Humble Pie

Well after kind of "gloating" a couple of weeks ago about how good my netball team is, we were completely *slaughtered* last night. :-( 36 to 10!! How depressing. What made it most depressing was that for a quarter I was in goals - and I am *dreadful*! I discovered that I can't shoot at all (granted, I have never practiced because I never figured I'd play in goals), and that I should practice running a bit more. The game was serious hardcore - I played centre for the first half, then I was hammered so I went into goals, then went back into centre. I can't remember the last time I played that hard... But yeah - having not ridden to work last week has made a big difference to some fitness levels. I should probably get in some more low-key riding on the weekends...

Contact

Now I have to tell you about something I find quite amusing. In the past couple of weeks I have received emails from and been able to chat on msn to people I met on my travels. Now, I'm not talking about people I travelled *with*. I'm talking about random people I met in odd locations. For example, Denes - who I met in a laundromat in Berlin; Mark - who I also met in the laundromat in Berlin (and is in no way connected with Denes); Laurent - who I sat next to on the plane from Paris - Hong Kong and then spent the day with in Hong Kong. I just find it completely amusing that I have randomly met these guys in a completely foreign location, to both myself and them, got along famously and have kept in contact. :D Travelling is a wonderful thing! *sigh* When am I going again?

And who could forget my dear Canadian friend Holly? Hi Holly! I'm sure you're reading this. :D I will post you a box of Australian goodies, and be sure to include a jar of vegemite! :D

Farewell

Folks, sadly it is time to farewell my dear friend Laurelle. You may know her (or not) as Lerel, Relle, Laurie, L'Oreal, Latrelle, or one of the many other variations. My dear Lerel is off to the countryside for placement for uni so she will be a fleeting visitor in my life each weekend for the next 10 weeks. *sigh* Gone is my netball chum, my fellow back-cracker, my little movie quoter.

Safe driving my friend.

Netty

Folks, my apologies. I seem to have neglected telling you about a rather consistent part of my life. We've been involved for about 6 or 7 months now - ooohhh! :D I'm talking about netball...

Some of my galfriends and I formed a little netball team we like to call "Wingin' it" and every Monday night we thrash the skirts off some unsuspectingly amateur team. Okay, maybe I shouldn't be so arrogant, but we are good. Last night we won 36-13, last week I think it was 33-16? And the week before that 34-11. Something like that. Anyway, we have lost a couple of games. Usually it's 'cos we're down a player or two for various reasons. Like last season I was overseas (obvioiusly), one of the girls had fractured her foot, various holidays and this season one of the girls is going on medical placement for 10 weeks. I don't have a photo of the team, but I'll see what I can rustle up . . .

An example of my brain not working

Today I had to go to work. I know, it's Saturday. I did, however, get there at an "okay" time (obviously, not ideal, but moderately reasonable) and was able to spend a good few hours there. However... this is the point at which my brain switched off. Instead of parking my car in a parking lot and paying, I dunno, somewhere between $7 and $9, no, I decided to park in the street - in a 1hr parking zone. Hmmm . . . Now, when you use a meter, you don't get a receipt. Which means I won't get reimbursed, and I had to go out every hour to feed the ravenous machine (it was about $3.50 each time!!), and then to top it all off I got a parking ticket.

Ideal situation: Spending $7-9 and being reimbursed, i.e. I shell out nothing!
Actual: Spent about $13, then got a $50 fine.

You do the math. Obviously, I'm not impressed.

Trivia

Today's trivial little information about Suz

Last book I bought: "Yes man" by Danny Wallace - funny stuff
CD currently listening to: Evermore's new one - Real Life
Amount of credit on phone: $25.13
Colour of my nickers: like anyone cares - including me??
Length of hair: about 3cm? Hmmm . . . I should use a ruler.
Last thing I ate: a muesli bar

I think that's enough for today. :D

Stay tuned for more uneventful news from Suz's life.

Ever had the feeling you have to make things up because nothing's happening? Welcome to my "return" to reality... :D

Happy birthday to...

...my brother! He turns 30 today.

Nice work. :D

On the Hong Kong ferry

My 12-hour layover

My my, was I in for a surprise when I got on my flight in Paris!

Firstly, my little experience at the airport was quite invigorating. A French lady tried to use her children as an excuse to avoid the long queue for check-in... I was *infuriated*!! I refused to let her in.. The French family in front of me sided with me and told her off in French with me nodding in agreement (as though I understood!). She ended up behind me because the woman behind me gave in and didn't have the guts to say anything.

Then I get on the plane and I got bumped to business! :D Needless to say, I was so excited!! Despite trying to look professional and nonchalant, I was overcome with exuberance, clapped my hands and squealed at the poor French guy I ended up sitting next to. Obviously, in my excitement, my English chatter was too quick for him, so he pretty much missed everything I said and just kind of grinned at me. Poor thing. He probably thought he had a lunatic sitting next to him!

