Made it to the USA Thursday

After over 24 hours of travel, I finally made it to the states yesterday evening. I'd been awake all day in Cairo, then up all night to catch my flight at 3am, then flying all day on three different flights to make it to Washington DC. The flight from Abu Dhabi to New York was 14 hours long, and I was really dreading it, but it turned out to not be so bad. The plane was over half empty, so I got three seats to myself. I shared them with an older Indian guy, but was able to lay down to sleep for a couple of long stretches. It really helped the flight go quicker, and I wasn't as exhausted as I could have been.

When I got to JFK airport in New York, I had to go through customs and all that jazz, then recheck in to catch my domestic flight. Made it through customs and immigration just fine, but the security stuff here is intense! I almost go turned away from a security check because my boarding pass only included my first initial and not my full name, but they let me through. Then I had to take off anything I was wearing that was metal and go through an xray machine! Yeah, they actually xray every single passenger. I was getting pretty fed up withthe airport by this time, so I was happy when I made it to my gate and could just wait for my connection. The flight from New York to Baltimore was well under an hour long, and the plane was tiny! The whatever you call an air hostesses it's a man only just had time to give everyone a drink before we were already landing.

At the airport I got my bag, got picked up, and here I am! I spent the day napping, reading, and exploring the area of the city I'm in. I was out walking for a while, and despite getting lost, must have looked like I knew where I was going because two people asked me for directions. Obviously, I couldn't help them. It's quite cold outside, but there isn't any snow. I was walking quite quickly, so stayed fairly warm, though. There wasn't anything really hugely different that I could see about America, other than its heaps more multicultural than NZ, both in terms of the people out on the street and the shops and restaurants. Might go try a restaurant tonight :)

Ok, that is all for today. I've been very tired and sore from all the flying yesterday. Hopefully I can get a good nights sleep tonight and do some proper sight seeing tomorrow.

Oh! And I nearly forgot! Suwon university offered me the job! I have over the weekend to get back to them. Awesome!

Job interview Tuesday

I just had an hour long job interview with Suwon University. I have no idea how well it went. I had prepared a full sheet of answers to common interview questions, but they asked me some really bizarre stuff. Well, the first guy did, and then the senior lady asked me regular stuff about my work history and teaching philosophy and whatnot. I think the first guy was trying to test my creative thinking and ability to deal with random stuff. His questions included things like "blue or red?"; "choose 5 CDs"; " are you a dandelion or an oak tree in terms of flexibility?"; and "would Ghandi make a good software engineer?". The last one was my favourite. It made for quite a fun interview. Interestingly, before we started, the guy was telling me not to worry and not to be nervous. I hadn't even thought to be nervous, he said it and I was thinking "oh yeah, some people do get nervous, don't they?". It hadn't even occurred to me.

Anyway, the job sounds really great, and I'll probably take it if they offer, but won't sweat it if they don't.

In other news, today is my last day in Egypt. I'm so excited! I've had enough of it now. Touring was fun, but I wouldn't want to live here. Today's plan includes sleeping, eating, and trying to find somewhere to print my boarding pass so I can check-in electronically for my flights and choose my seats early. Hopefully the hotel has a business center or something where I can print my forms.

That's all. Everything going to plan, my next post will be from America!

It's all over Sunday

The tour of Egypt finished last night and everyone left this morning. As usual, I was the only one not flying out directly after the end of the tour. The beauty of not having a job to go to, I guess. We had a farewell dinner last night, which was nice, and then hung out at the hotel bar until late. The trip was fantastic, but there's no one I'll really miss like on my contiki. 

Yesterday was a busy day, though. We were on the sleeper train in the morning and then went straight from there to the Egypt museum because if we went around lunch time like originally planned the protests might have interrupted our visit. The museum itself was intense. Without a guide you wouldn't know what just about anything was. Its simply packed full of artifacts and not even 10% of them have any information alongside. Our guide, Momo, came with us and talked us through the highlights of the museum. I enjoyed it, and so many of the artifacts are truly minblowing. However, museums are such dead places. Especially the Egyptian one, as most of the artifacts have to do with death, burial, and religion. I feel like I've been on a big tour of death related sites. I prefer living culture, although the old old stuff here in Egypt is amazing. I would have liked this tour, and my last one in Italy, to know more about who lives in the country now and how they live and whatnot. I'm hoping my time in America will change this pace a bit.

Speaking of the US, touch wood, everything is set for me to arrive there late on Wednesday. I've got flights, a visa, and Frank is coming to get me from the airport. I don't have any concrete plans of what to do once I'm there, I'll just see what I feel like.

Ok, that is all for today. Here's my top five things about Egypt:

1) the weather! I love sunshine, and that's pretty much what you get 24/7 here.

2) the food. While I haven't eaten anything truly amazing, it's all been very nice and I've tried a few different things.

3) sailing down the Nile in a felucca. It was a lot of fun and a really good experience.

4) riding in a hot air balloon! I didn't expect it to feel so safe.

5) getting to actually climb and sit on the great pyramid. I didn't think we'd even be allowed to touch them, but we had a lot of freedom to clamber all over. It was really special.

Two days on a felucca Wednesday

It's Wednesday night and I've spent the past day and a half on a boat on the river Nile! It's been mostly uneventful, not really much to report. It's been super relaxed and amazingly beautiful. The boat is basically one big bed with pillows mad blankets, and the roof is solid so you can go up there and sunbathe or whatever. I've had a lot of sun today! The crew has been cooking for us, and we've had some really nice food. I'll be glad to get off tomorrow and shower and use a toilet, but this has been really fun!

After I wrote the above paragraph, the felucca trip got even better! We docked for the night on a small beach and after dinner the Cree of our Noah made a small bonfire. Our whole group went and joined them and they played us some traditional songs using a couple of drums they'd brought with them. It was a lot of fun!

Now I'm off the felucca and in the hotel in Luxor. It's very nice! Tonight we've got a night tour of Luxor temple and dinner. Tomorrow is the hot airballoon, some sight seeing, and then sleeper train overnight to Cairo. I'm trying to book a hotel in Cairo for two extra nights, but the one I tried originally hasn't gotten back to me. I'll try them again in the morning.

Back on the sleeper train Friday

Thursday was spent recovering from the felucca trip :) I got a room mate for one night in the hotel, but she was nice. We went to two temples in morning, freshened up at the hotel, and then went to see Luxor temple by night. It was very cool to see such a magnificent temple all lit up! It was very beautiful. Then we went for a group dinner at a Egyptian buffet, which was nice, but not amazing.

This morning I had to wake up at 4.30 to go on my hot air balloon ride! It was still dark and pretty cold. The hot air balloons bare so big! They lay them out on the group and slowly inflate them with hot air. Then you get into the basket and they fire up the gas frame thing and you lift off and float away. I was a little bit scared to begin with, and I wasn't sure how well I'd handle the hight and being suspended so high by just some hot air, a balloon, and a basket - but I was totally fine. It was a wonderful experience. The balloon was so stable and quiet, and watching the sun rise over the Nile and seeing all the other balloons in the sky was really awesome. I enjoyed hot air ballooning a lot!

When we landed, we met up with the rest of the group (not everyone went up) and travelled a little ways to the valley of the kings. It's where a whole lot of very intact tombs are, many of which still have all the original art and colours in them. The art is similar to all the rest of the ruins, but being able to see the colours was really special. We got access to three tombs, and all the ones I saw were gorgeous. I liked the paintings of birds the best.

After that we went to the temple of a the only female phaero. It was not very interesting. So, we left and had a yummy group lunch at a local Egyptian restaurant. After lunch it was time for the last temple of the tour. We were all kind of breathing a sigh of relief about that. We sure have seen a lotion temples. This one was pretty great, though. It's the biggest temple in the world, apparently. Covering 45 acres of land! We only saw part of it, but it was pretty intact and very interesting. I enjoyed that one.

Then it was time to go back to the hotel to freshen up for our overnight train trip. We ended up in our tour guides room eating McDonald's :) the group has really improved over the last couple Mondays, and is a lot of fun now. So, now I'm on the sleeper train, with a cabin oneself again. Time to go to bed and retreads forth last day of the tour tomorrow.

Shisha Monday

Sleeping on the trains last night went really well. I did end up having the compartment to myself, so I got a pretty relaxed and uninterrupted sleep. We got into Aswan by around 12pm, so 15 hours on the train. We transferred to our hotel, freshener up, I used the internet briefly, and then it was off to see the Aswan dam mad the huge man made lake behind it. It's very big! It has enough water in it to supply 80 million people for 20 Yeats, apparently. It wasn't very exciting, though, just a dam and a lake. Dams kind of freak me out, so I was happy to leave. Then we caught a small boat to a tiny island with a temple on it. The temple used to be just off the island, but when they built the dam, it went underwater, so they relocated it after about 60 years. It was from the Greek and Roman times, and covered in carvings and hieroglyphs. We were there while the sun was setting, and it was beautiful!

Then we came back to the hotel quickly, and then went for a short walk around the spice market across the road. It had a lot of amazing smelling spices! But nothing I wanted to buy. Then we caught a boat to an island in the Nile... oh, I forgot to mention the hotel is right on the edge of the Nile, its gorgeous! Anyway, we went to an island with a Nubian restaurant on it. Nubians are the native people of the area. We had a selection of Egyptian salad type things, rice with cinnamon, and beef tagine for dinner. It was very nice!

