and now...

trips to nz, trips to the snow, camping, sleeping, eating, being merry, working, hanging out with friends...

my recorder group is performing again at the Opera House next week and I am very please that one of my students auditioned and received a solo!  she is totally amazing!!!  well done to her.

after that i think it is only 3 weeks until the holidays and I am currently planning my next trip away.  hmmmm where to??

Kate and Dan have gone travelling for 6 months and we have a french couple staying in their room.  Camille and Alex.  Absolutely lovely people who are enjoying everything that Sydney and Australia has to offer.  at the moment they are in NT doing some of the Larapinta trail.   I hope they will be able to travel some of the great ocean road with me.

hurrah.

enjoy today!

just a few photos...  oh and i've started crocheting...  loving it!

xx

beautiful snow...

on the day I leave... of course. haha

slip sliding

trying to figure out how to put a tobies caramel roll into my mouth without getting it all over my face. hilarious!!

oh my goodness. they make angry bird beanies. haha. so cute.

so, I'm up in duluth and the weather is really getting colder, but not much snow still, which I suppose is good, seeing as I've been driving around. tonight I went to meet up with one of andy's friends and go out to a

movie, dinner and drinks. so f course it snowed a little. on the way there, I came to a stop at a stop sign and started sliding sideways onto a major road... fun fun fun... how

DOES one stop when they have their feet fully on the brake??

Then, climbing up a hill in town, a car at the stop sign infront of me started slipping towards me in the ice. I was a fair way away cos I wasn't trusting anything or anyone, but still it was a little interesting. how far was the ice there for him to slip? he changed his route, and I decided to take his new route, as the previous choice seemed a little icy!!!

on the way home (I only drank one local brew beer!!! so don't worry!!) it was minus 21 degrees celcius and OH MY GOODNESS, did I feel it!!!! I only had my fingerless mittens on and I was scared the tips of my fingers were actually going to fall off!! ouch!! it hurt so bad, and the car took forever to spit hot air out. I was almost home beforehand hands started to thaw.

WELCOME TO DULUTH!!!

:)

north star roller girls

it was beautiful. someone apologised to me on behalf of Minneapolis, minnesota AND America, for the lack of snow. and asked me please to not hold it against him that he could not provide as much snow this year as they had last year! loved it.

never thought I would be 'too warm' walking. i walked into downtown Minneapolis and was hot. man... bring on the snow! woohoo! I did, however, notice that lots of people seem to waddle over here. and on closer inspection, I realised I waddle too. it's the winter coats that cause it. or the mighty ducks... I think that was filmed over here. quack, quack, quack.

"A quarter of an inch, Charlie."

"Yeah, but a quarter inch the other way and you'd have missed completely."

"I never thought of it that way."

yeah, it was totally filmed over here.

things are really sweet over here, like juice and bread. that's my random thought. ih, and another one... so many people with carabeenas on their keys.

oh, and I went to my first roller derby here. fun to watch!! I'll have to go again in sydney.

anyways, bed for me now. I've been back at Mandy and andy's for the past couple of night, and tomorrow I borrow their car and drive off to duluth. I'm really looking forward to it.

night,

love to you all.

xx

it's snowing... oh yeah it's snowing!!!

not a lot and probably not for long, but I don't mind!!!

woohoo

Minneapolis... the cities...

happy new year!!

I woke up to a crying Noah at 7:00am on new years eve here which was midnight in sydney!! perfect timing. so wished you all in sydney a happy new year (in my head! haha) and then went back to sleep! we then drove up to st Paul to have a dinner on new years eve which was kindly cooked by a friends sister. it was a gourmet 5 course meal and few, it was divine!!! and to top off a decadent evening of eating, it snowed!!!!! so we drove back to Hastings in the most glorious fluffy snow. it was lovely to bring in the new year so beautifully, although unfortunately, the snow didn't continue... but it stayed on the ground for a couple of days. apparently the weather at the moment is more like April weather than January weather. I think I am the only person hoping for snow!!! everyone else is loving fact that it is mild.

on January 3rd, I left Hastings and came up to Minneapolis. I am living in a house called the greenhouse. it is an amazingly beautiful old house close to downtown minneapolis that was rundown and gutted and has been redone. there are 10 adults who live here plus me at the moment, and 3 kids under the age of 2. they are associated with a church called the salvage yard, although not everyone who lives here goes to that church. I have wandered around downtown and a coupleof other places in my time here. I have also spent some time getting to know some of the people in the house. they are so hospitable and I really do feel right at home. I am sharing a room with joi and we went to an art gallery together on Friday. she is kinda like me, bubbly, random, sarcastic, and busy. we get on real well. I have been lucky to go to a few community things of both their community and a few other communities that are friends with these guys. I hung out on a street corner last night and handed out free coffe/hot chocolate/soup to anyone who passed and then went out to a cafe called 'hard times' that draws a crowd of anyone, punks and bickies and hippies and intellectuals and really everyone. it is open til 4pm, serves organic vegetarian or vegan food and you can play boardgames there.... an experience in itself!

