Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since my last post, things have been kind of crazy on my end. To make it up to you, I'll give you not one, not two, but THREE posts, all at once! Or at the very least, in quick succession... I know I'm horrible.
So this first post shall be about my journey from England to Botswana.
It turned out to be quite a considerable journey - four hours by coach from Birmingham to Heathrow, then flying to Nairobi in Kenya, then to Zimbabwe, and then to Botswana. Four countries in forty eight hours - not bad eh? The stopover in Nairobi was only 50 minutes, which was cutting it a bit fine so I knew I'd have to run to make my connection... which was why I wasn't thrilled when the plane from Heathrow got delayed by 45 minutes before we even left the ground. Since the planes from Nairobi to Zimbabwe only fly twice a week I was resigned to spending three days camping out in Kenya, battling with the airline to get accommodation.
But wait! The connecting plane is still waiting for me, run to go get it! I ran to go get it. I got it. It was good.
To be honest part of me was kind of disappointed I didn't get to have a little African adventure but I figured hey, I'm going to Africa, there's plenty of time for it!
But after the massive journey, which turned out to be longer than going from Sydney to London, I was very relieved to get to Gabs (Gaborone, the capital of Botswana). I have some close family here and it was great to stay with my aunt and uncle - which was why it came as a bit as soon as I woke up to find out I'd been booked to fly to Zimbabwe the very next day! So after a grand total of 28 hours in Botswana, I flew to Francistown, then got driven back to my city of birth - Bulawayo!
Don't be fooled though - my journey wasn't over yet. I'd gone to Zims to meet up with a couple of childhood friends of mine and head off to Victoria falls - the widest waterfalls on Earth! Exciting stuff eh? Well I'm afraid my laptop battery's about to die - so stay tuned to KDUK12 (now redundantly named) for more exciting installments! Wooo!
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
Some thoughts
This is a strange country, this. And strange in a strange way, too - strange enough to be strange, but not so strange as to be too strange. How strange.
For example, no one could have prepared me for the flowers. When I think flowers I think 'Yeah, they're nice enough, nice colours and smell and that.' But then I came here and they're SO COLOURFUL! It's insane! No wonder so many artists were inspired in England. It seems like living here must be very pretty - falling snowflakes in winter and falling blossoms in summer.
Oxford Street, in the middle of London, was another thing I wouldn't have expected. Perhaps I was subconsciously assuming it'd be fairly similar to Oxford Street in Sydney, and to be fair they're both quite nice places (except in Sydney, if you ask for 'it,' you'll get it). But I can honestly say London's Oxford Street had the most fancy cars I've seen, anywhere. Seriously, in the fifteen minutes or so I was there I must have seen fifteen Bentleys drive past (yet no love for Rolls Royce). There was an Aston Martin showroom, but there were far more Astons parked on the street. You know something's wrong when you see a mid-range BMW, and can safely say it's easily the worst car on the street.
Having had my expectations exceeded once already by a place, I was optimistic to see Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. All the time I'd been in Birmingham I'd heard people talk about two places - the Bullring and the Jewellery Quarter. Now the Bullring had been pretty nice, and I expected the Jewellery Quarter to be even nicer - after all, it has a much more impressive name. It brings to mind old, towering jewellery shops that had been in business since the time of Henry the Whatever, alternating with manufacturers who exported the finest platinum goods to all the world.
Well... not quite. Sure, there were jewellery shops - about twenty of them, half of closed down, poky little places inhabited by pale men with strange eyes and odd hair growth patterns. Sure, there were jewellery manufacturers - but to get to these depressing, dirty concrete slabs you need to pick your way through the piles of garbage bags and puddles of filthy water. To be honest it wasn't even bad enough to be interesting, just really drab and depressing. Needless to say, I didn't stay very long! (Though I did see a nice Lamborghini there...)
I do think I'll miss this country when I go. I've said a lot of good things about it, and as you can see above there's always little surprises that seem to be waiting for me. But hey, I'll be back soon enough, and I mean... Botswana!
