christmas week

yayyyy its christmas week! im working christmas eve and boxing day (what they call dec 26th overseas) but the restaruant is closed on christmas day so i will have time to enjoy the holiday. i plan to hang out at the telecom tree which is a gigantic "tree" made of lights that you can sit in and around in big comfy bean bag chairs they always have there! its right next to the harbour as well. i hope to get my special christmas package from mom by christmas as well so i can hang up my stocking that she sent :) NZ post is a little crazy though so Im going to try to track it down this week! on christmas day here i will be calling home (christmas eve there) to talk to mom, julie, grace and (hopefully) jonah. i am sad to be missing my neice and nephews christmas but hopefully I will be able to spend many christmass in the future with them and the rest of the family. in the meantime I will enjoy the warm summer christmas weather!

welly time

heading back to wellington - sad to leave the calm, beautiful, magical world of National Park Villiage!

the xing

went on the crossing today - had great luck with perfect weather! it was just a fabulous as i remember, so tired now but very happy!

also got great news today - Pooja is coming to visit me in NZ in Feb!!! Cant wait for 10 days of fun hanging out with her and going to do cool touristy things in NZ, yayyyyy!

hiking trip

next week i will be returning to the National Park to hike the tongaria crossing - so excited! its great to return to favorite places to reexperience them - for instance this time i will know to pack more water and snacks because National Park town has no grocery stores or corner shop.

Everything in Wellington is great but of course the itch to travel is always there - the best things about NZ is the stunning nature here so I dont want to miss out on that because Im always in the city!

apples and oranges

its easy to get disillusioned when youre traveling. as much as you appreciate the marvels and idiosyncrasies of the place youre visiting (or living), the gloriously special things that you discover can put a damper on those things that dont quite live up in the rest of the world. sound a little bananas? its the bananas that made me think of this yesterday at the Wellington fruit and veg market. this sunday tradition is one of my favorite things about wellington - just a few blocks from my apartment is a good sized farmers market with delish, cheap fruit and veg of better quality and much cheaper price than the supermarket (conveniently located next door for comparison shopping if you re not convinced). its also a really nice weekly activity to drag myself out of bed early on Sunday morning, grab my reusable shopping bag and join the other hundred or so wellingtons who at least for one morning a week are doing something good for the environment, local communities and their own bodies. and after the market is the cooking fest that ensures that the rest of the week I'll be eating yummy, healthy meals.
Yesterday I was excited to see some inexpensive bananas that were that perfect shade of yellow with just a touch of green. Eating one going home, I couldn't help but to think of the absolutely magical Indonesian bananas. this special fruit has a really thin skin and shorter body than you find other places, and inside is the most amazingly delicious fruit I have ever had in my life. Wellington bananas just cant measure up. Bananas I would have been very, very happy with 6 months ago are now relegated for use in banana pancakes. I guess the only thing to do is put the bananas aside and find NZ's own special thing and enjoy that as much as I can.

Well in Wellington

Things are still going well in Wellington, I finished my second week at my job at Public and am still loving it. Its very different from what Im used to, even waitressing in Australia. Everyone is so, so much more laid back about every aspect of the hospitality business. It could be partially due to the low rate of pay for hospitality workers in NZ (compared to Australia) so its taken less seriously. Im sure much of it is also due to the generally relaxed attitude that Kiwis have. But it is a nice change of place to work in a restaurant where the head chef doesnt yell, throw things, or call himself an "art-eest" and the management doesnt micromanage - theyre happy if the customers are happy.

I am starting a swing dance class tonight (Monday and Tuesday are my days off) so am excited to dust off my swing shoes and get twirling! It should be a fun new challenge to try Lindy Hop - the swing "standard" here in NZ (as opposed to the East Coast I'm used to in the States) as its always confused me since they can go from a 6 count step to an 8 step count at whim. Crazy Kiwis :)

Life in NZ

Life in NZ is good! The weather has been in the 60s (still too cold for me, but not too torturous) and its nice having my afternoons free and working in the evenings. In the afternoons I've mainly been exploring the area... I even found a beach within walking distance of my flat which will be great once the weather warms up! Im also looking at taking a trip out of wellington in the next few weeks to go hiking. The Kiwis have all been really friendly and laid-back, typical from what I expected from the culture here.

My Ipod Touch has been absolutely amazing since being here, since unlike Australia, the library here does not have free internet for me to use. Instead I can use my Ipod Touch with the wi-fi in my flat and it works really well (if just a bit slow). So very, very glad I got it!

life, accomplished

this week in Wellington I got a great job waitressing at a restraunt 2 blocks from my flat called Public - everyone there is really nice and its just the sort of place I like to work (and eat!), all of my flatmates are great as well. I have a kiwi phone number too, in addition to a bank account and library card! Feeling pretty well sorted here in Wellington, hard to believe I only got here on monday! On tuesday Im going to try out some dance classes and next week I think I might go hiking. I have plans on Sunday to go to the beach with some of my flatmates and their friends if the weather keeps up the way its been. Good life.

safe and sound

made it to NZ safe and sound! it was a good flight(s), nothing was delayed and no more than the usual issues with security and changing terminals and such. got some sleep and watched some movies and had my usual relaxing fly time! now im getting settled into my apartment, got a few things for it and did my big trip to the grocery store, all thats left is to get a NZ phone number and go apply for jobs!
the roomates all seem really nice so far, the apartment is a little run down but in a great location. I got some storage and bright colors to cheer it up and its already starting to feel a bit like home - luckily for me there is a Salvation Army (Salvo) right down the block.

On the drive in from the airport the shuttle went along the water and it was a great reminder of why I came here... the peacefulness and happiness that radiates from wellington is so strong all along the water, I love it!

Leaving on a Jet Plane, Dont know when Ill be back again...

So its that time again! In an hour I'll be getting on a verrrry long plane ride to new zealand (via Charlotte, LA, and Auckland, arriving into Wellington). Vegetarian meals are double confirmed (it was a nightmare last year when they forgot mine), the bags are packed, and Im ready to go! Its going to be nice to move straight into an apartment instead of going to a hostel first then finding a place. Its also a rare treat to be moving someplace I've been before - I was only in NZ for a month and Wellington for 2 days, but its enough that I understand NZ customs and way of doing things, and know my way around Wellington enough to get an apartment 2 blocks from Cuba St where I am sure I will be getting a waitressing job (its a great street in the center of town filled with restaruants, boutiques, cafes, and the like). Im also just 2 blocks from the water and very nearby parks, the national museum, and just about everything else in town!