I have been spending a lot of time reading, chilling and learning how to just 'be'. this has been interesting for me as i thrive off being busy. I am loving it though. learning how to listen to myself. I have also had some time to reflect on different patterns and things that are going on in my life and also been dared to dream a little. what fun!

anyways, I'm just sitting in a common area being quite rude on my phone, so I might go back to chatting to the others in the room.

happy good day!

xx

don't know way happened to the font, but can't figure out how to change it on my phone... sorry!

m i double s i, double s i, double p i.

Mississippi... yep... that's how you spell it. was a lovely walk, although most of it was dark. but it gave me a chance to see some great Christmas lights. I wanted to eat one house with how decorated it was.

I'm excited about tomorrow night, it will

be fondue and games with the Langenfeld clan... I'll have to crank out my fondue set when I return home. yew!!

well, I was inspired to write and now I'm not... sorry! but hope you all had an awesome Christmas and boxing day!!! all the best for the end of the year!

xx

Hastings, Minnesota.

well, here I am in Hastings. it's Christmas day here and boxing day in Australia. I wonder what the weather is like in sydney today. it's cold here, but sunny. still haven't gotten that white Christmas that I've longed for... maybe in a few years. haha. it has been so much fun staying with Andy and Mandy. and to meet Noah. wow, he is just so big!!! almost 11 months... he had a new baby cousin born yesterday and apparently he looks real big compared to her. it's

funny to think how small he looks and how much smaller he would have been a year ago.

I'm going to go for a walk now, to the Mississippi river... ha. the only reason I know how to spell that is because of Annie. haha.

I'm gunna go before it gets too dark. I'll write more when I get back from my walk... maybe. haha.

love you all,

merry Christmas, joyeux Noel, Feliz navidad.

xx

i'm going skiing

i'm going skiing... i'm going skiing...

and that is all...

xx

I'm going to NZ tomorrow!!!!!! woohoooooo

pigeons anyone??

'you are always away'... yep!!!! and i'm very excited!!! i'm going to windy wellington tomorrow morning (well this morning if you want to get technical...)

just thought i'd put that up here... but first... some lovely photos from work the other day... yes, i went to luna park... just for fun, just for work. yay!!!

enjoy my beautiful city!

xx

back to the grind.

my beautiful country!!! woohoo!!!!


ok... so, i'm back to school and they've just dropped me to 1 3/4 days. haha. so now i'm gunna figure out what on earth to do with my life... take it easy, chill, think, rest in God and just see what happens. or actively seek out a few things. I've been having some great conversations with people and meeting some interesting people of late, so i'm going to try and spend a bit of time seeing what I can learn. Bring on the learning!!! woohoo!!!!

so... what have i been up to?? camping was fantastic! I went to melbourne with michelle garratt for conference called "surrender" and then decided to sign up for a week down in melb living in a share house of people helping to run a soup kitchen. I went to Radelaide twice and just bummed around being me.

here are some lovely photos for you to enjoy!
=)

holidays...

it's hard to believe that it has been 11 school weeks since i have updated this thing.. wow... must be going through a very lazy time at the moment... I have thought often about updating this, but haven't gotten around to it. I do have a few exciting things (for me at least) going on in my life at the moment...

i'm off camping with my flatmates and a few friends over the easter weekend... I'm really looking forward to that. I had a few girls around for a Johnny Deppathon the other evening, where i cooked the dinner from scratch... it was awesome!!! hummous, dips, falafel, zucchini fritters... yummy.... haha.

righty-oh... i'm trying to watch the curious case of benjamin button... so i might get back to that.

woohoo!!!
hope you are all well.
=)

xx

And now home

I sit at the airport about to come home from my trip away. My time away has seemed so long and so short all at once. So many of the kids on the community go to school in Melbourne, Darwin, Lismore, sydney, it's really interesting. I wonder how/why they choose the schools they do. 

Wow... I have had such a good week. Not knowing what to expect, just hanging around with the kids, helping the sport and rec centre to do what they do and get to know some of the kids. The community we were in was pretty small... 600 or so people I think... A different world, but a great one. Has made me think about life and what I do and why I do it (once again). 

I am so excited about this year and who I spend time with, learn from, what I learn, how my mindset is influenced by the people around me. This year is going to be a great year in my life's journey. I can't wait til the end of the year and I can reflect on the year that was.  

Australia day tomorrow and I can't wait to celebrate how lucky I am to be Australian, but also to remember the past of my country and the repercussions of that now. 