For example, no one could have prepared me for the flowers. When I think flowers I think 'Yeah, they're nice enough, nice colours and smell and that.' But then I came here and they're SO COLOURFUL! It's insane! No wonder so many artists were inspired in England. It seems like living here must be very pretty - falling snowflakes in winter and falling blossoms in summer.
Oxford Street, in the middle of London, was another thing I wouldn't have expected. Perhaps I was subconsciously assuming it'd be fairly similar to Oxford Street in Sydney, and to be fair they're both quite nice places (except in Sydney, if you ask for 'it,' you'll get it). But I can honestly say London's Oxford Street had the most fancy cars I've seen, anywhere. Seriously, in the fifteen minutes or so I was there I must have seen fifteen Bentleys drive past (yet no love for Rolls Royce). There was an Aston Martin showroom, but there were far more Astons parked on the street. You know something's wrong when you see a mid-range BMW, and can safely say it's easily the worst car on the street.
Having had my expectations exceeded once already by a place, I was optimistic to see Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. All the time I'd been in Birmingham I'd heard people talk about two places - the Bullring and the Jewellery Quarter. Now the Bullring had been pretty nice, and I expected the Jewellery Quarter to be even nicer - after all, it has a much more impressive name. It brings to mind old, towering jewellery shops that had been in business since the time of Henry the Whatever, alternating with manufacturers who exported the finest platinum goods to all the world.
Well... not quite. Sure, there were jewellery shops - about twenty of them, half of closed down, poky little places inhabited by pale men with strange eyes and odd hair growth patterns. Sure, there were jewellery manufacturers - but to get to these depressing, dirty concrete slabs you need to pick your way through the piles of garbage bags and puddles of filthy water. To be honest it wasn't even bad enough to be interesting, just really drab and depressing. Needless to say, I didn't stay very long! (Though I did see a nice Lamborghini there...)
I do think I'll miss this country when I go. I've said a lot of good things about it, and as you can see above there's always little surprises that seem to be waiting for me. But hey, I'll be back soon enough, and I mean... Botswana!
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Slight change of plans...
I'm afraid the much loved title of KDUK12 (pronounced kay-duck twelve, and loved by me at least) shall soon be rendered fairly moot. Due to unforseen circumstances I'm to leave for Botswana as soon as cheaply possible. Currently the plan there is to spend about a month learning the ropes of my relatives' business, a couple more months doing some kind of volunteer work and also some time travelling southern Africa. After that I'd most likely head off to America to spend some time with my cousins there during their summer break, and after that well hell I'm not sure.
I know it's all a bit sudden, believe me I know, but that's life.
Hope you're all well, and please keep the challenges coming!
I know it's all a bit sudden, believe me I know, but that's life.
Hope you're all well, and please keep the challenges coming!
Thursday, 22 March 2012
I just devoured an apple whole...
...which means I am now officially a weirdo. May God have mercy on my soul.
Anyway! My life. For a long time I was sitting at home, trawling through online job applications and reading. It sucked, but it took me a long time to realise that. It hit me a couple of days ago though, and after that I decided that things were going to change a whole lot in my life. Hooray!
So the last couple of days I woke up early (for me anyway) and set off to Birmingham's famous Bullring shopping centre with a massive pile of copies of my resumes, ready to throw them at anyone who seemed even vaguely interested in hiring me. I finished covering the entire area today, bar a few stores - women's lingerie shops, on the basis that I don't think they hire men (if a couple go into a lingerie store, I highly doubt that the guy would appreciate a sales assistant imagining his girlfriend wearing the various items), older ladies' fashion shops (I know nothing about it), places which sell a lot of meat (duh), and the Disney store (much to the disappointment of one of my friends who wanted discounts on all the princess stuff).
