Where did Laura Go?

Trying a new platform

2010-03-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Trying a new platform - want to see how wordpress works...

So, to catch up on the last wee while...

flojogoeswandering.wordpress.com

On my way home.

2010-01-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

Well,

I am in Manila airport, waiting for my flight home. Its not too bad, 8 hours to Sydney, 3 hrs stopover and 3 hrs home to new zealand. I will be staying at Dad's in Chch for a few days, giving me a nice time to rest (and do my JET interview - *bites nails*). I spent last night in Manila, and, after the dramas of last time, decided to actually stay in a real hotel, not some ten bed dorm. I even ordered room service! I don't really like Manila, which is funny, as I love Bangkok, and people tend to see them as similar.

I am really missing Zamboanga, especially the community we worked with. Will post some photos later. A large proportion of the community live in stilt houses over water, because it means they don't have to pay for land etc. I find it amazing though, because even in a place where you are surrounded by so much poverty, you can walk to the end of the footbridges and get the most amazing views of God's creation.

I am in a lounge here. It costs about $12nz, and you get a large, quiet lounge with wifi (or desktops) a movie playing (currently richie rich), a free snack buffet (making back the $12 in sandwiches, seeing as it is dinner time!), free non-alcoholic drinks, sleeping rooms (with wake up calls), and for an extra fee a wider array of drinks and food, and massages.

Anyway, I will blog a bit more about my time in Zamboanga when I get home.

Pray for me :)

Leaving

2010-01-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Wow... I am leaving Saturday - Zamboanga Friday, to Manila, then Manila Saturday evening.

We are still working with the volunteers in the school, and it is cool to see them 'do the work'.
I have enjoyed the people I have met, especially the children. i hope to work more wiht kids in the future.

2 prayer requests:

1. There was a minor error on my visa letting me into the country. It has been sorted, but please pray that there are no complications with me leaving the country.

2. I have a JET programme interview when I get back.
Please pray for whatever outcome God wants :).

Laura

Interesting school fun

2010-01-16T03:08:00.001-08:00

Well, it has been an interesting couple of days. We were arranging tutoring sessions with somey re community members, training the community members to tutor kids in reading. It was determined that we were going to get a few kids who struggled with reading. We ended up in a room with 84 kids to assess - it was interesting to say the least :).

We eventually rearranged things and will start working with the volunteers on Monday :).

Today I went to the beach - I feel a little less sunburned than last time - I tried hard not to, but did anyway :(.

Will post pics later :)

Stuff

2010-01-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

* I have a new roommate. Her name is Sarah, she's 25 and she's from Seattle :)!

* I am getting teeth x-rays tomorrow.

* I found some cheap, see Laura isn't really the duff blimp in disguise, dresses in bloomingdales today. They even fit my foreigner size AND, cause it was US sizing for one of the dresses,

i got to wear m, instead of xxxxL. I can now say I have been to Bloomingdales.

* I officially LOVE Asian hair ties. I am yet to find some that don't hold my hair. Amazing, due t i's insane thickness.

*It is really hot and muggy here. In case you didn't know.

Please keep praying for safety etc.

Feeling hot hot hot

2010-01-06T06:47:00.000-08:00

Man oh man do I find myself with some attractive outfits. Due to my comparatively enormous size, coupled with my need to wear very modest outfits, and of course, my tendency to be cheap, I find myself with some rather, well, hideous outfits to wear here - I do believe I resemble a blimp! Here are some examples of shirts I have purchased here in the last 3 days (due to heat/ humidity meaning changing clothes 2-3 plus times per day, meaning I ran out of clothes!):

This stunning number is actually a man's shirt

Purple tie dye is really what high fashion is all about!

It's a tree. On a shirt. With a house!

2nd - 4th January

2010-01-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Well - I am starting to settle into life in Zamboanga. I had a toothache on Saturday, and went to a friendly dentist, who stated that it was a little imflamation, and prescribed me some painkillers and antibiotics if it didn't clear up over the next few days. All up, the visit and the meds came to $7.50 NZ. I am considering having my 2 most needed fillings done whilst I am here, because the come to about $18 each.

On Sunday I accompanied one of the team members to church. We went to a Chinese English church, and it was quite a traditional, Anglican style church, with a choir in white robes and a very structured service. I enjoyed it a lot, especially the sermon.