Anyways, that's all from me for the moment and I'll put some photos up when I get back. And try to remember some stories to put up here!

Hope you are all well. 
:)
Xx

The train, the rock, Alice and Darwin.

My pack towel does really well as a blanket on the train from Alice to Darwin, the Ghan. I am also surprised at how many times I can get pins and needles in one nights sleep and just how many ways I can sleep in a single chair on a train... And the shower... I don't think I ever thought unwound have a shower on a train... Haha. But I have. The whole thing is really quite fascinating. I can tell you about it one day! 

I have fallen in love with Alice springs and want to move back there to teach. I met an older guy in the pub that told me an hours worth of reasons for why I shouldn't move there, but then said when I do move back, I need to buy him a drink, as I'm going to hate it there... His was of saying 'I told you so'.  Anyways, this year is a sydney year, so I'll have to just holiday for now  and see how life pans out.

I met a few travellers on the train and we're going to hire a car together and see where we end up. There is one English, French, swiss, Swedish and Chilean... Pretty good cultural pot! That's a good thing about long train journeys.. You meet some cool people (like Oscar when I caught the train from kiruna to Stockholm).

Wow. So you pay a small fortune for a morning breakfast tour of Uluru and find out when you jump on the bus you need to pay more money for the national park pass... I'll have to check the fine print on the brochure... I'm sure it didn't say extra cost. Ahhhh, they'll get you for everything. 

I'm also amazed at how many people are awake at 4:30am for trips such as mine. My bus was the 7th bus to my lodge in the morning before 5am... Craziness.

Anyway, WOW! so I love pretty much everywhere, so it doesn't seem to count, but this place really is something else... I need to come back here to explore more... Nature will never cease to amaze me.

Oh, and the stars... There was a huge lightning storm the other night all around the resort.  Such a great sight from the lookout. Lightning all around, then stars above.  Saw so many shooting stars and satellites. And I've been pretty lucky with the weather, not too hot at all.


Ok. This does not read well, but i've just  been jotting down notes for putting on my blog through my phone, and this is how it goes... 

Sorry! 
Good luck making sense of it! 
Xx

Let's see if this is possible from my phone...

So... I'm at a big rock... In the middle of Australia. I found accommodation here for a reasonable price. I'm glad the backpackersnhad space. I didn't do my research before I came and didn't know just how close the olgas are and that they look phenomenal... I'm a just going to have to come back here... June methinks... Anyone keen??? :)

Just relaxed yesterday and today, going for breakfast at the rock tomorrow before going on a bus to Alice... Wow. It's so green... Apparently they've had 4 years worth if rain in 1 month or something. Not really the red centre at the Moment.

Went for a nap this arvo because it was so hot... Woke up and it is raining... Good for relaxing and reading a bit. It's good to have some 'me' time. I don't do that enough in sydney... Maybe that's something to focus on this year. Anywyas, I'm going to get back to my book. Just thought I'd see if I can post from my phone (wonders of modern technology!!) if this posts... Then it's worked. Yay.

Enjoy today!
Xx

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

so... it's the 2nd of Jan. I'm going to the moonlight cinema tonight, because i have lived so close to it for over a year now and haven't gone since i've lived here. tonight is the night. oh yeah! (except it has just gone from a sunny day to looking like it will rain... oh no!!!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it's 2011 already. I've been back in australia for over 2 years now. WOW. how quickly time flies. I still feel like things are going pretty well. I have quit my job at one of my schools, but i have left the recorder group in capable hands. haha. and at my other school (if they can have me), i will start a new recorder group. fun fun fun. I took my recorder away for new years and was playing at peats ridge. who knows, next year i might be one of the acts in the chai tent. except hopefully next christmas i will be overseas.

I never do new years resolutions, although this year I decided to. I'm going to focus on good relationships and look after my well being a bit better. in the last 6 months i have discovered some amazing people who i really enjoy spending time with and they bring out the best in me. So i'm looking forward to how that plays itself out in my life this year. BRING ON 2011 and all the growth it will give.

I had my first peats ridge festival. it was so nice to be camping again. and i'm looking forward to more camping in 2011. last year i did a few weekends away, and so i'm sure this year i can get away a bit more.

on friday, i leave for the northern territory. i've got 2 weeks exploring from Uluru north by myself. I'm looking forward to reading and discovering and just being. After that, i have a remote area kids holiday program and 4 days of travelling with a friend. I can't wait.

Right. I downloaded some photos today, so here they are...

=)

most of the group for new years

haha... me and kay at the lights that luke was excited about

west african dance anyone?? it was pretty fun

me and my lovely bro at christmas, don't know where his crown was though... oh well...

