im finally home.

so after a very very long journey.. i am finally home. i left athens on the 23rd to fly to london.. then had 13 hours there and flew to dubai and 2 hours there and then to brunei and 13 hours there, then finally arrived in brisbane on the 26th at about the same time i arrived in the airport in athens.. 3 days to get home..

it was insane.. the pic above is of the airport in brunei. it was so small so all there was to do for 13 hours with practically no money is.. sleep. but it was never very good sleep and i woke up every hour wondering what time it was and where i was. It was so weird being without esther, and i was so confused when i realised she was gone..

Now i have been home for nearly 4 days and its all back to normal.. or whatever that is. Its strange i love being here, and i know i have exciting days ahead with this new uni semester, and with work.. but apart of me really misses the freedom you have when travelling.

I miss being able to meet different people, and just chat to them, then say goodbye and take something from them and move on. I miss no knowing what we were going to eat, and that it was always exciting in the mystery. I miss the fact i got to see Gods amazing creation new each day. I miss that i used to expect to see God move in every situation. I miss being able to spend time with Esther.

Esther is such an amazing lady, and it was an honour to travel with her. She is so good at it, and is totally made for this trip. She makes friends so easily, and makes you feel so special when you talk to her. We talked about alot of stuff, and it was great hearing her stories of her life. I loved how free she lives, and how that made me want to live a better life. I didnt really know esti before we met that day in London. I had never hung out with her, just me and her. Then we set out for just over 4 weeks together, to see 12 countries together, and it was amazing. Sure there was times i wanted her to hurry up, but learnt so much from her about taking it slow and not rushing through life (even though she probley didnt know it). I just want to say.. i love that girl. and i hope when she returns in december we can still find time to hang out every know and then.. and have more adventures together.

For now.. i have one little adventure before me.. a trip to melb..
My favourite Jo, has got engaged to this awesome guy Tim. They are an amazing couple and i love them both. I love that Tim is such a rad, honest, compassionate, and genuine guy.. and is very worthy to marry my favourite Joanna Marie. I am so excited to see what lies ahead of them, and honoured to be apart of their lives. Im so excited to party it up at the engagement.. and ready to hit melbourne once again.

So the adventure overseas is over.. but my life isnt. and im very excited to start living here on the coast... and implement some of those lessons i learnt while i was away, in my life here.

I will finish telling the journey from salzburg to home soon.. gotta go read my textbook now..

back on up..

So im on the train again.. (writing blogs is a great way to pass the time on trains) this time im leaving Budapest (Hungry) and heading to Salsburg (Austria), with a stop in Vienna for Lunch and sight seeing.

We have hit the intense period of our trip as days begin to run fine, and have opted to cover more ground and fast. In 6 days we will be in 5 countries, ending in Greece for a few days before I fly out back to London.

Since I last wrote I have been in Krakow (Poland) and Budapest. After Slot we made our way to Krakow and had a fun time there. We stayed at what has been the best backpackers so far in the heart of the city. It was on the third floor and had a great atmosphere. Everyone was so friendly cooking up big meals to share, and the staff so helpful, giving great advice on places to go. Not to sure about the European men though, very free in their dress code, with lots of partial nudity.. We got told about this awesome restaurant which we went and checked out. We ordered out perogi, and because there was no seats upstairs went down stairs to eat our meal. It was amazing little cellar style thing all dark with candles and so beautiful. I wish the sunshine coast had somewhere like that. We ate our meals, and I had a great Polish beer and it was grand!

We also went to Auschwitz when we were in Krakow. It was an hour and half bus trip out there and was a horrible yet amazing experience. It was disgusting, the stuff that happened, and the things the victims were forced to endure. The Nazi’s used the prisoners of the concentration camp for every thing. They were used for labour, their hair was shaved and sold to make material, their possessions sold or given to Nazi personnel. Everything was taken from them, so much that when the camp was liberated there was so much stuff still there, and it is all on display. It made the whole things so real to see a room full of the victims hair laying before you and within it all a plaited pony tail. To see thousands and thousands of shoes, all sizes including children, and all the suitcases people bought with them, unaware they were heading to extermination. It was so hard to believe that the paths that I walked and the rooms I was in was the camp itself. That so many people had lived in those rooms, hundreds at a time, and died either by the gas chambers, starvation, disease or exhaustion. They also had photos of many of the people who came and died there. As you walk through the halls it is so painful to look them in the face. With each photo is the date of birth, arrival to the camp, and death. They documented everything, its incredible, and horrible. We must make sure an event like this never happens again.

We had a great second night and met some fun people. Some Italian guys shared their spaghetti with us, very tasty, and we got chatting with some other Aussies. The next day I went exploring while Esther had a sleep in and found heaps of Pope stuff. There was a big photo exhibition with images of the past Pope, John Paul II and the current Pope, Benedict IX (I think). John Paul was the Archbishop of Krakow so was very special to the city. There was some more memorial stuff, and beautiful gardens. I went back to the hostel and then me and Esti set out to see the Castle and find the Jewish sector. About 20mins into our walk circling the city it begins to spit, then rain and then soon enough its bucketing down and we are getting soaked. There was no shelter anywhere and the rain looked like it was setting in for a while. We were close to the hostel so tried to get back, get changed and head out with an umbrella. As we got closer, and wetter the rain eased up and we were soaked and it was no longer raining. We got changed and head out for round two. This time we made it to the Jewish sector of town to see the buildings and find me a music store to buy a CD I want of a Polish band. By the time we got there it was closed. We had an amazing dinner that night at this great vegitarian place. We ordered this one thing which was like a sample of everything to share, it was massive and so good. We raced back to the hostel, and then back to the rain station to get our night rail to Budapest.