After lunch the team member and I went to Jollibee, the Filipino equivalent to Mcdonalds and KFC. It was quite tasty, and a lot of fun. As with all Filipino takeways they gave rice, and I had to order fries separately. I actually preferred the chicken to KFC! Never thought I'd say that about a fried chicken.

mmmmmm...Jollibee!

Today I helped another team member unpack his house after moving here. It was actually kinda fun. The all of us moving had chicken and rice for lunch :).

After lunch I had language training with one of the team members. We went to KFC to enjoy some aircon. They had run out of all drinks except sprite and mountain dew, so I had mountain dew and a brownie. It was kinda funny, as I joked that the most important phrase for me to know is 'sorry'. I later managed to accidentally flick my pen in such a way that the cap came off and hit a complete stranger, so 'sorry' was the first word in Tagalog that I actually did use in a non language learning context.

We then visited the community, where I had a chance to meet a lot more members, and visit the school. I also met my lovely language partner, who will help me learn another language spoken in the community.

We then enjoyed another trip to Jollibee!

New years

2010-01-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

Hi all....

New years was interesting here in Zamboanga - guy fawkes taken up a trillion notches! It involved a lot of eating, more eating, then fireworks. The fireworks we so frequent that it was a constant bang bang bang bang bang for about 3 hours... by that i mean a couple of bangs per second. The atmosphere was smoky, the dog was hiding, the crow was trying to fly away, then got over it and hung out casually on his perch all night, the kittens were eating in the back room, somewhat oblivious, and I was enthralled! Parts of the sky actually had that red tinge you see in war movies there was so much fire in the atmosphere. IT WAS CRAZY!

Today was a public holiday (surprise), so we rode motorbikes all around Zamboanga and stopped at a seaside park. There were sea gypsy children in their boats by the water. They are the most amazing swimmers. The children in the boats are really young, yet their swimming skills beat most adults. For those who don't know, sea gypsys live either on the sea, or right beside the sea and spend a large proportion of their time beside the sea....

Bye bye Davao

2009-12-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it is still interesting and hot here in the Philippines. After Christmas I enojyed visitng more people and commnities the team worked with in Davao, and went to a wonderful beach for a day with the team, called, appropriately, Paradise Island. It is amazing how a 45 cent, 10 min boat ride can totally change your perspective and surrpuindings. I felt as if I was at a resort far away from civilisation. It really was a fantastic place, with gorgeous white sands and the most clear water I have ever swam in in my entire life. I enjoyed getting to meet some more of the local Filipino team members.

The one very big downside of this fantastic day is the fact that, due to my insistence that the Philippines has a 'fancy ozone layer' to protect me, I didn't protect myself against the sun and am still in pain from the burn on my back!

On Sunday I had the opportunity to go to a Filipino church service, which was in English. I really enjoyed it - it was in a wonderful, cool, outdoor venue.

I flew away Tuesday morning from Davao to Zamboanga - It was an early morning flight, and I had to get up at four! I have been enjoying Zamboanga so far, seeing a little of the city, and meeting some of the different people who live here :).

Anyway, I will try and post this as soon as the tempremental internet lets me. Keep praying!

Laura

Mistletoe and wine

2009-12-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

It has been an interesting few days here.

I had the opportunity today and a few days ago to meet some of the different people and go into some of the communities that the team here work with. I may discuss this more later or in person.

I had the wonderful privilege of spending Christmas with a lovely Filipino family. Here it is celebrated on the 24th, so we had a lot of fun walking around the neighbourhood, saying hi to the children. I even ate chicken intestines! We had a lot of children come by and carol for us, which was really sweet.

We had two large feasts on Christmas evening, one at about 8pm, and the other at midnight, which is Filipino tradition.
In the morning we just relaxed and ate even more food.

Overall it was a fun and quite unique Christmas :)

A few more days...

2009-12-22T15:24:00.001-08:00

Here I am, a few more days into my Philippine trip. I am enjoying the Philippines, it is hot and muggy and clattered and noisy - kind of like a messier, more unpredictable Thailand. The people here are so kind and gracious, and the team I am working with/ staying with are really friendly and really funny.

