Helllooo peeps...well what have we been up to.
Cant believe Christmas and new years have been and gone! It was one of the more bizarre christmas's i have had, but yet sooo fun.
On the 24th we braved a huge queue of about 2000 people and waited for ever in a line to ensure that we got on our Eurostar train to Paris. Leading up to the 24th had been cancellations and major delays, meaning that thousands and thousands of people were stranded either in London or Paris unable to get anywhere. Needless to say, we were very worried that we would not make it to Paris, thus destroying our dreams of Chrismas at Eurodisney...however....our cunning plan when we heard that services were resuming and were trying to clear the backlog was to arrive early at St Pancras, to ensure that we made it onto our train. Our train was due to leave at 9am, and we figured that 6.30am would give us plenty of time to beat others there.
Our first site was of a long queue, but not as bad as we expected, until we turned the corner and surveyed a gigantic snaking queue that we couldnt see the end of. We trudged past this giant snake and were slightly horrified to see than not only did it keep going, but it now went outside, unable to be held in the building itself. As we walked outside into the freezing morning, we were more horrified to see that the line continued all the way down the side of the building...a good 4oo meters. It was here that we joined the queue! Needless to say at this point we weren't feeling very optimistic about making our train on time. But it moved incredibly quickly, we all had bets on when we would make it to the front....Megan won! Then somehow we managed to get placed on our original train.....STOKED! So was a great adventurous start to a very cool break in Paris.
Paris itself was so much cooler than i had actually expected. I have always thought that the Eiffel tower was so overrated, but boy does it look so much better in real life. We saw all the main sights, managed to walk forever down the Champs Elysee....sore feet, was wowed by the Arc de Triomphe, impressed by the Louvre and how its modern shape somehow makes the super old palace around it more beautiful, not less, in awe of the Eiffel Tower (especially after we returned at night and walked up the 670 steps...yes i counted, to get to the second floor), speechless at the architecture of the Sacre Coeur and just totally enjoying the gorgeous streets and markets of Paris in winter.
The boys in particular spent a good amount of their time browsing the delights of the local patisseries. Where we were staying was off the tourist track and really lovely. We were immersed in local Frenchness, and Ben got to try out his you tube learnt French. I enjoyed feeding him phrases and words that i was way to shamed to try out for myself. Seeing him speak phrases and obviously be understood was awesome, and then super funny when they would reply to him, only for him to be completely lost. Needless to say "i speak a little french" was one of our most common phrases.
We also managed to catch up with a friend that Caleb and Ben and i know from back in the day, what are the chances of her being in Paris at the same time as us....was nice catching up in some very warm restaurant on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Day...we arose nice and early with the anticipation of the best present ever.....a day at Eurodisney! The morning there was amazing, lines of 5-15min...so awesome. However we were probably too spoilt as by the afternoon we were way too cool to wait in lines of 40 min...so spent a bit of time wandering round, sussing out food options.....as you do. It was lots of fun, introduced Ben and Megan to the wonders of its a small world! Good times!
Our New Years excitement was specially amazing because we moved into our new place! We have moved in with Ben and Megan which is awesome too. Its wicked to be able to share experiences with people who you know are gonna be round on our return. Our new flat is mint.....lotsa room, and really close for me to work. Our lounge is huge and we are open for business....we want to have an open home to newbies in London, so please make use of our lounge! We will be very excited to have visitors.
Life is ticking along, we have booked tickets home for a brief visit in june. We spend like 5 days in Thailand, where we plan to just chill out on the beaches, and then 7 days in Auckland, so hopefully will be able to catch up with everyone then.
We are heading to Nth Ireland this weekend, just for a visit. It will be caleb's first time in Nth Ireland, so fingers crossed that we can get there, cos there is snow forecast for tonight and the rest of the week, which means lots of cancelled flights....i can't believe how London comes to a halt when it snows, its unbelievable!
Our next trip we are hoping to do is maybe Finland or Norway or something over Easter....wanna see the northern lights! So gotta do some planning.....so cool to be so close to things like this.
Anyway....think that is all...miss ya's
xoxoxoxo
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
OOOOHHHHH i can hear christmas bells a ringing!!! i LOVE christmas, my favourite time of year, especially Christmas eve, i love the christmas eve service and then a short sleep before waking up to presents and tons of food! It really doesnt get much better, so this year should be an interesting time for me then. We figured that because we weren't having to do the whole family thing this year, we should make the most of it, so we booked tickets for a short escape to Paris, with the brilliant plan of spending christmas day at Eurodisney. The only small flaw in the plan is that the temp is likely to be a big fat 0 degrees or less.....eeek. Plenty of people have taken great delight in informing me that they have never been as cold in their lives as they were in Paris! Brilliant! However on the up side im hoping it will be far to cold for many people to be as stupid as us to venture onto rollercoasters and the like and therefore we will get on as many rides in as short a time as possible.
Now that Caleb and i will have done Disneyland and Eurodisney on Christmas days, i feel as though we should fit in Tokyo Disney and Disneyworld, just to round it all off....what a chore!
In other delightful christmas news we went shopping for our christmas tree on the weekend. Brought one from the wee church down the road and its now sitting in our lounge/dining room twinkling away with its little lights. Awwww i love christmas! Our church has carol services over the next two weeks so im gonna get my rightful share of carol loving....actually much to everyone else's dismay i have discovered the christmas song channel on the t.v, hours of fun for me,not so much for everyone else. oooh yeah, when we went to get the christmas tree we also got to see REINDEER, like real ones, and baby ones too! They were in the local mall, just hanging out, on show for everyone to have a gawk at, totally awesome.
It s getting rather chilly here, like days are between 4-7 degrees, and the nights a wee big colder. So we have to wear jackets etc when we go out. Caleb has even had to begin to wear trousers, which if you know him at all is insane! Sometimes i forget, especially at work that its freezing outside, run outside to do somethin and very quickly return for jacket etc. Im still holding off on the scarf and gloves, but i dont know how much longer i can do that for...also gonna have to look for some ear warmers (ive seen some really cute ones round).
We had our first experience of Brick Lane last weekend. Jess W and her boyf Carl took us there for Londons most popular dish! For those of you, like me up until a couple of months ago who had no idea what Brick Lane is....its a street in the middle of London full of Indian restaurants. As soon as you approach you are accosted by men who try to lure you into their curry house with all sorts of deals and promises. Our deal was pretty sweet, 2 free rounds of drinks, free poppadoms and 30% off! Pretty sweet deal really. And it was soooo yummy. Will definately be back. After Brick Lane we went to this bar/club and spent the next few hours in hysterics as we watched this guy dance.....can't explain the hilarity of his dancing, but lets just say that he thought he was THE MAN, and so did the 3 or 4 other quality guys that thought they were watching God's gift to women about to pull all the chicks with his dancing skills....too funny.
Anyway.....so close to Christmas, even closer till Ben and Megan arrive...whoopwhoop, and then it will be 2010 which is insane!
Hope this is a little catch up of our lives.
Luv yas!!!
Now that Caleb and i will have done Disneyland and Eurodisney on Christmas days, i feel as though we should fit in Tokyo Disney and Disneyworld, just to round it all off....what a chore!
In other delightful christmas news we went shopping for our christmas tree on the weekend. Brought one from the wee church down the road and its now sitting in our lounge/dining room twinkling away with its little lights. Awwww i love christmas! Our church has carol services over the next two weeks so im gonna get my rightful share of carol loving....actually much to everyone else's dismay i have discovered the christmas song channel on the t.v, hours of fun for me,not so much for everyone else. oooh yeah, when we went to get the christmas tree we also got to see REINDEER, like real ones, and baby ones too! They were in the local mall, just hanging out, on show for everyone to have a gawk at, totally awesome.
It s getting rather chilly here, like days are between 4-7 degrees, and the nights a wee big colder. So we have to wear jackets etc when we go out. Caleb has even had to begin to wear trousers, which if you know him at all is insane! Sometimes i forget, especially at work that its freezing outside, run outside to do somethin and very quickly return for jacket etc. Im still holding off on the scarf and gloves, but i dont know how much longer i can do that for...also gonna have to look for some ear warmers (ive seen some really cute ones round).
We had our first experience of Brick Lane last weekend. Jess W and her boyf Carl took us there for Londons most popular dish! For those of you, like me up until a couple of months ago who had no idea what Brick Lane is....its a street in the middle of London full of Indian restaurants. As soon as you approach you are accosted by men who try to lure you into their curry house with all sorts of deals and promises. Our deal was pretty sweet, 2 free rounds of drinks, free poppadoms and 30% off! Pretty sweet deal really. And it was soooo yummy. Will definately be back. After Brick Lane we went to this bar/club and spent the next few hours in hysterics as we watched this guy dance.....can't explain the hilarity of his dancing, but lets just say that he thought he was THE MAN, and so did the 3 or 4 other quality guys that thought they were watching God's gift to women about to pull all the chicks with his dancing skills....too funny.
Anyway.....so close to Christmas, even closer till Ben and Megan arrive...whoopwhoop, and then it will be 2010 which is insane!
Hope this is a little catch up of our lives.
Luv yas!!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
I can always count on my dad to tell me that i am slack at my blog...i had been feeling pretty slack, just hadn't managed to turn that into motivaton as such...anywhoo....
What has been happening over the last month! Lots!
Caleb
He started at his real job. He is working on a 30 million pound house in Chelsea, which is getting a refit. Theres nothing wrong with it, but the person who has the lease for the next 10 years has decided to spend a whole lot of money on it. So he is working there, mostly with Kiwis's and Ozzies and a couple of poms and polish thrown in for good measure. He is working very very hard as he really wants this job and there is a lot of competition out there for jobs.
But he is learning lots, working pretty normal hours and it means we can start saving....although that has yet to begin, so many places to see and things to do!
Maree
My work is still as crazy as ever, some of you may have heard my exciting? story about being trapped down on the gypsy site because some of the men started a fight while we were there, and it blocked the one entrance/exit to the site. I had to call the police, and we havent been allowed down there since because they are doing a risk assessment to see if we should be allowed back there yet. Im happy to return, the fight was in no way directed at me, but my managers etc have to be sure that we aren't at risk going back there, especially because i called the cops, which makes me not very popular in such a closed society.
I spent the most awesome night in Nth Ireland with Julz and Erin. I literally flew into the airport, and got picked up...and we started talking. We talked from like 9am to 11pm, then i got up in the mornign and attended Erin's church. We also hung out with Erin's parents and then flew home. We talked so much, and laughed so much, but had the best time. We had 6 years to catch up on.