One store in particular seemed quite interesting on my first glance. It was so unassuming, so discreet - just a little dark doorway in a concrete wall. A nicely designed, dimmed light was shining inside, and loud music was throbbing deep in it's bowels, which led me to believe it might be some kind of bar or club, but above the doorway the word 'Hollister' was carved in small, plain letters. I went inside. It was a Hollister store. It was sick. The lights are dim enough to give it a great atmosphere but bright enough to see the clothes and people (once your eyes adjust), and the music is loud enough that you have to raise your voice yet soft enough to be heard - and it's the kind of songs you unconsciously find yourself singing along to softly. I WANNA WORK THERE SO BAD! The application's in, let's hope they accept me!
Other than that I've been going to the gym occasionally with my cousin Vikash. I really, really like the fact that they have a punching bag - so much so that my knuckles and elbows still have scabs from when I got a tad over-enthusiastic. A couple of guys working out saw me, and came over and started chatting. I ended up teaching them a few kicks in return for the promise that they'd never attack someone, and left them feeling satisfied with my new role as a young, brown Mr Miyagi. Unfortunately I saw them a couple of minutes later pummeling the bag like five year olds after too much red cordial and smarties. What can you do. And on the note of working out, you'll have to excuse me while I go do some exercise. Veevek made a very good point to me the other day on Skype - he asked how I would feel if I arrived back in Sydney and he was not only smarter and taller than me, but more muscly too. Though even if he does out-bicep-curl me, I suppose I'll always have one thing - I'm hairier.
Have a good one!
Anyway! My life. For a long time I was sitting at home, trawling through online job applications and reading. It sucked, but it took me a long time to realise that. It hit me a couple of days ago though, and after that I decided that things were going to change a whole lot in my life. Hooray!
So the last couple of days I woke up early (for me anyway) and set off to Birmingham's famous Bullring shopping centre with a massive pile of copies of my resumes, ready to throw them at anyone who seemed even vaguely interested in hiring me. I finished covering the entire area today, bar a few stores - women's lingerie shops, on the basis that I don't think they hire men (if a couple go into a lingerie store, I highly doubt that the guy would appreciate a sales assistant imagining his girlfriend wearing the various items), older ladies' fashion shops (I know nothing about it), places which sell a lot of meat (duh), and the Disney store (much to the disappointment of one of my friends who wanted discounts on all the princess stuff).
One store in particular seemed quite interesting on my first glance. It was so unassuming, so discreet - just a little dark doorway in a concrete wall. A nicely designed, dimmed light was shining inside, and loud music was throbbing deep in it's bowels, which led me to believe it might be some kind of bar or club, but above the doorway the word 'Hollister' was carved in small, plain letters. I went inside. It was a Hollister store. It was sick. The lights are dim enough to give it a great atmosphere but bright enough to see the clothes and people (once your eyes adjust), and the music is loud enough that you have to raise your voice yet soft enough to be heard - and it's the kind of songs you unconsciously find yourself singing along to softly. I WANNA WORK THERE SO BAD! The application's in, let's hope they accept me!
Other than that I've been going to the gym occasionally with my cousin Vikash. I really, really like the fact that they have a punching bag - so much so that my knuckles and elbows still have scabs from when I got a tad over-enthusiastic. A couple of guys working out saw me, and came over and started chatting. I ended up teaching them a few kicks in return for the promise that they'd never attack someone, and left them feeling satisfied with my new role as a young, brown Mr Miyagi. Unfortunately I saw them a couple of minutes later pummeling the bag like five year olds after too much red cordial and smarties. What can you do. And on the note of working out, you'll have to excuse me while I go do some exercise. Veevek made a very good point to me the other day on Skype - he asked how I would feel if I arrived back in Sydney and he was not only smarter and taller than me, but more muscly too. Though even if he does out-bicep-curl me, I suppose I'll always have one thing - I'm hairier.
Have a good one!
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Leicester and Brighton
Well well well, I've had an interesting few days - and definitely the good kind of interesting, don't worry! On Friday afternoon I caught a bus to the coach station in Birmingham, and then a coach up to Leicester. Now there's a few things to say about this. First of all, coach drivers in England are just about the friendliest people I have ever met. Seriously, they're just awesome. And on top of this, the coach driver I had was the same guy who'd driven the coach I was in on my last trip, over a year ago! What are the chances, eh?
