Monday, June 24, 2013

Leaving home



Moving house is not complete without the above song, Jebeidiah - Leaving Home. I went to YouTube to find a link for this song, now I'm stuck in an 90/00's Australia garage punk/rock internet black hole. So many good Frenzal Rhomb, Body Jar, Area 7 songs. That was just how it started, I attempted to start this blog an hour and a half ago. I've since watched some Adam Hills and Donald Glover stand-up along with other random titbits that popped up in the sidebar.

The moral of the story is I am packing up my room to leave and really not getting anywhere. I've cleared the bookshelf, made a pile on the bed and did one run down to the bins. Progress.




Sunday, June 23, 2013

Weekend Trips

"Work will set you free"


The sign above, hangs above then entryway to the former concentration camp, Auschwitz. Located an hour outside of Krakow, every year over a million tourists make the trek to Auschwitz to pay their respects and learn more about the tragedies that occurred here. The sign that can be seen in the above photo is not the original sign, the original sign was stolen in 2009. 

Birkenau Camp
 The sign has since been found, but it was cut into three pieces so that it could be transported out of the former army barracks with ease. 

The trip to Auschwitz was one of the main reasons my friend came to visit Poland, it was very interesting, but mentally exhausting. I think the exhaustion had three factors, the heat, the length of the tour and the sheer amount of people there.
There were not many rules inside Auschwitz, be respectful (a given) and no photos of certain items. The certain items included human hair remains, the piles of shoes and the actual death chambers. The amount of people that blatantly disregarded that rules was insane, I don't understand why you would want a photo of the hair or the gas chambers. When you get home from Poland, those aren't the kind of photos your friends are going to want to look at.

It was a short time my friend and I spent in Poland, not even a full weekend, but we managed to cram all the things I told her we need to do.

  • Eat Polish sausages
  • Auschwitz
  • Drink at the Good Bye Lenin
  • Eat a Zapiekanka
  • Go to a 4 zloty bar
Now she is on a flight back to Australia and I have that sinking realisation that it will be a long time before I see anyone from Australia again. 



Brno


The weekend before I went to Krakow, I went to Brno. Brno is the second largest city in both land size and population in the Czech Republic, it is very pretty but very quiet. It could be the time of year I visited though, because it is a very large university town and university is out for the summer. 












If you ever head to Brno, stay at the Ruta 80 hostel - it's a funky little tribute to the 80's. 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The worst train ride, ever.

I went to Krakow for the weekend, the weather was scorching. I haven't seen these kinds of temperatures since Jan/Feb 2012. The plan was to catch the overnight back to Otrokovice, it left Krakow at 2200 and arrived at 0332, leaving me plenty of time to get home and have a kip before starting work at 0800 and it was a sleeper train, even better a little bit of shut eye on the train.

It was not too be.

The train compartment were tiny, three beds on each side. My bed was a centre one, but when I walked in there was a British girl laying in my bed, she looked at me pathetically and explained that her bed was the top one and would I mind swapping with her. She was already in my bed, there was really not too much I could do about it. So I climbed up to the sky high bed, my nose pretty much touching the ceiling, my legs crushed up to my chest, and tried to get comfortable. It was unbearably hot, sweating whilst not even moving, and six other people in there really didn't help.

The heat got a little bit better when we started moving, a breeze came in through the window, but that was not to be either. The train was delayed with mechanical difficulties for over an hour. So we stopped moving and the breeze stopped blowing. It was 0200 at this stage and everyone else on the train was asleep, I was lying there dripping with sweat trying to make out the faint announcements about our trains delay.

At about 0420 we arrive at Otrokovice, I had left the cabin in search of a breeze and I window with a better view of where we were. Unbeknownst to me, I had wandered into an empty carriage where I became locked in. I couldn't get into a different carriage and I couldn't get out the door when we finally arrived at the station.

I tried to get people on the platform to help me, but nothing. I started to freak out, I had no idea where the next stop would be and I had to go to work. Finally after hearing me try to get out (by trying to rip open a door) a train attendant arrived and yelled at me before letting me out at the platform. Because of the train delay I missed my connection to Zlin and had to wait 20 mins for the connecting bus. So I got back, had an hour and a bit sleep and went to work.

A day later and I still feel awful.


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

25 Thing to do before you turn 25

Find the full article here.

