21st – The Day Of

March 3rd was the ultimate “great day”. I knew it had potential, being my birthday and all, but I’d left any plans up in the air, so wasn’t expecting some miraculous turn of events that would spike this one waaaaay off the awesome chart. But that’s exactly what happened.  Your 21st is meant to be a big deal; we mightn’t live in the States, but Canada, Australia, most places really, give this particular day in peoples lives a fair bit more attention than a lot of others.  I’m stoked to say that my 21st was the BEST BIRTHDAY experience in my wise and worldly 21 years. I’ve recounted this story many a time already, but knowing the way details get forgotten, I plan on going into some depth because there isn’t a single thing about my 21st that I want to forget. So here goes…

I’d had the idea that Las Vegas was going to be my celebration location of choice, so I could really rock the “I’m legal to drink anywhere” business and get the full effect.  So for a few months that had been the general plan for Jessie and I but as the day crept closer, it just wasn’t a feasible option. I’d neglected to inform anyone about this change in plans until a couple of weeks before my b’day, and when my buddies Sherri and Caroline learned I was going for the “understated” approach, they weren’t having any of it.   They tasked me with picking any restaurant in Calgary I’d like to go to for a celebratory dinner the night of my birthday (an idea inspired by my infamy for wanting to try every restaurant we ever drove past).  True to character, I Googled my way around the city and found a trendy, laid back little spot called Balance Lounge and Eatery that I thought would give us a pretty good selection of tasty food and adventurous cocktails.  Which I’m happy to report it did.  But we haven’t reached that point in the story yet.

So with these nice dinner plans in place I was contentedly resigned to the fact that my 21st was going to be a pretty simple, small occasion spent happily with my 3 best friends in Calgary.  I seriously expected nothing more.  I was wrong, and boy am I glad.  Jessie had told me that I had to keep the Sunday after my b’day free and I wasn’t too perplexed by that one really.  I guessed she might have something in the works like a trip to the movies or a few friends coming around, so it wasn’t until she kept saying how pumped she was for my b’day that I started to perk up at the idea that something more might be in the works.

Waking up on Wednesday morning and going about my normal pre-work routine, I came into the kitchen and stuck onto the bench were a bunch of sticky notes that Jessie had laid out all pretty.  H-A-P-P-Y  2-1-S-T  B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y was spelled out one letter at a time in every color of the Crayola rainbow, and propped up at the back was a pack of green tea. Then noted on a couple of extra sticky’s was “Your Mum asked me to buy you some green tea because it’s yummy and good for hangovers” (I tested that theory well this past week), “She’s lined something special up for Sunday” (oh had she ever!), “Yes, I’m awesome at arts and crafts”(True sticky note skill).  So off to work I went in my b’day outfit (new black skirt and white shirt with a big bow on the front – I looked like a giant present myself, how appropriate eh) with my tea and packed lunch in hand.

Parked my car and walked up to work, swiped in, powered up the computer, put my lunch in the fridge and proceeded to make myself a cup of my new green tea.  Had to giggle at myself as I put some leaves into my little strainer ball and remembered how my 65 year old step dad, drank litres of tea each day with his strainer.  Now I loved tea and had my very own strainer.  That was the moment I realized I was getting old!  So the morning began to roll along then at 8.30 reception phoned and told me I had a delivery.  Off to the 4th floor I went, a little bit excited for what might be there for me.  Sitting on the bench was a very pretty flower arrangement, 21 pink carnations scattered with babies breath.  This delivery was the first of many coordination efforts between Mum and my friends Sherri and Caroline, though I didn’t know it at the time. Oh, and not only did I get this giant bunch of flowers, but attached was a rather conspicuous helium balloon proclaiming “Happy Birthday” on ribbon long enough that it could float high above my cubicle walls.  I get the idea Mum may have wanted to make sure this occasion didn’t pass unnoticed – she succeeded! Every passerby would stop and comment on my pretty flowers, ask about the reason for them then exclaim “You’re only 21, oh!” Do I have wrinkles already?? “How I wish I were 21 again!”.  Yep, you guessed it, I’m junior to my coworkers by an average of about 30 years.  So the advertising worked, I’ve never had so many birthday wishes in my life!

A friend of mine, Saudah, (who’s actually the girl who took over my old job when I started working with Gord, my new boss), rang me up and told me to keep 12-12.45 open in my calendar as Gord was coming up to my building and wanted to get together.  All this was very typical as he shifts around multiple offices and when he’s at the main office we tend to book a time to sit down and sort through the mountain of paper accumulated in the couple of days since last seeing him.  So at about 12 I’m ready to do some paper shuffling with Gord, that is, until he beckons around the corner and out pops a grinning Saudah, “Surprise! We’re going out for sushi!”.  Sushi is our “thing”, we have a place, Kinjo, that we love to visit and it seems that in passing she’d mentioned to Gord that we love lunching at Kinjo, and that it was my birthday (in passing, pfffft!).  This inspired the plot that resulted in our little adventure.  A little flustered I packed up the papers on my desk and shoved them in my cupboard, donned my jacket and left the office in a minute flat.  Outside in his VIP parking spot was parked his sweeeeeeet BMW, in which I got to ride shotgun.  Gord mentioned that there was something a bit special about the car and my guess of “It’s a batmobile?” wasn’t far off.  With the push of a button the roof lifted off, folded in 3 parts and tucked neatly into the boot.  My first ride in a convertible! So off we zoomed, top down, sun out, a balmy 10 degrees, down the road to Kinjo.  Did I mention how freaking awesome this car looked, and sounded, purrrrrrrr.  I was in automobile heaven.  At the restaurant we chose a booth and shuffled in, introducing Gord and his wife, Jan, to sushi heaven.  The fact that they were rather opposed to raw fish was soon forgotten, as all the other yummy options Kinjo had to offer were unveiled.  I sat there laughing harder than I’ve laughed in a while, as the classic comedy sketch (the quirks of a couple who’ve been together since high school) unfolded.  The appropriate oohs and ahhs were made as each dish was brought out, progressively more artistic than the last.  And by the end, I’m proud to say we had 2 happy sushi converts.  The end of the lunch was rather climatic as Saudah piped up, “It’s her birthday…” as the bill was being processed.  So lo and behold a box of Pockies with a brightly shining single candle were brought over and placed in front of me as all the staff (chefs, waiters, owner included) gathered around to sing me Happy Birthday.  Tacked on the end was a snippet of “haf I tord you ladely dat I wuv you” as I sat there grinning, 40 sets of eyes on me, particularly grateful at that moment that I don’t blush.

