurch when I return on Sunday.

As for the future. I'm in Christchurch til the end of the year at least, with my course. But I think I will stay. A large part of my family is there and I do love my city. At this point we just have to stay positive, and as this photo that I found says, "We will rebuild".

Time for a change?

2010-10-19T01:32:00.000-07:00

Is there anything about yourself that you're a little bit sensitive about? That you know isn't perfect but you struggle to change it. No I'm not talking about weight although that can definitely be a sensitive topic.

The issue that I am struggling with is the volume of my voice. I've always known that I have had a loud voice, and growing up as the youngest of 6 children, it was one of the ways that you were able to be heard. As I've gotten older, occasionally people have commented on my loud voice, and for some reason it has always been one of the most sensitive issues for me and it always upsets me. You'd think that the mere fact that I know I have a loud voice, would mean that it wouldn't bother me. But for some reason it does. I wish my volume was softer, and I have tried many many times to be quieter, but what happens is that when I get comfortable with people or a situation, my volume naturally goes up. I'm naturally a chatty, bubbly and happy person. My moods are pretty even and happy. You know what you're going to get when you see me. I enjoy people's company and I'm pretty certain that people enjoy mine. But for some reason, when someone comments on my loud voice, I take it really personal, and take it as an attack on who I am, even though I know that it isn't. Automatically I decide "well then I won't speak at all!". I temporarily go very into myself, and sad.

So, how do I create a balance? How do I reduce the volume of my voice and not reduce my personality, which, I do actually, for the most part really like. Is it something that you can consciously work on, or is it like a laugh, something that is innate?

I'm not sure anymore. I have been aware of this aspect of me, and been trying to change it for as long as I can remember. I haven't changed so far.

By the way, it has been mentioned that I lower my voice volume as part of professional competence as a trainee teacher. I get that a lower volume in a classroom means that the kids are quieter, but should my volume in the staffroom be an issue? I would love your thoughts and ideas on this.

9ft pregnant ladies, Ludo and Dorothy

2010-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

So I had a week's holiday last week, and it was well needed and enjoyed. I was actually incredibly productive and managed to achieve a lot of "to do's" as well as relaxation and rest.

I caught up with friends and family, and it was fantastic to not have any worries about school and just enjoy. So I was at my sister's house drinking cider, eating our obligatory nachos (yum yum) and generally chatting, when the discussion of the latest installation at the Art Gallery came up. I'm not a huge Art Gallery patron. In fact, I almost never go there, and the last time I actively made sure I went to an exhibition was for an incrdible black and white photography exhibition which was incredible. Her name was Ans Westra, and she is originally from Holland. If you want to see more about her, I found this:

http://www.fhegalleries.com/artists/showArticle.php?file=answestra.xml

So anyway, this time it was for an exhibition that looked at bodies in different contexts and size, and was a series of amazing displays of people that looked incredibly real, right down to the goosebumps or veins under the skin, but had been totally created. It was absolutely phenomenal. His name is Ron Mueck and I highly recommend that you go and see this exhibition. It's on in the Christchurch Art Gallery for the next 3 months or so. What made this so incredible was the way that he played with dimensions and perspectives and on most of the sculptures, the body was naked so as not to distract from the absolute beauty and intricacy of the art. There was a 9 ft full term pregnant woman in absolute proportion, looking shattered and deflated as she reached the end of her pregnancy. There were tiny gossiping old woman, giant babies complete with an umblilico cord, and a wild man with a look of utter fear on his face, as he knew he was trapped in a world where he did not belong. You can see some of these sculptures at this website:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Awesome_Sculptures_Of_Ron_Mueck

Giant Pregnant woman. I actually took a lot of photos of this exhibition myself, but am too lazy to upload them

Now when I looked at this website, it was the first time I had actually looked him up, and I decided that besides being an absolutely exceptional artist and sculptor, he gains even more legend status in my mind for being the voice Ludo from one of my absolute favourite movies of all time, Labyrinth. It actually makes sense really, as he was a model maker, so it actually ties very clearly with his exhibition.

"Ludo....friend"

Anyway, Ron Mueck, you are my new hero. I also think that Seth McFarlane, creator and voice of most of the characters on Family Guy is incredible. I love that show, and love how they just poke fun at everything, including Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I actually saw it again, with my sister and her kids the other day, as the Art Gallery was showing it for free just after we arrived. Not wanting to offend the gods of Serendipity we went and watched it (me for the 4th or 5th time) but for the kids and my sis, for the first. It was great. I love that movie. Seeing the end again though, reminded me of this Family Guy parody:

Oh how I laughed.

Earthquakes, Birthdays, Sickness, School and Moving House

2010-09-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

So exactly two weeks ago, at 4.35am on the morning of the 4th of September, we had an earthquake. A pretty huge earthquake as well, measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, and the same as the devastating one in Haiti that killed so many people.

I was feeling incredibly sick and had welcomed Mum and Dad home from their European trip on Friday afternoon, with a fever and general unwellness. I took my sorry body off to bed. I was feeling incredibly happy that I had had my 30th birthday party the week before, as I really was too sick to have it on my actual birthday, being the 4th September. I slept fitfully, and woke up several times during the night.

I was jolted out of bed however, at 4.35am, to the biggest and scariest earthquake I had ever felt. I ran into Mum and Dad's bed, and stood in a doorway with Mum for what felt like minutes, but was probably only 40 seconds or so. And then it was over. Our power went out, and we spent the next wee while listening to the transistor radio to find out what had happened.

Quickly we found out that the epicentre was in Darfield, a mere 30 km away from Christchurch and had occurred on a fault line that no one even knew was active! Our power came on at 9.30am, and I spent the rest of the day glued to the special news coverage and wrapped in a blanket, looking at the scenes of destruction in my city, and feeling incredibly spacy and surreal. Our house wasn't damaged so it was weird to see the complete chaos and damage around the city. Christchurch was put into a state of emergency, and the city centre completely closed off. Schools were announced closed, and although they came live from the same damaged shop, and showed the same few photos in those early hours, I just couldn't tear my eyes off the screen.

Of course, I was feeling terriblly ill, and when Mum finally took my temperature (boy was I glad I was staying there and that they had come home the night before) it was 104 degree celcius.

My birthday of course kind of got swept under the carnage a little. Mum and Dad gave me a fabulous present of 2 helicopter rides which is absolutely amazing, and a couple other of my siblings gave me some presents as well. It was just, what with the earthquake and me feeling so sick, I kinda forgot about it.

The next day, the family came over for lunch, for Father's day and also my birthday, but I was too sick to get out of bed, so I just stayed in my room, still glued to the news.

My fever went down over the next few days, but I was bedbound for 10 days, developing early pneumonia and generally feeling quite rubbish. I was quite happy schools in ChCh were cancelled for a week, because there would have been no way I would have been there anyway.

Last weekend I was supposed to move into my new flat (which is also my old flat as this will be the third time I have moved into this place) but I postponed it til tomorrow.

So slowly, little old Christchurch has been getting back on track. The damage to the city is extensive, but in patches. Some areas have no damage at all, and some are completely wrecked. We're all thankful that it didn't happen a few hours earlier or later, when lots of people would have been on the street. No one died, and that in itself is a miracle, as the same disaster killed so many in Haiti.

So there we have it. One more week of school placement left. I have absolutely loved it and I will really miss the kids quite a lot. I have liked the age level (age 5-7) so much more than I thought I would. I'm completely shattered at the end of the week, but I have come through it with a sense of real achievement and pride from what I have achieved.

So onwards and upwards. I've become a bit of a social recluse recently, because of the pressure of the course. I miss hanging out with my friends and sister as much as I did, but it's only for a year.

So that's me. Caught up in a nutshell. I have been terrible at updating this recently, so hope that catches up anyone with what I have been up to recently.

School Placement

2010-08-06T18:09:00.001-07:00

So I've made it through the first 3 weeks of the course, and I am absolutely loving it! We have been teaching a reading programme one on one for the last two weeks, which was great, and a great introduction to teaching.

Starting Monday, it all goes up an extra level, with my first placement, this tme at Spreydon Primary. I have a Year 1-2 class and I am really excited about getting into it.

Grad school is starting to consume my life a little, and already the social life is starting to slow down. I'm trying to make sure I have time for swimming to keep up my fitness and quiz, but not too much else.

I'm becoming more boring in front of my very eyes. But it's for a good cause. And it's only for a year or so.

First Week

2010-07-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

So I started Grad school on Monday and it was definitely the right decision. Straight away, the vibe has been positive and while it is going to be an intense year (social bye bye for now) it will be worth it.

There are 34 of us in our intake (there was 35 but one guy left on day 3). 12 Secondary and 22 Primary. At the moment we are all together, as we're doing basic stuff like literacy, which is important for everyone.

On Day two we had to prepare a 4 minute talk for our peers which was incredibly nervewracking, and tomorrow we all go to Shirley Intermediate to start the first of 10 literacy lessons with a Year 8 (11-12 year old) student. In two weeks time we will be on our first teaching practice. It has been intense, but it is only just a year (or just over) and it pretty much ensures that I'll be a good, and well trained teacher (their style is totally different to anything else in the country but as it is so heavily practical produces great teachers) and should guarantee us a job (not necessarily permanent straight away).

So that's it really. I'm very glad I chose to do this. It totally feels like the right time in my life to be doing this. Everyone on the course is lovely and I am going to make some great new friends I think.

Living wise, I am house sitting at Mum and Dad's for the next month, and then very much looking forward to setting up a flat and getting my stuff out of storage (haven't seen a lot of it in over 5 years, I can't remember what I own anymore).

Today I am going to concentrate on sorting out what I'm doing for tomorrow's lesson and get that sorted. Conveniently it is raining outside so I'm not going to feel like I'm missing out too much.

Home Again

2010-07-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

So I've been home for a week, and what a relaxing uneventful week it has been. I start Grad School next week, so that will be a huge change so am just enjoying doing not a lot at the moment.

So the flight and travel home, although long was fine. At LA airport, there were a whole bunch of American students, all about 18 or 19, who were coming to New Zealand for a semester to study. I started chatting to some of them, and told them to ask whatever questions they liked. One of them piped up with

"Do they chicken in New Zealand, cos I don't really like lamb?" to which I couldn't help but have a wee laugh, and explained to her that although Lamb is one of our major exports, we eat pretty much everything that we do.

I had forgotten to ask for an aisle seat, which was annoying but as I slept so much anyway (amazing for me as I normally don't) it wasn't too much of a problem.

Coming off the plane in Auckland, I almost cried tears of joy, as they played this song as we were walking off:

Singing quietly to myself as I walked down the aisle, the flight attendant gave me a big smile and "Welcome Home" which totally made my day.

Although I still had to get to Christchurch on one more flight, and clear customs, I was home and it was awesome to be met by Mum and Dad at the airport. I love international arrival lounges at airports. I think that they are one of the happiest places in the world.

So I'm home. I had a fantastic time but am very much glad to be back and looking forward to Monday.

Not seeing Calgary, and Astral Harvest

2010-07-04T23:00:00.001-07:00

So I was sitting at the station, deep into my book, when I noticed a figure appear out of my peripheral vision, sit next to me, and nonchalantly mutter "What's up".

Pulling myself out my book, I realised that it was Rach, and I gave her a big hug and we wandered out to her car.

I wasn't actually staying in Calgary much, as the following morning, myself, Rach and her girlfriend Steph were heading to a music festival. However, we went to a couple of their friends' houses and were treated to wine, pizza and a great game called Washers (which I'm totally going to recreate in NZ) and although my back was giving me serous grief, it was a great evening.

The following day was Canada Day, so for the long weekend, we were headed out to an electronic music festival. Now, this is really not my type of music. Not even a little bit. I find the doof doof beats really get incredibly annoying after appoximately 2.5 seconds, and the base carries everywhere, making it impossible to sleep at night. I am much more of a live music girl, but in spite of all that, and not being able to move that much, I had a great time there, and met some awesome people.

