right, anyways, spain and morocco still have no story and all the stuff i have done since. i don't even know if i might be able to get it all up, i seem to have lost a lot of memory at the moment, as i am soooo tired and just keep doing stuff. (ha, once again you have to bare with me as i just keep writing what comes into my head not making sense).
so, it's saturday and little miss social is getting bullied by her housemate clement as
he saydvfgrtdtrrdytdyt(that was him) says that she should not do her blog and go out partying with a whole heap of rude french people... hmmmmmmmmm what should i do??? to be fair, it's not clems friends who are there rude ones... and so the party tonight would actually be quite good, but i have been out everynight this week and i am running below empty... i even left home at 4:00am on wednesday to go to the anzac day service so i am very very tired after a week of late nights and work. it was a good service... but what was fabulous was walking around after dawn (still before 6:00am) with NO-ONE around. i took photos at buckingham palace with just me, mark and his two friends... (sorry mark forgot their names). then had breakfast in victoria at 6:00am and wasted time until it was time to go to work like 2 hours later.
i think this entry i will try and work backwards. today i went to IKEA with schelle and bought an outdoor table... hurrah!!! (we put it together and it LOOKS GREAT! check out our house blog to see some backyard pics... www.62mg.blogspot.com) i also slept in, soooooooo great.
"hi mates, just to say that if deev is sometimes a bit suspicious about everybody she is still a great housemate and i will be very sad to discover australia without her before we get married!!" - that was written by clem, who is visiting in july/august and would love to meet some of you guys, cos he has heard so much about all my beloved australian friends. by the way, i am not getting married to him, he has just had a bit to drink tonight... whilst listening to W. AXL ROSE spells WAR. guns and roses... we love it!!!!
ok, ummm, friday night went to a theatre school party with Andy and Mandy (from church)... thanks for inviting me guys!!! it was lovely. it was nice to see them outside the church setting and great to see how the theatre folk are. Andy is a student at a theatre student and mandy is a massage therapist.
nothing lasts forever... even cold november rain.
ummm, then thursday, went to see John Butler Trio. THEY WERE FANTASTIC LIVE!!!! my goodness... a very talented group of people that i never quite understood from listening to them on the radio... i was amazed. i went with clem, michelle and nick from spanish, it was nice to all be together again after we all left spanish class.
wednesday, just had coffee with danica (another lovely arvo) and did some streetwork... streetwork was a bit depressing tonight. but it had been a really nice night on monday with streetcaf and streetwork, so it all evens out in the end. i suppose it depends on the people you see and their stories. tonight we ran into a guy who was meant to be in a nursing home, but ran away and didn't want to go back, so it was street or a place he didn't like... which is worse?? makes you think.
school has been good this week. we have been focussing on braingym... whatever that is. nah, it seems to be ok. it's a bit of a craze... get kids doing physical things to help increase their focus and hearing and stuff. so at the beginning of most lessons, doing a few activities. the kids seem to co-operate, so it isn't a bad thing.
now... my holiday!!! (sorry, this posting is mammoth). On Good Friday (my birthday, happy 24th deev... hurrah). i made my way to stansted airport at a decent hour, for once, to take a flight to Zaragoza. Then, i was met at the airport by Jose (my spanish ex-housemate). he lives in barcalona, but his home village is a 6000 people village just near Zaragoza in the region of Navarra in northern spain. it is near basque country. ok, i might have said that in a previous posting, but you get that. i went to meet his mum, dad, grandma, uncle, aunty, cousins....... the list goes on... but it was lovely. then we went into the main square and met some of his friends in a pub and watched the Good Friday Procession through the village. it was my first catholic easter experience... and it was lovely.
anyways, it was lovely... lovely to be in a spanish village, lovely to see Jose and Txema again, lovely to be listening to a foreign language that i am trying to learn... just lovely. i took quite a photos which make the village look a bit like a 3rd world country... it's not all like that, but i suppose i haven't really experienced and old fashioned village like that, so that's the side i tried to capture... it isn't 'just another eurpoean village', and i really liked that. i was getting a fairly true representation of life in a spanish village. at one point a siren went down the steet we Jose lives and his mum and dad, (and aunty, uncle and grandma downstairs) raced to the window to see what was happening... oh and everyone else in the street did too... you see, in Corella, apparently a siren doesn't happen very often, so when it does, you know something big has gone down. Jose and i didn't even realise, because life in the city means that a day doesn't go by that you don't hear one or infact many sirens.
ummm, we bummed around corella for a few days (jose being driven insane by his mum being so hospitable to me.... always 'mas mas mas' (more, more more)... NO MUM, SHE DOESN'T WANT ANY MORE!!!! haha... which i didn't. then we caught a train to barcelona. and then i spent almost 2 days just bumming around exploring barca.
