a disaster dessert

(above, some of our BS group)
Oh dear.

Simone and I tried to make pavlova, for our friends at the bible study group. We wanted to show them a bit of New Zealand food.

We had never made pavlova before…

It was… you could say… very interesting….

We made, well I made the most… some very horrified and embarrassed faces. It was a bit of a disaster. We didn’t beat the eggs before putting the sugar in….

It looked ok cosmetically when covered in cream and kiwifruit, and it didn’t taste too bad. It just wasn’t cooked properly and was about one third the size it should hve been…

- making the most of the final weeks in utrecht

YaY!! its nearly time to come home. im really excited, and ive been counting the days.
im sure my flatmates are getting a little tired of it
'in three weeks ill be home!'
'only two and a half weeks to go!'
'two weeks and three days till i fly!!!'
'two weeks and one day to go!!'
well now its only one week and four and a half days till i fly!!
this time in two weeks ill be asleep in my own bed

ooo im excited!
but that doesnt mean im not still having fun here. ive a list of must do things i want to do before i go, and im slowly getting through them.
- like take my map and my bike and explore some of the parks on the other side of town.
- bike along the red light district
- go shopping in rotterdam
- bike to the lake
- check out a coffeeshop
- catch more of the nightlife

i have a new flatmate, who was here when i got back from spring break.
Her name is Diana, she is half dutch half mexican.
she is cool! she can speak 5 languages you know!
this weekend we hit the town together. it is theatre week here in utrecht and there are bands playing on a stage in what is the utrecht equivalent to the octagon.
So we went and checked that out, and got our groove on to the skabadivers (not too shabby)
pic: left


we wanted to go to a show that evening, that started at 11.30pm. from what the program said we thought it was going to a theatrical installation performance, with a french director. it was going to be on location, mysterious and the graveyard was central to the piece, and the dead were going to talk to us!! there was a bus leaving at 11pm to take us to this mysterious location.

well we went to buy tickets, but the ticket office was just closing. we were quite disappionted, and thought maybe we can buy tickets on the bus. the bus driver didnt know anything about it, he let us jump on anyway.

(us on the bus)


now you must realise this was quite scary. it was very dark. this bus took us out of town to the wop wops of utrecht, we ended up at a forest place. the french director greeted us in french, and motioned for us to follow him. onto another bus that was pionting in the forest, it was set up like a cinema, and there was a lifelike old man model sitting in one of the seats. all in the dark, he was flickering his lighter and walking upand down the aisle. then 'flick' on comes a projecter. the short film was a narrative (in dutch) with the camera passing landscape at a fast pace.
Diana was translating for me. it was all about this guy who was visiting his old town but everyone was dead, and he was recalling memories.
after that we walked through the forest and along the way were these 'houses' like sculptural still frames of an old memory. they were quite freaky, and the clocks were tick tick ticking.
then we made it to the graveyard installation. it was set under neath this really huge canopy tree, was quite poetical. and there were many candles lit. Then the graves started speaking!!
they talked about the meaning of life, what their lives were like, what does death mean, what they miss about living, complaining about the state of their graves etc etc.
was very interesting experience.



on our way home from town, diana and i biked along the red light district.
i thought that it was something i should take a look at, since it was right by where we live.
the prostitutes work in canal boats, it is actually a really nice setting.
i bike on the other side of the canal behind the red light canals whenever i go into town.
So this night we biked on the red light side. its unbelievable...
this road has a dead end on both sides, so the cars that crawl along it all day and all night are there for one purpose...
and its a very long road, there are a lot of girls working there.
and they are all very beautiful, it makes me very sad....

Adv 20. The MOTHERLAND!!!

Ah London!!! i felt so at home here :)

walking around hearing the british accent made me grin and giggle!!

I arrived on a plane from barcelona, really quite late, i dont know what i was thinking, getting in so late, thank goodness i could jump on a train into the city, and raced to the metro and mananged to catch the last tube at midnight, was a close one. and the hostel where i crashed was really simple to find.

