New Creature

It dawned on me recently that this peculiar little media asset of a Blog is still alive and wheezing in cyber space, although I haven't prodded it in over a year and a half. Old embarassing posts, and uni essays still there.

I may return to it. It's too late in the evening to update it at the moment but... I'd love to follow some inspiring faces on Blogger in any case.

February in Thailand

From February 26 to July 26 I will be in Thailand working with Christian missions in Hang Dong, Chiang Mai.

I'll use this site to document my many adventures, cultural encounter, and nutty stories :o)

Tuesday, 26 February 2008

I flew out of the Brisbane International airport just before midnight and, lucky me, was tested for explosive residue and frisked. There was just enough turbulence on the entirely purple flight for make me feel like I was in a womb as tried to sleep. Ended up watching 'youth pregnancy' based film Juno.

I spent three very early, rainy hours inside the Changi airport, Singapore, and took full advantage of the free internet and observing armed guards. There was time to send some gorgeous postcards home.

I felt quite weary when Rudy & Lara, two Brisbanites, brought me home. After hearing just how active the mission is in the Thai community I felt very encouraged and energised. I met their miniature poodle Latte, and their daughter Zena, when she came home from school.

On the road to 'the Centre' where their missions operations run from there were perhaps five lanes of traffic flowing on a one-way street. Motorbikes sped head-on toward us.

I'm to address everyone older than me [neing almost everyone] with 'Pi' before their name and everyone younger than me with 'Nong', out of respect. The Thai girls in the team sat down to lunch after a short meeting and translated introduction from me. While I comfortably had Pad Thai, they settled into fish-head soup and pig crackling. There was a gritty and spicy soy bean paste, wrapped in a banana leaf, which I dipped sticky rice into.

At a nearby supermarket I exchanged some money, bought an adaptor and some Thai groceries.

We caught a 'song tao' [which means two lines - of seats] home. The Song Tao a small yellow vehicle with no back wall that operates along the main street like a bus. It usually costs 10 baht to ride. We stopped, every limb loaded with heavy bags, IN THE MIDDLE of highway-like traffic to cross the road.

I'm staying with one of the Thai team leaders and a fluent English speaker, Pi Yua

I bought a new Thai sim card today so please email me for the number. It's cheaper than my Aus one. I carry both my old and new number on me at all times.

Wednesday, 27 February 2008

I learnt Thai greetings around the home this morning. The women of the missions team met at the Pi Yua's and we had introductions, worship, then bible discussions focussing on marriage and relationships. It was very deep.

An Australian missionary who's leaving on Monday, Sophie, showed me handy ins and outs of the local area and took me to the local marketplace for lunch. I was on my toes the entire time, dodging a bowl of live crickets about to be fried or hunks of meat [incl. pig heads!] out on the table, smothered in flies. If the shopkeeper notices you looking their way, they swing a plastic bag on a stick over the produce to shoo flies.

When we returned to the centre, Pi New braided my hair. She and Pi Rain took me to the markets where I saw live eels, toads, crickets, etc being cooked and eaten. I tried to eat a cricket, spat in onto my palm and saw that I'd decapitated it. I left it but ate five when I got home; I promise they taste just like 'Lays' Original chips.

There and back, three of us sat helmet-less on the motorbike, and at the next stop I got off on the right. I burnt the back of my right calf quite badly and later that night was so inflamed that it looked like I had an egg under my skin!

I'll write more next time I get net access....

Return from the Grave

Here I am.

Unfortunately, Semester Two of university proved to be far less quenching than the first. Quite mean of them, really, to lay on me a collection of new lecturers not so passionate about their subject of speech - :(

I can't lay it all on them though, I have been made legalised, and have been studying - the clubs - quite diligently. I've finally reached my first 'over-it' period in my life, though. Something about being involuntarily groped by old men in a dank room smelling of sweat, piss and fungi, has wiped away some of the glitter.

In apology for neglecting this blog for so long, I shall also be posting the long-awaited snaps of my tatt:
It was taken only moments after being stabbed into place, though.
Argh - slightly exhausted already and going to return to this article, hopefully with something interesting to say, at a later date!

