Trude's Travel Tales

Cambodia 5 Months In....And Waiting, Waiting, Waiting For The Rain!

trudygeard — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT

Sometimes I find it hard to believe I’ve been teaching in Cambodia for more than 4 months now….the weeks just seem to fly by, even though I’m writing days and dates on the whiteboard every day!

When I got back from Australia we started getting more and more students coming to school – we used to have 3 groups twice a day (kindergarten, my class with Dara and Josef’s class with Sam Ath) but the groups were getting too big so we had to split into 4 groups instead. Whereas I used to have Dara teaching with me, he now teaches the first hour in the new group, so I’m teaching my hour alone……which was intimidating at first but now it feels normal! We’ve focused a lot on getting the kids to speak more and more, and they are all doing really well. Most days are good, some are fantastic and a few are just awful….my morning class is bigger and has more boys than my afternoon class, and needless to say, the afternoon class is much easier to teach!

5 volunteers from Austria arrived at the beginning of July, so things have been quite hectic getting everyone settled in and into the routine here, but everything seems to be working out ok. Except with all the German that gets spoken I feel like I’m back in Austria and can’t participate in the conversation, which is SO frustrating and excluding – but the others are trying to speak more English, so that situation is slowly getting better.

Josef and I will take a short break at the end of July, and probably go down south to the coast for a week to have a break – I’m really looking forward to it, having some time off teaching and just relaxing for awhile. And the rainy season STILL hasn’t hit – it’s crazy, it’s supposed to start in late May/early June and yet we’ve had hardly any rain…for the last month, we’ll have one big storm in the afternoon or evening and then have a week with no rain whatsoever. People here are worried that it will push up the price of rice – because it hasn’t rained, the farmers aren’t growing very much and of course, the less rice there is, the more expensive it is to buy. And people here can’t afford to pay more. So we are all (still) eagerly awaiting the rain, and wondering if it will ever come!

At the moment the plan still is to be home by Christmas – we have to decide in the next few weeks how long we’re going to stay, so we can let the people here know…..so by the next time I write I should have a better idea of my plans! Missing everybody lots! Oh and there are a couple of new pictures (I learnt to ride the motorbike!) in my photo album (on the second page) – http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162317&id=742706461&l=7fb3044d2d.

Home!!! And then the worst trip ever.....

trudygeard — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:22:00 GMT

My trip to back home to Australia was fantastic. It was odd though – the moment I arrived home, it felt like nothing had changed and I had never left, which I wasn’t too keen on. At first, I thought it would be easy to leave again…though, for one or two reasons, it didn’t turn out that way. I was pretty much flat out the whole time, catching up with everybody (it was so awesome to see everyone again) and spending as much time as I could with my two new nephews. Time passed quickly and before I knew it, I was on a plane (make that 4 planes) again to go back to Cambodia.

It was a rough trip – I had an almost 6 hour wait in Melbourne before flying to Darwin….Darwin was a rush because the plane was late and there was a massive line to go through immigration – my flight was due to leave in 30mins and I was still yonks away from the front of the line, so I asked someone about it and they rushed me to the front of the line and I made it to the gate with a few minutes to spare. I wasn’t well though, was feeling really sick, and to cut a long story short….ended up on tears on the plane and they then moved me to an aisle seat so I could get up quickly if I needed to. I arrived in Singapore around 9:30pm and left for Phnom Penh at 6:30am. I wasn’t feeling too bad by that stage, and thought I was well enough to catch the 9 hour bus to Stung Treng. Bad idea. 3 hours in I threw up........it was awful and the man next to me moved to another seat quick smart! I took a sleeping tablet and tried to doze off for the rest of the trip.

I got back to Stung Treng on the Wednesday night, but I still wasn’t feeling that well so I stayed home from school for the rest of the week, though I did pop up there a couple of times and it was great to see all the kids again. By the weekend I was feeling fine, but things went downhill fast on Sunday night, when I started throwing up at 11:30pm, and every 25 minutes right through until 6am. We went to a clinic the next morning and they promptly put in an IV for rehydration – I had lost so much fluid and it’s really dangerous here with people not rehydrating, especially with the heat, so it’s quite common to see lots of people in the hospital or in clinics with IVs, or occasionally someone riding on the back of a motorbike holding one up! We spent 5 hours in the clinic and then went home. Tuesday night I was sick once again, and off to the clinic we went on Wednesday, where I had another IV. Josef took good care of me, making sure I drank as much as I could manage, and trying – though not very successfully – to make me eat.

I was sick once on Wednesday night but managed to make the trip down to Phnom Penh on Thursday, as there was a 3 day public holiday and we wanted to take the opportunity to pick up some shopping. It was also our idea that if I was still sick, we would see another doctor there. But I finally started to feel a bit better, and after 5 days, I was able to eat more than a bite or two of bread. I had been starting to think I would never be able to eat again!!!

We came back from Phnom Penh on Sunday afternoon, and we were both glad to be back to our quiet little Stung Treng after the absolute craziness of all the people and traffic in Phnom Penh. Had a really good week of teaching, and looking forward to seeing the kids progress even more this week.

So in short, it was an awful trip back to Cambodia, and then a bit of a scary time being so sick…..but things are back to normal now and we have even moved house (or more accurately, moved rooms) and now have our own bathroom with……a running shower! Yippee!!

On The Road Again - or more accurately.....In The Air Again!

trudygeard — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:39:00 GMT

Another well-overdue update! Well we’ve been here in Stung Treng for more than six weeks already – we now rent a room in a house which is pretty much halfway between the school and the town, so it’s handy. At $40 a month you can’t really beat it! The family is nice, the boy speaks a little English and they’ve invited us in for dinner a few times….which always ends up in lots of beer drinking with the dad!