Then we caught the boat back and our tour guide organised a van for some of us to go to a traditional coffee shop. Nearly everyone went, and the guide paid for the whole thing himself, even the coffee shop! At the coffee shop, which was an old Nubian house on top of a hill with sand floors, I had a mint tea and tried smoking the shisha. There were four flavours, but they all tasted the same to me, just sort of sweet. Having never smoked anything before in my life, I have nothing to compare it to. It wasn't horrible, but wasn't anything special. I certainly wouldn't rush to do it again. But, I'm glad I tried it :)

And that is all for today. I'm really tired now. In the morning most of the GroupWise doing a six hour round bus trip to a temple, but I'm staying behind. I'm going to sleep in, have a swim in the pool and organise my stuff for going on the sailing boat for two nights. Sounds much better than getting up at 3am to see ANOTHER temple and spend 6 more hours on a bus!

Started the tour Saturday

I checked out of my central Cairo hostel this morning. I'm not sorry to see the end of that place. Tiger print bedspreads, loud street noises and a bunch of huge bugs that crawled out the drain in the bathroom every night. There's a reason some of these places are cheap :) the new hotel is utter luxurious in comparison. I've not time to enjoy the huge gardens, gym, or pool, but I am enjoying the clean bathroom and double bed. It seems I've got a room to myself tonight. That or the other person isn't arriving until late and is going to wake me up in the middle of the night.

Anyway, while today is day 1, we don't actually do anything until tomorrow. I was lucky enough to get here in time to go on an afternoon tour of Cairo with four other people who are also on the tour. Apparently there'll be about 17 people all up, but I guess they hadn't arrived yet. The tour was good, but it was nearly entirely look at churches and mosques. I'm so over religious buildings after Italy! The other four people were Australian and were nice, but not overly friendly or anything. I think it'll be hard to beat, or even match, the social aspect of the contiki trip. The more I think about that trip, the more I realised I enjoyed it. I'd definitely consider doing another in the future.

So, religious sites in Cairo... really really old churches and mosques and stuff. Very beautiful, very dusty. From the van I also saw pyramids and the Nile! The pyramidal are first on the list for tomorrow, and I'm pretty excited to see them. I could have gone to a light show tonight where they shine multicolored lights on them, but it sounded pretty tacky. I'd rather see them normally, I think.

Only problem with this hotel is that they don't have free WiFi. I mean seriously, in this day and age, who makes you pay for WiFi with your room? I can pay $20 a night and get it free, or $180 and have to pay? Cheap buggers. But, I think I'll buy some time tomorrow morning, because tomorrow night we're in a sleeper train, and I want to hear from my mum and stuff.

That's all :)

Pyramids on a Sunday

Well, I ended up having a whole room to myself last night, and it looks like I'm getting sleeper compartment to myself too. Old me would think that was great, but new me isn't so sure. You dent have anyone to talk to! But, on the other hand, there's no chance of crazies. Speaking of crazies, everyone in the tour seems nice. There's quite a mix kf younger and older people, but no older married couples. There's a few older ladies, one who's travelling alone and a couple who are traveling with their daughters. There're a few younger couples, and a couple of single traveller guys, making up a group of 16. Much smaller than contiki! We've had good fun today, and have just set of on the sleeper train for Aswan.

Today I woke up, had a pretty good breakfast at the hostel, met up with the whole group, and then went to see some pyramids! We first went to the great pyramid, which is the biggest pyramid in the world. We were actually able to climb on it! Because of the revolution and political unrest in Egypt, not to mention the bad rep Muslims get, tourism here is way down, so many of the sites were rather deserted. Awesome for us! So, we got to climb on the pyramid and take lots of photos. Then we went to a slightly smaller one and were able to climb down a very small tunnel into the heart of the pyramid. That was cool! Then we went to a plateau in the Sahara where we're could see all 3 pyramids in the Giza area, took lots of photos, plus a group pic. Then I rode a camel! It was amazing. Camels are actually very tall animals, who walk in a very jerky way. I'm glad I only had to ride it for 15 minutes, I'd be pretty sore otherwise! As it is, my camel decided it really like another camel and walked so close to it my foot got a bit squashed. Now I have a bruised ankle on the same leg as my sore knee :)

Then we went to a place and saw them make traditional papyrus. They had some amazing paintings on sale, painted on the papyrus, so I bought a couple. I'm not buying many souvenirs this trip, but what I am buying I think is really quality stuff that the places I'm going are famous for. My painting in Rome, my ring in Florence, my glass necklace in Venice, and now papyrus in Cairo. Very cool!

After that we drove 45 minutes to the step pyramid, which is the oldest pyramid in the world. It's nearly 5000 years old! In that area there was also and amazing tomb that still had really well preserved wall art carved in the stone walls. In some areas there was even some colour preserved, and the hieroglyphs were fascinating. That may have been my favourite thing in the whole day. Sometimes the huge magnificent things are almost too overwhelming, and it's the smaller details that make a more lasting impression. The pyramids were simply amazing, though.

It was about 3.30 by then, and we got taken to a restaurant for a Kate lunch. We had mixed grilled meats, Egyptian style, fresh Egyptian bread, babaghanoush, and fresh mango juice. It was all nice, but the mango juice was so so so good!

Then, it was back to the hotel to freshen up before riding to the train station, boarding the trains, and here I am. We got a train dinner, which was like the meals you get on an aeroplane. My little room on the train has a door and a little sink, and towels, and everything! For someone who's only experience of sleeper trains is China, this is luxury! I'm quite easily impressed, it seems :)

So, today has been a lovely day. I'm hoping to get an internet connection tomorrow morning at out next hotel. If not, I'll have to go and find a coffee shop with free WiFi in the afternoon.

That's all in terms of activities. Some of the group is going to hang out in the club adjust now, but it's nearly 11pm, so I'm going to try and sleep.

In terms of deep and meaningful thoughts, not much! I've been finally too busy to overanalyse :) it is getting a bit tricky to answer all those questions people ask when you just meet them, though. Where are you from is easy, but where do you live is hard. I don't live anywhere right now. What do you do is easy, where do you work, the answer is nowhere, which weird people out. Where are you going next is easy, how long, what will you do there and why is not! Um, dunno how long, no plans of what to do, and well, I meet this guy a week ago... so I have no home, no job, and am travelling to a country with no plan and no set duration to see a guy I met in Italy. It makes perfect sense to me, but I think it sounds kind of odd to others.

Ok, bed time!

Hiding in my room Friday

I've been inside most of the day today, but it got to lunchtime, and I needed, well, lunch. I figured if I walked to a bakery I'd seen in the opposite direction from the protests, it'd be fine. I had a little wander around, then went to the bakery. It was really flash, but all the prices were in Arabic. Still, I picked out a couple of nice looking things mad bought them. I got what I guess is an Egyptian version of pizza bread with different spices and stuff on it. It's really nice! And then what seems to be deepfried doughnut, soaked in syrup and filled with cream and pistachios. So sweet, but nice too. And it all cost me under a dollar!

But anyway, then I went to leave the bakery, and there was a protest march going on right past the door. No one seemed worried like last time, it was just a big bunch of people walking sown the road chanting, clapping, and waving flags. Still, I didn't really want to be anywhere near it, so I justvwaited for it to be gone and turned down another street and made my way back home. Reports predict increasing numbers of marches and probably escalating violence as the afternoon continues, so imma just stay here in my hostel. Tomorrow's hotel is ages away from here, out in its own grounds and stuff, so I'll be pleased to get out there. Though, I feel safe enough here, just not outside :)

In other news, Matt booked my US tickets! I'll be there in the evening of the 19th of December!

Sam's five things about staying inside and not getting injured in political riots:

1) it gives you heaps of time to email all your friends and family and facebook stalk everyone you know. And everyone they know.

2) I'm really really clean now. Showering becomes fun.

3) the air in my room doesn't smell like cigarette smoke or car fumes and it's nice and cool.

4) maybe my knee will finally get its act together.

5) I'm going to REALLY appreciate this tour! Even if it sucks and the people on it are horrible, at least I'll be doing something and not alone. Though, the people must be pretty ok sorts to be travelling to Egypt just now.

What I want (countering the guilt)

WARNING! Introspective crappy personal post ahead.

I feel incredibly guilty about Andy. And I feel guilty towards both myself, and to a certain degree, Frank, for feeling guilty in the first place. What a mess of emotions.

I fell so quickly and completely out of love with Andy. All it took were some conversations with other people about him and my issues, and all of a sudden it was gone. When Frank's said to me something like 'so why are you with this guy?' and all I could come up with was that he was nice. Which is unfair. he has a lot of excellent qualities. What was telling was that I couldn't/can't think of them. What I admired most about him was his strength, and when he broke up with me because of his parents, it destroyed something. I know he tried to fix it, but I think my respect was already too far gone. What's a rationalisation, and what's real? This is not a list of what was wrong with that relationship. Perhaps when Andy told me that it wasn't that I didn't want to get married, I just didn't want to marry him, he was right. We'll come back to this marriage issue another day.

But, here's what I do want. And it'd do me well to keep this in mind as I move forward.

I started writing a list. This is Sam's five things, after all, and who doesn't love a good list? But I think what I want can be summed up more simply than a list.

