I arrived on the 29 of September 2008 on a wet miserable day in Dublin. I found an apartment almost immediately in the center of Galway city. Eager to settle in and get unpacked I moved into a three-storey apartment called 'The Cobblestones'. Johnny was a builder and Caroline worked in a Call Centre. Arlene, a student was a ghost whom we never saw.

To say I struggled to find work is an understatement. I applied for everything, dropped CV's in to any store who would actually take one. I landed an interview with a marketing company as a trainee. I got a call back, but ended up in Tuam, a small town out in the country with a door to door sales man trying to sell makeup. I walked away saying it wasn't for me, and ended up having a complete Bridget Jones moment, by getting completely drenched by a passing truck - is that karma or what? But that wasn't my low point. I eventually got a bottom of the barrel job doing tele-marketing for an Insurance company a couple of hours a night. It drained my soul, but in the end my jaw put an end to that. On the outside I was keeping my composure and standing strong, but internally I was at breaking point. My jaw eventually packed in, and locked itself. You have no idea how often you use your Temporomandibular joint until it hurts beyond belief. I couldn't eat anything that involved biting or chewing, it hurt to talk. I found a dentist who couldn't find what the exact problem was, and unfortunately at €80 a pop the problem got worse. I was stressed beyond belief. He tried everything, but the problem didn't budge.

I exhausted any savings I had, and eventually had to ask for help from my Mother and Sister. Although they were supportive, neither could really understand why I was so determined to stick it out, when everything was going against me. They gave me a deadline of Christmas, to get work or move home. I couldn't even afford rent at that stage, and Caroline my landlord, who was living in Australia took pity on me, with out her understanding there was no way I would've been able to last as long as I did.

It wasn't until my birthday in the middle of December till I got a break work wise. A large cafe around the corner from my house gave me a job as a waitress. I busted my guts, worked ridiculously long hours with minimal breaks. My first day, I had less than a €1 to my name, and honestly didn't know what I was going to eat for dinner. A grumpy old man who'd hassled me constantly during the hour he'd sat at his table eating his one bowl of soup, came up to me when he was leaving the cafe and slipped €5 into my hand and smiled at me. He had no idea of the predicament I was in, and I could have burst into tears then and there but he slipped away without a word.

A week later I went in on my first day off, to pick up my pay and got told not to come back. I had apparently mislead them about my previous experience even though I had said I had never waitressed in that sort of Cafe ever before. I was distraught beyond belief. It was a week before Christmas, and all options had seemingly been exhausted. That was my low point. I had an appointment at the dentists immediately after I'd been fired, and tried to hold it together, but couldn't keep the fat tears rolling down my face while the dentist worked away. I started laughing/crying at the ridiculousness of the situation, and told him to ignore me and work away. He stopped what he was doing, and demanded to know what was going on. I explained the situation and he immediately said "Stop right now, you're not paying for another cent." He ended up doing well over €300 worth of treatment for free, and even called a few times to check up on me in the months afterward. He didn't know me from a bar of soap and didn't have to be so kind but for whatever reason he took pity on me.

So Christmas came and went, and at the beginning of January I did one last massive CV drop. I applied at every factory and fastfood outlet, as well as any store who would even take a CV (which wasn't many). I had a successful interview at Quizno's, an American Sandwich chain and was due to start at the end of January. In the meantime I got a call from a Temping Agency to come in to do a Computer Competency test. Scoring above average, I was absolutely ecstatic to get called a few days later to say I had got a contract for 6 weeks at the Business School in the local University. I took a risk and chose to do the 6 week contract rather than the permanent Sandwhich job. It paid off and 4 months after arriving in the country, I was set up in my own office, with a view of the river and a job that I thrived in. I loved it at the University, and they must've picked up on that - because every time my contract was due to expire I kept getting asked back. The University even put an embargo on all new hires due to the Recession, but I still got to keep my job. I was at least 10 years younger than all the people I worked with, and the same age as some of the students but I slotted in and soon made a name for myself. It was tough to say goodbye thats for sure.

So with work sorted out, I focused on travelling and exploring. In March I went to Glendalough and Dublin. My Sister Ana came to visit, and we drove down to meet up with her boyfriend and friend to do the Ring of Kerry. In April I went to Edinburgh and did a tour around Scotland. In May I got offered a Nissan Micra by Mairead a woman I worked with. Since she wasn't using it, I paid for the Insurance and got to have the little car to run around in. I ended up doing roadtrips to Dingle, Achill Island, Donegal, Northern Ireland, and Cork. Cath from my Uni days, Aimee my sisters high school friend, Sam my cousin and his Girlfriend Anneke all came to visit at various points. I also had several fantastic Couch Surfers (Paul, Christina, Heinke, Kelly & Rinkse) come to stay who have since remained good friends.

At the beginning of June I found out my mother was sick. Very sick actually. And the question to stay or go was beyond tricky. With her consent and strong approval I made the decision to stay. She wanted me to finish out my Visa, see out my summer plans and neither of us knew when I'd be able to come back to Europe. She was feeling relatively ok, and had the support of my stepfather Neil, her friends and rest of the family at home. My sister flew back from London for her first lot of Surgery and we kept in constant contact.

In July I went to Poland and the Czech Republic to catch up with Jitka and Jan, two cool cats I'd made friends with in Vancouver. At the end of the month I spent a week with Lisa (high school friend and her husband Andrea) travelling all over the west of Sicily. And in September I returned to Germany to visit my old Au Pair family, and to see old friends. I loved being back, and it was good for the soul to be back in Germany.

So now that I'm back home in New Zealand, abd have said good bye to the Emerald Isle, what are my final thoughts? Well you may have noticed a distinct lack of new friends being mentioned, and thats because this country, no matter how friendly the people are, its incredibly difficult to make good friends. I have nothing in common with other 24 year old girls there, who are obsessed with wearing Neon coloured belts as dresses, who cake on the fake tan, clock up notches on their bedposts and drink till they pass out in the street. The boys are easier to chat with, and are great for a laugh but unless you're born and breed there you'll always be the newbie. I couldn't keep up with the drinking, and wasn't interested in Hash. I couldn't go out when I had work in the morning and struggled with the noise from the pub across the road. I was ready to leave, lets just put it that away.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. Its a beautiful country (Dingle being my highlight) I wanted to move to Ireland almost as long as I wanted to live in Germany. I was going to go there straight after Germany but the Visa Application process didn't really allow for it. It was the hardest, most challenging year I've ever had, but I wanted it bad enough and stuck it out. Thanks to the generosity of my family, friends and a couple of crazy locals, it all worked out. I couldn't have asked for a more quintessential Irish experience. Broke, unemployed on the West Coast of Ireland in the middle of winter. I always thought I was a quitter, but I've got more strength than I ever gave myself credit for. People can be insanely generous, and you should absolutely trust your instincts. Its not always good, but sometimes it can be absolutely brilliant. I am done with traveling for the next 6 months at least, I'm worn down and I need to be around people who love me, its been nearly 4 years since I was last home. I am planning on heading to Japan next, to teach English in a few months times. But lets just see how things go :o)

Its the things you don't do, that you regret.

xxxx

Niki

A Year in Ireland remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Halloween was barely a blip on the radar but I did venture out to the rather disappointing Parade of the Lost Souls, complete with a rather brave yet still hilarious Borat impersonator, and a few days later to a Fright Night held at a local slightly derelict theme park, and found the scariest rides were surprisingly the Ferris Wheel and Giant Swings.