Now, you would think that being in business class (i.e. being able to lower the seat until it's pretty much like a bed), having full-on rugs and a wonderful entertainment system would help me to catch a fair bit of shut-eye, but no. 30 mins is about all I got - while the good-looking French guy next to me managed to doze off. Over brekkie we managed to have a bit of a chat - it turns out Laurent was going to HK on business and used to live there when he was in his early 20s. He was *horrified* when he found out I wasn't planning on doing anything with my 12-hour in Hong Kong. Frankly, I just couldn't be bothered doing the research on how to get to/from the airport and getting 'round, so I had decided not to venture. But...who can refuse when you're offered a guided tour? :D

Laurent and I then spent the day together in Hong Kong (with my mother in the back of my mind telling me off for being in a foreign country, with a *French*man and touring 'round all the countryside letting him pay for everything). Yep, he paid for everything - except my train ticket to/from the airport. And it was fun!! :D Very muggy, though - I couldn't believe how suffocating it was!!

We went to the jade markets (I bought a handmade chinese checkers set; Laurent bought some necklaces for his girls), we went to Kow Loon Island, we went on a ferry (it drizzled) and... we cruised 'round in a couple of taxis and played chinese checkers and drank coffee in the lobby of a hotel where Laurent had stayed before. :D Fun, fun, fun - and so random!! Actually, maybe it was so much fun *because* it was so random?

So that was my 12-hour boring layover in Hong Kong airport that turned out to be 12 hours of stimulating and fun conversation with a handsome young married Frenchman who showed me the highlights of beautiful, humid Hong Kong and Kow Loon Islands. Thanks, Laurent! For someone who had never had any desire to visit any part of Asia, I'm pretty keen now to tour the Asian countryside!

Hol and Self eating crepes in Paris

Can-can go to Paris...

Yesterday I hung out with my good friend Holly again - she got in from Munich the night before, so we went to the Notre Dame. Then I went back to the hotel just to cruise until dinner when Holly and I met up with some more mates to go to the Moulin Rouge. Oh my! Interesting...! I have *never* seen so much boob in my life!! :D But the costumes were amazing, we drank champagne, and the night life was still going when we left - at about 1am!!

Parisian encore

Here I am using a dogdy keyboard. Again. So we'll see how this turns out! :D

Well the past couple of nights I've been staying in a hostel (although getting accomm last night was a bit interesting - everything was booked and I hadn't booked ahead! I basically spent the entire day walking 'round with my pack trying to find somewhere to stay...) I ended up sharing with a chick who had been forced to book a private room (even though she didn't want it), just because they had nothing else. So, she was more than happy to share with me. Amusing. So I moved to a hotel this afternoon - the same one I stayed in when I first arrived. It's wonderful to have my own room, a big bed, and a nice clean bathroom!! Exciting stuff. :D Oh, and a TV! I've been watching the BBC - it's not much fun watching McLeod's daughters that's been dubbed in French... :D

...newsflash...

I have just realised I have a 12 hour lay-over in Hong Kong on the way home . . . :-(

Bern, i.e. Bear!

Here I am in Bern - which is "bear" in ... some language. Hmmm... maybe I should research that before I post this entry? :D Nah...

Today is Sunday. And the shops are closed. And I'm only here for two days. So essentially, I haven't seen much... I was checking out the signs on a couple of the shops yesterday and found out that most of them are closed on Sundays and don't open until 2pm on Monday!! So, since I'm leaving early tomorrow morning, I'm not fancying my chances of doing any shopping here...To tell the truth, I didn't really believe that all the shops would be closed (I'm not sure why...?) - until I hit the town today. Not a soul on the streets! No traffic whatsoever, and I didn't get to see any people for ages. Pretty funny. I could count on one hand the number of cafes/restaurants that were open, too.

Since nothing is open I had a bit of an exciting time trying to find the entrance to the train station this arvo - normally you can kind of get away with following the crowds, but not today. Actually found out that if I'd walked another 10 metres at one point, I would've been right where I wanted, but I turned around, got a little lost and 20 mins later finally found it from the other side. :D I bought my train ticket for paris tomorrow - scary stuff - $117!! ridiculous!! and that was second-class!! can you believe it would´ve been $20 more expensive with stops? Anyway, it´s direct to paris for about 4.5 hours. Bad thing: it leaves at about 8.30am, so I have to be at the train station at about 7.45 (just to make sure) which means I need to leave the hotel at about 7am... hmm... needless to say, I'll be doing my packing and having a shower tonight so that I can kind of fall out of bed...

Now. About Bern. Bern is lovely. For a capital city I'm surprised how small it is - like seriously, you can pretty much walk from one side of the main part to the other in about 20 mins... and not miss anything! It's kind of funny though, 'cos depending where you go, they might speak German, French, Swiss-German or something else that i just have no idea... so pretty much I've been sticking with the German. I've got the whole "Sorry, I can't speak German" down pat, and the "Can you speak English?" works pretty well. I've actually had a few people look at me oddly and then tell me my German is pretty good. Obviously they don´t believe i can´t speak it. :D

Oh! And I stumbled on a market yesterday - funny stuff! I just walked around a corner and *whammo*! There it was! Love that kind of thing. Lots of hippy stuff though, funnily enough, 'cos you don´t see anyone wearing it? Odd.

