Part 165: Au Revoir August

So as you know I missed the month summary of July so todays blog is dedicated to my last two months in Europe. And what a two months they were.... Enjoy.

July:
Week 1 (1st-7th):

• Got a job with SecuriGroup after a job interview
• Managed 150 days overseas
• Went to Prestwick and visited Moira also meeting Brian
• Went to the beach and touched the Atlantic Ocean.
• got offended by Big Brother- shock
• Visted some family history places
• Got free shoes for my upcoming work at T in the Park
  
• Went to Troon

Week 2 (8th-14th):

• Worked at T in the Park! BEST. JOB. EVER.
  
• Saw many-a-bands for free including 3 favorites: Black Eyed Peas, Florence + the Machine and Muse!
• Got into Glasgow at 3 and struggled to get home to Netherlee. Death.
• Taxi'd for the first time...ever... on my own.
• Met Dad's work friend Bruce and his son Nick in Glasgow for a day.
• Went to an awesome Australian bar.
  

Week 3 (15th-21st):

• Got/made Sallys birthday present
• Celebrated Sallys 10th birthday
• Commenced playing Zelda on the DS
• Finished booking all my flights/trains for Italy.
• Departed Scotland from Prestwick Airport
• Flew to Brussels then to Rome.
  
• Met Gatens and found our hostel which was great.

Week 4 (22nd-31st):

• Commenced Touring Rome.
• Did a tour of the Colosseum and the Roman forum. Amazing.
• Went into the worlds smallest country: Vatican City.
  
• Saw the world famous painting by Michelangelo on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.
• Saw many many beautiful buildings in the amazing Italian capital.
• Visited the ruins of Ostia Antica
• Flew to Venice.
• Toured Venice and bought a mask. Its the most beautiful little place ever.
  
• Trained to Milan and was disappointed.
• Bummed around Milan for a bit before flying out to Brussels for a second time.
• Re-met Lois after two years.
• Toured Brussels trained to Antwerpen.
• Enjoyed Antwerpen at its best before training up to Sneek, the Netherlands.

August:
Week 1 (1st-7th):

• Toured Sneek
• Went to a Hot Rod/Balloon festival... what the?
• Visted sweet little towns in the North of Holland like Hinderloppen. loved it.
• Went to Sneeks 'Street Performer Festival' were Lois was a feature and I got hit by a hammer.
• Went to a weird Circus kind of display at night and met another Australian girl
• Got repulsed by the Australian accent.
• Watched the sailing games which were the opening of Sneek Week.
• Went out partying with Lois and Anne.

Week 2 (8th-14th):

• Partied till 7a.m with Lois then travelled back to the UK absolutely exhausted but in love with the Netherlands.
• Lived on my own as Al took the kids to Legoland in south England
• Went on many dog walks
• watched much tv
• Organised Lois to come to Scotland to visit ME!
• Went on a picnic

Week 3 (15th-21st):

• Jilly moved out after buying a flat
• It was filthy so we spent many HOURS trying to clean it.
• So. Much. Scrubbing.
• Enjoyed shopping for homewares and gaining a free toaster.
• Taking the dog for more walks.
  

Week 4 (22nd-31st):

• Watched the final of Big Brother
• Visited Stirling... Not the Castle though. I liked it anyway.
• Organised to visit Gatens in Edinburgh.
• Picked up Lois in Queens St. Station after som difficulty.
• Toured Glasgow with Lois
• Went tandem biking around the Isle of Cumbrae on the way visiting Largs. Was loverly.
• Went to the Edinburgh Festival with Lois watching some amazing shows and one awful AWFUL show.
• Got disappointed by Edinburgh Castle but loved Mary Kings Close.
  
• Said Goodbye to Lois as she hopped on to her bus to the airport turned around and met up with Gatens and her friends Alex and Maxxie.
• Did the Festival again.
• Got home at Midnight
• Went to Bothwell Castle with Alex
• Organised a weekend with Moira and Brian and a dinner with Margie.

And thats it. I had a great two months, I really did. Highlights? I would have to say T in the Park and my Europe trip were just amazing. Give me them again any day.

Goodbye August 2010 bring on September.

x

Part 164: Easy Day

Possibly the last comic.

Night x

Part 163: Castles and a Festival

Dear Diary,

Sorry for my absence over the last few days I have been a busy little bee with Lois and others, its been good. So as I think I may have previously mentioned, I went all the way to Edinburgh for the weekend. Quite a distance, I know. Haha.

Lois and I arrived on Friday afternoon after a lazy morning which was well deserved after our epic bike ride on Thursday. When we arrived we made our way to our hostel which was really close to the main street that the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was which was a great place to be during the festival. So we dumped our stuff then walked up to the festival where street performers are abundant and quite amazing. The Fringe had a great atmosphere which made it a fun place to hang around but also made it impossible to want to leave and tour the rest of Edinburgh, a bit of a shame but we enjoyed the festival too much. Having said that we started our time in Edinburgh at the famous Castle. The Castle was an expensive waste of time, in my opinion. I mean, I am glad I did it solely so I can say that I did it. We walked around the castle visiting the museums and such for a few hours but really, I was quite disappointed by everything except the magnificent panorama of Edinburgh the Castle bought us. We left.

After the castle we made our way back down the main street getting given a billion flyers for shows that were on that night free and otherwise and watching all the street acts. The vibe was great, Edinburgh festival is well worth it if you're there for it. Eventually we decided on seeing an improvised musical which was sooo funny. It ended up being about a womans journey into becoming a metaphorical man by learning how to be a prison warden helping save people from deathrow... It was called 'To become a Man' or something. Very very good. Lois and I loved it.

When we exited someone gave us another flier to go and see some upcoming comedian so we saw him and he was pretty funny too. His name wassssss *checking* ooh I cant find his flyer.. fail. Anyway, he was good. The rest of the night was pondering around the festival, getting dinner at a sports pub which was nice, I guess. Then we pondered the streets stumbling upon some other comedian. He was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. I mean, it was as funny as watching a cat get strangled. It was awkward and a little embarrassing to watch just because he was so bad. He started with a crowd of 13 and ended with 6 including Lois and I. Awful. We left and by 1am we were asleep in our hostel. To quote my notes I made for this blog on Friday: 'I. Am. Sleep' (Yes, I made notes)

On Saturday morning we woke up, got breakfast then made our way to Mary Kings Close for a tour that we booked on Thursday night. Mary Kings close is the remains of a street from Edinburghs olden days. Its actually underground because at some point the Scotts knocked down the top half of the houses and then built on top of them completely new streets and stuff. Much more to it than that, but its something you can discover yourselves in Edinburgh. Our tour guide was amazing, absolutely incredible. Very funny and full of knowledge. Best. Ever. The tour itself was well worth it too. It doubles as a ghost tour in parts to as apparently Mary Kings Close is haunted by a little girl and various other victims of the plague. It was cool. Glad we did that.

We then left and walked around the festival for a while. It was nice watching different shows and stuff again. Lois then wanted to go find a poster for Maud (I am saying this as proof in case Maud doesn't believe Lois) for a band that she likes and then got our stuff and I then said goodbye to Lois as she got onto the bus at 4.30pm. I hugged her goodbye then realised I may not see her for many years. Odd. Very odd. And sad.

At 4 I recieved a text from Gatens who said she and two friends were in Edinburgh for the festival and wanted to catch up- well why not? I met them at the train station. It was Gatens, her German room mate from work, Maxxie and their friend Alex. We went up to the festival and did what you do. They were in awe much like I was when I arrived but I acted cool, ptch I'd done it all already.

When we decided at 7 we wanted to see a show we found one we agreed on but then on the way Maxxie went exploring in a bar and we came out somewhere completely random and found a different show to watch instead. It was great because this one was free! As we sat in the pub waiting for the show to start a magician came and talked to me then showed me some tricks. I was in awe and so many high fives were had. He was the best magician ever. Well, not really, but he was very good. When the show started it turned out they were brothers doing a tripod style act. They were very funny singing various pop-songs but changing them into pirate related songs. Lol... yea. They were good. Then the magician did an set which was great. Best. Bit. Of. The. Festival. Haha, I helped with on of his tricks as well. It was great. He did this trick were he got someone to select a word at random from the novel 'New Moon' and then he 'psychically' knew what it was and wrote it down on his white board and omg I cant explain it but it was great haha. After he was finished, the brothers came back on and it was a bit awkward because they did a song about Hitler and were marching around with swartzikas and such and Maxxie was really not impressed. (She told them off after the show and said 'it was not funny at all'- they apologised) then they did a song about Jesus not being real which offended Alex, who is a christian... but I laughed at that song because it was good.