Rach at the Festival

Rach and Steph

There were a couple of good workshops as well, during the day, including a brilliant one called Laughter Yoga, where, as the name suggests, you simply laugh in a variety of exercises for an hour. It was awesome and everyone had a huge smile on their face afterwards. The festival did not have anywhere near as many workshops as Confest, an amazing festival I have gone to a couple of times in Australia, but it was pretty cool.

We camped in this awesome pull out trailer thing called Lionel, next to some good friends of Rach and Steph's, called Nate and Carey. Nate is a DJ and actually his set (which we all went down to listen to) was amazing. A little less doof doofy and more musical and I chair danced for the whole hour and a half. I also took lots of photos which kept me amused.

Rach standing outside our trailer Lionel

Nate Djing his very cool set
my bucket chair where I danced to Nate's set

My back even got better on the last day, as I took it pretty easy, and now it is pretty much healed and back to it's normal lower state of pain.

Rach and Steph were incredibly generous and kind to me, buying me wine and sharing their food with me, as they knew I was broke. It was great to see Rach (whom I met first in London but is from NZ)and to get to know Steph a little better (I met her in Auckland when they were living there and I visited Rach).

All in all it was a great (but very tiring) festival. I didn't get too much sleep because the bass really did carry all the way to me, but I countered it by putting on headphones and listening to The Black Seeds (NZ funky reggae/dub), which by the way, is an excellent counter music if to want to sleep during doof doof music festivals.

So, I had a great time, didn't get to see any of Calgary, but more importantly, got to hang out with Rach, Steph and some of their friends which was very very cool.

hula Hooping Girl
beautiful Belly Dancers in the parade
Cute little boy ever looks concerned as big weird creatures surrounds him
So here I sit, in their little lounge, at midnight, supposed to be packing, but procrastinating on here instead. Tomorrow I begin the long trek home. All in all, including travel/waiting and flying I had about a 26+ time frame ahead of me before I reach Christchurch.

It has been a fabulous trip! I have caught up with some amazing friends and made some great new ones. Having said that, I'm looking forward to my room, not having to pack my bag every few days and seeing my friends and family back in New Zealand.

She'll be coming round the (Rocky) Mountains when she comes

2010-07-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little belated in my entries. The internet in the past 10 days or so has been non existent. I've been in a few isolated spots, which have been beautiful.

So when I left you last, I hoped to have the best sleep ever, but unfortunately it was probably one of the worst on the trip so far! So loud, with drunken revellers all night, it was also super stuffy in the dorm. Although I put my headphones in, I probably only got a couple of hours sleep total.

Anyway, so I get up and get ready to meet my tour bus of the Rockies. It was called Moose Travel and was ostensibly a hop-on-hop-off bus, although I did it in the minimum time frame. There were 18 of us on the bus, and although the people changed a little bit, the number stayed the same.

Jack, our tour guide relaxing

It was a great trip! The weather, for the most part, was pretty beautiful, our tour guide Jack was pretty cool, and the others on the bus were pretty cool. And we saw BEARS!!!! 4 of them!!!! 2 Grizzly and 2 Black! Very cool.

Black Bear
Grizzly
Bear in the wild (from outside the van)
A baby Grizzly
The first day we headed to Lake Shuswap which was a pretty little lake where, as we were walking down to the shore, a deer just happened to be wandering past some houses. It was very cool and pretty strange for me.

The next day was a highlight for me. We stopped at this amazing mirror lake in a place called Revelstoke where we kayaked, something that I love to do. It was so peaceful and just gorgeous there.

The beautiful place we kayaked
Kayaking

We made our way to Banff for the night, although we didn't arrive early enough to see any of the town. Next morning it was up and away along the Columbian icefield, where the weather had packed it in a little. We stopped at Lake Louise which was pretty despite the rain, and then we went to Athabasca glacier, which as someone that has hiked Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, was mildly disappointed with it. The area was beautiful, although the weather did put a slight dampner on the day unfortunately.

Lake Louise.

Athabasca Glacier

However, it cleared up, and we ended up staying in this gorgeous wilderness lodge in Athabasca Falls about 30 km from Jasper. It was a gorgeous wee spot, and I had the most comfortable sleep I had had in a long time.

On the last day, on our way back to Banff, we stopped at Lake Moraine (truly gorgeous) and had lunch in a secluded little lookout spot in an area called Peyto Lake. It was beautiful!

Lake Morraine
Our little secluded lunch spot, Lake Peyto

The Rockies really were quite beautiful, and I am so glad that I got (if only a little bit) to see them. I'd like to come back and spend some more time here, as it is quite lovely here.\

Our Moose Group

We got back to Banff, again too late to see the town, and had a bit of a goodbye drinking session with the others from the bus. Our room was incredible, with a jacuzzi in the lounge, although stupidly there was also a bunk bed in the lounge so we couldn't really use it.

The next day, I was all ready to get to my bus, and saying goodbye to a couple of people from the bus, I then hauled my pack on to my back as I'd done a hundred times this trip. Unfortunately this time I must have done something different, because as I lifted it, suddenly my entire back went into spasm, and going into a hunchback, I could barely move, and had to sit down. I was in absolute agony, as I must have severely pulled the muscles in my back. Being forced to taxi the short distance to the station, I was in a fair amount of pain, and the painkillers were just not cutting it.

I was to bus to Calgary and have 4 hours to look around the city. However, fate had other ideas (which ended up being great) as the bus was delayed by two hours, which meant that the Greyhound guy refunded our fare, and I started chatting to a cool girl from Winnipeg. Finally getting to Calgary station, I decided to just sit and wait the remaining two hours for my friend Rach to pick me up (not that my back would let me do anything else anyway).

Vancouver Vancouver

2010-06-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

Wandering along the beach looking out towards downtown Vancouver

Not quite the same ring to it as New York New York, but I couldn't think of a single cheesy movie or song title with Vancouver in it. Anyone?

So I made it to Canada! Only 15 days in this lovely country though, so I will have to return. I can't believe that I will be home in under 2 weeks. This trip has gone so fast!

So the bus trip from Seattle was fairly uneventful, and the customs incredibly easy. No trouble there at all. I had arranged for my friend Megan to meet me at the bus station, but when I got there she was no where to be seen. My bus had been half an hour late, but I figured she would have checked with one of the staff. After looking around and not seeing her, I gave her a call.

"I was there but I left after half an hour" she said. We must have missed each other by minutes. Apparently the staff wouldn't tell her if my bus had come in and so she decided to make her way back to her place in case I had decided to make my way there. She gave me some directions, and it was actually very simple to reach her.

She lives in a very cool suburb of Vancouver called Kitsilano in possibly one of the tiniest flats I have ever seen, so I was very grateful that she let me stay with her.

It was cool to hang out with her. We cooked some dinner and then the next day, as she had the day off, we went to an awesome coffee shop to hang out, drink coffee and play backgammon. Deciding that her backgammon board was too tiny and annoying to play on, we hit the thrift stores to try and replace it. Although we found the most gorgeous board, we decided that $20 was too much to spend, although she did buy another couple of games, and so wine and board games were the order of the day.

Hanging out with Megan

Vancouver is a beautiful city. Surrounded by water, there are lots of cool little hangouts. Granville Island is one of them. A cool food market overlooking downtown which sits on the other side of the water, it was great to sit and listen to buskers, and watch the world go by. One busker in particular caught my attention, as his voice was just awesome. Not being able to place who his voice sounded like, it wasn't til he played Paolo Nutini that he solved the mystery for me. I ended up buying a CD of his music and I'm very glad I did.

The fantastic busker Stephen Spender playing in Granville Island

The weather was lovely, and so I wandered along the beach, meandering my way back towards Megan's place and to a place called Kit's Beach near her flat.

I was supposed to meet up with a friend Trent whom I had met in the animal sanctuary in Bolivia. Megan had already expressed that she was looking forward to having the place to herself, and so when he had to postpone, I decided to go out anyway. Megan had told me of a cool arthouse cinema within walking distance to her, so off I trotted, and for a mere $7, I was treated to a double feature of two Canadian films I hadn't heard of, called "Chloe" and "The Necessities of life". Both were good, and so it was a good night, although it still would have been cool to hang out with Trent.

Next day, I finally left the sanctuary of Kitsilano and headed downtown, wandering around. Meeting up with Megan, a couple of her friends, and also Trent and a friend of his, we played pub quiz (oh how I've missed my weekly dose!) and it was an awesome night!

Quiz night with Megan, Trent and some of their friends

Today Megan and I had brunch, coffee and then I bade her farewell, and swapped to my hostel for one night before my Rockies tour tomorrow. I'm doing a four day tour before heading to Calgary to hang out with one last friend. And then that's it! The trip is so close to being finished!

But it isn't yet, and today I finished my time in Vancouver by hiring a bicycle and cycling through Stanley Park, one of the biggest urban parks in the world. It was very cool, and because it is situated on the water (like so much of Vancouver) it had some pretty beautiful views as well.

Hanging out with my bike
The Red Buddha and me
A beautiful lake inside Stanley park which is rapidly decreasing as the forest takes over

And so now I am almost going to go to bed at the extremely early time of 10pm. I haven't been sleeping well, so I am very excited to hopefully get a good night's sleep tonight. (edit: worst night's sleep ever! So loud, hot and uncomfortable)

Only a couple more travel blog entries left, and then back to boring mundanity. Well new mundanity, since I will be a student again in a few short weeks.

As per normal, photos to come once I get the time.

Sleepless in Seattle

2010-06-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well actually I slept quite well (which is a thing that is becoming more of a rarity on this trip as my back has been behaving quite badly) but I'll stick with the cheesy blog titles for now.

So we dropped off the rental car at the airport about 5pm, and Nina was being picked up by her friends, but me and Uli had to make our own way to our respective places. Which was totally fine. Nina very quickly let us use her iphone to check the internet to work out the buses, and I was in such a rush that I chose a route with the shortest amount of changes but didn't check the total time it would take me. As it turns out, now knowing the city a little bit better, it was a ridiculous route. I first of all had to wait a good 40 mins for the first bus (and I fully acknowledge that I should have used the public phones at the airport to call my friend, but I didn't want to miss my bus. Having only one route to get to my friend's house, I decided to stick with it. Getting dropped off the first bus to wait for the second, I realised that we were deep deep in the suburban wilderness of Seattle. There was no one to ask. Getting on the next bus, it was 7pm, and when I asked the bus driver how long it would take, he said that it would take just under an hour. Asking if I could borrow his cell phone to ring my friend, he said "that's going a bit far". Accepting this as fair, I asked the only other person on the bus who said that she would, but she was probably the only person without a cell phone in Seattle. I asked a couple more people (offering them a couple of bucks, but knowing that in the states everyone is on a contract so it costs them nothing extra) and they looked at me like I was crazy.The said "I don't think so" with an air of such disdain that you would have thought I had just asked them to jump off a cliff. Anyway, frustrated, tired, hungry and a little concerned that my friend would be worried about me, I finally got off the bus about 8pm, and found the apartment. Now if I hadn't been so tired I would have realised that there was a call button on the outside of the apartment. However this guy who was on his cell phone at the door, was covering this and when I asked him "do you need a cell phone to ring in? I don't have one" he replied "I don't know what to tell you" and walked off. Thinking I needed a cell phone, I asked about 4 more people to use their phone, all of them saying no, and finally exhausted, I found a kind person in the supermarket who let me use hers. After realising that I could have saved myself the trouble and just used the call button, I felt a bit stupid, but nonetheless it was great to see my friend Danica and meet her boyfriend Erik. Telling them the story about how no one would let me use their phone, they were surprised but guessed that people weren't listening to me, but are so used to being accosted by homeless people for change, that they just say no.

