Saturday, February 13, 2010

just wanted to put another photo... cos i like it...



guess which ring is mine... haha. (these are the ones that rach made, talented little cookie)

and which watch is mine... haha.

Friday, February 12, 2010

a catch up



so, last night, i was sitting at home after a lovely dinner with tami and jess. (thanks girls) and i was meant to go out to an art exhibition, but didn't... because i was too lazy and it was pouring. so i watched 'groundhog day' for the first time. i was falling asleep watching it when 3 drowned rat housemates and some of their friends arrived home too... they had been at the cricket and it got called off due to the rain. they continued drinking (as one does at and after the cricket apparently) and so i joined them in some of dan's homebrew. the beer wasn't the best, but the cider was delicious. we watched the rest of groundhog day and put on 'point break', what a classic movie... haha. such good acting. and had a time of housemate family time... it was beautiful... i looked out the lounge room window and there was almost waves in the intersevtion of the 2 rivers that were once roads... it was amazing. our front and backyard were also flooding and we had to save our poor drowning plants and bikes... i think they will survive to see another day (except my poor chillie that has had a run of bad luck recently... so sad.)


anyways, that was just last night... an end to a lovely week... rach has just bought a place (woot woot) and she had a housewarming last week, it was good to see old friends from different friendship groups... it's weird, our worlds intertwine in a way that 3 years ago i wouldn't have thought... so it was nice to catch up with some of my old friends courtesy of rach's housewarming. her flat is really cute too...


besides one round of trivia, wandering aimlessly through the city and catching up with people, i don't seem to be doing too much. oh, i have started riding my bike a bit more. tried to ride to work and failed... haha... no stamina... but i'll get there.... build it up. poco a poco... oh. i also started spanish classes again... so hopefully my grammar will get better... we'll see how it goes.


working 2 days a week... it has been confirmed... doing the recorder group again. got a trip to radelaide and a camping trip booked for march... haircut tomorrow... don't think there's really much else happening in the world of deev at the moment...


so now some more photos... this time, of peru... i don't think i put many up before... oh and then at the end, a few other random things...!!!! yay



margaret and jesus overlooking Omas... the village we visited
the preschool in Omas for the christmas presents we took. basic, but good education

new years eve karaoke... i couldn't think of a better way to bring in the new year!!! that's nelson with the hat, freddie, me and sandra. (nelson and freddie are the brothers of sandra)


Elena, Renzo, Sandra, Nelson and me... at elena's place.

me peruvian family whom i love a lot. Cesar, Candy, Tamara, Jonothon, Raul y Ofelia

the peruvian girls... we had a lovely night out in the tourist part of lima. sandra, me, sandra, elena, (i've forgotten the next girl's name) and sandra... and this year, all the sandra's are in england.
the view from la tablada church. i love the colourful houses... if you can call them houses. most of them haven't been finished yet.

sandra, sandra, me, carlos and nelson. i spent a lot of time with these guys in peru
oh, not back to oz... and the festivities that have been going on here since my return...
the 'pool' at our australia day bbq...
me and the beautiful tami... thanks for coming to the bbq!!
ok, whoops, back to peru... me dancing with a 5 year old at his graduation ball!!! sooooo cute!!! if i had known i was going to attend the deb, i would have taken a ball gown.
the game of cranium at the oz day bbq
jesus and margaret at the preschool in Omas. we had a lovely morning tea with paneton y chocolate caliente....mmmmmmmmmm
and below again, me and jeremy with the toiletpaper tower at rach's flatwarming... toiletpaper courtesy matt e... awesome present man; some of the rain on a day out in town.; tim, jono and pete at the lord nelson pub (on our day out in the town);

rach's flatwarming; tim, jono, pete, muz, rach, me, and some random dude who gave up his chair for me after i tried to sit on a stool of stacked schooners; rach, carol, tessa and jeni @ rach's flatwarming;


muz and rach concentrating hard on the lego @ TAKE YOUR TIME: OLAFUR ELIASSON exhibition at the MCA; and a colourless me in the yellow room at the exhibition... my rainbow scarf was not so rainbow =(
anyways, that's a bit of the goings on of me for the moment...
hope you enjoyed your trip in my adventure... send me a postcard! haha.... aaahhhh, so funny.
catch you soon.
love
deev
xx