School has been out the past two weeks – April 14-16^th was Khmer New Year, and quite often before and around that time many of the students and their families will go and visit other family, or go back to their home towns, etc. We had 3 days of celebrations last week for Khmer New Year, lots of games and Khmer dancing (which I am terrible at!)…and now it’s back to school on the 20^th – which is just as well, because there is not much to do around here when school is out! It’s still incredibly hot at the moment, most days around 40 degrees – but the rainy season should start around mid May which cools everything off a bit. We had our first big rain the other night – it was really heavy and so loud…..along with a heap of lightening and some thunder made it one awesome storm! Then in the middle of the night last night was more torrential rain, and right at this minute the sky has turned a dark blue/grey and the thunder has started….so perhaps the rainy season has come early this year!!!

I’ve been really enjoying myself here, except it hasn’t all been fun and games – a couple of weeks ago a 10 year old boy from my morning class was killed in a motorbike accident, which was devastating for all of us. Him, his brother, sister and father were riding home one night after visiting their grandma (not at all unusual to have 4 people squeeze onto a bike, and of course no helmets) when a car ran into them and sent them flying. Sey Ha died on impact and his brother, father and sister ended up in the hospital but were discharged a few days later. It was an awful shock to hear the news, and even now sometimes I still can’t believe it happened.

On a lighter note, I’m leaving tomorrow to come home to Australia for a visit for 2 weeks, to meet Kel’s twin boys! VERY exciting, except for the travel involved – 8-9 hour bus ride from Stung Treng to Phnom Penh, night in Phnom Penh, fly the next morning from Phnom Penh to Singapore where I have an 10 hour stopover, then Singapore-Darwin-Melbourne-Hobart. Two and a half days of travelling. Sigh. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But it’ll be worth it once I get home......which will make it 5 months since I left. But then I’ll be leaving again and going back to Cambodia – no idea for how long really, a couple more months at least if everything continues to work out.

And I finally uploaded some photos – here are the links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162312&id=742706461&l=529c742201

Miss you guys lots but will see most of you soon!!!! xoxoxoxox

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=162317&id=742706461&l=7fb3044d2d

Catching Up...!

trudygeard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:19:00 GMT

Wow. So much has happened in the last few weeks, I’m not sure where to start! We spent a week in Siem Reap and then caught a boat to Battambang. That was an interesting trip! There were about sixteen of us crammed in on a small, barely seaworthy-looking boat…..and we spent the first hour tilted so much to one side we both thought we were going to end up in the river! The next six hours were uncomfortable but interesting – we passed by so many villages that are right on, if not in, the water, which was incredible to see. Then the river got so shallow that we were almost constantly stuck in the mud, and a little boy would stand on the tip of the boat, grab a huge long stick from the roof, stick it in to the mud, and push so the boat would slowly drift back into the water. Pretty narrow in parts too! But seven hours later, we were there. Battambang was a great place to visit, not too many tourists, though I always got an uneasy vibe walking after dark there. We were there for two nights and on the second day we went on a mammoth bike ride – we thought, yup, 12km to the temple, we can do that easily. What we didn’t know was that 10km of that road was red dirt, with cars barrelling up and down, kicking up so much dust that we could barely see – or breathe, for that matter! It didn’t help either that it was in the full sun and there was no shade whatsoever. It was testing, to say the least!

We caught a bus to Phnom Penh the next day, and spent two nights there before catching a bus to Sihakonville on the coast for some beach time. I enjoyed part of that town, and didn’t enjoy parts of it – it was awesome to be able to swim in the beach (not that it cooled you off much, it was sooo warm) and we spent five nights there, so it was great to be able to have some time to rest……but on the other hand, it just felt slightly off because there were tourists everywhere, bars lined up and down the beach, and in particular it wasn’t unusual to see 50-60 year old white men with 20 year old Cambodian girls. I just cant get used to that, and in Sihakonville you see it all the time.

We then had to catch a bus to the border town of Koh Kong to get new visas – we dropped our bags off at a guesthouse and then got a tuk-tuk to the border, exited out of Cambodia, walked the 20m over the border into Thailand, entered Thailand, went over the street and exited Thailand, then walked the 20m back to enter Cambodia. We’d heard lots of stories about overcharging for visas, especially them insisting you pay in baht instead of dollars (which is quite a bit more expensive), so we went in with the exact amount in dollars tucked into our passports. Didn’t stop the lady processing them to ask for a $5 tip though! Crazy! But we both really liked Koh Kong, it was a really small, relaxed little town, and we ended up staying there two nights before getting a bus to Phnom Penh.

We met Christian and Gerhardt from the Children Planet project that night in Phnom Penh, and then travelled up by minibus to Evergreen Community (where we’re staying at the school, just outside of Stung Treng) the next day. We’ve been here for a week now (though the other two have gone back to Austria already), and it’s such a beautiful place – the school and the house is well off the main road, and it’s so incredibly peaceful. There are three separate classrooms scattered about at the moment, and they’re in the process of constructing the school building, which is coming up fast and should be finished in the next few weeks. This week we’ve been doing some teaching – we each assist in a class from 8am to 10am, then from 2pm to 4pm (mine is younger kids, about 6-9 years old) and then we take the adult class together at 5:30pm. The kids are adorable and they are warming up to us really fast, it’s so cute! The days are exhausting though and it’s so hot in the middle of the day (often almost 40 degrees) but there’s not much you can do about that! Riding the motorbike into town for an ice coffee is our escape!

We’ve been staying here at Long Lypo’s (the Cambodian man who started the school here) home and it’s been basic but wonderful, however there’s no privacy whatsoever so we’re going to rent a guesthouse/hotel room or small house in Stung Treng and then bike up here for school. It’s also a bit safer hygiene-wise for the rainy season, when malaria and dengue fever become a big problem. The house is on stilts, just a wide open dirt area underneath where they do the cooking, and three spaces/rooms upstairs – no doors or windows, so sleeping under a mozzie net is a must! Aside from teaching, we’ve got lots of work to do as far as documenting every child (there’s about 250 in total, but they don’t all come every day…..the class I help with usually has about 20 kids) and getting that information back to the guys in Austria. We have to sit down with Lypo and the other teachers next week and work out a day-by-day schedule for which classes we are going to help with, and what time is allocated for admin work, etc.