I want a partner.

I've never really felt that before. I think my mum and dad have it, but I haven't. Up until Andy, the guys I dated were not my equal in some way. They were happy to let me do the work, or the thinking, or set the pace, the tone, whatever. Not that they were less than me, I just never felt like we were working together as a team. I want to be a team. Andy was too far the other way. He wanted all the control. He told me once he thought we could never work out because I was too strong. There was no sense of sharing or joint decision making, really he wanted to make the decisions and have me be happy with them.

I'd say my family is a model of what I want, which gives me hope I can have it too (or again). Mum and dad are partners with different strengths and ideas who work hard together. Our family as a whole is a team, each putting one another first when need be and working together. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, and sometimes you're carried. Idealised, yes, but basically true.

So, now all I need to do is find my partner. Right?

I smell like cigarettes Thursday

Today I decided to spend most of the day pretending I wasn't alone and scared in Cairo. I went to the City Stars shopping mall way over the other side of the city. It's the biggest mall they have, and was pretty nice. They had all stuff I recognised, and no one bothered me at all. Not an Egyptian experience at all, but that wasn't what I wanted anyway. So far I'm not super keen on this whole Egypt thing, and there's supposed to be some more problems tomorrow, so I'll probably just hang around close to my hostel for the day.

I did have one 'you're in Egypt' experience today, and that was my taxi ride back from the mall. There are no seat belts in the back seats of cars here, so you have to brave that, and the traffic is crazy. Then I realised that my taxi driver had a tv for a rearview mirror and was watching 'The Avenger' while driving, and smoking, despite the big no smoking sticker on the front window. He also had some sort of gangster rap/dub step CD playing rather loudly, and then proceeded to get lost in the streets around my hostel and drive around asking for directions. Which cost me like an exta $3! I'm feeling a bit sick now from the driving and smoke, but I'm ok. On the bright side I got a couple of nice new clothes, and some moisturiser. I don't know what's in the water of these countries, but it's harsh!

So, what else is going on? I'm inching day by day closer towards booking my tickets to the US. I think I'm going to fly direct from Cairo, but book myself a niceish hotel in a nicer area for a couple of days instead of a hostel for the time between when my tour ends and I fly out. Just to preserve my sanity.

Here's five things for Thursday:
1) I had Starbucks. It was good. I'm not sorry.

2) I had a good look around a huge Egyptian supermarket. There wasn't much weird stuff, sadly, but it was interesting.

3) I survived two taxi rides through the city. It really is best not to look.

4) I actually bought something while I was shopping :)

5) I felt safe today.

Cairo's not making a great first impression Wednesday

All I wanted to do today was go to the museum. I finally mustered up the courage to leave my hostel to brave the streets alone. I'm in the downtown area of Cairo and it's very busy, dirty, dusty and loud. I don't mind so much, you just have to be careful not to fall down the holes in the sidewalk. It's not even too hot, just t-shirt or light cardigan weather, which is nice. I haven't even been majorly hassled on the street, just a couple of people trying to talk or ask me into their shops, nothing very annoying.

The problems arose when I got down the end of the area to visit the museum. I made it down there and it's on the other side of like a billion lane highway thingies. I stopped to ponder my options and a guy asked if I was trying to get to the museum. I said yeah I was. He said 'oh, don't go right now, there's a demonstration just down there. It's very dangerous. It should be over in half an hour, come see my gold shop while you wait'. I was like... hmmmm, right, no thanks. But then I continued down the footpath and there was all this barbed wire hung across it and people in a huge crowd on the other side of the street with flags and stuff. So, I left.

I walked around for about an hour, just exploring the area. Nothing very exciting, just tiny shops and souvenir places. Then I decided to go back down and see if I could go to the museum yet. Again, I'm pondering my road crossing options and a young guys comes up and is like 'it's group time at the museum now, if you come back at 2pm the groups will be gone and the tickets will be cheaper. If you go now it'll be really crowded'. Ok, thanks. So, I went and got some lunch.

Then, at 2pm I AGAIN try to get to the museum. A guy tells me I can cross the road at the subway station, can I please come see his paintings. I tried to find the subway, failed, so had to cross the 6 billion lane highway. It wasn't so bad if you don't mind near-death experiences. So, I now made it to the same side of the road as the museum. I walk alongside it looking for the way in. The entrance is barricaded. With armed guards. Super. Yet another guy comes up and asks me where I'm going. I said I'm trying to go to the museum. And then it got scary.

He was like 'no, you have to leave here, its very dangerous... everyone else is leaving', and as he said that, people stated running away down the street, shops started closing and pulling down rolling metal doors, sirens started.... So, he leads me away down the street telling me there's a demonstration going on and it's not safe. He took my hand and rushed me across the road and down the street. People are running down the sidewalk past us, and he's going 'where is your hotel? Can you get back to your hotel?'. Then he was like 'come in this shop, you'll be safe'. I was afraid, but I wasn't going in any tiny shop with him. I was just like thanks for the help, I'm going now, ducked down the nearest smaller street leading away from the problems and walked really fast. As I got away from the main area things calmed down, and up by my hostel things seem normal. Well, I guess they are. I won't be going back down there again.

So, now I'm sick, dusty, scared, and the internet just stopped working. Bah!
What do I do now? Hide in my hostel and eat at the McDonald's across the road until my tour starts? I've got a day trip to Alexandria tomorrow, which I'll go on, but what do I do with Cairo? As I said, not a great first impression and apparently Friday is a dangerous day too.

As you can imagine, I'm not feeling very comfortable. So, scared, sick, sore knee, and don't want to get shot in the head by Muslim extremists - I think I'll just chill in my room for the afternoon. Mum, don't freak out. I'm ok.

Made it to Egypt Tuesday

The flight from Rome to Cairo is really short! Not even two hours, but it still takes all day to travel. I caught the bus to the Rome airport this morning, did all the checking in business, sat on the plane for three hours, got off, got money, got a visa, got out into Cairo, found my driver and made it to my hostel. Phew!

I arrived after dark, sonic glad I had a driver, but I had a good look out the windows as we drove in, and the area of town I'm in is very well lit and lots of people around, so I think I'd be all right out there at night. I'm in the downtown area of Cairo, and there are a lot, a lot, a lot of shops! All selling like a million versions of the same thing. Like the shoe shop has so many shoes there's no room for customers.

My hostel is pretty run down, but I can deal with it. I'm glad I have earplugs. Honking car horns seems to be a national sport. I've got a room with three beds in it... I'm assuming that since I booked, a private room that I'll be the only one in here. And, as an extra bonus, because I'm staying for 4 night, my airport pickup was free!

I've organised a private tour to Alexandria with a guide on Thursday, for only $100, which seems very reasonable. It's an all day thing, so should keep me busy. I'm pretty scared of Egypt, so I'll have to explore gently tomorrow. The museum seems like good idea?

I'm so tired tonight! I then I'm getting the cold everyone had on contiki. I blame you, Frank.
So, Sam's top five things about travel days:

1) Not having to plan to entertain yourself, all you have to do is go where they tell you.

2) the excitement of going somewhere new.

3) the feelings of 'moving forward' that come with this kind of travel.

4) spending the last dregs of your currency on candy.

5) finally getting where you're going and being able to go to sleep.

Slightly melancholy Monday

Just a quiet day today. I've been feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself after yesterday's impressive display of upbeat enthusiasm. I went for a big last walk around Rome, which is just as beautiful as when I arrived, only now it's filled with memories too, making it really special. I took one last walk around where I ate my first gelato, where I laughed with Ange and Vicki, and where Frank and I made wishes on coins in the fountain. Pretty awesome :) I miss my friends!

Sometime it seems to me like 2012 has been a year of goodbyes. You'd think that would have been 2011 when I left for Korea, but I have had to say goodbye to so many amazing people this year. Courtney, Amy, Laura, Brook, Andy, Ange, Vicki, Frank, Mum, Dad, Matt, Jessie (dogs totally count), and Jen. Some of them are gone from my life almost entirely, but others have stayed, and I love you for that!

But anyway, enough on that. I'm off to Egypt tomorrow, which is cause for celebration! I've just been doing a bit of research online, and I've got a few activities in mind to keep me busy for my 3 alone days. I'm foreseeing a trip to McDonald's in my near future though... I'm not sure why, but I want a hamburger. I NEVER eat it at home, but when travelling it can be a weird comfort :) Other than that, I'm gonna get me some goat meat, and all kinds of Egyptian food! I want to do a day trip to Alexandria, which is apparently beautiful, go to the Egyptian Museum, and visit the Kahn el Kahlili markets. And I need to take more photos! I'm not taking enough. I came across a tour you can do in Cairo that's a photography day trip and they take you places and teach you how to take better pictures. It was pretty expensive for what it was, though, so I might not do it. Depending on how things go in the next little while, I might need all the money I can save.

Speaking of that, I heard from Frank and he is genuinely interested in going to Thailand with me, which is simply awesome. Have to wait and see if he can get the time off work and start planning from there. I'm trying (mostly in vain) not to worry about it. How on earth is it that you can be more concerned with a crush on a guy than the fact that you're about to go to Egypt, see pyramids, and ride in a freaking hot air balloon? My brain confuses me sometimes!