Not 5 minutes after I’d walked back into the office, reception phoned again to inform me I’d had another delivery.  So back to the 4th floor I went, perplexed as to what might have arrived for me.  This time, sitting up on the bench was a unique bouquet – an “Edible Arrangement” – from those thoughtful sons of guns, Sherri and Caroline.  A perfectly appropriate question here would be, what on earth, is an edible arrangement?  Well as I found out, it is a replication of a flower arrangement, but rather than being made with the standard variety of flora, it was instead put together with pieces of fruit!  There were pineapple flower heads with melon ball centres, honeydew and rockmelon segments with ornamental crinkle cut edges, dark chocolate dipped apple wedges and the token greenery in the arrangement? Well Kale of course!  Mum would later recommend to Caroline that she bring this unique type of floristry to Australia, where “Edible Arrangements” would boom being that there’s nothing of the sort back home.  With 2 pretty bunches of “flowers” perched atop my desk (one being advertised with a “Help yourself ” sticky) if I hadn’t drawn enough attention to the commotion of my desk, I sure did by the time the last chocolate covered apple wedge had disappeared from the bouquet.

Saudah had been arranging a team building event for our group, and being the extraordinarily thorough planner that she is, was keen to check out the prospective restaurant before finalizing the booking.  A simple solution to her public transport conundrum, was for me to head down to our other office and pick her up at the end of the day so we could stop by and scope the potential place out.  So 45 minutes later I’m down at the office and walk inside to say hi and collect Saudah.  “I’ll just be a couple of minutes, just go take a seat at my desk and I’ll be right over and we can leave” she said – I should really stop falling for that.  A swarm of people start to gather around her cubical, and I joke that this reminds me of my last day working in my old position, an occasion when I was presented with a 20 pound cheesecake and a heartwarming goodbye.  Then it dawns on me, Saudah’s got me… again.  With her very tricky “popping around the corner” skills, Saudah appears wheeling a cart with two delicious looking cheesecakes on it.  A chorus of Happy Birthday breaks out (an octave, or 5, lower than my lunchtime serenade) and I’m once again, thanking my lucky stars I’m not a blusher!  Though I think my giant grin may have given away the fact that I was super stoked and amazed that they’d pulled off a birthday surprise with a 45 minute warning, card and all!  After putting in a solid effort to help erode the cakes, and a few group happy snaps, my work day concluded and I waddled back to the car.  I never would have imagined a day spent at work could actually turn out to be both in itself, and forming the foundations of, the best birthday ever!

Getting Past the Year and a Half Mark

So it’s been a long while since I wrote, and in that time I’ve gone past my year and a half mark for being a ‘traveller’. I apply that term lightly seeing as I’m hardly one of these gadabout normal travellers donning a backpack and living off 2 minute noodles. All the same though, I’ve had some full blown pangs of home sickness of late. I think it finally dawned on me what a terrific country Australia is and how lucky we are to call it home. I miss the beaches, wide stretching and relaxing, I miss the heat, a real summer with sweat and the outdoors, and I miss by buddies wherever you are now and whatever you are doing, I miss you! I do often wonder how life’s changed for you all and through the grape vine I pick up on some happenings with each of you. Sounds like you’ve all embarked on new journeys, school, music, jobs, and I can’t wait till the time when I can have a real face-to-face convo with you guys again!!!

So through that ramble the point which I was coming to was that I’m going to be moving home. Albeit eventually, as there’s many loose ends to tie up and a lot of saving which needs to happen first. So in my line of thinking, around this time next year I may be embarking on my ‘Return to Oz’ (how fitting, there’s one dude I work with who’s nicknamed me  ’Dorothy’). I’m gonna move home (parental home) for a couple of months and settle back into the swing of things. Get a car, job, find a place to live and such, which I’m super stoked for btw!! Home cooked meals, my doggies, my Mumsy, stability. Ah how I’ve missed you! So this Christmas when I’m home it’ll be a nice refresher and then less than a year after that I’ll be re-residented yeeewww!

Things over here are plodding along, work, work, sleep… at the end of this month I’m going on a brief roadtrip though, with two of my friends I work with at Aussie Rules. We’ll be heading to British Columbia which is the province West of us which has the claim to fame of getting up to temperatures in the 30′s! Well I’ll be damned, there IS heat in Canada!! There’s giant rivers everywhere here it seems, I plan to blow up a floaty raft and sail down a river in Penticton which can take 4 hours!! Rest assured there’ll be sunscreen, and a fully stocked cooler on board with me

Jessie has a puppy too, her name’s Maya and she’s a little fluff ball!! Such a cutie, breed’s a ‘Cockapoo’ (Cocker Spaniel x Miniature Poodle) and about 12 weeks old at the mo. Indoor toilet training is proving quite the task, but apart from that she’s a sweety. Good to have a dog around again, even if she’s more like a teddy than a canine lol.

Well for once I’ll make this brief, just wanted to fill you in on my happy news, it’s true… There’s no place like home

Keep on Keepin On

Well howdy doody ladies!