So all in all it’s going really well. I really love this place and feel quite at home here already. Two and a half months in Austria and already a month in Cambodia…..who would have thought! Loving it but home is never far from my thoughts xoxoxoxxoxoxoxo

The Next Adventure Begins!

trudygeard — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:20:00 GMT

We flew into Bangkok at lunchtime on Thursday and only ended up stayed there on Thursday night – it was packed street to street with tourists and didn’t really appeal to either of us. We took the train from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet (the closest town to the border), which took six hours…..no air conditioning, but the windows are all open so there was a reasonable breeze (albeit warm) blowing through, and it was a great way to see some of the countryside. We hadn’t read anything about people staying a night in Aranyaprathet, and it doesn’t seem many do – out of the whole town we only saw two other white people! But it was nice, being in a place with no tourists compared to the craziness of Bangkok.

Left the guesthouse bright and early on Saturday, had a bite to eat (the hottest curry I’ve ever tasted, I might add – two plates of curry and rice and a big bottle of Coke was 90 baht…..about $2.50…bargain!) and got a tuk tuk to the border. We then managed to get a decent taxi driver after we walked through the border, who got us to Siem Reap in two hours. We’d read lots of stories of people who were scammed before, during or after passing the border, but we had no problems which was a nice surprise! The main roads are crazy, and remind me a lot of Kenya – traffic travelling in both directions with an invisible ‘third lane’ in the middle which people weave in and out of to pass bikes, tuk tuks, other cars, etc….and then zip back into their lane just as you think you’re about to be in a head-on collision. Lovely stuff! You either get used to it, or stop looking out the front window!

We’ve spent the last 6 nights in Siem Reap, alternating days by spending a day in town and then the next day at the temples of Angkor – for which I have absolutely no words. Except to say they are absolutely amazing, and it would have been unreal to see what they looked like when they were originally built. Google it. Yesterday we actually biked around the temples – all in all we clocked up about 40km…..it was quite nice early in the morning, but the trip back was at 2pm and the hottest part of the day (about 35-36 degrees) – needless to say, it was a long trip!

Siem Reap is a pretty cool town – quite big, with a couple of main streets (the most popular, ‘Pub Street’) housing the bars, guesthouses and restaurants, and the other streets and side streets with markets and more guesthouses. Tourists everywhere though, as it’s the city everybody stays in when visiting the temples. HEAPS of tourists from other Asian countries – Japan, China, etc, and quite a few Americans and Europeans too. Not as many Aussies as I expected. Relatively cheap – our room is basic but only $6 a night, main meals at most restaurants are around $3 to $5 (they make up for it by selling glasses of draft beer for $0.50 – we love that!) and a plate of rice and a plate of stir-fry veggies from a food stall on the street is only $1. There are lots of kids on the street that follow you, trying to sell you books, postcards, bangles, etc, but we’ve seen that as soon as they sell something, they give the money to an adult standing nearby – so that’s obviously not a good thing to support. We were surprised to see that if you give them food or a can of drink, they often go to the nearest shop and re-sell it! So it’s like, what do you do?

We’re heading off on Saturday by boat to Battambang for three nights, then by bus to Phnom Penh for two nights, then by bus to Sihanoukville for some beach days, before heading back up to Phnom Penh around the 2^nd March to meet up with Christian (the Austrian guy) and then up to Stung Treng from there.

That’s it from me for now – going to try cycling around the temples one more time this afternoon….then it'll definitely be time for some more cold beers! xoxox

Almost Time To Say Goodbye........

trudygeard — Mon, 8 Feb 2010 02:37:00 GMT

No doubt this will be the last entry from Austria – we leave on the 10th February! We booked a flight to Bangkok a couple of days after we got back from Barcelona – leaving at the end of January wouldn’t really give us enough time to get organized, so we chose a later flight. We’ll fly into Bangkok at lunchtime on the 11th, and will leave for Cambodia early on the 13th – the train leaves at 6am, so we didn’t want to get up that early just one day after arriving in Bangkok! It’s a slow train, about 6 hours to a little town near the border, then we go to the border by tuk tuk, cross through (hopefully without too many problems – we ordered our visas online, as there is an endless stream of people at the border that try to get you to pay more than you need to) and then take a taxi to Siem Riep (another 3 hours or so).

We’ve got just under 3 weeks to travel, and the plan is to go to Siem Riep, then down to the beaches at the coast, then up to Phnom Penh. Early in March we’ll meet up with Christian, an Austrian guy who was in Cambodia early last year – long story short, him and a film-maker friend made a short documentary about a Cambodian guy in Stung Treng (up north, along the Mekong and close to the Laos border) who is running a ‘school’ (at the time, just teaching under trees) and trying also to feed the children. They sold copies of the documentary to fundraise money for the project, and now an actual school building is being constructed right now. Before, in the rainy season (around June), the teaching was cancelled because it was just too wet to be outside. We’ll head to Stung Treng with Christian and we are going to stay there for a couple of weeks and do some teaching, and see how it works out. If we like it, and the Cambodian guy likes having us there, we can stay for pretty much however long. We’d pay $100 USD a month each, and that covers food and a bed. We’re not sure yet how much infrastructure is there (ie electricity, running water), but it doesn’t seem to be too far from the town of Stung Treng. So that’s the plan for now!

Will be a bit strange to leave Austria after all this time, but I think I’m ready for now. My German still isn’t great – but compared to when I first got here, I do know a lot more and quite often can pick up what conversations are about, even though I don’t understand all the words. And surprised myself at how long I could put up watching TV in German for! But some things about Austria I keep forgetting to mention – dogs, smoking and food. Dogs. They are much-loved animals here – people are allowed to take them (with a lead) on all the public transport, and, get this….in restaurants. Yup, no lie. It doesn’t shock me anymore to see a little dog sitting underneath a chair in a restaurant. Smoking. Not banned inside…..yet. I’ve gone back to the days of my clothes absolutely stinking like an ashtray after a night out. There are sooooo many more smokers here than back home. Guess we’re ahead with that one! And food/drink. Expensive! Hot drinks especially, is something that I never get used to – 3.50 euros (or more) for a hot chocolate, which is about $6. Crazy!