Second thing, double-decker buses are a fantastic idea. Remember the days of cramming yourself into a bus on a miserable Monday morning you Sydney-siders? Never again! I say the government should just chop the wheels off every second bus and stack them on top of the rest. Problem solved!
Third, who the hell makes people pay to go to the toilet? At the coach station they had a little turnstile thing which you had to put 30p in to get through - and it had to be exactly 30p. I didn't have 30p, but I did have a full bladder. Thankfully they had another brilliant invention close by, a change machine! I think that's fairly self-explanatory - like a vending machine, except you don't really buy anything. But back to this turnstile business, I just think that's slack. I saw one poor old man going through it - he almost made it, just his leg got stuck in the bars, which swung back up to the top position and left him hopping about on one foot while his wife desperately tried to wrestle his leg away from the Machine of Doom. She quickly succeeded, don't worry. I like to think I'm not a bad enough guy to just watch as an old person struggled with their inflexible hamstrings, thinking to myself 'I should mention this in my blog...'
Okay, last interesting thing about the journey there, then I promise to move onto something less mundane. Someone died on the coach. I was just sitting there, minding my own business when the guy across the aisle started grunting. He was slumped forward in his seat, asleep, but now he was twitching, grunting more and more loudly and drooling copious amounts down the front of his suit. By now the sounds he was making were getting disturbingly loud, and people were starting to stare. 'Sir, are you alright?' I reached out and shook his arm. 'Excuse me sir?' ... And then he grunted, nodded, yawned, and fell back asleep. Okay so he didn't die, I just tried to make it more exciting. Sue me.
Well Leicester itself was quite fun, I got to spend some quality time with some very good family friends of mine. A lot of people I've talked to seem to think Leicester is a bit of a joke, but I don't think it's much different to Birmingham really, just a bit smaller. So hah!
I tagged along with them while they visited relatives in Brighton, three hours drive away. Now here I had a bit of a special moment. Leicester is in the midlands (the middle of Britain), and so I assumed that Brighton was in the Midlands too. After all, in Sydney you can drive for three hours and only get to Campbelltown, which is still really a part of Sydney. So that was a reasonable assumption, right? Nope. Brighton is south of London, apparently. I seemed to have forgotten just how tiny this country is. But Brighton itself was lovely with all its rolling hills and massive plains, even if the famous Brighton Beach was disappointingly, well, lacking any sand. Nevermind, we made stone-castles all the same!
And then, after hanging around a bit more, I caught a coach home, and lo and behold - it was the same coach driver yet again! What are the chances of that, I ask you? Unless, as my brother suggested, all I was seeing was different parts of a set of quintuplets. I'm not sure which is more likely.
And that's that for that little trip. Now I must say, I've been quite disappointed with the lack of comments you guys have been leaving - come on, let's get some dialogue going! If you don't know how to leave a comment, you just click on the '0 comments' link below any post, and you can write a comment for it. I think you need to make a Google account to do it but that's pretty quick to do. Now I have a proposition for all of you. At any time, you can leave me challenges in the comments - some task, big or small, funny or serious (preferably funny) that you'd like to see me try to accomplish, and unless it's illegal or downright stupid I'll give it a go!
Second thing, double-decker buses are a fantastic idea. Remember the days of cramming yourself into a bus on a miserable Monday morning you Sydney-siders? Never again! I say the government should just chop the wheels off every second bus and stack them on top of the rest. Problem solved!
Third, who the hell makes people pay to go to the toilet? At the coach station they had a little turnstile thing which you had to put 30p in to get through - and it had to be exactly 30p. I didn't have 30p, but I did have a full bladder. Thankfully they had another brilliant invention close by, a change machine! I think that's fairly self-explanatory - like a vending machine, except you don't really buy anything. But back to this turnstile business, I just think that's slack. I saw one poor old man going through it - he almost made it, just his leg got stuck in the bars, which swung back up to the top position and left him hopping about on one foot while his wife desperately tried to wrestle his leg away from the Machine of Doom. She quickly succeeded, don't worry. I like to think I'm not a bad enough guy to just watch as an old person struggled with their inflexible hamstrings, thinking to myself 'I should mention this in my blog...'