 

So I’m sitting at my desk at work, and there are only 4 people in my department today, rather than 34, so I’ve (for once) done all my work! Figured I’d use my time wisely and give a quick run-down of what’s been happening of late.

 

Works going along steadily, still got a job, unlike a lot of people over here… there have been a lot of layoffs cos of the recession, especially in the Oil & Gas industry.  Office work’s the same ol’ same ol’ though, I’m getting a little tired of it. So like me to do a few months hardcore into something then get sick of it and look for the next twist or turn to my life adventure. Sorta thinking bout some form of schooling now, but at the mo just hoping some giant, glowing career path door will open up in front of me and I can just wander on in without having to re-school myself. Work at Aussie Rules is decent too, bar scene adds a little spice to things.

 

Jessie and I moved into our new apartment a couple of weeks ago, yippee!! No more basement! So good to get some light and our own little patio for reclining/reading/drinking. We had a housewarming last weekend which started slowly so I was crunk by like 10 lol, but we had a bunch of people come over and although we were intending to cut the part at midnight it carried on. Cops came at 3 though, oops, sorta lost track of time. They were super nice though then we just switched off the music and tried to dull the noise a bit. Such an eclectic group of people came, from nerdy engineers to bar stars to hardcore gangsters lol, made for good times. Out the back of our place is a field(ish area, not like Maleny fields though) which will be good in Summer. It’s getting so nice now, whopping 16 degrees the other day, everyone was out without jackets! An amazing fete over here btw.

 

I’ve been dreaming of Cabarita Beach and Kenilworth Pub (as bizarre as that may seem), man I miss the beach. I’ll be coming back for at least 3 weeks at the end of the year though!!! I’m thinking of flights around December 15^th then coming back here 4^th January, but exact dates depend on the ticket costs. Will be soooooo good to catch up and party hardy though. Get in some good Oz beer, sand and sunshine! So y’all better be free for Woodfording! It’ll go off like a frog in a sock hehe

 

Write to me and fill me in kiddos, I miss you all!

 

Big City Life

Wow, big city life hey. Was working at Aussie Rules tonight and a couple of our staff were outside on a smoke break and they came in saying they’d heard like 7 gun shots. A couple minutes later the cops had piled up about 200 metres from our building and had blocked off the roads. That’s about all I heard till I finished work and went out to my car to drive home. I walked out the doors to be greeted by a police chase first by car then they jumped out and ran after the dude they were chasing, in the PARKING LOT!! There were lots of flashing lights and immediate cop backup and all, but I didn’t see much else, I mean I wasn’t really keen on investigating or being shot, ya know the drill. But between me driving from work to my place (all of 5 minutes and 2 blocks) I’d seen literally 15 cop cars and 3 were driving right past my front door! Now that kinda shit just does not go down in Maleny! Can’t wait to see the spiel on the news in the morning.

So that was a bit of drama to begin this extremely delayed blog. Must appologize for that, but mostly for not wishing many of you guys any sort of Christmas or New Years merry-happiness, which I’m sure you all must have had plenty of anyway. It was very different celebrating over here, white and cold and indoors. The main thing though was that Christmas was spent with Jessie’s boyf and his bro and NYE was with her family in Quebec. So although different and not like a good old Aussie prawn/pool/family Christmas, it was still fun and spirited.

Life isn’t all gang wars and car park shoot-em-ups though, my life isn’t that action packed normally. I’m working 2 jobs now, was doing three but that was OTT so now I’m working Aussie Rules as a Hostess on the weekends and at an oil and gas company called AMEC weekdays. I do admin there to a bunch of pretty wicked guys who treat me good and are a fun crew. Pay’s not bad either plus all up I’m doing like 66 hrs a week between the two jobs so keeps me outa trouble . AMEC has a big building with about 1000 employees over 5 floors. I work on the tiniest floor which means I do admin for 30 people which is the only department which is all male appart from me… you bet I love it lol

I’ve met some good people over here and Jessie and I are still tight, not that I’m seeing much of her with my 4am wake up time and her 3am bed time lol. Plus Mum’s heading over here in Feb for a couple of weeks which I’m excited about, get to show this city off finally! It’s been freeeeezing over here though, while you guys have had your +40 degree temps, we had two weeks in December which were more like -40!!!! That’s FREAKIN cold!!!

Sadly, that’s most of my stories! Not so much drunk carefree partying these days, just me being a workaholic trying to get a bit of cash together for holiday debt payment, all that spending defs went to a good cause though! So sorry guys, but hopefully next blog will be a with a little more flare and spice!

ALLLLL my love to everyone in the wonderful land of Oz and I really do think of you all the time! xoxoxoxoxo T-dot (as I was newly nicknamed tonight, interesting twist lol)

Putting down some Calgary roots

Sorry it’s been so long since you have heard from me. Plenty of news though. So here’s a run down of what I’ve been up to…

I’m working in a restaurant/bar which has dueling pianos so there’s really nothing quite like it anywhere else in Calgary. We get a really diverse crowd, from 18 year olds to 70 year olds who all end up dancing on their chairs, and it’s booked out about 4 weeks in advance which is rather crazy seeing as it has a 250 person capacity… good place for birthdays and stagettes and such though. All the staff seems really nice, plus the good thing about working in the hospitality industry over here is that you get tips as well as a base per hour wage. I’m a hostess which basically means I greet the guests, figure out which party they’re with and seat them accordingly. Simple shit, so it’s easy and cruisy for a lot of the time with only like a 2 hour rush per night. That leaves plenty of time for me to sing and dance along with the tunes the pianist’s belt out. Mostly classics like American Pie, Brown Eyed Girl, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Crocodile Rock and such, they even attempted Eminem last night though lol. The place is called Aussie Rules and it’s “Australian themed” which basically just means there’s a big mural of Uluru on the wall and the menus have Aussie words like “sanga” on them and the appetizers are titled “A Dingo Ate My Appy”. I never thought it’d be possible to hear “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi” sung out (especially by a foreign crowd) quite so many times as I have in the last couple of weeks.  But they are happy to have a true Australian on staff and the patrons are happy when I greet them authentically. So that’s work. I’m also thinking bout getting a 9-5 sorta office job though, so I can save some dosh and go for holidays in the wonderful places of the world I’ve had a glimpse of.

