photos

ok, well, i started with the photos of eileen and me, but they are now half-way down the page and i couldn't be bothered to try and fix them, so deal with it! ha. this first photo is hmm, well, a nice group of people having a harmless picnic in the park in bucharest on a sunny day (or so we thought!!!) ahhh, i love pumas. there were some english guys staying in our hostel in brasov and one of them had just the right sized feet and these beautiful pumas. well, one night he was heaps drunk and i decided i was going to swap shoes with him for good. although i couldn't actually bring myself to do it. so i ended up with my old brown ones and he kept his aussie coloured ones.
the thinkers... or should i say the stoics. tori, me and kath (tori's egypt travel buddee) in a stoa in the acropolis. AMAZING place really. the history (and a great insight to it having a history buff there to tell me stories about Nike and Athena and other greek gods, put things into perspective. cheers tori). just amazing
me looking out over Dracula's home country in Transylvannia. the countryside here is beautiful. i would love to have spent a few weeks just exploring the mountains and walking tracks, but alas, it wasn't to be.

me whispering secrets to a funny old man in the streets of plovdiv. i can't remember what he is doing there, but he is one person who was willing to put up with my stories.
well, this is me and Eileen in Leeds, (thanks to her for looking after me for a night). it was great to see her again. and below is me and matt in a pub in Leeds (taken by schelle, thanks schelle) cheers to another good part of a great weekend away. it was a very funky pub just near the main street in leeds.
below is me being an olympian, well, an Ancient Olympian in the stadium at Olympus. Now, that was a great place to visit. (near my right hand you can see the tunnel the olympians used to go through to the stadium.) oh and look at the sunny day, ahhh, to have the warm sunshine back again. it's not too bad at the moment, but not the greatest either. still sunny, but quite cool.

ahhh, yes, the cow... well, if you use your imagination you can kind of see a cow!!!

and well, Geoff, don't know what you are doing buddy!?? singing hard to chisels or something?? but the rest of us are cheesy at the walkabout (of course) in Temple. Me, schelle, matty, geoff and richard (their friend). oh and schelle and i are wearing our new Primark tops. Man, we LOVE that shop! go Primark.

well, that is enough for the moment. don't know what will come next time, but until then, ENJOY!

love to you all

new quote i like from a book i read (who'd have thought i would be a reader??)

'kids think with their brains cracked wide open; becoming an adult,
I've decided, is only sewing it shut.'

don't worry, I am alive!

well, despite my parents (and apparently a few others) thinking i am dead because I haven't updated my blog, I am actually going really well. Just lazy as usual. I was going to update my blog last weekend, but ended up going to the bricklane festival instead. And then this weekend I went to Leeds to visit a friend of schelle and mine called matt and of course a lovely relative called Eileen. I had a fantastic weekend and i know schelle did too. So, now i am kind of back, it's time to give you all an update. I am really good at making promises and not keeping my word. VERY SORRY!!!!

anyways, school has been interesting going back. High school is definitely not my passion, but saying that, I am having a lovely time at this school. I am a Year 7 form tutor and my kids are quite tricky, but it keeps me on my toes and always looking for something new. the perks of being a high school teacher are my free periods. 7 in total this year not bad, not bad. much better than primary. although at the moment i do not know whether i am coming or going being the Head of 3 Departments (Geography, History, RE) aswell as teaching literacy and having my Yr 7's for personal health and social education. i do however like to feel important as i get heaps of junk mail addressed to the Head of _____ Dept. (not too hard when you are the only one teaching the subject! ha). I feel like i have had 3 job promotions, but not even 1 pay rise! oh well, welcome to the real world. But, i can say at the end of every day that i have had a good day! And despite their faults, the kids are good kids, just need a bit of TLC (and the right attitude given to them.)

so, as for the rest of my trip, it seems like it was so long ago. I had a ball travelling through eastern europe. and copenhagen was beautiful too. but by the end, i just wanted to be back home. ummm, since being home i have caught up with people and tried to get my head around the life that went on hold for 1 month whist the bills kept coming. Today was productive. I bought a pair of boots (well, 2 and have to take 1 back when i decide with help which ones i am going to keep), i restarted my membership at the gym (and i am going to yoga class tonight) and i also got some photos developed from my digital camera (dad, to send to eileen!! finally). but i had too many shots on my camera, they wouldn't all load, so i have to go back to get some more done. but i am getting there.