We went out to dinner and had a great night, and then the next morning, determined to have a great day, I got on the bus and wandered to Pike Place Market. Which was, by the way, awesome. It's a famous market, and I wandered around for a while before, stopping to watch the famous Pike Place Fish Market where they throw the fish from one side of the area to the counter. It is a bit of a smelly place, but it was very cool.

Pike Place Market

about to throw the fish to the counter amidst many onlookers

Meeting Danica for lunch at a Russian place (Erik and Danica had decided to take me on a foodies tour of Seattle), I wandered down to Pioneer Square where I took a fascinating and very funny tour of the underground. Very cool.

In the immortal words of Mr Bowie "down down underground"

Meeting up with Danica afterward, we met Erik in a Korean BBQ restaurant where we were provided with the meat, and we cooked it on a grill at the table. I say "we" but really, other than a photo opportunity for me, Erik cooked pretty much everything.

Pretending to cook.

Erik the real chef of the night takes over

Danica had taken the next couple of days off, and so we had a great two days together, doing cool things such as going to a gorgeous view of the city, seeing the troll under the bridge, and taking a chocolate factory tour of this amazing chocolate company who produce fair trade and organic chocolate with flavours such as Chai Tea, and Coconut Curry. We also went to a HUGE thrift store where I bought books 9 and 10 (my bag is getting very heavy now, so I am hoping that that is it, bookwise).

The city of Seattle as seen with the lovely Danica

The Fremont Troll who lives under the bridge

Thursday night, I caught up with a friend Justin (and his amazing yellow car!), from New Zealand, which was great. We went to dinner with some of his dance buddies and at some point had a heated debate about the merits of Ebook vs real book (I am totally for real and he was fighting on the Ebook side.)

Justin and his amazing yellow spaceship car

Next day, met up with another kiwi friend, Mark in the afternoon and on the bus I was running late so I decided to give the Seattleites one more chance to be nice to me and lend me their phone so I could let Mark know I was running late, and the girl in front was so nice and did. Where was she when I needed her the other day? Went to the university where he is studying to drop some stuff off and then had a couple of drinks before meeting up with one of his friends later on. We also went to a drag show which normally isn't totally my thing, but it was pretty good. I realised how much Cher actually does look like a drag queen because the man impersonating her was the spitting image!

I know that it is hard to believe but this is a man and not Cher

Saturday was my last full day in Seattle. It was the Fremont Fair and parade for Summer Solstice and it was amazing. Unfortunately we were slightly too late for the nude cyclists all dressed in body paint, but the parade was just awesome. Met up with Mark afterwards, and hung out, and the phone connection was so bad that I couldn't get hold of Justin who was also there. Had an amazing time at the fair, people watching, eating the free samples for lunch(one of them was hummus and pita bread chips-Yum!) and wandering through the market. I was coveting this awesome clock made out of forks and spoons, but had decided that I couldn't really afford it, when Danica surprised me by buying it for me! I tried to refuse as it should have been me getting her a gift to show my gratitude for letting me stay and showing me an awesome time in Seattle, but I let her buy it for me, buying Danica and Mark dinner instead. It made me feel a little better. The clock is awesome though!

All I saw of the naked bikers

Some of the cool parade

Pigging out on the free hummus and Pita with Mark

my new wall clock

The next day, Danica and I left nice and early to make it to the bus station for my bus to Vancouver. Unfortunately fate had different ideas. Someone had decided that it was an awesome idea to bash the wire door opener of the apartment parking lot, so it wouldn't open despite all our efforts. We still had time for a taxi so we called, but 25 minutes later, it still hadn't arrived, so we called another. Of course 5 minutes later both arrived at the same time. Taking one, not sure if I took the first or the last I explained that I had a bus to catch in 15 minutes. Although he said the Greyhound would be late, he was amazing, and drove very skillfully, weaving his way to the station. I made it just in time for the bus, only to sit and wait 15 minutes for it to depart.

But, I didn't mind. I had made it to the bus and the adventure to Canada was underway.

Sorry for the novel(again). Did I mention what a great time I had in Seattle!

The Road to Seattle

2010-06-15T22:30:00.001-07:00

So since I last left you, I have made it to Seattle! But you don't want to hear about that yet. There's time for that later.

Last time I updated, the three of us were in a little town called Gold Beach. It was raining heavily and visibility was slim to none on the coast. After another day of heavy rain, and no sign of it stopping for a couple of days, we made the call to go inland to a little town called Eugene after a wet but cool visit to a lighthouse.

I went to the top of this lighthouse. It was pretty awesome

Eugene was a cute funky town, and the following day we went to a vintage store where I got an awesome black short sleeved shirt which is my new favourite item of clothing. The weather was still not great, so we hung out in little coffee shops people watching and and eating Mexican.

We had a couchsurfing stop the next night in a wee town called Corvalis. Another funky town, we wandered around til our couchsurf host got back from work. The most beautiful little place, Ebba (our host), her three flatmates, and her 15 chickens welcomed us into their home, where Ebba made pea soup form scratch and wild rice. It was pretty cool there. They totally eat everything they can unprocessed, and grow a lot of fruit and vegies and of course eggs. We had a fantastic dinner and wine, and then we had a great jam session with one of the guys that lived there. Ebba has lived in this place for 4 years, and although all her books are in the house, she chooses to live in her van. I don't know if I could permanently live in a van, but it seems to work for her. It was an awesome little stop and a nice change from motels (Otto excluded of course as that motel was a very cool spot!).

Hanging out with Ebba and one of the chickens

Onwards to Portland we went, stopping again in a funky wee coffee shop, and went to this amazing place called Kennedy School which was a primary school which closed down in the early seventies, and has been totally revamped into a series of bars including "The Boiler Room" and "The Detention", a cinema, accommodation and just amazing funky artwork everywhere. It was such a great idea and use of an otherwise unused building and part of a whole bunch of buildings that had been reborn under a couple of brothers named McMenamin. See below for more details. It was a pretty cool place.

http://www.mcmenamins.com/427-kennedy-school-home

The Boiler Room bar at Kennedy school. This place was incredible!

We went to our couch surf host's place, and she was this awesome chick called Rose. we had a lovely evening and we cooked her dinner and then played board games. My perfect evening.

The next day we wandered in to the city, and we were totally lucky as not only was it the Rose Festival and the Saturday market, but it was the most perfect day with no clouds, and apparently the warmest day they had had all year. I absolutely love Portland! It has this amazing quirky and interesting vibe to it, and the most amazing bookshop in the world called Powells. We wandered around for a couple of hours and could have spent a LOT longer in there.

Powells City of Books

I restrained myself from buying many books (they were so cheap!) but ended up with 3 (which brought my tally of books I'm carrying in my pack to 7). Promising myself that I wouldn't buy anymore books, we wandered around Portland and found a thrift store where I found book number 8 (It was cheap!).

Also in Portland was the amazing Saturday Market (also interestingly on Sundays) with an amazing amount of people watching and cool buskers.

Portland Saturday Market

The awesome beautiful day in Portland was finished off by a gorgeous sunset with perfect clear views of the sunset and mountains and then going to one of the bars in Kennedy School which was cool. We finished off our Portland experience the following morning with a trip to Voodoo Doughnuts, where I had been told that I had to experience the Maple and Bacon doughnut (with real bacon!) and so dutifully, I did. Amazingly it was one the nicest things I have ever had!

With my Maple and Bacon Doughnut

So we made it to Seattle and I made it to my friend Danica's (although it was a bit of a mission getting there!).

The road trip was totally awesome and I got on really well with both Uli and Nina. I'm so glad that it all worked out and I found people to road trip with, and although the weather was a bit dodgy in parts, it was the perfect way to get up to Seattle.

Photos to follow as per usual when I can be bothered and have more time.

On the Road again

2010-06-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

So after 10 days in San Francisco, two days ago I started a road trip with a couple of girls that I connected with through couchsurfing.

The rest of my time in San Francisco was fantastic. I love this city. The weather has been perfect, and I've met some great people and seen some cool things and places.

Staying at Brian's house was awesome. It was totally chilled, and although it was 40 minutes from San Fran proper, it was a nice train ride and only $4 each way, so I was able to go into the city to enjoy it from his house. I met Brian when I was in Europe and we really clicked, and so it was great to know that 3 years on, we got on just as well (probably better because I got to know him in so much more depth).

Meeting up with Nina from Switzerland on Sunday, we made our way to the airport to pick up our rental car. After a good bit of selling from the woman who worked there, we were convinced to upgrade to a Hybrid car which would save us money on petrol on the long run.

We found our little blue Nissan Altima, and the first thing that we noticed was that there was no key! Working out how to open the door, we pressed the very aptly named Start button. Pressing it twice and hearing nothing, we were confused. How do we turn the car on? Putting it into gear, the car moved, and so silently (as this car makes no sound!) we moved out of the carpark and out of San Francisco.

The obligatory Golden Gate photo

Stopping at the iconic Golden Gate Bridge on the way out of town, we got to our location for the night, a little town called Point Reyes. As we hadn't picked up the car until 6.30pm it was 9pm by the time we arrived. We chilled out for a while in the lovely hostel there, and were ready to head out the next morning. We were told that we couldn't leave Point Reyes without going to the Bovine Bakery or getting a coffee and some fruit at Toby's. And so we did, and sat in the little tables outside, watching the world go by, and feeling like we were part of this tiny little community. In fact we enjoyed hanging out there so much, one and a half hours had passed before we realised, and we had to get on the road.

Now, the observant among you may realise that I mentioned two girls and have only mentioned one, Nina. The second girl, Uli, from Germany, we were't picking up until Eureka.

So onto Mendocino, a gorgeous little town with some beautiful views (although on the coast they all have beautiful views). Californian towns all seem to have a very big organic feel, and this one had its organic store in a reformed church! Very cool. We stopped there for a couple of hours, and then when we got on the road again, we realised that there was no way to make it to Eureka tonight.

My first dose of driving on the right side was a little scary for Nina at first, who had to keep yelling 'KEEP LEFT' as I kept veering to the very right of the road, but I seemed to get into the swing of things after a short time and started really enjoying driving on the coastal roads. Nina is a great driver, so she will drive into all the cities, and we'll share the rest.

Stopping at the tiny town of Westport, California, population 299, we were in for a treat. With only a pub, a general store and a small motel, we weren't expecting much, but it was getting late, and the room was relatively inexpensive. Greeted by 84 year old Otto, who ran the place by himself, we were convinced. Just the most gorgeous old man, and he convinced us more with cups of tea, home made cookies and stories about his late wife and his life (his wife was married seven times before him and apparently it was lucky number 8 as their marriage lasted 44 years before she passed away). We knew we had found an absolute character in Otto, and just meeting him brought a smile to my face. We wandered down to the completely empty beach to watch the sunset which was pretty cool.

Sunset in Westpot

The following morning after he made us coffee, and home made jelly with toast, we took a few photos, and after wanting to take Otto and the Westport Inn with us, we got back on the road.

With Otto and Nina at the Westport Inn

The first thing we did was a ridiculous tourist stop, which made me laugh so much, that we just had. In America, they have drive through everythings and so I as not surprised when, for a mere $5 per car, you could drive through a Redwood tree and take photos. I couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of the whole thing, but it was cool in a super tacky way.

The >Drive thru tree.

Shortly following that I spied 'Hobbiton USA' and I yelled 'STOP' to which Nina did. Not having seen Lord of the Rings, she couldn't quite understand why the fascination, but I had to take photos. The attraction was closed, but this is what I found about it on Wikipedia:

Officially endorsed by the San Francisco Hobbit Club, Hobbiton, USA, is a steep hillside nature walk that winds past concrete recreations of scenes from Tolkien`s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Prerecorded explanations of these scenes are narrated by an unidentified Hobbit fan, who sounds like he`s spent the majority of his life playing Dungeons and Dragons and attending Science Fiction Conventions.

Hobbiton is in some disrepair, though the stolen Bilbo has been replaced, and we suggest you do the whole trail while you can."