Living with Jessie is going good, and our landlord who lives up stairs still makes us cookies. We discovered a fantastic club in Calgary that we hadn’t been to before, it’s called Boulevard and there’s an R&B/hip hop sort of section in the front and out the back they’ve got a techno room. It was a blast last time I went there! So there’s still plenty of fun and partying to be had over here.  I get my first Halloween soon Jessie is going as Betty and I am going as Pebbles from the Flinstones. I get to wear a pink wig with a bone on the top of my head lol, I’ll be sure to take some photos.

I have a car now too, it’s a black 2 door 2000 Chevrolet Cavalier. It’s got decent vroom too so keeps me happy! Some drunk lady reversed into me the other night, my first accident, luckily didn’t cause any damage though, just freaky, and I assure you, she was at fault! Had two flat tires which had nails in them as well, but that’s the only negative adventures so far. So good to have my own mode of transport now though!

I had my first real Autumn too, where the leaves actually change colour and fall off the trees and you get giant piles. Never losing my childish enthusiasm though, I made sure to roll and crunch around in them hehehe. It’s getting colder too, typically about -2 to 0 degrees in the morning getting up to anything from 10 to 20 during the days. If you stay awake long enough (like I did at 3 in the morning yesterday) it snows, not long now until we get snow coverage though I think.

I just finished decorating my room with photos today, Australian, European and Canadian all have their places, so I can remember all the great times I had with wonderful people!

In Oz, I miss my friends, the beach, the lush greenery, the excel mint and gum products, havianas, chomp bars, Multi Vital and olive leaf medicine, rexona spray deodorant cans (they only have sticks here), the movie Candy, pets and my Mum. I miss my family and Alp adventures, and the tourist industry, and cooking lessons in Switzerland. I miss the beer in Germany and being with Dad’s side of the family and learning German from reading Rauber Hotzenplots. But I know that there’s a lot of love there in every corner of the globe… I know this from the wonderful hospitality I received. And knowing this makes it that bit easier to be away from it, thank you.

Train Blogging – The Catch Up

There seems to be a trend forming here, once again I’m doing my catch up blog on the train to Switzerland, though the view today isn’t quite as schön (oh I’m learning!) as it’s a bit gloomy outside. A lot has gone on in the last month, so I’ll do my best to fill you in on the bulk of it.

There was an entertaining hens night involving a bunch of my (now) Aunties friends dressing up in eccentric evening wear for a night on the town, pole dancing and breaking tables. They claimed this wasn’t much of a loss as they were cheapies, and it was a sacrifice the bar owners willingly made as they were happy to have such an entertaining evening). It was also the first time I’ve been sloshed with family and was actually very entertaining… I was outside just chatting with a dude and every couple of minutes someone would appear and offer me a drink, have a cigarette and so on. Turned out this little situation was the monitoring service my Mother had requested from the ‘hens’ – ah geez, spoil the fun haha. Actually, what was no fun was the morning after this night of celebratory activity, bucket anyone?

Following this was my Uncle Bernie and Aunty Minda’s wedding, which in true Bernie style took place on Friday the 13^th (after he had proposed on the 07/07/07 of course) and which he was dressed in an Austin Powers like suit and she wore a white wedding gown from the 70’s. He also made his entrance on his Harley Davidson, followed by all the girls in a horse and carriage. My cousins were flower girls and man, were they gorgeous! Nice ceremony, all the females in the bridal party were dressed in gumboots in commemoration of where they’d met, the fisherman’s warf restaurant) followed by a fun night. Led me to imagine which of us girls will be next to follow that same tradition and left me gleeful at the prospect of what shenanigans will be brought on by all of us being together in such a situation.

Once my Swiss session was over, Mum and I headed to Venice, Italy, to commence our Mediterranean cruise. I HIGHLY recommend a visit to Venice to all! I walked out of the railway station and onto the ferry thingo which was lo and behold, staffed by two blue eyed hot-tttiiieess! First thing I’ll do when (not if) I visit the city again is ride on what I hope will be an equally well staffed ferry. I was further impressed by this city, seemed everywhere I looked were some tall dark and handsome youngens, yes, I was entirely there for the cultural experience, hmmm. But in saying that, the city itself was quite a marvel and the maze of backstreets and waterways was impressive and intricate with plenty to explore.

The cruise ship itself was huge! It accommodated 2000 passengers and 1000 staff for 12 days. The first thing I’ll mention is the copious amounts of food virtually thrown into your gob, and all far too tasty to refuse. You can all guess the result of this, I plan to detox, and hopefully once again fit into my clothes, shortly. We had 5 course friggin’ dinners and a very nice waiter named Elvis (yes that was his real name, but he was nicknamed George by our table due to his uncanny resemblance to George Clooney). There was also a pool and spa area on board and the whole experience was like nothing I’ve done before so it was all different, fun, and believe it or not, rather exhausting with all the site seeing!

Our itinerary took us to places like Venice, Santorini, Florence, Livorno (Tuscany), Nice, .

