I'm back in Aus... woot woot.

so, i arrived back yesterday to my new house in centennial park. it is nice to be back, but so much to think about from an AMAZING trip away. I watched the movie all about steve on the plane on the way back, and i wish i had a better vocab, like sandra bullocks character... AMAZING, just doesn't do justice to anything that i have done since i have been away.

I think i wrote already, i left just before Christmas Day. I spent 2 weeks(ish) in Peru, and 2 weeks(ish) in Chile. The time in Peru was mainly spent shadowing Margaret as she goes about her daily duties. I am going to look up working with homeless kids in Lima soon. I have so many things on my list of 'to think about' when i return home (and now i'm home, time to get started!). First, hanging around in trees and learning spanish better. Haha.

After a month away, my spanish has improved, but i can still only speak in the present tense and have trouble understanding when people use past and future and who they are talking about. But we get there eventually.

After Peru, my trip was clearly divided into 2 sections... Time in Vina del Mar with Claudia, her family, Shane, his family and a guy called Biggy (Shane's friend). Then, I moved down south and i'll write about that trip in another blog entry..

so... Vina, lots of wedding preparations and it was great to chill with Claudia and her family. Her mum called me her 'buena energia' because through all the stress, i was just a good energy staying there and helping out where possible. Claudia and Shane had a civil ceremony on the Wednesday and the church wedding on the Friday night. Both were beautiful. Claudia's dad Denis did a fantastic 'muy rico' BBQ that would put aussies to shame. but i think it was soooo tasty cos all the meat was totally covered in salt. they tend to put salt with everything over there.

so, a few photos from lima and chile... then i'm going out to explore my city a bit!

woot woot!!!

the crazy hour at the wedding about 2am, when the hats, leis, masks, glowsticks, maracas and whistles come out and everyone has to have fun. this is me and some of shane's family

hora loca, crazy hour again

me and ely, my new friend. haha. more to come about this in the next post.

claudias dad and mum, claudia and shane, and shanes mum and dad

some of shane's family, shane and claudias sister 'pollo'

claudia and her dad at the civil service BBQ, best meat ever...

me, clauds and biggy and the civil service

pollo, clauds, me, loreto and claudia.... some of the capel peeps

ahhhhh..... bienvenido mr reynolds and mrs capel!!! congratulations guys!!!

a beautiful couple, a bueatiful wedding and a beautiful time in a beautiful country!

anyways, i'm off to go and explore sydney a bit...

more to come from chile and peru a bit later!

love you all

deev

xx

Viña...

Pamela Anderson is in Viña del Mar...
as is davina!!! woot woot... i don´t look so good running down the beach.

haha.
we´re looking at claudia´s dress tonight... yay... and then i leave her house and go to a hotel... =(

it has been fun living with her and pollo... oh well... i´ll get to visit again in NZ.

thanks mrs capel for having me! it´s been awesome!

hope everyone is well wherever they are!!
besitos!
xx

Omas

so, margaret, jesus and I jumped on a bus this morning at 5.30am to return to Lima after 2 nights in a Village called Omas. It´s tiny but has a great school and amazing infrustructure. We visited one of Margaret´s friends from Chincha. I had a great time with the kids playing all sorts of games and singing songs. They loved my elastics (game with the big elastic) and of course the bubbles.

and now, catching up with sandra again and two of her friends also called sandra. haha. and going shopping in the tourist area. and tomorrow i will have lunch with ofelia and her family. which i am looking forward to.

anyways, margaret just came and i need to go to meet sandra!
love to you all,
i´ll write some reflections up here and put some photos up when i get a bit more time.

xx

LIMA!!!!!!

Well, i´m back in Lima and having a great time!
this will just be short, sorry, because i have to go on a bus soon.

I am staying with Margaret a missionary linked with my church in London. She is AMAZING!! I have visited some families I met last time i was here. and it is so good to see them again. I have been to a few church services and caught up with 2 of our translators from our trip. Christmas eve was spent eating turkey that ofelia gave us and watching fireworks from the rooftop of margarets house. christmas day i met some other missionaries here and had a delicious christmas lunch.

then visiting more people. now we are taking a trip to a village where margaret is going to take a group to tell people about God. I am reading her amazing book which she has written and am thinking about how God wants me to use my life for him.