oh, and on thursday i start my spanish course. I am really excited about that. Doing it with a girl from my old church. it will be nice to see her every week.
well, enough ramblings for one day. (and i need to get ready for yoga, ha, so unlike me). so, ciao for now.

i will post some more hopefully later this week!
hugs and a whole lotta love
deev

tried to put some photos, but couldn't... sorry!!

bakery goodness

am loving cheese pies, donuts and lots of other bakery goodness. hooray for bakery goodness. am now in Athens. We have just come from Olympia yesterday, took 11hours instead of 5 1/2, as we hit a cow on the train, and broke it (both cow and train)... then sat in the train for 1hr, whilst another engine came to take us back over the cow to catch a bus to corinth, then train to athens.

olympia was very nice, great ruins, cliched photos (discus and javelin, i look so sporty) and the museum there is really well set out. so, athens at the moment.

and today wandering around ruins, this arvo, up to the Acropolis when it is a bit cooler. unfortunately only a day in athens, and then off to Copenhagen tomorrow. and tell you what, i am actually starting to miss my london home, can't wait to get back on tuesday night.

am in a bit of a bad mood at the moment, sorry, couldn't be bothered to type too much or think too hard about what i have done. but i will fix it with a donut and an ice-cream.

and write more from London.
love you all
deev

p.s. am excited about seeing the little mermaid in copenhagen

greece

wonderful sunny greece!!

well, we are on the Peleponese in Greece, it is beautiful here!!! We are at Napflio. The world was against us in Thesseloniki, so we caught a bus to Athens and then to Napflio. Again, yesterday the world was against us. We went to Mycenae and it was beautiful, so old, so much history there! We then caught a bus to Corinth, but unfortunately had to change busses and waited in the 3:00sun melting and the bus didn't come, so we missed out on going to Corinth (but saw a beautiful postcard!) and went back to the beach in Napflio. So, an ok end to the day. today is an admin day with eating, e-mails, transfers, catching up on postcards and oh yes.... BEACH!!! the sea here is beautiful, salty and the rocks are very warm. well lovely!!!

well, about to un out of internet time, so i best be going now.
will update on the rest later. ( i wrote a big list of things i wanted to include, but left them at the hotel). so from here, to another day and some more ruins, then to Olympia (more ruins), athens, copenhagen and then london... ho humm. my time of travel this time is coming to an end, but it is great!!
love you all
deev

don't picnic in Bucharest in the park

with alcohol!!! especially if you are going to sit on the grass!!! my goodness, what an advenutre yesterday.

tori and i met some english med students at the parliamentry palace tour. we then decided to have a picnic lunch in the park... lovely day for it. but apparently, no alcohol allowed. two police men made us go with them to their little hut, where they spoke to the guys inside. then the door closed and tori and i had to decide whether to run or not. the door opened again and we found ourselves giving money over to the cops... well, better that than end up i jail!

so, now i have a story of being 'arrested' in a foreign country. remember, not good to picnic in the park on the grass with alcohol!!!

leaving Romania today, off to Bulgaria. not sure whether you can picnic there... will find out we suppose. will update otherstuff lateer,
love
deev

brasov

well, it is all a lie!!!! Tori and I are still in Romania in Brasov and went on a castle tour yesteday to 'Dracula' castle. and really, it is just a castle that they use to sell dracula stuff, Vlad Dracul never went there. But it was fascinating all the same. The countryside here is great!! And as i said before, everything is so different to the rest of Europe that i have experienced so far.

our train trip from Sighisoara went really fast as we were chatting to two romanian guys who just decided to bag me out most of the journey! GREAT FUN!!! they actually had me in tears of laughter at one stage because the call they made was just me in a nutshell, how someone you have just met can bag you out so precisely is beyond me, but they managed. and then we got to our hostel and apparently they were about to give away our beds because we arrived at 8:00pm instead of 4:00pm, whoops, never knew we had to be so ontime when travelling. our first night in Brasov was great. we wandered into the centre of town and there was a free concert with a rock type band with a violinist. they were pretty cool and then a boy band came on!! they were fantastic... dancing, singing, the whole hog... tori and i couldn't stop laughing at them, but to give them credit, they weren't too bad. then some old dude came on with a rock band and we decided sleep might have been a bit more important, so back to the hostel.

yesterday we went on the (hostel run) castle tour and it was a nice day out. full of people from the hostel, romanian food and bits of information about castles and citadels and the guide put as much dracula stuff into everything. 'see this clothing chest here?? this is where dracula used to sleep!'

ok, well, i think today is just a lazy day exploring the city and surroundings of Brasov, maybe even read in the park for a bit.