Its been a lot of work getting everything prepped for a year (probably 10 months) away but I finally feel like I know exactly what to do and how things work... prewriting/addressing christmas cards so i can have them sent from the states instead of expensive NZ postage, storing the stuff I'm leaving in an organized fashion so Ill be able to find what I need when I come back, making sure to bring enough of the things that are especially expensive in NZ and none of the things that are cheap. I feel like a master of vagabonding now but I know I still have a lot, lot to learn - these things they just dont tell you in Lonely Planet! Maybe I'll start on my own, practical guide to vagabonding while I am gone.... let me know if you have any ideas!!

cruise

next week my mom and i will be cruising in the tropics!! we head out of Miami and hit up key west and Cozumel on a carnival cruise for 4 nights - so excited, cant wait!

new things

a quick update from stateside....

since being back ive had a blast hanging out with family and friends - its so nice to be home!

my project here is starting my own business, its an online retail store selling a "beauty supplement" - a hair skin and nails vitamin called InnerBeauty

www.innerbeautyvitamin.com

product will be ready to launch in 1 week! so exciting!

last day in paradise!

so excited - in just 1 day i will be leaving bali and heading home to greensboro! so strange for it to be the last day of this 11 month trip, how fast and slow everything has been! in honor of the last day ive posted below some of my 'favorites' from this nearly year long trip

FAVORITE:
city - Brisbane, Australia
island - Pulau Perhentian, Malaysia
beach - Whitehaven Beach, Australia
beach town - Byron Bay, Australia
hiking spot - Tongaria Crossing, New Zealand
diving spot - Pulau Weh, Indonesia
foodie town - Ubud, Bali Indonesia
restaurant - Aquaria, Candidasa, Bali Indonesia
swimming hole - Gitgit Waterfalls, Lovina, Bali Indonesia
adrenaline rush - bungee jumping with AJ Hackett, Queenstown, New Zealand
travel game - "Mine" (thanks to B1 and B2)
book read - "4 Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss
library - Brisbane City Library, Brisbane, Australia
animals - Little Penguins, Melbourne, Australia
lake - Lake Wanaka, New Zealand
mode of transport - sailboat, Whitsunday Islands, Australia
souvenir - my tattoo

sorry for the delay...

internet has been a little difficult the past week or so... lots to update on!

after ubud, went to kuta for a couple days - wasnt a huge fan so moved quickly onto candi dasa, which is a wonderful small beach town. i loved it more than most because i ended up in a abso fantastic hotel called Bali Santi (still cheap cheap!) and found a phenomenal restaurant (Aquaria) which made my days and nights that much sunnier :)
afterwards i headed to tulamben, which is the sight of the liberty shipwreck, one of balis more popular dive sights. most cities do diving day trips there, but i heard when you go for the day trip the sight is unbelievably crowded. so i decided to go to the town for a night and get up early for a sunrise dive, which worked out really well since there were only a few other people in the water and the sight was really cool! i am very happy to have done a proper ship wreck now

after diving was a bit of a frantic journey to pandang bai to get a boat for the gili islands. i went to the larger island first. the highlight there was the movies on the beach they have nightly - love that! next, i went to the smaller island, though was disappointed -i had expectations of Gili being a lot like the perhentian islands, but they really didnt live up! now im back in bali after a wonderful boat ride back. i came to ubud because i missed the rice paddies and figured after i left here (less than 3 weeks now!) it would be a long, long time before i saw them again.

kuta

in kuta now, after a potentially horrendous situation yesterday - i got hit by a motorbike while i was walking on the sidewalk in Ubud. the driver stopped and took me to the clinic and then the hospital because we thought my elbow was fractured. took a couple of xrays and it turns out (thank goodness!) it is only a sprain. will have my left arm in a sling for the next week but very happy it wasnt any worse than that! made the journey to kuta today - its not really my sort of place. a nice, very long beach but the city itself is very polluted and noisy. lots of australians on a short holiday so you have the real Tourist crowd instead of just the backpacker crowd, which means prices are more expensive and life in general is more commercial. i will likely only stay here a couple days and then head maybe to padang padang before going to candidasi and diving the liberty wreck in tulmarine (sp?)

i was impressed though at the hospital and clinic in ubud! the doctor spoke english (almost perfect except for the extremely disconcerted mix up that he *and apparently all other balinese* have of saying "hand" when they mean "arm" and "sick" when they mean "hurt") and the facilities were very clean and orderly (though not nearly as modern as a western hospital) and to top it off, everyone wore fun, brightly colored clothes which gave the place a more festive atmosphere!

tonight headed to the night market in kuta, away from the city center, hoping to get out of the tourist scene for a couple of hours and get back to the street food ive been missing in bali!

ubud

ive been in the Balinese town of ubud for the past few days - i love it here! its a total hippieville, all organic restaurants (ammmazing food) and yoga centers and very bohemian feel everywhere (fab shopping in the markets too - im picking up all of my souvenirs here... including an extra bag to bring them home in!) It is very touristy, much more so then ive seen so far in indonesia, but i love it anyhow :) Today i went to a great restaurant for lunch called Sari Organics... its set about 1km off the main road so you walk for 15 minutes through all of these rice paddies - absolutely beautiful, and the place is set on its own organic farm which is where they grow all of the produce for the meals. really cool.
yesterday was also grand - went to the spa for an hours massage, body scrub and mask and flower petal bath (all for $10 - crazy!) and also took care of essentials such as extending my travel insurance and applying for my visa extension.
also went over to the monkey forest - a def highlight. within this little stretch of forest are 3 different troupes of the feistiest monkeys youve ever seen! theyve also built temples here to the monkeys and other animals of the forest, and theres legend that says the monkeys are protecting a hidden city. very fun

tomorrow im taking a vegetarian cooking class and then going to check out the remaining temples/palaces that i havent yet seen. not really in a rush to leave this place! its more expensive here than im used to in indonesia but not as expensive as kuta and the gillis are supposed to be. im happy to have found a travel company i really like here so am using them for this lovina-kuta trip (the great thing with them is that they let you stop as many places along the route to get out and spend a day or few days as you want - which also means the buses run everyday, on time - shocking!) and am def going to be booking them to head to the gillis as well (and maybe lombok, depending on how the schedule works out)

august 11th

i finally booked a ticket home! i am flying to greensboro out of bali on august 11th (arriving august 12th) and am very excited! cant wait to see everyone again...