May 5 - met up Simone again, moved all my stuff over to where she was staying with some kiwi friends. we walked around london! the weather was mint! typical though, i go to italy expecting it to be warm, end up wearing my jacket, come to london expecting to need my jacket and it flipping sunbathing weather!! but im not complaining.

we went to the tate modern, which y'all should do when in london, cos its free, and really cool!!
I'm kinda sick of sightseeing, but we saw some of the token sights, millenium bridge, buckingham palace etc etc. heres me with the london eye!














London was really beautiful, actually more beautiful than i ever thought it would be, becuase big city etc, was just expecting loads and loads of people, but there were huge parks in the middle of everything. i mean HUGE like entering into another dimension HUGE. and sadly i rate it more beautiful than Florence... just... but maybe just cos the sun was out, which i know in reality is a rarity.
but look at this stunning display of spring!!













in the evening hung out with our wonderful hosts Louisa and Rob and their kiwi friends at the local pub where it seemed eveeryone was kiwi of aussie!

May 6 - Louisa took Simone and I to the Portobello markets! so many people!

then i hung out with my cousin Kate for the rest of the day. my favourite part. theres something about family that is just really cool!
and well id never really met her before... not that i remember anyway, im just a spring chicken.
we walked through Hyde park. MASSIVE! thats when the rain decided to downpour.

And we dashed to Harrods :) ridiculously extravagant with 5 floors of everything you could imagine.

we ate doughnuts at krispy kreme, and i made kate put on the silly hat :) for the piture














we and sat and chatted over lattes and scones with clotted cream! what a hoot!!! in Harrods!!!

kate had booked a table for three at a pub with a thai restaurant in the back in notting hill.
Adrian, another cousie was coming!! big surprise for me, cos nobody really told me he was in london. So that was really great, id only met him once before about 5 years ago i think.
our table wasnt gonna be ready till nine, so we sat in the pub and had some drinks and chatted some more. Adrian turned up, we chatted some more. was really good times. we talked about what the family is up to etc etc, life in london, and adrian and kate saying london was a primo place to live, what would my parents think.... ;) 'ahh, they'll survive'
My family ROCKS!!!! just wanted y'all to know that. everyone is doing amazing things with their lives, we're like all blessed with intelligent DNA and everyones practically famous!! (well that last bit might be an exaggeration, depends what circles you move in i guess)

Adrian, Kate and I with our cheesy grins at dinner.













and here we are again, look at us posers
Lekker ding!! (thats dutch for HOT, just by the by)
nobody will ever guess how old these crazy cats are.

thanks guys, for showing me a good time:)








May 7 - Simone and i went with some kiwis to the flower market. then we headed to Speakers Corner by Hyde Park. where mostly religious and political fanatics are spouting their piont of view and the audience argues and yells abuse at them. Funny stuff.

We met Inge and Nick for lunch. Inge is a mate from art school, who married a Brit. so now is living in England, and they happened to be in the London vicinity for the weekend so was cool to catch up :) But would you believe they'll be moving back to dunners next year. see you guys again soon.

We went to the Camden Market, hehe crazy stuff. punks galore!!!
in the evening it was time to walk to the streets of London and see the night lights.
good times all round!!!!

May 8
aahhhhh travelling all day. to get back to my bed in Utrecht.
it was such a frustration coming back to holland and hearing the ugliest of all languages again,
its like the complete opposite of the british accent which just made me grin whenever i walked past anyone talking.

but alas i only having to bear 3 and a half more weeks here.
im looking forward to going home and getting stuck into some hardcore creativity, i feel like ive been on holiday for too long.
i need to do something, im a doer.
but i do have a stack of work to be getting on with here. I will conquer my dissertation!!! i will i will.

out

Adv 19. Barcelona...

Wow i had some really good times in Barcelona!!! but its quite a dodgy city, (well where i was staying anyway) there'll be no walking around by oneself at night here. and it is dirty and smelly, but the beach is lovely!! and i even managed to get a little colour.