Wildly Legal

The past week has been life-changing! Last Thursday I celebrated my 18th birthday through the depths of a 5.3L bottle of Lambrusco we've been saving for...yes, 18 years. Alongside family and a close chum our family dinner went [pavlova-]smashingly!We ploughed through mountains of hearty Southern Italian food and were tempted to wear baby slings under our tums, so full were they.

On my actual birthday [Saturday, Jul 14] I had a small get together with friends at the uni village during the day and giddily played drinking games over a cake-sized French vanilla slice - God, I love you Aimee! We followed that with a heavy dose of prettifying in our Surfers hotel room before heading for the Pub Crawl at 4.30pm.

A night jam-packed with drunken dancing, slightly humiliating club games [which I won! ;) shucks..], and abduction followed - much to my delight! I wore a flashing tiara and French maid attire for the duration and demanded to be spoilt!

I've been recieving the birthday girl special treatment all week - and LOVING it! But who wouldn't! Three days ago I went with Mamaloticus and Daddikins to Byron to get my first 'rite of passage' tattoo with my darling mother. We know proudly flash a chilli man on our ankles. I can't spell the Italian official name for him [quarnijhe I think] but he's a man in tux and top hat with the bottom half of his body a chilli - he resides on the outside of my left ankle and stands at about 8.5cm. He's a symbol of protection, good luck and....[mafia identification] lol...shhh. I shant post photos here for fear of being copied...and it's healing.

I'll shortly be heading back to uni - but not too soon as these holidays, my distance from the uni gym and lack of mental activity are driving me bananas! Hope to see some of you there!

Much lovin as always

- She of 18 years, 7 days

Procastination is a hell of a little bugger. Over the span of my almost eighteen years there've been a great many deeds I wished to complete and continue with that required regulation and constant attention; blogging I've discovered is part of this list. In my effortless aim to let blogger mould into my life and not the other way round [as I've heard does happen and is hazardous to health], I have been somewhat neglecting my online participation inlets. For this reason, there's a fair bit of catching up to be had!
Since last I wrote, I've gotten in trouble for being on the internet at work; I've taken up surfing lessons [a 1.5 of them have been had] with a friend; my sister Steph's turned 16, my mother 46 and Daddy dearest was 45 yesterday; I've made friends, lost touch with some and cried heartily over some beautiful music - indeed both classical and contemporary. I've done a smidge more reading than I have in recent times. Those that stood out were My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult [bloody brilliant, I sobbed endlessly], Morgan's Run by Colleen McCullough [painful to get thru in ye old english so its still hidden in the drawer at work], etc. I'm quite shit at remembering the names of them - but I relish in remembering and retelling their juicy stories!
What else has happened? Herm, I went to karaoke at the Grand the other night and sang Angel by Sarah McLaughlan, well actually by Alex considering I was performing. I was better than I ever have been previously with nerves and apparently aced it though I readily shook my hand in front of me at the audience to demonstrate how bleeding nervous I was!
I've once again resolved to get healthy again. This is seeming to be a monthly to bimonthly occurence! It's been two days thus far and I have been impressively obedient, wearing a plaited band on my wrist as a reminder - incl. diet & exercise. I'm also being nice which people are trying to convince me is always a plus (jokes, I'm always delightful).
The movie section of this blog isn't nearly as random as the above: Stomp the Yard had some 'bust a move' inspiring jiggles in it and almost made me cry and the token black guy's death; Blades of Glory was laughter-causing-tears funny but way too predictable; Epic Movie was a little funny but mostly crap; Music & Lyrics was delightful only for the actors, who were even less impressive than the story line; Forget the rest...hehehe
I only want world peace.....and some darling new heels!
:]
Le Awicks

Musings on Melbourne

Behold the long awaited declarations regarding my recent escapades in Melbourne!

After a turbulence-filled yet comedic flight with Virgin Blue, I stepped into the refridgerator-like embrace of the Melbourne Airport landing strip. The ankle-length trench coat I wore then hardly left my back during the entire stay, so nippy was the weather in both the Yarra Valley and Melbourne city over those four days.