We pondered a bit more after until arriving at the station. I then bid them adieu at around 9.45 then arrived at home in Netherlee at a bit before midnight.

This morning (blah, this is neverending!) I woke up at 11 and read that Al and the kids were out for the day. I did a load of washing and then talked to mum for a bit over an hour on Skype which was great because it felt like forever ago since our last Skype conversation. Just as that was ending I got a phone call from Alex who wanted to catch up in Glasgow so I told him I'd meet him in an hour. 'Bye mum *sad face*' Shower. Train. Meet Alex.

Alex told me he wanted to go to Bothwell castle which was great becaus I hadn't been before! I knew the general way to get there so we walked up to Buchanan Bus Station and caught the bus out to Uddingston then walked to the castle. All up it took like 30 minutes on the bus and 20 minutes to walk there. It was okay because we got know each other a bit better. When we arrived at the Castle I was impressed because it was really ruiney in a pretty way. I liked this castle much more than Edinburgh Castle AND it was 6 pounds to get there and entry compared to 24 pounds to get to Edinburgh and go into the stupid thing. Blah. We spent about an hour there looking around at all the ruins and stuff. It was cool because you could go into like 90% of what was there except for some bits that were deemed dangerous. Fair enough, I say.

When we got back to Glasgow, I showed Alex around for a while and then we decided to go the Australian bar for dinner... well, Alex decided I wanted to get going but I felt bad because he was like 'so where are we going for dinner?' awkward turtle. Oh well, it didn't bother me, just my wallet. We went there had some burgers, chatted for a while then I said I had to get going. He wanted to go to Glasgow University because I pointed out to him earlier that it was a really pretty spot in Glasgow. So I pointed him in the right direction told him it was a fair hike then caught the train back to Netherlee.

Ah, home. I said hello to Sally, Aj and Al who, it feels like, I havent seen for ages! How weird. Haha. It was nice. I then hung around for a bit and then typed this. I think I should stop now, I have probably bored you enough ey?

Oh! I saw this shirt and it was cool. It was a guy in a kilt with an iPod in his ears done like the adds (colourful background, black figure with white ipod/headphones) and it said 'ayepod' haha. Funny stuff.

Cyas!

p.s. Mum, the photos are for you.

Part 162: Isle Of Cumbrae

Hey, didn't see you there!

Ha, I joke, of course I saw you! I see all. Epic.

Anyway, today was exhausting. Mainly because I am ridiculously unfit... Tragic really. So Lois and I woke up at 9.30 unsure as to what we would do for the day. I google'd a bit getting ideas before stumbling upon the Isle of Cumbrae: an Island not too far away for a fay trip but far enough away to feel like somewhere new! Perfect!

Our goal was to be there by 1.30. It meant we had to leave for Glasgow by 11.15 but unfortunately there was no bread so we had to buy breakfast for the supermarket causing us to miss our train...again! What the?! Missing this train meant that the next train to Largs (where we had to catch the ferry to the island from) wasnt until 12.45 which means we wouldnt get in until 1.45ish. The train trip was beautiful with gorgeous sea-side views. Good choice, Doug.

When we arrived in Largs we were shocked by the stunning weather and the beauty of this little sea-side town. We made our way to the port, bought our ticket and then we caught the ferry to the island. It was such a cool little place! So scenic. Its hard to explain this place because its just a lot of water and islands all around it with lush greenery and beautiful beaches and rocks and everything. Wow. It was pretty. We caught a bus to the village on the island which is called Millport. Millport itself was a cute little place with quirky shops all around and people playing on the beaches and many bikes. I should have mentioned that Cumbrae is known for its biking. Its a popular place to ride around on and really see the entire island. Lois and I decided to follow in suit and hired a -get this- tandem bike! How romantic... Lol.

With no experience on a tandem bike personally I was a bit concerned but with practice we really got the hang of it which was awesome! We ended up riding around the entire island in a few hours with a few stops along the way. It was literally and scenically breath-taking. I loved being at the back of the bike because I didnt have to steer or do anything so I just had the camera in my hands and was being stupid at the back of the bike haha. It was great. Theres not really much I can explain though, I mean, we tandemed around the island, what more can I add? It was good fun and we saw an eagle! Woo!

When we finished the tour de Cumbrae we were tired so we returned the bike, bought an ice cream each then caught the ferry back to Largs. We had a bit of a ponder around the town whilst waiting for the next train. Then made our way back to Netherlee where we have since organised our trip to Edinburgh tomorrow and relaxed, both very tired. It was a nice day and good to go somewhere new!

sorry the photo isn't very good, all the good ones are on Lois camera and I cant get her memory card to fit into my computer!

Part 161: A Red Bus

Hello!

So today was pretty full-on as far as my standard of days go. I woke up at 9 after hearing the kids leave for school and got up had a shower then waited around for Lois or Al to wake up or get home from taking the kids to school. Al arrived first so I talked to him for a while and he explained he had to go visit Jilly for a bit so I said farewell to him and thus was given full responsibility of the house. Epic. Fail.

At 10 o'clock I went up to wake Lois as I wanted to be in Glasgow city by 11.30ish. We decided to make breakfast which was to be bacon and eggs. After a bit, the smoke from the bacon just went crazy for some reason and set the fire-alarm upstairs off. My God is that loud! We spent the next ten minutes trying to shut it up to no avail and after ringing Al to ask how to turn it off only to realise that the only way was to get rid of the smoke (which we had done) we gave up counting it as faulty and went outside hoping that it would just shut up while we ate breaky. Fail, it didn't. The stupid alarm went on for about 40 minutes and nearly deafened me. Lois thought it would make things better if she showered with the door open (sounds dodgy, but I was downstairs) to let the steam from the shower fuzzle the alarm. Woohoo! It worked. Bad start to the day.

We went to the train station and quickly learned that all the trains to the city had been canceled. What?! I was so annoyed because, really, Lois is here for 4 days 2 of which we are in Edinburgh for, we didn't have time for this! I glared at the station and then we walked around and caught the slow bus into the city. At least we got there. Terrible start to the day. Luckily, we were in high-spirits as we wondered into Glasgow and on the way we decided to do the 'City Site-Seeing' bus tour which had been recommended to us by Al and the kids yesterday. We arrived spot on on time after a quick visit to the tourist information centre. Oh! and when we were in line for the bus, there was a woman who worked for the company who gave only Lois and I an extra coupon for one pound off. Good start to the tour.

The tour itself was pretty good. We went all over the joint and I saw one area of Glasgow I hadn't seen before but it was cool. It was the Peoples Palace and the Glasgow Green park. We got off at that stop and had a tour around so I could see something new. We sat in the conservatory there and had a coffee at the cafe which was nice. We then continued the tour and saw the rest of Glasgow stopping again at the Tall Ship (which is away to be cleaned...), Kelvin Grove Museum (still good the second time) and the University (which will never cease to amaze me). Eventually we arrived at Buchanan Bus Station and then concluded the touring by exploring, in detail, Sauchiehall St. and Buchanan St. We also went in search of some wool for Lois which was an adventure around Glasgow in itself and then we went out for dinner at some pub. The food was not great but it was cheap.

Fortunately, the trains back home were running so we caught that came home and watched Moulin Rouge for my second time. I have to admit, I really like that film. Haha. It was a good day (in the end... ha) but now we have to think of something fun to do tomorrow. Hmm... We shall see!

And thus I bid you, good night:

Good night

x

Part 160: Failte Lois

Thats right readers, Lois is back.