Yodel-ey-i-hoo!

Folks, welcome to Switzerland. The land of the cows and the home of the Jungfrau. Man, these people love their cows. If it wasn't for the Alps and the flags everywhere I'd swear I was in India... :D Lauterbrunnen is about 20 mins out of Interlaken - it's a cosy little town, with a church that does weird things with its bells. I mean, these bells are ringing randomly day or night, and for an interminable time. There does not appear (to a foreigner) to be any particular pattern or reason. Just when you think you've figured it out, it'll gong 15 times at 12.45pm on a Thursday. Hmmm...

I seriously love Switzerland. This country is so beautiful and relaxing (and baffling!) - I've never seen so many waterfalls in one place! The place we're staying also has a massive river running through - yep, a white water river. :D Very tempting to just jump on an inner tube and go wild - although, I have no doubt that it would take 15 mins for me to reach the Mediterranean and be somehow floating down an ocean current off the coast of Western Australia by tomorrow afternoon. :D

Have met up with some girls I was travelling with earlier and we all ended up bunking together, so it's worked out well - also pretty cruisily. Sleeping in and strolling 'round is mostly the order of the day. Today we came in to Interlaken which seems to kind of exist for the sole purpose of extreme sports.

I have to say the most amusing thing about Lauts was having one of our mates clamber (while completely trolleyed! i.e. smashed) through our window, fall smack onto the floor, with his pants around his ankles. Thankfully, there was underwear present, and in his near-comatose state he was very amiable and given to following instructions - the pants were soon pulled up, and he was soon coasting out our door - until we noticed the blood! He appeared to have gashed himself as he fell in the window! So I managed to hail one of our other mates to try and get him back to his cabin, but my drunken friend decided to fall over his own feet and smash his face on some random concrete object on the ground. Unconscious on the ground, we all scrabble around trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime, he arouses and has very obviously broken his nose. Quite badly. And obviously has no idea, 'cos he's calling my friend "Dennis" (even though his name is Simon!) and going on and on about Dennis being his mate, etc. I have to tell you that in the situation I wasn't laughing, but in hindsight, it really was quite amusing. And had he been more lucid I'm sure he would've found it quite amusing, too - managing to fall in the window of a cabin with 4 semi-naked girls and with no way of escape! :D What an entertaining fellow...!

Further report on the ear infection: I have come to the conclusion that it kind of defeats the purpose of staying here much longer... On the antibiotics and the train, I will be burling off to Bern tomorrow for hopefully a bit more of an entertaining stay. :D

No, this is not a postcard

Grounded

Just an update on the itinerary and what's going on. I arrived in Lauterbrunnen (Switzerland) last night - on schedule. However, I woke up this morning with a nasty middle ear infection. Mum: don't ask me how much the doctor cost. Let's just say I'm glad I've got travel insurance! So, middle ear infection in Switzerland means:

1. No skydiving. yep, was seriously gonna do it - I was all but booked in.

2. No going to the "top of Europe" which of course is the whole reason for being here... can you believe it?! So I'm stuck at the campsite all day today and tomorrow.

Consolation: I might be able to make it to some waterfalls very nearby - hopefully they`re not up some massive hill.

To the point: Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous. The view where I'm staying is absolutely stunning, surrounded by beautiful Alps and waterfalls. Oh, and to top it off I've met up with some girls I was travelling with earlier - de ja vu!

Nice Nice and Monaco :D

Nice was nice. Except, once again, the area we were staying in. Pretty seedy. Although, to it's credit, it was a pretty easy walk to the "old town" and the aussie bar that we watched the italian match in. Don't talk to me about it. we were so gutted...

Some great beaches, some great rollerblading stunts along the boardwalk (these guys were seriously PROFESSIONAL!) and some good friends. Met some random aussies and spent some time with them dinnering, shopping, etc. Oh! And there was a *great* chicken shop around the back which did a *mean* grilled chicken. In case you haven't realised, I'm eating my way 'round europe. :D

Oh, and went to Monaco for a few hours. Odd place. I have never seen so much money in the one place at the one time. Yachts galore, cruise ships, people walking 'round with personal minders who carry their shopping out to their flash cars and hold umbrellas to keep the sun off them. Sadly, I was a *little* under-dressed to enter the casino for a gawk - sadly, it also had a 10E door charge which I was most unwilling to pay. :D The coastline is absolutely gorgeous and i was very tempted to just pop off the train at the numerous stops between Nice and Monaco - just for a little dip in the beautiful ocean or a laze on the beach.

Cinque Terre

Well, I ended up bed-ridden for a day after having a completely exhausting day - I think all my "travelling" caught up with me - I slept for about 30 hours in two days. The weather was great (what I saw of it) I did a walk between two of the towns and completely regretted it. :D Great beaches though, and all the towns are very quaint. I was staying in a little 3-bedroom apartment and somehow managed to end up with a room to myself!! It was good to spread out my stuff for a few days and not have to worry about packing everything up and locking it all up when I was going to the bathroom or something...

Cinque Terre

Monterosso

Riomaggiore