Okay, last interesting thing about the journey there, then I promise to move onto something less mundane. Someone died on the coach. I was just sitting there, minding my own business when the guy across the aisle started grunting. He was slumped forward in his seat, asleep, but now he was twitching, grunting more and more loudly and drooling copious amounts down the front of his suit. By now the sounds he was making were getting disturbingly loud, and people were starting to stare. 'Sir, are you alright?' I reached out and shook his arm. 'Excuse me sir?' ... And then he grunted, nodded, yawned, and fell back asleep. Okay so he didn't die, I just tried to make it more exciting. Sue me.
Well Leicester itself was quite fun, I got to spend some quality time with some very good family friends of mine. A lot of people I've talked to seem to think Leicester is a bit of a joke, but I don't think it's much different to Birmingham really, just a bit smaller. So hah!
I tagged along with them while they visited relatives in Brighton, three hours drive away. Now here I had a bit of a special moment. Leicester is in the midlands (the middle of Britain), and so I assumed that Brighton was in the Midlands too. After all, in Sydney you can drive for three hours and only get to Campbelltown, which is still really a part of Sydney. So that was a reasonable assumption, right? Nope. Brighton is south of London, apparently. I seemed to have forgotten just how tiny this country is. But Brighton itself was lovely with all its rolling hills and massive plains, even if the famous Brighton Beach was disappointingly, well, lacking any sand. Nevermind, we made stone-castles all the same!
And then, after hanging around a bit more, I caught a coach home, and lo and behold - it was the same coach driver yet again! What are the chances of that, I ask you? Unless, as my brother suggested, all I was seeing was different parts of a set of quintuplets. I'm not sure which is more likely.
And that's that for that little trip. Now I must say, I've been quite disappointed with the lack of comments you guys have been leaving - come on, let's get some dialogue going! If you don't know how to leave a comment, you just click on the '0 comments' link below any post, and you can write a comment for it. I think you need to make a Google account to do it but that's pretty quick to do. Now I have a proposition for all of you. At any time, you can leave me challenges in the comments - some task, big or small, funny or serious (preferably funny) that you'd like to see me try to accomplish, and unless it's illegal or downright stupid I'll give it a go!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
I'm baack!
Hey guys, sorry I took a bit longer than usual to update this. It's not that I've forgotten you (I love you all), it's just that to be honest I haven't really done much worth telling you about. The last few days have been an on and off slog of job applications, working my way down a massive list my dear cousin Preeya helped draw up for me. But don't worry, I do have some things to tell you that don't involve me hunched over my laptop typing away.
The other day I went to play tennis with my cousin Vikash... and I saw my first indoor public tennis court. Is it just me, or does that only happen in England? I quickly figured out that it made sense though - just a minute after going in it started pouring down. But it was good fun, whacking the ball in every direction and trying to understand what the other guys were saying through their echo-y, heavily accented voices.
Oh, and good news! I finally managed to find a decent deal for an electric guitar and amp, so that should be arriving sometime tomorrow (everywhere in Birmingham was a bit unreasonably priced, so I had to resort to York instead).
And speaking of tomorrow, I'm off to Leicester to visit some family friends! That should be great fun, I'm really looking forward to spending the weekend with them - including tagging along with them to Brighton on Saturday while one of them gets their dental shizz sorted out.
And now to end on a slightly controversial note - my hair. I got it chopped off. I'm sure this news will have some of you sighing with relief and others weeping onto each others shoulders, but don't worry - there's still a fair bit left, and although the days of the glorious curls are gone, they'll be back soon!
That's all for now, take care guys.