Dan and I, Halloween Party at Tobys

Jenna (The Bearded Lady) and I at Fright Nights

When Remembrance Day Weekend rolled around in early November, I jumped at the chance to take a few days off work, and headed to Port Angeles, in Washington to visit a good family friend. She had come to NZ as a Masters student when we were living in the Te Urewera National Park, and had kept in contact with the family and visited a couple of times over the years. After 10 years of not seeing each other, we had a lot of catching up to do and I was ecstatic to finally be in her neck of the woods. She took me to the small Victorian coastal town of Port Townsend, and we strolled around the little boutiques and galleries, and stopped in at a little rustic café for some French Onion Soup.

The following day we headed to the other side of the Olympic Peninsula along Highway 101 to the West Coast, past impressive Lake Crescent, and little towns called things like Beaver and Forks, to the small coastal village of La Push home of the Quileute Indian tribe. After a nice seafood chowder, I was shown around parts of Shoshannahs old stomping ground, in the Olympic National Park, and was more than impressed with Rialto Beach and its awesome views.

Of course since I was in America, I couldn’t give up the opportunity to go to Walmart and Costco, and brought a few bags worth of goodies. Shoshannah also took me to a Mexican restaurant, which I had never experienced before but found delicious and naturally we fitted in a trip to an American Diner, and a movie session complete with tubs of Ben and Jerrys – ahh bliss. It was so good finally seeing and catching up with her again, and seeing all her familiar sights and sounds.

Before heading directly back to Vancouver I took a day to tour around Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. An attractive city, with a distinctly European feel. Then back to Vancouver, and back to work, the days a lot colder, and definitely shorter. At the end of November my friend Jenna, not finding what she was looking for in Van decided to move back east, to Toronto, to try her luck in the concrete city.

The Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC

December rolled around, and it snowed. From out of no where came this white blanket, that covered the streets, and trees and put everyone in a more festive mood – well everyone except the drivers, and the homeless I daresay. I ran outside into the street in my pajamas, with out any shoes like a little kid. It had snowed briefly in Germany, but nothing like this. It didn’t stick around for long, but it kept coming back and although I loved when it snowed, Vancouver snow tends to turn to slush fairly quickly, and either melts or turns into ice, which when you’re a delivery driver is not a lot of fun. I had the joy of working one Sunday afternoon, after a particularly heavy dumping of snow, delivering food to a surprise birthday party on top of hill in a rather posh area. But having no experience of ever driving in the snow before, and having a rear wheel drive rickety old van, and compacted ice on the road doesn’t make fun driving conditions. I ended up fishtailing all over the road, and sliding back till I hit the curb. Then nothing, nothing I did would make the van move. I got out, shoveled away as much of the snow as I could and put salt and grit under the tyres, rocked it back and forth, being careful not to flood the engine – but nothing. And so inevitably the call to the boss got made, to come rescue me. I seemed to have missed the memo about loading the van up with cases of bottled water to weigh down the back tyres. This didn’t solve my dilemma though that I had a van load of hot food, a surprise party waiting to kick off and no contact phone number. So off out into the snow I go, hoofing it by foot I galloped the 10 blocks or so to the clients house, and wet as a dog and more than slightly puffed I arrived on their doorstep, and promptly told them my pathetic story of getting stuck on some ice. Never fear four sprightly men from the party came to my rescue and we ventured back to the van, and with three of them standing on the back and another at the wheel, (as by this point I had refused to drive in fear of crashing into the rather fancy parked cars) the men took off into the distance leaving me to gallop back the 10 blocks or so to the party to help unload. Rather exhausted with my efforts by this point, I was more than relieved to see a chain gang of party guests had been started by the time I arrived to help move the food into the house, and with the last dish safely inside, was the exact moment my boss showed up – bless him. Thankfully he offered to drive the Van back and I got to drive his snazzy four-wheel drive instead.

So then my birthday came and went, I had a small Ugly Sweater Christmas party, complete with my first glass of Eggnog and work got stuck into the crazy party season with gusto. The weather was still determined to play havoc with me, and I ended up slipping down some concrete stairs at a clients home while carrying a marble cheese board, and compressed several discs in my back making life fairly unpleasant until I got talked into finally going to see a Chiropractor. Just before Christmas rolled around Jitka, a true gem moved back to Europe, and onto a new job teaching English in Spain. I was gutted to see her go, but I know it won’t be the last I see of her.

Tabbie, Eliane, Jitka and I at Cascade Lounge

For Christmas I was asked to go to the home of two of my bosses for dinner, with several others from work who were also family-less during the silly season. Dinner was fantastic, complete with all the trimmings, they’d even ordered a Pavlova (a down under meringue type dessert) which I got to decorate, and with a fresh blanket of snow my Canadian Christmas went down a treat.

New Years Eve closely followed, and I joined a few friends on a Club Crawl around some of Vancouver’s Nightspots. I never have good New Years Eve’s, and this years was no exception. The night started off ok, getting taken to various clubs on a bus, but the last stop of the night was way out near the airport and if you know Vancouver – that’s no where near the city or anything really! At least I got to have my first ever ride in a yellow school bus, even if it was with 50 rowdy screaming University Students. Before the clock chimed 12, I made my escape and 4 buses later I was home, tucked up in bed ready for 2008!

January brought a welcome break from the madness that was December, and as everyone else had decided to take their vacations at the same time, I had little choice but to battle it out and carry on as per usual. However as I was able to get a good deal through work with a rental car, I grabbed Nic one Saturday and we headed up the Sea to Sky Highway to Squamish, a small town often used in movies and tv shows (such as Insomnia, Double Jeopardy and Men in Trees) as a backdrop for Alaska. After feasting on a massive lunch at a local diner, we kept driving further up the Squamish River and at Brackendale we found a Bald Eagles Winter Nesting ground, volunteers had set up and info centre and provided bincoluars. I love how just a short drive out of the city, you're completely surrounded by the great outdoors.

Cam, Grant, Stuart and Dan - the Ozzie Boys

The staff party in the middle of January in the form of a Hawaiian Luau, provided some much needed relief from the miserable gray doldrums. The whole Butler crew raided their closets and pulled out some real Hawaiian beauties, and nearly everyone got into the spirit of things. We’d hired out the ANZA clubs hall which was the perfect size and we put the dance floor to good use. Of course every staff party has a scandal or two and ours was no different, but boy was it a good night.

Me with Kathryn and Axelle

At the end of January I decided to move on from my place on Main Street, and jumped at an offer to good to refuse to move in with a friend from work who had a spare room, and lived in a trendy part of Vancouver, close to the beach, one bus away from work and at half the rent I was currently paying - I couldn’t say no. Then in order to reenergize both of our batteries we both took some time off work and headed to Harrison Hot Springs, just a couple of hours drive away from Vancouver. We had originally wanted to stay at a cabin further up the Fraser Valley but the heaviest snowfall of the season had made the roads to dangerous to venture further. But reluctant to give up on our little getaway we decided to treat ourselves to the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa, and spent most of the days soaking in the hot tub, or reading books by the fireplace.