Then on Friday night Caleb finally got to meet Julie. I have known her for 8 years, and Caleb had not met these Irish girls who i always talk about. She was in London with her husband, so we met up for dinner, which was brilliant. Although i was sure they would get on, its always a bit scary to introduce two people you care about and hope they get on....but no worries, and i also got to meet her husband who is lovely too. We are hoping to plan a trip to England's best theme park soon, which would be amazing...i love roller coasters!
Together
We had a BRILLIANT time last weekend in Cardiff. We went with a bus load of other Kiwis to watch the Wales vs AB's game. Its only like a 3-4hr drive from London and Cardiff had the most amazing atmosphere. There were red jersey's everywhere, they closed the main street to traffic and it was just a massive party. Millenium stadium is literally one street over from the main street, which provides the perfect setting for before and after celebrations.
The stadium itself is incredible, and because they shut the roof, its awesome to see rugby unaffected by the elements. Hearing the welsh crowd sing bread of heaven etc was amazing too. After the fight we went to watch the boxing match which was touted here as David vs Goliath, with David Hayes and that massive Russian dude. We met some really lovely Welsh people in the pub, who were so welcoming etc.
The next morning we got up early and went for a walk around post rugby Cardiff. The morning was remembrance Sunday and the area was so quiet and serene compared to the night before. We wandered through the grounds of a park that used to belong to Cardiff Castle and the autumn colours were in full flight. It was a lovely morning. We were walking past the Hilton on the way back which were where the All Blacks were staying, Caleb saw Steven Donald and they had a chat. The All Blacks were flying to Milan that morning. We had also managed to see John Afoa the day before, because as we were walking through Cardiff, suddenly there were the All blacks reserves right in front of us, so that was fun to see them.
Anyway we loved that weekend was amazing.
Yesterday we hired a car and drove to Bath to see Simon and Lisa, who are out here for just over a week. We met their wee baby Joseph too which was great. However the day was absoloutely miserable, completely wet and windy and consequently we were confined to sitting indoors as much as possible. However we really enjoyed catching up with them, and Caleb and I still managed to go and see the Roman Baths and had a wee drive around Bath so got to see how cute it all is. Then we drove to Bristol to the house they are staying at and hung out in the warm house, round the gorgeous fire before driving back to London.
It was sooo good to see them, a little taste of home.
I don't think we are planning to do too much more travelling before our time away in Paris over Christmas, maybe we will, but its not in the pipelines at the moment. As much as we love it, we end up being very very tired the next week for work, and we both need to be on top of our games at work.
We have found a church...its downtown, cos all the local ones are rather dead. My second cousin goes there, and its full of young adults our age. There are about 500 people that go there and its held in the Picadilly Theatre which is showing the grease musical at the moment, funny huh. But we feel really welcome there, so we are keen to keep going.
Anyway i hope that fills you in a bit....oh yeah we also got ourselves a bed..yeah!, but we are having issues because its sooo squeaky, everytime you move even a tiny bit it gets its squeak on, so much so that it wakes us up in the night time. Anyway it is Calebs challenge to fix it for me.
Getting kinda chilly, although still manageable. Not looking forward to winter!
Sorry we are slack at writing, will try and be a bit better.
What has been happening over the last month! Lots!
Caleb
He started at his real job. He is working on a 30 million pound house in Chelsea, which is getting a refit. Theres nothing wrong with it, but the person who has the lease for the next 10 years has decided to spend a whole lot of money on it. So he is working there, mostly with Kiwis's and Ozzies and a couple of poms and polish thrown in for good measure. He is working very very hard as he really wants this job and there is a lot of competition out there for jobs.
But he is learning lots, working pretty normal hours and it means we can start saving....although that has yet to begin, so many places to see and things to do!
Maree
My work is still as crazy as ever, some of you may have heard my exciting? story about being trapped down on the gypsy site because some of the men started a fight while we were there, and it blocked the one entrance/exit to the site. I had to call the police, and we havent been allowed down there since because they are doing a risk assessment to see if we should be allowed back there yet. Im happy to return, the fight was in no way directed at me, but my managers etc have to be sure that we aren't at risk going back there, especially because i called the cops, which makes me not very popular in such a closed society.
I spent the most awesome night in Nth Ireland with Julz and Erin. I literally flew into the airport, and got picked up...and we started talking. We talked from like 9am to 11pm, then i got up in the mornign and attended Erin's church. We also hung out with Erin's parents and then flew home. We talked so much, and laughed so much, but had the best time. We had 6 years to catch up on.
Then on Friday night Caleb finally got to meet Julie. I have known her for 8 years, and Caleb had not met these Irish girls who i always talk about. She was in London with her husband, so we met up for dinner, which was brilliant. Although i was sure they would get on, its always a bit scary to introduce two people you care about and hope they get on....but no worries, and i also got to meet her husband who is lovely too. We are hoping to plan a trip to England's best theme park soon, which would be amazing...i love roller coasters!
Together
We had a BRILLIANT time last weekend in Cardiff. We went with a bus load of other Kiwis to watch the Wales vs AB's game. Its only like a 3-4hr drive from London and Cardiff had the most amazing atmosphere. There were red jersey's everywhere, they closed the main street to traffic and it was just a massive party. Millenium stadium is literally one street over from the main street, which provides the perfect setting for before and after celebrations.
The stadium itself is incredible, and because they shut the roof, its awesome to see rugby unaffected by the elements. Hearing the welsh crowd sing bread of heaven etc was amazing too. After the fight we went to watch the boxing match which was touted here as David vs Goliath, with David Hayes and that massive Russian dude. We met some really lovely Welsh people in the pub, who were so welcoming etc.
The next morning we got up early and went for a walk around post rugby Cardiff. The morning was remembrance Sunday and the area was so quiet and serene compared to the night before. We wandered through the grounds of a park that used to belong to Cardiff Castle and the autumn colours were in full flight. It was a lovely morning. We were walking past the Hilton on the way back which were where the All Blacks were staying, Caleb saw Steven Donald and they had a chat. The All Blacks were flying to Milan that morning. We had also managed to see John Afoa the day before, because as we were walking through Cardiff, suddenly there were the All blacks reserves right in front of us, so that was fun to see them.
Anyway we loved that weekend was amazing.
Yesterday we hired a car and drove to Bath to see Simon and Lisa, who are out here for just over a week. We met their wee baby Joseph too which was great. However the day was absoloutely miserable, completely wet and windy and consequently we were confined to sitting indoors as much as possible. However we really enjoyed catching up with them, and Caleb and I still managed to go and see the Roman Baths and had a wee drive around Bath so got to see how cute it all is. Then we drove to Bristol to the house they are staying at and hung out in the warm house, round the gorgeous fire before driving back to London.
It was sooo good to see them, a little taste of home.
I don't think we are planning to do too much more travelling before our time away in Paris over Christmas, maybe we will, but its not in the pipelines at the moment. As much as we love it, we end up being very very tired the next week for work, and we both need to be on top of our games at work.
We have found a church...its downtown, cos all the local ones are rather dead. My second cousin goes there, and its full of young adults our age. There are about 500 people that go there and its held in the Picadilly Theatre which is showing the grease musical at the moment, funny huh. But we feel really welcome there, so we are keen to keep going.
Anyway i hope that fills you in a bit....oh yeah we also got ourselves a bed..yeah!, but we are having issues because its sooo squeaky, everytime you move even a tiny bit it gets its squeak on, so much so that it wakes us up in the night time. Anyway it is Calebs challenge to fix it for me.
Getting kinda chilly, although still manageable. Not looking forward to winter!
Sorry we are slack at writing, will try and be a bit better.
Love lots
Maree and Caleb
Friday, October 16, 2009
Update
So i had some complaints....DAD! that my blog needed updating...i dont think i am doing bad, i only did one like 6 days ago! But basically in those 6 days...
Caleb has got himself a job...again we dont know details of when he is starting etc, it seems to be a pattern here, but hoping he will start next week. I think he's actually going mad sitting around at home, like actually. The job is a carpentry job based with a company in Chelsea.
Although he has found his new fix of watching Survivor Samoa on you tube and has created his own facebook account, so he has been mildly productive.
We booked tickets to the All Blacks vs Wales game in November....so excited! just the one night away in Cardiff, but till i actually spend long enough at work to feel not too bad about having the occasional long weekend, thats sort of the extent of our time away.
We also booked tickets to Paris for Christmas!! We are going with Ben and Megan on the 24th of December, spending Christmas Day at Eurodisney (can i get a whoop whoop!) and then having a wee gawk at gay paris!!! Gonna be freezing, but im so excited! Got mean deals too.
We went and watched Jess Wood in a Shakespeare play the other night. It was the abridged version of As you like it. Proud of myself that i understood most of it, even got some of Shakespeares insane jokes....Caleb was not such a fan, im impressed that he sat through all 80 min of it...but im sure we must be at least a wee bit more cultured from it!
Tomorrow morning we have a ridiculously early start...im going to Nth Ireland for a one night stand, and Caleb has to take me to the train! My flight is really early and im making him get up wiht me at like 4.30am to accompany me so that i dont get mugged in London.....nah just dont wanna go alone! He's actually not coming with me this time, he is staying behind in London town!
My job is amazingly busy....i just can't believe that im busy ALL the time, ive never experienced anything like it, except when i worked my one shift at the Nestle factory, which if you have heard me recount was my day from hell, i actually cried and begged Caleb not to send me back. But my job is insane! The day just rushes past....im actually surprised when i look up and see its home time.....what the!
Its getting chilly here, we dont really go out now without a jumper, and even caleb wears one. All the leaves are turning brown and its actually quite pretty, and im enjoying the chill, its not awful but im not sure im gonna love when winter hits!
Anyway, that is us. Dont think we have much more news.
Luv ya's
Caleb has got himself a job...again we dont know details of when he is starting etc, it seems to be a pattern here, but hoping he will start next week. I think he's actually going mad sitting around at home, like actually. The job is a carpentry job based with a company in Chelsea.
Although he has found his new fix of watching Survivor Samoa on you tube and has created his own facebook account, so he has been mildly productive.
We booked tickets to the All Blacks vs Wales game in November....so excited! just the one night away in Cardiff, but till i actually spend long enough at work to feel not too bad about having the occasional long weekend, thats sort of the extent of our time away.