It was shut, but I did get a photo of Gandalf on the hill. Nina wasn't interested anyway, but it would have been pretty funny to walk through.

The Pacific West Coastline is beautiful. After driving through the Avenue of the Giants (Redwoods trees, this time ones that you can't drive through) we finally made it to Eureka and met up with Uli, a German girl.

So, now we are three. It^s pouring with rain, and we are in a little town (although not so little as Westport) called Gold Beach. Tomorrow our adventure continues...

If you're going to San Francsico...

2010-06-03T08:52:00.000-07:00

...be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

In Dolores Park, with the San Francisco skyline behind me

So I'm in San Francisco, and have been for a week now so time for an update.

I got in on Thursday, after a 2 hour delay on my flight from Vegas. I was surprised that the security on a domestic flight seemed even more stringent than coming in to LA, but the flight was largely uneventful.

Got to my friend Phil's place, who I know from school, and we made a nice meal and drank some New Zealand wine. It was pretty cool.Phil has just moved to San Francisco, and lives in a gorgeous 18th floor apartment in the central city with beautiful views. He hasn't got much furniture yet, but he bought an airbed for me to sleep on.

Hanging out with Phil

I had a chilled couple of days with him. I wandered down to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, which is the tourist wharf with shops and buskers, and a whole bunch of sea lions relaxing on the docks. It was pretty cool, and there was even a Left handed store which I thought was pretty cool.

The next day was Saturday, and so he left early to go buy a bed with his girlfriend (he has also been sleeping on an air bed) and when we came back it was off to IKEA for some more furniture shopping. I've never been to IKEA before. It is a huge furniture store which hasn't quite made it to New Zealand yet (although I think Auckland is getting one soon) which specialises in furniture for small places. The cool thing about IKEA is that it set up its furniture into different rooms so you wander around the different rooms. I took photos in all of "my rooms" sleeping on the bed, hanging out in my reading room, taking a shower. It was good fun, I couldn't believe that no one else was doing it (I guess they were all actually buying furniture).

Sitting in my library at IKEA

When you buy something, you then go to this huge warehouse where you pick up the kitset for your item. It was pretty cool. After that, Phil took me and Stef (his girlfriend) to the MIssion district for a burrito. The burritos here are amazing! Then we wandered down the streets looking at some of the street art! It is incredible in this area.

Cool street art in the Mission Disctrict

Sunday, I headed slightly out of San Fran (40 minute train away but only $4 to get there) to a small place called Pinole, where a friend of mine, Brian lives. Brian cooked us dinner and we had an awesome night catching up. He lives with his brother Sean, who is also a really nice guy. I was only going to stay until Wed, but as staying with another friend fell through, he said I could stay until Friday. It's great to see him again, and it's been really relaxed staying here. As he and his brother are moving towns to one 4 hours south, in two weeks, he has a lot of packing to do. So I have been heading into the city, and sightseeing to give him space and time to do this.

Me and Brian with the giant tub of yoghurt and giant wine glasses (one full bottle in these glasses)

Monday was Memorial Day (I guess our equivalent of ANZAC Day as it is tribute to the war veterans). It was a public holiday. I rang a friend of mine, Andie who I know from back home, and she said "Come over, we're having a BBQ". So I did. Brian had stuff to do, so I left him to his packing, and went and spent an awesome day, hanging out with some cool people, catching up with Andie and generally enjoying the sunshine and wine that was to offer.

Hanging out with Andie on Memorial Day

Tuesday I went to a thrift store. It was amazing, with the book section about 20 bookcases full of almost brand new titles for about $1.50 each. I bought two (although I could have bought a LOT more). One for me, and one as a present for Brian.

Yesterday I went to Alcatraz which was amazing! The audio tour that was included in the tour was just fantastic and added a real spooky feel to the place.

Locked up in Alcatraz!

I also went to a couchsurfing meetup in the evening which was very cool, and I got to meet some wicked people.

I have a few more days left in the city. Today, I'm hanging out with Brian, then tomorrow I head back into the city in a hostel for my last couple of days. I've meeting up with a few couchsurfing people, and on Sunday or Monday a couple of us are hiring a car so we can get up the Pacific Coast to Portland and then Seattle.

San Francisco is my favourite city of the three I've been to so far. If I was ever to live in America, it would definitely, without a doubt be the place that I would live. It has a chilled out vibe, and some parts really remind me of Melbourne, or even Wellington.

What happens in Vegas...

2010-05-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

.....goes on Facebook.

So I've just arrived in San Fran and am staying at my friend Phil's house (he has a spare laptop for me to use which is great!) but this entry isn't about San Francisco. I seem to be doing a city at a time, so this is the time now to tell you about Las Vegas.

What a crazy town. Essentially it is Disneyland for adults, a playground where instead of swings and slides, you have gambling, booze and sex. And lots of giant replicas of famous buildings. Walking around the main strip of the town, is a bizarre sight. The Pyramids, Eiffel tower, the Statue of Liberty and Venetian canals complete with gondolas give you a bit of an idea of what this town is like. Each hotel has a theme, a casino and sometimes have free shows or drawcards inside (or outside) the hotel to get people into their casino.

My favourites were "New York New York" complete with a rollercoaster and authentic New York Streets, Paris, with the Eiffel Tower and The Venetian with the canals winding their way inside the hotel and transporting inside into outside. Very cool.

In MGM grand there was the lion's habitat, Treasure Island had a boat and a nightly show, Bellagio had beautiful fountains that dance on the hour in time with the music. Circus Circus has circus acts every half an hour, The Luxor has a Pyramid and the Sphinx and one of the most brightest lights in the world that can be seen from space, and The Mirage has a live volcano every hour erupting outside the hotel.

It's all quite beautiful and bizarre, and when night comes, Las Vegas transforms itself into a beautiful array of neon and what should be garish actually becomes quite amazing.

Of course Vegas isn't just all about the free shows that the hotels put on as drawcards. Mostly it is about gambling and drinking. I didn't do much of either, but on one day, I met up with the lovely Dee, an Irish woman I had met in an animal sanctuary in Bolivia last year, and together with her very cool Irish friends, we played the slots and $1 Blackjack. So much fun. Unfortunately Dee promised I would win(as she had had some good wins) but my gambling contribution of $20 got swallowed up into the abyss that is Vegas with no return. I suppose it could have been a lot more. When you gamble, you get free cocktails (you just tip the waitress $1) so it is possible to get very drunk very quickly, which is what I did with the Irish guys. After losing my $5 on Blackjack, we went down to Fremont Street, which is where they have this amazing light show every hour on the hour on this audiovisual screen on the ceiling. It is hard to explain but basically lights and music and a lot of very cool visuals appear above you and it is quite surreal and beautiful.

I felt like I had a great mix of most things that Vegas has to offer. I went to almost all the free hotel displays and shows on offer, I gambled (a little bit), I drank (a little bit), I went to real shows and I went to the Grand Canyon.

The real shows came in the form of a free one (The Rat Pack) which was a tribute show to the famous 4 classic Rat Pack. The woman that worked at my hostel (yep I slummed it by staying in a hostel,but it was a really good one) gave free tickets to anyone that wanted one because she worked there. It was a good show but not amazing. I wanted to see more. So I decided to go see Lance Burton, an absolultely phenomenal magician, and also Criss Angel and Cirque de Soleil (not a full Cirque show) which was also pretty good although after Lance, it was mildly disappointing. I was expecting more from CirqueDe Soleil as well, but some of the illusions were amazing, it was just not a very well put together show. I could have watched so many more shows, but my budget was starting to break at this point, so I got out of this great but expensive city.

Of course, I also took the opportunity to visit the Grand Canyon, which is without a doubt one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. So beautiful, so rugged, so spectacular; absolutely none of my photos do the real thing justice. But you get the gist.

Paris in Vegas
Hanging out with Spongebob and Dee
The Grand Canyon
TheFremont Street Experience
The Venetian Gondola (this is INSIDE)

LA Confidential...

2010-05-22T23:23:00.000-07:00

Oh alright I'll tell you.

I'm sitting in my hostel in Vegas at the moment on a German girl's laptop. The states are so set up for people with laptops, that everywhere there is free wireless, including this hostel. Conversely, there are virtually no internet cafes and so it is really difficult to check your email. I have been lucky with couchsurfers lending me their laptops so far, not to mention lovely German girls taking pity on me.

But I digress. Back to talking to LA. Before getting to LA, everyone I had spoken to that had been there, told me I'd hate it. I was nervous. I had visions of a nasty violent town where everyone walked around waving their guns in the air, and police randomly pulled people over, cuffing them whilst singing 'bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you'. OK so maybe I have been watching too many episodes of COPS.

Anyway, for the most part I was pleasantly surprised. People here are amongst the friendliest I have ever encountered, and I only witnessed one woman being dragged off a bus and handcuffed (pretty interesting sight by the way).

So anyway, after my cultural first day spent wandering through museums, I thought it was time to go see the tourist Los Angeles. So I dutifully wandered across to Hollywood. (by the way, although I took public transport everywhere to get places, NOTHING is close together in LA. It is the most spread out city I have ever been in, and getting anywhere generally takes two buses and at least an hour).

Wandering into Hollywood was kind of exciting. Seeing the stars on the ground, the Chinese and the Grauman theatre, and all the grown men and woman dressed as cartoon characters or famous stars was kind of interesting in itself. I had decided to take a walking tour of Hollywood (as no-one walks in this city this was the ONLY walking tour that existed in LA) which was excellent. Our guide was great, and told us interesting history and info about the locations and cinemas, whilst casually dropping into conversation the famous people she had happened to see on her tours. We were impressed. We kept our eyes peeled, but not a celebrity did we see (although I did see a fake Jonnny Depp having a beer). I took a photo of the Hollywood sign and sat down to people watch for a bit longer. Before leaving, I booked a VIP backstage tour of Warner Brothers for the following day, and was told that I should return to Hollywood to take my tour the next day. I didn't really want to come back as I felt I had seen enough fake celebrities and tack for me, but as I was couchsurfing and not staying in a hostel, I didn't have any option.

I swapped couchsurfers, and my next one was so much better than the first. Vera, my first couchsurfer had been lovely and we got on really well, but we didn't really do anything and she spent most of her time on her laptop. Linda, my second couchsurfer, was amazing. Full of energy from the beginning, she announced 5 minutes after I had arrived that we were heading out to a bar to play 'Drag Queen Bingo'. Being a couchsurfer, you tend to go with the flow, so this was fine with me. The bar was called Hamburger Mary's and my dinner of Hamburger and chips was amazing! They brought the bill to us in a stiletto shoe, and the bar had a similar eclectic crazy feel of The Wunderbar in Lyttelton.

Onto the next day, and it was begrudgingly back to Hollywood to get my tour. Not wanting to see stuff I had already seen, I was ready to just get out my book and find a quiet spot for half an hour to wait.

That was until we pulled up to the main bit of the Hollywood Boulevard, and I saw a huge crowd gathered. Wondering what was happening, I wandered up to the crowd and asked. It turned out that a star was being presented to Shrek (yep fictional characters get stars) and some special guests were coming to speak. I had a good spot (and a fantastic zoom on my camera) and so settled in to wait for the celebs, hoping that they would come before I had to report for my tour.

And I wasn't disappointed. I got to see ANTONIO BANDERAS AND MIKE MYERS!!!!!! In real life!!!!!!! It was awesome, and the highlight of my trip so far. Of course the Warner Brothers Studio tour was never going to live up to that, as no stars were seen, however I did get to sit on the real couch in Central Perk (on the set of Friends) and it was a pretty awesome tour.

Getting back to Hollywood, I decided to go to see the film playing at El Capitan. It is an absolutely amazing old authentic cinema and just to sit in it and watch this movie was a pretty amazing experience.

I finished my great day with a trip to Santa Monica Pier, befriending an Ozzie on the bus, who I hung out with for the next couple of hours. The pier itself reminded me a little of Brighton Pier in England but far far tackier. I did get to see sunset there though, which was pretty cool, and the pier was used in the movie 'Forrest Gump' so there was a real theme to it, with a shop called 'Bubba Gump Shrimp Company'.