And you guys remember negative Nathan? Well, I got back in touch with him a while ago because I thought I was going back to Korea and still wanted to be friends. Well, I don't think I want to be his friend at all. He really is just too negative, and he actively hates all things Asian, specifically Korean. So, what's the best way to dump a friend? Tell him, or just taper off the communication? Yeah, I know. If it was me I'd want to be told. So, That's two guys I have to tell that I don't want to really know them anymore. Ugh, year of goodbyes!

Ok, I'm off for my last meal in Italy. I'm going to the airport in the morning to fly to Egypt just after midday. Actually, on closer analysis, I am really very excited :)

A holiday from my holiday Sunday

I had a great Skype chat with mum last night :) I'd cheered up a lot by then and was feeling pretty good, so I went to bed happy. Today I've emailed both Jen and Matt to catch up, cos I've been a total communication slacker during the tour. I was too busy to email!

Today's been a really relaxing day. I've been just reading, walking, sleeping, and eating. I'm trying to sit as much as possible to rest my knee.

But, mostly what I've been doing today is thinking. So much thinking! Why is it that some decisions are so hard to make and others just fall into place like it was all just what you should have wanted in the first place? All That worry and fuss over Andy and now I'm trying to decide how to best tell him I wont be coming back. The thing that really gets me is that I'm not sad about it. Hugely guilty, but not upset. Even if Frank wants nothing to do with me ever again, he's opened my eyes to how things could be, and I want a part of that. I'm certainly having some adventure, that's for sure!

Here's five things I love today:

1) My friends and family. You guys are so crazy supportive of all my life! I love ya.

2) Hot showers. They can temporarily make just about anything feel ok.

3) My puzzle ring from Florence. I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I love wearing it.

4) Photos! I've just been looking back through a bunch of picture from the last 5 or so years. So many good things to remember.

5) Looking forward. Just like I've been enjoying looking back, I've also had some fun looking forward today. The future is completely uncertain, and I'm strangely ok with that. I have no concrete idea of what I'll be doing, or even what country I'll be in in three weeks time, but that's ok. Am I finally learning to deal better with change? Wouldn't that be nice!

Contiki Catch Up

Please forgive all the horrible typos. I'm writing this on my tablet while on the bus, and the autocorrect paired with a moving vehicle mean this post is a disaster area. I'm too lazy to fix it all though. So, just the best you can :)

Right, so where was I up to on the days? Did I tell you about Pompeii? Well, it was awesome! The amazing history's all so visible and available to seemed feel. The guide was interesting and passionate and the whole day was great. The next day was in Naples too, and I went on quest to find the eat pray love pizza place. The internet told me it was amazingly life changing pizza, but I was super underwhelmed. I had the magherita with extra buffalo mozzarella and itdidnt really have that much flavour. It was also a littleburnt from the wildfire pizza oven.it was verycheap, but not really the experience I was expecting. However, I made up for it by going to an amazing gelato store. First I walked down all these alleyways and came across a big section of market selling stuff to make your own Christmas nativity scenes. There's so muchstuff, just like for townhouses, only it was Christmas. It was pretty cool! Anyway, then I found the gelato place and had a chocolate one and a caramel nut one. Very good ice cream! Then I walked to the botanical gardens, but they were closed :( so, I wandered the city a but then called it a day.

Then the next day was Saturday. I caught the train back to Rome then found the starting hotel for the contiki tour. Now, I'm just going to give a bare bones description of everthingnive done since joining up with the tour a couple of days ago because it's too much to write otherwise!
So, I made it to the hotel without much trouble and met my room mate. She is awesome, we are about the same age, and she's doing her PhD, so we have lots to talk about and she and I seem to enjoy similar things and get on well. She's really nice and not annoying at all :) so, that's great! And there's another girl, Vikings from Canada who's lovely too. Oh, my room mate is Ange from NZ. I've also met a really nice guy from California named Frank... I know right mum? Haha! Anyway, he's a real life doctor! Nice guy, great sense of humour :) I've spent a fair bit of time with him and it's quite refreshing because he likes to talk about all kinds of things, not just sport and whatever like a lot of guys you meet. Plus, a lot of the people on this tour are like 18, 19 years old and I feel so old! Haha, they seem so young (not to mention a tad dumb at times). But there's plenty of peeps my age too. Some really nice fun people!

So, Saturday we met up in the afternoon and had a tour meeting. Then we went for dinner at pizza place in Rome.there was live entertainment with a piano player and an old dodgy guys singing sleepy Roman love songs. It was funny, and the pizza was nice.

Then, on Sunday it was time to see the coloseum. We had a local guide, a lovely old granddad called Pietro. He took us through colosseum and the Roman forum, both of which were awesome. I especially liked the colosseum, it really easy to imagine the emperors and gladiators and everything. Amazing buildings! After that it was lunch time so the group went to a cafe high on the hill to look out over Rome. Then we had a walking tour Moffat all replaces
I'd already visited, but I went anyway because they are so awesome. I got another gelato from the great gelato places and threw some coins in the trevi fountain tainted for luck and some wishes. I also bought a small watercolor painting of the fountain because it's my favourite thing in Rome. After through walking tour we had some free time. Ange, Vicki, Frank and I hung out together and went to an amazing old church, then frank and I wen4 to a museum, then we met back upland went back to th3 hotel to meet for dinner. Some of the group, US included, went to dinner at a restaurant where there was live entertainment, opera singing! We had a 4 course meal of eggplant and mozzarella, then two types of pasta, 4hen veal and veg, then creme caramels. The meal was mediocre, but fun. The creme caramels sucked!

Ok, big break in writing here! The next section was written a few days later:

Ok, now I don't remember wherein was up to. The start of contiki? The second day? I don't think I wrote about Florence.

We got on the bus in the in the afternoon after the Vatican. The paintings in the Sistine chapel were simply amazing, I really enjoyed it! Then we hopped on the bus to Florence. Florence was great too. Apart from the rain! We went on a walking tour of Florence. It's so beautiful! But it starTed pouring with rain. Ange, Vicki, Frank, and I walked around lots, and got really really soaking wet. We went to a pretty cool museum in a palace during a thunderstorm - was awesome :) we had a group dinner of meatballs and then went to a karaoke bar, which was fun. I didn't sing, but I did dance.

The second night in Florence was a special Tuscan dinner. I sat with a really fun group and we had four courses: bruschetta and salami, some pasta, roast pork, and tiramisu for dessert. It was a lovely meal, made all the better by the friendly waitstaff. If there's one complaint I have about Italy, its that nearly all the restaurant staff are a bit rude and abrupt. It makes the nice ones really stand out.  

The next day was a medieval village and a wine tasting. I tried it all. I had no idea what I was drinking, but some of it I liked and some not so much. That night Frank and I shared a really big t-bone streak, and it was super yum! Then we went for a walk around the city and hung out for a while. He is amazingly easy to talk to. I haven't talked to a guy this much, with this much mutual interest and understanding for a very long time. Frank has sort of made me realise that a relationship with a guy doesn't have to be so much work. With Brook there was so much work to keep myself happy because he couldn't do it, and with Andy there is so much work just communicate normally. Or at all really. We've never talked like I've talked to Frank these past few days. And I've also come to realise how serious Andy is and how I don't bring up certain subjects with him because I know they will make him grumpy or upset, or I don't bother because I know he won't understand. Not just from a language barrier point of view, but just because he won't understand on a personal or cultural level. I'm thinking this is not what I want in a life partner.

But anyway,  back to the tour...   Today we are back on the bus headed for Pisa and Verona, and finally Venice. I'm happy we've got two days left but also sad. But, it's possible Frank and I might do some more travel together in the future, which would be awesome.   But, I'm starting to get a bit bummed about my career prospects in Korea. They're really not that great and I'm not sure what to do about it. I might do some online teaching and work on my writing. If I can make enough to live off that way. But the thought of teaching kindergarten with only 10 days break in a year is a bit disheartening.

*   *     *  

Ok, it's now Saturday and the contiki tour is over. I'm on the bus headed back to Rome. Vicky left yesterday, Frank left this morning, early, and I left Ange at the hotel. So, where was I up to? I know this is an extremelybare bones account of my tour, but there is just too much that went on, both in terms of travel and emotionally to sum up here without writing a novel!  

So, on the bus headed for Pisa, Verona, and Venice. We got to Pisa and it was really cool. I took about a million photos of the leaning tower! Its really, really leaning! Frank and I hungout together again (are you seeing a theme here?), and explored one of the churches near the leaning tower. Man, if there's one thing Italy does exceptionally well, it's churches! After some free time exploring Pisa we were back on the bus bound for Verona.   Sadly, by the time we made it to Verona it was, again, pouring with rain, and also dark. And cold! But, rain, darkness and cold are excellent, and valid, excuses to cuddle certain people :) we saw a few of the alleged places from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a pretty swollen river, and stopped off in a church where a choir was singing. I really liked that, the choir was lovely and I can see why they have them. The sound of the singing in the beautiful space of the church is really special.