View of the Hotpools from our room

Once back in Van, I heard from Ayline one of the girls I lived with back when I first arrived, who was back in town on a month long visit, and quick as anything I jumped at the chance to take her out to dinner. Each January Vancouver has a Dineout festival where restaurants all over the city, offer a special menu at a discounted rate and it really gives you the chance to sample some fine dining for a fraction of the price. I chose to take her to CinCin, normally reserved for those with limitless budgets and we had a delicious evening of playing Ladies. A week or so later, a group of us ventured up to Grouse Mountain, over looking the city and dined out in the observatory, also part of the Dineout deal. For $35 we got a scrumptious three course dinner, a skyride to the top of the mountain, and all the activities we could want at the ski field, we settled for the sleigh ride through the Dr. Seuss looking trees. It was a gorgeous night, and well worth the effort of getting there and back.

Harrison Lake

So that really brings us mostly up to date. Phew! Of course I’ll remember some stories that I wanted to include in the next day or two, but really that’s the bulk of what I’ve been up too. Work, work, work oh yeah and a little more work with a dash of fun thrown in on the side. Forgive my laziness with keeping in contact, when I’m not working I’m recovering from working, and trying to stay warm :o)

Time to catch up methinks remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It’s that time of year again, when the days have gotten shorter and cooler, there’s a chill in the air and the pull of the indoors grows stronger. This time last year I was road tripping through the heart of Fairytale country in Germany, this year I’m working like a maniac in one of North Americas most beautiful city’s; Vancouver. I’ve been here for four months now, and I’ve yet to slow down.

I've now moved into my new place and my new roomie Maia, a twenty year old Interior Design Student is really nice. I'm struggling at the moment to get adjusted to her schedule as she is a night owl, I'm the lightest sleeper in the world and I've turned into a nana lately as I'm usually in bed by 9.30 pm to get up at 5 to go to work - but we'll get there. The place is really nice, and although my room wasn't furnished I was super lucky to get a free bed off the internet. Craigslist - an internet based classified ads site which is huge here has a 'free listings' page and one day while on a break at work I found someone giving away a near new bed, and my boss told me to go get it immediately and take one of the vans and take one of the new guys I was training to help me move it. As I don't plan on being here long-term, I'd been putting off buying any furniture so this solution was ideal. Then because I've been so flat out at work, and hate shopping one of the managers at work offered to be my personal shopper and brought my Duvet, Sheets, Cover and Blankets for me - perfect!

One night while out with Jitka and Nic, we came up with the idea to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my place and invite those that had found themselves family-less at this time of year. I ordered an Organic Free Range Turkey from work, and managed to get one of the Chefs to make the stuffing for me. My first ever Turkey turned out fantastically, it was moist and full of flavour. I also made Candied Yams, which horrified the boys when they saw me putting marshmallows on them but turned out really good, and I cheated by buying a Pumpkin Pie. Jitka made the Mashed Potatos, and Michael carved the Turkey and made the Gravy. After Dinner we flopped in front of the couch, Michael treated us to neck massages and had a movie marathon that finally ended at 6 am - it was a really good night and was super relaxed.

For the past couple of weeks the Vancouver International Film Festival has been on, so I battled the queues and went with Nic to see 'Atonement' and 'Battle in Seattle' which both made me cry and were well worth watching, and Jitka and I went to see 'Jellyfish' a wacky Israeli film. It really surprised me how popular the festival was, as all three films were sold out theatres.

This weekend, I headed across the water to North Vancouver with Jitka and went to Capilano Suspension bridge, one of the major attractions in Vancouver. It was a beautiful day, and although we were both exhausted from a hard week at work, the fresh air and exercise walking around the canopy of a Rainforest on an elevated boardwalk and across the moving bridge was good for us. We took a bus, and missed our stop so got off at the Cleveland Dam (the town’s water reservoir) and were greeted with gorgeous views of Lake Capilano and the surrounding Mountains. We then headed back down the road and got off at the Capilano Salmon Hatchery. Not the most exciting place on the earth, but it was free and mildly educational. Hungry for Salmon Sashimi we headed back to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, and soaked in the sights of Vancouver across the Harbour.

Apart from that it’s just been work, work and um….. more work. But now I’ve trained three new guys (two of which are Australian – us Australasia’s are taking over hehe) how to do a part of my job so at least there is the possibility I’m allowed to get sick now – heaven forbid.

Autumn in Vancouver remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Deepcove

On one of the last weekends to enjoy some sun Jitka, Jenna and I jumped at our last chance to head over to Deepcove in North Vancouver for a spot of kayaking. It was a fantastic afternoon, and was over far too quickly. I'm thinking Im going to have to spend another summer here just to catch up on all the kayaking I missed out this last summer.

Jitka

Jitka and Jenna

And Jennas off!

I am really enjoying my new job, but am finding the hours quite intense at the moment. My body has adjusted to the 5 am wake ups, but Im turning into a real grandma at night. I haven't had the energy to cook properly or even go to the supermarket in weeks, so I've been dining out fairly regularly or simply not eating at all because I simply have no energy left. But don't worry, working for a catering company means I'm pretty well taken care of. Oh and after only two weeks on the new job I was given a pay raise! I don’t really have a clear role in the company, I’m more like a buffer, or the lubricant added to a pressure point. Where ever there’s a crunch point, or pressure spot I get chucked in and sort things out. I don’t really have a supervisor, so I don’t directly answer to anybody and am just left to get on with what I deem to be most important. It’s a very refreshing and good spot to be in. I don’t have someone constantly watching over me, Im just left to get on with things, and in their words they think the sun shines out my bum.

Dried Seaslugs in Chinatown

The company has a huge staff, and is largely male dominated - meaning its not somewhere you would last very long if you were super sensitive or very politically correct minded. But the energy, easy goingness and family spirit make it a fantastic place to work for me. I feel very anchored there, which is important when new to a city, I feel like I have a Mom and Dad there looking out for my well being, there is also annoying prank playing brothers, hilarious chatty gossipy sisters, random weird/goofy cousins and the occasional slightly dodgy uncle. So even if the hours are long, and hard - you still have a reason to keep getting up in the mornings.

Food Market in Chinatown

As I was only subletting my current place, my time has run out and I have since found a new apartment to live in, (three blocks away haha) and will be moving in tomorrow. It’s a really nice place, rooms a bit small but will be cosy in the winter. I managed to score a free (nearly new) double bed from jumping quickly on an ad I saw on a website, and my boss let me take one of the work vans to pick it up. I happened to be training a new driver at work that day, so he volunteered to help me move it - so I couldn't have struck it any luckier really. And after complaining that I didn’t have time or know where to go to buy bedding, one of the managers at work volunteered to be my own personal shopper, and is sorting out everything for me this weekend so I just show up on Monday and everything is ready to go. So you could say I’m being extremely well looked after here.

Mojito Night, Main Street - Nic and I

Next weekend I’m inviting all the random’s I’ve met in my few short months here and attempting to cook a Thanksgiving meal, for all those that are away from home. I’ve never cooked a turkey before - so ahh should be interesting. The Vancouver International Film Festival started a few days ago, so the next few weeks are going to be jam packed with foreign films, starting with ‘Atonement’ which I saw yesterday morning, and highly recommend. Oh and while I’m on films, Nic and I managed to score free tickets to a special screening of Good Luck Chuck a fortnight ago (just standing in the right place at the right time) and it was pretty much entirely filmed in Vancouver - so if you watch it, I’ve pretty much been to all those places and walk past those buildings most days.