We also booked tickets to Paris for Christmas!! We are going with Ben and Megan on the 24th of December, spending Christmas Day at Eurodisney (can i get a whoop whoop!) and then having a wee gawk at gay paris!!! Gonna be freezing, but im so excited! Got mean deals too.
We went and watched Jess Wood in a Shakespeare play the other night. It was the abridged version of As you like it. Proud of myself that i understood most of it, even got some of Shakespeares insane jokes....Caleb was not such a fan, im impressed that he sat through all 80 min of it...but im sure we must be at least a wee bit more cultured from it!
Tomorrow morning we have a ridiculously early start...im going to Nth Ireland for a one night stand, and Caleb has to take me to the train! My flight is really early and im making him get up wiht me at like 4.30am to accompany me so that i dont get mugged in London.....nah just dont wanna go alone! He's actually not coming with me this time, he is staying behind in London town!
My job is amazingly busy....i just can't believe that im busy ALL the time, ive never experienced anything like it, except when i worked my one shift at the Nestle factory, which if you have heard me recount was my day from hell, i actually cried and begged Caleb not to send me back. But my job is insane! The day just rushes past....im actually surprised when i look up and see its home time.....what the!
Its getting chilly here, we dont really go out now without a jumper, and even caleb wears one. All the leaves are turning brown and its actually quite pretty, and im enjoying the chill, its not awful but im not sure im gonna love when winter hits!
Anyway, that is us. Dont think we have much more news.
Luv ya's
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Small world!
Ok, so i havent written for ages..i totally thought i had written another one, but i was wrong!
Sooo updates.
Caleb
Well he is still looking for a job. Had a few interviews, but for one reason or another he hasn't got the job. One job he totally had, but the cost to insure him for the work van was 4000pounds and his boss wasnt willing so that sux!
He is getting a bit bored so your prayers would be much appreciated that he finds work soon.
Although he hasnt got a job, he has managed to do some fun like.....meet that russian hit man! or at least thats what i like to call him. Caleb had his address memorised from the Hungarian Bath house, but when we looked it up on google maps it didn't look like it existed. So one day he decided that he would go and physically look for it. So he wandered up and down Chelsea Embankment, which is a flash road that overlooks the river, looking at the names on all the apartments till he found the name of the Russian! I saw him when i got home from work, and he was just leaving to go and see this guy, he wanted to catch him at home....too funny. About 10pm when he wasnt home still i had all sorts of scenarios running through my head, my favourite was that caleb had to undertake an initiation for the russian mafia and was at that time carrying out a hit on some Polish underworld figure! Unfortunately once again my imagination proved slightly on the crazy side.....but Caleb did manage to meet with Mr Toffee nose, who works for one of the guys who pretty much owns Chelsea, there are 2. Roman Abranovich and another guy, and he works for him. He regaled Caleb with stories of how he 'fixed' his problems that came up. my personal favourite anecdote of the night was Mr Russians offer to give Caleb all of his old suits, because he is getting new ones!!! What!!!! Does Caleb look a little scruffy???? Too funny. He also got both of our cell phone numbers, saying that he may invite us to a dinner party when he next throws one....ummmmm scary....i think i may have to bone up on my manners and all that. He casually would name drop to caleb about Sting and Madonna throughout the conversation too....so amusing. So yeah thats our fixer friend....oh and we even have his business card and it totally just says 'fixer'. Totally the best.
Maree
We spent a weekend in Stratford on Avon. Too cute! Had a really fun time wandering aroudn the village and along the Avon river. Wasn't too fussed about all the Shakespeare stuff, but not bad to have a wee look at. Was mint weather, and there was a food festival on too. I had a really nice time. The second day we went to Warwick Castle and spent 5 hrs wandering round. Madame Tussauds has taken over the management of the castle and it has different wax figures dotted round the castle showing the different members of the royalty that inhabited the castle. My favourite thing there was watching the falconry show. So cool to see the hawks etc hunting. The castle is the most intact one that we have seen, cos it was inhabited constantly for 1000 years.
Did you see us on Breakfast. Our newest claim to fame (thanks to Lisa Carter cos she told us tamati was here), was to join Tamati at Buckingham palace and get on T.V smiling and waving inanely at the camera. Its all part of my cunning plan to become a childrens t.v presenter and then to get onto dancing with the stars.....what a fantastic plan. But my mum saw us, so at least it was worth the trip down there.
Sports
You know us.....a wee bit sports mad. Well being over here hasn't changed that, maybe even its made us a wee bit madder, you know the whole absence makes the heart grow stronger. Caleb was a real trooper for the David Tua match, while i stayed snuggled up in bed, he made his lonesome way down to a pub that was screening the early morning match. He fondly describes the fight as 'the best time', and the 'biggest sausage sizzle that hes been too, with barely a girl in the room'. Cant say im the hugest fan of boxing, but stoked that Tua won, but feel sorry for Cameron. Caleb also ran into a bunch of guys that he went to school with at St Kents.
We have also brought tickets for NZ vs Australia league game in a couple of weeks. CAnt wait to see it live. They are playing at twickenham. We booked a shuttle to the game, and then realised that we had booked on an Aussie fans website...so i think that if we lose it will be a very long ride back!
The longer we are here the crazier it seems that London is such a small place. I attended some training yesterday... there were 5 of us in the training. 2 other kiwis adn i knew them both! How insane is that. In a city of 7million, it shouldnt be that easy to run into people.
This is officially the worst blog ever, i have given up trying to write cohesively. I just vomit words onto the blog page!
Miss you guys
luv lots.
Sooo updates.
Caleb
Well he is still looking for a job. Had a few interviews, but for one reason or another he hasn't got the job. One job he totally had, but the cost to insure him for the work van was 4000pounds and his boss wasnt willing so that sux!
He is getting a bit bored so your prayers would be much appreciated that he finds work soon.
Although he hasnt got a job, he has managed to do some fun like.....meet that russian hit man! or at least thats what i like to call him. Caleb had his address memorised from the Hungarian Bath house, but when we looked it up on google maps it didn't look like it existed. So one day he decided that he would go and physically look for it. So he wandered up and down Chelsea Embankment, which is a flash road that overlooks the river, looking at the names on all the apartments till he found the name of the Russian! I saw him when i got home from work, and he was just leaving to go and see this guy, he wanted to catch him at home....too funny. About 10pm when he wasnt home still i had all sorts of scenarios running through my head, my favourite was that caleb had to undertake an initiation for the russian mafia and was at that time carrying out a hit on some Polish underworld figure! Unfortunately once again my imagination proved slightly on the crazy side.....but Caleb did manage to meet with Mr Toffee nose, who works for one of the guys who pretty much owns Chelsea, there are 2. Roman Abranovich and another guy, and he works for him. He regaled Caleb with stories of how he 'fixed' his problems that came up. my personal favourite anecdote of the night was Mr Russians offer to give Caleb all of his old suits, because he is getting new ones!!! What!!!! Does Caleb look a little scruffy???? Too funny. He also got both of our cell phone numbers, saying that he may invite us to a dinner party when he next throws one....ummmmm scary....i think i may have to bone up on my manners and all that. He casually would name drop to caleb about Sting and Madonna throughout the conversation too....so amusing. So yeah thats our fixer friend....oh and we even have his business card and it totally just says 'fixer'. Totally the best.
Maree
We spent a weekend in Stratford on Avon. Too cute! Had a really fun time wandering aroudn the village and along the Avon river. Wasn't too fussed about all the Shakespeare stuff, but not bad to have a wee look at. Was mint weather, and there was a food festival on too. I had a really nice time. The second day we went to Warwick Castle and spent 5 hrs wandering round. Madame Tussauds has taken over the management of the castle and it has different wax figures dotted round the castle showing the different members of the royalty that inhabited the castle. My favourite thing there was watching the falconry show. So cool to see the hawks etc hunting. The castle is the most intact one that we have seen, cos it was inhabited constantly for 1000 years.
Did you see us on Breakfast. Our newest claim to fame (thanks to Lisa Carter cos she told us tamati was here), was to join Tamati at Buckingham palace and get on T.V smiling and waving inanely at the camera. Its all part of my cunning plan to become a childrens t.v presenter and then to get onto dancing with the stars.....what a fantastic plan. But my mum saw us, so at least it was worth the trip down there.
Sports
You know us.....a wee bit sports mad. Well being over here hasn't changed that, maybe even its made us a wee bit madder, you know the whole absence makes the heart grow stronger. Caleb was a real trooper for the David Tua match, while i stayed snuggled up in bed, he made his lonesome way down to a pub that was screening the early morning match. He fondly describes the fight as 'the best time', and the 'biggest sausage sizzle that hes been too, with barely a girl in the room'. Cant say im the hugest fan of boxing, but stoked that Tua won, but feel sorry for Cameron. Caleb also ran into a bunch of guys that he went to school with at St Kents.
We have also brought tickets for NZ vs Australia league game in a couple of weeks. CAnt wait to see it live. They are playing at twickenham. We booked a shuttle to the game, and then realised that we had booked on an Aussie fans website...so i think that if we lose it will be a very long ride back!
The longer we are here the crazier it seems that London is such a small place. I attended some training yesterday... there were 5 of us in the training. 2 other kiwis adn i knew them both! How insane is that. In a city of 7million, it shouldnt be that easy to run into people.
This is officially the worst blog ever, i have given up trying to write cohesively. I just vomit words onto the blog page!
Miss you guys
luv lots.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Life!
Soooo....i have a job...and i have started working. I am working for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...official sounding huh. But really i am just a CYFs worker, so a social worker for the government. Although i am in one of the richest areas of London, we include Notting Hill which is very pimped, my area is in the North of it, kinda like the forgotton part of the borough. The part which they say doesnt belong to them, kinda like Howick being included in South Auckland...lol. Anyway i am working in an office that is in the middle of a housing estate, which is pretty much just a massive area of state housing. Everywhere around us are flats and big tower blocks of flats. I am shadowing the worker i am replacing, i have one more week with her before she leaves. I am frantically trying to learn about laws, legislation and local agencies in the area....its very full on at the moment, although i feel like im not really doing work. One of the most unique areas in my patch is the area where the Irish Gypsies live! The politically correct name for them is the Travellers. In our local area is a little settlement of them. I have been to their patch twice, its only one street, everyone knows everyone and its all like caravans that are permanent. Lots of yappy little dogs and lots of issues, like anywhere that is affected by poverty. I think i will become a frequent visitor to this area, which should be a challenge because the community is very closed and they shut up shop to outsiders whenever anything happens, and there are lots of violent incidents. I was just hoping to see Brad Pitt there ( seeing as Snatch was my only experience of Irish Gypsies up to this point!)