Then we joined the group for dinner. We had a selection of pastas and stuff. It was ok. Then, back on the bus headed for Venice. We arrived at about 10.30 at night, and Ange and I just went straight to bed.   The next day, Friday, was cold, dark, and wet. We got the bus to the ferry and then the ferry to Venice, which was flooded! They put out all these platforms to walk on above the water so you can get around. It was probably coldest day of my life! I should have worn my big down jacket, but I didn't want to get it wet and then have to transport it. So, I was just wearing a jumper and it was COLD!   Anyway, we got to Venice and went to a glass blowing demonstration, which was amazing! The artists, or whatever you call a glass blower, just casually put together these beautiful glass things like a vase and a horse. It was like magic to watch. Then we went to the shop section and I bought a glass necklace, which I love. It's red and gold, which are currently my favourite colours.

Then we had walking tour which was really lame because too many of the streets were flooded, so it was long, cold, and not that interesting. When we'd finished that, Frank and I, once again, teamed up and explored the city. We went to another amazing church, which had beautiful mosaic murals on the walls and ceilings. Then we went up the bell tower, which in hindsite was a bad idea because it was open up there, and the wind and rain were fierce. It was so, so cold! But the view was amazing. We stayed up as long as we could bare it, then headed down to go to a museum.   The museum was actually great, but full of stairs, which really hurt my knee. But, I made it upland down about a billion stairs to see some amazing paintings, some huge swords, and some creepy dungeons. The museum was in an old palace, which certainly makes for an impressive setting!

After that it was time to meet up with the group for a gondola ride. Ange and I chose not to go, and I'm glad we did. It was so cold a dark! Instead we went and did some shopping for Ange. Then, back to the group for dinner.   It was our farewell dinner, and everyone was in a good mood. I had an excelent night and nice food. I haven't laughed as much as I haven this tour for so, so long. Andy is a lot of things, but funny isn't really one of them. Anyway, laughing is great :) after dinner caught the ferry back to the bus, and drove back to the hotel. Because it was the last night, everyone wanted to hang out together. I don't think the hotel was too keen on it, but we all managed to get together for a while. Ange left quite early. I really like her, but I don't think she's a very social person, and has a bit of a bad habit of looking down on people who she doesn't like much. But anyway, I hung out with Frank all night, until he left at 5.30 this morning. So I didn't sleep at all apart from a couple hours between 5.30and when the bus for Rome left at 7.30. I did pretty well saying goodbye to everyone, and managed not to cry. I kind of had to leave Frank waiting for his bus alone though,  because if I waited with him would have cried. So, sorry Frank, I wasnt running away from you, I just didn't want to cry all over you.  

So, I'm now about halfway back to Rome. I'm looking forward to being back there, I really love that city. I'm going to take it easy for a couple of days before I fly to Egypt, both to recover from contiki and to rest my knee. And to try and sort myself out emotionally. I seem to be wanting something very different now from what I thought I wanted a week ago. Possibly its time reassess the plan. Or make an entirely new one.

*      *      *

Ok, made it to my hotel in Rome, and now I'm crying. Feeling the comedown from such fun group travel, I guess. And, of course, saying goodbye to Frank. I'm not sure what to do about that one. Well, I know what I want.

Ok, Sam's five things on contiki Italy:
1) Frank, hands down.

2) Ange and Vicki, awesome friends.

3) Thunderstorms in Florence.

4) Gelato.

5) the Vatican

Naples Thursday

So, I actually arrived in Naples yesterday, but didn't feel like blogging. I caught the train down from Rome, it only takes two hours. I was actually kind of scared to come to Naples as everyone I spoke to was like "you're going to Naples alone? Watch out, I got pick pocketed there!", or something similar. Or yelled at or followed or whatever. Well, it is WAY different to Rome, but I don't feel that it's all that much more dangerous. I was halfway convinced half my stuff would be stolen and I'd be harassed by men before I even left Napoli station, but I haven't had a problem so far. It's much more tightly packed than Rome, and much more run down and scrappy. A lot of people in Rome smoke, but walking down the stretch in Naples is like having your own cigarette! Seriously, the secondhand smoke is intense. There's also, much to my surprise, and crap ton of black people here. Like, really really dark skinned. Not what I was expecting at all. They don't seem to be tourists, either. Not sure what that's all about.

Anyway, I got to Naples no problem and found my hotel without fuss. It's ok, not amazing, but clean and there's a bed and hot water, so no complaints here. I checked in and thenwent for my customary checking out the area walk. I ended up in these twisting tiny back alleys full of rundown shops, motor scooters, and people's washing hanging from windows and balconies. The Naples you see in pictures really does look like that! My knee was starting to hurt again, so I walked home, bought a pastry dinner and called it a day.

Today was the day of my Pompeii tour! I went and got this special Nepalese pastry for breakfast called sfogietelle. It's sort of like many layers of file pastry around ricotta cheese. After much examination, I think my ricotta had orange peel in it. I liked it at the time, but felt Carrick very soon after, and now even the thought of eating any type of pastry is making me feel nauseous :( after eating I went to thick up point for the tour and hopped in the van. There were three other people on the tour, one guy from New York, and a mother and daughter from New Jersey (but actually from Colombia). They were all really nice. The guide was Italian, but he spoke excellent English. At first I though he was going to be no good, but he turned out to be really, really great! I never got the chance to ask him, but I think he might have had a degree in Roman history or something because he was amazingly knowledgeable and passionate about the ruins at Pompeii. I was impressed.

The ruins themselves, from 2, 000 years ago, were equally amazing and impressive. I can't really explain what it's like to see, touch, and walk on history like that. The paved streets, the pillars, the mosaics, the walls! All really very intact and you could tell what they were. We saw restaurants, houses, gyms, a spa, and a bordello! Inside the bordello there were even fully preserved pictures of sex positions that apparently acted as a menu. Men just popped in after the spa, pointed to the picture they wanted, paid, and off they went. I really loved the ruins at Pompeii and would definitely go back again.

Oh! And I almost forgot. We also saw two statues of people from ancient Pompeii. When they died from the volcanic ash, it covered their bodies and made kind of a shell. Scientists used these shells as moulds to makes replicas of the people. They are pretty creepy because the people knew they were suffocating to death so they're no exactly laughing and smiling, but they are just grey statues not realistic wax models anything, which I'm grateful for.

After the ruins, we had lunch. I had pizza and it was total crap. Then we drove up mount Vesuvius, which was EXTREMELY long and windy. I got super car sick :( Again. But, anyway, then we walked about 20 or 30 minutes up to the crater. It was a bit of a steep climb, but not too bad. It was cold because it was so high. The crater was awesome. It's still active, so there is steaming up out of it. Also, the hole it blew in the top of the mountain... through all that rock. It's like just a big direct hole in the top of the mountain. You can clearly see all the layers of rock going down into the earth. Pretty awe inspiring.

Then the drive back down the mountain, another round of car sickness, and we were back in Naples. I'm still feeling pretty nauseous, so maybe no dinner for me tonight. But in the morning I have plans to visit 'da Micheles', the famous pizzeria from Eat Pray Love :) Apparently you often have to wait for over an hour for a table but the pizza is simply amazing. After that, I'm going to a top notch gelato place and then going to check out the botanical gardens. I'm o.d-ing on the history a bit, so a park might be great :)

And last, but not least, I bought a brace for my knee. It really helped today, though the walk down the mountain was not so good. I will keep mountains to a minimum and hope it gets better :)

Food tour Tuesday

Oh my gosh, today was amazing! I went on a day long walking tour of an old Roman district with a focus on trying real, high-quality Italian food. Man, was it worth it! I got to try real versions of everything I wanted to eat in Italy! And it was all so so good! The group of people was also great, everyone had a real passion for food and was really interested in it, and were friendly and nice. I waste only one who was travelling alone and everyone seemed to think that made me super brave and super interesting. I guess when I sum up my current life in a few sentences, I do sound rather unusual. One lovely Canadian Chinese couple took a real shine to me, and actually asked me atone of questions and it was so refreshing to speak to people who wanted to have a conversation rather than just talk about themselves. Great!

But, on with the food! Well, first of we went to a bakery and tried a cornetto, which is a little bit like a croissant but not really. It was lovely! And then we had mini tiramisu cups! It was little tiramisu in tiny chocolate cups, all edible. They were delicious! Then we walked around the corner to one of the top 3 pizza places in Rome and tried a slice of pizza magherita. They drizzled it with olive oil before serving it, olive oil that had been pressed fresh only 10 days ago! It was so good!

Then, back around the corner to the first ever specialty food store in Rome. We tried pecorino cheese, which is from sheep's milk. It had real truffles in it, I really liked that one. Then we had real parmesan, prosciutto, and salami. My fave, fave, favourite was the prosciutto. It melted in your mouth, it was amazing! Then we went into the store and some people bought some stuff, but I just tried some samples of 5, 10, and 15 year old balsamic vinegar. Oh my god.it started out great, and the older it got it almost became magical!

After that we went to see some sites nearby like a beautiful cemetery, the old abattoir, and a couple of other things. Rome and it's history are really fascinating. Then we went to an outdoor market where we tried some bruschetta - and learned how to pronounce it! And then tried some for real buffalo mozzarella! It was so different to anything I have ever eaten that's been called mozzarella. Then we tried canoli. It's a fried pastry tube filled with ricotta and chocolate chips, then lightly dusted in crushed pistachios. I'd never had it before, and it was on my list of must try things for Italy. Everyone raves about it and how great it is, and while it was nice, I didn't think it was that great. These were apparently very high quality ones. Guess it's just not my favourite thing.

