No matter where I am, there I am.

She really exists and resides in the centre of Paris.

miteku-ayene — Tue, 1 Apr 2014 14:28:00 GMT

She was the most captivating thing I have seen in all my life, I could sit and watch her all night as she sparkled under the stars and the moonlight, I could watch her all day just standing right there without moving an inch, I could watch her watch me smiling and laughing, happiness would then leak out of me.she truly was the brightest and most beautiful off all. No she is no mere beauty, she..is one of a kind. She is the Eiffel Tower!

10th of March 2014. I could not sleep at all, I was not able to sleep, it would have been a great sin to sleep, for I was to embark on one of my greatest journeys of all time. It was a journey that began in a small town of Umbria, Italy, that goes by the name of Perugia and would end in the other side of the world, in Australia.

The sleepless night was a good idea, for I was to depart early in the morning from Umbria To Roma. Alberto and I left Collegio Ruggero Rossi at 4am and walked to the train station, fontevege. There was no light nor was it dark, there was no sound nor was it quiet, it was a simple and nomadic morning journey to the station, one or two cars passed by every 5 minutes, we could hear the sound of the quiet wind, the leaves falling and the birds chirping and singing. Truly a sight of man and the universe reconnecting at its best.

We caught the train to Roma at 5:54am and arrived at Termini station at 8;45am. From there on we made our way into the great city of Roma. Roaming around Roma is like walking back through time, for the city has not seen new buildings in over a century. "It is a city frozen in time".

We were taking a stroll through the Villa Borghese gardens when Alberto received the call from a friend. The reason we were in Roma was because Alberto's school friends were on a trip there and gave us permission to roam the city with them, learning more of Roma from the great Father Sullivan, their tour guide/professor, a very interesting man he was, very passionate about not only Roma but the history too.

We joined with them right after the Villa Borghese gardens and made our way to the gates of ancient Roma together. We stood in front of the gates admiring the design of the gates, I believe the front was designed by Michelangelo and the back by Lorenzo Bernini or vise verser. Once you enter the gates to ancient Roma and stand just centrally and face the waterfall, you can see three direction the paths lead to. If you take the right, it leads you to the Vatican, if you take the centre, it leads you to the Coliseum and if you take the left you end up at the Spanish stairs, a very romantic place it is. If we go from right to left I believe it is, modern Roma, medieval Roma and ancient Roma, or the other way around. We did not have time to go to all of them, so we just took the left path to ancient Roma and headed to the Spanish stairs. Just next to the stairs there is an amazing little tea house, Babingtons. Ernest Hemingway used to go there often and obviously had some tea and probably wrote some of his amazing novels. We entered and also had the tea, I sat exactly where he sat and had the exact same tea, I hope. It was 10 euros for a tea but very worth it.

We roamed together for a little while after that and separted, for I made my way to Roma fumicino airport with Alberto and they went back to their hotel. Alberto and I stayed at the airport from 10pm to 4am, yet another sleepless night. Although we encountered a very unusual old woman, very fascinating she was. She was around her 60's or 70's, yet very energetic, interactive and playful she was, and how can I forget kind, sweet, smart---she truly was amazing, I literally have no words to describe her. The whole night she was feeding us cockies, chips and biscuits, I don't think she had cloths in her bag, just sweets. She was the stereotypical grandmother that every boy wishes he has and she also kinda lives life the nomad way, which is pretty cool, I wonder if I would ever bump into her again. I sure would love to.

We left the airport at 7:10am and our next destination was non other than my beautiful Paris. We arrived in Paris 9;30am, almost dead, two sleepless nights. We took the metro from the airport and got off at chatelet, immidietly after leaving the metro, we somehow bumped into the museum of louvre, where one of the greatest painting ever painted is at, the Mona Lisa. We left immidietly though, because we had to get to our hotel and rest for a while, before we pass out on the streets of Paris.

12th of march 2014, 2pm, just showered, Alberto is exhausted , lying on the bed, sleeping his ass off. I also I dozed off for a while. We woke up at around 4;30pm and made our way to the Seine river, we did nothing but follow the river, pass my beautiful, Eiffel Tower and a good 3 and half hours later we reached parc de princes, the stadium of PSG. We had tickets to watch the champions league game, PSG vs Bayern Leverkusen, I know I am the luckiest man in the world. I watched the game without sitting on my ass properly, for I could not believe my eyes l, I could not sit still, Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva ,Lavezzi and Cavani were infront of my eyes.

After the game it was another 4 hours walk back home, again just follow the river, it took longer to get back due the beauty of Paris at night. I could not walk without looking left and right, without admiring or gazing. Paris truly sparkled and shines at night. "Tour De Eiffel" at 12:49 am was sparkling and calling onto me, I could hear her from afar, but I think I may have gotten too close, because the moment I stood in front of her for the very first time, the lights disappeared and she spoke to me, she said, "Miteku it's 1am and you need to go home, it is never safe to stay out this long" and I said "okay, see you tomorrow" and headed bak to the hotel.

