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

i have a purpose

I was told yesterday that my dream, my desire and my purpose in life wasn't what was going to change the world. It hurt..

What I want to do, what I want to be involved in, is I want to work for the Government. I want to write policies, I want to be a political advisor and by doing that change the way we do society..

This man and woman, both Christians, told me if I wanted to change society all I needed to do was pray.

That I dont need to be an advisor to politicians, that by praying God would advise them.. There was no need for human input.

This made me angry (but at the time i didn't voice it..) because God doesn't ask us to just pray. He does ask us to commit things to the Lord but I love what it says in Ephesians. 

Ephesians 4 (The Message)

v 1-3    In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

Does that say just pray? NO. That says get out there. Do stuff and God will use you for the good of his Kingdom.

I fully believe in prayer, if i didnt i wouldnt wake up at 5 every monday morning to pray, but I believe in action.

This is my call. This is what i want to do. But most of all what i believe God wants me to do.

When i was 16 someone gave me a word from God. They said, that i would face opposition, that others wouldnt understand, and that it would seem silly BUT keep at it.

I can fully see, looking at those 5 years gone by how that has played out. How people tell me i cant change anything.. How there is no point.

Well i say, watch me. Come on.. Im gonna do it! Cause if i dont, who will?

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

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