Mojito Night, Main Street - Jitka and I

Im sorry if I’ve been useless at keeping in contact, I don’t have my own computer, I have very limited access to a computer at work, when I move I’m not going to have Internet at all, and no home phone just a cell phone. So until I can put enough money away for my own laptop, contact from me is going to be pretty intermittent but not impossible. I will still be checking email all the time, so if something comes up I can find a way to get in touch.

So now summer is over, fall has set in. The trees are changing, and the Halloween decorations are on sale and there is a distinct cold nip in the air.

Summers just a distant memory remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Here is a bit of a photo montage to let you see what I've been up too (when I haven’t been stuffing my face).

Kitsilano beach

Ayline

English Bay

One day Ayline (my roommate) and I ventured over to Bowen Island (a 20 minute ferry ride from West Vancouver) and explored around Snug Cove. As we were on foot, we didn't venture far, but popped into a few shops and then settled down to a hearty lunch and a bottle of wine at a café right on the Marina. When it dawned on us, we'd been sitting there for well over two hours, a little light-headed we headed over to the Memorial park, and the causeway and did a spot of blackberry picking. Ayline’s a bit of a paparazzi with the camera at the best of times, so here’s a few shots of hers:

After six weeks of nonstop shows, mayhem, rainouts and fun we ended the TUTS season with a night out at an Italian restaurant and went on to a club where one of the drivers was a DJ.

Most of the TUTS crew

Jitka and Kristen

Nic and I

Not my finest hour

So I apologize for not keeping in touch as often as I should be, but as you can see I’m just having too much fun!

Keeping myself busy remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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When I was originally looking for somewhere to live in Vancouver back in May, someone gave me the advice not to live on Main Street, because it was “a ghetto”, but after finding a great deal on a sublet for 4 months, I threw caution to the wind and ignored the well intended advice. Just as well I did, because I’ve been more than happy in my temporary home. The rents super cheap, I have a fully furnished room, its in a nice, clean, safe neighbourhood complete with community gardens on the street corners, and regular buses going by just a blocks walk away - I am one block off Main Street, and everything I need is under 2 minutes walk away. I am living in the suburb of Mt. Pleasant on a stretch known as lower SoMa or ‘South Main’ to the uninitiated, and its then further divided into a section known as Antique Row, where there is a cluster of little clothing boutiques, galleries, organic vendors, comic stores and trinket type shops. There is several coffee shops, countless restaurants and an amazing bagel shop, with famous cinnamon swirl buns. In my local Asian veggie store/superette, I have all that I need; everything from my staples of mushrooms and pasta to Milo (chocolate milk mix from down under), Spekulatius (German Christmas Cinnamon, Almond & Ginger Butter Cookies) and dried Spätzle (German noodle).

A few clicks away (Canadian slang for kilometres) is Little India, an area full of great curries and sari shops. In the other direction at the opposite end of Main Street, is Chinatown. Still thriving, even with the migration of most Chinese Immigrants to the nearby city of Richmond. There are claims you can buy buckets of live frogs, but I’m yet to see any. I’ve seen dried sea slugs, and all sorts of odd things from the bottom of the ocean floor, but they look more like something you’d leave at the bottom of a toilet than actually put in your mouth, still someone must be buying them.

Similar to other cities, Greater Vancouver has a large population of Immigrants, particularly Chinese and East Indians (they say East Indians to differentiate from Native Indians - me being as special as I am, asked “how on earth can you tell they came from the East of India??” But then again I’ve never had to refer to indigenous people as Indians before, Indians come from India - so there!). The Native Indians are known throughout Canada as 'First Nations' and aren't exactly well treated, but that’s a whole other issue I'll touch on one of these days.

It seems everyone’s from somewhere else here, and I'm yet to actually meet someone born and bred right here in Vancouver. There is still a lot of prejudice towards the Asian immigrants, and to a degree I can sympathize with their situation, I too moved to a foreign country with every intent of learning the language and integrating into the culture (ie. Germany) but when your only support network in your new country speaks your native language and you can’t easily communicate with the locals, you will most likely turn to what is familiar and easier. And its not like the Canadians have got wide open welcoming arms helping them integrate and teach them how to be Canadian. There’s no think, act, dress, eat like a Canadian classes.

At the end of Chinatown, where Main and Hastings streets meet is where Main street gets its bad reputation from. Its not a secret but Vancouver has the largest problem with homelessness, than the rest of the entire continent of North America. So Downtown Eastside is not somewhere you really want to frequent. Of course curiosity and my fascination with the downfall of society has gotten the best of me several times, and I have been down to the infamous stretch of western humanity in its lowest forms and wandered through the strung out addicts, prostitutes, drug dealers and the homeless. I’m sure my Grandmother would be horrified to discover I willingly put myself in that situation and not just once, but you know what (and perhaps I was just lucky) not one person ever bothered me, harassed me for money or gave me any grief. The experience left me extremely depressed and confused, how did the situation get so bad? Am I supposed to give that guy my loose change to buy food, or is it just going to go on crack? Can I live with myself when I constantly ignore these lost souls who desperately need help? The homeless people are everywhere, and they’re pretty hard to avoid; down alley ways, on the sidewalk, in closed shop doorways, under bridges and at bus stops. Vancouver has a milder climate so they all flock to the city and have more chance of surviving the harsh winters. The funding for many mental care facilities was cut back, so people who were in obvious need of psychiatric help were tossed out on to the street, and have no where to go or the ability to properly look after themselves. Recycling centres are hives of activities where people can get money for cans, cigarette butts and pieces of metal. I did hear a rumour the Olympics organisers are planning to ship a lot of them over to Vancouver Island before 2010 in a bid to tidy the city up, but we shall just have to wait and see.

Vancouver itself is a beautiful city, but its actually quite small. The greater Vancouver area has been split up into several cities and things can get a little confusing for example there is a West Vancouver, a Westend and a Westside. Downtown Vancouver is pretty compact and easy to get around, well serviced by public transport, with buses, ferries, seabuses and the skytrain running regularly. I don’t think Vancouver will ever be known for its pumping nightlife or great shopping, but its bursting at the seams with great funky restaurants, galleries and boutiques, its pretty and close to all the outdoor activities you can dream of. There’s beaches, parks, ski fields, forests, islands and mountains to explore within minutes of the city. Its pretty difficult not to get swept up in the energy of it all. Vancouverites are a pretty active, healthy, green conscious lot and I don't mind sticking around to explore some more of this impressive city.

Living it up in the city remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I had been lucky enough to get the last bed in one of the hostels, and jumped on a bus for the 7 hour trip from Downtown Vancouver. The scenery flashing past my window on the bus, brought back memories from New Zealand, and if it wasn't for all the firs and cedars, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two. I arrived in Tofino, to pretty crappy weather, which seems to be my luck whenever I get time off but the peace, quiet and sheer beauty of the small town more than made up for it.

I spent the first day taking my time exploring the little shops, galleries, cafes and docks all along the water front. I sat in the 'Sea Shanty' restaurant watching all the seaplanes land and take off and slurped down delicious Clam Chowder, smug in the knowledge that I was finally on the real west coast. I decided this trip was about relaxing, and not worrying about stuff back in the city, which had really began to take its toll on me. I treated myself to a whale watching tour and the next morning I headed out into the fog and mist and was lucky enough to encounter a Gray Whale, a Humpback and a 'gang' of Orcas, including a Cow and her Calf.