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

the south of chile

so, it was almost the time of the wedding, i didn't know where i was going to next. i looked in my lonely planet for some ideas... the north looked quite different (san pedro de atacama, desert) and the south looked nice (apparently like queenstown in NZ). so in the next few days, i would need to look at the bus times and prices to see what i want to do... just pick a destination...
then, i arrived at Claudia and Shane's wedding... and Pollo checked that the reception hall was ok... and i went with her... and then she saw some people she knew, and this girl called Ely, came and spoke to me. 'hola, como estas'... it didn't take her long to figure out that i wasn't from chile. she has been living in london. she asked how long i had been in chile and when i was going to leave. i told her i still had a a week and a half before i left and what i was planning... then she invited me down south to go camping with her brother and 2 of her brasillian friends. an offer too good to refuse, although they were leaving ViƱa del Mar the next day. i was planning on hanging around for the next 2 nights. we figured out there is a bus to where they were staying, so i would join her on the tuesday (this was the friday). so, there, my plans were made. all i had to do was say farewell and thanks again to the Capels and join Ely in Pucon.

and i did. it was great! no trouble whatsoever. so, i arrived at Pucon (well, Villarica), pretty much in the centre of Chile, met Marco (Ely's brother) and then went to the campsite on Lago Calafquen, met the 2 brasillian girls (Luana and Elen) and had breakfast with them, before we packed up camp to go to another camping spot in the Parque Nacional Huerquehue. And it was COLD and RAINING... i only had my summer clothes, but they had lots of spare jackets for me... yay (and a sleeping bag i could borrow from their friend... because, me, being the good scout, didn't have one... haha).
so, the conversations were interesting... Ely speaks spanish, portugese and english, Luana and Elen speak portugese and english, marco speaks only spanish and i speak english and a bit of spanish. made for good conversations. although the others could all understand each other if they spoke clearly and slowly.
so, we camped in a lovely campsite right on a lake. went on a few walks up up up the mountains (one lasted 8hours... and saw snakes, spiders and ants that bit... and i developed arachnophobia of the tarantulas here!!! nearly fell off a cliff jumping from fright), chilled at the campsite, chatted with the neighbours, went on a canopy (flying fox), thermal pools, waterfalls and i experienced lots of traditional chilean food with lots of salt.

i couldn't have planned for a better trip... it was amazing. and i am so glad to have met ely and therefore marco, luana and elen.

we stayed here for 4 nights or so and drove back up to santiago for marco's 30th birthday party which was lots of fun... gee, all the boys at the party could dance sooooo well. the merengue music came on, and they all grabbed a girl and started twirling and swinging and just having a ball... it made me realise how important dancing is for me... and generally just having fun... they had the same crazy hats at the party as they did at the wedding... soooo much fun.
and then just spent a few days with the girls and exploring santiago and then a few days with marco exploring santiago. he was on holidays and wanted to explore too. it was interesting him not knowing much english, and me not knowing much spanish... but we could still communicate enough, and with the help of my little orange friend (my spanish dictionary tori gave me a few years ago), although we tried to not rely on it. because usually you could phrase something a different way and it could be understood.

oh, something which i found amazing through peru and chile was the hospitality of the people i met.... it was as though you were part of their family or a long-time friend the way they just opened themselves and their homes up to you. a great lesson that i can try and put into practice back home. how i can be generous with what i have.

and if this worked... then you can see some youtube clips...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYTsnmTI6Ak
don't know why this one is sidewards... sorry... the thermal pools near pucon.

Ely on the canopy
the road to our camping spot





the camping group at lunch in pucon, me, luana, marco, elen and ely
at the top (or near the top, marco got vertigo, so we didn't go any higher) of our 8hr walk... it's pretty much a sheer drop to each side of where we were on the path.
the crazy hats/masks at the party
more party funtimes... me, algelina, ely, elen and luana... the girls... woot woot
the japonese garden at san cristobel, a mountain in santiago

me, ely and angelina out on my last night in santiago... with the piscola!!!!

so, that's it for now... i might get the the other photos of peru and the wedding up soon... but no promises...

anyways, what's happening now??? i'm wasting time at home (had a long list of things to do today, but haven't done any of them yet except for washing... whoops... oh well, i might get some done.) i'm definitely working 2 days a week at my school and maybe 3 days (i find out in 2 weeks time the final timetable). i'm also starting to take spanish lessons again and well, as for the rest of my life, i'll see what God has instore for me.

focussing on being more generous, learning spanish and slacklining for the moment.... we'll see how that goes.

hope you are well!

xx