The next morning I did nothing but follow the river for one and half hour to her and stayed there, together with her for the rest of the day. I am ashamed to say I did not see a lot in Paris. I got to her at 1;40pm and just wondered around her until 6;49pm. I had lunch there, took pictures, ice cream and made love to her from the garden/waterfall just in front of her.

"Tour De Eiffel truly exists and she resides in the centre of Paris"

I am now sitting here in my hotel room at 2;34am in Paris , 14th of March 2014 and writing nonsees about Paris, but truly I mean everything I say. Parisu!!!The city just gives me a different feeling, an indescribable feeling, I don't know what I feel, but it feels so good.

Two days in Paris id like 20 years on earth, truly magnificent. Tommor I make my way back to Perugia, pack my staff and head to Austrlia on the 15th of March 2014. I cannot wait, hopeful all goes well.

The most amazing journey of my life, truly a dream within a dream. From Roma to Paris is too good to be true. Ernest Hemingway once said "if you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as young men, then wherever you for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast". It truly is Ernest, Paris truly is a moveable feast.

Photos: Bonjourrrr

miteku-ayene — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 22:29:00 GMT

Tour De Eiffel

Heaven on Earth!!!

miteku-ayene — Tue, 4 Feb 2014 06:23:00 GMT

Yes I know that when you think "Amsterdam" only two things come to mind, then the next thought would be "well did you"?? The answer is "what kind of a man, a young handsome one at that would go to Amsterdam and not do the two things you have in mind right now"'. From the moment I arrived in Schipol (AMS airport) I felt this amazing sensation that this would be a hell of a trip. Let me tell you a quicky before I go on about Heaven on Earth. So I am waiting for a friend just outside the big gate of Schipol and mortified to say, I was standing on the spot "the not non-smoking" spot and everyone has a joint and I am thinking to myself "wow, so it really is true what they say". I mean until you have seen the myth/ legend with your own eyes it'll always remain a myth/legend. So am standing there fascinated and amazed, still could not believe my eyes and my nose, but then a massive security walks out, very terrifying, he stood in front of the guy to my left just making sure his presence was felt and at that moment I thought to myself "oh so there are consequences". The security just stood there for a good 5 second staring at the guy and he reaches to his pocket pulling out his walletish look alike thing and out of that he pulls out a joint and asks the guy for a lighter!! My head literally exploded, my heart just stopped for a moment, I wasn't sure back then but I think I felt "love" not for a particular someone but just love for that moment/for my life/ for my way of life.

I stayed at a mate's place in Heemskerk, amazing little secluded town, about 45minutes away from Amsterdam by a train. It wasn't the best time to be there really, It was cold and raining, I think summer in Amsterdam would have been better but regardless I was there and had to to what nedded to be done.

I am the kind of guy who loves train rides, when I do not know where I am going, sometimes I wish I could hop on a train that has no stops nor destination, a train that just goes...so yes the train ride to the city was amazing and even though it was wet and cold I managed to check out the places I nedded to see. My first priority ofcourse was the coffee shop and it was not disappointing, especially in the cold, when hunger strikes the most is when it really works the best. My next priority was "the red light district". Maybe it is the age or just a phase but seeing half naked women gives me tickles and butterflies or whatever you want to call it. And so for some unknown reason I circled that place for over 2 hours making sure I see every place and every girl, a preparation for the game which will be held in 3 days time.

So three days pass and I was ready for whatever Red Light had to throw at me and luckily it threw me an amazing 40 year old Dutch and one captivating young Romanian, did I mention all this was within a 20 minutes gap in between. Yes I know I am great!! Doing what I want, when I want, with whom I want. I have also been the psychologist type of guy and so helped a friend lose his V. Again yes I am Amazing!!

But really Amsterdam I think is more than just a place where you go to smoke and check out red light. I think it has more meaning than that, for me Amsterdam represent freedom and joy and all that, I mean "life is good" in Amsterdam, I am not only speaking on behalf of the tourists but the residents aswel.

I want to describe all the places that I saw, and tell you how amazing it was and let you know of what I felt and how I felt but I don't think I can do it, It is impossible for me to draw you a picture in your head of what it was like but just believe me when i say it was an incredible journey, which you must also take someday, not for the nonsense I wrote about earlier on top but to just truly discover yourself, and I hope the pictures can tell you more of Amsterdam than I have!!!