Ok, so a new day now. At the moment I am on the train (once again) heading to Bari in the very south of Italy to catch the ferry over to Greece tonight. It has been a crazy few days and ill try and catch you up.

Budapest.. The train trip was great as we only had seats but it was very empty so we could spread out and lie down. This meant we could actually sleep and arrived in Budapest ready for a big day ahead. We found the hostel and went adventuring. This was a crazy busy day, but very fun. Budapest is actually 2 cities separated by the Danube river. You can climb Castle Hill in Buda and look out over the two cities, it was great and once again saw this at sunset. Before this we went to the thermal spa and had a great afternoon just floating in the water and restoring our sore muscles. My favourite pare of Budapest was we climbed another hill and found the Fishermans Bastion, which was an amazing building, kinda like a castle looking out over the city. As I walked out on the ledge I looked over and saw the full moon, shining red. It was amazing! On our way home it rained again, and we got drenched once again, and after a 30min walk wet, we got to the hostel. The next day we head out straight away back to the station to train to Salzburg, via Vienna (where I began this blog).

We broke this day up to have the day in Vienna and the night in Salzburg, Austria. When we arrived in Vienna we ditched out bags at a locker and head off to see this beautiful city. After a confusing start we found the city centre and after a disappointing lunch (I ordered a Viennese Hamburger, and just got a meat patty) set out on the tram around the city. The city has a circle tram that goes around and sees all the amazing buildings, so we could just hop on and hop off. We saw some amazing stuff, there was big buildings everywhere, and were very impressed. We also found a 1950’s style coffee house and splurged on coffee and cake. It was so lovely, and my cappuccino had whipped cream on the top. After some more wondering we got back on the train to head to Salzburg. On our way to the hostel we befriended a Dutch girl who was looking for a hostel, so she followed us to ours. We got a room and proceeded to plan our days ahead. After hours of trying to work things out so we could go through Switzerland to Italy, we decided to can that idea and stay in Salzburg another day.

and we did.. mwahh hahah..

ok.. so ill catch you up to athens soon.. but for now.. just know we got to salzburg..

my polish haircut

I am so excited. I had my very own polish haircut today.
So today was the day after Slot art festival ended, and so I was able to wrangle down Gosia, sarah my sisters’ friend, and have her cut my hair. Gosia has a great reputation for cutting amazing funky haircuts, something I love about polish people.

My favourite thing about Slot was looking at all the different people walking around. There was so much different fashions, and the haircuts.. so cool. I loved all the guy’s hair, it wasn’t just your average joe cut which pretty much every guy has in Australia, Polish guys have crazy, unique cuts which are so rad.. Also girls fringes are so rad in Poland. Lots of short short ones, jaggard ones, uneven ones, curved ones.. All different types.

But enough of them, I am one of them now… as I have my own. What was the best was I just sat down and knew what she wanted to do and did it.. I didn’t have to think about it at all. I love hairdressers who can do that well.

Its kinda a side mullet, short on one side, and longer on the other. Ahh ill let the photo speak for itself.

I’m now in Krakow, and finally with internet connection again. It was so hard to go 6 days without it, how sad is that. I’m also gonna be able to get some washing done here too. I’m so excited, I haven’t done real washing since Amsterdam (I have done hand washing) which was 3 countries ago.. so excited to have CLEAN clothes again.

a catch up -updated version

So am now in Poland at SLOT Art Festival.. and I just realised how much has happened since I last wrote a blog. It has been a week and I have explored two countries. Before I get into SLOT I will bring It back to where I left off.. Berlin.

So Berlin was a crazy time, and was great time of history and education, or even ‘historical education’. It was a big run and jump trip, and was only really there a day and a half, but it was real fun. We arrived in Berlin and after me beginning to miss the winter cool of Australia (with the great heat of Kobenhavn), we got a lovely thunderstorm to welcome us in. It was beautiful to walk in the rain and rug up. The next day we set out to do Berlin, and we did it well. We got the train into the city and went exploring for a bit, and found a free city walking tour. The tour was great and the guy leading it had heaps of knowledge and stories to share. It took 4 hours and we saw so many of the big places of Berlin. It was pretty cool seeing the Jewish Memorial and walking through it. The guy was telling us about the different interpretations of the memorial. It is made of the big blocks all the same length and width but all different heights. He was saying some people see it as the coffins of the Jew’s, who died in the Holocaust, others the soldiers marching, or the trucks. But there is one interpretation that is the one I liked, this saw the blocks as representing the Jewish ghettos and houses. As you walk through you are so disillusioned as to what is going on around your, it is so hard to walk around. The ground moves down and back up and very uneven, and the blocks grown is size as you move towards the centre. Walking around you never know what is around the next corner, and many times I was shocked that someone bumped into me as I tried to turn a corner. This is to show the feeling many of the Jews would have felt during the Nazi reign as they tried to hide and avoid being sent to the concentration camps. It was a very powerful memorial.