HAPPY NEW YEAR,

i'll try and update this thing from the NT.

xx

feed the world, let them know it's christmas time...

have that song in my head... so thought i'd share it.

wow... almost christmas. i have 3 days left of school for the year and only 2 at one of my schools. going to a festival for new years, then the NT and then well, who knows what is instore for me next year. hopefully more work at my other school. But then again, maybe not. If not, there will be something exciting happening for sure! haha.

rode my bike home from dinner in north sydney today. i was pretty proud of myself (ha, well, someone needs to be).

what else? it's almost time for our annual family christmas party... if you weren't thinking of coming... think about it! haha. oh and keep australia day free to come to my place for a bbq and the hottest 100!!! oh yeah!

i just realised i haven't downloaded any photos onto my computer recently... although i do have some photos from my phone of me slacklining... oh yeah!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/davinarodgers?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/aOk4qSweBew

http://www.youtube.com/user/davinarodgers?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/oYDlzbdYv7I

haha.. yes, i'm showing off... but let me! haha.

http://www.youtube.com/user/davinarodgers?feature=mhum#p/a/u/2/nn8y226DQT0

(and my great slacklinine guru/teacher/friend, yeah!)

and now for a few phone photos from the past month or so...

st mary's cathedral, sydney

me slacklining (then playing round with it afterwards) in hyde park... about 50cms off the ground. YAY!

some of the 'art auction' stuff at school

and bondi to bronte sculptures by the sea... a lovely day out with frankie, rach, jana and kay... oh yeah!

hope you are all well!

catch you soon

xx

can't believe it's november!

argh, i didn't win anything in the melbourne cup today!!! grrr... haha, oh well, maybe next year.

where has the last month and a bit gone?? it is hard to believe it is november already, before we know it, it will be christmas (actually, i walked past david jones this evening and their christmas window is up... totally christmas already)

actually, most of the last little while has gone into reading a book. It's kinda blown my mind... It has helped me to rethink a few things in my life and align what is actually important to me. so many things that I am now rethinking. (yeah way to go to try and say something without saying anything at all). i suppose if you want i could expand, but couldn't be bothered to here, just ask me, haha).

so.... have been thinking about things that are important to me and how that has changed over time. and going on a journey of discovery, but i haven't discovered too much yet... it's a fun journey though. and i'm meeting some cool people in the process.

i'm hoping to get out slacklining a little more, but the rain has stopped me (this awesome spring. sunny one day, rainy the next few). i have been riding my bike a bit more and exploring the loveliness that is australia. I went away in the holidays to canberra for a few days, went camping in the royal national park a couple of weekends ago and also went to melbourne last weekend.

apart from thinking too much, i don't think there is really anything else to add, so i'll just put some photos up for you... and hopefully put some content up here later if anything exciting happens in my life. haha.

=)

enjoy your day!

deev

xx

(so, the top photo is my grandparents at the floriade)

and the royal national park on our 'not very far' hike to Uloola falls. i recommend it to anyone, so close to sydney and so beautiful! and the blue tent is my new impulse buy only $80... and it even lasted more than one camp!!! hurrah!!!

bowling with the housemates, lucas, rach, jan and some others above... i think i came last. haha, but it was fun

a great microbrewary place in canberra... totally worthwhile visiting (of course after the furber road brewary, our favourite place, haha)

and finally, chess in canberra somewhere and kay jumping for joy at parliament house.

yay!

xx

a quick look at the last little bit...

the vennies... from many moons ago... (and some random chick)... ahhh, the greenwood... haha. i'll have to scan in the photo from when we all caught up last time... gee, 2004 or something... good to see we're all going strong. haha

and then the beer house of ours... awesome party dan!!!

the flags and beer symbols on the windows... it's our biergarten!

a beer wench with her stein.

the early crew all dressed up... the 2 german beer maids and the birthday boy... plus early arrivers... can't wait til next year...

that's all at the moment. i can't believe it's almost the holidays again then only 10 weeks left of the school year... my goodness... how fast this year has flown.

anyways, off to enjoy my saturday night... sorting out my jewellery infront of a movie.

GO THE TIGERS!!!

=)

xx

the city-to-surf

so... today i did the city-to-surf for the first time. haha... didn't run. haha. but i did love taking in the atmosphere of all the different walks of life who took part in it. and also a view of my beautiful city that i haven't seen before... I almost kicked myself for not taking my camera with me. oh well... next year.

also i've been doing some thinking about lots of things in life. i have some great questions, but not answers. haha. I was speaking to a man this evening about 'unlearning'. How do you start to explore ideas that go against what you have grown up to believe and be ok with the contradiction? can the contradictions work hand in hand?

anyways... if i find out some amazing answers, i'll have to write a book to share them all with the world. haha.

hope you all had a great weekend too.

p.s. the warm weather has been so amazing to be out in... more of this!

xx