I was spoilt with offerings of fine wines, cheeses, gourmet meals and a host of friendly locals to whom Uncle Tobes introduced moi. A delectable hot chocolate was had for it's sugar-boosting properties [made from entirely local produce] in anticipation of meeting my young cousins. An evening of gentle wrestling and fairytale reading proceeded, followed shortly by a lengthy discussion on modern youth's tech-dependance, afterall I am an avid participant in such avenues! Accompanied by a pack of Beanie Bears I passed the night in an entirely pink Princess room and was lullaby-ed by singing plush.

Numb from the knee down, I waded through fog the next morning at the Victorian Markets - best in the Southern Hemisphere they say! Having now overcome resentment for discovering I'd been largely ripped off, I'm happy with my purchases and found their spread of European foods most impressive. I drooled from cheese/salami laden stall to stall. On this venture I discovered the nature the 'Biltong' to be quite similar to what I know as ye jerky. In my attempts to purchase and try such a Tong from an Africaans themed stall, I found the sales assistant to be quite unresponsive in only offering indecipherable mumbling from the back of the stall- perhaps he being subdued by infamous jerky robbers or more likely under the influence of some enlightening form of intoxication. I resolved to dine on the tempting Lebanese Borek's neighbouring the jerk - twas nothing short of a heavenly flow of cheese and spinach being hugged by some fresh lebanese loaves - yoom!

Following this I climbed aboard for a detailed tour du Melb by my esteemed Uncle. We saw the sights and felt the frost - me ooh and ahh-ing at the glorious scene before me. I quite enjoyed the stark contrasts betwix Victorian museum and contemporary Rubix-cube style establishment side-by-side. Next up - a treck through this city to meet a fellow blogger, Alexis. Thanks to a misunderstanding with a foreign waitress [and my tendencies to eat everything on my plate] an all-too-hearty vegetarian meal(s) was had and I then had to actually carry my own tummy back round the city. Innocently staring in at chocolate fountains in the window of San Churro, we waited for the pain of being too full to fade before dining on some promised Aztec hot chocolate accompanied by similarly chilli-ful truffle. It was so divine an experience, I hardly noticed that I had practically burnt off my top lip [from chilli] and it remained so for the following two days! Upon realising I was late to head home, I ran an phenomenal distance from one woggy end of Lygon street right down to the other darned woggy end - quite an effort! I got down and muddy with my wild-child-side that afternoon waiting for my young cousin to finish Aussie League by entertaining a troop of 5-year olds [yes, including endless spinning, tickles, piggy-back rides and tree-house role plays]. The snotty smiles were payment in themselves....

& In The Neon Lights I Saw...

Tapping my toes and swaying my arms to The Sound of Silence [Simon & Garfunkel - features a mention to the neon street lights] this afternoon, I prepared for my first outing to Striker - a bowling alley in the heart of Surfers Paradise. Alleys I have no problem with, but bowling - oh! That's another story. No matter the strength of my arm, the perfection of my swing, the glisten in my eye, or the squeakiness of my shoe: I always come last [yes, even on my birthday].
Over the years, I've become accustomed to this recurring nightmare and have come to enjoy, rather, dancing under the neon lights and exposing anything white to its quirky eye. Socks, singlets and sometimes wedgies - aha! Behold the glowing exuberance of the neon!

Yes; fun. Today, also, I must reserve some words in congratulating our dear Queenie on making another year round the block - good work, old lass. I thank you mainly because I fulfilled only 4 hours of duty at ye Hyatt for the price of NINE. I therefore had much of the day to put aside for sleeping in, straightening hairs, munching crumpets and disturbing the neighbours with my renditions of Unbreak My Heart [Braxton], Your Song [Rouge], etc. Not that they mind of course - I have beautiful vocal chords.

I went to the Rove site today to make reservations so that I might see him when I'm in the same city as he, shortly. However, waves of devastation drowned me when I discovered that he is completely sold out for the remainder of the year! The nerve! I love him [and Hamish Blake; ok, mostly Hamish]. His site is nonetheless worth a squiz because it's quite funny in itself. One key new story I discovered on it was that oyster farmers have been lacing their produce with viagra to accentuate its aphrodisiac properties! It's that the darndest! Rove is quite the shmexual being in Lisa McCune's dresses too....

I find that it is here that I must turn on stockinged heel and flick now-straightened hair in farewelling you until the next blog.
Au revoir!

-Alejandra [to the Spaniards]