I start my official 'orientation' today, looking at exciting things such as culture and worldview - yay. I have also been given a bok, pedagogy of the oppressed, by a Brazilian scholar, Friere, which is very academic and challenging, yet very, very interesting!

Yesterday I had a day off, so I went to the mall to buy meat in the morning, and in the afternoon came along whilst a Filipino member of the team delivered things all over town as she was moving house. We really seemed to go all over town, from the north to the south. By town, it is about as big and spread out as Auckland, so it took a few hours. Her brother works for a radio station, so we had borrowed a media van to cart all of her stuff in. It was really funny as people would stare at the van and get excited wherever we went, thinking we were media! I was able to meet heaps of family members of the team member, from her gorgeous nephews (aged 5 and 11) to her lovely mother, her brother and sister in law, and a teenage niece and nephew.

Anyway, tomorrow I am spending Christmas with a Filipino family. It is celebrated on the night of Dec 24 here - literally the whole night, starting with a feast at midnight - I am sure that will do wonders for my jetlag :).

Catch you all later...

I have arrived

2009-12-21T00:47:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

I have arrived here in the hot Philippines. I am sitting by a fan whirring beside me with a cool drink of water as I write this - there seems to be something about cold water, fans and lazy afternoons in tropical Asian countries that makes me happy...

Anyway, I'm gonna be one of those anoying people who actually gop into detail describing flights etc...

I had to get up at the horrible hour of 3am to actually be able to catch the fly. I flew qantas, but they were mean and threw me on a Qantas/ Jetstar codeshare flight to Sydney, meaning I had no entertainment and no food, and I tried to buy a snack of very overpriced pringles, but my NZ money was too large, and the amount was too small for credit, so I had to charge a coke as well to my debit card. I arrived in Sydney, and changed some money I had so I could buy food, to discover that I could have used NZD all along grrrr...

I then ended up on a Qantas flight bound for Philippines. I ended up seated next to a kiwi guy who was flying to Manila to see his wife who had been sent there for work. It was amazing considering it was an aussie to manila flight, and the overwhelming majority of people on the plane were filipino (I was the only young, blonde female on the entire plane).

It wasn't a good flight, in fact, given the KLM/Qantas/Jetstar flight over the last couple of years, I am definitely loyal to Star alliance....

I arrived in Manila at 6.15 and went through customs, then had to go BACKWARDS through customs because they gave me the wrong stamp! I then took a taxi to my hostel, which I am very greatful I took a set fare airport taxi, not a metered one, because my taxi driver got lost! I then had a restful night with a dorm to myself, after the obligatory trip to 7/11 for a gourmet dinner.

This morning I decided to follow the hostel's public transport directions to the airport, instead of taking a taxi, as it was supposed to be cheaper (it was substantially cheaper) and faster. The intital tricycle ride and train went very smoothly, until I got off at the end of the light rail transport line, where I had been assured I would find a taxi. What I wasn't informed of was the fact I would be getting off in the middle of a giant, crowded market, where I found myself walking around for ages trying to find the road, then finding people who gave me all degree of directions, s0ome helpful, some not. Eventually I found the main road with the taxis, where I tried to hail one in vain, as it was rush hour.I realised that the traditional stand on the main road and hail one approach wasn't going to work, so prayed and then went and looked for help. Thankfully the first person I approached for help was a lovely lady, who spoke perfect English, got rid of the dodgy hawker trying to get me in his tricycle-taxi, and enlisted help from others in finding me a taxi. In the end the 'find Laura a taxi" team managed to get me a nice, fast taxi, that took me straight to the airport, then charged me almost half of what the hostel said a taxi would cost :). I still ended up with plenty of time to check in and catch my flight, as I had left earlier than I needed to so I had a buffer for the unexpected.

I had a really nice flight with Philippine air, which had bigger seats with more legroom than the previous day's long haul, LOVELY staff and even entertainment on a 1 1/2 hour flight (although no headphones). I arrived at Davao without any problems and was greeted by four members of the lovely team I am working here with. We went out for lunch at a Spanish restaurant, and then they took me back to the lovely guesthouse that we are all staying in, as they have all moved out of their homes to move to Zamboanga soon. I really like the team members I have met so far, very friendly and very funny (they even use my unusual 'tell a lie seriously' humour - I was astonished).