i took a flight from barca and to madrid to catch another one to Marrakesh which was delayed... GREAT. (the first of my issues getting to marrakesh which was NOTHING compared to everyone elses.... michelle lost her wallet and briony paid for 3 flights to get there... long stories!)
anyways, so when i got to marrakesh, i jumped in the cab that was sent from the hotel. my driver said to me in broken english that he couldn't take me all the way, i had to walk... ok, that's fine... then he stops and some other man takes my bag and starts walking at a fast pace through the medina... which would be fine, but there were cars, people, bikes, donkeys, and everything else coming from every direction and i didn't know where to look or walk. then we turn into an alleyway and then turn a corner and it's dark. and then light again and then another corner and soon i am in a maze of alleys... no idea where i am, or where we are going to. (by the way, my phone battery was about to die). then we stop at the end of an alley and knock at a door. to which there are no signs... and wait... no-one there. so the guy knocks again. oh, did i mention it was 10:00pm in a foreign country and this new guy speaks no english?? i swear i thought i was going to get taken inside and sold into slavery or something. so i try to ring michelle and she doesn't answer. then the guy takes my phone to ring someone... no answer, my battery goes flat... GREAT. no idea where i am, no idea what is going to happen... crap crap crap crap crap... i'm going to die!!! we keep knocking and nothing. then, my goodness, the most welcome noise, 3 chirpy girls walk around the corner talking in aussie and laughing. praise the Lord, I am not going to die, I'm fine! hurrah! it was such a relief to see them! (even alex and briony whom i had never met).
then off to the atlas mountains for a few days, hiking in the lovely clean air. a sick michelle, went back to marrakesh and the rest of us kept trekking (alex sick too). we had a donkey to take our packs, hurrah!!! and we also had Hassan, our muleteer and Rashid, our guide. they were great. check out my myspace for a video of hassan singing one day in the mountains... beautiful... very lucky to have him as our muleteer. umm, went back to marrakesh a few days later and had a lovely relax shopping in the markets.
ok, so can you tell, i am a little over writing now... but it will have to do. i would recommend Marrakesh and would love to explore more of morocco!
oh, forgot, my sushi making... met with katie from uni when i got back to london briefly (good to see you love, pity it wasn't longer). looked forward to seeing tami on saturday and as i was getting ready to meet her in hyde park, got a call saying that she had had her wallet stolen (grrrrrrr, stupid busses in london) so she came over to try and sort things out, and eventually we got back to the park. had a good night with her and some of Gabby (tami's friend)'s friends. then sunday, they came over again and we made sushi with schelle... now that was fun... in our clean backyard (but with no new outside table). great to have you stay tami, and cheers for the flowers, mathieu planted them today... hope they go ok!
love and blessings to you all, missing you... and now the photos... (extremely out of order, please bare with me)
briony, alex, hassan and ayeisha (our donkey) in the atlas
a man in his jelebah in marrakesh
umm, a mosque. i felt weird being back in london not hearing the call to prayer througout the day.
me eating the sushi we made with tami.
me and katie in our brief meeting... hope you enjoyed the UK luvvie, see ya
me and schelle... ummm, what do you do now??? oh and enjoying the sun... look, short sleeves.... LOVELY weather!
schelle, tami, gabby and me after sushi making in my very messy room (might tidy that tonight)
ummm, me standing in flipflops on the roof of a riad in a village in the atlas mountains... night 3... only 1 day of uphill walking to go... we can do it!
two men in their jelabahs near the jewish quarter
on the river just outside corella... so beautiful!
jose's dad's farm (think the building was made in 18something... so old!!!) and then one of the 12 churches of the village. and the cranes.... a nice mix of old and new!
a view from our first riad in the atlas mountains
briony, alex and rashid at our favourite lunch on the hike. had some little shepherd boys come and watch us and then eat the rest of our food... a lovely setting.... creek, shade, village, mountains... ahhhh, this is the life
a man praying on his roof
there were heaps of feral cats in marrakesh, the kittens were sooooo cute
the streets of corella with jose
me and txema.... ahhhhhhhhh, spain should be warm, but it was pretty cold!
me and jose at the river... at least, i think that is him.
a little part of the good friday parade. the whole village pretty much stops to watch. we were in a pub and the lights turn down and everyone goes to the street. it was lovely
me in marrakesh in the main square at night time... a busy busy place
and me, gabby and tami at a wetherspoons the day of the crime... but a lovely arvo in the park afterwards!!!
and i'm spent... sorry it's long, that will teach me to keep it so long between postings... or maybe not.
later