Sighisoara - birthplace of dracula

so, my last night in Budapest I went out with a group of people from the hostel. nice groups, but the club wasn't that exciting. even still, stayed out till 4:20am. had to wake up at 6:20am for our train to Sighisoara... so not much sleep, but tell you what, it was a great sleep!!! the train trip was about 7hrs long and for most of it i saw the inside of my eyelids. but when i was awake and not reading, the countryside was beautiful. forests and hills and fields of veggies. tori told me the hungarian side was much flatter and more barren. sometimes when we approached the villages when i looked out, i was quite shocked at the buildings. i am not used to the architecture - barren concrete buildings with half the windows missing and kids playing in the dirt out the front. i guess it is just a different way of life that has been formed by very different times and experiences.

So, today, wandering around Sighisoara, the birthplace of dracula. his birthhouse is now a cafe/restaurant, but had to visit it anyways. we are trying to figure out the culture here... influenced by russia (or at least the cyllic languages {if that is what they are called, pardon my ignorance}), germany, hungary, sounds similar to italian.

it is a beautiful town with a great slow pace, and a wonderful mish-mash of architecture. well, instead of looking at the differences in computer screens and keyboards in different countries, i should experience the nature and city and people.

off to explore and practise my english (i am well tired, but it's beautiful here innit)

love youse all,
deev

hungary

so, in vienna, we didn`t end up going to the opera, cos it rained, but the next day it brightened up a bit and we went to see the Jazz at Raushatz Platz, and it was really good. good food, good weather, good music, very cultured. and then we wandered the streets looking at very grand architecture. loved it. on sunday night we went back to raushatz platz and watched a dvd of the vienna philharmonic orchestra on a big screen. and had some local beer. it was a great end to a fantastic day. the next day, tori went to salzberg and i stayed in vienna. i had breakfast at a very nice cafe and then walked to Mozarts tribute grave or something. spent like 5 hours wandering in the sun with flip-flops on... very tired and sore feet by the end, but it was a good day.

and then onto budapest where yesterday we went to some thermal baths, very relaxing. but then decided to blow our minds by walking through a house of terror that tells of hungary under the nazis and communism... i feel very ingnorant after going there, so much more to know about the world. and it all happened so recently. something to read up a bit more about when i get back to London (and can read the books due to language).

so, today, wandering around budapest, the buda side, and then tomorrow off to sighisoara in transylvania. I am really looking forward for this part of the journey. and i think we are slightly ahead of what we previously thought, so have some time to hang around there if we want, or to move on. it is lovely not having much to do everyday.

well, that`s all for the moment.
love
davina

change of plans...

well, I was reading the Lonely planet guide and looking at overnight trains from Prague to Krakow and they had reports of gassings happening and people losing all their belongings on that route. Night trains should be avoided and be very cautious on all other trains (of course): So... after freaking out, we decided to go to beautiful Vienna instead. and flights to Krakow from London aren´t too expensive, so we will go around November for a weekend.

Cesky Kromlov in Czech was absolutely gorgeous and i would have liked to have stayed longer than 2 nights, but that is cool. It was picturesque and relaxing (thanks for the recommendation Ben... top marks to you!!!!)

and after trying to stick to our budget we decided tonight instead of going out to dinner in Vienna (quite pricey, esp compared to some other places) we cooked dinner for just €1.50 each... and we have left overs!!! if only it was this easy in London! ha.

but we are having a blast, relaxing and enjoying the beauty that new cities have to offer us! and of course being careful. tori is off to salzberg in 2 days, but as i have already been with schelle, so i will chill out in Vienna and drink coffee and explore the Danube and perhaps find someone to waltz with.

that´s all for now.
take care
love
deev

Praha

well, trip started out without a hitch... our plane didn't have a check in desk until 1/2hr before take-off when check-in is supposed to close. then on the way through the security check, they decided to randomly frisk me and then randomly search my bag for bombs... random?? I think not. although, a good thing out of it is my camera now has a name, 'Gillian'. the security guy had the honour of naming her.

so, well, we arrived in Prague on Monday and made our way to the lovely Hostel. it is quite small, but very clean and friendly! and since then we have just wandered the streets. the weather has been fantastic and the scenery and architecture is nice enough. today we had a picnic lunch in a park on an island which was serene. listening to the noise of prague all around us. this afternoon we were going to do a tour, but decided to sleep and read and relax (because that's all we have been doing recently) and save our money for places like romania where we might get to see dracula... or something like that.

