More photos... but no blogging from my end.

Well, I dont have as much to offer as Annie (ie. not much writing and no Kenya stories), but I've put up more photos on the photobucket site (http://gs67.photobucket.com/groups/h290/6NAOU2XC2G/), including Christmas with the family (Cambridge, Winchecster, Stonehenge, Beachy Head, London, walks around Leigh, etc.), general Granny's house and Leigh (Gypsy sighting included), and Herstmonceux Castle (with snow!). Oh, and can't forget a few shots in front of Platform 9 3/4 (unfortunately no, we didn't manage to get through. Wrong time of year I guess?)
Also, if you've already seen my recent photos on Facebook, you probably don't need to bother going through these, they're a very similar selection.

J

p.s. We're off to EGYPT on the 19th!!!!

January 9th - January 25th Kenya (Driving lessons, chalkboard dust and 45 cows)

Hot. Smoggy. Overcrowded. That was my first impression of Nairobi. We got off the plane and into a cab after a rather excessive amount of time getting through immigration. The traffic was... the worst I have ever seen. Unfortunately there are too many cars in Nairobi. After -9 in Austria, we were both sweaty and tired by the time we checked into our hotel that evening. We were to go shopping for school supplies and meet up with Greg Hellyer, a friend of my fathers and one of the owners of the camp we were to stay in. All we could manage that evening was going straight to bed.

So we woke up early the next morning, had breakfast and headed down to the text book centre to buy supplies. We bought everything from soccer balls to paint brushes. We used money that SMUS and Portia had helped raise for that specific purpose. After that was done we drove down to Safari Link where we were to take a plane down to the Mara. That is when the real adventure started.

We got on a little plane and in about 40 minutes we were landing on a small air strip in the middle of absolute nothingness. We were greeted by Keith Hellyer, Greg's son and a guide at the camp. We all then drove the long way back to the camp in the hopes of encountering some wild life. And we weren't disappointed. We saw lions, how cool is that? We got within like, 5 metres of them as well. It was so awesome. We got to the camp and prepared for the coming two weeks. We had dinner, and I believe that was when Greg anounced he had sent an email to my mother saying that I had been traded to a Masai man for 45 cows. I of course was incredibly offended by this. I insisted I was worth at least 48. We had a lovely meal and tucked into bed early. What I was quickly realising was that it was going to probably be the most life changing two weeks of my life.

I'm happy to say that I felt I did contribute in some small way to the community. The first week I teamed up with one of the teachers named Jennifer from the local school, Opalagilagi Primary School. For the next few days I worked in the school, assisting by writing on the board, practicing English prononciation and marking tests and homework assignments. At recess we would play Masai games (which I would lose horribly) and the soccer balls that we purchased also went over very well.

One of my favourite things that I participated in was on the first weekend that I got there. One of the doctors from a nearby village was asked to participate in a health clinic which we set up in the school. This was a good thing because at this point the nearest well run clinic is over an hours drive, and needlesss to say the Masai don't have cars. So we set up in the morning, and we were constantly busy for about 7 or 8 hours. I wrote records of the patients and helped distribute medication. Since clean water is so hard to come by, over 60% tested positive for Typhoid. Along with that was a slew of other diseases, ranging from Syphillis to Malaria. The doctor was very patient and knowledgable and I felt privilaged to be able to help in even a small way.

The next week started out with me again teaming up with Jennifer, but this time it wasn't just for teaching. A couple of the days after school we completed a survey that the camp was asked to do by the World Health Organization through the University of British Columbia. The survey consisted mainly of questions about daily nutrition and food preperation. They were to be asked by women to the Mama's in the village. I would ask the questions and record the answers and Jennifer would translate into Ma. It was very interesting to learn about the sorts of food they consume on a regular basis.

Needless to say I didn't have much free time! But in my free time I did learn to drive standard, which I've always wanted to do. Keith took me out in the land cruiser and I tried incredible hard not to stall while avoiding thorny bushes and trying not to scare any wildlife. Though I'm still not great at it I can now successfully start the car without stalling. And most of the time even make it into second gear. While not a quick learner I definitely had a good time.

Quicker than I would have thought possible the two weeks came to a close and I was flying out the next morning. The whole experience was the high light of my trip so far. I loved being immersed in such a totally different culture and being in a place where you can do things and feel like you are making a difference. I was changed by it. However amazing this account of my trip there sounds, don't be fooled. It does not even begin to do it justice.