The boat ride was extremely tedious, bumpy and nauseating. Luckily I'd opted for the popular Hot Springs Cove option and was dropped at the stunning Maquinna Marine Park. After a short walk through the rainforest, I quickly got changed and soaked in the natural hot springs, that were in a succession of pools, and worked its way down to the ocean. When the pools got too hot/crowded, I climbed over the rocks and perched myself on a flat rock to soak up the sun and was lucky enough to see a Humpback whale breach directly in front of me in the bay. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, and so it was just one of those moments that you just had to enjoy and reflect on just how lucky you were sometimes.

Following the "treating myself" theme, I went one step further and opted to be flown back to Tofino in a Seaplane and skip the boat ride home completely. The flight was over far to quickly, but was well worth it for a) the scenery but also b) to get off that damn boat. When I made it back to land I managed to find the only sushi restaurant in all of Tofino and sat on the back deck which had the most breathtaking views, and was a highlight of the trip - I would strongly recommend to all.

The next day I hired a bike and ventured out of town with Zuzz an Australian girl staying at the hostel, who worked at one of the offshore Salmon farms. We headed to the botanical gardens, where I had read a popular local spot for good food was based in a caravan there. After lunch we carried on biking, and headed to one of the beaches and took a few photos, before I had to head back to town where I'd booked myself an afternoon of kayaking around some islands. I got stuck in a double kayak with an elderly woman you hadn't a clue what to do, so I got drenched in the process, and worked twice as hard to keep us up with the rest of the group - but as it wasn't a race I just relaxed and went with it. We stopped often to look at some of the sea life, and were watched several times by bald eagles in their nests. It was a fantastic afternoon, and it had been something I'd wanted to do for a while.

Sad to leave my new sanctuary, I had to head back to Vancouver the next morning - ready to start my new job the following day. And after such a relaxing week and the long bus ride to Nanaimo, my brain had slowed right down and I was so engrossed in my book I missed my connecting bus to the Ferry terminal, and would have missed the ferry completely if I hadn't found a random taxi that was lurking around. As soon as I got back to Vancouver, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, it was straight back into life in the big city. I met up with Nic, and convinced him to see the 'Nanny Diaries' with me, afterwards we headed to the night market in Chinatown, and then strolled around downtown Vancouver for a few hours, taking in the lovely city views of the homeless, high class 'escorts', the all time Canadian favourite coffee shop 'Tim Hortons' and we got to fulfil my secret dream of getting a giant slushie from a 7/11 convenience store.

The cheese shot

So this past week I started my new job with the Catering company, which I'll fill you in on soon. For now look after yourselves, and don't stress the small stuff.

Escaping the city remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So after last weeks utter confusion over what to do, and after much agonizing and discussion, I have made the decision to stick with the catering company I am currently working for. Having the option of two fantastic company’s wanting you to work for them in equally great jobs, is a fantastic situation to be in - but it’s a nightmare to choose which is the right choice. Thankfully the other company, although disappointed I haven’t gone with them, have left their offer open if things don’t work out - so things couldn’t have gone any better in my favor.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working flat out and haven’t been getting out as much as I’d like to. Well considering I’ve had two days off in the past 18, and those two days were filled with heavy rain, no wonder I haven’t had much time to explore. Because of the heavy rain last week, several shows were cancelled (I’m working at ‘Theatre under the Stars’ in downtown Vancouver) but I still had to come in, because they don’t make the cancellation call until just prior to the show starting. Several times they’ve continued on, in what I would have called ‘a heavy downpour’, but these Vancouverites are used to the rain, and just get on with it. We also had major problems with the food tents, and water pooling and threatening to burst the seams of the tent roofs. So up on a ladder in the pouring rain, trying to suck the water through a hose, and syphon the water out is not my ideal job - but someone’s got to do it. There’s been a few niggling staffing issues, that came to ahead last night with interesting outcomes, but for the most part I have a really excellent team and we get on really well. We’re an International lot, with a couple of Australians, a Czech, Brazilian, Korean, several Canadians (from the West, Middle and the East) and me a Kiwi. They’re all pretty used to my ‘kiwi’isms now and I no longer have to explain what I want them to do when I ask them to “Get the Chilly Bin”, “Pass me the pen” and “Put this in the bin”.

Look at me I'm Sandra Dee - Grease

Some of the random observations I’ve made about Canadians so far, is that when they order they always use the brands name, instead of its generic name. Its always “Snapple” instead of just Ice Tea, “Bargs” instead of Root Beer, “Miss Vickys” instead of Chips. When they discuss money they refer to their $1 and $2 coins as loonies and toonies, and I’ve never seen a 50 cent coin even though they exist, they somehow prefer quarters. They’re generally a pretty happy lot of customers, very serious about their recycling and the biggest surprise to me was how dedicated some of the theatre goers were, in that when the heavens opened and rain bucketed down on them, only a few left, with the rest remaining in white ku klux klan like rain ponchos.

My new French roommate Ayline and I get on really well, and have a similar sense of humour. She is the stereotypical French artist, complete with two lovers (I kid you not). She has dark raven hair, a wicked creativity streak, an exotic imagination and her days are filled with coffee, the occasional cigarette, trips to her temporary art studio and the beach. She is only spending a few months in Vancouver, and then will return to France in the fall where she has several exhibitions on the go.

Nicole, Heather, Joerg and Dan

One of the nights the show got cancelled my mate Jessica and I headed out for an impromptu dinner in Richmond, another city in the Greater Vancouver area. Was good to have some silly girly talk catch up time. I’ve also managed to met up with Heike (a friend from couchsurfing) several times, in the last week or so. She’s German, but has lived in NZ before (and I swear she has more of a Kiwi accent than I do) and now obviously living in Vancouver - so we have a lot in common. On Tuesday night, I left work early, and took the seabus across the bay to North Vancouver, where a group of around 25 other local couchsurfers met up at a Schnitzel Haus. As there are so many Germans and an Austrian in the group, it was only a matter of time till our need for Schnitzel and Spätzle got the better of us. Although it wasn’t the best German fare I’ve ever had, I wasn’t complaining. It was good to get out and catch up with everyone again, and listen to people speaking German again. I kind of missed piecing together what I thought people were saying, with the random German words I knew.

Hmm so yeah, that’s my current update. Everything is going well, the suns out and Vancouver’s looking mighty impressive. I’ve been trying to get to work earlier, as its in a massive park at the end of Downtown, and I like to walk around for a while, or just lie under a tree as its just stunning at the moment.

Shows, snapple, showers, schnitzel and sun remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After three weeks of sitting around, twiddling my thumbs it was only a matter of time before things started to happen. It all started on a relatively normal Wednesday morning. I got up bright and early, and headed down to Granville Island, an arts/food hub on a small peninsula underneath one of the big bridges heading into downtown Vancouver. I was early for a job interview, so I sat on the jetty looking at the sun rising up above the city, morning kayakers enjoying their morning routine on False creek and listened to the boathouses creaking and groaning under the warmth of the morning sun. Since it was such a beautiful day, we had my interview (to be an Assistant for the Fringe Festival) outside under a tree. As soon as it was over, I was off across the city to another interview, this time with a Catering company. By the end of our chat (I don’t think you could really call it an interview) I was offered the role of managing the Catering staff at “Theatre under the stars” for six weeks.