tomorrow morning we are off to Cesky Kromlov until Saturday when we come briefly back to Prague and then onto Krakow. looking forward to it. Benny C told us that Cesky Kromlov is really beautiful, a good place to read a book by the river. AND our hostel has free inner tubes, so we might find ourselves floating down the river, can't wait! it is so nice to not have to think about work... ahhhh. don't know if this attitude will chang soon... ha, we'll see how my updates go as i travel for longer.

well, might have an arvo nap. the weather is soooo lovely, but a bit muggy, so making me tired.

love youse all

one sleep to go...

well, i am packed (unlike i was the night before i left for england) and i am very excited. Once again tonight we have tori, schelle and myself all sleeping in my room. it is very exciting, as tomorrow, schelle will have the room to herself and tori and i will be off on a fantastic adventure of eastern europe.

i will try and update my blog often, but unfortunately i will not have any photos, but you can see a few when i get home. i am really excited, but i should go to sleep now. i get back from my journey on the 29th August.

hope that you are all well and having a good time whatever you are doing

love
davina

farewell Jose, welcome Barry

well, it has been about 9 months since i moved in and my little foreign buddee downstairs (when i moved in Jose and i were the only non-french) has just moved out. but that is ok, because now we have lucia and barry to hold the non-french fort. we are now equals (well, 1 spanish and 2 aussies), who knows, we might take over one day.

so i would like to say a quick farewell to Jose, it was great having you here!! We will all miss you at 62MG. But we would like to welsome Barry and see what fun adventures 62MG now has instore.

so, what have i been up to reccently?? umm, just teaching and trying to get things figured out before i leave on monday. I have also caught up with some great people and saw the Blue Man Group, they were pretty interesting. (i think i told you i was going to do this in my last post) oh and i have moved into Jose's room... really nice to be in a bigger room.

and now... the photos. two Dutch friends who came to stay the weekend a few weeks ago... Sjoerd and Ilian. they decided to go on a motorbike trip to France and ended up in London because they could. pretty cooL!!! we were enjoying a fantastic summer evening at a pub on the Thames in Hammersmith... very nice location.

Jose did a BBQ for us to say farewell, it was great! and this is him in the kitchen, our kitchen will never look so clean again! he was a machine kitchen cleaner... the best i have ever seen.

green shirt is Barry, our new member if 62MG. with Mathieu D on the left and Jose on the BBQ.

Good Old Kati from North TUrramurra Scouts Days... whoa, it's been a long time. Michelle and Tori at the Cornish Pastie shop in Covent Garden before the Blue Man Group. We do like our cornish pasties, they are well good! ha.

and finally ahhh, the girls at our fantastic 'THE CHURCH' experience. you can just see the logo on the stage in the background. ahhh, what a fun day that was!

don't know how much i will be updating this blog in the next month, as i don't know how much internet i will have. But my tavel plans are approximately as follows... 24th-30th July Czech Republic, 31July-3rd August Poland, 4th-7th Hungary, 8th-14th Romania (to see Dracula, muhahaha), 15th-21st Bulgaria, 21st-26th Greece. Tori and i split paths here, but as it is a bank holiday (long weekend) in England, Schelle and i decided we are going to go to Copenhagen for the weekend, so home on the 29th August. YAY.

take care
love
deev

by the way, the weather is B.E.A.utiful at the moment. it has been above 30degrees.... luvvin it!!!

toripoo and eastern europe

well, tori is here and i don't think i have spoken so fast for the whole time i have been over here. It is FANTASTIC! and singing songs and having a ball and remembering lots of fun times on scouthikes or in primary school, or on the bus... ahhhh. what better way to spend your year away than remembering what you have left. ha, no really, it is great.

so, there were three in the bed and the little one said... ok, so not really, two in the bed and one on the floor, but next week we will have heaps more floorspace cos (sadly) Jose is moving out, but that means i get a room like 2 times bigger than it is at present. so can have like 6 people on the floor (if the housemates will let me).

went to a place called 'The Church' today. and let me just say, it is all but a church. but a fun experience and i think i am very embarrassed to say i really enjoyed it. mind you, there are some aspects of it that weren't so good (really weren't so good), but the music was great to sing along to, and there was free water and coke, so being not a big drinker i was stoked. i might end up back there, but will have to make sure i don't go there too often or i might end up very tainted.