We also got to see parts of the Berlin Wall, classic dominating Nazi architecture, cheakpoint Charlie, and all the other big Berlin attractions. The craziest thing about our time in Berlin was it coincided with the opening of the new American Embassy, which was also on 4th July weekend. There was a massive street party celebrating all things American, with flags, balloons, and food stalls everywhere. The craziest thing was the vote for Obama balloons, all in the centre of Berlin. Quite a strange experience. My other favourite thing about Berlin was visiting the Parliament house. The architecture in Berlin is amazing. Everything has a meaning and an interpretation, they are not just buildings..

That night was real cool as I got to call my family on skype. It was so awesome to catch up with them and hear stories from home. Then next day we got ready to get the train again, this time to Wroclaw, Poland. Wroclaw was ment to be a one night stay but ended up being 3.. we stayed at a backpakers that is student housing in the uni semester and had only been open 3 nights before we arrived. it was a real missing to find the place, (took us 2 1/2 hours) and we finally arrived at 11.30pm. Esther was having stomach pains from eating too much gluten.. so we didnt take the train to krakow, but stayed another night.. We spent the day kinda exploring the city and kinda just shopping cause it was raining. We had and amazing adventure trying to cook dinner with a small fry pan, 1 plate and 2 x knife and fork. Was a great meal because of the challange. The next day we went to the train station to head to lubiez for slot art festival. Its crazy how God works things.

Ok, so one of our crazy must be God, experiences.
So we are heading to the train station to get our train at 9:15 due to many little things we missed that one by 30mins or so but we find out the next train is in 2 1/2 hours.. so we sit around, play cards, read, decide on lunch and eat it an generally pass the time till the train. The train arrives and we are just about to get on and i ask the ticket guy if its the right one.. he said no and to go to another platform (all in polish..) so we ran back to the ticket place to see who was right.. and they said we leave in 1 1/2 hours.. i was so angry cause i did not want to wait at the train station any longer, i was over it and the confusion of poland. but there was nothing i could do, it was completly out of my control so i had to just wait. we got on the old train an finally left wroclaw..

We arrived in Wolow, and Esther heard some guy talking in polish who said ‘Slot Art Festival’ and a whole big group of people with dreads and funky clothes carrying packs, and tents followed him. We decided to follow as well and found a bus station, and got on a bus to Lubiez. It was kinda fun not to have to think but just follow the crowd. On the bus we were wondering what we were going to do when we arrived, and how we would find Justin and Anna (friends from our church in Australia who’s band was playing at Slot). We had no idea the amount of people who were going to be at the festival, apparently 6 thousand, and if God wasn’t looking after us we wouldn’t have found them. But the way things work out our bus pulls up, and Justin, Anna and the kids are there walking right past the door. How amazing is that! From there we were able to register and met some of their team their. As we were standing their I noticed a girl I had seen in my sisters pictures from when she did the course with Stieger. I introduced myself and she was like ‘baby, I see it now, you look just like sarah!’ It was so lovely to see people who knew sarah, and the best ting was Gosia (the lady) was the person in charge of accommodation for international guests and was able to make a call to allow us to sleep in the same house as Justin and Anna. So amazing!

So we had found our friends, and had a bed to sleep on.. We were ready for the 5 days ahead for Slot..

So today is the last day of SLOT Fest and I have been here for 5 days and really enjoying it. For all those who don’t know what Slot is I’ll fill you in. Slot is a 5 day art festival in Poland, which draws heaps of people (mostly from Poland) to come together to learn new skills, just be a community, and experience art in its many forms. I was amazed on the first night walking around and seeing so many forms of art being presented. There was a djembe circle with people learning to play, next to a big group of people learning to twirl poi, some kids dancing all crazy, and others just chilling in the sun playing guitar. Inside you have people painting in many ways, with spatulas, water paints painting bodies, finger painting to music, etc. next to people making things from wire, or cardboard. People learning a dance, to juggle, do patchwork, make dreads, learn languages, and much much more. At night there is bands playing with 5 or so stages with reggae, doof doof dance music, acoustic stuff, little bands, and the main stage. At the end of the night (midnight), while the dance party continues you can watch some arthouse film in a big cathedral. Oh yeah minor detail, the whole festival is set in an amazing big building/castle which was once a palace turned into a monastery and now being restored, which adds so much to the atmosphere. I can’t describe it, its beautiful, and damaged, and so empty, yet full of the people. The people are a awesome mix, its about half and half Christian to non-Christian, and everyone is artsy in some way. It must be 1 in 5 has dreadlocks, and everyone has alternative clothes, and the hair oh the hair in Poland. Its so beautiful to walk around and see this amazing mix of people all free, being artsy and learning lots. I am so excited as tomorrow one of my sister’s polish friends is going to cut my hair, all polish style.