Well, that’s it from me…….from me in Europe, at least! The past two months have gone quite fast, but at the same time I settled in quite quickly so it feels like I’ve been here for longer. It’s been awesome, I’ve met so many people and have seen so many cool places – definitely not always easy though, sometimes the language barrier has driven me crazy for a couple of hours until I take a breath and start all over again the next day! I miss all of you guys…....lots!!

Oh, and a final upload of photos (the 4th page has the new ones): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135792&id=742706461&l=b937687e28

A Quick Trip To Barcelona :)

trudygeard — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:42:00 GMT

Back in Austria now, but I have to title this one from Spain so it comes up on my ‚countries visited‘ list! We left Vienna on Friday afternoon, and left behind a shitload of snow – at the airport, we were sitting on the plane and had to wait while they sprayed some sort of foamy stuff over the wings….we assumed it was to defrost them or something…….so that was something different! The flight is about 2 hours 15 mins from Vienna, so about half an hour longer than from Hobart to Sydney. Friday night was quiet – we were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, which was amazing – soooo nice and stylish….which was a relief because I picked it!

Saturday we walked down to the harbor and wandered through the Las Ramblas area……there are main streets but there are a lot of cool tiny little side streets, with small specialty shops or apartments – they are quiet and the buildings are so old, it was nice just to walk around and take it all in. We went back to the hotel for a little while before going out for dinner and some beers – somehow (Josef’s fault) we ended up at a bar entitled ‘gay friendly’ in our guidebook, and I can’t say the male waiters were very friendly…people in a group of the same sex seemed to get a lot more attention! And just as we had gotten off the subway (which was always our way of getting around) into town for dinner, we came across some sort of street parade, with people playing instruments and BIG giant people (I forget how they do it, but the characters look about 4 metres high)….not sure exactly what it was for, but we followed it for a little while!

Sunday we went to a basketball game – Barcelona playing another team, they won by around 35 points and were really impressive…..wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not but I had a great time and their skills were amazing. After that we had quite a walk up sooooo many steps to one of the castles, and then further up the hill from there we saw the Olympic stadium from the 1992 Barcelona games, so that was pretty cool. More walking around Barcelona before going back to the hotel and then out to dinner, where I finally found what would be my favourite Asian restaurant in Spain – Wok to Walk…..you actually get to see them throw all the stuff in the wok and add the sauces, etc….it was yummy!

Monday was another big walking day, we headed to Parc Güell and did a lot of wandering there, before heading back to town in the afternoon and walking around down there, going to an art museum (I don’t think I will ever learn to appreciate art), then back to the hotel and back out again to my wok restaurant where I found my absolute favourite – rice with veggies mixed together with a really hot Asian sauce………DELICIOUS! I would also end up getting that on Tuesday as well, for one last time! Tuesday we mainly spent shopping, walking around one of the big shopping centres before heading back to Las Ramblas and wandering the shops on the streets before walking to the beach. We had a bit of a rest at the hotel before going out – to the Wok place of course, and then to a bar where I had the yummiest cocktails…….to another bar after that and then to one more after we took the subway to the stop near the hotel…..both of us were relatively drunk by the time we got back to the hotel!

In short, Spain was a really cool place to visit – it was awesome just to wander around and take in the sights……we walked for hours every day (god, my feet were killing me!) and after four days, I feel like we pretty much saw most of what Barcelona had to offer. The weather was cold but bearable (about 8 degrees, warmer than Austria’s -2!), it would be even better in the summertime but then again, there would be so many more people around so I’m not too sure! As far as food and drinks go, it was quite a bit cheaper than Vienna, which was a nice surprise! It had a more relaxed vibe than Vienna but it was dirtier, sometimes just walking in the street you could suddenly smell a sewage smell from a nearby drain, which wasn’t the most pleasant thing, and there was quite a bit of graffiti around, which you don’t really see in Vienna. It was a great trip though, and it was interesting for me to see another European city while I’m here and to compare the differences. The end of our flight back to Vienna was absolutely breathtaking – we were flying over massive snow covered mountains that were actually above the clouds…..so you could see the top of the mountains (against bright blue sky) and then the clouds below….it was unreal.

Photos for this one - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=139586&id=742706461&l=b4f1be8850

Miss you guys xx

Happy New Year!

trudygeard — Mon, 4 Jan 2010 05:52:00 GMT

I’m not sure exactly where 2009 went in such a hurry….but seeing as it included coming back from Kenya, my trip to Samoa, a hell of a lot of stressful work, and then leaving to go to Austria – that might be why it seemed to go by so fast!

Christmas here was quiet but nice, on Christmas Eve we had dinner here with Josef’s grandmother and great aunt, Christmas Day we had dinner with Josef’s brother and his girlfriend, and then on Boxing Day all of us went out to lunch. Oh and of course just before Christmas we had to go to Vienna so Josef could have the surgery on his tooth – it swelled up quite a bit the day after though, which of course happened to be Christmas Eve! I made a lot of soup…

Just trying to think of what else has happened – there’s been one or two drunken nights in Vienna….one that I forgot to mention in my last journal was we went to see a two-man band play at this pub in Vienna – which was quite odd for me because they were just singing these funny little songs in German….but after many beers were had with Josef and the boys we were with, I don’t remember an awful lot except for lots of laughs! We had another night out in Vienna on Tuesday after we went to see Avatar in 3D (awesome movie, the picture was incredible) which started off with a few beers, then meeting up with Josef’s uni friends and moving on to wine, then back to beer, then coke and rum, and then a tequila shot! I met those two guys once before in Vienna and had fun, I think it was the first night since I got to Austria that I had an entire night of English conversation over beers and it was great. I miss English!

The public transport in Vienna always amazes me – it’s so huge that there are trams, trains and buses everywhere……..if you just miss one tram, another one comes by literally in a few minutes, and every time we have gotten on the train, it arrives at the exact minute it’s supposed to. You buy either single tickets or a 24/48 hour pass (which is what we usually get) and you frank it once you get on the tram, and keep it with you in case you get checked, which we never have. We’ve ridden the trams once or twice without a pass – I’ve never seen anyone get checked and some people ride them every day for years and only get busted once or twice…makes you wonder how effective the system is that they have there!