umm, what else?? went exploring london with tori and schelle yesterday. walked to primrose hill and looked over the skyline of london, that was cool. the weather was fantastic too! loving the sun.

and tomorrow am catching up with a friend from sydney and schelle and going to see The Blue Man Group which i have heard is pretty good. anyways, and excuse to get out and about in London.

think that is pretty much it. this week, working a few days, seeing some more london sights, moving rooms and then getting ready to fly of on a mini adventure over Eastern Europe. YAY!

ok, that's enough from me.
love you all
deev

Happy 1 Year!

well, it has been a year ago today that i left my sydney home. #

and can i just say that things are going really well. having a ball.

love you all (and miss those i haven't seen for that time)
deev

big week

heya,

well, hmm, where to start?? lots of french football madness of course, then followed by an aussie experience. Had a dinner with the steads. it was great to see them all again. all looking healthy and having a ball exploring england. i just wish i could have split myself into 4. one for each of the kids and one left over to chat with Mike and Felicity. after that, had Matt and Matt (two friends from home) come and stay for a little and met some of their friends. went to changing of the guards, another french football match, allez les bleu, and then had a bbq in the backyard cos it is still light at like 9:30. and everyone said england has really bad weather!!

Sunday saw a trip to Brighton with yet another Matt and the weather was amazing!!! sunshine and low 30's for the heat. loved it! Monday night those of us who are left at home decided to have a BBQ. it was fantastic!! I even bought out the shapes.... yummy yummy, i love chicken crimpys!!!! and then on tuesday night schelle and i mosied on down to Wimbledon after workto check out the court action. we didn't see anyone playing that we knew, but then saw the woodies on the board so went to their game only to find it had just finished... although we got some photos and i was this close to getting an autograph, but gave up...

and i think that pretty much brings me through to today. think i got everything in there.

i think the photos are pretty self-explanatory but incase you don't know the people... mathieu, me et clement at a french match; me and schelle at wimbledon; schelle, matt and me in brighton; matt, matt, me, geoff and tom at another french match; me and my shapes at a bbq in our backyard; the mike, felicity and me; and oooh, the woodies (well, use your imagination) at wimbledon. once again lots of photos of me, but hey, i love it and i want to show off the fact that i have a bit of a tan... in england!!! who'd have thought.

take care,
love you all
deev

my exciting news...

well, you are reading the blog of a new Yr 7 form-teacher, Humanities, RE and PSCHE teacher. Yay for me. well, kind of. I have just taken on a Yr block at one of my most favourite Supply Schools. I am a bit apprehensive to start in September because I have to be responsible. The school have been fantastic! they don't want to overload me with responsibilities so I have 9 free periods a week!! I can imagine i will have a lot of programming to do and a lot to get my head around at first, so that will be fantastic.

it will be a great learning experience for me as I need to teach many of the major religions of the world, so i will have to research them and well, my english history probably isn't as good as it could be, but hey, something else to learn too. I am excited, but scared. So you can call me Miss Rodgers from now on the teacher of 7DR (how cool, even my initials after the class name...)

so, what does that look like for me?? well, i will probably have to change my visa, but having a years position makes that a lot easier. the school is 20mins walk from where i live and has school lunches, so that cuts costs on travel and food, which is fantastic. the school is a specific needs school which means ummm, not entirely sure. some students have mild intellectual disability, some have medical needs, some have behavioural disorders, but the school is small and the staff are very friendly and supportive.

even though primay (and predominantly special needs) is my passion, i think this is a great chance to experience something else that i know i like.

and after that?? well, the future is a long time away. My heart lies in Australia... (and i do plan on going back there) but who knows what God has instore for me and where i will end up.

it is a very exciting adventure that I am really enjoying taking part in!

oh and have seen some aussie friends recently. Michael, Felicity, Cal, Verity and Nate are in town and I had a great catch up with them over dinner last night (thanks guys).

and two friends Matt and Matt are staying at my house for the weekend. And it is great to catch up with them too. That takes the number in our house for the weekend to either 10 or 11 (with all of our visitors) and the number of Matts to 4. CRAZY TIMES.

ummm, apart from my exciting news, i don't think there is too much else going on. might make some sushi tomorrow and some banana bread (wow, i can pretend to cook some ok tasting stuff!)

if i remember anything else, i will be back on... but until next time.

hugs all round



allez le bleu

australia, france vs spain

tomorrow night i think is a night to get out of the house. out of 6 in the house... (5, not including me), 3 are french and 2 are spanish, so tomorrow night might be a bit tense around the house seeing the line up for the world cup.