The other day I went to play tennis with my cousin Vikash... and I saw my first indoor public tennis court. Is it just me, or does that only happen in England? I quickly figured out that it made sense though - just a minute after going in it started pouring down. But it was good fun, whacking the ball in every direction and trying to understand what the other guys were saying through their echo-y, heavily accented voices.
Oh, and good news! I finally managed to find a decent deal for an electric guitar and amp, so that should be arriving sometime tomorrow (everywhere in Birmingham was a bit unreasonably priced, so I had to resort to York instead).
And speaking of tomorrow, I'm off to Leicester to visit some family friends! That should be great fun, I'm really looking forward to spending the weekend with them - including tagging along with them to Brighton on Saturday while one of them gets their dental shizz sorted out.
And now to end on a slightly controversial note - my hair. I got it chopped off. I'm sure this news will have some of you sighing with relief and others weeping onto each others shoulders, but don't worry - there's still a fair bit left, and although the days of the glorious curls are gone, they'll be back soon!
That's all for now, take care guys.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Brum!
What can I say, London just wasn't ready for me. So today I took off and came to chill with my aunt and uncle and other cousin in Birmingham - and a huge thank-you to all of them for having me! I'll admit it wasn't exactly the most auspicious of arrivals, since today was the first day of the trip it actually rained. It wasn't bad at all though, especially since the weather forecast snow and the most we got was a light drizzle.
Enough about the weather! We got off to a very cool start since I went with my uncle to a big photography exhibition called Focus and spent a good few hours there. I never knew it was so complicated! There were experts in everything from lenses the size of small cauldrons to bags to carry equipment in. And here's me with my phone camera! But get this - I'm now officially a 'photographic assistant,' and I have a tag thingy to prove it.
Well I seem to have pretty well run out of things to say, so I'll close with an interesting thing I've found in England - every single jet leaves a trail of condensation. It's pretty strange really, since almost none do that in Aus... So if any of you guys live in countries where this happens, just say so in a comment below (click on the thing which says 'X comments' below to comment), and we'll try to get to the bottom of this deep metaphysical mystery. [Queue dramatic music].
Thursday, 1 March 2012
WHYY?!?!
Why has no one ever invented a shower head which sprays soapy water? You could just insert a normal soap bar into a little cartridge thing right underneath it, then the water would flow in there and get all soapy and then spray out. Then you can either scrub the water into yourself or just stand there enjoying it, depending on your levels of cleanliness and laziness. Seriously, this should be a thing. Someone invent it, and then give me a cut of the profits.
As for how I am, if I'm thinking about things like this then you know I'm doing just fine!
Have a good one.
As for how I am, if I'm thinking about things like this then you know I'm doing just fine!
Have a good one.
Monday, 27 February 2012
what a cool country (hah, get it?)
Well well well, I've been here for five days now (I think, my maths has slipped in a big way since finished school), and I have to say it's a pretty awesome place! The weather's been kind to us since I got here - it hasn't rained, and most of the time it's actually been sunny - and I like how the sun is always lingering around the horizon. It's as if we're permanently stuck about an hour before sunset, which makes all the trees and buildings and that look even more pretty than normal.
There really is a different feel here than in Aus, everything's more intricate and delicate. The roads are narrow and windy, the architecture's more busy, that kind of thing. Though having said that, part of me does miss the simpler beauty of Australia, especially the midday sun. I don't think they have midday over here.
One bad thing I have to say though is that the people seem a lot less friendly over here. Yesterday morning I went for a walk around Ealing - which isn't a bad suburb or anything - but whenever I passed someone and said hello, you'd think I'd just told them to hand over their phone and wallet! Ah well, what can you do. Maybe it's the bad food that makes them miserable, or the horrible weather, though I haven't seen much of either this trip.