My energy in typing is practically 0, sorry. I will just explain that my day was pretty dull up until 4ish when I realised that Lois should have landed in Scotland about 20 minutes ago. I waited at my phone for any sign of life. My goal was to meet Lois in Glasgow but be in the city 20 minutes before her so I had time to do some errands and meet her without making her wait. Eventually I received a text saying that Lois was 15 minutes away from the city so I was like.. Crap. I rushed around to get ready then ran to the train station. Unfortunately the next train was 20 minutes away and I had no credit to text Lois. Luckily, she sent me a message asking where I was and said she would wait at the Starbucks at Queen St. Station. Bless her, she did. She waited the 45 minutes it took me to get there.

On the way I was running to meet her, literrally running across the road when some supid car run over some sauce packet and I got bloody Tomato Puree all over my jeans freshly cleaned. Fail. Stupid driver. Oh well there was a poor lad over the road who got the worst part and his whole self. I laughed at his misfortune before seeing my own leg. Rage.

Lois came here. We toured around a bit of Netherlee after a nice catch up train which we enjoyed thoroughly. OH MY GOD! BIGBROTHER FINAL WAS TODAY. NOOOOO. Josie won which was good and yea. Anticlimatic final but theres ultimate big brother for the next 18 days which is good but I am sad because I'll miss my characters... Big Brother is golden. Win. Fail. Etc.

Sorry this blog sucks. I am feeling lazy and am watching Family Guy :D

Annet, if you're reading this Lois is safe and sound x

Part 159: Arrested In Stirling

And good evening to you all,

My fingers are freezing so it makes typing quite painful. I should sit on them for a while... That didn't work. My fingers are still painfully cold. Failure. In better news today was pleasant. Well, for the most part. Ooh, my face is warm, I'll put my hands there for a wee bit. Wow, thats much better. The magic of my face never ceases to amaze me.

So anyway this morning I was awoken by Jilly which is quite amazing because I had no idea Jilly was here. She told me that it was 20 to 9 and if I wanted to catch the train on time to be in Stirling by 11. I sent Gatens a message saying if it was okay to be there at 7 past but she replied saying I should hold off an hour because she had a meeting with her boss at 11. This delighted me to no end knowing I could lie in bed for a wee bit longer and dawdle around the morning.

So I got to the station only to realize I missed my train. Epic fail. I sat around waiting the half an hour for the next one hoping that I would still be able to get the train into Stirling even though I knew it was impossible. I texted Gatens and told her I probably would get in at 1 instead. We considered cancelling but neither of us had anything else to do so we decided to play it by ear. Somehow, I managed to arrive in Stirling by 12.36 but then Gatens' train was cancelled so she didn't get in until 1 anyway.... haha. Good start to the day. Oh well, I went and grabbed Maccas for lunch whilst waiting for her as shed already eaten. I also got a free Coke glass. Win!

So the day in Stirling started by us discussing our post-Italy holidays. Lizzy went of to Greece for two weeks and for the record: had a blast. We wondered up to Stirling Castle which is the most famous thing in Stirling. On the way we also saw Stirlings old Jail which was noted to be a 5 star tourist attraction so we added that to our list of possible things to do. (Big. Brother. Second. Last. Episode. NOW. *Crack* that was my heart breaking... And to make matters worse, is that Als got his friends over and they're annoying me because they're talking in the loungeroom how rude... *glare* Anyway, now that I cant pay attention to BB I will keep typing. I should point out I hadn't typed for 20 minutes due to Big Brother, than being the host for Als friends while Al wasn't here. Can I spell awkward? Yes.) We eventually got up to the castle, pondered around enjoying the sites and views than left again. I would have gone in if not for the fact that Gatens was going again for free in a week and didn't want to and it was $15AUD so ptch, thats a next time thing.

We pondered around Stirling for a while going to the shopping centres and just bumming around (Bah, can they go to a different room?! Theres a whole house! I cant even go into my room to watch it because Jilly took my TV so I have to stay here...Raaaage) It was a nice town, very pretty and pleasant to explore. Eventually we went back up to the prison and did that tour which was pretty cheap and not too bad. Learnt alot abuot the prison which was a pretty interesting place. I mean the prisoners where people who stole things like dishcloths and then had to wait there in absolute silence and solitude for AGES until they were taken to either Austrlia or death or if they were lucky, released. Amaizng. Haha, it was pretty cool actually. Worth 5 pounds? Perhaps. I mean there was an awesome tour guide who dressed up and such and acted like 3 diffferent characters which was pretty mad.

Wow, I touch typed that entire paragraph. Gunnin.

Um, we decided we should go over to where Gatens works in a city named Dunblane. We went for coffee first and talked about how amazing the world is before getting on a train and arriving in Dunblane. Dunblane is a very cute city. Tiny and very old styled. I'm quite impressed. We went to the catherdral there which was very pretty and ridiculously oversized and then we caught a bus over to the boarding school where Lizzy works. It was pretty big and very pretty and again, I was impressed. (Raaaaage, I just missed something really funny. Not. Happy. Jan. Jan, please call Al and fix this) We then went and met some of the off-duty people that she works with and then we talked and played Mario Kart on the 64. That was interesting. I failed miserably but it was fun all the same.

After Mario, Lizzy and I left, cooked our own tea which was pasta and then I caught the bus to the station and then walked caught the train to Sterling, then waited for ages for the train to Glasgow then had to wait because all the trains to Muirend where delayed and delayed then eventually canceled. Raaaaage. I was there for an hour then remembered that buses exist so I caught the bus home which was the slowest thing I have ever been on. I FINALLY got home relieved I was able to watch Big Brother and not miss any of it... or so I thought. Blah!

Today was a good day. But I can tell my writing has a negative spin on it. Sorrrryyyy. I am not that annoyed really. Just tired. Lois is here tomorroww! WOOOO!! BIG BROTHER FINAL TOMORROW. Lois can sit quietly and watch it too ;)

xx

Part 158: 200 Days!

Please note that the title is meant to be read aloud with the tune of '12 Days of Christmas'' line: 5 Golden Rings. All glorified like. 5GOLDEN RIIIIINGS/TWO -HUNDRED DAAAAAYS! See, works a treat.

Yes my friends today marks my 200th day of being overseas. Away from you all and did you want to know how I felt all day? Sick. I actually had a headache which was a bit of a bummer. Other than that today was a fair average day. I did as little as possible just to avoid making me throw up- not that it was that bad really I just didn't feel 100%. It was okay though because I just played the Wii with AJ and got absolutely pwned. That kid is a gun on Mario Kart. I also played Zelda which I am up to the very last part but I cannae be bothered doing so. Hopefully I do it before I leave so I can claim yet another achievement during my time here. Haha-

Friend: So, Doug, what do you feel you achieved while you were overseas?

Me: Oh you know, learnt how to ski, became braver, learnt how to act in various worldy situations, I achieved self-perfection and became genuinely the best person in the world... oh and I beat Zelda. Thats probably the best one.

Friend: Oh, ha... Thats nice... *thinks: Unfriended.*

Pwned.

Oh, Theres this add on TV for Fosters and I love it because some Brit is useless in social situations so he calls his two Australian friends who use all the stereotypical Australian slang BUT solve his problem. This shows that Australians are clearly the most useful people in the world. Clearly. Mmmm... arrogance *drools*

So anyway! 200 days! I miss you but will see you SOON!

Stirling tomorrow- best check in with Gatens to make final arangements... Hmmm

Cya!

x

p.s Note I did not mention Big Brother even though I am watching it... Impressed?

Part 157: Buzzin' Like Corin Doesn't

Konnichi wa,

I'm a wee bit sleepy. I don't know what I should right about just now because today I didn't do too much until about 5pm when I went and sat with Al outside talking over some beers...Oh I did organize Monday- I am going to Stirling to visit Gatens for the day. The weekend should be okay but next week I am busy Monday-Saturday which is always good.

So I guess I should mention that I am a bit not buzzin' tonight because of a few reasons. I should start by saying I have been a bit touchy for some of the afternoon. I was a bit annoyed over the silliest things like hearing AJ and Sally playing Mario Kart in the next room however after a drink or two I was okay again only to have Big Brother rip my heart out. John James and Corin got evicted (as well as Steve and Sam Pepper but Steve was boring and Sam Pepper annoyed me) but I wanted Corin to win! I mean she was always buzzin and lovin' it. Aw I was gutted and in shock. I cannot believe that Dave and Andrew got in the final my GOSH. Seriously, if I had a friend like Corin I would be lovin' it. She was always so happy haha.