as for this afternoon's game, well, great game, pity about the ref. hey, we did well, and there's always next time.

that's all folks.


random news for the day is...my first ever boyfriend is getting married, how cute.

world cup fever

go australia!!

we were at the pub after work, quite a civilised time for us, kick off at 8pm, good game!!
hope you all enjoyed it!

we made it through, yeah!!!

some photos

ok, just describing the photos!
apart from my top being dirty... sorry about that, the washing powder didn't wash out... whoops, top photo of me in Oslo infront of a skippy boat... go australia!!! (and on the phone to Poynts... from australia...) ,

the gang outside the airport on the way back... mat, jose, me, clement, lucia, celeste (friend not housemember) and mat. see you later oslo

me and lucia being sexy norweigan girls...

this one is acutally london eye for the 'what not to waste' evening. we took place in a recycling program and this was to celebrate recycling london or something. clem, me and mat (with lucy from the program and nicolas a friend of clement).

oh and some of you might appreciate this one... it is the name of a shop... i quite liked it!

that's all for the moment.
love ya

sad day

well the aussies didn't win and the french tied, so altogether a sad day for us. but i think we played pretty well. and the vibe at the pub was good.

we just chose a new housemate. he doesn't move in until July 20th (and i move into the room next door, much bigger). hopefully that will go well. still a few weeks till that happens.

ok, bed cos it's a school day tomorrow. back to reality again, has been a nice relaxing weekend. yay for that

oslo and world cup fever

well, today as i am sure you are aware is the australia brasil match... have to wear flag as colours will get a bit confusing. wondering if over here the socceroos change their name to the footyroos for the european taint. anyways, looking forward for a good game.

as for last weekend, the housemates and i packed up shop and wandered around the streets of Oslo. it was an ok city with a fabulous park and some beautiful views, but i thought of it as pretty ordinary. i think what made it a great weekend was the company (of course) and the views of nature.

umm, since then, i have just been working and loving it... OFSTED was stressful, but is over and well, the weather has been beautiful. seriously can't ask for better. this sort of weather is making me enjoy london a lot!

yesterday schelle and i got free tickets to the london good food festival in regents park which was great. lots of yummy foods and some even to sample (nothing better than good food for free!)

and now waiting for a person to come and see the house as one of my housemates is moving out.

ooops, he's just looking at my room, better go.
love youse all

go aussie!

thi hills are alive...

with the sound of music, ahhhhh. so here are some photos from the tour. schelle and i had a great time with some of our favourite things and lots of rain.

ummm, since being back i have been at the school i used to teach at for 3 days and am back there tomorrow. which is good as i love the classes (although i was going to take tomorrow off to do heaps of stuff. that will have to wait till next week). the only bad thing is, i am teaching there every monday and next monday is our turn for Ofstead... which is a ummm, inspection that decides whether or not our school performs to satisfactory levels. that means i have lots of prep to do for monday that i otherwise wouldn't have to do. (like full on lesson plans and other lovely stressful stuff!!!) and i have only taught the class once, so don't really know what to plan and i am away over the weekend in Oslo. lucky i am going back there tomorrow!

well, might go to the movies tonight, and london eye tomorrow night.

love ya
deev

photos, ummm, dwarf in the garden and others of the garden of the do, ray, mi song. umm, schelle and i at the (whoops, forgoten the name of the structure...) from 16 going on 17. and the last one not sound of music, but outside the ice-caves near salzburg... yay it snowed.

and the photos

with the sound of music still to come.

so, we got home last night, so nice to be back in my own bed. and off to work tomorrow, but it will be good to see any of the kiddies again. and tomorrow is at a school i already know. yay.
well, the rest of the trip i felt better (bar one more instance of upset stomach, but hey, you get that.) i need to look through what i have already written in my delerious state, but i thought i would get something up tonight with more to come another day (again). schelle and i are off to church soon, so this will just be brief.

umm, so fly through version (some you already know), benidorm near alicante in spain for 1 week. then flew to geneva then train to zurich (where i last updated), and then lindt factory, train overnight (well 5 hrs from 11:30pm-4:30am) train to salzburg. salzburg is my favourite city of the ones we visited this time. just so pretty with the mountains and the old town on the river, i thought the views were spectacular.

wandered around salzburg, went to the icecaves which were great. like an underground river with waterfalls, but all frozen... AMAZING!!! the rain wasn't so great, but you get used to having trousers soaked up to knees, it's not too bad.