Anyway thats my work. Im really scared, but also kinda excited.
Caleb is still looking for work. He was offered a crazy job doing like cleaning supervising sorta, but it was a franchise thing, and was really involved with tax etc, and he pretty much hates cleaning, so that wasnt really a good option. He has signed up with recruitment agencies and we are following up some contacts so hopefully he will find something soon.
We are getting more settled, but until we are both working its still kinda weird. We are hoping to buy a bed soon, had an amazing visit to Ikea.....which set my covet alert on high. Maybe in a couple of weeks, after a couple of pays. We did buy some beanbags tho, cos Jess n Andys house is set up for like just the two of them, including the lounge which just had a two seater couch. The addition of the bean bags means we too can watch the telly in comfort....Caleb had the lovely experience of carrying the two bean bags from the shop to our house ( a 10min walk), all the way up the main street. I would have helped but i had my hands full from eating icecream! Anyway we are loving them!
Im also really excited cos i booked a weekend in North Ireland in late Oct, goin to catch up with my girls there! Caleb isnt coming cos he doesnt want to face a weekend of insane girl gossip and catch up....the last time i saw them was in 2003!
We are also planning to have an amazing albeit cold christmas day in Paris!!! To be exact, in Eurodisney.....Jess and Andy are coming and just waiting to hear if Ben and Megan are gonna join us too.....found a good deal for the hotel and Eurostar tickets.....how fun is that gonna be....although i bet we will be wearing a million layers, but i figure that Christmas days should be memorable, and im sure this will help make lotsa awesome memories! Fingers crossed that it doesnt rain!
Anyway that is about all that is happening for us at the moment.
Would love to hear from you all
Luv us!
Anyway thats my work. Im really scared, but also kinda excited.
Caleb is still looking for work. He was offered a crazy job doing like cleaning supervising sorta, but it was a franchise thing, and was really involved with tax etc, and he pretty much hates cleaning, so that wasnt really a good option. He has signed up with recruitment agencies and we are following up some contacts so hopefully he will find something soon.
We are getting more settled, but until we are both working its still kinda weird. We are hoping to buy a bed soon, had an amazing visit to Ikea.....which set my covet alert on high. Maybe in a couple of weeks, after a couple of pays. We did buy some beanbags tho, cos Jess n Andys house is set up for like just the two of them, including the lounge which just had a two seater couch. The addition of the bean bags means we too can watch the telly in comfort....Caleb had the lovely experience of carrying the two bean bags from the shop to our house ( a 10min walk), all the way up the main street. I would have helped but i had my hands full from eating icecream! Anyway we are loving them!
Im also really excited cos i booked a weekend in North Ireland in late Oct, goin to catch up with my girls there! Caleb isnt coming cos he doesnt want to face a weekend of insane girl gossip and catch up....the last time i saw them was in 2003!
We are also planning to have an amazing albeit cold christmas day in Paris!!! To be exact, in Eurodisney.....Jess and Andy are coming and just waiting to hear if Ben and Megan are gonna join us too.....found a good deal for the hotel and Eurostar tickets.....how fun is that gonna be....although i bet we will be wearing a million layers, but i figure that Christmas days should be memorable, and im sure this will help make lotsa awesome memories! Fingers crossed that it doesnt rain!
Anyway that is about all that is happening for us at the moment.
Would love to hear from you all
Luv us!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Back to reality
So unfortunately we have finished all our fun tripping around, and are back here in London and forced to face reality.
However i will fill you in on the end of our trip first...photos are up on my facebook page if you havent seen them already.
Berlin is a strange city, not beautiful or amazing to look at, but full of history from WW2. The first night we arrived in Berlin we had dinner at this place called the Happy Pig....the food was ok, Schnitzel again! but the best part of the night was at the end when we did karaoke...lol. My personal favourite was seeing caleb and another guy perform achey breaky heart....i wish you guys could have seen it, very funny. I got to sing some classic S-Club 7 song, which i know you are all very jealous of.
The next morning we started with a walking tour, our guide was amazing and he was able to bring to life what would have otherwise been just boring buildings. We got to see bullet scarred buildings, ex Nazi headquarters, the location of Hitlers bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish memorial and lots of other stuff. Germany is amazing the way they have embraced the role that the Nazi's played in WW2 but also how they have distanced themselves from their past and managed to move on. What is interesting to note is that whenever anyone speaks of the WW2 era it is very deliberately phrased as 'Nazi Germany', not just Germany.
That night we went on a pub crawl...was fairly tame, one club was fun, i got to dance on the tables etc, so fun. We were all wearing David Hasselhoff t-shirts, which is a wee bit of a novelty...nothing quite like a massive group of tourists travelling in a pack all looking strange. Not a bad night tho.
The next morning was our drive to Amsterdam and as we entered the city we visited a Clog and Cheese factory. This was pretty cool, apparently there are only 5 clog makers left in the whole of the Netherlands. We got to eat the cheese and then buy stuff, i added to my collection of christmas tree decorations that ive been collecting in each country..fun, cant wait till christmas just so i can hang them.
Amsterdam itself was a real eyeopener. I had only ever heard of it because of the redlight district and weed, and yes both are very prevalent there, but its a gorgeous city in its own right. We hired bikes one day, had a little bit of a tour and then headed off on our own to explore and its full of canals, and so flat that its really lovely to ride round. Teh houses are all on a lean cos of the fact that the area is sinking because of being on reclaimed land. One highlight was visiting Anne Franks house, they havent changed the house inside where her family were hidden before being betrayed to the Nazi's. Very cool to see the bookshelf etc which hid the entranceway, after having read the book as a kid, and trying so hard to imagine what it actually looked like.
We had dinner that night at a floating Chinese restaurant. Funny story, when it was originally built the engineers etc spent ages working out how much buoyancy etc they would need to keep it afloat...on opening night, once the guests had come onboard, it started to sink, because they had forgotten to factor into the equation the weight of the guests....lol. Had an amazing meal there, and then got on a boat for a canal cruise. This was a lovely way to see Amsterdam.
This was our last night on the tour and definately a good way to finish.
The next morning the alarm didnt go off, i must have set it wrong and we woke up with 10 min before we had to be on the bus...arghhhh. Just threw everything into our suitcases and raced downstairs...made it just! It was a long trip back to London, we left Amsterdam at 7am and arrived in London at 8pm....long!
Now its back to reality. Jess and Andy who we have been staying with have offered us the room long term, so thats pretty cool. The apartment is so conveniently located to everything, so now we just have to buy a bed, at the moment we are sleeping on an airbed which is actually amazingly comfortable.
I have had some interviews, some worse than others, hoping that i will get a job soon. Caleb is out today checking out a job, to see if he likes it, not building, cos its quick difficult to get into and Caleb hasnt done the stuff he needs to just walk into a job.
But life will hopefully settle soon into a bit of a routine. We are heading to stratford-on-avon in a couple of weekends for Jess's birthday. Thats where Shakespeare was born, and its apparently really beautiful.
Anyway, thats us and our latest news.
Keep in touch
Luv Caleb and Maree
However i will fill you in on the end of our trip first...photos are up on my facebook page if you havent seen them already.
Berlin is a strange city, not beautiful or amazing to look at, but full of history from WW2. The first night we arrived in Berlin we had dinner at this place called the Happy Pig....the food was ok, Schnitzel again! but the best part of the night was at the end when we did karaoke...lol. My personal favourite was seeing caleb and another guy perform achey breaky heart....i wish you guys could have seen it, very funny. I got to sing some classic S-Club 7 song, which i know you are all very jealous of.
The next morning we started with a walking tour, our guide was amazing and he was able to bring to life what would have otherwise been just boring buildings. We got to see bullet scarred buildings, ex Nazi headquarters, the location of Hitlers bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish memorial and lots of other stuff. Germany is amazing the way they have embraced the role that the Nazi's played in WW2 but also how they have distanced themselves from their past and managed to move on. What is interesting to note is that whenever anyone speaks of the WW2 era it is very deliberately phrased as 'Nazi Germany', not just Germany.
That night we went on a pub crawl...was fairly tame, one club was fun, i got to dance on the tables etc, so fun. We were all wearing David Hasselhoff t-shirts, which is a wee bit of a novelty...nothing quite like a massive group of tourists travelling in a pack all looking strange. Not a bad night tho.
The next morning was our drive to Amsterdam and as we entered the city we visited a Clog and Cheese factory. This was pretty cool, apparently there are only 5 clog makers left in the whole of the Netherlands. We got to eat the cheese and then buy stuff, i added to my collection of christmas tree decorations that ive been collecting in each country..fun, cant wait till christmas just so i can hang them.
Amsterdam itself was a real eyeopener. I had only ever heard of it because of the redlight district and weed, and yes both are very prevalent there, but its a gorgeous city in its own right. We hired bikes one day, had a little bit of a tour and then headed off on our own to explore and its full of canals, and so flat that its really lovely to ride round. Teh houses are all on a lean cos of the fact that the area is sinking because of being on reclaimed land. One highlight was visiting Anne Franks house, they havent changed the house inside where her family were hidden before being betrayed to the Nazi's. Very cool to see the bookshelf etc which hid the entranceway, after having read the book as a kid, and trying so hard to imagine what it actually looked like.
We had dinner that night at a floating Chinese restaurant. Funny story, when it was originally built the engineers etc spent ages working out how much buoyancy etc they would need to keep it afloat...on opening night, once the guests had come onboard, it started to sink, because they had forgotten to factor into the equation the weight of the guests....lol. Had an amazing meal there, and then got on a boat for a canal cruise. This was a lovely way to see Amsterdam.
This was our last night on the tour and definately a good way to finish.
The next morning the alarm didnt go off, i must have set it wrong and we woke up with 10 min before we had to be on the bus...arghhhh. Just threw everything into our suitcases and raced downstairs...made it just! It was a long trip back to London, we left Amsterdam at 7am and arrived in London at 8pm....long!
Now its back to reality. Jess and Andy who we have been staying with have offered us the room long term, so thats pretty cool. The apartment is so conveniently located to everything, so now we just have to buy a bed, at the moment we are sleeping on an airbed which is actually amazingly comfortable.