Anyway, last Friday evening I hopped on a tube down to Covent Gardens, which is easily one of the craziest transportation places I've seen. Seriously, that station makes some places in India look tame. Sure the trains get crowded in Sydney in that you don't have space to move, but over here they're so crowded people actually press into you from all sides! Then we got off the tube and moved like one big glacier down to these big lifts that took us up to ground level, which was far above us. I was tempted to take the stairs, but decided I like life too much to risk it. Well it's an experience I guess, I just keep my hands in my pockets to make sure nobody helps themselves to my stuff. The reason for this little trek was to meet my friend Gabe, who I went to school with. We had a grand old time chatting away over dinner, and although we ended up spending 44 pounds (I still can't find how to get the pounds symbol from this keyboard), it was definitely worth it. How is it that I've never tried a pecan pie before?
I went out on Saturday too, to my family friend Rikesh's birthday celebrations. It was a quite a nice club really. The food was good, and they even had a guy in the bathrooms to hand out paper towels to you (and in my case, compliment me on my 'sexy ass').
As for Sunday, we decided to make the trek to a Westfield shopping centre on the other side of London (turns out they have Westfield too, though theirs are nicer). I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that wasn't the best idea. It took us over an hour and a half to get there through all the traffic, then we sat down for lunch and by the time we were done we had to head back again. We got some nice sushi, sure, but then again there's a sushi place literally in walking distance from here. Oh well, we got to spend some quality time with my aunt and uncle who'd come down from Birmingham for the weekend, so that's all good!
Wow, so if you've been feeling neglected by me over the past couple of days, I hope that fat slab of text above makes you feel better! That's all for now, take care!
There really is a different feel here than in Aus, everything's more intricate and delicate. The roads are narrow and windy, the architecture's more busy, that kind of thing. Though having said that, part of me does miss the simpler beauty of Australia, especially the midday sun. I don't think they have midday over here.
One bad thing I have to say though is that the people seem a lot less friendly over here. Yesterday morning I went for a walk around Ealing - which isn't a bad suburb or anything - but whenever I passed someone and said hello, you'd think I'd just told them to hand over their phone and wallet! Ah well, what can you do. Maybe it's the bad food that makes them miserable, or the horrible weather, though I haven't seen much of either this trip.
Anyway, last Friday evening I hopped on a tube down to Covent Gardens, which is easily one of the craziest transportation places I've seen. Seriously, that station makes some places in India look tame. Sure the trains get crowded in Sydney in that you don't have space to move, but over here they're so crowded people actually press into you from all sides! Then we got off the tube and moved like one big glacier down to these big lifts that took us up to ground level, which was far above us. I was tempted to take the stairs, but decided I like life too much to risk it. Well it's an experience I guess, I just keep my hands in my pockets to make sure nobody helps themselves to my stuff. The reason for this little trek was to meet my friend Gabe, who I went to school with. We had a grand old time chatting away over dinner, and although we ended up spending 44 pounds (I still can't find how to get the pounds symbol from this keyboard), it was definitely worth it. How is it that I've never tried a pecan pie before?
I went out on Saturday too, to my family friend Rikesh's birthday celebrations. It was a quite a nice club really. The food was good, and they even had a guy in the bathrooms to hand out paper towels to you (and in my case, compliment me on my 'sexy ass').
As for Sunday, we decided to make the trek to a Westfield shopping centre on the other side of London (turns out they have Westfield too, though theirs are nicer). I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that wasn't the best idea. It took us over an hour and a half to get there through all the traffic, then we sat down for lunch and by the time we were done we had to head back again. We got some nice sushi, sure, but then again there's a sushi place literally in walking distance from here. Oh well, we got to spend some quality time with my aunt and uncle who'd come down from Birmingham for the weekend, so that's all good!
Wow, so if you've been feeling neglected by me over the past couple of days, I hope that fat slab of text above makes you feel better! That's all for now, take care!
Thursday, 23 February 2012
I'm here!
Well I've arrived! Not gonna lie, there were a fair few dramas.. if you check out my dad's post below you'll find out all about the visa, but on top of that, at the airport there was a last minute scramble to shift stuff between bags and the ATM decided to eat my bank card, but thankfully it regurgitated it back up after chewing for a couple of minutes. Anyway, it's all good!
