The Land of Tulips, Cheese and Miserable Weather

Hello there – or as the Dutch would say, hallo! Greetings from Utrecht. It’s quite strange being back in this city. For those of you who don’t know, I spent 5 months here back in 2007 as an exchange semester with my studies. Not a lot has changed…a few new shops have opened up, a few have gone and my house no longer exists. In many ways, stepping out of the train at Utrecht Centraal felt like stepping back in time four years. I almost expected to bump into some of my fellow international students here, but of course, they are all long gone and back in their respective countries or wherever else they’ve ended up. It’s been great to catch up with some of the people here that I haven’t seen since 2007. 

 So I kind of reversed my original travel plans and flew to Amsterdam rather than Eindhoven last Thursday, with a shiny new emergency passport in hand (which is still completely blank, by the way!). I had planned to stay in the Dam for maybe a few days, then move on to Utrecht, but upon landing at Schipol airport, I discovered that my last chance for crashing at a friends’ place had fallen through and I had no accommodation in the city…during peak season when a bed in a hostel dorm will cost you 40 euros! So thanks to my time in Barcelona, I had Dieuwke’s number and I apologetically asked if I could stay with her in Utrecht that night (it’s about a 30min train ride away). Turns out she wasn’t in Utrecht, but at her parent’s house near the airport, but she kindly invited me to go stay with her there. Also turns out it was her Dad’s birthday and they were having a family get together to celebrate. Slight gate crashing on my behalf, but I had few other options! Took the train to the next station across where Dieuwke came and picked me up and took me to her parents house, where I was graciously and warmly welcomed. It was so nice to be in a house and a particularly cute and cosy one at that. The temperature was a good 12 degrees cooler than in Spain, so it was nice to sit and drink tea in a nice warm house, wearing non-summer attire and meeting all of Dieuwke’s aunties and uncles!

So for the past week I have been staying in Utrecht at Dieuwke’s house (my lifesaver!) and she said I am welcome to stay as long as I like, but I am sleeping on her bedroom floor and am very aware of being in her personal space, so I may share the love around, so to speak. I visited my “old” church on Sunday which was cool and I’ve caught up with most of the people I met here when I first came…Daniel, Tim, Marijn & Roald…plus met some new faces. The more the merrier! One of my good friends here, Anneleen has since moved to Groningen in the north, so at some point I will go visit her for a bit, then I guess make my way to Nijmegen to stay with Ralf, before heading over to Germany to visit the Wolf-dog. Or you can call him Wolfgang. He answers to both.

                                              This is not Wolfgang. This is Daniel. In the park.

It feels weird being somewhere familiar that is now different. Does that make any sense? Not that the city itself has changed all that much, but I guess the people have. Myself included. People keep asking what I’m doing in the Netherlands, then I have to give them a long-winded answer that can basically be summed up in the three words “I don’t know”. I’m trying to shut up the part of my brain that wants to find deeper meaning in everything and have my entire future planned and sorted out. Just enjoy the ride. Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeathe. Ahhhh.

So yeah. No exciting news really, just me trawling about town, visiting places that I used to like to visit and eating things I used to like to eat – minus Manneke pis fries and Swirls (think Wendy's bitz for those who can think that far back). I don’t intend on returning to Oz with 10kg of “extra baggage” this time! Utrecht is a very beautiful little city and there’s certainly a nice charm about the place. The weather is rather horrific for this time of year, but really I shouldn’t have expected sunshine, lollypops and rainbows. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, hey? Speaking of rainbows, youtube search “double rainbow” and have a good laugh.

Okay well I think my (possibly) quasi-interesting ramblings are coming to a neat end, so I will leave it there and bid you all farewell until the next time I put my fingers to keys. Unless I find a piano beforehand.

Doei!

Lou :)

The Processing Process

Hola again from Barcelona…or Bathalona as the Spanish would say! Soo…I’m sitting here with my lap top and free wi-fi (woo hoo) in the lobby of my hotel, enjoying the cool breeze coming in through the open doors that lead out to the balcony and a nice view over this end of the Gothic Quarter. 