so to play catch up... had an uneventful 14 hour trip from yogya to bromo, and got up at 3am to hike up to the summit to see the sunrise... unfortunately the weather wasnt cooperating and all we saw was deep mist growing lighter and lighter - no actual sunrise or colors or even views of the surrounding countryside - disappointing. i was planning to stay the afternoon to hike some more, but it was very difficult trying to find my way around the mountain and to where i was supposed to go (no signs, no maps, etc) so decided to have a javanese massage instead! that evening i caught the night bus to bali, only to find that the trip i had booked (to lovina, bali) was no longer running. ive never met such disorganized tour operators (and this was for a tourist shuttle made for westerners, brochures in english, booked at the hotel for premium prices) - i think the deal was that they dont actually run the trips themselves, just book you on all of the individual operators who will (supposedly) take you were you want to go - which means no one knows anything about the trip, speaks english, or is able to be responsible and correct problems that occur, being delayed so missing connections, etc. needless to say, the whole thing was an exercise in patience. it is a very humbling experience going from asian countries like malaysia and singapore where everyone speaks english and even (unfortunately) apologizes for not speaking perfect english (when youre in their country!) to going to a country where i have been constantly chastised for not speaking fluent indonesian, being laughed at hourly for the "funny" way i look, and given a lower status than locals (even though paying a tourist price) for services.

anyhow, eventually i did get to my destination in bali and spent yesterday lying on the beach, swimming, and reading. today i went to the nearby hot springs and Buddhist monastery. tomorrow im going diving to one of the best dive spots in bali! Lovina it turns out is maybe a little too quiet for me - the lack of tourists compared to what i guess they normally have here means a 24/7 barrage from touts so not a moment peace to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Plus since im traveling alone at the moment, i would like to head somewhere where there are more backpackers my age so will have friends to be made! I think i will head to Kuta after diving and see how that is for a change...

bali

made it to bali via bromo safe and sound! i must say it was not the most... relaxing trip up here, but very glad to be here and heading to a black sand beach! more dets to come...

BOROBUDUR AND PRAMBANAN

been having a great time in yogya- highlights were the day trip i took to BOROBUDUR AND PRAMBANAN. borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere and prambanan is a super cool Hindu temple not far from it. they were both stunning, beautiful, and interesting.

besides that, havent been doing too much, just hanging around the city, looking for flights HOME in august (booking tomorrow -very excited!), getting a new pair of prescription sunglasses, shopping for presents for my darling niece and nephew, etc etc.

the world cup "football" games are a big deal here because of all the Europeans traveling here. i watched a couple of them, including see america win at the last minute with an exciting goal!

i head out to Bali tomorrow via Bromo - its a 2 day trip but should be really fun. Looking forward to climbing bromo and then getting into Bali! im taking the ferry into Lovina which is one of the more chill beach towns on the island (btw Bali is an island but a very very big island - didnt realize this!) and then from there seeing how things go - cant wait!

Yogya

Made it to Yogya, safe and sound! The flight from banda aceh to here cost a little more than i was expecting but i guess thats how it goes when you book your flight the day of at the airport! and the timing worked out perfectly so the lack of hassle was probably worth it.
i like this city already, something kinda quirky and comforting about it. i just got checked into a hotel, i dont think im going to stay there the whole time but its in the area i want to stay in and my first choice was fully booked and it is cheap and clean so will stay here tonight and tomorrow find somewhere else! i think im going to be here a total of 1 week but taking day trips for a couple of the days to temples and such around here

xo!

Weh Cool

In pulau weh and absolutely loving it! While bigger (in size) and more developed (in terms of roads and motorbikes), pulau weh is somehow even more isolated and chilled out that the Perhentians. There is only a dozen westerns here... and this is "busy" for them! Its a real, true life, non commercialized, living indonesian island town. With more indonesians than westerners and a perserved way of life, this is out of the norm for a traveler to find. Love it! The diving here is INSANE - so freakin awesome you wouldnt believe it. Stunning reefs and OOC marine life. Good thing too since there is nothing to do here besides snorkel and dive! Rom (the english girl im travelling with) and I have a really great room right on the sand where the major highlight is the big wrap around porch. We have done a lot of good sitting on that porch! Besides the porch sitting we spend most of the time at the dive shop - they have a library of interesting books and a computer with internet that occasionally works (only when its very sunny out because of the satellite). Today we rented a motorbike (which means paid one of the guys US$10 to use his while he was at work at the dive shop) and drove around the island (roads! what a novelty!). We got chased for a bit by some crazy monkeys, but made it safe and sound besides that. All in all its been a fabulous week!
Monday I leave with Rom and she gets on a plane back to england and i will catch a flight to jakarta to go down through java and check out some temples and volcanos before making my way to bali. ohhhh bali. the only weird thing is that apparently for these inter-indonesian flights/airlines, you dont book a ticket ahead of time, you just show up at the airport. strange. will take some adjusting!
Another good discovery is that indonesian is verrry similar to malay, in that all the worlds i know in malay are the EXACT same in indonesian! (at least in sumatra) which means instead of learning a whole new vocab, i can build on the one i already know.
Learning more about the tsunami and how devastating it was for this area has made me really sad but grateful for the safety we have had in the states!

pulau weh

off the island today! taking an overnight bus to KL and then catching a flight to indonesia and making my way to Pulau Weh (near the top tip)

so excited!

onward!

so the time has come - im leaving the island tomorrow! i cant believe it, ive been here for so long now i barely remember life off the island!

next stop - indonesia

im heading to KL with 3 of my friends from the island (night bus!) and then onto indonesia with one of those friends, Rom for a week of diving before she goes home and i will have to find new people to travel with!

cant wait!

updates

the big update on island life here - i completed my advanced scuba dive course yesterday! for my advanced course i learned navigation, buoyancy control, deep diving (up to 30 meters), wreck diving, and night diving. went to a sight called T3 that was so ridiculously cool, and my night dive was my other fav - we went with flashlights and you see completely different creatures at night, plus it just changes your perspective on everything.

also, went to the mainland last week for shopping and was amazed at what an island girl i had become - the cars and motorbikes were a huge adjustment, as well as being in such a big, noisy, chaotic place. not fun! back to my island i go... im currently planning to leave in approx 2 weeks - a lot of my friends from the island are leaving then and it will be at my 2 month mark... sounds about right! now to find a travel buddy and plans...