I have had some interviews, some worse than others, hoping that i will get a job soon. Caleb is out today checking out a job, to see if he likes it, not building, cos its quick difficult to get into and Caleb hasnt done the stuff he needs to just walk into a job.
But life will hopefully settle soon into a bit of a routine. We are heading to stratford-on-avon in a couple of weekends for Jess's birthday. Thats where Shakespeare was born, and its apparently really beautiful.
Anyway, thats us and our latest news.
Keep in touch
Luv Caleb and Maree
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Auschwitz, Prague and beginning of Germany!
Hello everybody.....well where should i start.
We visited Auschwitz and the adjoining camp of Birkenau just a couple of days ago, and i think it was probably one of the most harrowing places i have ever been. The camp is still standing and they have turned the different barracks that housed prisoners into incredibly moving memorials and exhibits that give you a disturbing look into conditions at Auschwitz. I had read lots about the war and the inhumane conditions etc but nothing prepared me for the reality. There was a ban on taking indoor photos, but we have some moving outdoor ones. Some of the exhibitions inside include the size of the ingoal of a rugby field of hair that was collected and bagged up by the nazis from the bodies they gassed. They had piles and piles of shoes, hairbrushes, pots and pans etc that were all collected and stored in warehouses and have now become haunting memorials to the deceased. Rows and rows of pictures line the hallways of the prisoners up till 1943 with their arrival and death dates below...most lasted only couple of months, because if thez werent immediately exterminated on arrival, they died from the cold and starvation. One of the most disturbing exhibits was the piles of suitcases of the deceased, they all have birthdates on them, and you can see the cases of children included in the exhibitions. Fair to say i was teary throughout the exhibitions. We finished up the tour at the main Auschwitz camp with a walk through one of the extermination chambers....i found it horrific, i wanted to vomit. Seeing the place where so many people spent hideous last moments is quite gruesome, and being able to see the holes in the roof where they dropped in the gases etc really makes it real. We then moved up to Birkenau, which is part of Auschwitz and its expansion when it became too small, here you can see rows and rows of rebuilt barracks where the prisoners were housed, and it was here where they had the most prisoners exterminated....they had 4 more gas chambers here which were very busy. Prisoners literally arrived at the camp, if they werent selected for work duties they were sent immediately to the gas chambers...mostly women and children. All in all just over 1 million people were killed at these camps. Today it is compulsory for all German school children to visit the concentration camp sites twice in their schooling, once in primary and once in high school.
While we were at Auschwitz we saw loads of Jewish school groups visiting....i cant imagine how difficult that would be for them, after seeing how much it affected us.
Although it was a sobering visit, it was still a highlight of our trip.
Prague was next on our itinerary and we had a lovely day wandering round the city, not really doing much....but somehow filling in 8 hours.
We spent a lot of time...and money at the markets near Wencelas square...yes the one in the christmas carol...and we got some really cool stuff. There was really cool handmade wooden stuff, lots of toys and we had so much fun playing with everything at every single stall...probably why it took so long. Caleb brought himself a wooden train, that he is telling everyone is for a child of ours one day....oh ok, we believe you, cos im sure its gonna sit around till then unplayed with!
It was so fun just wandering, getting lost in the gorgeous cobbled streets and alleys of Prague, we went inside and had a look at a church and we wandered up to the old castle on teh hill to check out awesome views over Prague, but most of the time was spent just chilling. Overall a brilliant day. That night we decided we would be good children and call our fathers for fathers day, however the stupid calling card that we had searched for for ages, wouldnt work, so we got to speak to my dad for a whopping minute and half and Caleb left a message for his from our cell phone...it was super expensive!
This morning we drove from Prague into Germany. We spent a wee bit of time in Dresden which is quite cool...because of the bombing in WW2 they have done a lot of rebuilding and refurnishing etc in this area, and its very pretty. We also saw the best street performer we have seen on our travels....he was a guy dressed as a business man taking a dog for a walk, and he was frozen mid stride....incredible...its hard to describe how good he was....we took a picture, not sure if it does him justice tho.
Then we arrived here in Berlin, did a driving tour on the bus and then arrived at the hostel. Got dinner tonight at a restaurant called the happy pig...dont know how happy the pigs will be seeing as Germany is kinda known for its pork! Caleb will be happy tho, cos hes gonna sink his teeth into the pork knuckle...maybe he can be the happy pig! oink oink, wash it down with a stein! (one litre).
Tomorrow we are doing a 3rd reich tour and then no lies we are doing a pub crawl....really only cos we get a David Hasselhoff t-shirt (crazy germans), we have also been listening to the baywatch theme song on the bus quite a bit, caleb has been singing his lungs out and dreaming of Pam. Caleb also made one of the guys download the freakin schnappy song, you know the annoying alligator one...and yes that has been played on the bus too....however those songs are slightly better than some of the other horrid stuff that gets played by the bogans at the front of the bus...its what happens when you get too many australians in one place! ACDC are suck!
Oh yeah, i owe jess orchard big time, cos i emailed her a bunch of nonsense which she put onto powerpoint for me, so i can send it in for part 2 of my job interview...should know by the end of the week if i want the job...still not sure, its in east london, which will be a big move, but guess i will cross that bridge if i get offered the job...will keep you posted!
Havent posted any pics cos its just too much like hard work from the hostels....promise will put them up in london, prob so many that you will be begging me to stop.
Luv yas...
We visited Auschwitz and the adjoining camp of Birkenau just a couple of days ago, and i think it was probably one of the most harrowing places i have ever been. The camp is still standing and they have turned the different barracks that housed prisoners into incredibly moving memorials and exhibits that give you a disturbing look into conditions at Auschwitz. I had read lots about the war and the inhumane conditions etc but nothing prepared me for the reality. There was a ban on taking indoor photos, but we have some moving outdoor ones. Some of the exhibitions inside include the size of the ingoal of a rugby field of hair that was collected and bagged up by the nazis from the bodies they gassed. They had piles and piles of shoes, hairbrushes, pots and pans etc that were all collected and stored in warehouses and have now become haunting memorials to the deceased. Rows and rows of pictures line the hallways of the prisoners up till 1943 with their arrival and death dates below...most lasted only couple of months, because if thez werent immediately exterminated on arrival, they died from the cold and starvation. One of the most disturbing exhibits was the piles of suitcases of the deceased, they all have birthdates on them, and you can see the cases of children included in the exhibitions. Fair to say i was teary throughout the exhibitions. We finished up the tour at the main Auschwitz camp with a walk through one of the extermination chambers....i found it horrific, i wanted to vomit. Seeing the place where so many people spent hideous last moments is quite gruesome, and being able to see the holes in the roof where they dropped in the gases etc really makes it real. We then moved up to Birkenau, which is part of Auschwitz and its expansion when it became too small, here you can see rows and rows of rebuilt barracks where the prisoners were housed, and it was here where they had the most prisoners exterminated....they had 4 more gas chambers here which were very busy. Prisoners literally arrived at the camp, if they werent selected for work duties they were sent immediately to the gas chambers...mostly women and children. All in all just over 1 million people were killed at these camps. Today it is compulsory for all German school children to visit the concentration camp sites twice in their schooling, once in primary and once in high school.
While we were at Auschwitz we saw loads of Jewish school groups visiting....i cant imagine how difficult that would be for them, after seeing how much it affected us.
Although it was a sobering visit, it was still a highlight of our trip.
Prague was next on our itinerary and we had a lovely day wandering round the city, not really doing much....but somehow filling in 8 hours.
We spent a lot of time...and money at the markets near Wencelas square...yes the one in the christmas carol...and we got some really cool stuff. There was really cool handmade wooden stuff, lots of toys and we had so much fun playing with everything at every single stall...probably why it took so long. Caleb brought himself a wooden train, that he is telling everyone is for a child of ours one day....oh ok, we believe you, cos im sure its gonna sit around till then unplayed with!
It was so fun just wandering, getting lost in the gorgeous cobbled streets and alleys of Prague, we went inside and had a look at a church and we wandered up to the old castle on teh hill to check out awesome views over Prague, but most of the time was spent just chilling. Overall a brilliant day. That night we decided we would be good children and call our fathers for fathers day, however the stupid calling card that we had searched for for ages, wouldnt work, so we got to speak to my dad for a whopping minute and half and Caleb left a message for his from our cell phone...it was super expensive!
This morning we drove from Prague into Germany. We spent a wee bit of time in Dresden which is quite cool...because of the bombing in WW2 they have done a lot of rebuilding and refurnishing etc in this area, and its very pretty. We also saw the best street performer we have seen on our travels....he was a guy dressed as a business man taking a dog for a walk, and he was frozen mid stride....incredible...its hard to describe how good he was....we took a picture, not sure if it does him justice tho.
Then we arrived here in Berlin, did a driving tour on the bus and then arrived at the hostel. Got dinner tonight at a restaurant called the happy pig...dont know how happy the pigs will be seeing as Germany is kinda known for its pork! Caleb will be happy tho, cos hes gonna sink his teeth into the pork knuckle...maybe he can be the happy pig! oink oink, wash it down with a stein! (one litre).
Tomorrow we are doing a 3rd reich tour and then no lies we are doing a pub crawl....really only cos we get a David Hasselhoff t-shirt (crazy germans), we have also been listening to the baywatch theme song on the bus quite a bit, caleb has been singing his lungs out and dreaming of Pam. Caleb also made one of the guys download the freakin schnappy song, you know the annoying alligator one...and yes that has been played on the bus too....however those songs are slightly better than some of the other horrid stuff that gets played by the bogans at the front of the bus...its what happens when you get too many australians in one place! ACDC are suck!
Oh yeah, i owe jess orchard big time, cos i emailed her a bunch of nonsense which she put onto powerpoint for me, so i can send it in for part 2 of my job interview...should know by the end of the week if i want the job...still not sure, its in east london, which will be a big move, but guess i will cross that bridge if i get offered the job...will keep you posted!
Havent posted any pics cos its just too much like hard work from the hostels....promise will put them up in london, prob so many that you will be begging me to stop.
Luv yas...
Thursday, September 3, 2009
East side....what!
Man i havent written for a while so i apologise in advance for what is likely to be a very disjointed blog....also cos im holding a conversation whilst typing...multitasking...its a girl thing, males you just wouldnt understand!