New Years i think i am spending with Sandra and Carlos (the translators,friends) and then only a few more days until i fly to chile.

love you all,
deev
xx

marvellous minneapolis and happening honolulu

well, happening if you like beaches and shopping and tourist. haha.

oh, first, the hike over the long weekend with grae me and liz (who i am going to start working for woot woot) and a few other people. some good conversations and a fun group of people to be away with. it was raining on the saturday night and we were leaving on the sunday, so i rang grae me to ask if we were still meeting at 6:59am at central the next day (hoping he would say, no, we're going to cancel... but he didn't, and we did meet at crack-o-dawn). so, of course because i was running late (as usual), i missed my bus, which actually came early and was going to miss the train. but some others slept in because of daylight savings... so i was saved. we then did the hike and it rained... but when we had to set up tents, it stopped... and it didn't start again until the next day when we had already packed up the campsite... we were looked after. oh, the hike was the south coast walk in the Royal National Park.

breakfast on the beach!!!! with the sun out. a nice start to the day

the campsite, right near the beach

the rains and beautiful scenery of the royal national park

on the way home, i stopped off at steve's new pad in mortdale. he's bought a slice of his own and he's done very well. it was nice to be able to see it. then home to see mum and dad, pick up a few things and get ready to go to america!!! wow, i was so excited. and i had a really relaxing and calming time. it was just what i needed.

had a 12hour stop over in honolulu where the weather was just AMAZING... bright sunny day, hot hot hot, and so i went shopping and slept on the beach. watched a gorgeous sunset over the beach outside ala moana shopping mall and then found my way back to the airport to fly to minneapolis.

andy met me at the airport and we looked at the 3M library of reflectors (all different road reflector colours and how they wear over time and shine in different lights.) and went home to meet mandy. they have bought a really cute cottage type house in Hastings and have redone it.

that night i was whisked away to catch up with andy's mum and dad, maggie and dave. i was lucky to ride on a 1928 firetruck that andy and his dad own AND i even got to drive it. i experienced a corn dish that contained corn kernels, creamed corn and cornmeal. they have a lot of corn in minnesota.

what else... i got to meet quite a few of andy and mandy's friends, had a houseparty, (although i didn't drink any of their homebrew but i'll go back and next time i will experience these delights!), went to a drive-thru ATM, the Mall of America, saw the mississippi river, shot some clay pigeons (cos everyone in america shoots things no? and i was suprisingly good at shooting moving targets), tasted great delights, and did heaps more. i also had some great conversations with andy and mandy about their life, their theatre and what they believe. i was going to have mandy do a hot-stone massage on me, but when we were getting ready andy rang to see if we wanted to go canoeing. i was sad to not have the massage (save that for next time too!!!) but i was excited to go canoeing.. i saw a few bald eagles, some deer, a woodpecker, and many other animals as well and really enjoyed being out in nature with no-one around except for us... so serene.

it was soooo sad to say good-bye to andy and mandy, but i will see them soon. i am so blessed to have such generous and honest people to spend time with.

then onto honolulu. kristy picked me up from the airport and then only a sleep until rach arrived. the next day kristy and rach and i had lunch at waikiki and reminisced on school memories whilst rach and i were amazed by kristy's belly. haha (she's due late december). the next few days were spent beaching, SHOPPING (with the good AU$ it was great), beaching, relaxing, catching up and just being. we also went to Pearl Harbour to explore the memorial there and hanauma bay.

then it was home and back to work for 2 days, experience a bit of the crave festival and just being glad to be back, but missing my holiday already!!!

i can't believe it's only 9 weeks left of school for the year. wow. and i've been home now for over a year. CRAZY.

anyways, here are a few photos for you to enjoy!

xx

rach, ty and me after our last dinner together, sniff sniff, next time, she'll be a mum!!