same same but different

still in the islands - same same, different day! but today its raining so good excuse to come online and put up updates... if there were any updates to send forth! im still really happy here and havent gotten the itch to move onward yet. i think im now going to start keeping my eye out for a great travel buddy/buddies though - since finding someone(s) you want to spend 24/7 with in and out of frustrating and challenging situations is no easy quest! but as for now, i keep realizing more and more each day how amazing and rare the situation i have here is. very, very little 'work' for free accom, food, and facilities (laundry, internet, housekeeping, etc) not to mention being in paradise and having made some good friends. pretty darn awesome. its a great chance to settle somewhere temporarily - unpack the backpack and be able to grow some roots... even if they are grown in sand!

in other news, congrats to Britt and Pooja on their promotions yesterday!! Soooo excited for you girls!

the islands

not much to update on... island life is pretty easy! on 'normal' days, i get up at 8am to catch the first boat of the day, then get brekkie, read for a bit, go meet the afternoon boats and sit outside on the beach in the shade with the crew from Quiver dive school, go swimming in the late afternoon (the water here is amazing), catch the evening boats, then eat dinner watching the sunset over the ocean before some night time hanging out on the beach.

today we were fully booked, so got to take the day to go on a full-day snorkeling trip around both islands! it was 6.5 hours of snorkeling, so quite a day, but amazing. there is such phenomenal ocean life here, beautiful corals and wish and even sharks and rays! last week i went diving, which was also great. my friend romalie who i met in taman negara and came to the islands a few days after me has just decided to stay and get her 'dive masters' which means shell be here for at least another 6 weeks! the dive instructors at quiver are all great as well, and us group plus jon (a new yorker!) who works at a restaurant on the beach, make up the english speaking crew and we have a great time living here in paradise.

the perhenthian islands

in the islands and surprise, surprise, ive ended up getting 'stuck' here! on my second day i was offered a job as a greeter at a hotel here - i meet the boats when they come in and try to bring in customers. in exchange i get free room and board - pretty good deal! ive become good friends with the instructors at the dive school since its right next door to the hotel and also the best spot for hanging out and watching the jetty waiting for the boats to come in. besides a bit of snorkeling and diving, we dont do a whole lot here! on the island, theres no ATM or bank, no grocery stores, no nothing except a few minimarts, restaurants, dive centers, and hotels. some restaurants dont even have chairs, just bamboo mats on the sand! it is a 10 minute walk through the jungle to the other side of the island (long beach, im in coral bay), where there are better restaurants (though havent been able to sample those as much since im getting free food here) but otherwise more of the same. this side faces southwest, though, so you can see the sunset! speaking of, thats what im about to do right now...

taman negara

only have 10 minutes - im currently on my bus from taman negara to the perethian islands - no internet on either!

taman negara was great - the oldest rainforest in the world. we got their via a long bus trip and then a 3 hour boat ride in a traditional long boat down the river! we got stuck twice and all of us had to get out to push - how cool! by the end all of our butts had gone numb, but well worth the experience. the first night there we went on a night safari - 4x4ing through the palm oil plantations and saw leopard cats, birds, and cows. the next day i was up early to go on the canopy walk (scary - 40 meters up!) and then hiked to a swimming hole. in the late afternoon we went caving (with a tour) which was a highlight for me. there were thousands of bats in the cave and we had to do quite a bit of rock climbing to get through, as well as squeezing through some impossibly tights holes in the rock (i wasnt so worried since i was the littlest of the group anyhow!). by the end we were compleetely covered with mud and bat poo, but had a stellar time. this morning were heading to the islands to do some diving and relaxing, cant wait!!

more to come

kuala lumpur

arrived in kuala lumpur (KL) yesterday. KL is the capital of malaysia and a crazy, bustling city. such a difference from neat, orderly singapore... we spent the whole of today lost in the non-sensible (to our western minds, at least) streets. making it more interesting to navigate is the complete lack of pedestrian right-of-way!

to start the adventure from the beginning though...
i was really excited and a little bit nervous to make the leap from safe, clean, orderly, english speaking singapore to malaysia, starting with the bus trip. we got to the bus station to find that the express (easy) bus wasnt going to be leaving for another 2 hours so instead we took the cheaper bus route (no complains, really) by taking one bus to the border (one hour) and then changing buses to get one to KL. a little more difficult that in sounds since during that first bus route you have to get off the bus twice and go through both singapore and then malaysia customs - trying to get through before the bus leaves you (almost happened to us both times since we were the only westerners on the bus so took longer to get through than the malays and singaporians). once we got on the 5 hour bus to KL though, things were silky smooth... had big reclining seats so slept most of the way! and all together it cost half price switching buses! more difficulty came when we got into KL, because the bus depot that we were supposed to go into was closed (typical KL from my 2 days of experience!) so got dropped off outside of the city and had to try to find a bus to our hostel from there. finally managed though by the time we got in we were pretty knackered and only went to dinner and bed.

today was the day of being lost around the city! also managed to sneak in an hour massage in there (its too tempting with the prices here!) and figuring out how to get to taman negara, our next destination (leaving tomorrow morning!). in between the lost we checked out the Lake Gardens, Orchid Gardens, and Planetarium (worth its RM$1 a hundred times over for the blasting air con in the middle of the day!!). in the morning i discovered a brilliant tradition - people on their way to work stop at street vendors to pick up little paper wrapped packages of noodles and such for their lunch, for about RM$1! okay so you might not immediately see the genius, but just imagine instead of preparing your lunch every morning, you can sleep in those extra minutes and pick up a prepackaged, healthy delicious lunch on the way for the same price! well i thought it was a little something different that was nice :)

speaking of food, i havent even mentioned yet how INSANELY good the food is here! in singapore staying in little india i had some of the best meals of my life, and everything here has been soooo good so far as well! flavorful and spicy and yummm! plus its so inexpensive i now eat about 8 meals a day... probably not a good habit to pick up on after getting back into good shape in australia, but i figured for my first week i should allow myself to eat any and all of the amazing food i pass by :) next week ill start being more reasonable (maybe!)
another malaysian fav (that i hear is even bigger in thailand) is the packets of freshly cut fruit from street vendors, again for about RM$1 (which is US$.25, by the way) - yummy fresh mango and cut pineapple and anything else, already cut up and ready to eat, fresh and so delish! the best possible snack in the heat of the afternoon...

travel!