Now as interesting as that was for you, I would like to say that tonight tomorrow and Sunday wont be that interesting I think. I may do something but we shall see. Ew dogs licking people is gross.

What a great blog, why I posted it? Because I love you all and wanted you to know I didn't forget you. I would've done a comic if I wasn't so sleepy. Not buzzin'

xx

Part 156: With A Gun

Wow, I am writing this early compared to usual- its 6.16. I guess I have not a lot to do for the next few hours. Unfortunately, this wont take a few hours to write, unless I ramble a lot but I am not one to ramble. I cant stand it when I am reading a blog or a book or anything and people just ramble on in them, I mean what I they trying to do anyway? Fill in space? Add more pages? Rambling: Annoying the world since the Bible. Actually, I am sure people rambled before the Bible too. Dont get me wrong, I have nothing against the Good Book but my goodness does it just go on and on! Never ending stories... Although, having said that some of them are quite interesting but really as if, for example, the world flooded and Noah gathered two of all the animals. I beat you he missed some and then there was like a super epic something that happened in the soil making them fossilize really quickly making them seem millions of years old and thats what dinosaurs really are: the animals Noah couldn't fit or was too scared to go near. Makes sense to me. Anyway the point is I dont like Arcs. Or rambling.

I got up this morning and showered (stops and thinks, do I continue the rambling to annoy you or just go on as normal....? I mean if I continued the rambling, the blog would take longer to write and look much more bulkier when you open it later on to read it thus making it look interesting and such however then you will start reading and realise its just a bunch of rambling about rambling and how annoying it is. Its a bit of a predicament. Now I know how Stewie Griffen felt in that episode of Family Guy I watched the other night. He was deciding whether or not to kill Lois, so he used a simulator to see what would happen if he did. In the end he become superior overlord of the world but then got shot by Peter. Is it really worth becoming superior overlord if you're going to get shot anyway? I guess I am like Stewie because I have to decide whether to become superior overlord [by rambling on] and shooting Lois [not rambling] in the face. You are Peter who will put up with it [superior overlordness/rambling] for a few minutes but then shoot me [by not reading the rest of the blog and its ramblings] thus ending my rambling rein and rendering me dead [on the inside, that is] What a predicament indeed...I think I'll stop rambling, I refuse to be shot) then sat and watched TV while waiting for Jilly to come back from Tescos as today I was going back to the apartment to finish what we started yesterday. At 11.30 we were at the flat and taking all her stuff that she had (which fortunately was not alot) up the four flights of stairs.

When finished we ate lunch then commenced cleaning. I hoovered the kids room to be which I cleaned yesterday and made it look amazing. Well, as amazing as it could be. After that I had Jilly say she just couldnt be bothered cleaning so we should do some shopping instead. Sounded good to me so we made a list of extra things she needed for the house and set of to get them. A few hours of shopping and laughs later (honestly, it was pretty fun but not worth rambling on about) we shoved all her stuff back in the flat started organising bits and bobs and totally finishing the lounge- it actually looks pretty good.

Then we went to the tip and chucked stuff out before getting me dropped back at Als place. Here I have dont pas grands choses, I talked to Al and Jilly for a bit but then wanted to check my facebook so did that. I have been on the computer since.

Thanks for not shooting me,

Doug

x

Part 155: Grimer and Muk

Hello readers!

So today I woke up at 9 to the sounds of (my God its so dark in here I'm off to turn the light on...I CAN SEE!) Jilly and the kids preparing for school. I thought of getting up and saying 'good morning' to them however I thought more of lying i bed and pretending to sleep. I did that until Jilly came in and said I should get up to be ready to go to her new place.

I got up out of bed and hopped into the shower then dawdled down to have breakfast. I sat and watched Americas Next Top Model. They were in Amsterdam which was cool because they were going around in boats in the canals and I was like... ptch, been there. All was going well until Jilly came and said we were going, not that it was a bad thing, I just wanted to know who got eliminated. God I hope it was Marjorie. What a lump. She is like a moose. Anyway, not important... I grabbed my shoes and brushed my teeth before jumping into the car and we were off to Micky D's for breakfast. Please note that once again, I for some reason had two unhealthy breakfasts. What a lump.

We got our Maccas to go because we had to be at the flat in time for Al who was coming at 10.30 to hang up Jillys new curtains. Now I should add here that Jillys flat is spacious for the kind of flat it is but it is the flithiest most minging thing I have ever seen. It makes a highschool common room that hasn't been cleaned for a year look like a hospital in terms of cleanliness. This isn't in anyway Jillys fault, its just because she needed a flat ASAP and this was the quickest she could get. I can not explain to you how disgusting this flat was. We have three days to clean it and make it liveable. When we arrived there was a plumber there finishing Jillys bathroom which is new for some reason... Good though. At least that room was clean.

So, I was assigned the lounge room. Armed with bleach, hot water with floor cleaner and 30 sponges I attacked! It was gross. One wipe of anything turned the water black. Blargh. It also took a few hours and going over everything a few times. Theres not much to exlain really but in the end, the room looked cleaner. Almost standard, it needs a going over with scrubbing again then normal cleaning products to look clean. Dont even get me started on the floor. I mean, whoever lived there before Jilly is so disgusting. I found cigarette butts on the floor and got chewy stuck on my arm. Ew. Fortunately, the place does have potential, once its clean, it will be decent. Sorry Jilly I just slandered your place... Fortunately, Jilly knows and agrees.

So yea I was at the house cleaning for 7 hours (10-5) until Al (who left like 2 hours ago) came back and dropped the kids off who learned last night the Jilly was moving out and was keen to see the house. They weren't phased by this development and liked the flat. Cool. I kept the kids entertained for the last 20 minutes until we left for dinner. KFC. I was a bit grossed out by the food I was shoving in my mouth especially after my unhealthy breakfast and lack of lunch but it filled the hole and yea... ew KFC.

Got home, sat with beer talking to Jilly, the health streak continues, and then watched the Simpsons. I am waiting for Big Brother again... woo! omgomgomg the Final is on Tuesday I am sad because its gonna finish sooooon. Shattered. Corin for the win!

I smell like bleach, my hands are dry and I am scared I picked up some disease however, tomorrow will be better because the house is halfway done! Haha, actually, I find cleaning theraputic because I just put the iPod in and scrub away left to my thoughts. I quite enjoy it, actually. I also like going "OMG JILLY WTF IS THAT?" and then having a bitching session about the people who lived there before her and how gross they were. Its good.

Now I am offskiing, toodlepip!

xx

p.s. Title is a total Pokemon reference.

Part 154: Free Toast

Precious few readers, hello.

Today was a bit of a busy one. I woke up in the morning to the sounds of the kids getting ready for their first days of school. I hopped out of bed because last night they asked me to wish them well for school. Its their new year- bizarre! I did that and as they went of to school I showered and got ready for Jilly who was, upon returning from dropping the kids off, was taking me to a house to help clean it up.

On the way we got Maccas for breakfast as what should be done when you're off to clean a bombsite. Or so I was told. We left with our coffees in hand and upon arriving at the place we realised it was a wee bit messier than what we expected. We couldn't do anything because some of the mess was too big and thus we needed someone else to do it. We ended up going over to a shopping mall to do some shopping which included going to various places picking up bits and bobs. We got a free toaster! FREE! I love toasters. Well, free toasters anyway. I love toast! Toast.

Ermm, after shopping we came back home and I played some Zelda and sat outside talking to Jilly over tea - the drink, not the meal. After, we had some to go pick up some photos from the framing shop and then go grocery shopping. We talked to the dude in the photo shop for like 30 minutes about his upcoming trip to America which was thrilling... Then after the shopping we went and picked up the kids for l'ecole.