I have to say easy favourites from my experience were Venice and Tuscany, so Italy was the winner for a definite revisit. I got to drive in Italy and was quoted saying “I’ve always wanted to drive like this, but I’ve never been allowed”. Rules over there leave much to the imagination you see. Thus I almost agree with the stereotype of Italians being the craziest drivers, except for one exception. Croatians. There, we were walking through a parking lot where drivers were backed up (honking incessantly) while up the other end one guy attempted to reach the drivers side of his car which was parked in a huge puddle at least a foot deep. Two cars along was a vehicle missing one integral part, its windscreen. Proof of both these scenes can be viewed on Facebook. Plus, parking there was ludicrous! Not only did people veer to the other side of the road to nab a parking spot as they hooned through the unimaginably narrow streets, which left them facing the wrong direction (we think tourists in Maleny who park forwards in reverse parks are bad) but they also parked diagonally into parallel parks! Was quite the spectacle to watch, but man am I glad there was no hire car driving on my behalf there!

I also got to commandeer a 4 wheeler in Santorini, though the power on this thing was limited. With Mum and I both on it, it actually started rolling backwards on our journey up a rather steep hill. I didn’t tackle anything quite so demanding after that.

The tour then concluded in Barcelona, Spain, where mum and I set up base for 10 days. Amazingly, we didn’t run out of things to explore. We were first stationed at a hotel up from the main part of town, so the first few days were spent exploring the back streets (which there are insane amounts of – this city is HUGE!). There are heaps of brand name boutiques there, Burberry, D&G, Dior, Guess, Gucci, you name it, they have it. Jessie, this is your heaven! Unfortunately my budget doesn’t quite stretch anywhere near that spending vicinity. The last few days of our stay we moved down to a place in the centre of the action. ‘La Ramblas’ which is the main tourist strip. It’s about a mile long and lined with street performers (see Facebook for photos). From the statuesque, painted and costumed to the straight up talented, to the slightly mad, this street had it all. The tapas in Barcelona is endless. This is probably best explained as an assortment of entrees (bruschetta, salads, meats and seafood) which you choose a few of and share amongst a table. Rest assured that I will be hosting one of these as soon as I’m back in oz, it was a big hit with me and my tastebuds. One final thing I’ll mention as a being a must-see, is the Barcelona market. This place was HUGE and colourful and had every European influenced food item you could want. It’s a permanent assortment of stalls with everything from stalls draped with hanging hams, fruits I’d never seen the likes of and lolly stalls to rival Willy Wonka, among other marvels. Oh and I have only discovered one race which speaks as fast as the Aussies, and that’s the Spaniards. It’s now one language I have been scared off ever attempting to learn.

When we left Spain it was on our way to Germany to visit my family from Dad’s side. My Aunt, Uncle and cousin (only 4 years old so I hadn’t met him before) put Mum and I up for the week and had us well cared for. They also kindly facilitated the conversation between us and my grandparent who only speak German, all went well though. You all probably know that I hadn’t talked to my dad for 6 years until earlier this year when I started emailing him. Coincidently, he’d moved from NZ to Germany about a month ago so I met up with him yesterday for a few hours. All went well and it was good to hear about what he’d been up to and what not for the last while. So quite an eventful week was spent there, including a visit to Phantasialand which is the German equivalent of Dreamworld. My Aunt and Uncle were quite brave with most rides, but I was left to tackle one similar to ‘The Wipeout’ on my own. It appears that the youthful adventurous spirit is diminishes a little once you hit 40 lol.

So that’s been my travels over the last month or so and now laying ahead of me for the next month is some further time in Switzerland. I’ll be working with Uncle Bernie and Minda for their company, Hangliding Interlaken. They’re going to put me up at their place with food and board with a bit of cash on the side for beer in exchange for me working at the sales booth they have in Interlaken town. So basically, I’ll be chatting to passers-by and trying to entice them into sprouting wings for a bit and getting one hell of a scenic shot of Switzerland, with a few thrills thrown in. I had my own shot at this so I’ll put up the pics and video (once again, head to Facebook) so you guys can check it out.

So that’s the plan, and following that, I’ll put on my red slippers (metaphorically) and click my heels together a few times. Yep, you correctly decoded my typing fatigue, I’m gonna be headed home round mid August. So looking forward to seeing you all soon! Get ready to get your tapas on! Love you all xoxoxo Tass

Training it…

Writing this as I’m sitting on a train going from Frankfurt (Germany) to Interlaken (Switzerland)… how trippy is that! I will have been in 3 different countries within 24 hours, now that’s true tourist style there! Also, don’t know if I mentioned this last time but I’m also typing it on my brand spanking new computer, which was actually given to me as a gift, rather sweet deal ay? Please note the intended Canadian pun on that one. In true Tassie being a geek and camera sales nerd, I bought a new digi the other day too, the one that for the past three months I’ve been pressuring just about every customer to buy. Ah well, at least it proves I believed in what I was selling! Pretty nifty little thing, 3 inch screen, 10 megapixels, 4x zoom etc etc. Probs the best part of the buying experience though was being able to give Jessie my old camera (old being a slight exaduration seeing as I’d only owned it just over a year and it cost me a whopping $400 to buy). She was extremely stoked at that. But back to this spandangle gadget which I’m typing away on at the moment (and in the process, peeving everyone in a near vicinity around me off cos of the tick tick tick of my keyboard. I like showing off my typing speed lol.

I may be about to be kicked out of my train seat… god I’m confused! Not speaking German when in Germany really isn’t as easy a Mum made out. I’m at Karlsruhe and oop yep, I just got relocated to the next seat back cos the neon sign I couldn’t read specified that that seat was reserved for a certain someone at this bizarre sounding stop. Mmm yum, Haagen-Dazs – see advertising really does work – sorry, distracted by the giant sign at the station. Now the voiceover is going on in Deutch (German) as to what he is saying I have no idea, that is, until he attempts the English version. Nope still no, I’m sorry to disappoint, but still sounds foreign because of the accent, so there really isn’t much point to even bothering.

Ok, so I’ll get back to actually writing something which is not the random babblings of me trying to waste some time on a 5 hour train trip which is immediately following a 9 hour flight… finding seated stimulation for myself is getting difficult. Nothing suss kids. You may think that sleep could be a good idea, which it probably would, seeing as I’ve only had 9 hours in 3 nights, so yes, I’m fucked, but it’s 9.05 am here so I really should try to get my sleeping patterns at least slightly into whack.