Anyway, I will try and update soon...

Laura

Philippines

2009-11-30T19:52:00.000-08:00

The Philippines trip is coming up, I will be leaving in less than three weeks.

I haven't really had time to let it sink in - I still need to buy TWO of my internal plane tickets and receive my hopefully visaed passport back in the mail (I just invented a new word). I am learning more about the Philippines at the moment, through internet, but am trying to avoid the news. I have heard only positive things about the organisation I hope to visit.

It is a huge hustle and bustle here trying to get things organised at this end. I have my reports due Friday, I need to reapply for Bible college, I need to spring clean the house (yippie - Donna Reed Day). I also have some assessments due.

That is all for now....

A day in the life of a NZ school teacher :)

2009-10-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

HI the few people who read my blog - its a little different. A website is holding a carnival of "day in the life" blogs, and I thought it would be fun... will get back to (and finally update) my usual writings later.

Wednesday 28 October.

N.B. I am a 24 year old public school teacher of children ages 11-13 years old, and I live with (look after) my brother, who has mild cerebral palsy.

6.20am - Alarm goes. Hit snooze.

6.30am - Alarm goes again. Get up, make sure my brother is awake. Brother has first shower.

6.45am - Have shower. Toward end of shower realise that insurance lady is coming to look at a tear in the carpet 30 mins after school today and that, due to being sick last week, house is far messier than I would like when she visits. Rush aroudn the house, attempting to clean and find my tights to wear under my dress for work. Have brother help clean, but he makes his breakfast/ lunch as well.

7.15 - Cant find tights, but find stockings, so tuck my dress into a skirt, making it sorta, kinda look like a top, and waer skirt and stockings. Hope for the best anyway!

7.30 - Realise its time to leave, but that doesn't happen.

7.40 - Run out the door. Thankfully I always arrive at work 15 mins before i have to, therefore will still arrive JUST on time. Grab a banana for breakfast. Drop brother off at his course and go to school. Do my hair whilst running out to the car. No makeup today!

7.55 - Arrive at school, plug in computer, check emails, newspaper sites etc.

8.10 - Do some photocopying then go to daily meeting.

8.30 - Return to my classroom and set up for the day.

8.45 - Bell rings. Take roll, mark absences, notices for children etc

9.00 - Wednesday is out library day. Take class to library. Am a bit scared that a particular child is actually quietly reading in the corner!

9.30 - Maths class. We swap classes for maths, so my class 'disperse' though out the school, and I get another group of kids to teach. Maths today is quite fun, as were are studying algebra and looking at 'codes'.

10.20 - 20 minute break (for the kids). I know I had something to do for half of the break, but cannot remember what I did!

10.40 - Class starts again. My class have technology for two blocks per week, so I have a block free. I meet with my senior teacher to go over some planning for the term, and some admin I need to do, then go to the resource centre to choose and collect my reading books/ articles and comprehension activities for next week.

12.10 - Lunch - I eat in the class with the students until 12.20. Due to my rush in the morning, I end up eating nachos from the canteen! I stay inside for an extra 15 minutes to do some work, as some students have some work to do inside for me too. I then have a break. I like Wednesday as I have no playground duty!

1.10 - Back to class. Reading and social studies in the afternoon. It has been a long weekend, with Monday off for a public holiday, so the children are a little bit 'extra' excited. That results in a very tired teacher.

2.40 - Pack up, clean the class etc.

2.50 - Hometime (for the children). I do planning/ marking/ other work. I am quite tired, so I do some reading book reading (my favourite part of planning, so I leave until I am tired)

3.50 - I am about to pack up to go home to meet the insurace lady, when a parent walks in for a chat about their child. Thankfully it is a short chat, so I am still able to leave just after 4pm.

4.15 - Arrive home. My bro is already there. We do some dishes and vacuuming trying to make the house perfect for the impending insurance lady visit.

4.35 - Insurance lady arrives. She has a very short visit. My darling brother goes and gets us a chocolate bar each (and some fizzy drink) in celebration that we somehow, miraculously got the house clean. I check some email, plus facebook. He then arrives home and we watch a 30 minute tv show and enjoy our naughty treat :).