yayyy found a travel buddy! sally, a Scottish girl who has been travelling in se asia for 4 weeks now, and i are headed to malaysia tomorrow morning, into kuala lumpur (the capital of malaysia). its a 6 hour bus ride, so plenty of time to finalize details for the rest of our malaysia trip. the game plan at the moment is to spend 2 nights in KL, then on the Jungle Railroad to taman negara national park for some trekking before off to Perhentian Island for one of the worlds best dive spots and also a turtle sanctuary! After that, will either be heading to east malaysia and then indonesia, or right into thailand (crossing the border via boat from the top of malaysia is one of the safest ways of going in) which is what im leaning towards. from there id be working my way up from the south.

any advice/suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated!

today in singapore i went to the zoo... normally im not a big fan of zoos because i dont like to see the animals caged up and the whole thing is a little too artificial for my tastes. the singapore zoo is cool though because instead of cages they have a little environment for each type of animal, separated by a moat (for those who cant swim) or land (for those who can), so it was a really cool way to see them! my favorite was the zebras - theyre so beautiful! the flamingos were also a cool surprise favorite, and of course i loved the always cute penguins and turtles.

singapore

arrived in singapore yesterday! im a day later than i expected to be, my flight was cancelled so they had to bump me to the next day... however in return i got put up in a flash hotel for the night, with meals included! absolute luxury for a backpacker... my own room, double bed, fresh towels, mini shampoo/body wash/etc, tv, ensuite, on and on...

so excited to finally get to singapore though! it really is an incredibly run city, so neatly efficient, beautiful, clean, and courteous i can barely believe it. so far in my explorations of the city (where im staying in little india, the flash shops of orchid road, the botanical gardens, and a few back streets i got lost on, i have not yet seen one piece of litter, nor one homeless person. everything is in its place, streets and directions are VERY clearly marked, and perfectly groomed trees line the streets. wow.

only downside to this city is the rampant humidity - i thought i would be used to it coming from queensland, but man does it pack a punch here! luckily in singapore the tap water is safe to drink or else id be spending a fortune on bottled water!

now im getting on with the business of finding a travel buddy. met two friends last night, one of whom already has a flight into indonesia in a couple days (a possibility perhaps) and one who is just finishing his travels. oh well, need to keep meeting and greeting!

Next Step

On Friday 16 April I am flying to Singapore to start my SE Asia trip! SOoooo excited to finally get this leg of the trip underway. From singapore, my tentative plans are to take a boat around malaysia and indonesia, and then from there make my way to the mainland to go to thailand, laos, cambodia, and vietnam. perhaps india, tibet, and nepal while im at it! i figured it is best to figure it out as i go along, since most of the travel is by boat, bus, or train and no telling how much im going to love these places until i get there!

so very, very excited!

Sydney

wowwowow, 7 months later and back where i started - wake up hostel in syndey! cant believe 7 months have flown by. though i am SO greatful for the warm weather and access to my aussie bank and phone...

now for the difficult task of deciding whats next, trying to find a travel buddy for se asia and figuring out life.

wanaka

sad news... i didnt get to go on the helicopter because of the weather :(

but onwards - so im currently in wanaka, a cute little town right on lake wanaka and surrounded by mountains (in winter its a hugely popular ski destination). last night went to their notorious cinema where you sit on comfy couches and there is an intermission to go get freshly baked cookies from the 'snack bar' - very fun. easter came and went without any fuss (except for the closing of shops) and now its onto queenstown! i head there today for 2 nights, and will be bungee jumping!!!! im soooo excited about it. queenstown is where bungee jumping was invented as we currently know it today and is the home of the first ever commercial bungee jump site. needless to say, it is a BIG DEAL in queenstown and i cant wait to try it out!
after that is just a night in Christchurch and then my flight back to sydney where i will hopefully be able to sort out my SE Asia plans.

in other exciting news... Duke plays in the NCAA national basketball championship today!!! unfortunately i will be on a BUS for the game so unable to watch (i would have changed my bus but then i would have had to miss my flight out of here... sigh) but will be rooting for them from my ride to queenstown.... GO DUKE!

wellington, picton, able tasman, barrytown, franz josef

this week im down in the south island! but first things first - i stopped in wellington for a couple of days, which is the capital of nz and a really nice city - very livable. in my 2 days there i went to the national museum and the botanical gardens, the latin festival and the farmers market for fresh produce. lovely couple of days!
after a lovely 3 hour ferry ride to the south island, i was in picton, which is the gateway to the Marlborough wine region. stayed in a realllly fantastic hostel called the villa, which was quirky and charming and friendly - i loved it. there, i went on a one day wine tour of Marlborough vineyards (famous for its sav blancs), a really great day!
next up, back on the bus and heading to able tasman, another nz national park with great hiking. we had absolutely beautiful weather so enjoyed doing the coastal hike and stopping at the beaches along the way.
almost not worth mentioning is our next stop, barrytown, which im pretty sure is just thrown in there because stray gets a bigger kick back than usual from us staying there. sigh, commercialism.
but nowwwww.... dum dum dum! im in franz josef! at the moment my co bus riders are currently hiking up a huge block of ice known as a glacier. no thank you! im waiting until the afternoon and seeing it all from the warmth and comfort of a helicopter!! so excited! i was masochistically going to make myself do the hike, but realize i wouldnt be able to enjoy it at all with the cold and ice everywhere - and ive never taken a helicopter ride and have always wanted to! soooo excited, fingers crossed it wont be cancelled (for weather)!

next stop is wanaka, then queenstown, then christchurch, then flying out back to sydney! i can barely believe i only have a few more days here... and so much to do!

brutalful

we did get to do the 8 hour hike of the tongaria crossing (and managed to do it in only 7 hours!) - it was everything it was built up to be, and more. the scenery was spectacular, the first hour was hiking intermittent with rock climbing through the base of the mountain (volcanoes, actually) which followed the most peaceful babbling brooks with the views of the volcanoes we were about to climb looming in the background. the second hour was by far the most brutal, and was the point where i began to think i had overestimated my fitness level for this kind of hike! basically it was an hour of crudely made stairs cut into the mountain side with no views but the person in front of you and behind you (and in my case, the elderly couple that passed me along the way - when youre getting out-hiked by a 70 year old, you know youre in trouble). After that it all got good again! It was another hour of hiking and rock climbing, this time with the emerald lakes (the halfway point) in the distance, which were crazy stunningly beautiful. The last bit before the lakes was sliding down a few hundred meters of volcanic ash - i was glad i had worn black for the occasion! (see note below on this) We had lunch by the emerald lakes and then continued our journey which for the next hour, mean rock climbing along the ledge of the mountain that was caught in a wind tunnel - then i understood why we couldnt do the hike in poor weather!! that part was a little tough as well, but after that the hike got easy (or maybe my body just gave up being in pain?). for the last couple hours we got to go back Down the mountain on a nice, easy downward slope with stunning views of the surrounding farmland and lakes and finished with half an hour of flat walking through a bit of an unexpected rain forest!