Now that is where I am, and I have been kinda involved but not heaps. I have done workshops to learn how to make flowers from wire and crape paper, stained glass style things from puff paints, Gregorian chanting, and done some painting. I’ve also been to a few seminars or lectures on different things. I have wanted to do more but the language barrier stops me doing some activities. We have also been hanging out with all the Stieger people on and off, which has been really cool. Stieger is a Christian organization, who also have a band called No Longer Music, which present the gospel to people in a very unconventional way. My sister did a course with them and knows a few of the people here so when they found out I was her little sister everyone was like.. “aww hello.. sarah’s sister, we love sarah, you are so cute, you look like sarah, we like you” ect. and been very cool. Justin and Anna (a couple from my church back home) are also in the band, so we have been hanging out with them which has been great. They got us a room in the house they are in, which is some random polish family who have rented the room to us. They speak very little English and we speak even less Polish so it is a challenge, but fun.

The festival has been a challenge as nearly everything is in Polish, something I didn’t think about before I came. But in spite of this it has grown me a lot. We went to a worship service (mini church) the other day and it was all in Polish, (except a few sentences translated). It was a real challenge to try and worship God without words or understanding of the language sung, and made you find another level. It is so easy to just sing songs to God, and go through the motions but to try and connect without words was amazing.

I have seen some great European bands at this festival. One stand out Polish band was ‘Pink Freud’ a three piece jazz experimental band with one guy on drums, one on bass, and the other on trumpet but using a distortion pedal and creating loops. I loved it! Yeah many other fun bands but ill tell you about that another time.

I love Poland. The food is so great, we have had quite a bit of perogi which is like pasta with potato and cheese in side it. Like ravioli but potato inside. They also do some amazing things with cabbage, and potato. In Lubiez, where the festival is, the tap water is not good, and so you have to buy bottled water to drink. Doing this has defiantly increased my appreciation of water. When you have to buy it, even when its only like 1.50 zl (the polish currency) which is AUD75c for 1.5L, you still value it a lot more.

Today we are resting, and tomorrow we will hit the road again. It has been good to settle in one spot for 5 nights but also I miss moving. If I feel this now I wonder how I will be back in Australia. I only have 10 days till I leave to go back to London, so we have a crazy few days planned to get us to Greece to chill a few days and then I will fly to London. It is quite sad this trip is nearly over but still 5 more countries to go to, so the fat lady aint singing yet.

I will load this when I get internet, it is weird going 5 days without internet too.
Love Kim

Danish Danish's

So I am on the train again, this time heading to Berlin. We just drove onto a ferry and rode across the ocean and now in Germany. Quite strange really. I also just ate traditional Danish Danish’s! Very yumm.

We had a great time in Kobenhavn, although it began as a bit of a challenge for me. The first part of our time was full or complications, searching for a place that was closed down, stuggle to find an ATM, bus drivers who don’t understand what we were asking, and issues getting into the backpackers we wanted to stay at. The country also has a very high standard of living so everything was quite expensive.

It was a real challenge for me to push through all these issues and I was so tired from not much sleep on the overnight train prior, but once I did I found a great city behind all that. We stayed in a great location, kinda like the fortitude valley of Kobenhavn, with cool shops and cafes everywhere. The backpackers was eco-friendly, with organic food, and eco-cleaning products, very cool. It was run by Vegans who I think were also straight edge, so you were not allowed to drink alcohol or use drugs there. This created a real nice atmosphere to stay in.

What is so cool about Denmark is that they really support their country. Walking the streets you don’t find lots of big department stores, you find little local shops selling quality and products from Denmark. Chairs made in the country, hand made toys, lots of little shops with random artsy stuff. They also have lots of windmills everywhere, and rely on renewable energies quite a bit. I love this.

We were going to go to Sweden but there is festivals happening all over Scandinavia and we hadn’t booked ahead so there are no vacancies on trains to Sweden, Norway or Finland for 4 days. Instead we are going to Germany and see what we can find there. And then head over to Poland. It was pretty amazing today, the alarm didn’t go off but we woke up with just the amount to time to pack up, and just as we got outside the bus was there. Even the train we are on was fully booked except for 2 seats in first class (the tickets we had), and once we had paid our reservation we went to use our left over money up for food and had pretty much the exact amount for a sandwich and bananas. God has defiantly been preparing the way, and it is so cool. Its crazy to think all this travel we have done is FREE! We do have to pay some reservation fees for some trips, but not nearly as much as we would without the pass. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to do this trip.

Im so excited about Poland.. SLOT Fest will be so amazing.

Enough now, the last blog was too long already.. Hope your all well. Thanks for all the updates I got on your lives too.

Kim

a moving blog..

So at the moment I don't know where I am.. I am writing this on a train and will load it when I arrive in Kobenhaven (Denmark). I got on the train 4 hours ago in Amsterdam (Holland) and last time I saw we were going through Germany.

So me and Esther are on our first night train, and decided to go the cheapest option and take the seats, so will try sleeping here, and if a horrible idea, next time will take the bed option. The train is massive, we are one end, and the food cart is at the other so we walked 15 carriages to find some dinner. But trains are still so much better than planes, as a lot more room, (though no movies -unless the power on this laptop holds out) and not nearly as cramped.. Defiantly the best way to travel.