25 Things To Do Before You Turn 25 | Thought Catalog

I stumbled upon (I was actually using stumble upon, see what I did there) this article the other day.  Seeing as I have 18 months until I'm 25, I thought I shall see what I would like to do/have done as well as the ones that I just don't understand. 

The original list....

1. Make peace with your parents. Whether you finally recognize that they actually have your best interests in mind or you forgive them for being flawed human beings, you can’t happily enter adulthood with that familial brand of resentment.
2. Kiss someone you think is out of your league; kiss models and med students and entrepreneurs with part-time lives in Dubai and don’t worry about if they’re going to call you afterward.
3. Minimize your passivity.
4. Work a service job to gain some understanding of how tipping works, how to keep your cool around assholes, how a few kind words can change someone’s day.
5. Recognize freedom as a 5:30 a.m. trip to the diner with a bunch of strangers you’ve just met.
6. Try not to beat yourself up over having obtained a ‘useless’ Bachelor’s Degree. Debt is hell, and things didn’t pan out quite like you expected, but you did get to go to college, and having a degree isn’t the worst thing in the world to have. We will figure this mess out, I think, probably; the point is you’re not worth less just because there hasn’t been an immediate pay off for going to school. Be patient, work with what you have, and remember that a lot of us are in this together.
7. If you’re employed in any capacity, open a savings account. You never know when you might be unemployed or in desperate need of getting away for a few days. Even $10 a week is $520 more a year than you would’ve had otherwise.
8. Make a habit of going outside, enjoying the light, relearning your friends, forgetting the internet.
9. Go on a 4-day, brunch-fueled bender.
10. Start a relationship with your crush by telling them that you want them. Directly. Like, look them in the face and say it to them. Say, I want you. I want to be with you.
11. Learn to say ‘no’ — to yourself. Don’t keep wearing high heels if you hate them; don’t keep smoking if you’re disgusted by the way you smell the morning after; stop wasting entire days on your couch if you’re going to complain about missing the sun.
12. Take time to revisit the places that made you who you are: the apartment you grew up in, your middle school, your hometown. These places may or may not be here forever; you definitely won’t be.
13. Find a hobby that makes being alone feel lovely and empowering and like something to look forward to.
14. Think you know yourself until you meet someone better than you.
15. Forget who you are, what your priorities are, and how a person should be.
16. Identify your fears and instead of letting them dictate your every move, find and talk to people who have overcome them. Don’t settle for experiencing .000002% of what the world has to offer because you’re afraid of getting on a plane.
17. Make a habit of cleaning up and letting go. Just because it fit at one point doesn’t mean you need to keep it forever — whether ‘it’ is your favorite pair of pants or your ex.
18. Stop hating yourself.
19. Go out and watch that movie, read that book, listen to that band you already lied about watching, reading, listening to.
20. Take advantage of health insurance while you have it.
21. Make a habit of telling people how you feel, whether it means writing a gushing fan-girl email to someone whose work you love or telling your boss why you deserve a raise.
22. Date someone who says, “I love you” first.
23. Leave the country under the premise of “finding yourself.” This will be unsuccessful. Places do not change people. Instead, do a lot of solo drinking, read a lot of books, have sex in dirty hostels, and come home when you start to miss it.
24. Suck it up and buy a Macbook Pro.
25. Quit that job that’s making you miserable, end the relationship that makes you act like a lunatic, lose the friend whose sole purpose in life is making you feel like you’re perpetually on the verge of vomiting. You’re young, you’re resilient, there are other jobs and relationships and friends if you’re patient and open.

Completed


1. We were never at war? Perhaps to truly say I have completed this one, we need to fight and make up? 

4. McDonalds and many other shitty service jobs, never again, never again.

6. A degree is what you make of it. 

7. Poor money management is something that drives me insane with the youth of today. 

11. My friend once told me I had a powerful, little dictator inside of me. Example - I bought phone credit once and accidentally threw the receipt out, I punished myself and went without phone credit for two weeks. 

17. I'm great at letting go! You have to do it like a band aid. Rip it off and let the fresh air sting the wound. The pain won't last long. (I did drag out my last break up for three months :/)

18. Haters gonna hate, I'm not a hater. Someone once told me I had the sunny disposition of someone who had been suicidal at some point. Compliment?