All in all, a spectacular day that prompted me to make up a new work for the hike - brutalful (beautiful and brutal all tied together). in another note (of interest to my fashion girls out there) was the makeshift wardrobe of me and my hiking buddies. we fell into 3 camps, about half had gone out and bought decent hiking apparel (hiking boots, wind/waterproof sporty jacket, polar fleece zip ups and wind pants, all in the bright colors that i can only assume are so popular with hiking apparel so if you get lost they can find you most easily?). another half rented hiking gear from the hostel, and then little old me was in a camp by myself and decided to makeshift my normal clothing into hiking gear (it cant be that tough, right?) so ended up in black pumas instead of hiking boots (which were the one regret), some black yoga pants, and a black top with a grey jersey scarf and topped all off with my black faux leather jacket and big perscription sunglasses. i looked like such a city slicker i knew i had to finish the hike early or would be doubly judged by the 'serious' hiking groups! ridiculous looking or not, everything worked just fine (though we lucked out with no rain), with no damage done except a couple bruises on my feet from the thin soles of the pumas.
the day after everyone was struggling even with just the bus steps, our bodies are so sore!

as of today, im in wellington and GOOD NEWS it just so happens that today in wellington (the countries capital) there is a latin dance festival!! i couldnt have lucked out with any better timing, im so excited... wellington seems like such a great city, cant wait for today! will update later

(post note: one of the mountains in the range that we hiked was 'Mt Doom' from the lord of the rings trilogy!)

national park

im currently at the national park for a few days, i was only planning to stay one night, but we wont be able to hike the tongaria crossing until friday (weather related safety reasons) so im currently bunked down in THE nicest hostel in NZ (which surprisingly is also really inexpensive!) called 'The Park' (looks more like a hotel than a hostel), just reading, doing little hikes, and soaking in the hot tub. ahhh, not a bad life! i may start getting stir crazy by the end but i do really love it here! only problem is the lack of supermarket, so im having to get reeeally creative with my current food supply! more to come :)

hahei, raglan

first stop on our grand tour of NZ was Mt Eden, a volcano in auckland with beautiful views, and then onto Hahei. Hahei was very cool for 2 reasons, 1 - a beautiful hike up to Cathedral Cove, and 2 - Hot Water Beach. hot water beach is a beach sitting on magma, so at certain spots on the beach if you got at low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand (with spades, BYO or rented) which will fill up with tepid, warm, or hot water. in one case, the water was literally boiling. i chose a warm spot and sat myself down in the sand - very cool (well, hot - you know what i mean). then it was onto raglan, surf capital of NZ and home of the longest left hand break in the world (not that i know what that means, but apparently its impressive). the beach was nice (i passed on surfing to get in some good sitting on the beach time) but what was really impressive was the incredible hostel we were at. i wouldnt even call it a hostel, because it was the lodging for the raglan surf school, and there was so much love put into this little eco paradise it just doesnt seem right to call it a hostel. i thought about staying longer but decided it was onto bigger and better things, lest i get stuck in the relaxing world of beach paradise forever.

stray bus

so i just got back from my first jaunt with the stray bus. i really liked the stops we did and free activities - on the way there we did a glass bottom boat tour around goat island, and on the way back we stopped by a really nice waterfall. the atmosphere was quiet as social as i was used to with oz experience, but at least it meant i could catch a few zs on the bus in between staring out the window at the beautiful scenery.

back in auckland now and in the am heading to kakei... not quite sure what awaits me there, but we will find out!

bay of islands

so outside auckland, now i see why people say that new zealand is the most beautiful place in the world. on the bus ride to paihai (in the bay of islands), everywhere i looked was more and more stunningly gorgeous scenery. its definitely colder than australia here but not miserably cold (yet) and today we had a few hours where it was almost hot. brilliant.
tomorrow its back to auckland and then onward on the travels through the rest of NZ!

auckland

the city in the USA that auckland most reminds me of is... detroit. ha, i thought people were being over dramatic with 'theres no reason to go there' and 'theres nothing to do there' because people had said the same thing about brisbane. turns out they were all right, its a cities city, all grey and tall buildings without a hint of green. its on the ocean, yet there is absolutely no development along the ocean and you cant even see the water beyond the construction going on at the water front. the main attraction is the sky tower where you can pay $20 to go up to the top and see even more of the depressingly grey city. still, its a great departure city - im heading to the bay of isles tomorrow and still had to book a couple hostels for my trip and get all of my stuff together for my 7:50am departure to Paihai.

new zealand

surprise! im in new zealand, just got off a plane in Auckland an hour ago, and back to my vagabond life. long story.

looking to the future - tomorrow is all day in auckland before a couple day trip up to the bay of isles, and then back here to start my tour of the north island, followed by a few days in wellington and the world reknown marlbourough wine region before transversing the south island, bungee jumping in queenstown, and ending in christchurch.
for this rapid fire backpacking, i may be touring around with my friend Karina, an american girl who i met in Melbourne and has been living and working in Sydney for the past many many months. she will be here roughly the same timing as me and so we are trying to cordinate schedules! itll be a treat if it works out

getting kicked off the internet cafe now, more updates to come!

inked

exciting news today - i got a tattoo! its something ive wanted since i was 19 (6 years - wow) but hadnt found the right artwork until just a couple months ago. i got a compass (compass rose, to be exact) on my right hip and could not be happier with it! it didnt hurt nearly as badly as people have said that it does (or im just one tough cookie) though i am content to just have this one and no others. i dont think i will ever get sick of the design (though it is in a discreet spot regardless) and it will always remind me of the wonderful time i had in australia and of my wanderlust and love of traveling.

side note for the worry warts out there - i went to one of the most reputable and esteemed tattoo parlors in brisbane and to the best tattoo artist there. she (lily) was incredibly insightful as to what would and wouldnt work, look good 50 years from now, and was awesome at translating my vision into physical artwork. she made me feel very comfortable and of course everything was super duper sterilized, hygenic, and safe.

opening day!