December 27th-January 8th (Austrian chocolate, stupid cats and risk-free lentil soup)

Snow. Lots of snow. And it was cold. Very cold. My sister went skiing in Switzerland with a friend of hers, so at the beginning it was just my parents and I. We went and stayed at the house of our friends in Hallein. The first thing I was greeted with when I came in the door were two cats. They looked like fairly nice cats, cute and all that, not to bad tempered by the seems of it. I wanted to be introduced to my new house mates and so I inquired to Karl, one of the people we were staying with, what the names of the cats were. "There are three," he said, "I think that one is the fat one, and that one is the stupid one, the nice one is outside." Very practical, the Austrians.

We spent a good deal of time relaxing, just watching movies and long runs of Law and Order. We established a favourite snitzel restaurant, where the platter for two easily feeds 20. We also went for a few walks around the town. Oh and of course the part my dad said we couldn't miss, the chocolate factory where you could buy Austrian chocolate cheep in bulk. The chocolate later caused me signifigant distress when I was in Kenya, but more on that later. 

The eventful part of my trip was definitely new years. Our friends invited friends of there's, I Hungarian couple and their son Tamas. That's right, Hungarian. We're all going to wake up one morning and discover that the world has been taken over by them. Anyway, so we all had dinner, fondu and sexist potato salad, one type for the men and one for the women. But this was far from a normal dinner. Between the nine people sitting at the table, there was not a common language. Everyone but me spoke German, all but four people spoke Hungarian and all but two peoples spoke English. Two of the company spoke all three. No this is not an IQ test. Having said this, this meant that most times at the table everyone was speaking at least two different languages amongst themselves. This made for very...interesting conversation.

The evening was pleasant, and at about 10:30 the daughter Lisa asked Tamas and I if we'd like to go to a party with them. Having had a couple glasses of champagne, I thought this was a great idea. So we put on some warm clothes and went to a sort of Austrian get together, nothing overly rowdy. They made killer punch. So Tamas and I just hung out and talked until midnight, at which point everyone went outside and set off rockets. Not the pathetic little fireworks that have now been banned in Victoria, but the real ones, the ones they set off on Canada day. And they were everywhere. All around the house these huge fireworks were going off everywhere. It went on for like, 45 minutes. 

That's when the evening gets a little unusual. Its about 12:30am, and Tamas says "Oh yeah, we're going to my parents house now to eat lentil soup." And I'm like, hold on what now? Apparently, there is a Hungarian tradition (which I, being Hungarian, never knew about) that the first thing that one has to eat on new years in Lentil soup, otherwise you'll have bad luck. And apparently the soup could not be made and brought over to where we were staying, because it is also apparently bad luck to transport the soup. Nothing strange about that what so ever. So anyway, we head over to his parents place, at about one in the morning, and there all sitting there, my father and Karl included, waiting to eat this soup. So we sit down, chatting and what not, and eat our risk-free lentil soup. Then we headed home and I crashed.

Another interesting thing we did in Austria was go to the restaurant that the guy who created red bull owns. Its called Hanger 7 and the food is very good. It also has a bunch of planes and race cars and stuff. Pretty neat place. Other than that the trip was interlaced with shopping at H&M, going to a spa and playing worm killing computer computer games on Tamas' computer. All and all a successful trip. 

December 16th-December 26th (Family time, Disneyland and Coldplay concerts)

My course ended around the 16th of December, and that is when Jenny and Riley came to Paris. It was a great event. We sat in our apartment, drank 2 euro wine and ate eggs for every meal. Who says we don't know how to party? We went out to the castle Versailles and walked around the grounds there. I was able to get there without any issue needless to say. Riley and I also had an epic fake jousting match in the gardens. I did of course win and he was shamed.

Not too shortly after they arrived, I was graced with another presence, my sister Portia. We went shopping at Galeries La Fayette, walked along the Champs Elysees Christmas markets and then the four of us went on an outing which we will never forget: Paris Disneyland. That's right. It was so much fun. We got there and I swear, Riley and I were more hyper than most of the the five year old jawbreaker popping children running around. We took some excellent pictures. The place is like its own little world. It is so cool. The best part was that because the weather had been terrible the past few days and it was a Friday and Christmas break hadn't started yet, there were virtually no lines. This meant we were in a line for usually no more than 15 minutes. And to top it all off, that day was the first sunny clear day in a couple weeks. We went on space mountain like, three times. That evening we saw the disney castle castle all lit up and took lots of pictures. It was so pretty.