My room has one small window that faces into the rest of the building, so unless I have the fan on, it’s like a sauna in there! So I realised that all my blogging since Uganda has been all about going here and there and doing this and that, but I haven’t really put many of my thoughts into words. Maybe that’s a good thing for all of you out there? But anyway, I’m going to give a quick rundown of the last couple of days and then we’re going to journey into my mind…it’s a scary place and almost as big as Barcelona ;)  

 Yesterday I had a nice relaxing day at the beach, swimming and sunbaking with a million other tourists…and probably a few locals thrown in for good measure. Headed over to the ‘Olympic’ part of the city to see some of the sights like the stadium and the national art museum. I’m too much of a tight-ass to pay to get into anything here, so I perused a small free exhibition and on I went. More walking! Got a great view all over Barcelona from the top and had a nice chat with Chris on the mobile, thanks to my new Spanish sim card with pretty decent international call rates. Wandered through the park area with the plan to visit the castle, but stopped off to get some food and realised it was ages away and my legs were literally numb! Plonked myself down by the harbour with a peach frozen yogurt cone (my new obsession) and took in the view and people-watched for a bit while my legs recovered somewhat. 

Managed to walk back home again and get myself ready to meet one of my Dutch friends, Dieuwke, who just happened to take a 3-day mini break to Barcelona by herself this week. Good timing! We met on the famous La Rambla (basically a long street covered in tourist shops, over-priced restaurants, delicious gelati outlets and more buskers than you can poke a stick at) and wandered into the market I had stumbled across the previous day where I found massive fruit salads being sold at the end of the day for one euro! Yeah baby. We were hoping to try out one of the tapas bars there, but it seems they are only open for lunch. Thankfully I had googled some good eating places beforehand, so we walked to a nearby place that does pintxos – basically slices of baguette topped with various amazing things. 

There’s everything from prosciutto to smoked salmon to deep fried cheese croquette to tuna with mayo, red capsicum and fried leek to goats cheese with pesto and pine nuts etc etc. There was even a dessert one with lemon cream cheese, nuts, thick berry sauce and crunch little caramel wafers in it – I didn’t have one but my friend said it was amazing! You just kind of stand at the bar where all the plates of pintxos are set out and you take what you want and at the end you count up your toothpicks (there’s one in each pintxo/s) and pay accordingly. They were all 1.80 euros each at this place, which seems pretty standard in Barcelona. I had the goat cheese one, a hot (as in warm) mushroom croquette one and the one with tuna/mayo and fried leek etc. They were all delicious! We ordered a cider each with our food, expecting the usual Bulmers or whatever, but instead we got about 2 inches of some pale yellow liquid each in the bottom of a glass that tasted somewhere between a white wine and cider. Weird. After our “entree” we walked to the nearby ‘Les Quinze Nits’ (check it out http://www.lesquinzenits.com/) which is a fancy looking French restaurant on the edge of a plaza that is actually very cheap! I think the most expensive main is around 11 euros. It was my second visit and I opted for the salmon fillet with sautéed greens. Mmmm so good. We shared some sangria and at the end of the meal when we saw the dessert menu, we buckled and ordered one each! I had a cataluyan dessert which was nougat ice-cream covered in custard that had been scorched on top to become crackly like a crème brulee, surrounded in dark chocolate sauce. So healthy! Lucky I had done a lot of walking that day ;)

 Wandered around a bit with Dieuwke looking for a place that sold camera batteries for her and phone credit for me, but to no avail. Parted around 11pm with plans to meet up the next day (today) to either do a walking tour of the old town or have some more beach time before Dieuwke flew back to the (cold) Netherlands. 

So this morning I got a text saying we would meet at the metro stop near the beach and just chill there before she took her bus to the airport. We were supposed to meet at 9:30am, so I walked over and opted not to take my phone in case we both wanted to swim at the same time – never leave anything of value on the beach in Barcelona! Not the greatest idea. I got there on time and waited but she never came. I stayed til around 10am then figured she’d changed her plans, so I went to the beach and sunbaked and swam by myself for a bit. Returned to the hotel to find 6 missed calls and about 5 messages from Dieuwke saying she was running late and to meet at such and such a time instead, which was all a little bit late. I had no credit, so I couldn’t call to explain my absence, so I got some frozen yogurt (with fresh mango and muesli) and tried to find a place that sold mobile credit. Again, to no avail! Headed to Park Guell on the metro, which is a park that Gaudi designed – payed for by his rich friend Eusebi Guell! 