So far this adventure has been lots of fun. I have been through England, France (only stopped for a meal break in two cities), Belgium, and Holland, (and I guess now Germany as we travel through). The plan at the moment is to do Denmark, Sweden, Germany, then Poland for Slot Fest, and the rest is quite open at the moment, but that's the next week and a half covered.

Last time I updated I was just leaving England and I feel like I have done, seen, experienced and eaten so much. A great claim I can make is we had breakfast in England, lunch in France and dinner in Belgium. How great is that..

In Belgium we stayed in Brugges, (.. ok.. so spelling of cities is so confusing in Europe cause there is the English version, the countries version and even other countries version.. depends where you are and who your talking to.. so you kinda gotta just think broad when you are looking for your city on a map) at a nice backpackers. We had some bad luck and found the place had a group of 18 Irish school children all about 12 years old. They were in both the rooms surrounding ours, so we had them yelling and screaming all night till 1.30am the managers threatened them, and they quietened down till their teachers woke them up to leave at 7am.. so not much sleep on our behalf. An eventful start to our time in Brugges. We explored a bit of Belgium, got some chocolate, saw Michelangelos Madonna and child, found some flea markets, and walked lots.. We then head to Amsterdam.

Steph is a dutch girl who lived with Esthers family when she did her Uni placement in Australia, we was our host for Amsterdam and a lovely one at that. I didn't know much about Amsterdam, except what everyone else knows, Sex and Marijuana. This city was so much more than that. We had 3 days there, and had so much fun. In Amsterdam bikes rule the place, when your riding along the road cars stop for bikes. If a car hits a bike, the person in the car pays for all damages and expenses. While we were in Amsterdam, we got around on bikes. This started of very fun, and dangerous as we were riding Stephs bikes, and she is 6 foot and we are not. So the bikes were too big and we couldn't comprehend the rules, so I would stop for a car or pedestrian, and it would nearly cause a crash. I soon learnt.. on a bike you stop for no one.. well maybe a red light but even that's debateable. The other thing about bikes in Amstrdam is ther are kinda cool. I mean to ride a bike people don't wear helmets or lycra.. so people are riding bikes in high heels, and skirts, and business clothes, whatever they normally wear and there is NO dorky helmets.. You can even double up/or 'dink' and its not illegal, so one day were heading home with 3 people and 2 bikes and I was on the back, It felt so weird, as if I was in Australia I would have been doing 2 illegal things. On the last day though we were so good, and only one minor accident involving a stack and esthers knee, but we came away smiling.

The bikes were probably the highlight of Amsterdam for me, and enabled us to see a lot of the city. Another thing that was really cool was one of Steph's friends from church had a boat and took us around the canals of Amsterdam, we went right into the city and around the place. Other great things were visiting the YWAM 24/7 prayer house in the red light district, the Van Gogh art museum, and some great markets.

So we have now just stopped at the train station in Cologne (Germany). That brings me up to where I am now.. heading to Denmark, I am very excited as I love Scandinavia and am finally going to visit.

Now I have updated you on me.. send me an email/facebook message and let me know whats happening in your life, I cant promise a quick reply but one will come.. I am starting to miss news from home and what's happening in everyone else's lives. I wish you could all be here experiencing this with me..

I think travel can become a very selfish time, where you are always thinking of what your doing and want to do.. So distract me from those thoughts, and tell me what's happening in your world.

Love Kim

a new companion

so.. im now in dover, england, her at esther's mums counsins sons girlfriends house.. pretty rad huh..

so the last few days have been very fun. after leaving my uncle and aunty's house, i met up with Esther in London. This has been great fun, and we make a pretty good team.. I was kinda nervous at first as i have never actually hung out with esther before, well us one on one, so committing to spend the next 4 weeks with someone backpacking was kinda strange.. but its been great so far.. With the exception of her not drinking beer and much coffee we are very similar and want to do similar things.. so i am very excited to finally begin this adventure with my new companion..

the start of our time begain with a lovely picnic in hyde park in the city with andrew one of esthers mates from brisbane who is also travelling the world at the moment.. After a bit of fun cruising the city we head back to Croxley to Esther's mum's cousin Heather's house. Heather is an amazing lady with an amazing house. There is so many nick nacks and random stuff everywhere it was so fun, and she was a great host, and had lots of great stories to tell.