Jilly hada doctors appointment so I had to go take the kids to Sallys dance registration. I walked us there which was fun because we made it into a race and it was good. (I love 'friends' its on now and very funny) Um, when we got there we had to wait in a huge queue of mothers so I just played i-spy with Sally and let AJ race around bumping into some kid and knocking him over haha... I did apologise to the Mum haha. Hm. I think I was the only non-mother guardian there which was odd. Oh! And L!TJBTC (Lol! The Janitor Broke The Clock- completely smashed it it was so funny and he was so embarrassed becuase the room went silent and stared at him) When I got up to register Sally there was a panel of young women sitting there who sat us down and asked who we were and why Sally wanted to dance. It was almost intimidating. I then had to sign as Sallys parent/guardian which I was like... I dont even know if thats allowed. I did explain that Jilly wanted me to fill in for her and they were so impressed by my Australianess (no joke- they made me blush being so happy that I was Australian, it was awkward, I heard them giggle when I said 'cya'... I mean really...) that it didnt matter. Sally was registered so we celebrated with ice cream.

Anyway, back at home I had to baby sit the kids as Jilly went out which was okay because baby-sitting them involves watching TV. My only job is to put them to bed at the right time- which I forgot... Aj went to bed on his own, bless, but he unfortunately went to sleep in his school uniform so when I realised this I had to wake him and he was grumpy and didnt listen. Luckily Jilly was here by this point so I let her deal with it as I watched 'The Simpsons'. Good system.

I am now typing this making sure its finished before Big Brother starts so I dont go on about it again tonight. Chyeaah.

p.s Sparky the dog is absolutely minging. Stinky dog and he is right near me and I dislike it.

Part 153: The Eye

Im gonna miss big brother sooooooooo much when its over or when I am back in Australia. Ah, Big Brother I just love you. You're the best thing that happened to me since Smallville. Ahhh... *Big happy grin* All the people just bring a smile to my sad lifes face. I say sad life because I am dedicating a whole section to my Europe blog to a TV show... and not for the first time!

Moving on:

So I had a good day today, I woke up at 9.30 and saw Al and the kids watching TV. I then sat out and had coffee with Al and was told I had to babysit the kids as he went to pick up Jilly. He did that and then came back and decided to stay the day because Jilly needed to sleep. He had house work to do so I decided at 12 the kids and I would go for a picnic because todays weather was the most amazing weather I have seen in a long time and I've been to Italy.

After packing our sandwhiches and snacks we wondered off to the park where we sat and ate listening to music and discussing why Japanese is so awesome. Then AJ and I played football (AFL style) and did some stupid game where you throw the ball up and clap as many times as you can before you catch it. My record was 17. Win! We then went and skipped stones and drawing on my experience in Holland we built an island in the lake. It was amazing becuase it worked and we could stand on it and oter people where staring at us making it thinking, I'm assuming, 'woah, thats cool'. It was mad. The only problem was that I got drenched because I dropped big rocks in the water making a splash. Idiot.

Anyway! The rest of the day was so-so enjoying the weather outside and pondering. I am currently watching Big Brother- duhhh. I love it.

I dont know whats on for tomorrow. Everything is a bit topsy-turvy at the moment with everyone elses plan so yes... I'll see. Oh and the kids summer holidays are over, already! Whaaaaat? Where did the last 7.5 weeks go? Someone tell me.

Uru

p.s obviously 'The Eye' is about the Big Brother Logo ;)

x

Part 152: Weirdest Day Ever

Hello,

What on earth should I write about today? I had such a busy day! So lat night I didn't blog because I was much to wasted. For some reason going out on a Thursday night is the cool thing for solo pepole to do. I went into the city and partied meeting thousands of people and then waking up in the gutter at 5.30am in the middle of no where.

Hungover I dawdled to the train station and caught the earliest one into Netherlee again. When I arrived home I realised the dog had gone missing. I looked everywhere after realising I left the gate open. Unfortunately I couldn't find the dog which was a bit worrying becuase I still have no idea where he is, I thought he may turn up at home, but apparently not. I was too tired to keep searching so I went to bed only to be woken up by the door bell. I got to the door to see, well you'd never guess, I clown. There was a bunch of circus folk promoting the upcoming circus in a suburb not far from here.

I smiled at the clowns practical joke with his water flower and waved him and his buddies away. As I was closing the door I noticed that the toaster was on fire, I have no idea how, I wasn't even making toast. I ran around looking for anything to put the fire out and only found a blanket which I used which worked at making the fire better... better? Or Worse? Much worse. The blanket caught too so I ran upstairs to the shower and grabbed a bucket, filled it and poured it over the fire which had no ruined the kitchen. Fortunately the neighbours must have noticed because the firemen arrived and saved the day. I panicked at the fact that I had burnt the kitchen of my hosts house down so I packed my stuff into my bag and ran out of the house, I left a note apologising so mum, dad, if you hear from Jilly or Al, asking for money politely say I have disappeared off the face of the earth.

Anyway, on the way to the train station (I dont actually know where I was going to go at that point...) I had a random car pull over and grab my stuff and then shove me in the boot of their car. I had been kidnapped! I mean, honestly in Netherlee/Muirend? Who'd a thought that possible? Bah! So there I was in the car just wondering whether I would be murdered or held for ransom when they stopped randomly pulled me out of the car and started shouting in some language I didn't understand. I noticed that one of the dudes was particularly loud but quite stupid and it annoyed his friend. Actually, he was shouting at his mate then his mate got angry so they started just yelling so I used this time to sneak away and grab my stuff...

Free at last, I wondered through my new surroundings, it appeared to be a suburban area but I think I must have been in the car for about 30 minutes so I had no idea. I ended up going up to a house and explained to them my bizarre situation. It was lovely because they offered me tea and said I could use their phone to call someone. I asked if I could use their computer instead and used their internet to find a couch surfing host in the Glasgow area. Somehow I immediately found one and then trained into the city and was met by James and Anna who are 25 and living together a 10 minute drive from Queen St. Station.

By this time it was about 7.3o, I was exhausted and hungry so we had some dinner (McDonalds) and then they went out (its friday night) so then I sat and watchede TV, Big Brother eviction night tonight. I should probably call Moira and Brian to tell them where I am and that I'm okay.

I dont know what I'll do tomorrow or when Lois gets here, it'll be interesting. Anyway all is well. Today was eventful to say the least...


Anyway, I'm off!

xx


p.s. Todays blog is all utter nonsense. Today was as dull as the colour grey. Its odd living on my own. I did clean the entire house and ten went to go post something only to realise it was 4.30. Then I went to take te dog for a walk but then the next door neighbours came and said they were taking the dog for a walk and took him... so... I didn't do that either.

x

Part 151: August Augmented

Look! More green, I just need Spain and Portugal, maybe Ireland too and that would look so much cooler. Oh well. SOOO much to see....

Hm, I don't really know if the title is misleading, I didn't do anything much today except make plans.. or start to make plans which will thus improve the quality of this month.

So, I got news from Lois saying she has booked flights to come to Scotland for a few days this month- I love it! She'll be here the 26th and I cannae wait! I can tour her around Glasgow and do something fun in Scotland that I haven't done yet either! Oh and of course we'll go to Edinburgh for the end part of the Edinburgh Festival. This brings me to the next thing I have organised: I am going to Edinburgh this weekend too to visit Vicky! That should be good, no idea how that is going to work yet or where I'll stay but I am doing something.

I also took the dog for a walk which was lovely, he was depserate for it and I wanted to get out of the house for a while... I still need to make contact with my family here too. I'll do that tomorrow. Thursday. I still haven't heard from Jilly or Al so I hope they're enjoying themselves.

I made cabonara for tea again but this time tried hard to make it better than last time and pwned at it! I am getting better at that! Haha, I have to like learn how to cook more things... Like back in the day with Kelsey. Every Wednesday we would cook dinner for the family with dessert too- we were so pro! Mm, nostalgia.... *drools*

Oh, yesterday I didn't blog but thats because I spent 5 hours on skype with Tam, interesting for me but for a blog, perhaps not! Oh and I saw foxes. Lots of foxes. They live outside at night, in fact if I looked now, I would see them. (please not I went looking for foxes and I saw none from the window-feil)

Night!

x

Part 150: Day Off

Hey there!