5.30 - I do some more work/ reading online, looking into a programme I am hoping to do next year in Japan.

6.00 - I have a shower, put on the vegetables for dinner, and retire to my room for a quiet time.

6.30 - Serve dinner of leftover roast lamb and vegetables.

7.20 - Leave for church cell group.

7.30 - Arrive for cell group, enjoy the evening :) My cell group is lead by a couple, and he always bakes something. This week was banana cake. It is the only 'constant' in our cell group (well we pray and talk about God too!)

9.35 - prepare to leave to go home. Talk with my cell group leader over a trip to the Philippines we have been praying about in December. Decide to send a 'yes - I'm in' email to the co-ordinater at the agency it would be through, who happens to be one of my friends. Am excited, but a little nervous :).

10.00 - Arrive home, and nervously jump online and send email. Start to think more about the Philippines, and start googling info about their culture and economic situation - this leads to me looking at a number of countires, and a few journeys I'd love to take (come to think of it, I was doing this a bit when I chacked my emails this afternoon too). Decided I would love to try an do the silk road railway one day in the distant future :) (as I read an interesting stat on Uzbekistan in a school book earlier that day).

10.50 - Go to bed (Thought my bro had gone at ten). Heard my bro up, preparing a sermon for his course (sometimes he gets to his room but forgets to actually go to bed and, like, sleep!). At 11.05 call my bro on my phone (eeew - the horribly confessed laziness of it all) and tell him to go to sleep! Go to sleep myself, ready for another busy day today!

Going to USA

2009-09-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hi All...

Am going to USA tonight (techinically tomorrow, but whose counting...).

Please pray for safe travels..

Will update on Europe soon.

laura

out of contact

2009-09-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

will be out of contact for a week... at horse camp!

Laura

Prague

2009-08-30T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Last week after Berlin I went to Prague. Prague is stunningly beautiful. I would say it is the most beautiful European city I have seen thus far (with Nuremberg and Amsterdam just behind). It was nice to leave Germany, and I feel refreshed fo9r my last two weeks of work.

In Prague I went on a free tour - it is a really interesting city with heaps of history. I also went to the castle and to the Jewish quarter and Museum. The Jewish museum is particularly harrowing, as it is only two parts, one being about four or five rooms painted with the names of holocaust victims from prague, the other part being a room of artwok drawn by jewish children in the holocaust, most of whom died.

Berlin

2009-08-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

I spent the last few days in and around Berlin. Berlin is cool. It has a really edgy "feel" about it.

It has so much graffiti - I have never been somewhere with so much. But a lot is REALLY cool. I took some photos.

I stayed with Nancy at her friends apartment the night I got there... It was cool. We had Baileys ice cream, which wasnt that great, and turkish kebab (remembering turkish doner kebabs were invented in Berlin!).

On the Sunday we went to a fantastic museum - everyday life in communist East Germany it was a really cool and interactive museum. It was especially fascinatign as my friend had lived in communist east germany, and the berlin wall had come down when she was five, so she remembered quite a few snippets.

After that we did a boat tour... it was quite fun, but really hot and sunny and all in German.

We went to my friend hometown for tea... And had a barbeque for her friend's birthday - it was fun.

The next day I caught the train into Berlin again, although missed my connection, so went to mcdonalds. I visited the apartment (where I stayed), chackpoint charlie, which is the most touristy box I have ever seen, then went to a big mall and bought an english book to read on the train yesterday - it was about micro enterprise

I am nto in prague

Trust you are all well

Congratulations Ellen

Funny story...

2009-08-26T01:27:00.001-07:00

I have spent the lasst two weeks in a castle in vorra (not as romantic as it may sound). It is in a small village, where there is one shop and one beeer garden and one restraunt. The shopis open weird hours (ie whenever the owner feels like stickign to soem of the advertised hours) but the keeper is now away for a month. The restraunt owners are away for a month, and the beer garden is always open and sells a limited supply of ice cream :) .

I was in Nuremburg last weekend (as I am every weekend to go to church and visit civilization). It was cool. One of the translators frm church had a couple of his friends over from the states and I went out with them. We had bohemian food in a stone basement. It was fun. We then visited the castle where I lost my fruit.