New Years was fun, from what I remember – we had a combined 30^th birthday/new years’ party, and although I don’t think I drank that much, I don’t remember anything after being outside at 12….apparently we went back inside for awhile and then we went outside and I was sick….but that’s the extent of my memory! We’ve got another birthday thing on Tuesday night, so I might have to slow down for that one!

We’re off to Barcelona (Spain) for a couple of days from the 8^th to the 13^th January, so that will be cool – and we’ve now decided that we’re going to go to South East Asia instead of Central America, and at this point looks like we’ll be leaving around the 20^th or so and will head to Cambodia or Laos. Many adventures ahead!

I’ve uploaded some photos to Facebook, but for those without FB you can go to this link (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=135792&id=742706461&l=b937687e28) to look at them. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Lots of love, Trude xxx

Away For Christmas.....Again! ;)

trudygeard — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:47:00 GMT

I really should stop leaving it so long between entries but time keeps getting away from me!

Hmmmm, now to catch up……the weekend after I last wrote, Josef was at a basketball game so I decided to go for a wander to the shop by myself to get some absolute essentials – an apple, cotton buds, rice crackers and lollies :) ! Snow was lightly falling and it was so nice just to walk in it for a little while, even though by the time I came out of the shop it was dark (which happens by about 4:30pm!). And I did ok, though I didn’t know I was supposed to weigh the apple and get a price sticker for it, so I got to the checkout and the lady handed it back to me and shot off something in German – of course I had no idea what she was saying. I told her I didn’t understand, so she took it and put a sticker on it herself – opps!

One day last week we went for a hike up to the ruins of an old castle, Scharfeneck. It’s only a short drive (walkable distance) from Josef’s parents’ house, and takes about half an hour to walk up there….which is a bit creepy, it’s kind of right into the woods through a path, so all you can see on either side are tall thin trees, with all the leaves on the ground. We climbed up to the top of some of the ruins and the view was incredible – you could see so much in every direction, and probably even more if it had of been a clearer day and not quite so foggy.

I think it was Wednesday morning when I looked out the window and there was snow EVERYWHERE, I was so excited! I remember Sunday had already been cold, because we were standing around at the local Christmas market and it was freaking freezing. It was soooo pretty, snow was covering everything and was still lightly falling…it’s really cool how everything seems to be much more quiet when it snows – though I guess it actually is because the snow soaks up some of the noise. Not that there is a lot of that in tiny Mannersdorf!

On Friday we went on a road trip to Salzburg – about 400km and a 4 hour trip with a stop for lunch imbetween. Much different a drive than to home……you just basically keep driving on a big freeway – 3 lanes in each direction for the most part, and travelling at about 125km or so (much faster than home!). There was a lot of snow around but the main roads were pretty clear. Salzburg was awesome – such an old town and lots of interesting things to see. We walked up (and up, and up) to the entrance of an old castle there and looked around one of the churches – there is no way I can explain what the inside of the old churches look like here, except to say that they are unreal. Absolutely beautiful, but SO excessive. Lots of wandering around Salzburg, except it was freezing (about -6 degrees) and by the night time we were pretty tired so just went somewhere close by for dinner. The next day I wasn’t feeling too well so we left at around lunchtime, except it had been snowing even more and the roads were really icy and in places there had been so much snow that you couldn’t see the lines any more, especially as it started to get dark….and on a 3 way highway that was pretty scary! There seemed to be an accident up in front of us at one point, so we got off the highway and went through back roads for awhile and came out in front of it - Josef did a great job of driving through it all, I think it took us almost 6 hours to get home because everything was so much slower.

Yesterday (and still today for that matter!) there was still a bunch of snow around – I think I stepped out and it went halfway up to my knee from where the wind had blew it into a mini hill outside our door – the rest of it was probably about 6cm deep or so. A group of us drove and then walked through the woods to the local ski hill (I look SO sexual in Josef’s brother’s ski pants……not….!) – except we couldn’t slay down it because we didn’t have a sledge! Another time! Except I think now we are supposed to get out of the minuses by Christmas time – no white Christmas for me – but I’m hoping maybe by New Years we might get some more. It’s fun, but dressing is so hard – tights, jeans, and another pair of trousers plus 2-3 jumpers and a big jacket STILL doesn’t seem keep you warm!

I think I’m finally caught up for now – I have some photos but can’t upload them yet because I forgot my camera cord. But it’s on its way – thanks mum! – so I should be able to post some to Facebook soon. For you guys without Facebook, I can post the link so you can still look at them. And until next time, I’m happy Christmassing through my journal again…..for the second year in a row…..mum has booked me in advance to be at home next Christmas! So HAPPY CHRISTMAS everyone! xoxoxoxoxoxox

Oops it's been awhile!

trudygeard — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 03:49:00 GMT

Hmmmm so much to catch up on! We went to Vienna for a couple of days early last week - which is about a 30min train ride and then two trams to get to the friend's house we were staying at. It's a lot different to home...for one it's huge! The buildings are SO old and big, and the other main difference is that they are all built next to each other with no gaps imbetween. The first day we couldn't really do anything cause the weather was yucky, but on the second day we went to the zoo and had a quick wander around the front of Schönbrunn castle. That night we wandered through a shopping strip of Vienna and the lights there are AMAZING, I can't even begin to describe, there are just Christmas lights everywhere. And we dropped briefly into one of the famous churches there which was unreal, it is massive and the ceiling is sooooo high. They had a mass on at the time, further up in the church, but you just hear it still and there were candles everywhere...it was beautiful. After that we got a lift back to Mannersdorf with Josef's parents and then went to a friend's house to watch a soccer game, except the team lost so I told them they would have to start watching AFL instead :)

Saturday night was the Krampus party - Krampus being the 'bad' Christams character. We started off at a friend's place, and I was quite impressed with myself cause Josef was in another room for pretty much all of the time we were there (a few hours) and I was just in the kitchen drinking beer and mold wine with Michael and Gabby, who are Josef's friends that I had alreay met a couple of times - Michael speaks quite good English and Gabby is still learning but we started to get quite tipsy and she had a lot more of a go than she usually would at speaking, so that was nice. We left at about 11:30 and went to the actual party (downstairs at a bar, I think) which was PACKED. But we found a quiet spot with benches next to the dancefloor, and again, I managed on my own to just sit and dance and drink with the friends that were there.....it was a great night, from what I can remember! The end I don't remember much of at all, but it was handy cause the place it was at is pretty much opposite Josef's parents' place, so we didn't have far to stumble! I have no idea what time we got back. I do vaguely remember getting up after a couple of hours and eating a piece of pizza in a drunken haze, thinking it would do me good!