I had one day left in LA, so I decided to head to Venice Beach, home of the crazy and colourful characters and the complete posers running up and down shirtless on the boardwalk. It was a fantastic spot for people watching, and watching performers, and I got some great photos. Venice Beach is also colloquially known as Muscle Beach and there is an outdoor gym of that same name so that everyone can see the aforementioned posers flex their muscles. It was a great day to end my trip in LA. I went back to my couchsurfer's house and cooked her some dinner. Really enjoyed the couchsurfing in LA. Took me to some amazing spots that I would never have seen otherwise.

Today it was on the Greyhound bus, a company that everyone (well the Americans I had spoken to) had tried to convince me not to travel on, but again, I was pleasantly surprised as it was comfortable friendly, and most importantly free of the crazies.

Tomorrow I explore Las Vegas in a bit more depth after a good sleep. The hostel I am staying in (Sin City hostel) is excellent and I had a fantastically in depth conversation with one of the staff members tonight who is an absolutely fascinating guy from Manchester, with a love for New Zealand, travel and smoothies. Needless to say, we hit it off. Right, sleep beckons me. Here's a couple of photos from LA to keep you entertained. And if you're still reading this, give yourself a pat on the back. That's a damn good effort, as this entry has turned into a novel.

A muscle boy (read: poser) showing off in Venice Beach
Hanging out on the couch in Central Perk, waiting for my FRIENDS to arrive
My good friend Mike...
...and Antonio
Hanging out with Marilyn in Hollywood

The Trip has begun!

2010-05-18T23:16:00.000-07:00

So my excruciatingly long day has been and gone and I'm here!

Nothing too exciting happened on the domestic flight, except it was cocktail hour! That means a glass of wine (don't normally get that on a domestic flight) and a cheese platter. Very posh! Only bad thing was that there was a huge man next to me on one side, and a sleeping man on the other. The gigantaman wasn't fat, but just huge! Probably about 6ft 5 and double my width in shoulder (and I'm not a small girl). Anyway, I got through that flight thanking my stars that it was only 1 hour 20, and not 12 hours, and sipping on my Sav Blanc, whilst trying to turn myself in a contortionist in my seat.

The international flight was fairly non eventful. We took off about 1hr late, due to to someone apparently having a medical emergency and having to get off the flight. It took a while as they had to find their flights. I didn't mind. I had movies to watch. I watched some good ones too. "(500) Days of Summer" which I really enjoyed, then forced myself to sleep before waking up to "The Men who Stare at Goats", which was quirky, before finishing up with "Nowhere Boy" which I liked but didn't love.

Got off the flight, and after only a quick chat with the customs guy, I was through and completely on the other side in only 20 mins from the time I got off the plane. I was being met by my couchsurfer Vera, and it all worked out. I was standing in the right spot, and she found me! A really nice, woman, I've really enjoyed staying here.
And my own room too! Which is a little bit of luxury before a lot of couches!

So my first impressions of LA are:

It's huge!
The people are so nice
The are lots of cars, and absolutely NOBODY walks.
There are a lot of palm trees
People can't understand my vowels when I speak
Completely normal(but then I haven't been to Hollywood yet - that's tomorrow).

Today I went to the California Science Centre which was sooo cool! My favourite part was the aquarium section where I got to see jellyfish, a school of fish and a man in a tank (he was cleaning or something) I also went to the Grammy Museum which was really interesting.

TOmorrow I head to Hollywood and I'm doing a tour which goes through some of the famous theatres in Hollywood (Kodak, Grauman's Chinese and Grauman's Egyptian). There's also the famous Hollywood hands things. I'm also heading to Venice and Santa Monica Beaches(apparently it is more about the cool things happening at the beach - buskers and the like) and then also to Warner Brothers where I am doing a behind the scenes tour. Lots of cool stuff still to see in LA.

The Longest Day

2010-05-16T21:08:00.001-07:00

In a couple of hours I will be on a big plane, heading to Los Angeles. When I get there, it will be two hours earlier than it is now, after having been on a plane for about 12 hours. Spooky. When I get back, I miss an entire day. Travelling is weird like that.

Anyhoo, my next adventure beckons. Seven weeks up the West Coast of the states and Canada, and I don't quite know what to expect. It should be easier in some ways as everyone speaks English, but I am a bit nervous whether they will "get" me. I don't really mean philosophically, but will they understand my accent? Will they get that I'm being sarcastic? Will they understand my cultural references? Maybe not. I also understand that going in I know a lot more about their culture through TV and Movies than they do about mine. But then, I have no idea how much of that is Hollywoodised and how much is real. I start my trip in Hollywood itself, the land of the fake, but am staying with a local (who is picking me up from the airport!) and then to an even more outlandish version of fake in Las Vegas. I'm weirdly nervous about it all. I am such a no frills kind of gal, and I just don't know whether I will fit in or like it. But there is only one way to tell. I think the fact that I am almost exclusively staying with couchsurfers and friends will mean that I get a pretty balanced view of the states, and then Canada when I get there.

I am really looking forward to it. I am excited to do those quintessential American things like eat Pumpkin Pie in a diner, and wander through Walmart. Maybe I'll even go to a ball game.

I should keep a running tally on how many people think I am a) English b) Australian and c) can't understand me at all and want me to produce subtitles under my chin.

I will be very impressed with anyone that picks my accent straight away. Maybe with Flight of the Conchords being so famous, along with Lord of the Rings, people will actually guess. I'll just have to wear my "Home is where the heart is" T Shirt with a big map of New Zealand to give them a clue.

I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up!

2010-04-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

I just received a letter from the Gradute School. I got in!!!

Excellent.

So happy.

That is all.

Update

2010-04-22T16:51:00.001-07:00

Everyone has been asking me if I have heard from Grad school. I haven't and was getting more and more frustrated, as what I do with the rest of my year depends on this outcome.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands, and wrote them an email last night. I edited it for about half an hour, determined to make sure the tone didn't sounds snarky. This is what I wrote:

Please forward this message to Lois (or someone else involved in the application process).

I had an interview on Friday 26th February for Primary Teacher Training. At the end of my interview, I was told that the last possible date that I could hear back was the 14th June (almost 4 months after my interview). I thought it seemed a long time to have to wait, as your website indicates that the processing of applications would be done as they are received rather than waiting, and that normally, the student would know approximately 2 weeks after their interview. I applied early because I will be travelling through North America (leaving 17th May), and won't be back in NZ again until 2 weeks before the start date of the course.

Two weeks ago I rang the office, and left a message requesting an update. As I have not heard back, this is the reason that I am following up with this email. If my application is successful, I will need to organise Student Allowance and Loan options soon as this takes time.

I very much want to do this course, and I hope that I showed my capabilities and enthusiasm in my interview, so if you could let me know the outcome before I leave, that would be a huge help to me.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon

Theresa

And it seems to have worked. Here is their very quick response:

Dear Theresa

Thanks for your e-mail. I quite understand your issue. We have been on leave so your message of two weeks ago has missed us.

Our plan is to let you know the outcome of your application by the end of the first week of May….hopefully earlier.

If you havent had a letter by Friday 7 May please phone me.

With kind regards

Maybe I will hear before I go after all.

Published Authors

2010-04-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

I found out today that my old flatmate Karen, has published her first novel. This is very cool. I used to live with her and so it's awesome that someone I know has published a book. It seems to be on most people's (including mine) lists of things to do with their life, but rarely do people achieve it so congratulations Karen (not that she'll probably read this anyway). Her book is a young adult novel and has had great reviews. I'm thinking of buying a copy for myself and perhaps one for Tiki's older daughter for Christmas (what do you think Tiki?).

Anyway, a bit of info about the book can be found here:

Guardian of the Dead

I actually also have another friend who has published a kid's book:

Wonkey Donkey.

Although I have never published a book, I have done some stuff with writing. When I was 8 years old, I wrote a story on bicycle safety and got into highly commended category in the Road Safety Magazine in the same section as the 12 year olds.

I won a (pink) skateboard for an essay writing competition when I was 13. The look on my face when I went up the front of the assembly to collect my "prize" was fairly priceless.

I won an Ipod (which I duly sold cos I hate Ipods) for a story that I wrote when I worked for www.hostelbookers.com and through that became for a short time a freelance writer of travel articles for their website. Nothing was credited but I did get paid so that was cool.

But to write a novel, now that would be cool. Also on my to do list is to write and record an album. That seems more likely than the former option, but since my vocal chords were damaged a few years back, my voice has never been quite the same since.

I imagine writing a novel in a little cottage overlooking the beach or a lake, but that's more of a lovely daydream than anything else.

I don't know what the book would be about. When I was a kid I wrote a lot of stories and I was for a short time, obssessed with things that were silver, as they held a certain magical quality to them. My favourite books at about 10 years were "The Silver Crown", "The Silver Sword" and "The girl with the Silver eyes" and so it only followed suit to write a story called "The Silver Horse" about a magical horse that Laura a bored twin sees wink at her in the museum one day. The same horse comes to visit her that night and asks her to save their silver world, and so the adventure begins.

I miss that creativity that you possess so much as kids. At the moment, I am self-publishing my travel journal with photos from my two year trip to Europe and I am loving the feeling of creating something. I think as adults we get so used to living in the "real world", we forget all about the pure enjoyment that creating gives us.

The Sun has set

2010-04-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

This will be a very NZ centric post. Although I don't think that I have any readers that are not kiwis.

So apparently in NZ not many people watch Sunrise, which is a news magazine show and TV3's version of TVNZ's Breakfast. I don't watch a lot of TV, but this show was great. I didn't watch it (or any morning news show) until Oliver Driver and his dog Jack came on the scene as co-host, but I soon grew to love the other presenters as well. I thought that this was a much more fun, and interesting way to hear about the news, and I thought that it was great!

However yesterday, I (and everyone else) found out that yesterday after their show, they were all called in to the board room, and told that that was their last show. They announced that they would do one last farewell show today, so I got up early, and watched the whole 1 hour tribute. And I found myself getting strangely teary (weird I know). I found myself really feeling sad that I would know longer have these guys to watch in the morning. They have replaced it with reruns of 80's shows like Magnum PI and it's just going to be crap. Will I swap? Hmm I don't know. I may just read a book. Apparently the show was axed because of lack of ratings, but I always thought that everybody watched it. All my friends did anyway.

So I know that it was only a show, and I'll definitely get over it without needing therapy.

However, Hitler was fairly upset...

Hitler Finds out TV3 Cancelled Sunrise - The funniest home videos are here

Speaking of watching things very kiwi-centric, I went to see "Boy" the other day. It was absolutely fantastic, and although I'm not sure that an international audience will appreciate all the nostalgic goodness, because it wasn't their childhood, it was just wonderful!

Suddenly the world of side pony tails, using the word faaaaaaar and egg as swear words, and boys wearing quite short shorts came back. This was my childhood, and it would have been good just for those cultural references, but the film is a great little gem in it's own right. I would hope that international audiences could appreciate that, but it's cool that there's a few "in jokes" that just us kiwis will get.

Whatever you do. GO. SEE. THIS. FILM

Not a Bucket list

2010-03-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of days, I was chatting with my Mum and my sister Cesca. Cesca was talking about a woman she had met at her bookshop job who had revealed to her that she was dying of cancer and had only a few months to live. I think I would have wanted to crawl into the floor of embarassment, but Cesca simply asked: "How does that feel? Does it change your aspect on life?"