Had a wicked toga party in venice, who woulda thought that sheets were so attractive...was stinking hot that night, so we quite enjoyed the breeze under our sheets...lol. Headed off the next morning to Austria which was amazing. It was so beautiful and so clean after Italy. Lots of gorgeous buildings and lovely things....lots of money from days past, and you can see the effects of that in the architecture of their palaces etc. We ate the most massive schitnzel in the world and have pics to prove it... Caleb wants me to say he had a Stein too....for those who have no idea (like me) its a litre of beer, he felt manly afterwards...lol.
From Austria we travelled thru Slovakia and we got to stop off in Bratislava, the capital....oh my gosh so gorgeous...well at least the old town is. We only got a couple of hours which was not enough to do it justice, but it has gorgeous wee cobbled alleys and also has the dubious accolade of having the narrowest house in europe, 160cm across...why?????? We loved Bratislava and would love to return....well i would, Caleb is ambivalent in his lovely non commital way.
We hit our 3rd country in one day....Hungary, and felt a sense of accomplishment! doubt many people are crazy enough to try and pull that off too often. One of the girls celebrated her birthday that day...how cool is that, in 3 countries. Budapest was where we stayed, but the countryside leading into the city was really sweet, tiny little houses...lots of dirt roads.
Budapest is beautiful. We got an orientation of the city from the citidella, took pics of the two halves of the cities separated by the danube. That night we had a night tour and then dinner at Fatal Restaurant...no lies, that was its name...funny huh, way to draw in customers. Caleb tried goulash, wasnt that enamoured, i had a ridiculously large portion of fried turkey covered in sesame seeds....weird, but not too bad. We also had bed bugs in our room, which our roommates kindly discovered for us, so we got moved rooms....oh the joys of hostels.
There is sooo much to see in budapest so the next day we had so much fun. We started the day at the most amazing new museum called the House of Terror...That is its actual name, because it was named that during WW2 when the house was the headquarters of the Nazis in budapest. They have turned it into a very moving, funky museum that is very emotional, even though most of it is in polish! Probably most moving was seeing the actual cells under the house that were used to keep jews in and also the gallows used to hang them....i was really moved by the cells, seeing the dark, damp adn tiny conditions that these people spent their last hours in...although i have read so much about the holocaust, seeing these cells really rammed it home for me. The museum was really really worthwhile. We moved from them up the hill to the castle and fishermans bastion, which pretty much just means lots of pretty architecture. After lots of walking we were totally stoked to finish our day at the Gellert Baths which were mint!!! Lots of pools and areas to hang, all dating back to a long time ago. The architecture inside is like columms and mosaics etc, totally cool. We spent lots of time outside, and Caleb loved the wave pool, practiced his body surfing. However it was here that i swear that we met a member of the russian mafia.....let me explain. We are hanging out in the pool and Caleb startsup a conversation wiht this stranger. We are chatting and we ask him what he does. He answers us by saying that hs is a fixer. We sort of dwell on this for a second, and then we ask him to clarify just what a fixer is. I fix problems, he says????? And then hes like, its cos im ex army!!!! Ok, so im totally sure that we are talking to a hit man or assassin, or a crazy man...funny huh. Anyway he drifts away, then later on in the afternoon Caleb decided he thought it woudl be funny to go see the men only part, where pretty much they are all naked.,....and he runs into this guy again. They start talking and this guy schools (grooms???) him on the art of the sauna and how to use it and the plunge pools correctly, and then asks Caleb if he has a good memory. Caleb says yes and then the guy rattles off his n ame and address and tells Caleb it will be beneficial for him to remember these details. Then he invites caleb to call round and see him....the guy frickin lives in Chelsea...loaded. Caleb thinks he is gonna visit him...i am sooo not going with him, but im interested to see how it pans out....will keep you posted.
The next day we drove to Krakow, Poland,which is where i am writing this. i thought budapest was my favourite place so far, but Krakow has assumed the number 1 position now. Although i must admit, every place i go moves into number one, maybe cos i have a ridiculously short term memory. We did a night walking tour of the 0ld town of Krakow, oh my word, drop dead gorgeous. Then this morning we did a Schindlers list tour which Caleb hated and i enjoyed...learnt sooo much about Jewish history, got to go into a jewish synagogue, old cemeteries, and see the old ghetto wall. Again very moving and so cool to put history to life. Then Caleb and onother guy went to the castle, while i had to cram over freakin UK legislation about child protection laws cos i found out i was havin a phone interview in an hour. It went ok i think....not sure if im even that keen on the job, but for 35 pounds an hour i can do anything!!! Again will keep you posted...oh and i have to spend the next few days free hours putting together a power point presentation to email to the lady who interviewed me, cos apparently part of the interview was a presentation that i obviously couldnt do...just what i want to do on my holiday!
Krakow is sooo sooo cool. Really beautiful, incredibly cheap, very clean, lots to do and just really wicked vibe. Totally recommend you come and visit it.
We have a crazy early start tomorrow...6am, cos we are going to Auschwitz and then on to Prague. This is what i have been most looking forward to the whole tour, so i hope it lives up to my expectations. I think it will cos what i have seen so far re the holocaust has been so moving.
Anyway , better go get some sleep, hope this isnt too boring. We miss everyone.
Luv yas.
Had a wicked toga party in venice, who woulda thought that sheets were so attractive...was stinking hot that night, so we quite enjoyed the breeze under our sheets...lol. Headed off the next morning to Austria which was amazing. It was so beautiful and so clean after Italy. Lots of gorgeous buildings and lovely things....lots of money from days past, and you can see the effects of that in the architecture of their palaces etc. We ate the most massive schitnzel in the world and have pics to prove it... Caleb wants me to say he had a Stein too....for those who have no idea (like me) its a litre of beer, he felt manly afterwards...lol.
From Austria we travelled thru Slovakia and we got to stop off in Bratislava, the capital....oh my gosh so gorgeous...well at least the old town is. We only got a couple of hours which was not enough to do it justice, but it has gorgeous wee cobbled alleys and also has the dubious accolade of having the narrowest house in europe, 160cm across...why?????? We loved Bratislava and would love to return....well i would, Caleb is ambivalent in his lovely non commital way.
We hit our 3rd country in one day....Hungary, and felt a sense of accomplishment! doubt many people are crazy enough to try and pull that off too often. One of the girls celebrated her birthday that day...how cool is that, in 3 countries. Budapest was where we stayed, but the countryside leading into the city was really sweet, tiny little houses...lots of dirt roads.
Budapest is beautiful. We got an orientation of the city from the citidella, took pics of the two halves of the cities separated by the danube. That night we had a night tour and then dinner at Fatal Restaurant...no lies, that was its name...funny huh, way to draw in customers. Caleb tried goulash, wasnt that enamoured, i had a ridiculously large portion of fried turkey covered in sesame seeds....weird, but not too bad. We also had bed bugs in our room, which our roommates kindly discovered for us, so we got moved rooms....oh the joys of hostels.
There is sooo much to see in budapest so the next day we had so much fun. We started the day at the most amazing new museum called the House of Terror...That is its actual name, because it was named that during WW2 when the house was the headquarters of the Nazis in budapest. They have turned it into a very moving, funky museum that is very emotional, even though most of it is in polish! Probably most moving was seeing the actual cells under the house that were used to keep jews in and also the gallows used to hang them....i was really moved by the cells, seeing the dark, damp adn tiny conditions that these people spent their last hours in...although i have read so much about the holocaust, seeing these cells really rammed it home for me. The museum was really really worthwhile. We moved from them up the hill to the castle and fishermans bastion, which pretty much just means lots of pretty architecture. After lots of walking we were totally stoked to finish our day at the Gellert Baths which were mint!!! Lots of pools and areas to hang, all dating back to a long time ago. The architecture inside is like columms and mosaics etc, totally cool. We spent lots of time outside, and Caleb loved the wave pool, practiced his body surfing. However it was here that i swear that we met a member of the russian mafia.....let me explain. We are hanging out in the pool and Caleb startsup a conversation wiht this stranger. We are chatting and we ask him what he does. He answers us by saying that hs is a fixer. We sort of dwell on this for a second, and then we ask him to clarify just what a fixer is. I fix problems, he says????? And then hes like, its cos im ex army!!!! Ok, so im totally sure that we are talking to a hit man or assassin, or a crazy man...funny huh. Anyway he drifts away, then later on in the afternoon Caleb decided he thought it woudl be funny to go see the men only part, where pretty much they are all naked.,....and he runs into this guy again. They start talking and this guy schools (grooms???) him on the art of the sauna and how to use it and the plunge pools correctly, and then asks Caleb if he has a good memory. Caleb says yes and then the guy rattles off his n ame and address and tells Caleb it will be beneficial for him to remember these details. Then he invites caleb to call round and see him....the guy frickin lives in Chelsea...loaded. Caleb thinks he is gonna visit him...i am sooo not going with him, but im interested to see how it pans out....will keep you posted.
The next day we drove to Krakow, Poland,which is where i am writing this. i thought budapest was my favourite place so far, but Krakow has assumed the number 1 position now. Although i must admit, every place i go moves into number one, maybe cos i have a ridiculously short term memory. We did a night walking tour of the 0ld town of Krakow, oh my word, drop dead gorgeous. Then this morning we did a Schindlers list tour which Caleb hated and i enjoyed...learnt sooo much about Jewish history, got to go into a jewish synagogue, old cemeteries, and see the old ghetto wall. Again very moving and so cool to put history to life. Then Caleb and onother guy went to the castle, while i had to cram over freakin UK legislation about child protection laws cos i found out i was havin a phone interview in an hour. It went ok i think....not sure if im even that keen on the job, but for 35 pounds an hour i can do anything!!! Again will keep you posted...oh and i have to spend the next few days free hours putting together a power point presentation to email to the lady who interviewed me, cos apparently part of the interview was a presentation that i obviously couldnt do...just what i want to do on my holiday!
Krakow is sooo sooo cool. Really beautiful, incredibly cheap, very clean, lots to do and just really wicked vibe. Totally recommend you come and visit it.
We have a crazy early start tomorrow...6am, cos we are going to Auschwitz and then on to Prague. This is what i have been most looking forward to the whole tour, so i hope it lives up to my expectations. I think it will cos what i have seen so far re the holocaust has been so moving.
Anyway , better go get some sleep, hope this isnt too boring. We miss everyone.