Late on Sunday afternoon we left with Gregor and Christina (Josef's brother and his girlfriend) to go to the BluMau hotel. That was an AWFUL drive, cause I was so hungover and felt sooo sick, and it took about 90 minutes...but we got there eventually! I can't even begin to describe what the hotel looks like, except that it is almost a little town in itself, with interconnecting buildings that are really odd but impressive-looking. The pools were the best thing....which again, is hard to describe...indoor and the easiest way to describe it is more like a river, winding it's way in all different directions, and even to outside - the water temperature was 36 degrees, so really warm.....and outside at night was probably about 2 degrees.....so it was awesome that you could be so warm in the water while your head stuck out and got freezing, and you couldn't see more than a metre or so in front of you because of the steam/mist rising up off the water. It was fantastic and we had a great time. Breakfast and dinner was a buffet, so lots to choose from, and last night I even ordered my own beer in German...twice! Me, Josef, Gregor, Christina and Josef's parents all went to the bar after dinner and had more beers and then played quite a few games of pool....of which Josef and I came out the winners! Yay! Lots of laughs.

So all in all it's been great so far - the language barrier is still an issue for me because EVERYONE speaks in German. And even if we are with people who do speak English, the conversation always swings quickly back into German...out of habit more than anything I guess. On and off I get frustrated because I rely on Josef so much, but everything always works out alright and then it's not so bad. And I have gotten quite used to sitting around a table just listening to everyone else speak....even though I only understand a little here and there!

So that's it for now, have finally caught up and will try not to leave it so long before the next one! xxxx

3 Days In....... :)

trudygeard — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:45:00 GMT

Thought it was about time I tried to sit down and actually do an update! But where to start.......the flights, I guess. The flight from Sydney to Taipei felt SO long - we boarded the plane and then had to wait for an hour so I actually dozed off and missed the take off! It felt like we had already flown forever and we were actually still in Australia flying over Darwin (hit quite a rough patch of turbulance but only for a few minutes).....flew over Indonesia and the Phillipines and then up to Taiwan from there. Our flight was late coming in, of course, so I didnt have much of a wait there until the flight to Vienna, and that flight (even though much longer) actually went by quite fast, probably thanks to my trusty sleeping tablet! I couldn't see a thing when we were landing, it was SO foggy and stayed that way for the entire day.

I made it through the airport by following everybody else and was most impressed with myself that I managed to change some Euro notes into coins (thanks SO much for those Katta!) so I could get a trolley thing so I didnt have to carry my pack. Met Josef as I was coming through the customs part of the airport, and had more than one second glance from a number of people at my thongs! The drive from the airport to Mannersdorf was quite creepy actually cause there was fog everywhere and there's a lot of flat land with those thin, tall trees lining the side of the road...reminded me of something out of a movie! The towns here are adorable, they are all so small with little roads, and the houses are so close together. No surprise then that everybody knows each other!

We skipped the party on Friday night, but went to Vienna for the christening on Saturday, which is quite different to how we do them back home - it's actually a special service in the church just generally for family. Of course I didn't understand a word but the priest seemed nice and was getting the kids that were there involved. We all had to file by and draw a cross on the baby's head with our finger. Yup, it was a Catholic church! But it wasn't intense so that was a good thing! Saturday night was the basketball tournament which was fun to watch, and we went out to dinner afterwards but I found that really hard because no one was speaking English so I didn't understand a word.

Yesterday we met Josef's brother and his girlfriend for lunch and then went to this little Christmas market where we stood around and drank the mold wine (hot wine with spices) which I managed one mug of, but after that couldn't drink too much more of it - tastes better than ordinary wine but it is most definitely still wine! We met some more friends there and then went out to get something small to eat and drink some more before we went 'bowling' - just 3 aisles at the back of a local pub and only 9 pins.....but it was heaps of fun, we drank some more beer and had a boys vs girls match which went better than I expected! It was nice cause although most of the night was in German, it was a smaller group of people which makes it not so bad. And we did speak some English here and there....but beers and bowling made for a good night that didn't really matter what language we spoke - laughing is universal!

Planning on heading into Vienna later today and then coming back on Wednesday to hang out with the friends from last night to watch some big soccer game. But right now I'm about to try out my hairdressing skills by attempting to cut Josef's hair....will let you know how that goes!!!!

Miss you guys!!! xxxxxxx

Ich bin gut angekommen!

trudygeard — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:14:00 GMT

I finally made it here and am now trying to type on Josef's odd Austrian keyboard and keep hitting the wrong keys....opps, will get there eventually! Tired. I am so tired. SLEEPY TIME...........!!!!!! Will write more later xxxx

Two down, one to go....!

trudygeard — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:32:00 GMT

Ahhh they are about to start calling the boarding call for my flight and I only just found internet! Gah! The flight here was SO bloody long, I can't believe I've got an even longer one ahead....but very much looking forward to the end result! Sleeping tablet I am about to eat you! Oh there it is, must be off! Write when I get to Vienna xxxx

Here We Go Again.....