Anyway, then we went and tried suplli, which is a kind of fried rice ball. I'd describe it as a risotto croquette. The flavour was great! They were beef and parmesan. Then it was lunch time. We went to a little pasta place and tried three kinds of pasta, but I forgot all their names. One was a cheese and black pepper one, one was a spicy tomato one, and then a more classic tomato one. I actually didn't find them that great. They were my fourth attempt pasta now, a d I think I'm going to have to conclude, I just don't like it that much. They just seemed a. It bland and had nothing exciting in them.

Then, out last stop was the oldest gelatteria in Rome. They've won government recognition and been making gelato for 4 generations! I had two Labour's, which is normal here. I got chocolate and pistachio. Both were wonderful. The texture is what really does it. Thick and creamy and amazing. Though, the place I managed to find yesterday was pretty close to the same quality as far as I could tell.

And that wrapped up the food tour. I walked back to the station with the Canadian couple, and then I went back to the cemetery we had visited to take some photos and get followed by a very beautiful cat :) Then I made my way home. I am not going to need dinner tonight!

Fantastic day in Rome! I'd definitely recommend doing a food tour of some kind quite soon after arriving, just so you know whatnot should be looking for! I know so much more now! So good!

Pantheon Monday

I didn't make it to the restaurant I wanted last night because it was closed. I ended up at a different one and tried the spaghetti carbonara. It was ok, but not very exciting. I don't think it was a very good quality one.

This morning, for breakfast, I got a slice of pizza to go from a 9lace just across the road. I got garlic and rosemary potato pizza, just like mum makes! It was really nice, they sure make good pizza bases here. Then I went and caught the subway back to the Trevi fountain area. I had a good walk around and managed to find the gelato shop I couldn't find yesterday. Good reason I couldn't find it, for such an acclaimed place, it barely had a sign outside, just a single door and a tiny sign. Not what I was expecting. Anyway, I was to early, it didn't open until 12, so I went and hung out by the fountain some more, and then walked to the pantheon.

The pantheon was really cool. It's the biggest reinforced concrete dome in the world, and parts of it date back to 2, 000 years ago! For real. It has these huge pillars outside and inside is a big dome with a hole at the top to let light in. It used to be a church to the ancient Roman gods, but about 500 years after it was built, the Roman Catholics took it over and made it for them. It's lucky they did, because a lot of the buildings they didn't take over got destroyed. The pantheon is really very cool! I had a walk around the dome, and then just sat in the pews for ages. The space was so huge, and it's low season for tourists, so it wasn't too crowded at all.

After all that, it was about 12.30, so I went to get some gelato! I chose just simple chocolate flavour, because a lot of the rest were sorbet, and I don't go a bunch on fruity ice cream. It was such good ice cream! It was like really good quality chocolate mousse turned into gelato. Thick, but also light, and the texture was so smooth. I enjoyed it a lot. Then, I was still hungry, so I went to a restaurant for lunch. I finally had some gnocchi! It wasmy 3rd pasta dish here, and while it was pleasant, I'm starting to see a pattern. None of the dishes I've had so far have any real distinguishing flavours. Theye are nice, but ma tad bland and tasted the same the whole way through. Mum, your gnocchi, ravioli, and carbonara are nicer than what I've tried here! I've a suspicion that is probably because I'm eating in tourist areas, though.

It's a bit difficult not to eat in tourist areas when you are a tourist! So, tomorrow I've booked a walking tour of a district of Rome, and the focus is on trying a whole bunch of good food! I have high hopes for this and am really looking forward to it. Tonight I'm going back to try the restaurant I wanted to go to yesterday. I'm not very hungry, and I saw they are serving prosciutto melone, which is prosciutto wrapped around melon pieces. I've read it's good, so I'll go try it.

Ok, off to get some of that now!

Trevi Fountain Sunday

Today feels like it has been quite the day. To start off with, I was supposed to have a Skype date with Andy this morning, but he forgot about it. I'm none too pleased about that. No ones ever forgotten me before. I'm not really too sure whether to make a big deal out of it or just let it go. I nearly always let everything go, but I sure don't like being forgotten when I've taken time out of my day IN FREAKING ROME to talk to you. But anyway, on with Rome!
I moved accommodation today. I'm paying double what was for the other place (so, $60 a night rather than $30), butinow feel like I'm in the lap of luxury! I'm in an actual hotel withdrawn bathroom, and key cards, and maids that clean every day. The neighborhood is filled with restaurants and the central station is about 5 mins walk away. The other place was clean, but old. Everything used old keys, so to go to the shared bathroom during the night was a big deal. The neighbourhood was fine, but abit seedy and graffitied, not to mention far away. Plus, I was seriously in danger of actually falling through the floor in a couple of spots in my room. Haha, so I'm totally feeling that it's and extra $30 night worth it right now :)
Now, I know I was supposed go and have gnocchi for dinner last night, butt started raining and my knee was sore, so I just ate my bananas instead. Today, my knee is still a little sore, but it might be getting better. I put a bandage thingies on it, so hopefully that will help.
What else did I do today? I went to a restaurant and had ravioli for lunch. It was pretty boring, just a ricotta filling with a cream sauce, but the sauce had mushrooms and prosciutto in it, and the cured pork here is sooooooo good! For dinner, in about an hour, I'm going to try and getinto this little restaurant down thread whatnot some good reviews online. Not sure what I'll have yet.
Besides eating, I also want to the Trevi fountain this afternoon. It's one of the most famous fountains in the world, and was built in the early 1600s! It was pretty big - like the whole front of a building, and was really cool to see. It wasn't too crowded either, I got some really good views of it without too much trouble. I spent some time just looking at it and taking some photos. Then I went to find this gelato place that I'd read was really amazing. I had it on my map and everything, but I couldn't find it at all! I tried some gelato from a different shop, but it was a bit dicey and I think it was low quality, so I threw it away. Life's too snort for bad ice cream!
So, now I'm back in my room having a wee rest before going to find some dinner. I've had a lovely day today.

Spagna on Saturday

So, yesterday's post was supposed to have pictures with it, but for some reason they didn't upload. I'll work on this.
Today I managed to sleep until 6.30am, which is about my normal wakeup time, so I'm getting into the swing of things now.
After I woke up, I read my book for a bit, then went to get some breakfast. I ended up with an ok sandwich thing with ham and cheese. Then I managed to catch the train to piazza Spagna, where there's this famous old church joined to this famous old town by these famous old steps. The steps are called the Spanish steps, for reasons I don't remember. There's not a lot of information at these sites around Rome. You mind of have to do the research yourself, or have guidebook or something. Anyway, it was really a lovely place, and I got there in time to hear the church bells right 11am, which was cool. I walked up all the steps, sat down for a while, watched all the people, and took some photos. It was a right and sunny day today, so it was very nice to just sit and watch. The spot wasn't insanely crowded, but it was busy. I'd hate to be here during the high season, it would be horrible!

Anyway, after I'd sat for a while, I went for a walk around the small town bit down the steps. It really all looks just like the Italy you see it pictures. But this area of town housed all the designer stores like Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo, and so on. I had a bit of wander and then went to find the Villa Borgese, which is kind of like Rome's central park. Well, it was a different exit from the same subway station, so I wen4 to find it. I swear, I rode over a kilometre of travelator! No kidding, they went on and on! And then I emerged from this subway exit into the middle of nowhere. Seriously, there was grass, trees, some gravel and that was it. No foot path or signs pointing the way. I took photo of it to show its middle of nowhere-ness. Anyhow, I just sort of followed my nose and ended up at the park.

It was such a lovely park! So romantic. I walked around and sat around it for hours. I made my way to a small pond with this really cool island in the middle with pillars and statues on it, and there were couples in row boats, and ducks. It was really cute. I didn't find the gallery that the park is famous for because Myles, and especiall5 me left k eek started to Burt, so I was taking it really easy and didn't want to wander around looking for it too much. It's ok, the park was enough for me.

While we're on the subject of Shepard and how it was romantic, people here are way more affectionate with their boyfriend or girlfriend than what I'm used to. Like even old couples are all over another. And the younger ones? All Oberon another and their tongues in eachothers mouths. Ew. But nice. But ew.

Anyway, by the time I was done with Shepard it was about 2pm and I needed lunch. So I headed back to piazza Spagna to find some food. Immediately I came across a r3ally popular place selling pizza by the slice out of a hole in the wall. Perfect! I got a prosciutto and parmesan pizza slice, which was the perfect size a d tasted so good! I thought that maybe it'd be really crappy because I was in such a tourist area, but it tasted pretty good to me! Success!

On the way home I stopped at the train station and worked out how to buy a ticket to Naples. Seems pretty straight forward. I might go in Wednesday. I'll decide on Monday evening what I want to do. Right now I'm back in my room having a rest. I'm a little worried about my knee. Hopefully a good nights sleep will fix it. I've chosen where I want to go for dinner tonight, and I want to try the gnocchi. I'll report back on that!

Tomorrow I'm leaving this hostel and moving to a different one, maybe 20 minutes walk away, towards the centre of town. It's a little more expensive than here, but I'll have my own bathroom, and I won't have to walk 20 minutes both ways just to get anywhere.

Ok, top five things I like about Rome so far:
1) The men are all really good looking. Like, seriously, they are all handsome!