So my day of nothing went well. I didn't sleep in like I wanted to being awoken by the dog at 9.30 snorring in my room. I did not miss the dog waking me up. I then played nintendo with Sally until she, Al and AJ left for their holiday to LegoLand in England. 7 hour drive? Sucks for them.

The rest of my day consisted of: Catching up on my internet social life (MSN, Facebook, webcam) enjoying a great conversation with my parents. It was nice to see their faces for the first time in over 18 days. I talked their ears off and they nodded politely and then for the rest of the day I have been watching telly and you know... doing nothing. I actually got a bit bored but I didn't have much energy today and the more I did nothing the less energy I had.

I should do something tomorrow like go for a walk or... I dont know... something. I need to contact Moira, Brian, Margie and Vicky to organise trips to Prestwick and pubs and Edinburgh for the festival. I'll do that tomorrow. Oh! I also checked out stuff for voting in Australia whilst overseas. I was meant to fill a for before I left ahaha.... hmm.

I dont feel very well again today, I dont know whats going on its just headaches and stuff. Not fun. Hopefully tomorrow shalt be better. I also have to work out uni shtuff... great.

Blah.

Night!!

p.s Part 150!! Its getting on, ey? I wonder if anyone even reads it still...

Part 149: Back to Britain

Hello!

So yesterday was a looooooong day. I dont want to go in to detail so I'll just say quickly what happened.

When the clock hit 12 and Saturday became Sunday Lois and I hit the streets of Sneek and parties with strangers till 3. I was too shy to talk to anyone at first but I had a few drinks and got into it, it was much better that way. We got invited by a group of people to go hang out on their boat at 3 but we were tired and wanted to go home. There, we talked for like 4 hours about life and all that stuff until going to bed at 7.

Woke up at 10 got packed, showered then at 2 siad goodbye to the Mullers (I would love to say here: THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME! You're an amazing group of people and it was a really top week. I really enjoyed everything that you told me and being at your house!) and then took a 2.5 hour train to Amsterdam (getting fined on the way...) then Airplaned to Edinburgh and then training to Glasgow and Netherlee arriving home at 9.30. 8 hours of travel. Death.

Home, I said hello to everyone, was exhausted and watched TV. Its nice to be back home, the last 18 days were amazing, but very exhausting! I love Europe.

The end.

Part 148: Tik Tok

Morning!

So last night, I apologise for my lack of blogging but I have a decent excuse. We'll get there.

So yesterday I woke up at 10 which was pretty early considering the time I went to bed and then did my blog (woo!) After, Lois and Anne dawdled downstairs and I said g'day to them and we decided what we wanted to do for the day, it had limited options due to the sad rainy weather. There was stuff to do in the city but we didn't want to go in (I am listening to a really cool song right now on the Muller computer iTunes its called 'That Man' by Caro Emerald, swing kinda stuff I like it so check it out) so we ended up staying inside and, get this, playing Monopoly. Oooohhh yea, we are the cool kids.

At around 3.30 we went and dropped Anne to the train station because she had to go back to another party in Zwolle. It was good meeting her. Back at Lois' place I was happy to hear that even though we didn't finish the game of Monopoly while Anne was here, Lois no longer wanted to continue (thus forfeiting which I couldn't do) and wanted to watch a film instead. We went to the cinema with cake and coffee and watched 'Take the Lead' which was a good mindless movie to stare at and smile along with.

When that finished we went upstairs and I met some of Jelles friends, set the table and the family and 3 extra guests had dinner- chicken. Then Lois and I played on youtube and finding different videos that were funny or that we knew. We also watched some of Hollands got Talent and Popstars because one of Lois'... not friends... not aquaintance... someone she doesn't like much was auditioning (and was actually good and got in). We watched some of the news too because Sneek week was in it- I looked for myself but to no avail.

At 12 o'clock we left and then we partied till 3.30 arriving home and talking until 7.00am. Bed. I should explain this all in tonights blog, because it wasn't yesterday ;)

Ciaociaociao

x

Part 147: Sneek Week

Hello!

So, yesterday was pretty good, waking up at 10 and upstairs talking to Annet until Lois woke up at 11. We decided that today, being Sneek Week (a huge festival in Sneek that people from all over Holland come to for parties and sailing competitions) we would go to an island not far from here and watch the last part of a sailing competition between all the Friesian cities (I cant spell Friesian, but its a part of Holland with its own language and everything, Sneek is apart of it, but most people still speak Dutch anyway)

We arrived at the Island by bike/ boat and then met one of Lois' freinds who has a Friesian name I have no hope of remembering... Sietske Lois tells me. We went to her boat and waited for her to get ready then we went and sat on a big cargo ship, which was pretty cool in itself, and watched the sailing in the sun. Speaking of sun, I somehow managed to get sunburn... I hate the sun now, not that its a bad burn (I can barely notice it now) but still, how rude of it to think it can burn ME! The sailing games were pretty bijzonder but it was relaxing to watch them even though I had no idea what was going on. Sneek came third of 14 apparently so woohoo! Gooo Sneek!

After that, Lois and I stood awkwardly as whats-her-name said hello to all the Sneek competitors. We didn't know anyone.. Well I didn't, and Lois only a few so we left and walked around, got ice cream (ben & Jerry's, mmmm) and then boated back to here. When we got here Lois went and picked up her friend Anne who was here for Sneek Weeks opening night thing. I stayed at Lois' place and watched the start of 'The Curious case of Benjamin Button' with Maud.

Lois and Anne came back and I met her.. obviously, she is pretty funny so it was good. Dinner, Movie, out to SneekWeek Festivities. We watched some boat parade which is apparently the whole reason for Sneek Week then went out partying amongst the masses of people. It was again, quite bijzonder partying out in the open with sooooo many people but pretty cool. Yea... We tried clubbing a few times but I just dont dance so...yea... Anyway. Home at 2.30 sleep at 3 (early for Sneek Week) up at 9 wait for Lois and Anne to wake up, blog.

Voila.

Oh! also the other day me and Lois made apple crumble from scratch (this was the day I didn't blog) it was yum and a very typical dutch thing to do apparently! Good ol' apple crumble.

Toodle pip!

x

p.s I go back to Scotland tomorrow. :) :( :S

Part 146: Aye Aye, Captain

Ciao friends,

Today I was the captain of a sailboat.

This morning I woke up at 10.30. Lois and I made an arrangement to wake the other if we weren't already awake by 11 so I had time to jump in the shower. Unfortunately I feel back asleep. At 11 I woke up again, not by Lois and went into the shower then was greeted by Lois who was awake talking to Annet. We decided that today we would go into Sneek where there was a bunch of Street acts going on just for the day.

We left by 1.30ish after dawdling around in the morning. The street acts were pretty cool, especially the first one in which I was attacked by the performers toy dog and hit on a head with the hammer... I was the only one :( Lois, on the other hand, actually got selected for the good roles, she was given the dog to look after and also had to stand up and be involved, it was pretty funny. Very entertaining. The rest were okay but I wasn't feeling very well so I wasn't quite myself. We did have ice cream any way and these typical dutch pancakes which are just teeenie pancakes- very good when you're not well, I assure you.

When we got back to Lois' we sat and talked for a while then I did sudoku while Lois did something else for a bit until we had dinner- a very nice pasta dish. Lekker. After tea, it was agreed that Lois, Jelle (pronounced Yell-eh, Lois' 17[?] year old brother) and I would go on a sailing trip. Not like the boat that we used the other day, this was an actual sail one with well...sails... IT was really fun but apparently due to lack of wind not as good as normal- I liked it anyway. We were gone for a good while around the main lake which is huuuge and good fun to sail around. I also used the trapeze which is a bit on the side of the boat where you dangle out the side attached and with no hands just hang over the water. ITs pretty fun too. I like boats... hehe. I also got to steer the boat a couple of times which was interesting. I can now steer a sail boat, I cant do anything else like work with the sails but I can steer... rocket science? No but good to know.

It was good, I dont know what we're going to do now, Lois said she is tired and wants to go to bed so I may do the same...probably.