24. Done and done. But I don't miss home.

25. I think this one is very similar to 17.


To Do

3. Stand up for myself. IE Talk to my management about not having been paid. Nine weeks and counting...

8. I really like the Internet though. 

10. I think to do this one I will first need to find someone I am romantically interested in. Sigh.

 12. Thing are in the past for a reason, I'm not sure how I feel about that. California is really far away also. 



Not my cup of tea....

5. Is this talking about going to get food after a night out?

9. How is having brunch four day in a row a bender?

14. Is this telling you to lower yourself esteem? Think less of yourself?

15. I would think forgetting what your priorities would be a bad thing. Sure fire way to stray off your destined life plan. Perhaps that's the point?

19. Why would I lie about having seen a movie/read a book/ listened to a band? 

20. We have a good public health system in Australia

21. I don't want to write a fan girl email, ever. 

22. Does it matter who says in first? As long as you both love each other and the first time isn't via text message, on the other side of the world after you have been dating for eight months. (I'm looking at you Shane)

24. I will never be a slave to Apple. 


Monday, June 10, 2013

It's like putting all your eggs in one basket then...

It's like putting all your eggs in one basket, then forgetting the basket.

It's like putting all your eggs in one basket, then leaving the basket on the roof of your car as you drive off. 

It's like putting all your eggs in one basket, then leaving them at the check out after you've paid for them. 

It's like putting all your eggs in one basket, then tripping on the basket, falling into a mirror and smashing it into a million pieces. 

That's how I am currently feeling about this job.  I still haven't been paid, it's going on nine weeks. I've used all of my emergency money and currently have about $30 in my Australian bank account.

What am I going to do if they decide not to pay me?

I have put all my eggs in one basket and left said basket teetering on the edge of a cliff. The weather report is just in, there is a possibility of gale force winds. 

Do you know what I am going to spend that last $30 on though?

Krakow. 

Speaking of gale force winds, the storms in central Europe eased for a few days, the sun was shinning and it looked like summer was finally here. But not for long, more heavy rain predicted for the next few days. 


A storm is brewing over central Europe 

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Arts and craft time


You know you're a back packer

You know you're a back packer when you.......

  • Have been the smelly person on public transport.
  • Have grown a beard and think it's totally acceptable
  • Will take the bus for 24 hours if it means saving some money
  • Know how to pack light and what benefits it will hold later. No paying for checked baggage, no dragging luggage up six flights of stairs.
  • Have lived on nothing but bread for multiple days and don't think there is anything wrong with this diet.
  • Are not scared of situations when your probably should be. Over night train through eastern Europe  alone  - not a problem
  • Have lost a pair of shoes
  • Have walked 2 km in the rain to avoid paying for public transport
  • Have had someone cut your hair (or cut it yourself) with shoddy kitchen scissors
  • Know things aren't shaped by what you saw or did, but how you felt and the experience as a collective
  • Have travelled with someone and became subsequent best friends for a week
  • Have had a great night out with people you met less than 24 hours ago
  • Have ran for a bus/plane/train with a large back pack
  • Have got so drunk you don't know how you made it back to your hostel
  • Have gone multiple days without a shower. Twice a week is enough. 
  • Have heard someone or been the person to have sex in a dorm with other people in it
  • Have pilfered food from a free breakfast. (If you paid for breakfast you are allowed to pocket exactly double what you would have eaten for consumption at a later time.)
  • Have worn clothes that were in the lost and found.
  • Have missed a flight/plan/train
  • Have attempted hitch hiking
  • Guess people's nationality based on their luggage
  • Only know what day it is if you have a flight
  • Can scout out free WiFi in the most obscure places
  • Know no permanent address
  • Have owned and worn a pair of fisherman pants
  • Have a strict budget, except when it comes to alcohol
  • Know anything can be used as a towel
  • Scarves are magic. (towel, sarong, headscarf, cover up, etc.)

                     Conservative head scarf                                            Make shift hand bag

Use one scarf million different ways.




Most of all it's the night you'll never remember, with the people you'll never forget. 
NB I'm not quoting Drake.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

The occupants of households past

I was talking to an Irish girl in a hostel once, about room mates. I told her about the rag tag punch of misfits I've lived with in the past few years.
She thought it was great.
So here it goes again.