Photos: Dank yu well

miteku-ayene — Mon, 3 Feb 2014 12:48:00 GMT

Photos: Ciaoo

miteku-ayene — Sat, 4 Jan 2014 23:23:00 GMT

"The Prince" after 19 years of wondering has finally graced his homeland.

miteku-ayene — Mon, 2 Dec 2013 13:18:00 GMT

It was probably in the early 70's my father left his hometown "Ayew", a small village in Ethiopia and headed off to join the Army. That was the beginning of my father's journey to becoming one of the top Ethiopian Generals. i don't know my father's or even Ethipia's history enough to write a book about it, but I do know quit enough to write a journal about it. Ethiopia was a communist country, and the people were in a very critical state until the early 90's. The Ethiopan army back then was known for its cruelty and merciless ways. The soldiers never hesitated or had second thoughts to not do anything they wanted. They would rape, steal, kill, and do as they pleased, anytime and anywhere. It was a difficult life for some and good life for others. The president/prime minister/king or the Dictator at that time was not the most knowledgeable man in the country, he was smart, but not book smart, he was clever and a tactician, but only for wars and fighting and on top of all he was a dictator who manupilates and persuades civilians to do as he pleases, regardless of their feelings, it is a communist country after all, I hope you are picturing a darker version of Hitler at this point, although he wasn't as ruthless and never had that same ambition.

When my father left for the army, he was a very young, handsome man, I would know, after all I am his son. Anyways, my Grandmother said her goodbyes in tears, hoping and praying he comes back, not just alive but unscratched aswel, she was a very optimist lady. But you see she never had luck with men, by this I mean it was impossible for her to have a daughter for some reason and she had also lost my grandfather and my eldest uncle, this was all before she sent my father away, although it wasn't voluntarily. So even though she hopes for the best am sure deep inside she knew my father would never return.

He went away, began his adventure, but my father has never been the rough, macho, fighting man, he was a peaceful and simple person. He was very smart though and I mean extremely smart, smart enough to be recognised immidietly after one year and was sent to a proper university, to study under the great professors. My father studied English, , Literature, Mathematics, physics and chemistry. After a good 5-6 years of study my father comes back to the military but not as a soldier but as the number one advisor to Ethiopia's Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Through this my father gained Mengistu's and all the General's trust and in time was given a state to govern, but they would move him from state to state, in order for stability and balance. Ethiopia would gather troops every year or so, this means taking the beloved sons and husbands of civilians, but every year or so my father would send a message to "Ayew" his hometown for every men to go and hide, although this did not stop the soldiers from taking men it only decreased the amount and simply for doing this as long as he could my father was hailed as "Ayew's" King. Time passed and the communist party broke down and democrat entered Ethiopia, leading soldiers of the past to flee and reside in Kenya as refugees, in a deserted little town called Kakuma, where yours truly was born.

I was born on April the 15th 1994 and my Father had died in November 1993, yes I never saw my father, the funny thing was both my parents were in the same hospital, about four rooms away from each other before my father passed away from a liver problem. From there on I can't say I grew up without a father because I had more than one, story for next time. But life continued there until 2006. January 17th 2006 I entered Australia. So yes never have I seen the country I call my homeland, until November 25 2012.

I entered Ethiopia expecting to see some undevelopped country that isn't known by all, but I was wrong the country yes does not compete with the western countries just yet but you can clearly see the plan, it is magnificent, amazing hotels, great restaurant , everything you desire and more, if there is one thing that you may not like it would be the amount of people outside just chilling and having a game of football and watching a game of football, but I loved it, as a nomad you want to be around people as much as possible, meet new people, amazing women at that. The best part was almost everyone I met spoke English, because I had imagined that no one would, but no. And lets not forget the late night walks, I would go out on the streets for a walk with mates, not dangerous at all, and everything is open, shops, restaurants and amazing clubs. Keep in mind that this was all in the capital Addis Abeba, I had not made my journey to "Ayew" just yet.

But a good month passed in the capital and I finally made my journey to my fathers hometown, the trip from state to state in Ethiopia is always amazing if you love nature as much as I do. So many things to see and the best part was seeing the Nile river that I had heard so much bout up close. The Nile river is known to be the longest river in the world and it was in front of my eyes, one of the many views I could never forget, as the Great Wall of China. The ironic thing was that my father's hometown was about a good 40 minute drive from there. So a good 40 minutes later I stop and get off the bus, please keep in mind that my mother was with me the whole time. Anyways immidietly after I drop of the bus I get the biggest hugs from left and right, there were two children just holding on to me, I look up and I see my uncle and his two amazing daughters that have come to pick us up. And so we said our hellos and shed a bit of tears and continued to Ayew, we were picked up from the road and needed to drive in more, so we entered Ayew, I remember hearing songs , loud songs and drums and I was anxious to be honest, a good 10 minutes later my uncle turns to me and says welcome home "leul" meaning prince in Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. Mother and I were the first to get out of the car and immidietly i see most amazing thing in the world, it was truly mind blowing.