Oh! Last night I also met another Australian who is friends with Lois' younger sister Maud, who was staying in Holland for the last 2 months with her mum. It was cool to talk to another AUstralian just because we both had been away for a long time. We got along pretty well but I was grossed out by her accent- so Australian... bleargh. Lois and Maud both agreed my accent wasn't as strong as hers and I hope it never is.... Nice girl though! The 4 of us went to some circus thing too last night which was mad fun. Hard to explain and had a stupid story... I might also add a royal 'woof' but only Lois and I would understand.

Toodle pip!

part 145: From Lois

Hello everybody!

Here I am myself, 'the famous Lois from Holland' Haha I suppose Doug told stuff about me where we've been together so you already sortof know me in a way and some of you would have to know me too from two and a half years ago when i lived in the greatest city ever... Maryborough! Haha lol but oh well, I actually really enjoyed living there! another great city is Sneek! (mine) Thats where Doug has been too lately which is quite obvious. Oh gosh I really don't know what to write in someone else's blog, it is sortof strange and cool at the same time. Probably also because when I was in Australia I had a blog as well and wrote really quite a lot on it. It's just different now.. If you're interested have a look, don't think you will understand it so there's not really a point doing it but anyway this is the one lois's blog!

I really like having Doug here and do some sightseeing. I feel like a tourist in my own country but oh well it's not bad. Yesterday I showed him two towns close by Sneek, Workum and Hindeloopen. These are two really small cute cities, (very touristical too) it's hard to explain to strangers and Doug said too that you just can't picture it somehow. I find it also funny to see what he find so odd from what I say that's just so normal over here, people do it all the time and I see it all the day. Like we bought a waterbottle because we were thirsty obviously and he absolutely loved the bottle and I was like euhrm, yea sure Doug.. it's a good bottle hmmm. Another example is that we go by bike everywhere instead of walking or by car (we do have cars tho and drive them too) As long as you are in your own town or live close by we go by bike to work, school, city, shopping, everything so when he saw Amsterdam Central station he was amazed how many bikes there were. That also the best spot to do it tho, there were thousands! (I'm not overstating) So the best dutch experience is go biking in the city too! (which I do all the time, except for now I feel like a guide, telling simple facts what's just normal for me) It's also good for me because now I realize what is actually quite special about Holland and Sneek while I normally see it as nothing special at all! Oh well that's enough cliche talk for now haha. My dad loves history too so he explained a lot in his really really bad dunglish (dutch-english) stuff to Doug about how we dutchmen (used to and now) keep our feet dry, because we live below the sealevel. Mainly by dykes but Doug can tell you all about it now because my dad overloaded him with that sort of information a lot! Doug said that he likes telling people about it but I still doubt it... Haha (not completely true because if I really think about it too it is quite interesting) Oooh crap I've gone to the cliche talking again,, damn!
Well what we did yesterday too when we came back from those towns is that we went by boat via a lot of small canals to the Sneeklake. We have a boat in our backyard which doesn't mean we are really rich because many people have it here in Friesland (province in the north of Holland, where I live) because we have sooo much water and lakes around us. So it is nice to go boating or sailing for a day or a few. We had dinner over there, near the lake at a nice restaurant. If I haven't been to Australia and seen how dry it is there it would just keep suprising me what is so odd to Doug, because it's the opposite of dryness over here. We have several massive pumps around the lakes which pump out the water to prevent us from flodding. If they weren't there we would not be able to live here!
So yea in Australia I really missed the water and had to throw out the showerwater in the garden.... but oh well I survived :-) I should send a lake in a postbox to Maryborough!
We are planning on going sailing tomorrow and stay the night over somewhere and after that it's Sneekweek, (the most famous week of Sneek) which is a huge event and very known in Holland. It begun as a big sailingevent and it still is but by the years came past it became pretty much a drinking and partying event as well! Haha I love it (both the sides tho) There is a lot to do and see for everyone so it's cool. Dough picked the right time to come here because it has it's 75th anniversary too so that's even bigger then it normally is! Yaay

Ok I better go now because we have to hang out with the tourist some more ;) Oh and sorry for my possible spelling/grammatical mistakes, let's hope that I speak better then I write. Lol

Goodbye and I might see you again one day!
xoxo 'the dutchie' Lois

P.s We are having a relaxing day so don't be suprised if he is not writing today because it won't be that exciting..

Part 144: Wall of Fame | Heineken Experience

Um.. just watch this...

Wall of Fame | Heineken Experience

Good times.

Part 143: I AMsterdam

Hello!

I had a really really great day today! I went with Annet (Lois' mum) and Lois down to Amsterdam for the day. We woke up at 7 and were out of the house for the hour and a half drive by 8.30. After getting lost, its becoming quite a habit, Annet eventually found and dropped Lois and I off just near the Anne Frank house in the old part of the beautiful city.

I didn't have many expectations of Amsterdam because all I really knew about it was the legalised marijuana and the red light district so upon arriving I was very surprised at how pretty the city was. Lois and I queued up for about 40 minutes to get into the very house were Anne Frank lived during her time hiding out in the war. It was made into a museum by her father Otto Frank when he found out that Anne had been a victim of WW2. His goal was to reduce racism and prejudiced in the world and the museum really has an impact. We pretended to be 17 and got cheap entry and then spent a good hour or so exploring her house. The upstairs is just crazy because it has little things left from when the families were hiding out in there. Pictures on the wall, markings from where the children measured their height and all these other things they had to try and turn this place into a home. The story of Anne Frank become suddenly real to me and it was fascinating and saddening to see how these people lived for so long only to be caught out in the end anyway. We also saw her original diary on display in the museum too, which was pretty interesting to see. Definetly, if you are in Amsterdam, make an effort to see this place.

When we left, we pondered around looking for the next thing we wanted to do which was the Heineken Experience. On the way, however, we got distracted by my stomache saying it needed food and now. We ended up going to a restaurant in the middle of a square which was right in the middle of sooo many 'coffee shops' It was pretty funny that you can just go in in buy weed there and no one even batts an eyelid, there are even people smoking just outside and, yea.. very odd. After some re-feulling we walked to the Heineken Experience which was annoying because we were, before I got hungry, like right next to it but didn't realise... bah!

Heinekens original factory is in Amsterdam and has a museum type thing as well. You walk around learning about the beer and tasting the beer at different stages and learning about it. Its also really hands on and you can do things and watch things and interact the whole way. Its hard to explain it, but it was really good fun. At one point you go into a simulator room and become a beer going through the process, its really fun! Ha ha, also you get a lesson on how to taste beer which includes a free one then you at the end, you get 2 more free beers too! The history of Heineken was pretty interesting too and again, for any beer lover, go! It was really so much fun and my new love for beer has increased even more! So cool.

When we left the second awesome museum of the day we walked around the streets of Amsterdam looking around the canals and exploring what it had to offer. It is an very beautiful city and honestly, I was shocked at how nice it was. The architecture was stunning and the boats just add character and gave it an almost Venice vibe but in a more edgy way. Interesting. Hard to compare to anywhere else really.

We eventually (around 5ish?) caught up with Annet again who was waiting in a main square somewhere. We went into a tourist shop because she wanted to buy something then got our photo taken in a giant clog, which was funny but had to be done! Annet then wanted to show me the red light district which is... well, a red light district. Again, hard to compare to anywhere else because its Amsterdam. Whores in windows and sex shops galore, its a strange city.

After that, we went to go to the car but then Annet asked if we had done a boat canal tour of the city yet, they were a bit expensive when we saw them the first time so Lois and I didn't do it. Shocked, Annet said that we must do it and even paid for my ticket (which I reluctantly accepted in the end) on the condition that I take lots of photos, I did until my camera died... The tour was great though but it was funny because Annet and Lois were both going on about how silly they felt being a tourist. I just laughed and was all 'well I am a tourist so :P' ha ha. It was good though and I had extra details explained to me along the way. The tour went all the way around the canals and I really got to see the city from a very different perspective. Again, I was amazed. So cool. Oh! when you get on the tour there is one of those photographers who snap your shot as you hop on the boat. Lois and Annet just ignored the camera, like most people, but I was being stupid and give him a big cheesy smile and thumbs up knowing that I would never see the photo again and it was just stupid....so I thought, at the end of the tour everyones photos were put on display and were available for €3.00 each. I saw mine and laughed because its so stupid and has all the 'Greetings from Holland' stuff on it, such a touristic souvenir which Annet said I had to have because it was so good. So she got it for me... Its so stupid but it makes us laugh when we look at it so its good ha ha.