Goodbye at the airport was hard. I requested two people be there to see me off, Jessie and Jeff. So they came and we had a drink and they helped me locate the right place to be and made sure I was there at the right time (thank fuck!). So I got to security then had to say my goodbyes. I’ve become almost good at the hard bitch exterior, and managed to keep up the facade until a couple of seconds into Jessie’s hug. I wasn’t a balling mess, but I did go through a few tissues on the plane!

I have a talent for spotting peoples nationality by their look or by there accents I’ve discovered. Germans and Swiss are so typical by the way they dress and their hair and their actions, cliché but true. I’m trying to figure out what I must look like, hmm. Alright, so I admit, I am really just wasting my time by wasting your time, so if you’re waiting for a point with this blog, you have been sadly misled, sorry. So to make up for your lost time I’ll give you bullet pointed hot goss (though how hot I don’t know, cos I don’t know how much you have heard):

·         Yes, I had sex in Canada

·         Yes, I had a boyfriend

·         Yes, I spent faaaar too much and will now be dealing with the consequences – who can justify about $2000 on clothes in three months? I can

·         Yes, I miss you all like crazy!

·         Yes, I may be coming back sooner than planned, but I’ll have to wait and see about that one

Alright there you go, let’s get the goss juice flowing . Jks.

I love hearing bout your stories back home (special thanks to Sam, Teegs and Liz) they put almighty smiles on my face. Boom boom shake the room hehe.

So keep in touch you crazy cats and I’ll try to do the same a bit better now that I’m out of crazy party – fun to the max capital, Calgary. So wish me and my phrasebook luck, and I’ll be sure to let you guys know how the grooms Austin Powers suit goes, and of all the spiffy guys which provide me cruise ship eye candy!

Love ya’s xoxox

The End of An Era

Well this is bizzare, my leaving date is impendingly close now, and it’s still ultimately sureal. I just got back from my goodbye party at the golden time of 3AM. It was a really good time, in fact the last 2 nights have been awesome! Last night was Tyler (one of mine and Jessie’s friends) 22nd birthday so we all headed to a club called Tangerine, all fancy shmansy, where there were a bunch of us, including managers, Ty’s parents and a crew of other Best Buyers. If I do say so myself, I looked hot! lol, hey my dress was spiffy and orange and ridiculously expensive. Plus by some rushing mirracle it only took me 30 minutes to get ready, which was quite the feat! It was a sweet time, dancing, drinking, chatting, grooving with my BB reps! Back to a house party at Ty and Jimmy’s where I made it into bed at about 6 and was getting some good R and R till midday. Then ended up staying in bed till being almost physically removed to go out for breakfast at 3.30, oh what a hard life hey! Went back to bed and watched a movie for a bit before being picked up by Jess after she finished work and heading back home for prepping for tonight. Jessie had done her ultimate best to organise a surpise gathering for me, which very nearly worked let’s just say that drunk people don’t really understand the concept of ‘on the sly’. The two of us went to dinner then headed to Morgans Pub (which can basically be described as underground themed where there are bikers and live music and a rather dingy crew) met some BB peeps again and played some pool, I even won one game! yeww! It was really quite a fantabulous night, all my good friends were there, the ones that seriously have made Calgary a very homely place and I will sincerely miss their awesome company and senses of humour. It’s been a weekend of free drinks and great times and it makes this place extremely hard to leave behind. Another holiday is definately in need… what are those lotto odds again?

So I have 2 more days left and I had my last day at work on Saturday. Things are all sailing along quite nicely, I’m doing my ultimate best to ignore the impending deadline for me to pull my shit together. Among many other minor details, I need to book a train trip to get me where I need to be once I land in Europe and fingure out Mary Poppin’s trick… I seriously have twice as much gear as when I landed and I was already bordering on over capacity which is a little pathetic. I just don’t want to get everthing done, I think that reality is just a little bit too much for me at the moment, living in my 3 month bliss zone of partying and good times has set me off kilter a little. Not that a 12 day cruise through the Mediterannean or wedding in Switzerland is exactly laborious. But hey, like I’ve said, the people here are awesome, it’s amazing that I’ve met as good a people as I have in such a short time… plus as someone put it tonight, it’s almost time for Jess and I to cut the umbilical cord

So basically, the last two nights have been awesome, but as has the last month since I wrote. Plus I got given this very laptop that I’m typing on now which was rather a nice gift so I’ve been downloading 1200 songs and uploading all my pics, so I’ll see what I can do about putting up some pics to accompany this blog when I get them from my sources.

No doubt that as soon as I land I’ll be typing up more 2000 word entrys about arduous journeys but hopefully not missed flights (yes, I did have a nightmare the other day about missing my plane… talk about damaged lol) so hold ur horses kiddos. I’ll be writing soon. I’m sorry I haven’t replied to emails and what not individually yet, I’m just trying to squeeze out every moment I can while I’m here, savour every last second. Then it’s off to the airport on Wednesday for my flight at 1.30… freaky.

Love you all… miss u xoxo

The Days of Our Lives

Ok, title is lame, but hey, I am here to document adventures and happenings, not waste valuable computer minutes coming up with creative, catchy titles. Been a big month, having a blast and forever meeting and getting to know people. I am in ‘like’ with Canadians and more specifically, Calgarians (may be a little creepy to pronounce my undying love for them as yet). They are just fun, cool people who have very similar ways to Australians, just with different weather and different accents. City’s a bit bigger than Brisbane too, actually, a lot bigger, plus they have like 6 high rises andthe  housing is different. All the places look the same, and I’m told the reason for this is because Calgary has tripled it’s popluation in like the last few years which is immense! So they’ve basically just gone mass construction and made all the places rather unoriginal and there are houses literally everywhere, like massive residential areas as far as the eye can see. Means that if you’re into a job in construction, Calgary is absolutely the money making capital! Selling cameras, not so much.