To which the lady responded that it did. It made her cherish every moment with her children and she was spending the last three months with her family and friends, and creating great memories for the ones left behind. I like this because of it's simplicity. There is no massive bucket list to complete, but a wish to be present with the ones she loved. I think that if I knew that I had only 3 months to live, I would travel, but it would be to see people and not things. But I do have a list, of all the things that I still want to see and do. This is not a Bucket List, but simply a list of some cool things I have yet to do with my life. Most of them are connected to travel. It is largely a selfish list of things I want to see, rather than things I want to achieve. I've done a whole bunch of stuff that I wanted to do already, but it's a bit of a neverending cycle. Feel free to tell me things that you want to do and places and things you want to see.

- Ride in a Helicopter
- Hang glide (is that the same thing as Paragliding? If not I want to do both)
- Visit Galapagos Islands (I was so close to going when I was there last)
- See the Kokoda Dragon in Indonesia (this is the coolest thing ever!)
- See the Borneo Orangutans (I would love to volunteer to work with them)
- Learn to Dive (diving in the Great Barrier Reef would be cool)
- Go to India while the Holi Festival is on (the festival of colour)
- See a Bollywood film being made, or watch a Bollywood in India
- Ride on the trans Siberian and trans Mongolian
- Ride on a train in India
- Go to the Edinburgh Festival
- Ride an Elephant
- Learn Spanish fluently
- Go to Carnaval in Brazil and see the Brazillian Rainforest
- Go Sailing
- Go to Burning Man Festival in USA
- Write a novel
- Record an alubum
- Experience Weightlessness
- Grow and eat my own vegetables
- Visit Las Vegas (doing this in a couple of months)
- Visit Grand Canyon (ditto to above)
- Visit the Egyptian Pyramids
- Do an African Safari
- See the northern lights
- Have a big road trip around New Zealand
- Have a White Christmas somewhere
- Become fluent in Sign language

Pretty Ordinary

2010-03-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been a little bit quiet on here lately.

I feel like I haven't been doing anything, because it's not out of the ordinary, but, other than giving myself an ulcer inadvertantly stressing about getting into Grad School (still haven't found out yet, but I'll post when I do) it's been pretty ordinary.

And that's how I feel my life at the moment is.

Both my sisters, Cesca and Tiki have done "lifestyle" posts recently. Posts about their lives and what they do in them. I thought I might do the same. Of course, my life is simplified by the fact that I don't have children. I admire how much both of them do. I feel like a lazy bum in comparison. And I am much "lazier" than I used to be. When I was at university, I also had 3 part time jobs, acted in a play and tried not to fail my courses. I was always out at parties or my jobs, and I never stopped. I got over that. I burnt out, and decided that it was nice on a day off, to just have a day off.

So, let's take a look at the stuff I do:

I have a full time job which takes up roughly 40 hours of my time. It is a pretty cruisy job sometimes, allowing me to check my emails frequently, do quizzes and occasionally write in this blog.

Every Monday I go to a Pub Quiz which I love, and it sorts out the competitive board gamey part of my nature out quite well.

I also do Aqua Aerobics which is heaps of fun, and very occasionally go to the gym.

I love movies and watch LOTS of DVDs. I don't really watch that much TV, except docos and the occasional reality show like The Amazing Race, and so there's not too much mindless drivel being watched. (except for the mindless arthouse drivel I occasionally get out on DVD, because I have heard it is 'amazing daaaaaaling' (speak that in pretentious snobby voice) but I am not fooled and see it for what it is - absolute crap that should be burned. If anyone wants a list of these movies no-one should ever have to watch, I'm happy to oblige. I do watch lots of good ones too.

I play Scrabble, I drink wine with my sister, I go to the occasional movie or show. I belong to a book club which I really enjoy because it isn't too pretentious and we can all choose whatever book we like.

I attend a couple of Couchsurfing events and meeting up with some travellers for a coffee and a chat, but really it's all part of daily ordinary life.

I don't inspire. I don't create. I just do some stuff.

Hopefully soon though, I will create more. I do love taking photos and have recently just bought this camera.

I haven't received it yet, but I am so excited! I am a bit of an ameteur photographer and I made a photo book a while ago which I love it. I hope to take more photos soon!

The Waiting Game

2010-02-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

Just had my interview for the Graduate school.

I thought I would have a feeling about how it went, but really I don't.

They only accept about 45% of people that apply and about 30 applicants per time. It went ok, and I think I got my personality across, but I'm just not sure.

Of course they brought up the fact that I had started Teacher's College 10 years ago and hadn't finished. Why should they take a chance on me that I would finish this time?

I answered that I was more mature, and now definite on wanting to be a teacher.

Anyway, don't know when I hear back. I really want to get in. It seems like a great place to be.

I'll tell you when I know. It's out of my hands now. I've done everything I could have done.

No Plan B

2010-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry about my slightly bitter last post. I actually am a romantic, and at work on Valentine's Day, the cool chick from the cafe next door told me that she had driven to her boyfriend's house, and sprinkled rose petals on his bed while he was at work. That's pretty damn romantic.

Anyway, it's all over and done with for another year. I know that many people in relationships don't do it either, as pointed out by my sister. I do realise this. I was just having a moment of self-absorbed bitterness about my singledom. Moment over.

So yesterday I got called up by the New Zealand Graduate School of Education. 10 years ago I went to Teacher's Training College, did well, had a bit of a nervous breakdown, decided I needed to live a bit more life and quit. I never expected to go back to train to be a primary teacher, or even want to. However, I had a few epiphanies while I was in South America, the biggest being that this profession that I had wanted to be since I was about 3 years old, I actually still want to be. But also that I will never go back to Teacher's College, as there, they treat you like 5 year olds. So lucky for Christchurch, where I live, that there is another option. Graduate School supposedly is much more highly revered by the teaching profession, thus more likely to gain a job from, is more difficult a course and last but not least more difficult to get into.

So far though, I'm on the right track. I have an interview next Friday. That in itself is not so impressive. Absolutely everybody gets an interview. I really want to get in. I really want to be a teacher.

However, I've also decided to treat it like fate, and if I don't get in I'm not meant to be a teacher. I'll do something else. Not that I know what that something else is yet. I don't have a Plan B. For someone that has always had Plan B's, C's and D's this is a big thing. I am expecting to get in. I want to get in. I am going to try my hardest to prove to them that I am worth taking in and by not having a plan B I am hoping not to fail.

I have no idea what I'll do if I don't get in. I don't want to think about a Plan B til I have to think of one. All going to my Plan A, the only thing I'll be worrying about soon is how to cope with student life again. After 5 years since I was one, it's going to be a challenge. But a challenge that I can handle.

Season of Lurrrrve

2010-02-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

So Valentine Day's is coming up at the end of the week.

I've only once had a partner over Valentine's Day. I have this amazing habit, of having relationships (because they have all been under a year) in winter.

But once, 10 years ago I had just started going out with this guy (the "relationship" only lasted a month in total) and Valentine's Day came around. I was in a panic. What to get him that wasn't too serious. I remember quizzing the bookshop woman over Valentine's Day etiquette for new relationships, and I ended up going with a card, and some chocolates. Nothing too serious. I'm glad I didn't fork out heaps of money. He ended up being a bit of a loser.

But seriously, all the commercialism surrounding Valentine's Day makes me feel lucky that I have never had all this pressure to buy really expensive roses. It seems like quite a lot and people expect something on this one day? Shouldn't we be nice to our partners all year round?

Anyway, maybe I would like Valentine's Day if I had someone to share it with. Maybe I'm just bitter. It's highly possible.

The way cinemas should be

2010-01-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

I didn't get to go away over Christmas/New Year. Not that I minded, because I had a lovely relaxing time with my friends and family. I had also planned this little mini trip for me and a friend.

The plan was, fly down to Queenstown, hire a car, take my friend Tanya to see Wanaka and Arrowtown and then jump on a Stray Bus which also happens to be where I work, and see the bottom of the South Island. I had a great time. The weather was awful, but met up with some old friends, made some new ones and bumped into some.

We were in Queenstown trying to find a place for some breakfast. I'm standing at the counter "umming and ahhinh" over what I will order (I'm nothing if not indecisive) and behind me I hear "Treezy!" Turning around, I see my friend Craig, and his partner Fran. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine (although at that time we were in blissful ignorance as we didn't know would almost be our last on this trip). Craig and Fran are great, and hanging out with Craig is kinda like hanging out with a mini celebrity, as he is the author of the biggest selling New Zealand children's book in the last year, "The Wonky Donkey"

And it was a little like being with a celeb. A wee 3 year old girl nudged over by her Mum, came up to Craig, who was so good with her. Upon seeing another little girl shyly staying next to her Mum, Craig asks:

"Is that your twin sister?"
"Yes, I came out first but she eats more so she's bigger."

Oh the world is so blissfully simple and lacking in political corectness when you're three!

After signing the book, we drifted back to our conversation.

Tanya and I then drove up to Wanaka. The last time I went to Wanaka was with an American friend of mine, Danica. I was excited, as I had never been. We went to Puzzling World, and although 5 years ago I revelled in this childlike world of cool illusions, this time, both me and Tanya, left, feeling a little ripped off. It was cool, but Puzzling World? We decided to rename it Puzzling Village. It would also be cool if they could update their displays and illusions as it was exactly the same as 5 years earlier. The cool illusion bathrooms though are still cool though.

Puzzling World, hereby known to the world as "Puzzling Village"

Next on my list was Cinema Paradiso, a gorgeous little cinema in Wanaka known for its back to the simple basics cinema.

5 years ago I had not been able to get into the theatre, due to a film festival and all the tickets being sold out. This time, I had visions of us walking up to the counter, purchasing our tickets, ordering our food and having no problems. Of course I underestimated one thing. This cinema is popular, and I hadn't booked.

Faced with a second denial into the cinema I had told so many people about but never been to myself, I felt the tears creep up. I calmly said that I understood, but was gutted since I hadn't been able to get in 5 years earlier. Despondently I put our names on the very large waiting list, and with lack lustre enthusiasm, I ordered food, and proceeded to watch as many more people arrived (most with tickets) in the foyer, and realised that there was no way we were getting in.

I ordered Quesadillas and they were simply superb. However the shine off my perfect movie evening had been lost a little as I tried to keep happy. I know you're probably thinking what's the big deal? It's just a movie. However it wasn't the movie that I cared about, it was the whole experience, of sitting in armchairs and couches (there's even a car!) and having an intermission. Having the owner introduce the movie to you, and at half time get your food or order freshly baked homemade cookies, or homemade icecream.

So I waited, with baited breath as all the punters with tickets filed into the 80 seat cinema, while us lazy sods who hadn't booked waited on tenterhooks to see who would get to go inside (the inner sanctum). As each name called, I realised that we weren't going in, and once the last name had been called, I grabbed the car keys, and said to Tanya "let's go back to Queenstown and get drunk eh?".

The car key was in the door, when one of the girls that worked there came running out

"We have two more!!"

The fact that she had run out to me rather than give it to any of the several people still in the foyer proved to me that sob stories sometimes do work.

With a childlike grin on my face, I settled into my couch to watch Sherlock Holmes. At half time, I got my homemade Baileys icecream in a cup with a real spoon, and happily ate away. On the way home, I was in high spirits, because that, my friends is what cinema experiences should be about.

A new haircut is like a new start

2010-01-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

I highly recommend spontaneity.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my sister Cesca's house for wine and nachos.

I seem to feed myself at her house about once a week these days, and it is lovely. I bring the wine, she feeds me nachos, fish n chips or falafel, and we chat, watch movies and generally have a good time. This time however, she had invited some other friends, who are all bloggers, Chia and Frally. All of their respective kids were there as well, and also Frally's husband.

So anyway, there we are happily sipping on our wines, when Frally's daughter comes up and talks to her Mum. She had the coolest, funky hairstyle and I commented on this to Frally.

"I do it myself", she proudly announced. "I can cut yours if you like, but I only know one style so you'll have to have the same cut."

After thinking for appoximately 3.14 seconds, I decided why the hell not? It seemed like a long time for me since I acted spontaneously.