Luv yas.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Ok, so although we were headed for Naples, we actually saw no more of it than the train station....not that by the sound of it we missed anything. We caught the train between Rome and Naples and had to sit by these extremely loud Italian women...i swear that i have never heard a louder culture, everything is loud...to the point where it constantly sounds like they are arguing, even when they are just speaking. Caleb was getting sooo mad at them, at one point a lady further down the train even said a super loud Shhhhh, which kept them in check only for a bit. Anyway, we were heading for our hostel (which was amazing by they way) and it was just out of Naples at a little fishing village thing. We got a wee bit lost getting there, which was pretty funny cos we had just been singing our own praises at our navigational skills, and straight away stuffed up. lol. But we werent too screwed and we managed to sort it out. My birthday was very cool. We spent time at Pompeii, the ruins of a city that was buried by mount vesuvius erupting, and it was cool because the mountain had actually erupted on the 24th of August which was the day we were there. We also spent time in Sorrento, which i guess is best described as a wealthy hang out for both tourists and celebrities. Its a gorgeous town, perched on the cliffs. It was here that we savoured the european beach experience of chilling at the beach whilst lying on a deck chair on a floating wharf....slightly different from the NZ version, really quite bizarre. It was nice to be able to get in the water, even if we had to pay quite a lot for the privelege...weird! Caleb got absoloutely roasted...kinda like a roast carrot...lol im sooo funny. Lucky its me writing these blogs.
We headed back to rome for the night before joining our tour and stayed back at the slightly dodgy hostel we had stayed at previously. We were stoked cos this time we got AC, but the owner nearly drove us mental. We think he is suffering the effects of the bad feedback posted on line, so he was going out of his way to try to be accomodating, instead driving us mad. The morning that we were leaving there he knocked on our dorm room door but noone got up cos we were all still in bed...so he let himself him! Ok so he had breakfast with him,but still....leave us alone. Then about an hour later he returned, no one had eaten the breakfast cos we were still in bed and he got really offended, asking if we didnt like the breakfast, what was wrong with it.We really didnt say much in reply, i mean what do you say to the crazy italian man. Then he started asking me questions in broken english about my email...had i checked it? what did i write? i was sooo confused, didnt know what he was goin on about...and then...he gets me out of bed saying i needed to check my email!!! What the heck! but im silly and go with him. He waits for me to log in and then stands behind me to tell me to fill out the feedback form for his hostel. Im useless at saying no, so i filled it out while he watched...he then asked me to change some of my answers to higher scores....i didnt cos i had already been generous because of him watching over my shoulder, so i was a little bit assertive i guess. Anyway, i went back to the room and told Caleb, who was pissed!!!! Lucky the guy asked me or Caleb would have told him where to go! So yeah, thats our annoying as hostel owner. Unluckily for him, because we stayed there twice, we slammed him on the second feedback, when noone was looking over my shoulder.
We left our part of Rome on the 26th to head to further out where we were meeting our tour...again we were pretty pleased with our navigation skills, and super impressed with the fact that Rome has free buses....who would have thought. We werent sure about the bus fares, so we stood back and watched a couple of buses load on etc and saw noone was paying, so when our bus rocked up, we jumped on and got dropped off at our stop. It was only later as i was singing the praises of the free buses to another girl on our tour that she put me right.....no such thing as free buses, you have to pre purchase a ticket and carry it with you. Random checks are carried out and if you are found without a ticket, instant 50 euro fine!!! Whoops! She herself had been the recipient of a fine.....so we were very very lucky. We have seen our fair share of fines being given on the trains....so im not sure what we were thinking re the buses being free...as if!
Our tour has started well....spent first night in Rome, then the next day travelling. We stopped in at Verona, which was incredibly gorgeous and clean compared with Rome. Got to see Juliets(from Romeo and Juliet) balcony etc, not very long there, but enough to appreciate the city. It has well preserved ancient city walls too which are mean. Our final destination was Venice where we have just spent the day. It really is quite cool....bridge after bridge after bridge connecting the 117 islands or something. Went on a gondola ride...tick that off our bucket lists, and saw the main sights. Another hot day, but probably only in the 30's which is far more bearable. Tonight we have a toga party....so should be interesting!
Looking forward to heading to Austria tomorrow, heard lots about it and sounds gorgeous. dont know if you know but the hills are alive with the sound of music....(apparently).
Later gaters!
We headed back to rome for the night before joining our tour and stayed back at the slightly dodgy hostel we had stayed at previously. We were stoked cos this time we got AC, but the owner nearly drove us mental. We think he is suffering the effects of the bad feedback posted on line, so he was going out of his way to try to be accomodating, instead driving us mad. The morning that we were leaving there he knocked on our dorm room door but noone got up cos we were all still in bed...so he let himself him! Ok so he had breakfast with him,but still....leave us alone. Then about an hour later he returned, no one had eaten the breakfast cos we were still in bed and he got really offended, asking if we didnt like the breakfast, what was wrong with it.We really didnt say much in reply, i mean what do you say to the crazy italian man. Then he started asking me questions in broken english about my email...had i checked it? what did i write? i was sooo confused, didnt know what he was goin on about...and then...he gets me out of bed saying i needed to check my email!!! What the heck! but im silly and go with him. He waits for me to log in and then stands behind me to tell me to fill out the feedback form for his hostel. Im useless at saying no, so i filled it out while he watched...he then asked me to change some of my answers to higher scores....i didnt cos i had already been generous because of him watching over my shoulder, so i was a little bit assertive i guess. Anyway, i went back to the room and told Caleb, who was pissed!!!! Lucky the guy asked me or Caleb would have told him where to go! So yeah, thats our annoying as hostel owner. Unluckily for him, because we stayed there twice, we slammed him on the second feedback, when noone was looking over my shoulder.
We left our part of Rome on the 26th to head to further out where we were meeting our tour...again we were pretty pleased with our navigation skills, and super impressed with the fact that Rome has free buses....who would have thought. We werent sure about the bus fares, so we stood back and watched a couple of buses load on etc and saw noone was paying, so when our bus rocked up, we jumped on and got dropped off at our stop. It was only later as i was singing the praises of the free buses to another girl on our tour that she put me right.....no such thing as free buses, you have to pre purchase a ticket and carry it with you. Random checks are carried out and if you are found without a ticket, instant 50 euro fine!!! Whoops! She herself had been the recipient of a fine.....so we were very very lucky. We have seen our fair share of fines being given on the trains....so im not sure what we were thinking re the buses being free...as if!
Our tour has started well....spent first night in Rome, then the next day travelling. We stopped in at Verona, which was incredibly gorgeous and clean compared with Rome. Got to see Juliets(from Romeo and Juliet) balcony etc, not very long there, but enough to appreciate the city. It has well preserved ancient city walls too which are mean. Our final destination was Venice where we have just spent the day. It really is quite cool....bridge after bridge after bridge connecting the 117 islands or something. Went on a gondola ride...tick that off our bucket lists, and saw the main sights. Another hot day, but probably only in the 30's which is far more bearable. Tonight we have a toga party....so should be interesting!
Looking forward to heading to Austria tomorrow, heard lots about it and sounds gorgeous. dont know if you know but the hills are alive with the sound of music....(apparently).
Later gaters!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Italy!
So....we have moved out of the land of Englishness and into our first non english speaking country....do you think its arrogant to wonder why the signs arent in English???? surely they know that we dont speak Italian...lol. Anyway, the Rome customs was awesome, we strolled up, got our passports stamped and then wandered on...mint! No worries, even beat all the people from the EU countries as they had to go the other line and we were the only ones in the non-EU line...sweet. Had a wee bit of drama however on the other side...so the smarty pants that i am decided that i wouldnt get Euros out till we got here, of course i would be able to find an ATM at the airport...right! Well finding the ATM turned out not to be a problem, however the fact that all of the airports ATMs were down was a wee bit worrying. Not to worry tho, cos we decided to just get cash out on our visa at the travelex and change that to Euros, however for whatever reason of course our stupid card kept getting declined. Mint! Literally stuck in Romes freakin airport with NO money whatsoever! We are sooo smart.
Luckily someone then told us that we could use our visa to pay for the train ticket we needed to get into downtown, where we were able to find useable ATMs. So that was our slightly stressful intro to Rome. When we got off the train, i was fairly confident that i knew where i was going and blissfully ignored Calebs ideas/pleas to buy a map of the area, so for about 30 min i wandered a wee bit lost around the train station looking for the street i knew was just round here somewhere....teehee. Anyway, we made it to our hostel???if you can call it that, kinda bizarre, but not too bad. The guy on the desk likes us so gave us a free upgrade to a private room, no complaints here. However it is 41 degrees, and we dont have airconditioning, so its kinda like a sauna at times, but we have the fan working overtime to make sure we keep the hot air circulating! lol. Caleb is a special fan of the bed cos its quite short and he actually cant fit on it...oh well, it works well for me. Just before we left for Rome, Jess looked up our hostel on Tripadvisor and we had a good laugh(all be it nervously) as we read about how previous people would in no way recommend the hostel to anyone because of the blood on the floor and the bountiful supply of bedbugs....fortunately we have not been blessed with either!
Spend a long but amazing day today looking at things that i thought Caleb and i would find tedious and boring....who woulda thought that people of our great intellect and education would find classical history and art history at all interesting! But we were pleasantly surprised. We were wowed by St Peters Basilica and then by the arty stuff in the Vatican museums, the sistine chapel is pretty sweet too. Then we went and saw the spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon and the Colosseum. A long, incredibly hot day, but very very cool. Caleb and i are still tripping out over all the free water that is available around the city from various fountains etc and it comes out icy cold, definately needed on days like today. So far has been an amazing introduction to Italy. Heading out tomorrow for Naples. If we can avoid being murdered by the mob and the pickpockets im sure our holiday will continue to be mint. Sweet off to savour the delicious gelato options next door, to wash down my pizza! Ciao!!! (oh my gosh im so cultured!)