As I mentioned last time, Jess and I were kicked out and were planning on moving to a new place with Mary (the 67 year old lady who bakes cookies, and treats us like her grand kids) which finally eventuated on the 1st of May. It’s a cool area, about 10 minutes from Downtown (the city centre) and 20 minutes from work. I swear every guy that drives past our place is hot, so needless to say, we’re quite content in our new location. The other day we were out the front unpacking the car and as Jess was leaning in grabbing some stuff, my jaw gaped as quite possibly THE most spiffy guy went past. I wasn’t able to compose myself quickly enough for me to get out words to direct Jessie’s attention to this spectacle, so it’s sparked us off on a subtle mission to find a green 4WD round the neighbouring streets just to prove that such a fine specimen does exist. Ok, I’ve officially crossed over to stalker status but you wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see it for yourself! Random story, excuse that.

This morning we had a morning meeting with all the Best Buy staff (about a hundred of us) and although it was at the horrific hour of 7am on a Sunday morning, it’s a monthly thing which generally turns out to be quite fun. We head in there fresh out of bed and get fed muffins and coffee, after that it’s reports about how the store is doing, what our focus is etc etc. Followed by employees of the month, a quiz which never fails so result in a shambles and then department meetings. Sounds dry but it’s always a laugh, I work with a great group of people of which like 85% are under 20, so never really dull. The only annoying thing is that Jessie and I don’t usually get the same shifts so she has to drop me in early then I have to wait for at least a couple of hours until she’s done so that I can get a lift home, (unless I’m saved by the generosity of a co-worker that is). Well yesterday was one of these such ocassions so I was just wandering the store to waste a bit of time and went up to the GM to have a chin wag. I told him how I was enjoying Best Buy and having fun to which he asked if I’d ever consider coming back to Calgary. After explaining that I am entirely unsure what I’ll be doing after October, he proceeded to ask if I’d ever work for them again. I said (careful to keep my mocking tone to a minimum), “and work at Best Buy all my life?” to which he responded, “and grow and move up within the company”. Slightly taken aback and wondering what he meant by such a phrase I said that I really had no clue what I wanted, and that I’m going to spend the next few months figuring it out. Later that arvo I got a lift home by one of those afforementioned generous co-workers (Jeff) who when I told him the story he said that when he was in a meeting with the managers, they had mentioned the need for a DI (Digital Imaging, which is my department) Senior. You see we already have a Supervisor (Derrick) but they need like a ‘second in comand’ but haven’t been able to find a suitable candidate. Jeff said that he’d brought up my name and that the reason this suggestion was dissmissed was the fact that I was leaving in a month. He simply told them to try to get me to stay, well oops, that door may have closed with the lack of enthusiasm I showed when the GM did bring it up. But it was a nice feeling to be recognized as doing a good job, that’s for sure!

Today is the 4th of May and I leave on the 4th of June, I’m having a freakin good time so that prospect seems a bit daunting but still exciting at the same time. Man I think I really will miss this place and the awesome people though. It has been so easy to come over here and slip into a life which actually works and is always a good time. Jessie’s awesome company and we seem to get eachother on rather a freaky level. Often thinking and saying the same things simultaneously and just getting eachother and knowing whats going on in the other persons head. Last week was a bit of chill week, just staying in, organising the move and trying to survive in the few days before pay day. Still good though, watched Harold and Kummar (White Castle) and have been continually quoting ever since… Let’s Burn This Mother Fucker Down! The ammount of inside jokes Jessie and I have is astronomical, literally. I don’t think people understand a quarter of what’s said between the two of us… we on the other hand are in constant fits of laughter and quite likely, looking like spazzes.

The other night was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeakin awesome. A couple of great guys and Jess and I headed up to a town called Canmore for the afternoon and visited a brew house. Chilled there for a bit, had some fish and chips and a platter of taster beers, then went on what was initally termed a ‘hike’. Turned into a 200m walk along the streets before we decided that instead we’d head to Banff, continue the festivities and spend the night. From Canmore to Banff should take about half an hour, but an hour into the trip it was determined that indeed we had gone past the turnoff. At this stage every tree looked intensely inviting as both mine and Jessie’s bladders were close to exploding. After much coaxing they agreed to find a spot and thankfully we came up to a rest/hiking area. Quickly entered the wooden boxes there to find some interesting drop-dunnies. These city slickers could hardly wrap their heads around them . As we emerged they got some candid snaps to cement the memory and I had so much of a giggle at the fact that Jess was still mid doing up her pants that I broke my friggin Havianas!! So back on track we headed towards our intended destination and got there, eventually. Here’s something for you though, the place these guys booked for us was the Junior Suite at the Banff Springs Hotel, which is actually an old castle. This alone was… drum roll please… $800 a night! How spoiled did we feel! Especially when room service came up with a bottle of Grey Goose, champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries! We had our own little patio, a fire place, a humungous bathrrom with a spa, a kazzilion towels, and a whopper of a bed. Needless to say I was rather content to chill out up there and take a bath, visit the hotel lounge, etc. Fun night, to say the least.

Hmm, basically, I think that’s the gist of “The Days of Our Lives”, things are going well but I am missing you guys. I hear you had a gathering for a certain special someone’s bday (hope you got my messages Teegs – I’ll try calling again soon) and hit up Nando’s. I miss those times, the girly chats the laughing riots and the idiocy which we call young adulthood. All the greatest of times of course. I vote now that we preheat the oven, prepare the tray and mash up some guacamole so as we may feast in some virtual style guten nachos, forever in our style Teegs. So I send you all the online tantalising tastes, along with some real time love and giant hugs for all. Hope everyone is happy and healthy and I miss hearing from you all! Lots of love! xoxox Tass

It’s Been A While

Hello my lovelies! Terribly sorry for the lapse in blogging, I’ve been reminding myself daily to get one done, but the trouble trully is finding the time! It’s basically go, go, go at the mo and has been ever since I set foot in Calgary! So much to tell you, but I’m afraid if I put down as much detail as I’d like to, it would get exceptionally boring, and horridly long.  So I’ll do my best to jot down as much as I can to give you a feel for what the g-o really is over here.