me and rach parasailing in honolulu

scooby-snacks!!! yumm yumm... so much sugar!

ahhhh, the sun...

the clouds that seem to linger over the mountains at o'ahu

andy, mandy and myself at the cornmaze

the snow in hastings... a change from hawaii weather!
the cornmaze.... it was great to be a tourist!

the drive-thru ATM

me shooting clay pigeons (dave loading them up)

mandy and me in the mall of america... that is a theme park

the mississippi river from the yellow room at the theatre in minneapolis, can't help but be happy there!!!

small car parking... that's not a small car to me! everything is big in america, especially portion sizes!

candy corn! yummy!!!! goes well with salty peanuts too!!!

and finally, the firetruck that we drove!!!! yippeeeeeee

enjoy!

xx

the september that was...

the birthday girl and me

so, i sit here, i think i'm on holidays (my temp job is on holidays but i might still get called to work casual, although i doubt it). and i am planning what i need for the next few weeks of activities. I'm off to the South Coast Walk this weekend and then Minneapolis and Honolulu the wednesday after... it is so exciting to be thinking of seeing Andy and Mandy in Minneapolis and Kristy (a pregnant Kristy) and Shayne in Honolulu.

but what about the september that was?? as i can't seem to settle, i keep flitting away and i had a weekend in melbourne with ange catching up with claude and meeting her beau eddie... thanks for a fabulous weekend claude! i was also lucky enough to catch up with luke from london and kristal, dan and sexy rob (gee, a blast from the past... i keep thinking whether i should still be calling him his nickname from when we were 17, seeing as now he is married and a father.... oh well). and it was just lovely to explore melbourne and get lost as a tourist. which i'll be doing tomorrow night in sydney. oh yeah, oh yeah!!!

what else, after melbourne i went to brisbane for the weekend... i met up with the gorgeous julie in brisbane with her mum too. my weekend in brisvegas was a blast from the past, meeting up with 2 people i went to chile with when i was 16 (julie and alex) and also catching up with dane who i met in perth when we were 12. haha. it made me feel really really old!!! i met some interesting people at the hostel and had some great conversations that opened my mind to the things i know about... always great to have these experiences i think.

i've also rekindled a friendship with Grae me a friend from gangshow and he has some great green friends. so i've been spending some time with them. i'm going hiking with them this weekend and i'm looking forward to just chilling in a tent. i really miss camping, so i'm glad i have been inspired by grae me to get out there. and that he is a doer, so all i have to do is go along. (cheers grea me!)

what else... lots of thinking about life, chilling with friends and catching up with people, a wedding and oh, of course, a night at the pickled possum... and lots of fun!

so even though i am now back in sydney, life is still an adventure and i am really enjoying it. few other different thoughts happening, but i'll post them as they develop a little further...

enjoy your day!!! and smile at a stranger!

xx

me and julie in brisvegas.... ahhhhh

oscar the grouch and cookie monster muffins in melbourne

the view from the top of the eureka tower through some fancy thing....

some graffiti in st kilda.... lots of cool arty stuff to look at in the streets

3 sexy ladies... although you can't tell cos of our masks
a beautiful lunch for claude and eddie at rach's... a great spread. and a lovely spot of tennis, unfortunately no cucumber sandwiches. haha
the cousins at marissa's 21st

me, carol, bin and ange the school group at bin's wedding


some random park artwork in brisvegas
brissie 'beach' with the lovely river in the background


sydney before the dust...


same view with the dust... where did the bridge go??

it was interesting actually, chatting to tori about out travels and how self-centered we are when we keep diaries... and i was thinking about this blog... and it is very much me centered, not event and place centered... but then again, my life revolves around me. haha. so yeah, if you want to find out about the actual places, not just my take on things, then you'll have to either ask me for more info, or look up the places yourself. haha.

enjoy

xx

i would do anything for love.... but i won't do that

THEN WHAT WILL YOU DO???

haha. meatloaf is on the tv... oh yeah, love it... not the extended intro version unfortunately...
and what better to sing after a night at the pickled possum?? where lots of bonnie tyler and bon jovi was sung.