Morgan - Was a drug user, now a lesbian roller derby player

 I had just finished high school and was desperate to get out of my mothers house. Not being of legal age yet was proving to be a problem in procuring a home. I had worked with this girl named Morgan for about a month, she said she had a spare room. It was great at first, we got along well, we threw awesome themed parties, she let me use her ID. Then she started smoking a lot of pot, she lost her job, didn't get a new one and spent our rent money on weed.
Time in the house - 7 months

Adelle- The crazy Christian


I was desperate when I took the room in this house. I didn't know her, she was advertising online. I had just got back from an overseas trip and couldn't stand living with my mother any more. Adelle was (I presume still is) a strict Christian. She was engaged but didn't live with her fiancé. I have no problem with religion  to each his own, but she used to have her super judgmental bible study group come over every week. But the thing that really earned her place in the lunatic house mate hall of fame was the fact she kept a very large jar of chicken bones on the kitchen table. Something about good luck, wedding, I never really listened. It was gross. 
Time in the house - 8 months

Siobhan, Mark and someone else so forgettable I can't even remember his name.

This house was doomed from the start. I moved in with my friend, her boyfriend and his cousin. Can you pick the odd one out in that situation? It was ok a first, but I moved out after the boys put a dead crab in my bed. Probably  just a joke, but it was the icing on the cake.
Time in the house - 1.5 months

Marty and Ash. 
This house was really fun. I moved in here after having a pretty shitty break up. Ash is one of my best friends and he knew Marty through someone else. Marty was a social worker during the day and a drag queen who went by the name Martini Ice at night. This house was a debaucherous mess and great when you needed a costume for a party.
Time in the house - 7 months

The bat cave - dangerous to your mental health
All good thing must come to an end. With the previous house, Marty reached an age where he wanted to try living by himself so Ash and I moved on. Being poor students we took the first house we were offered with our poor credit history and limited income. We called it the bat cave, it was where dreams went to die. There was staples in the wall like they'd been filming porn in there, a hole in one of the bedrooms, an outside bathroom and no laundry. Oh, and the landlord was an insane devil woman who once woke me up by knocking on my bedroom window.
Time in the house - 9 months

Ash and myself find a friend; Bec the British bitch.
When we got jobs, we got out of the bat cave. We found a nice respectable house near the university. A girl I worked with moved in. It didn't end well. We signed a year long lease, she left after two weeks, she didn't give any notice and removed all her belonging while we were out getting hung over food one day. We got our pay back though.......
Then came Paul
A bipolar nutcase. He was a really nice guy, but he was six years older than us but acted six years younger. He made for some really great nights out, when he would blow his salary shouting us drinks.
Time in the house -12 months


Pip, Ashley Stacy , Jodie, Ray.
(My last home in Australia)

Ash and I went our separate ways. I moved into an all girl share house. There was Pip; the feisty flight attendant. Ashley; the lesbian professional dancer. And Stacey; the pathological liar with a dalmatian named Dexter.

Ashley got a cruise ship job and left, in moved Jodie. Jodie lost a lot of weight on the duramine diet and was paranoid about putting it back on. She didn't work, went to uni like two days a week, went to the gym twice a day and would try to force us into house weigh ins.

Stacey was convinced everyone was out to get her and moved out/got kicked out for not paying her rent.

In came Ray a girl who claimed to be a devout Christian but was super slutty as well. What ever makes you happy I guess.
Time in the house - 12 months

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Spring has arrived








It might not be the warm sunny spring I was expecting but it is beautiful nonetheless. Even with the torrential downpour. 


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

I'm trying to get in contact with an insurance agency back home. I imagine the poor chump who has to read the insurance enquiries/complaints must get pretty bored.  Hopefully they find my attempt at light hearted humour amusing.



Hello,

I had an insurance claim debt to your company from a few years ago that I didn't pay (whoops). You sent it to a collection agency and I am now paying it through them, direct debit from my bank account.

Clearly I like to ignore this debt, hence I didn't pay it, I have put it so far out of my mind I can't even remember what the collection agency's name is. I live abroad and all of the paper work they sent me was not something I chose packed when I left the country a year ago.

Moral of the story is I am changing my bank account and need to update the direct debit details (even though I really don't want to.) Could you please give me the name of the company, maybe a website/email address?

I was an RACQ member, but I let that expire along with my driver's licence. What can I say, I'm a flake.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

.......................