The next day we had a late breakfast of porriage and cooked rhubarb. so yumm.. then we had a great picnic lunch in the backyard.. after a lazy morning we head into the city and raced to the ethiopian consulate to pick up esthers visa before it closed, we were 10 mins late but we still got it.. after more treking around the city, and photos at trafalga square, we set out to find tickets to a broadway show.. Its funny here cause the exchange rate is double.. like 1 Pound is $2.. so you think something is good, and actually its freakin expensive.. We found some cheap tickets for the Lion King. Cheyne Grace met up with us for the show, and it was amazing. It was funny to think we just found a place, picked up some tickets and a few hours later we in there watching it.. the show was fantastic and we had great seats.. the music was so great.. i cant describe it.. yeah.. it was super...

today we cooked heather breakfast to thank her for all she did, and tried to plan what me and esther will be doing. we have a rough idea now, and should be in Amsterdam this weekend with esties mate steph.. Heather drove us 2 hours to her son's place (where we are now), as he lived in Dover, where you catch the ferry or train over to france.. After long chats, and a bit of fun on the Wii, they all head to bed, and here i am writing this..

tomorrow, we catch  the ferry over to calais (france), and they the train to belgium.. where we will spend the night.. it doesn't seem real at all.. but i guess it will in the morning..

my eurail adventure begins tomorrow.. aggghhh.. so exciting

the mother land

so im here in england.. my mother land..

it has been alot of fun travelling around oxford and abingdon with my uncle and aunty and seeing the places my parents grew up. We went to a shop my mum worked in for years, and the police station my dad worked for.

its also been great to see places my grandma used to live. She passed away 3 years ago, and due to the distance i dont think i ever really processed it. I was never very close to my grandma, but it has been great to come here and i guess finally say goodbye.

I am spending this time just refreshing before i meet up with esther in london tomorrow, and then scoot on over to france..

\its bizaar to actually be here, but im trying to take it all in..

photos coming soon.

love kim

an hour early..

so i am in dubai.. and i had my watch set an hour early.

I was all ready and packed to head to the airport and what do i find out.. we arnt leaving for an hour.. this is kinda bad, as it gives me time to think.. and i dont want to do that yet as i have 8hrs plus on a plane ahead of me to think all i like..

Today has been a great day. I arrived in Dubai yesterday afternoon, and after an emotional leave from afghanistan. The security leaving is very intense but kinda all show. I went through 6ish cheakpoints, being frisked, having my bags cheaked, scanned, etc etc. untill i was finally on the plane. The funniest thing was as you walk along the tarmac to the plane you have to go over to the pile of luggage on the ground and point out your bag for them to put inside the plane.. Afghanistan is an amazingly bizaar country.

My day today has been one of relaxing and catching up on the internet. I spent the morning chilling and loading photos on facebook of some of our afghan adventures. I watch some DVD's with Julie then we went to the beach.. This wasnt any ordinary beach... today i was im the Arab Gulf.. how cool is that! actually the water was pretty warm, but it was a strange experience. The water was so dense from all the salt, and you floated so easy. I was so flat aswell, with no waves at all. It was beautiful..

then we came home and i watched Becoming Jane -the movie. Julie loves all those movies and BBC tv shows set in the Jane Austen era, and it was a lovely way to chill the evening away. It was after this as went to finish packing that i realised i was an hour ahead of myself, and the revelation that in the morning i will be in London.

I did hit a bit of culture shock this afternoon, as i felt very uncomfortable being outside in shorts and my bikini. Very afghan un-appropriate. and also forgot to put on my seatbelt, something you never wear in afghanistan, i have also found myself constantly bringing up stories from afghanistan, and the afghan culture..

That nation has definatly stolen a piece of my heart.. and i love it..

its my birthday.

so havin my 21st birthday in afghanistan was not what i imagined but was the best way ever..



The day begun with gifts from gaby and a card from my parents. Each day gaby chooses clothes for me to wear that are suitable for what we are doing.. because it was my birthday i got to wear this amazing afghan dress (with pants underneath aswell). it was real nice..



We head over to the Ministry of Agriculture for gabys classes, like we have done every weekday. Today gaby had planned the class to look at birthdays around the world. So all the men in the class were wishing me happy birthday, and we talked about birthday traditions.



When we got back to the house, a team from america who are also visiting were throwing a party for the afghan staff to thank them for all their work. We had a big afghan lunch with kabab, bulani (real yum) and carbu pulau (i cant spell all this food), all traditional afghan food.. The men started dancing to the afgan music and it was so fun. In afghanistan, women cannot dance with men, and only at weddings can women dance. This is because women and men are in separate locations at weddings.

We cleaned up, and then started preparing for the afternoon classes. In these classes we had snacks and looked at birthdays again. The second class was the final one and so the students were graduating. This was fun as we had cake, and snacks, and sat around and talked about goals and stuff. Once the men left to go home we stayed and chatted to two of the girls in the class. They were so lovely and i learnt more about women in this nation.



After the class we head back to the house to get ready for dinner. We went out for dinner at a lebonese resturant. The whole house came, and so did the team from America. It was so nice there and was the same place Gaby had her birthday dinner. After dinner they brought out this cake which had massive candles which had massive flames (kinda like fireworks - definiately illegal in Australia). It was so fun and they played this techno happy birthday song made in korea. It was hilarious.. I was even given a head scalf as a gift from the owner of the returant.



After dinner we came home and me and Gaby sat on the roof and had good ole birthday questions, somewhat of a tradition in my life. After a massive day (especially for gaby who was running on 3 hours sleep) we went to bed..



it was such a fun day, and i felt very loved indeed..