On Sunday we went out for lunch again. They were cool but his mates are back in the US now...

Anyaway, funny story as [promised...

I had the youngest (ie least amount of english) group this week. On Friday I sent most fo them outside to pick up rubbish from a previous game. When I sadi rubbish they looked confused, so i motioned picking up rubbish whilst saying "rubbish/ trash/ garbage' until I heard a kid say "ah so" (the equivilent of ah huh) so I sent them out, and set to giving a quick inside task to two children. When I got outside I realised my kids weren't picking up rubbish as asked...

I founf them all in the vegetable garden, where the kids declared "we can't find the radishes"

Clearly rubbish and radish sound alike!

In Germany

2009-08-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

I have been in Germany for just over three weeks now, and am enjoying it quite a bit. It is very pretty, and I am enjoying spending time in small german towns that I wouldn't otherwise visit.

I started in munich, which was pretty, and full of beer gardens, which pretty much sums up all of Bavaria.

I then went on to Neumarkt, a small town 30 minutes from Nuremberg, which is very quaint, and has good ice cream and liquorice... I was there for two weeks, one week doing camps at a school, and the second in a Closter.

I am now staying in a castle in another small german town.

Still love Asia,

Laura

In

2009-08-08T08:34:00.001-07:00

Germany

2009-07-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

Am in Germany - miss Asia immensley!

Enjoying Germany, but am a bit nervous - get kiuddies tomorrow and am being evaluated on how I do - hopefully not too bad.

Have been riding a bike around a small german town7 village - scary because of different road rules combines with driving on the right hand side of the road, plus I havent ridden a bike in around five years!

Chinese Quarantine

2009-07-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

As promised, a proper post on quarantine from 3 weeks ago:

On the plane to China I was feeling a little off, and had a terrible voice. As a result I was made to wear a horrible mask that made me look like a duck for the final nine hours of the flight. On the plus side, I was upgraded to premium economy at the end, even if it was just to give the quarantine officials easy access.

The quarantine officials came on the plane (with goggles, face masks and full body suits). They took everyones temperatures and I passed. That round at least. We landed at around 7.30 am.

In the airport, due to my job and mild but very obvious cold I was separated and sent for secondary testing, which I failed (pass was 37 degrees or lower, I went between 37.1 and 37.5).

I was then separated and sent to a different part of the airport, and had a new mask. They came to us (me and 3 chinese) to do customs, then, after about and hour and a half, they took us through a backroute out of the airport and into waiting ambulances. I was told I would be there all day at that point.

I was taken about 45 minutes to a special hospital with prison bars and police guards. I was taken to my own room, where they took a very old fashioned style blood test, and yukky throat and nose swabs. I was then locked in my room (they actually installed the lock while I was in the room) and left to my own devices. I again failed the temperature test, and was told I would be in at least overnight, then they would reasses and either let me go or transfer me to a central hospital.

I then got lunch, and thatnkfully had a tv, so was able to sort of pass the time watching international channel shangahi. My bag arrived eight hours laterIt was really boring and time dragged and i didnt enjoy it and couldnt bear the thought of staying overnight, so I prayed that I would be released that day, even though I was told overnight.

Around 5pm that dy I was released! Praise God!

To add insult to injury they made me pay for the taxi back to the airport.

Chinese English media

2009-07-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all...

the next few posts will be dedicated to the fantastic land of China...

Chinses media, especially the newspaper is the most fascinating news I have come across - it is a delightful mix of propaganda, pro china ranting, actual news and random pseudo news...

Examples of each include:

propaganda - whilst I was in china there was rioting by ethnic minoirities in urumqi... The newspaper discussed the rebels, and managed to systematically criticise all major international media (e.g. new york times, bbc etc). It also showed an alleged link to the rioters and al quaida. Facebook was shut down as a result of this.

Pro - china ranting - Articles on how china is leading the world in climate change especially at the moment, and meeting with major global leaders... and, of course, setting higher standards

Actual news - occasionally

Random pseudo news - Two stories that ACTUALLY appeared in in nnational chines news:

1. A man in tibet lost his dog. He went to the police. They helped him find it. It was playing with the neighbours dog.

2. A girl,s boyfriend told her she was fat so she went oin an all fruit diet. Two months later she fainted.

It is intewresting to read

2009-07-20T23:56:00.001-07:00

Arrived in Germany...