ok, and then saturday we said goodbye to brad and schelle and i did a hills are alive tour... ahhh, lots of singing, lots of fun and we felt like the von trapp family children, well not really, but it sounds good.

and to the photos... once again out of order and mostly of me cos i am just so beautiful!! anyways,
brad and me with the view of the river in geneva; self-photo of schelle, brad and i along the river in zurich;schelle and i at a bin in benidorm, in our new tops that match the bin and the graffiti, how cool is that!!!; schelle and i at a restaurant in benidorm with the beach in the background; beautiful view of salzburg.

schelle, deev, brad, europe, the adventure continues...

well at the moment, i am sitting in a hostel in zurich with a tummy ache, after just getting over a bout of vomiting a few days ago, so this trip has been fantastic for me!! no actually, it has!

so, schelle and i started very early on monday 22nd May with a flight to Alicante and then about 5 hrs trying to get to our apartment in benidorm (which was very nice, thanks dad!). the weather was beautiful, mostly sunny days and very warm, a nice break from London. then a few cloudy days and schelle's friend brad came. stayed till monday 29th with party party and fun and beach etc. sunday deev spent vomiting until nothing but bile was produced. didn't eat for 24hrs, couldn't even drink. lots of fun.

then flew to geneva, a beautiful city. i slept the arvo whilst schelle and brad explored the town. i was up for going out that night, went for a bit of a walk and had a kebap for dinner. on tuesday we wandered the streets of geneva for a while, then hit the train to zurich. hoorray for switzerland and lindt. now wednesday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!! its raining, but we went to the lindt factory and schelle and i bought 2.5kgs of chocolate to share... it was cheap, and i love chocolate! the rest of the day has been spent walking the town (oh and for those who know/care, i bought a love is... t-shirt, cool!!)

after a curry for lunch, my poor stomach is having a hard time (again,). so once again, schelle and brad are out wandering and i am resting. we have 1 1/2 hrs to kill till our night train to salzburg. where i am already practicing for the sound of music... the hills are alive.
then home sat to start school again on mon... ahhh, love back to reality

sorry this is a bit disjointed, it's all i can muster together at the moment. please bear with me!!

love you all,
update again soon

deev

Monopoly Pub crawl and Mathieu's birthday

well, sleep took preference over start of Monopoly Pub Crawl, so met my friends almost half-way through. My goodness, what troopers. Steve and Erin and Roo are leaving the UK, so what better way to send them off hey. we will miss you guys!!! but see you in a few years.

and then had to leave them on their pub crawl to get home to the rainy BBQ for Mathieu(new)'s birthday. busy busy arvo, but a fun one. there was only a bit of rain, so yay we could stay out for most of the night, just a bit of a mess with the mud in the kitchen. bummer. the bbq was a good night with mainly french speaking people.

so, for the photos, erin, steve and roo on the bus between two pubs. (sorry can't remember which ones). the smoke from the fire at the BBQ, and some people in it. and then me and the birthday boy, just after midnight and he didn't make it much longer after that, you can all use your imaginations.

ok, well back to packing, leave for spain tomorrow morning at 4:00am, so have to get everything done.

see ya
deev

red, the blood of angry men

black, the dark of ages past... yeah, schelle and i went to see les mis the other night. it was good. actually, not as good as i thought it would be, the voices weren't that impressive, but it was nice all the same.

and tonight, we are going to play tennis down the road with clement and maybe some others tonight. can't wait. luckily the weather has held off for us. and maybe off to the Da Vinci Code with the housemates on sunday.

had a shocker day at school today, crazy kids, but it's over not, so not too bad.

ok, that's all from me for the moment.

love you all,
deev

schelle and deev so far

once again, photos out of order, sorry... ha, oh well. so, schelle arrived in london and is at the moment living at my house. so good to see her again. and on monday we start our mini adventure to spain, switzerland and austria, shall be fun. and then i will be heading the weekend after to oslo with the housemates (schelle staying at home to apparently mind the house).

so, on sunday we headed to hyde park with tami and matt from disc'graceful (members of our frisbee team from gore hill) to have a bit of a throw, it was overcast, but lovely all the same. see the photo of the girls in the park. that was followed by a lovely house dinner (minus Jose, plus tami) in the backyard, sorry, the photo is out of focus... not sure what happened there, maybe a bit too much verve.

oh, me posing for the bbq, i didn't actually cook, but others did, that was saturday night... i think. and we had a fire in the backyard too, not sure if that is legal, but we needed to burn off our garden waste.