On the morning of the 2nd of May, i had to drag myself out of bed at 5am, waited at the bus stop in in the rain, to get to Milan Bergamo airport in time for check in for a flight to Barcelona, SPAIN!!!
And the day was beautiful!!! managed to find my hostel eventually. set about decided what to do for the arvo, when i met some canadians....those guys were some crazy cats!! Wyatt on the left, Alex in the middle and Lekkerding thats me on the end. (we went to have a look at the stunning beach, via the harbour, the mall, and the pub) It was Alex's 19th birthday, the legal drinking age in Canada, so he was drinking beer all day!!

after that i ditched those guys and went and had a look at the Gaudi Park. REALLY COOL!
for those of you who don't know who Gaudi is, you should find out, cos he's cool. He was like an alternative architect, designed this park and some apartment buildings and the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral that is in the process of being built.

I have way too many rockin cool pics to post. i think i may have to have a slideshow when i get home. anyways... left: is me from the Gaudi park with Barcelona in the back ground.

Wyatt and Alex's friends Kenan and Janine were coming over from Canada that night, they hadnt slept in two days, and so then of course we hit the town that night to celebrate Alex's birthday.
good times :)




May 3rd - well by this time there was a big party of us. Alex and Wyatt and Kenan and Janine and I and also Jodie (an australian chick who i was sharing a room with)
we spent the day walking the La Rambla, went to the Sagrada Familia and climbed the towers, ate doner kebabs for lunch, Wyatt got a tattoo of the canadian maple leaf on his calf (as you when you're in spain ;)
we out to an italian restaurant for dinner (also something one does when in spain, go figure).
we sat on the terrace at the hostel for a while, good times once again, met an irish couple (very hilarious) and we hit the town once again

below:
jodie and I outside Sagrada Familia
the six of us at delicious Italian Restaurant, we our food anyway...
and Janine, Kenan and Jodie on the terrace






























May 4 - this day i went to the Joan Miro museum, interesting.... he's one of my favourite painters...

then i wanted to walk the shopping line! which is what barcelona is famous for, but i only made it one third of the way. there were way too many cool shops and i spent too much money, then i was really tired and decided i should leave while i could still afford to eat.
went back to the hostel to pick up my bags and say good bye to my new friends, to catch a bus to girona airport to fly to London!!!!!!!

Adv 18. Bergamo and Milan

Milan!! ok this was an experience, i dont recommend travelling in Italy by oneself... too stressful trying to watch your back and your bags

April 30 - i jumped on a train, reasonably early cos i wanted to avoid all the people at the station, it took forever to get to Bergamo.
I had booked a hostel in Bergamo because there was no room at the inn on Sunday night in Milan.
I got to Milan ok, but then it was another really slow hour to Bergamo, stopping at every stop...
grrrr
in the evening i had a look around Bergamo, it wasnt anything spectacular, it reminded me of Rome, just a lot smaller.
May 1 - LABOUR DAY
I didnt know it was labour day today. GRRR. no buses running all morning. so i walked to the train station, had to wait forever for a train to Milan.
Milan was chaos!!! everyone was on the streets. there were street performers, and concert stages being put up all over. I just wanted to see the cathedral... got lost, got ripped off by black street sellers, TWICE!!! (a story for another day) got really pissed off, the cathedral (the one thing i wanted to see in Milan,) was covered in scaffolding, and i said out loud 'you have got to be kidding!', had a look inside, came out again, walked around the outside of it(see the pic where i dont look so happy...), got distracted by a market stall and there was a march down the city centre with loudspeakers and big trucks throwing stuff onto the crowd, the place was crawling with policemen on every corner with shields and batons, stayed and watched for a little while, but didnt really want to be there if it turned ugly, coudnt find the metro station, missed the train i wanted to catch back to Bergamo, got hit on by a really black African, who was actualy really nice, but my experience of the black people in Italy had not been good, so i was of course very suspicious and on my guard, but he convinced me to have a coffee with him, while i waited for the next train. (also a story for another day)



















but i made it safely back to my bed...