today was my first day at the markets! it was a (very) early start, up at 4am and left at 4:30, to be all set up for market opening at 6am. the west end markets have a ton of produce stalls so it got really busy really early with early birds grocery shopping, but my stall didnt pick up until a little later. tough part about the day was that it rained the whole time, ranging from sprinkling to torrential downpours. since it had also been raining all week, the field where everyone (customers, shop keepers etc) could park (for free) was flooded/closed - apparently that keeps away more people than the rain because there arnt many other places to park around there. still had a good day and most importantly, learned a lot. everyone at the markets is really nice too, very friendly and helpful. the whole set up process was more work than i reckoned it would be, and my stall was the easiest set up of any of the stalls that i saw (the 3x3 tent and one clothing rack that stays there, on loan, plus one portable clothing rack, a mirror, a portable table, and the merchandise itself to take with me). from what people have told me, they dont often make very much money doing this (with some exceptions - the flower stall on valentines day, etc) and its a lot of hours. i figure people do it because they really like having their own business and so its worth it to them. i can see why... i think there might be a future in owning my own business for me - especially if i can manage a later start time :)

the australian notary

yesterday i had to get something notarized for insurance, and found out the main place to get things notarized is the justice of the peace in the brisbane courthouse. i get to the courthouse, fully intimidated with the thought of having to deal with 'the justice of the peace' and even more so when i have to pass through metal detectors to get there. step 1 of relief and amusement comes when i set off the metal detectors and the security guard says 'dont worry, they do that to me too' and lets me proceed without searching me. step 2 when i see there is no line for the justice of peace and step 3 when i realize its not one guy in a powdered wig, but just an office. the best part of my trip comes when i discuss what i need with the guy at the counter - i tell him i need the paper i had notarized and hand it to him, at first he says that he doesnt think he can notarize it without proof that i have the insurance policy that im claiming on the paper i have. i tell him they just want proof that its me who signed the document, and he goes, 'oh well, ok then' and stamps and signs the paper, handing it back to me without me even signing it or checking my ID. i decide not to press the matter (and sign it later myself) and as im walking away he calls after me and says, 'you know, this might look more official if you sign it too'

hahahaha the australian government at its finest

M. Stansbury, CEO

my first (and hopefully not last) business will be starting up in less than 1 week! this saturday, i will launch Rags to Riches, Australia to the world (well, at least, to Brisbane) at the West End Markets. im so excited! i thought it would be much more stressful than it is... though i attribute that to the fact that this is low-risk, both financially and emotionally. i decided to do this as an experiment, a trial, and consider even an utter failure to be a success because it means i learned what i set out to learn.
all of the inventory is bought, alterations are made, stall reserved. all is left to do the rest of this is to buy a clothing rack, affix price tags, and get small bills to make change with.
speaking of the clothing rack, i went in search for possible ways to borrow/buy one today, and kept getting sent to these business furnishing shops which sold just about everything you would need to set up a physical store. however, clothing racks were over $200! i wasnt willing to spend that much so after some further investigating, realized that IKEA sold clothing racks for only $30! it amazes me that businesses, who are in the field of making money, would really be so dumb... i guess it just goes to show you that when the person doing the purchasing doesnt see personal financial reward from saving money, often they will spend way more than they need to of their companies money for sake of doing it the 'easy' way.

on a side note, happy early birthday mom! wish i could be there with you!

happy birthday to me

feb 23rd, 1985
little michelle stansbury is born

feb 23rd, 2010
wake up, bright and early, excited for the day
head off to brekkie with sarah and get a birthday phone call from my wonderful mom
come back to my flat and get birthday flowers delivered to me from same wonderful mom!
off to get a massage (my fav) before lunch and shopping with my friend Sal
quick change back at the flat before meeting up at music cafe for a bit of dinner and live music
truck on down to greystones where i believe there to be a free comedy show
greystones turns out to not be having a comedy show, but hosting the owner of 'the comedy club' to give a speak
ironically, not at all funny, so swing by the point (work) to say hi to my friends having to work the night
end the night sitting on the pier on the brisbane river, watching the city sleep

feb 24th, 2010
(still officially my birthday in the states)
gchat date with pooja and britt, my besties in columbus
warmed my heart to know that even after 6 months apart, on opposite sides of the world, there is no change between us. comforting knowing we can pick right up where we left off, just as it should be with family and true friends.
menu tasting at work for the new menu... how often do you get every delish dish on a menu laid out in front of you, course by course? best job perk ever

i miss my friends and family back in the states so much, but am learning that there is no real distance between us. what a great birthday lesson!

rags to riches

i got approved for a market stall at west end lifestyle markets! i plan to open up on march 6th - cant wait!!

thanks baby grace!

i *heart* you and miss you too...

exciting news

two items of exciting news for today (and quickly, as i only have 7 minutes left on the library computer)

1. i have begun planning my trip to new zealand! plans so far are that i will spend 4 weeks there, take a bus company called Stray to get around (its half like the greyhound and half like a tour - a 'hop on, hop off' bus). Plane tickets are researched (i will fly into Auckland and out of Christchurch) and all is left is to press 'go'!

2. i am trying my hand at starting my own business! as you might know from a prior post, i am interested in being an entrepreneur in the future, so figured what better time to try my hand than the present! it was much easier than i imagined - one email address, one website (still 'under construction'), some free business cards and a couple of applications to local 'lifestyle' markets later, Rags to Riches vintage apparel company is officially a start-up! I hit my first bump when my application was rejected from my first choice 'lifestyle market' but it may be a blessing in disguise since I found another market that may be just as good with fees that are half the price. They have already emailed me asking for more information so I think (fingers crossed!) that it might work out! This would just be a trial business, only be up and running for a couple weeks and not expected to make a profit (it would be an investment in the experience) though if it runs better than expected, it could. im so excited!