10 years ago I did this sort of stuff all the time. I was forever getting new hair cuts, and crazy colours and styles. I even shaved my head once, much to the chagrin of my sister, and although it didn't really suit me, truth me told, the freedom and liberation I felt was quite amazing.

Hair cuts do something quite incredible. They give you a sense of starting over, and I know many people (including myself) who have decided to get a complete change (rather than the standard trim) after a bad breakup or bad patch. It gives you a sense that if the outside is different, the inside can be as well.

Maybe I'm analysing hair cuts way too much, but I truly think that sometimes, changing your appearance has a huge effect on self esteem (as long as it's a good one).

And it was. Frally did an excellent job, cutting the hair after only 2 wines, so as to be coherent enough to do a decent job.

"If it's crap, I'll pay for you to go to a hairdresser."

To be honest, I wasn't even thinking about the possibility of it being crap. It was just an exciting thing to do. I hadn't done this sort of thing for so long, that it made me feel closer to my crazy days of youth. Not that I'm exactly old or anything, but I have felt myself getting closer and closer to boring.

I've never been cool, but I've always been alternative. At the moment not so much in dress but in mind, but 10 years ago, I would throw the strangest things together (not always working) and wander off to university. I liked people looking at me. I liked the attention of looking a bit different. These days, I want to blend in a lot more, I enjoy being largely anonymous, but this haircut, although not completely crazy, was funky enough to be cool.

Of course my mother hates it. But she is the only one. I've had heaps of compliments about it.

Here it is:

Frally, the haidresser extraordinaire happily sips her well deserved vino

My new funky hair. Brother n law looks on

So that's my new hair. I actually have been meaning to blog about this for a while, but I've been down in the deep south of the south island. Not a lot of internet access. I'll blog about my trip over the next couple of days, as it was a pretty awesome one.

Everyone else is doing lists so why can't I?

2010-01-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

So the noughties are over. What do we call this next decade? I vote for the Tweenies. I mean I remember when I was 12 I wanted so deperately to be a teenager and the word then was a tweenager. I was in the "in between" (reference to the lovely bones which I saw the other day) and wasn't quite a kid nor a cool teenager.

Anyhoo, so every paper, magazine, and tv current events show are doing lists of all the cool things that happened in the last decade, so I thought I would do it too.

So, here we are, The Inaugural Decade Academy awards

Best things that happened to me

Nominated:

Living in Melbourne - 2001-2003
Finishing my degree - 2005
Travelling and living in Europe - 2005-2007
Managing a backpackers' hostel - 2007-2009
Travelling to South America - 2009
Being Bridesmaid for my brother and sis n law's wedding - 2009

And the winner is....
Travelling and Living in Europe

This was the first proper travel I had ever done, and this wins the award for the amount of cool life changing stuff that happened, and the beautiful places I saw. I was the perfect age to do this trip, and had some amazing adventures, and met one of my best friends Tash who I travelled with for 6 months. There are still places that I didn't see or want to go back to see properly but I really loved Europe.

Favourite cities visited (non NZ)

Nominated:

Melbourne, Australia
Edinburgh, Scotland
Granada, Spain
Bologna, Italy
Galway, Ireland
Berlin, Germany
Krakow, Poland
Cuenca, Ecuador
Bariloche, Argentina
La Paz, Bolivia
Lisbon, Portugal
Stockholm, Sweden

And the winner is...
Gahh this is a hard one. I had some pretty amazing times in all of these places. But I'm going to have to give it to Granada. I spent a month there, and it is one of the most magical places I have ever been. Honorable mentions would go to Galway, Melbourne, and Edinburgh.

The beautiful Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.

Favourite NZ spots I have travelled to

Nominations:

The Coromandel
Raglan
Wellington
Nelson
Marahau/Abel Tasman
Wanaka
Queenstown
Dunedin
Kaikoura
Franz Josef
Hanmer Springs
Akaroa

And the winner is...
Although I love all these spots, I'm going to have to give it to Marahau and the Abel Tasman. I spent a beautiful day, kayaking and walking with my good friend Hilton in one of the most georgeous scenic places in New Zealand.

Kayaking in the Abel Tasman

Best Adventure Activity

Nominations:

Kayaking in Abel Tasman
Skydiving in Wanaka
Canyon Swing in Queenstown
White Water Rafting in Rangitata
White Water Rafting in Scotland
White Water Rafting in Ecuador
White Water Rafting in Italy
Hot Air Ballooning in Canterbury
Glacier walk in Franz Josef
Jet Boat in Queenstown
Black water rafting in Waitomo
Bungi Jumping at Mt Hutt

And the winner is...
Actually I can't decide. I've been lucky enough to do these things, mostly through my job in hospitality and on the whole they were all pretty damn good.

Best concerts/gigs

Nominations:

David Bowie in Wellington
Violent Femmes in Christchurch
REM in Christchurch
Black Seeds in Christchurch
Gomez in Christchurch
Pearl Jam in Christchurch
Michael Franti and Spearhead in London
Fiona Apple in London
Dave Matthews in London
The Pogues in London
George in Melbourne
Something for Kate in Melbourne
Neil and Tim Finn with Eddie Vedder
Ben Harper in Christchurch
Ani Di Franco in Christchurch
Jack Johnson in Christchurch
PJ Harvey in Melbourne
Nick Cave in Melbourne

and the winner is...
Damn I've seen some good bands. So many of these people I have been wanting to see for so long so just seeing them was a dream come true. Meeting Michael Franti and having him comment on my tattoo was incredible, and seing Violent Femmes and David Bowie live...Wow! I can't decide. Just can't do it. It's like having to choose which child you love more.

The beautiful and talented Michael Franti

Best Movies

Nominations:
Amores Perros - 2000
Being John Malcovich - 2000
Amelie - 2001
Moulin Rouge - 2001
Y Tu Mama Tambien - 2001
Whale Rider - 2002
City of God - 2003
Touching the Void - 2003
Big Fish - 2003
The Motorcycle Diaries - 2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind - 2004
Hotel Rwanda - 2004
Crash - 2004
The Edukators - 2004
Shaun of the Dead - 2004
Imagine me and You - 2005
Pan's Labyrinth - 2006
Once - 2007
Across the Universe - 2007
Into the Wild - 2007
Man on Wire - 2008
Slumdog Millionaire - 2008
Milk - 2008
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

And the winner is...

Hard Category! Anyone that knows me even a little bit, knows that I love films. I think this selection gives a pretty good idea of the kinds of films I like, although I am certain I have missed some out. Finding my absolute fave from this list is pretty impossible, so I'm going to go with a 3 way tie. Congratulations "Into the Wild", "Across the Universe" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind".

Great film!

Anyway, that will probably do. I've had a decent year, and a decent decade. Obviously there have been horrible things that have happened and awesome things, but all in all it was pretty good.

No Inspiration

2009-12-19T15:01:00.001-08:00

I have just realised that I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I don't want this blog to quickly disappear into the depths of obscurity. It's not that I haven't had ideas. I have had a couple of ideas that I thought would make great blog entries.

I just haven't had the energy. I am so tired all the time and constantly feeling sick so I went to the doctor a month or so ago, and my blood tests came back abnormal. For what I don't know. I did another blood test, and that also came back abnormal. So back to the doctor I went, where I did not have to wait even a single second when I got there and the doctor was actually pretty concerned. I don't think it is anything too major, but we're doing all the right tests to work out why I am feeling like this. She thinks it is possible that I might have picked up some nasty in South America that is lurking in my body.

Hopefully I will have some energy to write an awesome blog entry soon, but at the moment, I just can't do it.

Have a wonderful Christmas my small little smattering of readers. Mine will be lovely, pretty chill and with my family. I actually really enjoy Christmas day with my family. It is pretty chilled out, and all the niblings and siblings are there and really, Christmas is for the kids, so it's nice to have them there.

I've done most of my shopping. Now I just have to work out what the hell I am going to get my super fashion conscious, super cool 13 year old niece. I was never cool. I was never fashionable. I have ABSOLUTELY.NO.IDEA.

I'm the "cool aunty". My presents can't be "lame"

I used to own that!

2009-12-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

I went to the op shop the other day with my mother. An op shop, for the un-kiwi-initiated amongst you is a secondhand store. Not one connected to a charity such as The Salvation Army, or Oxfam but one designed to make money. Here the clothes are a little more expensive (although still cheap on the grand scale of things) and for the little more expense, you get all your clothes separated into colour and type (eg red tops, jeans, coats etc). It makes it a lot easier to find what you want rather than scrambling through a huge pile of clothes, and is a hell of a lot more civilised than several pairs of hands grabbing at the same item, yelling "it's mine!, it's mine!".

These shops also have a book section, which I always visit, usually after the despondence of not being able to find a single top that I like or fits. The books won't let me down, I think as I run into my comfort zone (I actually HATE shopping for clothes) and inner sanctum. And they didn't. Gleaming at me was an almost brand new copy of Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, a fantastic book set in Victorian London with a lesbian slant with the characters. I LOVE this book and looking at it in all its shiny $3.50 glory, I picked it up and clutched it to my chest. "My precious"! I was excited as I had always liked this book since I read it, and now I would own it.

I got home. I looked at it, and from somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, a little message was trying to get through. Finally it emerged.

I used to own this book.

I lent this book to a friend 3 years ago.

I still don't have it back.

It didn't worry me about this book, as I now own this book again, and my friend can keep it. However, it worried me that if I could forget that I once owned this book, how many other books remained separated from me.

Recently I have started writing my name in the front page of a book that I lend to people, but I have been burnt too many times now that I hardly ever lend my books out to people. I'll lend them to family or people that I know will look after them and that I see regularly.

HOW can people not use bookmarks and fold the corners over, or bend the front cover/ How can a book get that mauled?

When I was about 13 years old, I lent a 1000 page book to a friend of my mother's friends. I thought it would be in safe hands with an older, responsible lady. I, a 13 year old had read this book with just a couple of lines on the spine, so I figured it would be ok. She returned my book (that's a start I suppose), but it was so mauled and damaged that I still, 16 years later bring this story up to the chagrin of my parents who tell me to just get over it.

I couldn't. My book was ruined. I understand that a book should be read but I personally think that if you borrow a book and you return it in a state markedly worse than it was given to you in, you should buy them a new book. Am I the only one that thinks this way?

So I have a lovely new copy of Fingersmith. I think I might re-read it. I certainly won't be lending it out to anyone without writing my name in the front, and writing down who I have lent it to.

Next week I'll pop back to the op shop to find a top (I only have 3) and perhaps buy another book that I used to own.

A bit warmer would have been nice

2009-11-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Went to Pearl Jam last night. Wouldn't say that this is neccesarily one of my favourite bands, but they are awesome (with Eddie Vedder's gravelly voice) and knew they would be fantastic live.

They didn't disappoint. The weather did. Obviously Zeus didn't pass that memo onto the other gods that a pretty big rock band were playing and a little less rain and wind could have been the going thing.

It was in an outside stadium and although thousands of people were on the grounds in general admission, these tickets were $20 more when I booked so I just booked the cheapest. Cheapest being up in the stands, seated (hehehe you sit in the stands). Because I was so high, the wind wasn't hindered by those pesky buildings and I haven't been quite that cold in a while.

The concert was absolutely amazing. Despite it being really cold, Eddie Vedder and the boys played for 2 and a half hours, supported by Ben Harper and kiwi fave Liam Finn. His Dad, the amazing Neil came out and everyone sang "better be Home soon" and "I got you" with the entire audience of 30 000 singing. It was very cool. Other highlights were a beautiful rendition of Under Pressure by Eddie and Ben, Evenflow, Jeremy, Better Man and a gorgeous solo acoustic version of a new song by Eddie. Just great.

Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder rock the free world.

So, I was on my own (all my friends were downstairs dancing in the rain). That bit wasn't the greatest. A concert is one of the few things that I'm not a fan of attending on my own. Everything else to me is no problem.