trudygeard — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:15:00 GMT

Back at Sydney airport, not even 4 months after I was here last for Samoa....and just under a year from when I was here this time last year for Kenya - how time flies! Only a quick note as we're about to board, but I already had my first mini-drama when I went to check in and the guy asked me if I had a visa for Austria, etc and told me that if I didnt have one (which I dont) that I needed a return/onward ticket out of Austria (which I dont) - was just as well I had my email from the embassy saying that they didnt require it.....he took it and went off to check with his supervisor, then came back (after what seemed like a lifetime!) and asked me if I had enough money for overseas, then checked me in and I was on my way! Was SLIGHTLY worried there for a sec! Ah and it starts already..... Should be able to write again from Taipei, and then comes the loooooonnnng flight to Vienna. I'll get there eventually! I hope! Love you guys xxxx

Yes, I am still alive....just got slightly sidetracked ;-)

trudygeard — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:36:00 GMT

Hmmm...how to catch up on the last six days?! So Friday, Friday was our tour around the island and it was fantastic. We went to these "blowholes", except they are right on the edge of the water on the rocks and they suddenly woosh water really really high into the air. The "coconut man" came over and you pay him 20 tala and he throws coconuts in at the right time and they shoot out into the air! After that we went to this waterfall and you can swim around in the bottom of it, which was amazing. And the other highlight was the lava field, where about 100 years ago a volcano kept erupting and the lava ran everywhere for a long time through a village, and a church, and you can walk around and look at it all.

I never ended up changing locations on Saturday, we all met at Regina's on Wednesday and really started hanging out together on the Thursday. Stephen and Kat (Irish), Arto and Anne (Finland and Germany), Richard and Chontelle (New Zealand) and Josef (Austria). Richard and Chontelle left on Saturday, and then the rest of us headed off on Sunday back over to Upolu and on the Saelopaga (stayed at FaoFao). I was sick, so sick on Sunday from the sun the day before I think, so hours travelling and an hour on the ferry wasn't good..the longest hour of my life! But FaoFao was awesome, I think there was 18 fales in total just right on the beachfront and the food was great. Arto and Anne and Josef and I stayed there on Sunday and Monday night, and Stephen and Kat went on to Apia and turned up there yesterday as we were leaving. We met up with Richard and Chontelle there late on Monday.

So in short, it's been awesome. Swimming and lazing around during the day, and beers (sometimes too many!) on the beach every night. The four of us travelled from FaoFao to Apia yesterday after lunch, and oh my god you wouldn't believe the first hotel rooms we were in! It was just like a small concrete room with a ceiling fan and two single beds. They were AWFUL. So we upgraded to the next room and it isn't so bad. Apia is pretty average, I just want to be back at the beach! It feels weird staying in a hotel room when I've slept on basically on a beach for the last week! Josef left late last night, Arto and Anne leave tonight and then I leave tomorrow morning.

So that's about it. Not exactly the trip I planned, but it turned out better than I ever expected :) And don't expect lots of photos, I never really got round to taking too many!!! It was just too much effort!

See you all soon xoxo

Paradise!

trudygeard — Fri, 7 Aug 2009 11:11:00 GMT

Ok, so trying to describe the place I'm staying at the moment...there seems to be one "main" (but not big) road which winds it's way around the outside of Sava'i. Sometimes it goes right near the water, otherwise it is seemingly in the middle of rainforest/jungle type land (which I think makes up a lot of the inland part of the island). After an hour on the bus, I arrived at Regina's Beach Fales. It just has a big colourful sign on the side of the road, and I got the driver to stop and let me off. It's a small place - a nice, leafy, green place with trees here and there and most of the fales set right on the beachfront, with a few in the back of the garden (where I was last night and it was still wonderful, you can see and hear the water - it's only 10 metres away!).

There's about a 2 metres of sand before the amazing, clear, sparkling light blue water. It's really shallow unless you swim out really far until you get to the waves, but it is lovely. And warm! It's lukewarm, like a bath! In short, this place is spectacular, but isn't crowded with buildings or tourists. You can just stand in the water and look around at how peaceful and beautiful it is, and it doesn't matter that you have no idea what time of the day it is, or what day of the week for that matter!

Have met two young couples and another guy, and we're hiring a taxi to take us on a bit of a tour around the island tomorrow - there are a couple of waterfalls and a "swimming with turtles" thing, so that should be good. It's only 350 tala for the 6 of us, so around 60 tala each (which is about $30). I'll probably head to Vaisala on Saturday I guess, seeing as we probably won't get back until late tomorrow. I think it's about 40km further up from where I am now.

That's about it for now, might go for another dip and then have an afternoon snooze.

Love Trude xoxoxo

Hello Samoa!

trudygeard — Thu, 6 Aug 2009 14:42:00 GMT

I'm here! Flew in late last night/early this morning, and the first thing I thought was how hot and sticky it was at 1am in the morning! The airport was tiny but lovely, lots of plants and trees and flowers around the little building that you walk into from the tarmac. Was only 10mins to the airport lodge place, which was nice and simple - just a little bungalow with two beds and a bathroom. Was sorta thinging it would have been a better idea to pay the extra 30 tala and get a room with a/c, but the fan was ok!!

Had someone pick me up at 11am so I could catch the 12pm ferry. Wasn't quite sure what to do or where I was going, but I just went with the pack and ended up in the right spot! Not many white people though! When I got off the ferry there were loads of guys asking if I needed a taxi, but I was determined to try and catch a bus. A bus. A bus that reminds me much of the transport in Kenya. A colourfully painted old-style bus with modern-day stereo system blasting Samoan music. Managed to get a very hot, squished seat up front, and after driving for an hour (at times right near the water, at other times seemingly heading into tiny villages in rainforest/jungle) I thought I'd better ask the driver if we were near Manase, and we were!

This place is incredible. It's so quiet, and this is one of the "main" beaches! Just off the road, there are all these little "fale", the huts, which they set up with a mozzie net and a mattress for you. And they are RIGHT ON the beach. Literally. Which is gorgeous.

Anyway I will try write again tomorrow and actually explain how unreal this place is, but the internet place here is about to close. Haven't got much planned for tomorrow except to laze around the beach, listen to some music and read a book.