I arrived here last night - it is quite pretty, but i misas the hustle, bustle and mess of Asia.... Guess I,ll have to go back there...

Enjoyed China - will write more when I have more time, but I did the most insane great wall walk ever. Ten kms in 35 degrees qith a couple of dutch guys, uphill most of the way, often involving climbing on hands and knees :)

Germany is very orderly

Laura

Tomorrow I go...

2009-07-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

Yippie...

I am leaving tomorrow after work (if I go - today they sent me home because I have no voice - apparently you can't teach without a voice. I am a bit gutted because a. I lose a day's pay, and b. The class is doing a trip to the science fair of the other school I relieve at - It was going to be a crazy mixed up afternoon)...

Anyway, I am excited with a lot to do, still haven't packed - my life has become endless washing and tidying. And Kev is amazing, cause he is so helping me with all of the housework - I think I need to buy him some homebrand licquorice allsorts as a way of thanking him.

A reminder - as I am going to China tomorrow (yay!)...

If blogger doesn't work in China (ie i don't post), check out the blog I listed in an earlier post...

Thats all folks

See you all in October

3 big sleeps to go...

2009-06-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

3 Days to go - Hooray -

Thank my Father, because I woke up on Sunday morning with a horrible cold, which seems to be getting better much sooner than ordinary colds. I have been and got medicine from both the Chemist, and Hardy's, and am now feeling much better.

Goodness I have a lot to do - I know it isn't all the interesting :).

Getting excited but a bit nervous....

Laura

China posts

2009-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all...

Rumour has it that blogger isn't available in China (nor are the other super major blog sites), so I have started another blog for China if this is the case. Blogger is still my preferred platform. I intend to be in China from July 3rd, so if I have nothing posted by about the 5th (after the third), try over on

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/lauraviolet/

Otherwise I intend to just keep using blogger

Yay, only 12 more sleeps to go

Welkommen..

2009-06-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hooray - Only three weeks until I leave to have a bit of fun around the world. This is the token "introduction post" to let my friends and whanau know where I will be going, and what I will be up to...

I am leaving in 20 days!!!! (3 July)

My itinerary (thus far):

July 3-17 - China... Beijing and Shanghai. I plan to spend a few days in Shanghai, walking down the Bund, eating dumplings, climbing up Jinmao tower, museums and generally getting a 'feel' for Shanghai, a city that fascinates me. I will be staying near the French concession. I wil then take an overnight sleeper train to Beijing, where I plan to see Tianamen Square, Forbidden city, eat more dumplings, and visit the Great wall a bit out of Beijing. I am very interested in contemporary Chinese History, so will visit a number of 'boring' museums. I have also hears that there is a 'world' amusement park near Beijing, with a number of replicas of major world cities - sounds interesting.
July 21 - September 12 - Germany... I am then going to Germany, where I will be aprt of Leo Lingo camps (www.leo-lingo.de). These camps are English teaching camps. I will have a week off at some point, and am debating whether to go to the Czech Republic (Prague), Berlin or Denmark, or a mixture of any 2. I amy also do a trip to Leichtenstein at some point, as i have been joking with my mother's nanny about doing one with her..
September 13-16 - Paris... I feel that it is necesary to go to Paris. I plan on doing some of the super touristy stuff i.e. Eiffel tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, and other museums
September 16 - 28 - Spain... Mostly in La Alberca doing something called vaighan Village, basically a "Chat to people for food and accomodation and a whole lot of fun" type deal. www.vaughnavillage.com. The rest of the time I will be in Madrid, geeking it out some more at Museums, and enjoying some Spanish culture.
September 28 (due to timezones, my September 28 is going to be around 33 hours long) - September 6 - Los Angeles... One week in L.A.... Depending on finances, I hope to visit Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags, Universla Studios and watch an episode of somethign live... I also may do a couple of museums, or cut an amusement park or 2 and go to Vegas or Mexico... Or if I find myself super poor (e.g. if the schools get shut down because of swine flu in the next 3 weeks so I get no income...) I may just people watch at Walmart :p...

Anyway, thats my plan for now. I will just have to wait and see what actually happens...