That night to celebrate the good news, and the return of the Summer weather Jessica and I went out to dinner on Commercial Drive. The next day, aware my luxurious free time was fast running out, I met up again with Boswell the Ukulelist, and he kindly showed me around the historic Gastown, and we took a seabus over to Lonsdale Quay, in North Vancouver to explore the markets. Friday I started my new job, and got a few of the logistics organised. On Saturday I was supposed to babysit, but after being there 15 minutes, the boy took off across the road to a friends house, decided he was going to stay there and I went home, rejected for a 6 year old - I’m sure I’ll live. On Sunday, I joined some fellow couchsurfers and endeavored to loosen up a few Vancouverians and offered ‘Free Hugs’ to complete strangers. I’d never done anything like that before, but the expressions on some peoples faces (both looks of awe and disgust) were priceless. We didn’t hug anyone who didn’t want to be hugged, but the range of reactions was incredible. A few wanted to know which religious institute we were from understandably, we were annoyingly happy a lot of the time, a lot ignored us completely and walked past with grim determination. Others would come leaping and bounding from miles away and then come back for another round when they left. You could hear a few of the old ladies, chuckling to themselves as they walked away, and a few sly looks around for our careers as if we’d just been let out for a special treat.

Monday I started my new job properly, and its been all go ever since. "Theatre under the stars" is in this huge park in downtown Vancouver for the next month or so. Two plays are on; Grease and Oklahoma, and they rotate around each night. I've been employed to manage the food tent, which can cater for up to 1200 people a night. I have a really good crew working with me, and things seem to be going pretty well. The first few days were really tough, training all the staff, and coming up with efficient systems, the hours I was putting in were crazy. I guess having such a cruizy job in Germany before and then 3 weeks off, my body went into shock. But now the staff know what to do, we have systems in place, and at least I'm the boss, so I can delegate and get people to do all the jobs I don’t want to do.

Just yesterday I was offered a full time Event Coordinating position, with a pretty cool company (one with a lot of possibility and potential), that I went for two interviews with a few weeks ago, and since finding that out I've been offered a full time position with the Catering company I'm working for at the moment (and who have treated me amazingly well). I didn't get the Fringe Festival job, I think they were worried I didn't know the area well enough, to get around with ease. But thats ok, because two weeks ago I had no real work prospects, and now I have to choose between two fantastic company's, similar job just in different fields, similar pay, very different locations (but I have to move in a few months anyway) and no ones here to help me choose. When it rains it pours, as they say.

Is a bird in the hand, really better than two in the bush? remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I noticed it first, one day on the bus, a man was waiting by the door to get off and for the bus to come to a stop, the bus braked suddenly and lurched forward sending the guy stumbling back into me. Not only did the guy apologize profusely, but the other guy next to me who we'd sat in polite silence before then became concerned and asked "Are you ok?". Basic normal human behavior right? I'd be lucky if my presence was even acknowledged if it had happened in Germany, apart from being obligatorily stared at. Most normal people wouldn't even think twice about the small apologies you get on a daily basis, the woman with the basket in the supermarket who innocently knocks you, the man swiping you with his newspaper on the train... but when you haven't had them for a year, and people don't just shove you out of the way without a second glance - its quite refreshing.

Of course I haven't just been getting whacked around on the public transport lately, no sirree I've been getting out and about meeting people. My roommate Susannah invited me out to dinner with her, and a few of her friends to a nice laidback restaurant on West Broadway. After a few drinks we went on to a birthday party held at the Afghan Horsemen on Granville Island (which isn't an island at all, just a peninsula). It was a fantastic place, where you took your shoes off and sat on giant cushions, and talked nonsense. After a stroll around the harbour, and we'd soaked in some of the skyline of Downtown Vancouver at night, we jumped in a taxi and were off to another party, but this time it was held in a swanky brand new apartment, complete with a doorman and lobby, with a healthy $5,000 a month rent tag attached. Cramped, but pristine and perfect, hard lines with somewhat impressive views, white bare walls and the whitest of white carpets - it was all a little sterile to be honest, and I was feeling a little out of my depth. Give me cushions and sitting on the floor any day.

A few days later I ventured off on my own to China town, and marveled at all the random sights and smells. I found a random little tiki shop, and brought a few art prints, to brighten up my room. I snuck into Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese gardens, and sat by a large lilly pond soaking it all in, watching the Carp, Frogs and Turtles. A fascinating Ukuleleist called Boswell, who is also a clown part-time came and sat near me, and we began to chat away. We sat there for a while discussing the world at large, and promised to catch up again, he has offered to show me around Gastown - not as weird/dodgy as it sounds, I promise. Then on Wednesday night I joined a few of the couchsurfers (an Austrian, a German and a Canadian) I'd met the previous week at a Belgium Beer Cafe on Commercial Drive, and reminisced together about Europe.

I've also made friends with Jessica, a local who's also 22, and has only just returned to the city. We plan to do a lot of exploring around Vancouver together, and have started already by hitting Metrotown, a massive mall that seems to go on forever, and is in fact three malls attached by walkways. We get along really well, and we caught up again last night and went out to Dinner and cocktails on West Broadway. I recently did a gig babysitting a six year old boy called Ullie, as a favour to my roommate Maggie, who couldn't do it. He was crazily smart, and would say things like "thats a rhetorical question, you're not supposed to answer it". Although I'm not keen on doing much more childcare, every little bit of money helps I guess, especially when you have no idea when your next pay check is coming. His mother is a bee keeper, and his dad is an artist - so I've been invited to check out his latest installation, something about robotic insects (sounds interesting).

My roommate Maggie, has now left for her summer trip across random parts of North America. Even though I haven't known her long shes been fascinating to live with, pulling me out into the front yard to play with giant hula hoops and I'll miss her random stories. Shes one of the healthiest eaters I've ever seen, and when shes not hula hooping she does everything from puppetry and making puppets, playing the violin, is a clown on occasion with the pseudonym 'The Pocket Lady' and teaches drama to kids. Her sub letter, a French girl arrives in the next few hours and we shall have to wait and see what randomness, if any, she will bring.

A baby Hawk, that lives in a nest in the tree in front of my place. He must've fallen out.

I've been eating really healthily lately, and its almost impossible not to get exercise living here. Went for a walk out on this Dyke at Iona Beach, and didn't realise till I got back it was 8 kms long and I'd gotten sun burnt. Plus I live by this huge park, that overlooks the whole city, so I'll have to get up there one of these nights and take some sunset pictures for you. Boswell wants me to buy a bike to go on a big tour with him around the city, and after my quite enjoyable stint around Stanley park a couple of weeks ago, I'm thinking I just might. Haha Niki owning a bike again, can you imagine! There must be something in the water here. Still no major news on the job front I'm afraid, I have two interviews tomorrow, and a random 4 day promotional gig for a cereal company in a week or so, plus random one off Event work in the pipeline. So not ready to start begging just yet.

Well kiddies in the next blog I plan to write all about the area I live in, and paint a better picture for you of what the Canadians on the West coast are like - stay tuned.

Afghan horsemen, Hula hoops and a Ukuleleist remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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If you read my last blog, you may think I'm feeling pretty depressed here in Vancouver, but I assure you its not the case at all. I'm having a great time, and really loving my new life. I wanted to keep the last blog seperate from this one because the truth is I've been having a lot of fun and didn't want it to get over shadowed by all my negative thoughts about the direction our societys heading.