Thanks to all the messages and emails i got. Y'all the best (can you tell ive been spending alot of time with americans)



I will be leaving afghanistan today, which im kinda nervous about. I dont want to say goodbye to gaby, although i know i have a big adventure to come as i trek around Europe with Esther..
I will try upload more photos on facebook when i get to Dubai..

i love you gaby... deep down in my heart

so i only have a few more days in kabul.
it has been so much fun hanging out with gaby, and doing afghan things. I have been sitting in on here classes and she is a very good teacher. The classes are fun, interactive and very informative. Its crazy cause she is so a home here. which is very exciting cause she has lived here so long, and is good she fits in. But a part of me is sad, because i know this is where she will remain, and her returning to live in australia is not what is planned for herfuture.. i am really dreading the day i will leave as i know it will be goodbye for a longtime, but i know i will try my hardest to return as i love this place, and all of gaby's friends.. maybe return for winter eh?? hahah
so today we went shopping at a place called chicken street. chicken street is the place where you get gifts and sovaniers.. gaby is so good at bartering, and knows a little bit of dari which helps when you are shopping. we got lots of free stuff which was so fun, and lots of lovely things..
tonight we are going to have an MRE party, we are going to have dinner on the roof, and eat MRE's. They are the food military people eat when on the feild. 'just add water' meals. i am very excited, just to chill with gaby and alfia. as is said in afghanistan, "this is good".

ok. well gaby has a class now and needs the computer so i must finish.
but thats where im at now.

afghan land

so im in afghanistan.
this is my third day. its so crazy to be here hanging out with miss gaby.. she is so beautiful..and i have had so much fun hanging out with her friends.. they are so cool, and amazingly passionate about this country and seeing it be transformed.

first impressions... it is HOTT and dry.. and dusty.. but very fun.

im sitting here eating afghan style pizza. its mushrom and tomato.. tasty. we have had many adventures. today we went to the Kabul Zoo and were more of an attraction than the animals. people were taking photos of us. it was fun though. we decided to test to see if people were just following us so the 5 of us walked over and started looking and taking photos of a wall. a whole group of afghans followed us and were watching it too. so funny.

yesterday we had a bit of a tour of Kabul, and drove around alot. it sucks cause being a woman you have to wear so much clothes, and when it is so hot its the last thing you want to do. Come the afternoon i wasnt feeling well, mix of altitude, dehydration and heat (from wearing so much clothes). but a few tablets cured me.. The funny thing a client of the organisations gaby works for was thowing a party, and we were invited.. We had just got there and i want feeling well, so were going to leave and take me home. we went to say goodbye to the host and he would not let us go. so we had to stay for more time as in afghan culture it is shamefull on the host if we leave before eating. The food was so slow coming, but as i said after i had some medicine i was feeling better. Then when we wanted to actually leave i had to pretend to be sick again, and even then they didnt want josh to take us home, and wanted him to stay and a driver take us. We talked our way out of it and just left, but was the the hardest party ever to leave.

Driving is adventurous, as there are no rules at all. There is no lines to create lanes or even sides of the road so the driver will drive and honk their horns to warn people and get through safely. Despite the crazyness of it all i feel very safe and all the drivers are very good (dont worry mum :D). I do not feel scared at all here. only once have i been shocked, and that was only for a second. we were driving and a military convoy was going past and a guy on the back was holding a gun yelling for us to move back and pull over. We pulled over, they drove off and all was fine..

The weekend here is on Friday, and so everyone is out today. (only one day, how crazy). So we have the meeting today *wink*. haha. Im very excited to experience it, and see more about Gabys life.

anyway i should get back socialising with the others, but having so much fun, and not seeing much military at all, (except choppers in the sky).. i feel very safe..

love you all..
especially you jacqueline

stop one.. dubai..

so the adventure has begun and im here in dubai.. a very crazy place..


its like an artificial wonderland.. alot of the food is imported.. there is buildings everywhere. its so un-natural. everywhere you look there is cranes building something.. im staying with family friends in their house in silicon oasis. kinda like silicon valley in america.. but for expats working in dubai.. all the houses are exactly the same, all 500 or so of them.

we went shopping today. not to buy anything but to admire the architecture of the places. so crazy, one was an egypt theme with all these mummies everywhere and marble. the most beautiful was the stainglass roof that has stories of egyption wars. didnt get a picture though. so weird.

i had a great flight here. they fed us so much food, every 3 hrs we had a meal. i started putting it in my backpack after a while. also because brunei is a dry country (no alchol allowed) there was no alchol served on the plane. was nice, and meant there was no hideous drunk people. on the first leg [bris - brunai] i sat next to a man from brunei who is at uni in brisbane, we chatted a bit about Brunai, an interesting country,

from there [brunei - dubai] i sat next to a british army guy who is posted in Brunei. apprarently the british military have a base in Brunei to practise jungle warfare paid by the saltan of brunei to protect their assets.. they have lots of oil.. and malaysia want it.

he had also been posted in Falkland islands and i was very interested as i have just finished a paper on the 1980's Falkland war a few days ago..

its crazy. there was no systems at the airport. or crazy ones at that.. i lined up for 30 min at 2am for a visa that i didnt need cause i am Australian.. stupid stuff like that at the airport, where people are given no direction or guidance.

i am learning lots already and expanding my judgements of people..

i was reading 1 peter this morning and it was saying Love eachother deeply. and i am learning i need to love not just the poor, but the rich aswell..