20 seconds til i get kicked off so hope my spelling is correct :)

more about brisie

another random thing about brisbane that i really like is that for some reason, brisie installs completely random sculptures ALL over the city. some modern, some classical, some just bizarre. everywhere you look is a nonsensical huge piece of sculptural art. in addition, the city tries to make all new government constructions into practical works of art... the modern bridges that they've built, and, of course, the brisbane city library where i spend the 2nd most waking hours of my life here (the first being work). ive really loved sculptures of all kinds starting 4 years ago when i visited the galleria borghese in rome - my favorite museum in the world and almost universally considered the best sculpture museum in the world. the ironic thing is that its not even really a museum in the traditional sense - the history is that the villa borghese which the museum now occupies was the massive home of the borghese family, and the borghese gardens around it (the 'central park' of rome) was their private lands. inside the villa borghese is a good percentage of the art that was made Especially for them, for the villa, and for the exact location in the house in which in still stands today. so basically the artists would know by what window the sculpture would be placed and subtly used the architecture and light of that particular spot to make the art even more incredible. pretty cool, huh? also unique is that they only let a certain amount of people in at a given time, so it never gets too crowded.
anyway, that is rome and in brisbane it is slightly more modern and haphazard, but i still love it.

on a side note, not sure if ive mentioned it before, but for some reason, everyone in brisbane seems to think that my accent is irish. hmmm....

australia day

so after a long morning and afternoon of working australia day i was able to stroll around and take in the action. turns out (shockingly) that australia day is celebrated almost exactly like the 4th of July - lots of hanging out in the sun/on the beach, BBQs a plenty, almost obnoxious prevalence of the flag.

today on the agenda is packing and starting to clean for my move on saturday! since i didnt want to request days off, i ended up working a double shift on saturday (day im supposed to move) and also working friday morning, so im trying to get as much done ahead of time as possible. since its gotten insanely hot here the past couple weeks im really excited to be moving into a new air conditioned apartment (and still only a couple blocks from work!)

australia day plus a snake scare

Australia Day, 26 January, is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships from Great Britain

Australians celebrate by getting the day of work (except for those of us luck enough to be in the hospitality industry, in which case we get holiday pay - 2.5x normal wage!). I will report back after tuesday to let you know how the day goes down!

on another note, i had my first close encounter with an australian venomous creature - a snake (not sure what kind, im going to imagine something incredibly rare and poisonous instead of a garden snake) dropped down from the top of the fence i was sitting against right next to me. screaming ensued. my official welcome to oz!

visits

had a lovely weekend with my friend sarah who i used to work with at abercrombie. she was only in brisbane a couple of days (20 days total in Oz) but we had a blast catching up and seeing the city! we spent time in south bank, cruised on the citycat boats, went to the botanical garden, spent a few hours in the museum (Gallery of Modern Art - GOMA), had a grilled cheese BBQ (sarah is also a vegetarian), went to the lagoon, shopped in the city center, got dinner and saw some live music in the west end, etc etc etc! lots of fun and great to have a visitor as well.

a golden opportunity

last week i had 2 days off in a row (rare treat!) so decided to go to the gold coast to go to the beach and check out the infamous Surfers Paradise. it was really easy to get to from brisie, just took a 1 hour train and then a short bus ride right to the beach - round trip $22. some people from work had suggested renting a car because apparently you can find them for about $25-30 a day, but it was really nice and relaxing to just read and chill for the ride there and back instead of getting lost and worrying about staying on the right (left) side of the road. Surfers Paradise was all that i had heard it would be - flashy and obnoxious, but in a charming way. it was a great beach day as well, 80 degrees but cloudy so it never felt too hot. had a lovely day hanging at the beach and getting ice cream and the such - i will have to make that a frequent day trip!

also on my list is going to the mountains right outside of Brisbane and also the Queensland Botanical Gardens.

i'm really excited that Sarah, my friend from Abercrombie, is coming to visit this weekend! I have requested those days off work and am really excited to run around and do touristy things with her, show her the city, and get to catch up and see a familiar face.

the future

i've been thinking a lot recently on what i am going to do job/career wise when i get back to the states. currently im reading a book by myers-briggs on the impact of personality type (i'm an ENFP) on certain areas of your life such as marriage and career. it has given me a lot of relief to hear the theory that people with my personality type typically dont have a long reaching career, instead, they usually have a string of 'projects', and a series of passions that they delve into excitedly for a period of time before they move onto the next. as someone who has grown up in a society that values the 'career' and 'corporate ladder', this new idea of a still very successful and exciting work life consisting of a series of perhaps unrelated endeavours feels like a breath of fresh air and resonates very strongly within me. it also may help that due to my marvelous upbringing (thanks mom :) i'm good with saving money so that can keep me financially stable as my work and new 'projects' vary.
it is also very helpful to realize that my next job when i return from my year in australia does not have to be my lifelong career - it can just be my next project, just like my job at Abercrombie (an absolutely amazing experience i'm extremely grateful to have had) was just my 'first job out of college' and not 'the rest of my life'
im relieved and excited to think of possibilities and experiences that i can have post-Australia without feeling like i'm spending more years 'putting off the real world' - this can be my real world. who needs to settle or settle down? (not ENFPs, argue Myers-Briggs)

Ideas for future endeavours:
-work on a cruise ship
-be an entrepreneur, start up businesses/ideas and then sell them to let someone else deal with the day to day running of the business
-go to business school (helpful for the above)
-continue to spend a great deal of time travelling
-work again in the fashion industry, perhaps as a consultant or something less structured than what i was doing

the babychino

the 'babychino' is the most ridiculous thing to plague australia since the overpopulation of kangaroos. it consists of a tiny coffee cup filled with milk foam (from making lattes, capachinos, etc) and topped with chocolate powder (also used for making cappachinos) created for babies and little kids who are having coffee with their parents. the logic is somewhat reasonable - kids like getting what their parents are getting and milk topped with chocolate powder is a semi normal thing for a child to be drinking. BUT the whole principle strikes me as pretentious and psychologically unhealthy! making these 2 year old kids mini-cappachinos is too funny to take seriously, plus it is guaranteed to get them to start drinking actual coffee and becoming little caffeine addicts at an unhealthily young age.
to cinch the annoyance at this modern aussie custom, my canadian friend travis made a great analogy to giving your babies non-alcoholic beer so they 'could be like mommy and daddy' and feel all grown up.

i have my fingers crossed that america doesnt pick up on this!

while on the subject of australians and their coffee (as a newly trained barista, thank you very much!), they come up with all these versions of standard coffee drinks and make new words for them that all sound exactly the same to an american ear - see the glossary of coffees i was requested for today at work:

Cappachino - standard coffee drink consisting of 1 shot of espresso, half milk, half foam in a standard coffee mug topped with chocolate powder

Mugachino - same as a cappachino but in a extra large mug with an extra shot

Mochachino - same as a cappachino but with chocolate milk instead of plain

Machiato - an entirely different drink, a shot of expresso topped with a bit of foam

Skinnichino - a capachino made with skim milk

Babychino - we've already been through this one... sigh

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year all - its going to be a good one :)

So excited that my baby niece was born and that she and her mom and doing well. Excited that a friend from Abercrombie is visiting me in a couple weeks. Excited to be exactly where I am in location and in life. Very glad to have jumped off the corporate ladder. Grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. Thankful technology allows me to keep up with them even while on the other side of the world.

2010 has some big shoes to fill!