My new flat, and street

So where did I leave off last time? Hmm well on Friday night Susannah, one of my new roommates took me for a big walk around the surrounding suburbs and up to Queen Elizabeth park. You could see all of Downtown Vancouver, and right over to Vancouver Island, and I'm sure it will become a regular on my walking route. Saturday morning I went for another big walk up and down Main street (I live one block away from it mwahaha) where they were having a street festival in all the little side streets coming off it. It was so nice just sitting on the curb listening to different bands, trying samples of summery mango drinks, trying sundried tomato and cream cheese bagels and watching all the locals doing their Saturday morning thing.

Main Street Festival

That night I joined some fellow couch surfers (mostly Germans oddly ebough) for Kiwi movie night, where we watched 'Whale Rider', which as luck would have it, was filmed about 30 minutes drive out of my home town. I meet up with Heike, who had emailed me previously to welcome me to the city as she has a love for all things New Zealand, and although shes actually German I swear she has more of a Kiwi accent than I do! So it was a great night, with a few twangs of homesickness, and hopefully a few new friends made. Sundays events are in my last blog 'Bridge over troubled water', which I wont dwell on again.

Coal Harbour, and Downtown; Brockton Point Lighthouse, Stanley Park

On Tuesday I had my first job interview here, but I won't jinx it by telling you about it yet. I will say though that I had a second interview for it today - so fingers, toes and eye lashes crossed. And last night I joined the Couch Surfing gang for a night of Indian. I have been craving Butter Chicken for months, and finally I got to indulge in the heavenly dish. I met some fantastic new people, and I have no doubt they'll be sick of the sight of me by the end of the year.

Vancouver Couchsurfers

Although the weather was shocking, and I felt like it was winter again, the suns come back and I've been out and about exploring, getting well and truly used to the transport system. My room mates are really easy going, and always up for a chat. They're a pretty healthy lot, so they're keeping me on the straight and narrow. And if you sit around too long, the giant hula hoops come out and into the front yard we go!

Seagull warning sticker on Granville Island

I'll write up a blog concerning all things Canadian once I've been here a bit longer.

Its not all doom and gloom remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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A lot of random things happen in my life, some quite ridiculous and frivolous, but once in a while something profound happens which shakes my very core and makes me question humanity. Last Sunday, on a grey, gloomy Fathers day afternoon I watched a man needlessly die, while everyone else looked on with mild interest, and not much else.

The day had started off normally enough, ok perhaps not normal for me (as there was exercise involved) with a not too unpleasant bike ride around the enormous Stanley park, and then all-you-can-eat Sushi lunch with Harry. With a hint of energy left, Harry talked me into carrying on, on our little biking tour of Downtown Vancouver and we hopped on an aquabus with our bikes to tour around Granville Island, one of Vancouver's hot spots for the Arts and Entertainment. After looking around the giant indoor market and taking a few photos (aka the one above), we sat down to enjoy the view and a few minutes later we heard a loud thud, and turned to the water to see a guy who had obviously jumped from the bridge above, and was now struggling to keep a float.

In the next moments nothing happened, people just looked on until the man disappeared completely. A man in a yellow jacket, who was only a few meters from him did nothing, eventually an Aqua bus went over, but they didn't pull him out, or from the looks of things even give him a flotation device. I am not naive enough to think that the guy didn't receive internal injuries from his fall, but the fact that people didn't even try and help him stay a float, disturbs me greatly. Before you ask, we were too far away, that we would never have made it in time, and there were so many people closer who could've helped. I understand some people don't want to drown themselves, while trying to rescue someone else, but to do nothing and just watch a man die, is just too much for this kiwi girl.

Eventually the emergency services came, but after an hours searching they still hadn't recovered the body and we left. Of course suicides barely ever make it to the news, for fear of copy cats and sensationalizing it, so I was unable to find out anything more about it. I did hear one stander by say the jumper was a Male in his early 30's. Suicide is never an easy topic, and you'd be there for ever if you questioned all the ifs and why's. But have we really progressed to a society that it is ok to ignore someones obvious cry for help. Luckily I've never been in the situation where I've contemplated killing my self, but I hope that if I ever do - someone will be selfless enough to throw me a lifeline.

It was and still is strange to me, about my own lack of reaction. I felt no shock about him committing suicide, or even watching it happen - but the fact no one did anything, did. What has happened to us that we have become so desensitized to these horrific images? People can watch someone die, and carry on sipping their lattes seemingly unbothered. In a strange twist of fate, the song 'Bridge over troubled water' has been plaguing me, perhaps its my imagination, but it seems every where I turn there it is being played.

Welcome to the city kid.

Bridge over troubled water remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After stumbling across a recent New Zealand Herald article online about our accents lately, I thought it was about time I discussed the issues I’ve had with being a New Zealander and my accent while abroad. Firstly, there has only ever been one time in the year I’ve been away that someone has asked if I was a New Zealander, and that was by a Swiss woman selling necklaces in a market in Bern. Everyone else has thought I was American. This hasn’t really worried me in the least, as I can understand how difficult it would be to non native English speakers to pick up on our different accents (I could never tell an Austrian from a German). But the really astonishing thing is, that within seconds of finding out I’m actually a New Zealander peoples attitude towards me instantly changes, and I suddenly reach an exotic status. Never in my life, have I ever been referred to as exotic, and it’s a title I’m going to be sad to give up in a few weeks time (can you believe there’s actually a New Zealanders club in Vancouver!).

Over the last year there has been a lot of discussion about my accent, from it was too heavy and difficult to understand, to I didn’t have one at all, I’d changed and now sounded American, to I sounded German, or that I sounded like someone learning English for the first time. When I first arrived, Max (the oldest boy) and the old Au Pair Crystal had no problems understanding me, but poor Mike hadn’t a clue what I was on about. I got constantly teased by Frank, and still do – and Nicole had to ask me to repeat my self quite a bit. Nicole said her main problem in understanding me was that I didn’t separate my words enough, and they all blurred together. I had to learn to slow right down when talking, because I’ve since found out New Zealand is one of the fastest English speaking countries.

Over time, Mike got used to me, I slowed down and things were fine. Then Lisa, an old High School friend stayed for a week, my mother showed up and later on so did my sister, and once again my accent was put under the spotlight, and everyone in the house decided I was the most difficult to understand of all New Zealanders. This must’ve gotten to me a bit, because shortly after that friends back home started commenting that I sounded really bizarre on the phone, like I’d either had a stroke, or was learning English for the first time. It was a few months later that my sister said I sounded like an out right American, with a distinct twang and rolling my ‘r’s. Of course I don’t notice it at all, apart from that I never realised how much random Maori (native language of NZ) I spoke. Saying the greetings ‘kia ora’ and ‘ka kete’ were quite difficult to stop, and other words would pop up unexpectedly, like ‘puku’ for your stomach. I now have Max counting to ten in Maori, as he loves soaking in as much knowledge as possible.