Luckily someone then told us that we could use our visa to pay for the train ticket we needed to get into downtown, where we were able to find useable ATMs. So that was our slightly stressful intro to Rome. When we got off the train, i was fairly confident that i knew where i was going and blissfully ignored Calebs ideas/pleas to buy a map of the area, so for about 30 min i wandered a wee bit lost around the train station looking for the street i knew was just round here somewhere....teehee. Anyway, we made it to our hostel???if you can call it that, kinda bizarre, but not too bad. The guy on the desk likes us so gave us a free upgrade to a private room, no complaints here. However it is 41 degrees, and we dont have airconditioning, so its kinda like a sauna at times, but we have the fan working overtime to make sure we keep the hot air circulating! lol. Caleb is a special fan of the bed cos its quite short and he actually cant fit on it...oh well, it works well for me. Just before we left for Rome, Jess looked up our hostel on Tripadvisor and we had a good laugh(all be it nervously) as we read about how previous people would in no way recommend the hostel to anyone because of the blood on the floor and the bountiful supply of bedbugs....fortunately we have not been blessed with either!
Spend a long but amazing day today looking at things that i thought Caleb and i would find tedious and boring....who woulda thought that people of our great intellect and education would find classical history and art history at all interesting! But we were pleasantly surprised. We were wowed by St Peters Basilica and then by the arty stuff in the Vatican museums, the sistine chapel is pretty sweet too. Then we went and saw the spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Pantheon and the Colosseum. A long, incredibly hot day, but very very cool. Caleb and i are still tripping out over all the free water that is available around the city from various fountains etc and it comes out icy cold, definately needed on days like today. So far has been an amazing introduction to Italy. Heading out tomorrow for Naples. If we can avoid being murdered by the mob and the pickpockets im sure our holiday will continue to be mint. Sweet off to savour the delicious gelato options next door, to wash down my pizza! Ciao!!! (oh my gosh im so cultured!)
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Allo Allo
Kiaora kids....so we made it here to London town finally....and i was soooo nervous at customs...i have been stressing for ages about how strict the customs man would be about our money etc in our bank account....literally had mean butterflies about it. Anyway we rocked up to the customs person and he DIDNT even ask for anything. Just stamped our visas.....what a let down. Here i was ready to have to plead my case to let us stay...not that we dont have enough money or anything, just was totally nervous. Anyway so now that is done and we are here to stay...for a while. Arriving at this time of the year is gorgeous...everything is green and warm and lovely and its nice to be sleeping in a bedroom of our own. Only been here a few hours but loving the differences...e.g beautiful architecture, black taxis, double decker buses etc. Cant actually believe we are here for the long haul, kinda freaky.
Before we came to London we spent a couple of days in NY. It was crazy busy, tourists everywhere and generally not that amazing. We did however see Brooklyn, which has become probably our favourite part of NY, really diverse and incredibly different from Manhatten. One exciting part was our hostel....in the middle of HARLEM! Its hard not to stand out when you are walking thru a crazy busy street with suitcases on wheels and being the only lil whities....kinda stand out a mile. We werent worried about staying in Harlem (i mean whats the worst that could happen!), but on our first night there was a shooting just 5 blocks from our hostel...very exciting! We also got to go clubbing at NY's biggest nightclub which was pretty sweet too....even Caleb got his groove on! There were 4 floors with all different types of music, including a salsa floor, pretty sweet!
So we are here for 5 days, gotta hook up all the boring things like recruitment agencies, bank stuff, dr's etc...and then hopefully be able to get jobs after we return from our tour. Gonna spend the next few days gettin lost in London! Fun fun fun.
LATERS.
Before we came to London we spent a couple of days in NY. It was crazy busy, tourists everywhere and generally not that amazing. We did however see Brooklyn, which has become probably our favourite part of NY, really diverse and incredibly different from Manhatten. One exciting part was our hostel....in the middle of HARLEM! Its hard not to stand out when you are walking thru a crazy busy street with suitcases on wheels and being the only lil whities....kinda stand out a mile. We werent worried about staying in Harlem (i mean whats the worst that could happen!), but on our first night there was a shooting just 5 blocks from our hostel...very exciting! We also got to go clubbing at NY's biggest nightclub which was pretty sweet too....even Caleb got his groove on! There were 4 floors with all different types of music, including a salsa floor, pretty sweet!
So we are here for 5 days, gotta hook up all the boring things like recruitment agencies, bank stuff, dr's etc...and then hopefully be able to get jobs after we return from our tour. Gonna spend the next few days gettin lost in London! Fun fun fun.
LATERS.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Fun times
Ok so i would have written earlier, but.....Caleb said it looked way to geeky to have blogs close together, so i listened to his wisdom??? But i have now the time and the inclination to fill you in on what we have been doin recently. So Chicago was amazing, we managed to time our visit to include the hottest weather they have had this whole summer...like 96 degrees or something (farenheight) and it was very very warm. However we did manage to get tans so we arent complaining. We got to eat at some very yummy mexican food in Chicago....honestly until you have tried the mexican here, you just aint had real mexican...it was brilliant.
We have spent the last couple of days here in Michigan, Lansing to be exact, staying with a Bethany and Justin. I lived with Beth in Chicago 6 years ago...man time flies. Its really nice to be seeing the real side of America, like day to day living as opposed to big cities and tourist traps. We feel so rich as we are driving a pontiac rental car, wee bit flasher than our old school corolla...it was real cool at the rental place cos they just pointed us towards the back of a car lot and said, pick any car you want. Pretty sweet. So anyway we drove up here to Michigan, well actually Caleb drove. Its a 4 hr drive mainly on the freeways, so not too scary. I was the navigator and i like to think i did a pretty mean job. Yesterday we went shopping...bad idea. We were already struggling to shut our suitcases and i really actually cant lift my bag, but we still managed to spend a whole day and ridiculous amounts of money (although it was an outlet mall) and had a mint time, however now we face a tough time of making our bags fit...and what is worse is that our domestic flights here are tough on weight....so we may be making last minute evictions from our bags tomorrow before we get to NY!!!lol.
OOOh we are driving back to Chicago today and we managed to score a mean deal on a room at the Hyatt right by the airport, so we are looking forward to living it up tonight.
Anyway this is probably a really disjointed blog cos i am having a conversation about the Treaty of Waitangi with a fellow social worker/lawyer....and like i am prone to, i am solving the worlds problems while writing this.
But hopefully this fills you in a bit. We put photos on facebook if you wanna look.
Luv ya
We have spent the last couple of days here in Michigan, Lansing to be exact, staying with a Bethany and Justin. I lived with Beth in Chicago 6 years ago...man time flies. Its really nice to be seeing the real side of America, like day to day living as opposed to big cities and tourist traps. We feel so rich as we are driving a pontiac rental car, wee bit flasher than our old school corolla...it was real cool at the rental place cos they just pointed us towards the back of a car lot and said, pick any car you want. Pretty sweet. So anyway we drove up here to Michigan, well actually Caleb drove. Its a 4 hr drive mainly on the freeways, so not too scary. I was the navigator and i like to think i did a pretty mean job. Yesterday we went shopping...bad idea. We were already struggling to shut our suitcases and i really actually cant lift my bag, but we still managed to spend a whole day and ridiculous amounts of money (although it was an outlet mall) and had a mint time, however now we face a tough time of making our bags fit...and what is worse is that our domestic flights here are tough on weight....so we may be making last minute evictions from our bags tomorrow before we get to NY!!!lol.
OOOh we are driving back to Chicago today and we managed to score a mean deal on a room at the Hyatt right by the airport, so we are looking forward to living it up tonight.
Anyway this is probably a really disjointed blog cos i am having a conversation about the Treaty of Waitangi with a fellow social worker/lawyer....and like i am prone to, i am solving the worlds problems while writing this.
But hopefully this fills you in a bit. We put photos on facebook if you wanna look.
Luv ya
Friday, August 7, 2009
This is way easier than email...
Yo g's....i thought i should write and email to everyone, but it turns out that its way too much hard work as i really dont have everyones addresses in my address book etc, and this way only people who really care will access this blog, and i wont go around filling everyones inbox's up with our lame stories...especially the ones that we think are hilarious but you know...you had to be there.
Anyway, we had a fantastic flight over, probably our best long haul...i got some sleep, caleb didnt! The day and half in San Fran was mint except for the minor hiccup where i thought Caleb had the wallet and he had given it back to me...however we left it sitting by the computer that we were using! RETARDS! Lucky for us some amazingly honest guy handed it in and wouldnt take a reward...score! Took heaps of mean pics in San Fran, its pretty cool...not as cool as San Diego, but not bad.
Then we came here to Chicago, been eating lots of amazing Puerto Rican (thanks to Priscilla!) and we spent the last 2 days in the suburbs with a friend Diana. WE had a blast at Six Flags amusement park which also has a water park, so we were roller coasted out! Caleb nearly died of fright on the last roller coaster, its real old skool, a wooden one that actually seems like its gonna derail on every corner...amazing! Caleb says its just like the one on 'Step by Step'...(go Suzanne Sommers you foxy cougar!)
Have been to Lincoln Park Zoo and to the beach, which always trips me out cos its on a lake! We have a couple more days here then we are road trippin to Michigan to see some more friends.
Having a blast getting sunburnt and spending tons of money!
Let us know how you guys are getin on and whats hapnin.
P.S Oh Sam we saw a Segway tour in San Fran and immediately thought of you, you geek!
P.S Cougar, Puma, Mountain Lion and Panther are all technically the same thing, props to Lincoln Park Zoo!
Anyway, we had a fantastic flight over, probably our best long haul...i got some sleep, caleb didnt! The day and half in San Fran was mint except for the minor hiccup where i thought Caleb had the wallet and he had given it back to me...however we left it sitting by the computer that we were using! RETARDS! Lucky for us some amazingly honest guy handed it in and wouldnt take a reward...score! Took heaps of mean pics in San Fran, its pretty cool...not as cool as San Diego, but not bad.
Then we came here to Chicago, been eating lots of amazing Puerto Rican (thanks to Priscilla!) and we spent the last 2 days in the suburbs with a friend Diana. WE had a blast at Six Flags amusement park which also has a water park, so we were roller coasted out! Caleb nearly died of fright on the last roller coaster, its real old skool, a wooden one that actually seems like its gonna derail on every corner...amazing! Caleb says its just like the one on 'Step by Step'...(go Suzanne Sommers you foxy cougar!)
Have been to Lincoln Park Zoo and to the beach, which always trips me out cos its on a lake! We have a couple more days here then we are road trippin to Michigan to see some more friends.
Having a blast getting sunburnt and spending tons of money!
Let us know how you guys are getin on and whats hapnin.
P.S Oh Sam we saw a Segway tour in San Fran and immediately thought of you, you geek!
P.S Cougar, Puma, Mountain Lion and Panther are all technically the same thing, props to Lincoln Park Zoo!
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