Anyway, shortly after that Jenny and Riley said good bye and went their seperate ways for Christmas. Portia and I hung out until my parents arrived around the 22nd. They brought with them my long planned Christmas present for Portia. I surprised her with-get this-two tickets to the Coldplay Viva la Vida concert in Dublin. We were flying out the next day. How good of a sister am I?

So we packed a bag and the next morning we were on a flight to Dublin. We checked into our hotel and then met up with my friend Stephen for dinner. After dinner Portia and I walked to the O2 arena, which we learned from a cab driver had only opened up that past weekend. We were so excited. After getting there, buying some memorabilia and listening to an incredibly strange DJ person open, the concert finally started. To say it was amazing would be the understatement of the century. Not only was the singing amazing, the lights fantastic and the special effects ridiculously cool, I music was out of this world. They had big screens that projected different angles from live camera men. When they played 'Yellow,' these huge yellow balloons filled with confetti came falling into the crowd from the ceiling. And during 'Lovers in Japan,' thousands of paper butterflies came down from every direction. Oh and Chris Martin is such an amazing singer, like so good. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and thus the concert drew to a close. We went back to the hotel strung out on singing and had our flight back to Paris the next morning.

Bonjour Paris! (and Amsterdam)

The following will be a (somewhat vague) recount of the month and a half that I spent in Paris between about November 16th and December 26th.

For those of you who don't know, I signed up for a month long course to improve my French through an international language program known as EF. I stayed in a home stay family, who were very kind to me. The only issue I had was that I had a VERY long commute every day from Versailles where I lived, into Paris. Try an hour and a quarter each way. So I spent about 2 and a half hours a day on the metro and/or the train. Lots of staring out the window and listening to music. At least in that time I believe I became convincingly Parisian, right down to buying high heeled black boots and dressing only in black and grey.

Monday through Friday I would have around 20 hours of class. That may not sound like it, but try waking up Wednesday morning and having to have class in French for 6 hours. It wasn't all grammar and vocabulary though, we actually had some really cool classes. I was in French acting for a week, which was fun and incredibly challenging. We had to improve scenes in French, one particularly memorable exercise being to re-enact the Jerry Springer show. We also had Cuisine, where we learned to cook French food. Honestly there wasn't a whole lot of French spoken in that class! But we all had a good time.

So I met some really nice people, I now know people who live from Finland to Venezuela. About halfway through the course there was a school organized trip to Amsterdam, which some of my friends and I decided would be fun to go on. So we all met at like, 11pm Friday at the metro stop we were supposed to take a coach from. There were about eight people going on the trip. The coach didn't actually arrive until 1am. So we all pile into the incredibly squished bus. It actually took us no less than 12 hours to get there, because we think the bus was slightly broken. We got in around 11am and none of us had slept a whole lot, as the bus was both noisy and cold. But we are in Amsterdam and excited to be there. After getting some food we went to the house of Anne Frank. It was really interesting to see the place. I bought the book while there and finished it the next couple weeks. It was all the more meaningful after actually being to the house where the whole thing took place.

Next we hit up the Heineken brewery. The whole thing is set up so you follow how the beer is made from start to finish. This includes a room that virtually simulates the process. A bunch of you stand on a platform and  'experience' it. This includes heat, water and the platform moving about. Regardless of cheesiness, a good time was definitely had by all.

That evening we all went out and walked around the famous red-light district. There are a lot of things that make Amsterdam a very different place then other capital cities in Europe. For one, marijuana is legal. For another, prostitution is a recognized career. That is why the red-light district is so well known. Basically there is a street down the canal that is lined with houses which have large windows. And in them girls stand, practically naked, for guys to come by and...choose. Oh and if you go, don't take pictures as the pimps will yell at you.

So after a somewhat eventful night we all got up exhausted and went to Van Gogh museum. It was pretty awesome because there were so many of the original paintings there, like the famous ones too. I think however most of us would have enjoyed it more if we weren't so tired! We went to the Hard Rock cafe for lunch which we all enjoyed immensely and then we took a canal cruise. It was a good cruise, but unfortunately many of us were so happy to be in somewhere warm and comfortable that they fell asleep. That pretty well brings are weekend in Amsterdam to a close. We got back into Paris at about 3am on Monday morning, tired and most of us with colds. Needless to say I was not in class that day.

The rest of my course falls into a sort of comfortable routine, where most weekends were spent at Galeries La fayette and most Friday nights were spent taking advantage of free admission at the Louvre. My French improved a lot, and I met some really great people. I also had a lot of fun! It was a good break from the constant moving around, and it was nice to have some sort of routine in place, at least for a bit. I feel like I absorbed the culture and that was a major motivation for going on this trip in the first place.