oh yeah, oh yeah!!!

thanks to those who had a lovely fondue dinner with me!!! and joined me for the pickled possum!!! loved it!

cheers guys!
oh yeah!

and RETRO tonight! can this weekend get any better???
=)

xx

august, well the start anyways

Tonight, I won't be alone, but you know that don't mean I'm not lonely... haha... good old Bon Jovi... just listening to him at the moment. wasting my day away. i have done some productive stuff... like looked up spanish courses, (for next year i think i'll start again then) and had breakfast in the sun, finished a book i was reading... ummm, ok, so nothing THAT productive, but hey, i'll get there. oh no, i have! i've rspv'd to a few things that i had to. haha, does that count?

so, it's wednesday and i'm not working today... and I won't be lonely tonight, because i'll be at trivia. i'm not working tomorrow either because it's my day to not work and to do some other stuff. Here's hoping work will come on friday, but if it doesn't, then i'll wander into the city to enjoy it! i'll just have to leave my wallet at home so i don't start spending money... a favourite pasttime of mine.

anyways, the past few weeks, the weather has been AMAZING!!! so beautiful. and so on sunday, a group of us went for a walk from the spit bridge to manly. i had a fabulous day (and i think the others did too). so, here are some photos.

oh and i saw barnsey... he ROCKED. he was fantabulous. i still don't understand how he could possibly scream for that many years and still be going.

i think that's pretty much all the 'exciting' stuff i've done over the last few weeks. this friday has a dinner and return to the pickled possum instore!!! oh yeah!!! and saturday is my first trip to Retro. which i am thoroughly looking forward to!

ahhh, a lovely beach (well, obscured... haha) along the walk

the group, rach, matt w, ruth, me, j-na and frances, we were joined by matt and alex at lunch on the beach... yummy.... fish and chips and coldrock!!! mmmmm, coldrock!

kim, me and kylie after barnsey

and the man himself!!! with a harp, to flametrees... loved it. even though it's a chisel song, not his own.

enjoy your day, hope the sun is shining wherever you are!

xx

kitchen nightmares...

haha... no, i'm just watching gordon ramsey's kitchen nightmares... i can't believe it... i got work for tomorrow! woot woot... i'm really excited that i have got another day for this week (means not only can i pay my bills, but i can afford to eat too! haha) but i'm watching this atrocious show at 11:20pm... just to see if the restaurant survives... my goodness... can they do it??? haha.

i really should be going to bed... anyways, you get to hear about this random piece of news. and that is my pointless piece of information for this evening...

and it finished... they did it! hurrah!

night.
xx

the snow... oh the snow...

we're going skiing.... we're going skiing... is all that you could hear come out of my mouth last week, but unfortunately... it's over... and i've gone skiing... i've gone skiing... but it doesn't really have the same ring to it...

so, what have i done the past few weeks?? ummmm... i had holidays and i didn't do too much, went to wollongong, planted some herbs... oh, the life!!!

and now i'm back at work (yes, my whole 2 days a week!) and have 2 extra days this week, which will be nice. and oh yeah, i went skiing!!!

i also went to tori's housewarming which was lovely. kinda like in london again with houseparty and dress-ups... and kinda like being here before i left with a few of the rovers there. her new place in surryhills is nice. makes me want to move there... but i'm very happy here for the moment!

so, not much to report, but i just wanted to put up a few photos for you all.

so, here they are.

some of the rovertype people from the good old days... matt, luke, steph, jeremy

me and tori in true style of dress-up... it's been too long... looking good tori!

ahhhh.... the snow... that's our track that we were skiing along

tami in tree number 1... ahhh, the beautiful gums..

tami skiing up to scope out our lunch spot... it was really windy, so we needed a place with protection. and the first photo (at the top of the post) is our lunch spot!!! in the sun and out of the wind... perfect! and a nice ski back down to the track.

oh and i didn't fall over on the weekend, which i was very happy about!!!

anyways, hope you are all well!!

xx