The flight itself was fine, and I made two new friends in the people sitting next to me on the plane, and get this, one of them even offered to hook me up with a job working in Johnson and Johnson. How good is that! And so today's lesson to all of you: talk to people sitting next to you on planes, it's probably better than watching boring movies anyway.
I'm having a great time so far, even the weather's amazing (by which I mean it's actually sunny). Other than that I won't bore you anymore for now. Watch this space, I'm sure there'll be plenty of shenanigans to tell you all about.
Peace!
The flight itself was fine, and I made two new friends in the people sitting next to me on the plane, and get this, one of them even offered to hook me up with a job working in Johnson and Johnson. How good is that! And so today's lesson to all of you: talk to people sitting next to you on planes, it's probably better than watching boring movies anyway.
I'm having a great time so far, even the weather's amazing (by which I mean it's actually sunny). Other than that I won't bore you anymore for now. Watch this space, I'm sure there'll be plenty of shenanigans to tell you all about.
Peace!
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
I'm off!
With 15 minutes left before we'd have to postpone the ticket... my visa's arrived! A big thank-you to my dad for putting up with all the Australia Post shenanigans and making it all happen. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a flight to catch! I'll see you on the other side.
Sunday, 19 February 2012
Dammit!
A courier just arrived with a parcel, but it wasn't my visa. God clearly has a cruel sense of humour.
Any day now..
Hey everyone, as you might know I'm heading off to the UK for my gap year very soon, and I decided that it'd be a good way to tell you what's going on via a blog. I'm new to this all, so I hope you'll forgive me if I stuff up a bit :P
Well in terms of why I want to take this gap year, I figure I've just finished twelve years of school, and have about another twelve of studying medicine to look forward to, so I might as well take a year off in between to try and preserve my sanity. Another reason is that I have loads of awesome family and friends over there who I'd like to spend time with - you know who you are! I also want to enjoy this time when I have no solid commitments or responsibilities to do all those things you feel you want to, but never have time for. I'm going to work hard while I'm there (I have a goal to try to pay back my parents for the money I'll be needing, for my pride's sake if nothing else), and with any spare money I earn I can do all the fun stuff! So far I want to join a rock band, do the 'Three-Mountain Challenge' (climbing the tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, all in twenty-four hours), and travel Europe for a couple of days at a time.
Jealous? Just think of what I'd be doing in between all these awesome things - sitting in my tiny room, freezing my ass off and eating baked beans from a can.
As it stands, I'm due to leave on Wednesday. But there's a problem. I don't have my visa. It's meant to arrive by courier today, but if it hasn't come by tomorrow I'm screwed. I've spotted a hi-vi clad postman cycling up and down my street looking confused... I hope he finds where he needs to go, and I hope it's me.
That's all for now, I'd better leave you and get back to packing all the warmest clothes I have. Peace!
Well in terms of why I want to take this gap year, I figure I've just finished twelve years of school, and have about another twelve of studying medicine to look forward to, so I might as well take a year off in between to try and preserve my sanity. Another reason is that I have loads of awesome family and friends over there who I'd like to spend time with - you know who you are! I also want to enjoy this time when I have no solid commitments or responsibilities to do all those things you feel you want to, but never have time for. I'm going to work hard while I'm there (I have a goal to try to pay back my parents for the money I'll be needing, for my pride's sake if nothing else), and with any spare money I earn I can do all the fun stuff! So far I want to join a rock band, do the 'Three-Mountain Challenge' (climbing the tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, all in twenty-four hours), and travel Europe for a couple of days at a time.
Jealous? Just think of what I'd be doing in between all these awesome things - sitting in my tiny room, freezing my ass off and eating baked beans from a can.
As it stands, I'm due to leave on Wednesday. But there's a problem. I don't have my visa. It's meant to arrive by courier today, but if it hasn't come by tomorrow I'm screwed. I've spotted a hi-vi clad postman cycling up and down my street looking confused... I hope he finds where he needs to go, and I hope it's me.
That's all for now, I'd better leave you and get back to packing all the warmest clothes I have. Peace!
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