Anyway back to the article I read, it said the New Zealand accent is getting a lot stronger and more distinct from the Australian accent, and that there's even a bit of Cockney creeping in too, as people are not fully pronouncing the "t" sound in words like "what" and "but". Another random thing that I’d never thought about, was the word ‘Kiwi’. I recently chose the username ‘kiwigirl84’ on a website, and the amount of mail I got asking what was my obsession with ‘Kiwis’? I replied saying it was simply because I was a New Zealander, and their reply was ‘huh’? So I asked around a bit, and an alarming amount of people had no idea New Zealanders were called Kiwi’s, or that if they had they didn’t know it was because of the bird - wait there's a kiwi bird?? Then I got others saying I was ‘over stating New Zealand’s impact on the world’, alrighty then. The general consensus was that the term ‘Kiwi’ is really only known in the Commonwealth, New Zealand is a mystical, beautiful country where we all live in shacks, its on the list of places to go, but they’ll probably never get there because its too far away, and alarmingly a hell of a lot of people have no idea where our country is, what language we speak or what we look like. Random huh? Anyways thought that might interest you folks back home.

Ka kete anö

I'll just have me fush and chups and then I'm off to bid remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Escaping the afternoon sun, underneath the Hazelnut trees in the Sicilian countryside

In the last few weeks, I’ve had severally people say that I must be ‘brave’ to be able to travel across the earth, to a country you’ve never been to, where you don’t know another person, you have no friends, you have no job and you’ve got nowhere to live, and start your life over again. I don’t think it’s brave at all, yes I think it’s exciting and exhilarating, if not slightly daunting, but it’s not as if I am moving to the Congo. All countries have their faults, no where is perfect and no matter where you are, you’ve still got to do mundane things like go to the supermarket and wash your clothes.

Caught in a summer rain shower in Rudesheim, Germany

I read a quote the other day that I’ve since stolen for my life’s motto, and that is that “life is a book, and those that do not travel only read the first page.” I am not saying travelling answers all your questions, and heals all your wounds, but boy does it give you a better prospective on yourself, people and life in general. Even if travelling internationally doesn’t interest you, or is just plainly out of reach for you, then please at least travel out of your comfort zone, in your very own town. Do things you other wise wouldn’t dream of doing or that you’ve wanted to do for a long time but never got around to it. Just do something that is not familiar to you, variety as they say is the spice of life. And for now, if you’re just content reading about other people’s adventures, that’s ok too, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, just hopefully giving you the push you need.

Tick tock, tick tock remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Rene, Amelia and Torben

I stayed the night, so I didn’t have to drive all the way back, and in the morning while everyone was still sleeping I got up and walked all around the small village. Every single person that passed me, most likely on their way to church, stopped and said hello. Even the two cars that drove past stopped to talk, ok one was to ask directions to the church, and the other was someone who’d been at the party the night before, but it was like entering a weird little happy bubble, and makes a nice change from the city life.

A couple of days later I joined up with René and his group of friends, and went to a soccer game. Now those of you out there who actually know me, will know I detest sport, and would rather pluck every single hair out of my body with pliers, than watch sport, but as I promised my self not to turn down new opportunities, I accepted René’s invite and watched my first ever European Soccer match, in a stadium with 50,500 others. It was an end of the season match between Frankfurt and Berlin, the atmosphere was pretty impressive, and it was worth going just to be able to watch people’s theatrics! Some random stuff I was surprised by was that the big screens didn’t show any of the game being played, like they do back in NZ at the Rugby.

When the goalie got kicked in the face after two minutes, they didn’t replay it on the screen to show what happened in close up, and when I asked why not, they said that the crowd would get too violent. This is when I noticed that all the Berlin supporters were kept in a separate caged off area, with loads of security around to apparently protect them, from the crazy Frankfurter supporters. The only thing they did show on the big screen was when a goal was scored in other games that were happening at the same time in other parts of the country. I have to admit I spent most of the time talking to Torben, who is training to be a Priest, and I’m not one to miss a chance for some religious debate, thankfully he was as interested in the game as I was. Any who, Berlin won 2 to 1 and the supporters had to be escorted out by police to protect them from any troublemakers in the Frankfurt squad, all a bit over the top if you ask me, still a good day out.

The Birthday Boy

Today Mike had his Sponge Bob themed birthday party, which didn’t go to badly really. As it was fantastic weather wise, we just loaded the kids up with sunscreen, sponges and water guns and let them go crazy for four hours. No major dramas, apart from trying to keep all the kiddies out of the house, and yours truly got absolutely drenched in a sponge war. One thing I’ve learnt from all this birthday nonsense is that kids are happy with the basics; it’s the parents that are fueling the booming birthday party supplies machine. Kids don’t need licensed napkins, cups and plates – they barely notice and it’s not worth the money. Give the kids a few balloons, a few games and give them time to play together and they’ll be fine.

Kenji and Laurenz

All this talk of fun in the sun, reminds me I haven’t really said anything about going swimming in Germany yet have I? Ok well for one thing, swimming pools are few and far between, there is really not the space or the climate to justify the expense of a pool in most areas, so the public pools are bursting at the seams. The pool that I go to is always busy and instead of separating the pool into lanes, it’s a free for all and people go all over the place. This means you swim at your own peril and a foot can come at you from any direction. I have not seen one person swim free style here, they all do breaststroke, and the men are obsessed with Speedos! You definitely don’t see anyone covering up in board shorts here.

Oh and something else random that happened this week, I went to get my haircut, which always seems to be an experience in another language, and the hairdresser somehow shaved my neck and gave me a rash, I kid you not! They all seemed to be obsessed with reinventing the 80's. Ahh well, at least it will grow back.

Slimy strangers, soccer, sponges, speedos and shaved necks remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I have just had a fantastic weekend chilling out with my old flatmate Hamish, who has been living in London for the past 5 months, and decided to check out a bit of Germany before I left. After missing his flight on Friday night, I picked him up first thing Saturday morning, and although the weather wasn’t great, we walked into the centre of Wiesbaden and chilled out for the afternoon. Did a bit of window shopping, took him to the farmers market, to a nice beer garden beside a lake and got some Thai for lunch. Both feeling pretty knackered after all that effort :o) we headed home for a few hours nap, and went back into town for dinner to a new restaurant that’s just opened up, and then checked out a band playing at the local Irish Pub.

After a big sleep in, he got the grand tour, which I’m becoming quite the little expert at giving. We headed out to the Rheingau, a beautiful wine growing region running along the length of the Rhein River. I took him first to Schloss Johannisberg, a winery that’s been making wine for over 900 years, is famous for its Riesling, and has impressive views over the whole area. Then we carried on to the touristy little town of Rüdesheim, and I convinced him to take the cable car over the vines, up to Niederwalddenkmal, a huge monument designed to symbolize the re-establishment of the German Empire and Germany's unity was erected in the late 1870’s, which has fantastic views and I’ve wanted to check out since arriving here.

After getting the cable car back down and a stroll back through the small village we headed in the car up along the eastern side of the Rhine, past lots of castles and vineyards to Loreley, where a huge rock face marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there and legend says, that a siren called "Loreley" bewitched the hearts of the sailors and when they looked up to the rock, their boat crashed and they sank. Since it was such a gorgeous day we walked to the infamous Loreley statue, jutting out into the river, and then headed to a very traditional Bavarian Beer garden, right in the middle of a forest close to Eltville, where we sat under the trees, chilling out and Hamish feasted on the biggest Wiener schnitzel I’ve ever seen.

It was such a relaxing weekend, with lots of eating and chatting and a bit of sightseeing thrown in. So now Hamish is back in London, I’m back at work and planning my last few weeks here. In other random news I've just found out I've had a whole lot of my photos featured, and I remembered that here are a few random photos of Wiesbaden I took before I went on my road trip and forgot to chuck in. So look after yourselves.

A typical German weekend remains copyright of the author nikio, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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