Attending theatre, or movies on my own does not bother me. I think the latter was because I worked in movie theatres for so many years, and that movies were free as many times as I liked for me, and I could take one person once a week. I just popped in to see whatever was playing when I had some spare time.

I became very popular:

Friend: Treezy, do you want to see the latest movie showing at your cinema?
Treezy: Sure, you know that it will be free for you?
Friend: Really? (mock surprise). I didn't realise that. And you can get me free coffee, icecream and popcorn as well?

I didn't mind. It didn't cost me anything, and it is nice to have someone to chat to AFTER the movie.

That really is the clincher. I started "auditioning" my friends who came to the movies with me. Some were a one appearance only deal. They did not get the part of "Treezy's cinema friend" because they were simply too annoying during the movie.

Talk as much as you like during the ads and previews, but once the film starts, SHUT THE HELL UP! I don't want to hear your opinions on every scene. I don't want to catch up during the film.

I once went with this friend and every time something was funny, I would catch him out of my peripheral vision. He would be looking at me, waiting for me to look at him to have a connection over how funny that moment was. It was very annoying.

Now I think I am a reasonable person. I just follow cinema etiquette. This is simply these simple courteous factors:

1) If the cinema is pretty empty don't sit directly in front of someone who is already there. Two rows is ok
2)Don't use your cell phone to text unless you are the only one in the cinema. That little blue light is really annoying. Even if you are on your own, just turn the damn phone off and watch the film (maybe I will do a post at some point on phone etiquette cos that annoys me just as much)
3) Don't talk during the film.
4) Especially don't talk about what you think is about to happen. I don't want to hear your predictions. I want to watch the film and see for myself.
5)Don't throw things at other people's heads
6)(This one's for the projectionists). Don't turn off the credits halfway through. Some people LIKE watching credits

So there we have it. I think maybe it is just simpler for me to watch movies on my own so I can sit there in silence, not throwing jaffas down the aisle and stay til the last credit rolls.

The Grass is always greener

2009-11-27T13:43:00.001-08:00

When I started this blog, I thought that a vague play on words on the nickname version of my name would be a good thing to call it. But, of course, psychologically, people will always want what they perceive to be better.

The Grass is always going to look greener on the other side. You see what's on your side of the fence in great detail, but on the other side, it looks not only greener, but better and more desirable. You don't see the weeds, or any of the problems that you seem to face on a daily basis.

I have always had people say this to me. "You are so lucky to be able to travel. What a wonderful life it must be. I wish I could do that."

My answer to that always is that it wasn't luck. It was a conscious decision that I made to not buy the flat screen TV, and save my money for travel instead. It wasn't as if I won a lottery ticket that allowed me to go travelling. Basically everything I saved went towards it.

Same thing with my studies. I don't have a student loan. In New Zealand currently, the average student loan is $28 000 and the collective loan amount has passed 10 billion dollars. I of course have great parents who are in a position to help me out, but I also credit myself, being that after the first year's fees, I saved and paid my way for the following 3 years of study. That's one thing that I am hugely proud of.

I am also proud of the way I live my life. It works for me. I spend money and have fun, but I'm not a big one for shopping (I can't stand it actually) and only generally buy things that I need. I always save money, whether I've worked out what it's for yet or not, and if I do buy something (like a computer) I pay in full.

I can afford little luxuries like music gigs, theatre and of course travel, by being a single woman on one income with no family to support.

I can understand why some of my friends would look at my seemingly fun travel lifestlye (I get back from a trip and am planning the next one) and see it as better than what is in front of them. Because it is fun. It is a great life and I enjoy it.

However, there is a drawback. Every time I go away, I find that some of my friends withdraw a little from me, and with some people we don't have much in common anymore, as it seems that most of my friends are doing the grown up thing these days. My friends have turned into fully fledged adults before my eyes, having babies, mortgages and long term-partners. I have a grand total of none of these things, and I do look at my friends in these lifestyles and think that the grass does indeed look greener on their side.

For example I was visiting my friend the other day. Her and her husband have a 4 month old baby (absolutely Beoootiful) and although they do have the money worries of being a young family on a single income, I look at them and want what they have. They would probably think I was mad, but I look at their faces when they play with their little daughter, and I think, I want some of that! Because I do want to have children and my biological clock is ticking.

I feel my friends are leaving me behind in the grown up world. Even my brother, last remaining single, childless sibling recently betrayed me by leaving me the only member of the family sans child.

Really, it's all relative. I want what they have. They want what I have. Can we ever just be happy with our lot? Is it just a part of human nature to never be happy with our own life? Why must we look sideways all the time? On a brief side note, if you are interested in this stuff, read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It is a fantastic dystopian look at what the world would be like if we were happy with whatever we were doing, regardless of the job.

I'm going to keep on with my way of life for the moment. It does suit me, and I enjoy it, hedonistic as it may be. But I'll keep looking sideways, as is the way of the world, keep being seceretly jealous by others' lives as they in turn keep being seceretly jealous of mine!

I'll leave you with this fantastic quote:

"The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be." -- Robert Fulghum, in It was On Fire When I Lay Down on It, Ivy Books, 1989

Please don't eat my nibling! It's not a piece of chicken!

2009-11-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

My sister n law and my brother has just had their first baby a couple of days ago. This is FANTASTIC and I can't wait to shake his little hand when I am introduced to him tomorrow. Of course this baby malarkey is not new to me. Not that I have any kids myself but I have 12 niblings.

On a side note, for those of you who don't know what a nibling is, it is a neologism that means the collective form of niece and nephew. Me and my sister a few years ago were talking about the sheer negligence of the English language for not providing a word with this meaning. I mean the effort to say "I have 5 nephews and 7 nieces" (which incidentally I do) instead of "I have 12 niblings"! It seems that others coined this word before us! I always thought that we were the first! Oxford English Dictionary hasn't accepted it yet, but it's only a matter of time.

But first, back to the story at hand. So my brother is the final sibling (of 5) to start reproducing. I'm the only one who has no children at all, and at 29 and I do hope that one day this will change.

I LOVE children. I am planning on becoming a primary school teacher, and would like to have children of my own one day. As I have no long term partner at the moment, this is not a possibility for now. I would be happy to adopt if I couldn't have children of my own, but I kind of want to experience the whole carrying a baby thing. Maybe it will happen. I hope so one day.

In the meantime, in lieu of the fact that I don't have any video footage of my newest little nephew yet, here is a video of a baby polar bear. It's sooooo cute. It's much cuter if you watch it with the sound on.

The Little Yellow Dress

2009-11-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

The other night I watched several episodes of the television programme, Medium with my Mum. A Medium Marathon so to speak. This show is based on a true story, as the characters of Allison Dubois and her husband and three daughters really do exist. I LOVE this show. It portrays the characters in such a realistic manner, and the story lines are always great.

My Mum is a little bit psychic (apparently you can't say this word anymore because it has negative connotations) and my favourite story to do with this has to do with me.

When I was a little baby of about 10 weeks old, I went from being healthy to really ridiculously unhealthy in a matter of minutes. Mum being a registered nurse, noticed that something was up (the blue colour of my skin might have tipped her off), and took me straight in to the hospital. It turned out that I had meningitis, and immediately things took a turn for the worst. I was in a coma, deaf, paralysed along my left side, and had suspected brain damage. I had my baby hair shaved off, and was operated on. My parents were Catholic and the doctors had said to them that the outcome looked dire. The priest was brought in, and the last rites were performed on me. I was not expected to live through the night.

My mother sat with me, obviously upset at this news. She suddenly had one of her "funny feelings" (how she describes it) and suddenly knew that I would get better. On the way home (they did have 5 older children to check up on) she asked Dad to stop in at a store and bought a new yellow dress for their daughter, who she now knew would be ok.

The strange thing was, I was ok. All the specialists could give a number of diagnoses, but they paled in comparison to my mother's "funny feelings". I made a full recovery, and being that I was so young, have very few side effects except for a weakness along my left side, not being able to run, and an inability to use scissors without looking like a 5 year old child. But that is nothing considering the damage that my baby body had had inflicted on it.

The only downer on the whole thing was that it was 1980 and it was in Singapore. If it had happened now, I would have been on the front cover of "Women's Weekly" heralded as "Miracle Baby". Bummer...

"Miracle baby 7 months after surgery that should have left her for dead. Seen here doing a little celebratory dance. Read about this remarkable story of life, death and funny feelings in this week's "Women's Weekly!"

Eat Play Love

2009-11-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

So a while ago, when I was travelling, I read a book called Eat Pray Love

Essentially, it is about a woman who is recovering from a messy divorce and is not in a good state emotionally. It is a true story about the author, Liz, who decides that she is going to spend a year looking after herself and discovering different facets of her personality.

So she goes to Italy for 4 months, to learn Italian, and devote herself to culinary pleasures in the form of delicious Italian food. She then travels to India to spend 4 months in an ashram learning the art of meditation, and finally spends 4 months in Bali, one of the supposed happiest places in the world and finds a balance between the two.

It is a pretty good read, and I definitely could relate to several aspects in the book (maybe not so much the praying part). I think her journey is pretty great and I'm sure she has inspired many people to do the same kind of spiritual journey to find out aspects of their personality.

So it got me thinking, where would I go? What would I do if I have to choose three places around the globe that are well known for different things. What would you choose?

Well to start, I would love to spend 4 months in Jamaica to immerse myself into a culture where music is so highly revered and such a part of the people. Although many nations have contributed a lot to music, Jamaica seems to me (and I've never been), to be a place where it is a major part of every day life. I found this same thing when I was a child and lived in Fiji; they were all so blessed with amazing voices and a natural sense of rhythm, and I expect it would be the same in Jamaica. For really, any country that can produce Bob Marley has got to be a place to stay for a while.

Actually this is really hard? I want to go to so many places, but trying to fit it into one reason that sums up that country is difficult. I guess I could take Andrew Gottlieb's advice, and just do the opposite of what Elizabeth Gordon did. He is a comedian, whose book Drink, Play, F**k tries to do the opposite of the original.

He goes to Ireland to drink as much as possible, Las Vegas to gamble, and to Thailand for the women.

Jumping on the bandwagon

2009-11-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

My first post. How exciting! I can join this little community that is the bloggers. Blog. What a strange word. Kind of sounds like a splotch of words, sprayed over the page. What a lovely image. Actually splotch is kind of a strange word too isn't it. Hmm strange words, now that's a topic for me to start with.

Let me start by introducing myself. I am Treezy, sister of Cesca, avid traveller, and a bit of a word geek. I get frustrated by signs that are mispelled or grammatically incorrect, and have been known to get a black marker and correct them (although also recognise that I'm not right all the time).

So back to me and words. I ADORE Scrabble. I just love scanning the board for suitable places and words to get my 7 letter, triple word score. I love reading, but once failed first year university English, by not reading the books, and not turning up to the exam.

So I've jumped on the bandwagon (another interesting word). Was there really a wagon with a band on it? What kind of band was it? (pause as I go to search the etymology of the word bandwagon and this is what I found).

bandwagon
1855, Amer.Eng., from band (2) + wagon, originally a large wagon used to carry the band in a circus procession; as these also figured in celebrations of successful political campaigns, being on the bandwagon came to represent "attaching oneself to anything that looks likely to succeed," a usage first attested 1899 in writings of Theodore Roosevelt.

Fantastic! A circus. I love circuses but I'm more into the Cirque de Soleil rather than the Lion jumpiing through a firey hoop version.

So anyway, I'm here! I've joined the circus procession, and I hope to use this blog (actually what's the etymology of blog - this kind of stuff FASCINATES me).

blog (plural blogs), shortened from weblog

1.(Internet) website that allows users to reflect, share opinions, and discuss various topics in the form of an online journal while readers may comment on posts. Entries typically appear in reverse chronological order.

So there we go. I'm not sure exactly how this blog will play out, but I am sure that there will be lots of tangents, some useless trivia about words or otherwise, and just generally the thoughts of me, a 29 year old woman, from New Zealand.