Well, the last month, where do I start! Not at the beginning, cos I’m sorry to say, but I don’t exactly remember when or where that was, time flies! But basically, I can sum up what I’ve been doing by the words ”having fun”, and all things glorious and not so glorious that go with that. A few of you who were less pleased with my inital party-hard ways will be happy to hear I’ve slowed down with the drinking, and not every night’s a party these days. Doesn’t make it any less hectic though, but definately hectic in the best way possible, not like missing a plane (rolls eyes – palms start to sweat ).

Having heaps of fun with Jessie, we both thought that after a week of sharing the same house, friends, car, clothes, job, food, bed, we’d be well and trully needing some space, but not so. We still get on like a house on fire, constantly quoting Carl Barron (praise him) and Superbad and making utter idiots of ourselves in public. That girl and I get on, I’m her weird Aussie friend and she’s my entertaining Frenchy, together we are quite the laugh fest and there’s never really a dull moment.

So I think the easiest way to break this down is to quickly run through the major aspects of my life (and sound entirely self obsessed in saying that, but hey)… to start, the housing situation. Righto, well as you guys knew, I was living in a house with 4 bedrooms and 7 people, 5 of whom were guys. Now though, 2 have gone back to Quebec which leaves Jessie, Vic, Max, Jeff and Me (which equates to $360 a month in rent each which is very reasonable in Calgary’s economic terms). To jump straight to the point, we’re being kicked out, he he. You see, we’re young and have an unquenchable thirst for fun, meaning that very few nights are quiet nights. Our neighbours didn’t like that too much. So the night after Vic’s 22nd birthday, for which there was a DJ in our loungeroom and about 50 Quebecians ((leaving Jessie and I having to walk a surmountable (yes I may just be making up words here) distance from one end of our street to home because of the ridiculous amount of cars)), we were given a months notice to be out of the house. Cool ey? Nah doesn’t bother me too much but poor Jessie was freaking out a bit. Turns out we now plan to live in the two bedrooms downstairs of a lady named Mary. Did I mention she’s 67? At least there will be cookies and we’ve got the housing situation sorted.

Moving onto work. Ever heard of Hooters? Well it’s not just an American thing, Canadas got them too. Pays good, and after all, there are 3 guys to every 1.3 chicks over here, makes sense really. Okay, Mum, relocate your jaw and breathe. Rest assured my finances aren’t that dire yet, and I actually work at quite a fun place called Best Buy. I’m in the Digital Imaging department which basically has me selling cameras, camcorders, digital picture frames, photo printers and an array of accessories. The actual work part in itself isn’t too bad, each day brings new, ‘interesting’ customers and I’m learning. People are weird, the most recent line which has been put on me was from some Lebo dude, “You’re wasting your time here, a pretty girl like you. Here’s my number, come to me and I’ll give you luxury” WHO SAYS THAT?!?! Moving on… best parts though, are the people I work with, who at first seemed entirely nerdish but I’ve since come to see that they’re pretty cool cats. I wish I could go into details but I’ll save you the pain of microscopic details. I’m a true advocate for Australia and I reckon by the time I come back my couch will be permanently booked by an overseas aquantent, if I can sell one thing, it’s the joys of Oz. The people of Calgary (and Canadians in general) are great. They’re very similar to Aussie’s actually. The laid back attitudes, out for a good time, good sense of humour, alcoholics The thing which took me by surprise was the fact that people love Australian accents! I had predicted the way I talked would be seen as ocker and uninteresting, but quite the opposite, people love it!

My French is shithouse still, basically I can only pick up on people swearing and immitate the way Jessie answers the phone in French. One thing I did learn was ‘vous etes des tappet’ and the explanation for that one’s interesting. Basically it means ‘You guys are faggots’, and why would that be useful you say? Well 3 of the guys we live with got home from a club one night as we were going to sleep and decided to put on a bit of porn. The poor chick sounded like she was in pain! (I later found out a beer bottle was the culprit) So when we got fed up with trying to go to sleep to those sound effects, we knocked, no answer, knocked again, nothing. Then one pipes up with something in French. Basically the three of them were in there, having a pull… together. Nice hey? Jessie taught me how to yell that phrase out nice and loud… “vous etes des tappet!!”

Another one to add to the growing list of Words-And-Phrases-Not-To-Use-Over-Here-If-You-Want-People-To-Have-The-Faintest-Clue-What-You’re-Talking-About:

Much of a muchness – used when trying to explain the similarity between cameras

Capsicum – at Subway, people think I’m talking dirty

Piker – a friend got thorough enjoyment out of this one and was shouting it at random intervals throughout the night

Pop a squat – ‘Don’t you have toilets in Australia’

Whatevs – this word is being introduced into Canada for worldwide use

Come On! (whilst doing the move of Lleyton Hewit) – scares those in my immediate vicinity

All Carl Barron quotes ie. Rahhh! Where’s your licence – at least Jessie gets me. Talking about Carl Barron, I watched his vid the other night and introduced it to some Calgarians who thoroughly enjoyed it and all 4 of us were very close to peeing ourselves.

Sick mate, sick, subwoofer – need I explain

Well spose I’ll leave it there for now, it’s time for me to start getting ready for The Rusty Cage, our destination for tonight where they have $1 beers, woohoo! So love you and leave you my fellow down underers. Keep in touch! xoxoxoxox