2) You basically fall over really awesome looking old stuff wherever you go. Its everywhere.

3) (touch wood) the weather is lovely. Cool, crisp and clear so far.

4) Italian is just close enough to English that you can tell what about 70% of the signs say without having to know Italian.

5) Food had been pretty high quality so far, especially considering that crappy places I've bought it from.

Walked in totaly the wrong direction Friday

So, I slept really well, despite waking up very early. I'm feeling good today. Travelling alone is much more difficult than having a friend along, though. Plus, I have to deal with all these feelings of guilt every time I'm not out *making the most of it*. Like right now, I've been walking non stop for over 4 hours and I've come back to my hostel for a rest, but I feel like I should be out there doing more. But, I'm on holiday, right?  If I want to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon blogging and reading, then I can!

Well, this morning I left my hostel, after a shower where I discovered that c stands for hot in Italian. I was going to walk to this amazing sounding park with all these museums and galleries in it, but I walked in totally the wrong direction! I ended up at the colosseum! Haha :) I didn't want to spend too much time, or go into the Colosseum because it's a part of my tour later and I don't want to ruin that. But, there was a bunch of stuff to look at in the area. Plus, it seems that every few streets there's some other *really old thing* to look at.

Anyway, thank goodness I'd taken my tablet with me, because it's GPS works even with no internet, so I could see where I was and how to find my way back :) pretty handy! I also got some lunch while I was out. I stopped at a little cafe place and had a very yummy spinach, mozzarella, and salami sandwich. I was pleased.

So, the park is on the list for tomorrow. I also need to work out how to use the subway here. I can't go walking so far I don't have the energy to actually see the attractions. I'm also not sure I want to go to Naples still. There's so much to see an do here in Rome, I might just stay here and do a good job of experiencing it. I'll change hostels and areas though.this one is fine, but I'll get more variety if I move around a bit.

The formatting is messed up and I don't know what day it is!

So, here I am at Auckland airport. The buggers don't even have free WiFi for passengers. It'll cost me over $9 for 45 minutes of internet! Criminal. Anyway, I remember the last time I was in the international departures area of Auckland airport and I was so, so miserable.this time around I barely wipe the smile off my face! I'm going to Italy, Egypt, and back to Andy in Korea!! Awesome!

 I Just bought Andy a NZ sheep fridge magnet. He requested something with a sheep, and it was the cutest and least lame thing. It's wooden, and actually pretty cool.   

Mum and dad took me for lunch before dropping me off at the airport. We went to a nice cafe in Ponsonby. The guy who works there was just finishing his CELTA, so we had a talk about that...and then it turns out he's been to Rome and said that the pizza there really is as amazing as you'd think! Confirmation of pizza awesomeness!   Leaving mum and dad was a bit sad, but not too bad. It's majority helped by the fact that they have promised to come and visit me in the next few months. I really hope they do. Going one year without seeing them was a bit extreme. When I'm with them though, it never really felt like I'd been gone.   So yes, I am here at the airport. For some reason security wanted to almost unpack my entire backpack, but I was just really nice and helpful. Nothing was wrong, in the end, and I got through security and stuff very quickly. Also, the nice lady at the check-in desk got me an isle seat for the long leg of my journey. Score! I can pee as much as I want! Haha, small things, right?   Oh! And other exciting news! My car got sold yesterday, for a really good price. It's given me a bit of extra money to play around with. Not that I didn't have enough before, but extra doesn't hurt :)   Ok, and because I'm at the airport, here's Sam's five things, airport edition: 1) Browsing the perfume stores and smelling all the pretty ones.   2) Watching all the people and how they travel.   3) Knowing I'm embarking on an adventure and being proud of myself for doing it.   4) Anticipation.   5) Plenty of chill out and reflect time. I'm a very slow airport traveller :)   The flight is going very well. We are nearly in Melbourne. Emirates has been a pretty great airline so far. Their selection of tv and movies is really large, and the food was  nice! I had grilled salmon, with sauteed spinach, a prawn salad, and a very nice piece of orange chocolate cake. Even better, there has been no one sitting next to me for the 4 hour flight to Australia, so I was able to put the arm rests up and lay down to sleep for a couple of hours. My eyes are super bloodshot now,  utilise at least I got a little rest. The next 24 hours are going to be pretty long, I think.   Also, I forgot to mention that we saw an eclipse today. I can't remember which insular and which lunar, but this was the one where the moon goes in front of the sun. We didn't know what it was, the light just went all dim and funny. Then, we saw on the news a little  it later that there had been an eclipse and we'd seen it without even knowing :) Kind of cool.   *        *      *   Ok, so I am now 8 hours through my 13 hour flight, and I'm very keen for it to end! I have managed to get some sleep, maybe 5 hours on and off, which for me on a plane is pretty good. For some reason, this flight is totally falloff little kids and babies. They're being quite well behaved, but they still scream Andy from time to time. Just put an eye mask on, some earplugs, and me neck pillow, and it's all ok.still, really looking forward to getting off this plane :)   *       *       *   Right, so I've made it to Dubai! I've freshener up in the bathroom and I'm not feeling like total crap. Just half a crap. I enjoy going new places, but mad do I hate long air travel! I'm all swollen, bloodshot, dried out, too hot, too cold, and just downright uncomfortable. But, not too far to go now. Only about another 8 hours, three of which are in the airport. I'm likel5 going to be pretty grumpy by the time I get to Rome, though. A short nap might be a good idea, then a walk around to see what's out there. I really hope the free WiFi at my hostel is working. All the airports want you to pay to use it, and it's not even free on the plane! I pay all that money and I don't even get free WiFi. They were charging 1USD to send a single email! So, needless to say, I haven't sent any emails.   What else? Emirates co tines to be a pretty good airline. The food is edible, and it's no more uncomfortable than any other flight. The worships behind me now, though. All the rest of my flights are much shorter than that 13 hour beast. Ergh! Almost enough to put me off travel. Hopefully tenet time I get the chance to go somewhere Andy will be able to come too. It's so much more bearable when you've got someone else to complain to :)   Dubai airport seems huge, but all the signs are written quite small, so I have  to get right uptown them before I can read them. The depature gates and bathrooms are also pretty uninspiring and functional, but I guess they've Justin so many.   Ok, that's all from me for now. I'm just going to hang around the departures lounge for a few hours and then it's off to Rome!   *      *      *   I made it to Rome, and to my hostel. Seems warm and clean, it's 7pm and I'm going to try to read for a couple of hours, and then I'm off to bed:)

Five things on a Friday

I've been really busy doing a whole lot of glorious nothing here at home! Well, I've been buying backpacks, booking accommodation, fixing up my car to sell, playing with my tablet, and visiting my granddad. My brother has taken ALL my money and booked my whole trip, so next Wednesday, off I go to Italy!

I know, I didn't go into much detail on the Andy thing. Last thing you heard from me, we were all broken up forever. But, turns out maybe not so much. He has decided he actually doesn't want what his parents want him to do with his life, and instead would like to be with me. Which is kind of awesome. Sucks for his mum and dad, but I'm on my side :) Right now he is busy finding an apartment in Korea. Which is a huge step! I'm a bit sad that I don't get to help choose where we'll live, but I understand him wanting to find somewhere and get out from under his mum and dad. I'm just kind of thinking of it as if he'd already moved out of home when I met him, and I'll just be moving into his place when I get back to Korea. I'm really excited!!

What else? Life with my Samsung tablet (I got the Galaxy Note 10.1, fyi) is great. The more I use it, the more I like it. Mum and I spent about an hour the other day playing a brick dropping game called 'Save the Cheese' or something. Dumb, but fun!

Also, I made truffles using white chocolate and crème fraiche ganache mixed with this amazing dehydrated fruit powder they've started selling. They worked SO well! The crème fraiche really helped tame the sweetness of the white chocolate and the texture was really good and super easy to work with. I'm very pleased with how they turned out - definitely a recipe to continue to work with. And so easy! Melt 150g of white chocolate (I used Bennetts) and mix in 1/3 cup of crème fraiche. Done! And obviously, mine are coated in dark chocolate.

Yeah, my style is 'rustic'.

Raspberry flavour

Mandarin

White chocolate

And now, five things for a Friday:

1) I had a lovely lunch with my Mum and Granddad yesterday,

2) Mum is cooking the nicest food every day!

3) I'm packed and ready to go.

4) I think my brother got me a great deal on my holiday.

5) It's sunny!

I'm writing this by hand Friday.

Because... I got a tablet today! A Samsung tablet, to be exact. I'm still ironing out the handwriting recognition thingie but, it's pretty cool, so far. That's all.

New Plans Thursday

Hi mum!

Hi Jenni!

So, I've been in NZ for just over two weeks, and have two more weeks to go. It's lovely being with mum and dad, and I'll be sad to leave them. But not too sad because....

I'm going to Italy and Egypt!!

My awesome brother, who works for Flight Centre, has organised me a month-long holiday :) I'm spending two weeks in Italy, one week alone and one week on a Contiki tour, and then two weeks in Egypt, four days alone and 10 days on a Toucan tour. In my own time in Italy (7-8 days) I'm planning to go south of Rome to Naples for some pizza, and then across country to Matera, then back to Rome to start the tour which covers Rome, Florence (including Tuscan countryside and the tower of Pisa), and Venice in eight days. Then I have a couple more days in Italy, and fly to Cairo, Egypt! I have three nights alone, then meet up with the tour group to spend 10 days exploring Cairo, Luxor, cruising the river Nile, and looking around Aswan. Pyramids and Pizza in one month! I'm so excited!