Love Trude xoxox

Farewell Australia!

trudygeard — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 15:16:00 GMT

Hi all, just a quick note from Sydney as we are about to board. Here I am off on my next adventure, heading to Samoa for a nice little tropical island beach break! I knew I'd be off and away some time again this year - was originally supposed to be Thailand, but that plan didn't quite work out. Knew I was going to be going on my own, so thought somewhere smaller, quieter and much less developed was a good plan. And now I'm really on my way! Not sure when I'll be able to pick up a SIM card or find some internet, but will write again when I can! xoxoxo

It Couldn't Be That Easy...

trudygeard — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:27:00 GMT

I'm finally back in Australia, have just flown into Sydney, but this journal is coming from how I was feeling in South Africa seeing as I couldn't find any internet access when I was there! Yes, I flew through South Africa and not Bangkok! Funny how both my original flights over and back were supposed to be through Bangkok, but I actually never got there!

I had a great last day with the boys on Thursday, many a drink was consumed during the afternoon and all too soon, and half an hour late of course, it was time for us to make our way to the airport. We said our last goodbyes and after being moved up in the line because there was less than an hour till my flight was due to leave, I was told that it had been oversold and there was no room for me. 3 hours later, I finally had a new flight organised for Friday morning, connecting through Johannesburg. It didn't really bother me that much, I remember talking to mum on the phone and saying exactly that, after all, Africa is all about delays and random events, and it was going to give me more time to have another final drink with the boys. So at 12am the airport organised me a driver to take me back to Upper Hill (where we'd been staying), and two and a half hours later, we were still driving around looking for it. He had no idea where it was and I didn't really either, I've only been there a couple of times, and after trying to call Adam for directions, after stopping at many petrol stations for directions and after picking up random people off the street to help out, we gave up and headed back to the airport. It was 3am by this stage and the driver took me to this little office/control room that during the night was full of guys getting directions for their pick-ups, and I tried to fall asleep in the middle of it, on this little wooden bench. Before leaving, the driver told me to stay put, to not go anywhere, and to hold onto my bags, so after awhile, alone and a bit sad, and holding onto the straps of 3 bags, I dozed off for a little while. I waited for the driver to come back, because he wanted to take me to get checked in for my flight, but at 6:15am I gave up and had another guy take me there. I just had to pick up some money and a new boarding pass, but there were so many people, and after the manager was running around trying to organise it, it was 7:15am and my flight was due to leave at 7:30am. He rushed me all the way through to the gate and literally put me on the plane and had the ground people load my bag into the plane. And then I was off.

4 hours later I arrived in Johannesburg, absolutely exhausted, and not looking forward to the 7 hours I had to burn there. I couldn't get more credit for my phone, and there was one computer in the whole airport for public internet, and that didn't even work. So I curled up into a ball on some seats, let a few tears fall and dozed off. But I made it through, tired and alone and a bit sad, but I made it. And then I was finally on my way to Sydney. Even now as I look at it, it wasn't so bad, and I definitely feel like a seasoned traveller now, it just wasn't the way I wanted my trip to end. But these things can't be helped and in reality, these last 2 days have only been such a tiny part of my trip.

It feels odd to be back in Australia, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone but at the same time I'm already finding it hard to settle back in. And I'm not even home yet, let alone back into everyday life. I'm really going to need to keep in touch with people in our group, especially over the next little while, or I think I'm going to go insane. I think I said it the other day, but I already miss everyone back in Kenya so much.

Now I really am on my way home guys xoxo

Goodbye Kenya!

trudygeard — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 22:15:00 GMT

Here I am on my last day in Kenya, I can’t believe I’m flying out tonight. The safari was absolutely incredible, I had a ball with the boys, and the scenery there is just amazing. It really touched my heart to see the animals in their natural environment – giraffes striding across the plains, elephants grazing on the grass, lions lazing around…it was beautiful, I can’t ever picture going to a zoo after seeing the real thing. We didn’t see any actual kills but on our very first afternoon we saw 3 lions lying in the grass a few metres away from a dead giraffe that they had killed a couple of hours before – the giraffe was completely ripped open in the middle and it’s insides eaten, you could see the ribcage and everything. As bad as it sounds, funnily enough it didn’t really make me feel sick, I think probably because it is just part of the circle of life. As we were heading back to the camp site, the sun was setting and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen – the rays were streaming through the clouds as the sun gradually set over the hills…it was amazing. And the “camp site” isn’t quite an accurate description – we were sleeping on actual beds inside tents that were inside huts, that even had a small bathroom, it was really comfy and the service there was really good, everyone was lovely. Our second day was huge, we were off by 6:30am and didn’t get back till about 6:30pm that night….we went to the Mara River and saw the hippos and crocodiles, and went through a walk with a guide (with a gun) through these bushes to get to the edge of the river, which was nerveracking, considering just a few kilometers before we had passed about 9 lions lying about in a bunch of bushes! We even stepped a foot into Tanzania, which was pretty cool. Our driver, David, was set on showing us the best time possible, and really went out of his way to find the best things to look at, which was great. After driving around for hours, we finally found a cheetah and 2 cubs resting by a tree – they are a lot smaller than I expected, but they are beautiful animals. We were even charged by an angry, old, male elephant at one point – we were about 3 metres away from it when it started running towards the van, and it was huge! None of the animals take much notice of the vans though, quite often we were only a few metres away from lions and they never took much notice! You could drive around for days though and not get bored – sometimes you don’t see any animals for ages, but the landscape it just so incredibly vast and raw, it’s awesome. The photos just don’t do it justice. Those 3 days were unreal, I’m so glad I had that experience and was able to share it with the boys.

But now I’m at the end of my trip and I’m sad to be leaving, but I know it’s up to me to continue this journey once I get home. The first 2 weeks went pretty slow for me, but the last 4 have flown by, and I think I have contacted people from home less and less as time has gone by. I have absolutely no regrets about any of my time here, and I’m so happy that I made the decision to do the program, it’s been an experience of a lifetime and I’ve learnt so much. I’m going to miss everyone so much, not only the local people I met, but everyone from our group as well – I think most of us will keep in touch and visit each other when we get the chance. So here I am, saying hello and goodbye for probably the last time, and I will see everyone very, very soon. Think I will get a much-deserved massage while I’m waiting at the airport in Bangkok! Love you guys xoxo