But despite all that i am amazed at the hideous modern slavoury. alot of people come over from india and pakistan to work but are paid (according to doug the father of the family i am staying with) approx US$1 a day to work 12hrs and in discusting conditions. they are everywhere, and wear these uniform jumpsuits (most are blue but depends where they work). It is so heart breaking to see that this is just all ignored with the glamour and money everywhere else.

Dubai is about beauty, as apparently beauty reflects god and god is in beauty. There are some amazingly pointless things everywhere. Useless beautiful things, that are very expensive. Everywhere you look you see buildings.. glamourous, excessive and beautiful buildings made by people living in appauling conditions paid nothing. To me that steals the beauty.

Dubai is also very western. I found out there is only 9% of the population are nationals - Arabs. The rest are British, Indian, Pakistanian (?), Phillipio, American, South African etc etc, therefore all these cultures are accepted.. But also means they have influenced alot and you loose so much Arab culture. At the shops its all designer gear, Gucci, French Connection, Nike, Starbucks, Krispie Kreme, everything is here. Its so weird. I just hope the Arab culture is preserved and not overrun.

What is beautiful is the treatment of women. They are so valued here. The national muslim women wear an abaya that is black and covers them from head to toe except the face, feet and hand. some also wear a niqab (a veil) which covers the face aswell. Its so lovely and peaceful, no represive like i first thought.. and all the men wear the long white dress shirts, and the head scalfs.

Despite all the negative things i have said i am really enjoying it here, and the culture it does have. Julie took me to a market and that was lovely. Im gonna finish off here as i have a big day tomorrow, we are going to visit Old Dubai (where the original area) and a drive around but a boat ride down the river and visit the musem and stuff.. very excited.

Its weird to think i have only been here 1 day. I have done so much, seen so much, and gracie, i have been writing in my journal 3 times a day. crazy i know.. but alot i have seen, and alot i need to process..so thanks so much. also im living it up like a queen. I have an ensuite, a big double bed and private balcony, this is travelling.. ahah..

Love you all.. and please pray i keep learning more and more as i am loving it..

ps. photos on facebook. my camera is so freakin cool guys.. thanks so much

2 days till lift off.

ok. for all those who dont know what im doing or where i am going here is an update..

on sunday i will be flying to dubai. and then to afghanistan for 10 days to hang out with my favourite Gaby!!

from there i will move on to London where i will spend a few days with my aunty and uncle before meeting up with my mate esther. Me and Esther (through estis amazing poetic skills) won a free eurail pass- first class and everything. This allows us to travel in pretty much every country in the EU for 15 days FOR FREE.. so the plan is to see where we end up. nothing much is planned except we are definatly going to slot fest a christian (hippi?) arts festival in poland. im very excited about slot.

I have 4 weeks in europe before i head home with a lovely spot over in Brunai.

Thats me..

i hope you can come along for some of my adventure.

ps. the orange countries in the picture are ones we can travel for free
thats alot of europe

hot milo and a welcome back

so i realised i cant blog without this laptop. every blog i have written was written on it, and when it went away on holidays i couldnt write blogs without it, but now it is back with me so blogs here we come..

i feel good today.
its my day off and i havnt acheived much but i feel nice.
i woke up. watched an episode of robin hood. made an amazing coffee. watched another episode of robin hood. washed my hair and put on my favorite dress. washed my clothes. and watched another episode of robin hood while eating a very tastey brunch.
and that was just the begining.

you may have guessed that i like robin hood. its the new tv series, not the movie. its really fun. my mum bought the series for an 'early christimas present' in april. what i love is the adventure and way of life. but also maid marian is such a woman. she is fiesty, yet beautiful. I love that.

i wish i could find that balance in my life. i am oftern just seen as this angry, opinionated lady. i dont like that, but i always say something that comes across like that.

im so excited about my travel, i have been looking at the dress code for me in afghnanistan, its crazy and i dont have any suitable clothes except a head scalf which i have been wearing all afternoon just for kicks.

well im off to finish sowing some shorts, but if your still reading cheak out my favorite blogger and poet (even though i havnt read many of his poems..) at here

..

again

its been nearly a year.
and im listening to Sigur Ros again.

i love these guys so much..
i love how you can feel the sounds and imagine another place so much better than where i am now..
not that i dont like where i am now.
im sitting here minding my nephews who are playing with nuckles and a babushka doll. i love how the play together, they are so good. they make up stories which are so fun.
before my brother was playing kids songs on his guitar and we were all singing along.. riley and noah were to dance to the music. they were so amazing making little actions up to incy wincy spider and others.
i sometimes forget they are only 3 and 4. such great boys.

im starting to pack for melbourne. but im too lazy, to think what i might need to wear for the next 12 days and cause i have no idea what ill be doing i have to be prepared for camping, clubing and market-ing.
and the damn weather changes all the time..
the obvious thing would be to take lots of stuff. but i hate doing that. and having to cart it around the whole time im there,
i guess that just leaves me to either think or borrow when i get there..

i really want heima// it looks like such a grand dvd..

it will be mine soon/
mwahahahah...


merry boxing day