Not sure what I'm most excited for: pizza, gelato, pyramids, the river Nile... too many awesome things to choose from!

And what comes after this month of travel? Well, if you're not Jenni or my mum you might be surprised to learn that Andy has changed his mind about breaking up and finding someone to marry. So, after much thought and many serious conversations, both with him and my parents, I'm flying to Korea after Egypt to find an apartment with Andy! Not the way I was expecting things to go, but I'm really happy :)

And here's a top five things about being home:

1) Awesome conversations with Mum and Dad.

2) Being with my dog.

3) Mum's cooking.

4) The way NZ smells (awesome).

5) Hanging out with Jenni.

Home Friday

It's actually been a week since my last post, and in that time I've travelled back to NZ!

Since the only person I'm aware of who reads my blog is my mum, and she's well aware of what I'm doing each day (sitting on the couch reading), I probably will not be updating regularly for the next few weeks. I might try for a 'five things' every now and then.

So, see ya when I decide on my next adventure :)

I'm getting through Thursday

Only one day to go!

And my 'fight the anxiety' inspiration for today:

Dealing with it Wednesday

I had a bad evening yesterday. I was doing ok, dealing with things, accepting the changes... and then Andy texts me. Not to add anything new to the conversation, but to tell me 'Good bye'. It was unnecessary and really upsetting. I'd been dealing pretty well up until then, but that was just the straw that broke the camels back. I'm the camel, obviously. I felt so instantly awful - things inside me we prickling, burning, twisting. I needed to DO something. So, I booked a flight home 4 days earlier than planned. Yes, it inconvenient, an impulse decision, and possibly a waste of money, but I just couldn't stand the idea of spending those 4 days alone in Seoul waiting to go home with nothing to do or think about other than how awful I was feeling. So, I just clicked 'buy tickets', and felt better right away. And today I am doing ok. And I ate some food. And wrote a really long and convincing list of all the reasons why Andy is not the man for me, anyway. Seriously, it's convincing :)

So, it's Wednesday. Only two days to go, after this one. One of the lady teachers was talking to me in the bathroom, and asked if I was staying to teach here for another year. I was like "No, did Mr B. not tell you? My last day is Friday". She was like "What!?!". Haha, good to know they keep the other teachers informed of when the foreign teachers come and go. But, then she told me she "hates" Mr B., so tries to never talk to him. She said she really doesn't like him, finds him annoying and creepy, and that he talks way too much. I was just like yeah, I know! So, interestingly, my hatred of Mr B. is perhaps not just me. Perhaps he is a dickhead of international status?

On Friday, I'll have taught at Namsa for 365 days. Honestly, this year has not been that great. I know, I'm a bit low right now, but seriously, it's been a bit stink. Not totally, I have had fun, been fairly content, and had some good times, but overall, if we average it out = not spectacular. I don't regret it, and some of the good times were amazing, but I'm not in a hurry to repeat it :)

In other news, I just got all my coins deposited into my bank account. I had over 10,000w in 10w and 50w pieces. Yes, those numbers are correct, and yes, it was heavy! That's what happens when you deal in nothing but cash for a year.

Post-breakup insanity Tuesday

Blegh. Still feeling anxious and sick all of the time, but the crying has stopped (touch wood), so that's progress. When I wake up in the morning, I immediately feel fine, and I think "Oh, good - maybe it's over", and then after about a minute I'm feeling nauseous and sad. Not a great way to start the day, but I've been here before. I'm on to you, feelings of crappiness! Just gotta wait it out.

Andy and I had a big talk last night. I feel better after speaking to him. I think part of my problem was my self-imposed 'Andy Ban', but since giving in and making contact, I feel better. We talked about what he wanted, what I wanted, and got nothing worked out. What it comes down to is that he feels he is getting on a bit and really wants to settle down and start a family, both due to his own desires and a desire to make his parents happy. He loves me and would like to do this with me, but is unwilling, or unable, to give me the time I need to get to know him to feel that this is the right decision for me. We've both been really honest, really kind, and really sad about this. It really difficult to let go when you know you both still love each other. I, of course, am painfully hopeful that he'll realise he can't live without me and change his mind and give me the time I'm asking for (as there is no way I can change my mind, it's way too risky and scary!). But, I don't really see this happening, because he's an intelligent guy who knows what he wants, and he seems to want this very much. So, it's totally horrible, but something I'm just going to have to deal with.

And every now and then, my stupid mind will whisper, "what if you did [marry him], Sam?", which is, quite simply, insane. Not that marriage, or marriage to Andy is insane, but to consider it so soon? It's something you should be totally happy about, and really excited to do. And a tad more romantic than this :) Such a life-changing decision should not be made lightly or so soon into a relationship. Right?

Anyway, aside from my post-breakup insanity (sometimes it literally feels like something is controlling my mind), I'm thinking about a lot of things I've never seriously considered before. This is going to sound weird, but I've never seriously thought about getting married, not for real. It's just something other people do that had nothing to do with me or my life. I've been thinking about it now though, obviously, and it is something I could do. In fact, I think it's something I want to do, when the time is right. It's like all my other relationships up until this one I was having as a teenager, treating them as impermanent things that were inevitably going to end because I was too young to even think about commitment. So, even though I loved my boyfriends, I never really seriously considered them 'forever'. With Andy, though, I've suddenly been thrown into adult land - and I like it. But it's different, and new, and scary. And I have no time to adjust.

So, although this has been/is really sad, heartbreaking, and horrible, I am learning a lot, as well as changing and growing. Why do all the growing things hurt? One of my favourite quotes (I have no idea where I got it, or how the original went) is "pain is the result of a resistance to change", and I really think it's true. It helps me because it reminds me to try to relax and work with the change, or just let the change come.

Anyway, enough introspection.

It's 2.15pm on Tuesday and we still have not recorded the listening test. Mr B said we'd do it at 11.45am, but nothing ever happened. He gave me the script yesterday (missing a page that I had to print out myself), but we haven't done it yet. Tomorrow is the last day of tests. I will never understand why  he leaves it so late - it's really quite irresponsible. What if the equipment is broken? Or needs to be charged? What if one of us fell suddenly ill and couldn't do it? Last minute is certainly not the way I operate!

Ok, that's enough rambling for now :)

This is a bit of a sucky Monday

As far as Mondays go, this one is not very good.

But, only 4.2 days of my crappy job to go. Today is a testing day (same as tomorrow and Wednesday) and they made me 'monitor the corridor' for 45 minutes. I was like "what am I looking for? What do I do if something goes wrong?', cos I had no idea what I was there for. Mr B. was just like 'Oh, just walk up and down the corridor. Dream your dreams and stare at the sky' (actual quote!!). Ooooookaaaaay. Well, that was simply freaking awesome because the first thing you want to do when you've just had your heart broken is spend 45 minutes in a cold corridor with only your own insane mind for company. It was super. Not.

Haha, I'm ok. Really tired, but ok. 

I'm pretty sure Mr. B. is preparing the recording equipment for doing the listening test recordings. He hasn't said anything about it to me. He did come up to me with my e-ticket this monring though, really confused. He pointed to the date of my flight back to NZ, and is like "is this this-week Friday?". It clearly says '17Oct' where he is pointing. I'm like "no, that's the 17th of October. Next Wednesday", and he goes "Oh! It's the date!". Yes, Mr. B. it's the date. He seemed a bit confused that my job was ending on Friday but I wasn't flying out until the following Wednesday. Originally it was so I had enough time to get my visa sorted, but now... I think it's just wasted time. I'm not even sure I'll bother switching to a D10 now. What is there for me in Korea without Andy? Attractions I've mostly seen, food I've mostly tried, and jobs that don't really let me teach like a real teacher. With him it was fun and exciting, but without him, it just seems kind of bleak. If I have to go through all the emotional crap of breaking up with him, I might as well go through the emotional crap of changing countries at the same time. You know, two for the price of one sort of thing.

So, might just go home, recover, and try a different country. Maybe somewhere European. I'm feeling so emotionally exhausted though, that nothing sounds good. I know I can't stay in NZ, but the thought of having to go somewhere else new and unknown and try to figure it all out - just sounds more exhausting! I definitely need some recovery time. I'm confident my passion and energy will come back if I just take a little care of myself. Two women from my CELTA course have found work in Valencia (in Spain) and from their Facebook photos, it looks simply gorgeous. Inspiration, maybe.

So, I sat outside at lunchtime today. I managed to eat some potatoes at lunch (first food in 40 hours... need to start eating). As I sat in the sun mulling things over, I realised that this is perhaps a completely appropriate end to my time in Korea. Or at least what they call a 'symmetrical bookend'. How did I start my time here a year ago? Wasting days in Seoul to begin with, then feeling sad, sick, and had no appetite  and being sad about a boy while sitting on the school steps in the sun. Now, a year later, the boy has changed, but the rest is the same. I'm not sure if it's funny or depressing :) I mean, have I learned nothing? Well, yeah I have. I learned to hang in there because it gets better. It gets big-time better :)

Now, here is a teacup pig. That should help cheer me up :)