There was a good 500 people standing around, some had guns I was shitting myself at that point, appartly the plan was to shoot up in the air as if they were fireworks immidietly when u arrived, but there was no time for that, because this old lady that can hardly walk was sprinting towards me, as if she was coming in for a tackle, she just grabs me, and covers me with her clothes and starts yelling "my son has returned". I was a bit teared up and confused at the same time, I though to myself does she know I am her Grandson and Not my father? will she be disappointed that I am here and not him?will she not hug me and hold me like this again when she realises that I am not my father?a lot of questions went through my mind , but all was eased with a simple "you look just like you father" whisper in my ear.

Without boring my readers so much I will conclude it by saying you can basically imagine how I lived for the next month, lik a "Prince" that is, and I somehow enjoyed the rural of Ethiopia than the main cities. The waterfall, the mountains, the fresh air and the amount of stars at night is like a dream that exists only in Ethiopia, most of you could say to me easily that there are more natureish or Greener place than Ethiopia, but I guarantee that none of you could go there, then tell me that the grass was not green enought or the mountains were not high enough or even the waterfall wasn't to die for enough, you would love every single bit of it, the city's roar and the country's quite secluded life sarounded by nature, reading books, while painting the amazing waterfall is truly a dream come true and a place worth exploring.

I wil upload pictures as soon as possible.

The Great Wall, The lost camera and I

miteku-ayene — Sat, 2 Nov 2013 04:03:00 GMT

I must say that 2 years have almost passed since I've been to Beijing, therefore my memory may be a bit hazzy, but the one thing I will never forget was theindescribable feeling I got when I reached the top of The Great Wall. I was in Beijing for football (soccer) tournament that took place in the year 2011 and at first I thought it was all going to be about football and nothing else, but that was very naive of me. When I was there i remember thinking this will not go as planned and football had to be patient with me until I got rid of the inner nomad that wanted to explore Beijing out of my body. It all went well I explored and explored until I was full not just from the exploring but the food too, I loved Beijing food, it was the usuall rice, noodles and what not but I loved it and also tried food that would be no no's in my religion, tried them without hesitation and loved every single bit of it. P.s my teammates weren't big fan of the meals. Lastly it was time to go to a more natureish place, a place where we could actually see the sky and the clouds and take in fressh oxygen, you know what I am trying to say about the city by this (it is polluted). Back to the topic, so when we got to the Great Wall we had two options, first was to take the cable car and enjoy the ride and the second option was to take the stairs and die on the way, as a footballer I chose the more dangerous route and decided to take the stairs. I still remember every step I took, not forgetting that every step forces you to stretch to the limit, it isn't a simple hop hop but more like massive steps each time. Everyone was sweating and we all had our shirts of and i was doing something original, I would record myself every 5 minutes and say something like "it is 13:45 pm here in Beijing and we are currently on the 785th stair". I would reapetedly say funny things as such. After a good hour or so I reached the top and I was so tired, I didn't even want to take another single step, but then I turn to my left and I see Heaven. I mean heaven as in where God is, as I walked to the edge and looked up I felt as if I could touch the clouds and I looked down and felt as if I would not die if I were to fall from here, I don't know why I felt like that but all I knew at that moment was that I was.....I don't know what I knew at that point and I don't remember much of it but for some reason I still get butterflies and little tickles whenever I think about the moment I stood on top of the world, very close to the Heavens. The funny thing about my trip was that I left my camera that had more than 1000 pictures at Honk Kong airport, did I mention I left it in the toilet. We were on our way back via Hong Kong and I went to use the bathroom for a good 5 minutes, okay a good 20 minutes, I had eaten too much and was in need to realese, anyway I left my camera on top, you know where you press to flush and 20 minutes later I leave the toilet a lot happier than i was when I entered, but what I had not realized was that I did not take my camera with me. Anyway 5 minutes later I see something amazing and reach in my bag for my camera when it hit me and so I ran back in but it was gone, I told the front desk and they told me that there is a good chance the cleaners might have taken it and gave me a card with their info, so I would call when I arrived in Australia and they would ship it. The funny thing is that I have yet to contact them, because I had lost the card and I still don't have my camera, but I guess I am leaving it all to fate and it kinda gives me a reason to go back. By far the best time of my life, from the food to the loss of my camera. If anyone is thinking of going to Beijing to see The Great Wall, I say go for it, no need for hesitation. And if you are wondering about the pictures that I have here, it is thanks to my friends that took a lot of me while we there.

Photos: Beijing 2011

miteku-ayene — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 11:11:00 GMT