the housemates, lucia is the newest addition to the house, lovely lady from madrid, so now the official numbers are french 3, spanish 2, and lonely old me, but yay for schelle staying to bring aussies up to 2, equal second place.

and finally, ahhhh, a photo of me and schelle.... ahhhh. not much else to report. oh, i gave blood on friday night and now have a huge bruise on my arm, stupid person put the needle in wrong, it looks like i am a druggie or something. have to make sure the bruise is covered for school.

ok, to bed so that i can get up early for school tomorrow.

love you all,
deev

one sleep to go.

well, today i am baking banana cake, and have just watched home and away, ahh, i miss the beaches. and for some reason the ABC news theme is in my head. i was a nursery teacher today (pre-school). i had so much fun teaching the little tuckers. and tomorrow being a high-school english teacher. really have to be a jack of all trades over here.

anyways, am excited, cos tomorrow my schelle comes. yay. can't wait to see her again. i just hope that she gets here before i have to go to school tomorrow. might just make it. don't know what to do tomorrow evening, probably just walk along the themes down near hammersmith. really looking forward to it.

anyways, better go check on the banana bread. it was smelling good, but not quite cooked... might be by now.

love you all
deev

today is a good day!

well, today is a good day!

start out yelling at clement while he is laughing in my face because he threw out one of my containers (it is a bit of a joke, but apparently i am precious about my containers, so i have to make sure that I am). but, it was 7:30am and the sun was shining, so it had to be a good day. so i continued to be angry at clement but let him know that he wasn't going to ruin my good day, but that we are no longer friends. (and no, i am not sorry for maybe waking up other housemembers, because today, i don't care!!)

anyways, walked to school and saw the speechy from my old school, was nice, and the sunshine was adorable. yet another part of a good start to the day. got to school teaching ummm, i think they were about 17/18years old, the oldest class in the school and they were ever so helpful. we had a good day (well one kid said he would smash my face in, but at least today no biting and no hitting and not much spit, so another reason for a good day!)

and lunchtime was on playground duty and had to guard the door to stop a runner getting out (as we couldn't manage to get the lock to work) so stood in the beautiful sunshine feeling a slight burning to my face, something i hadn't thought possible in London, so even though it wasn't probably good, it felt great, so another reason for a good day.

and then i walked home with my i-pod in my own little world in the sunshine and now i am sitting in the sun in my backyard typing this. i have no school work to do and not a care in the world (well, maybe a few things to do and a few cares, but hey, today is a good day!)

so well, i suppose i just wanted to say, 'today is a good day,' and share that with you all!
ha.

xx

my little fox story

well, it all started on Wednesday night. I was asleep and then at about 5:30am i heard this screaming like a baby coming from outside my window. I went to the window and saw a mummy and baby fox in my backyard. the mum ran away, but as we live in a terrace, the baby couldn't jump the wall and so was fenced in. I tried to go back to sleep, but the baby kept howling. I tried to catch it, to let it over the fence, but it was so scared it kept running away from me. and it's lots of fun chasing a fox by yourself in the garden at 5:30am.

anyways, i told my housemates and they looked for it that day, but it had gone. so, Thursday night at about 3:00am same thing. the fox hadn't actually gone, it was hiding under some garden rubbish, so that we couldn't see it. Jose had just got home from work, so he was up and Lucia and i couldn't sleep from the noise, so we were up. Jose and I chased it around the garden for about 15 mins when i thought the only way to let it out would be through the house, cos we just couldn't catch it.

so, i closed all the doors off the hall, opened the front door, and let it inside. but, forgot we had a sticky mouse trap on the floor. so next thing i know, it is stuck with its tail and two hind feet on the sticky trap. so, Jose had a towel around it and i carefully peeled its tail and hind legs from the trap (very hard to do, so many little bones in its feet) and let it go out the front. it went running off.

the mother kept looking for it from the back of the house, but the baby would have found its way back to mum by crying. they know the streets very well. and Jose saw the foxes together the next night on his way home from work, hooray, ahhh, what a nice story. and then i was able to sleep well as the fox now no longer screams outside my window!

never thought there would be foxes in London, but there are and the squirrels and all the other wildlife too. ahhh, bring on the summer, and loving the spring.

the new (step) family

well, am over writing stuff now, these are some more photos from the wedding, of us and our new stepish family. i can't figure it out. i think carol is our aunt. and then her two boys and their cousin. and three of the 4 generations of brides girl side of the family.