We then went to meet Lois' aunt whose name I am not going to attempt to spell but it started with S. Her aunt is very arty and was very welcoming and up for many-a-chats which was good. We stayed there for about 2 hours which included dinner and coffee and it was nice to just sit and chat and get to know each other some more. Everyone spoke English perfectly so it was good for me to understand what was going on. Lois' aunt also invited me to come back if I needed a place to stay if I came to Amsterdam again- nice. I might actually be going back down on Saturday the night before my flight because its much more practical than from Sneek.

The drive home was good fun just talking about whatever and learning more about Holland which is increasingly gaining my interest and respect. I think its such a cool country and there is so much to learn and do here. Like, the history of how the country started and that they built the land themselves is just fascinating. Hmm... I like Holland a lot.

When we got back, we spent a while oggling the new coffee maker that Annet purchased today and the way it was oggled was just funny but really reminded me of something we would have done at home in Australia. Just the way the family interacted and how Mark (Lois' dad) was making jokes and Annet was mock annoyed and I don't know, it was really nice but reminded me a lot of home. Many laughs were had all because of a coffee machine... Its golden.

Anyway, everyone has gone to bed now, leaving me in charge of the kitchen! Bwahaha! No, I am gonna go to sleep in my cinema room/ hotel now too! Long day and its now 12.30!!

A great day though.

Sleep Lekker

xx

Part 142: Milan-Sneek

This will be like a shortened version of the entire trip from Milan to Sneek. With me is Lois whom I met up with in Brussels, Belgium.

Milan was like the most stupidest place in the world haha, After the first night where we sat around doing not a lot on the top of a random hill, we went to bed and met a German who was fast asleep at 9,.30 so, not to disturb her, we went to sleep too... Because we're cool.

The next morning we woke up and had good intentions of doing a lot of touring around the city of Milan... Note: I said good INTENTIONS. We walked up to the nearest tram and arrived in the centre of Milan by around 10-11. There we went in search of the most famous thing in Milan other than its fashion- 'The Last Supper' unfortunately, to see the silly painting we had to book 2 wweeks in advance so we did not see it but instead playted cards in the park and also walked around aimlessly for the day. For tea, cereal in the park. Nice.

That night, when I was in the hostel me and Lizzy met two random Portuguese people who were really distraught because they had ALL their stuff stolen from them on a bus that I had to take the next day to get to the airport... Awkward. I did learn how to count to 10 in Portuguese. Win.

Airport. Flight. Belgium for the second time.

Belgium. Bus. Station. Look for Lois. We spent over an hour and half looking for each other in the station and all my credit was used up in this time. It turned out for like the first part of the search I was in the completely wrong station which was so annoying because I spent like $12 of my credit giving directions to places that Lois could not possibly get to, and vice versa. After that very long and worrying period of time I eventually made my way to the other station and looked around for half an hour before FINALLY finding Lois at some spot. It was the first tiem I had seen her in 2 and a bit years and I had always promised to visit her one day. Promise fulfilled. Then the next problem: I didnt actually have any directions on how to get to the hostel we were staying at...Idiot.

We looked for an internet cafe, seeing the main oart of Brussels in one hit, and then made our way to the hostel. This again took a long period of time. Eventually we found our way using my awesome french skills and Lois' native dutch skills (in Belgium people sspeak French Dutch or both) Hoorah! We were on Rue D'Elephant (lol) and were settled in our decent hostel. Pizza. talking. Sleep.

Day one in Belgium consisted of exploring Belgium and first started at a flea market. The flea market was so expensive and pretty small but I thought it was okay and Lois bought a few things there (making me carry them in my bag... well I offered...) We also tried on some random sunnies there they were so ugly or stupid we couldn't resist. Hehe...

We then spent time looking for the Manneken Pis which is the most famous thing in all of Belgium, apparently. We found it eventually after getting lost and ending up in completely opposite areas to orignally intended (Lois just pointed out 'you're making it seem like we got lost a lot of times' , well we were) We eventually found it but were more impressed by the chocolate mannekin pis behind it. Seriously, this thing was soooo small it could fit in my pocket, okay not literally but it was like... wtf? THIS is famous?

More of Brussels. Churches. Train. Antwerpen.

We hadn't anywhere to stay in Antwerpen so we spent the first part finding somewhere. We got a hotel room in a place just near the station, without realising it was actually quite crap. Oh well. The location was amazing though, right near the station. I should mention, the station is AMAZING. It is also featured here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY ... best station in the world. Anyway, after hostel locating we went up to the old part of Antwerpen looking for something Lois had read about on the internet. On the way we got distracted by the world championship trials for a random bike sport which was just in a nromal market which was made into a Bike Parkour sport place... Its impossible to explain really but you can sort of see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4Dft50mLA&feature=related... Ours was actually much cooler than that.

WE then did a boat tour around the outside edges of the city but were left a bit diappointed because it was a bit boring but oh well, we learnt stuff about stuff which is always good to know. Yes... Then we had Waffles (in dutch I learnt how to say I have waffles which is: ik heb wafels. Heb jij wafels? I think not!) They were good waffles too. More walking. Dinner (cold pasta salad bought from the supermarket in the street, I am so embarrasing) then we looked for a music festval which Lois thought was going on but we couln't find it... we asked around to random people and eventually found a music thing but it wasn't what Lois orignally though (it turned out that was actually in August, not July... oops) so we hung out there with a bunch of middleaged partiers listening to live music which wasnt bad anyway. We then wanted to go clubbing so we found a place in a park which was scary because we were walking through some random park in the dark and I was like we are all gonna die! and then the police came past.. scary stuff. We found the club but it was a €10 entry fee so we decided against it (I am poor... poor lois) and instead went to a pub had belguim beers (maes) and then went back to the hotel to sleep.

The last day in Belgium was raining so we went to a museum. Antwerpen is the world diamond capital so we went to the Diamond museum and learnt a whole lot about diamonds, So interesting haha, we also cracked the diamond safe and stole 2 diamonds, no joke. I have it in my bag even now. It took a while but we did it. After the diamond museum we walked around taking photos of shop windows which was fun then went to another museum which we thought was a cartoon museum but it turned out to be a renassaince musuem or something.. I dont know. It wasn't all that great but oh well.

Coffee. More BIke watching. Train station. Rotterdam. Train. Driving with Lois in the rain. Sneek. My new home for the week. Okay, so to be perfectly blunt: Lois' house pwns all. Best. House. Ever. Its HUGE too and omg so cool. We watched a movie in her home cinema which has a MASSIVE screen I mean, bigger than me in height and obviously width as well... Its like a real cinema screen. We watched the boat that rocked. By 1.30pm I was off to sleep in my room. Which also happened to be the cinema room because it had a fold out bed and of my options it was the easiest. It has its own two person ensuite anyway, so it seemed decent enough. Best. House.

I woke up today at 1.30pm for some reason and met Lois on the computer. I still hadn't seen her family except her brother Jelle (yell-eh) who was miding the house while her family were on a n island. We decided to go to some car festival thing which was a 10 minute drive away. When we got there it was a €7.50 entry fee which was annoying but then you had to paty for EVERYTHING when you got in even the toilet, biggest waste of money ever. It wasn't event that interesting so we stayed for as long as we felt obliged to then left to go for a bike ride around Lois' town, Sneek (snake)

Sneek is very cool with rivers and stuff all through it. We had ice cream and Lois showed me her old high school and primary school and other things around the town. When we got back to her house her family arrived home so I met them and they had friends over so I met them too. Her family are so nice too. Its great here :)

We had chinese for tea and I sat around trying to make sense of the bizarre dutch language until they went home and then I came and typed this.

Sorry for my absence.

I'll be here probably from now on. Amsterdam tomorrow bright and early.

xx

p.s Happy Birthday Ruby and I well do a Month Summary for July tomorrow possibly.