It’s got some cool stuff in it and from the very top you get a spectacular view all over the city (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Guell). Had a look around and almost died from heat exhaustion! Decided to walk to the Sagrada Familia but took a wrong turn and ended up going the even longer way to get there! I was pooped when I arrived, but it was a good chance to sit down and get a better look at the building…and enjoy my fresh raspberries and lemon Fanta zero! Eventually got some phone credit and apologised to Dieuwke who was probably already back in the NL by that time. Went back to the beach for a stroll and to tip my feet in the Mediterranean one last time. Walked back home, got some dinner to take away and here I am back in the hotel, fed, watered and pooped!

 The latest on my travel plans is that I will probably fly to Amsterdam tomorrow rather than Eindhoven for two reasons – a) the friend I am staying there with had his holidays this week, but they end tomorrow when I would now arrive and b) the only flights there are in the morning, before I would be able to get my passport, meaning another day/night in Barcelona and then fly on Friday morning. So Amsterdam seems the better option at the moment, and logistically it makes more sense to start at the most western point of my visits and head east into Germany to see Wolfgang, rather than zig-zagging back and forwards. I haven’t booked anything yet because I want to be sure that my passport will be in my hand tomorrow morning! Nothing like leaving things to the last minute hey?

So that’s pretty much Barcelona all wrapped up in terms of being a tourist. Now for the voyage into my mind that I promised you all. I know you’re all itching to jump aboard!

Well, at first, being stuck in Barcelona for 3 days alone seemed like a sucky situation. I know it’s not the end of the world or anything, it was just unexpected. But after having some “me” time and having a good chat with Dieuwke last night, I think I needed some down time apart from all the touristy stuff and being around people all the time to start processing things. Maybe God knew I needed a bit of unwinding time before I start gypsying my way through Europe, visiting all my friends. I know that I haven’t processed a lot of what I experienced in Africa but I think all that will come with time, it’s not something you can force. 

At the end of my time in Uganda, I knew that coming to Spain would be a bit of a shock to the system, which it was, but what I didn’t expect was how quickly this ‘western’ way of living just became so normal to me again. It took literally about a day to readjust back into the same old way of living and always being so comfortable and not really talking to strangers and all those things we do on a day to day basis. It was almost as if my time in Uganda had never happened. Not to say that I unlearnt everything or that it was all a waste of time (because that’s not true in the slightest!), but it was just scary how quickly I just fell back into what I was used to. I mean, it’s not like I went out on a shopping spree or spend hundreds of dollars on expensive hotels or anything, but those little thoughts re-entered my mind, like “oh, that girl there looks so stylish, you’re such a dag compared to her”, or “hey, those earrings are nice, I don’t have a pair in that colour, I must buy them” etc etc. Everything in our culture tells us what we should look like, what size we should be, what clothes we should wear and what soft drink we should consume. I guess being in Mbale was a welcome respite from the constant bombardment of advertising we normally get that we have become so used to that we don’t even realise how pervasive it is. Everyone walks around here, enjoying the sunshine and the good food and the gelati and all the sites and sounds and the beauty  - seemingly oblivious to the fact that the vast majority of the rest of humanity do not get to live like this. And the scary thing is, I have done the same. It troubles me how little I’ve thought about Uganda since I left. I had amazing experiences there and made some really good friends, but I feel like part of me has detached itself from the continent…maybe it’s too hard to leave too much of myself there because it’s difficult to be part of it all from a distance and I don’t know when I will be able to return.

I’m not really sure where I am at the moment. Yes, I know I’m in Barcelona, but I’m talking figuratively here! I don’t know where I’m heading and I don’t feel pulled towards anything specific at the moment. I want to enjoy my travels and these new experiences – which I am – but there’s always that bittersweetness to it. That not knowing what happens afterwards and whether you’re in the right place at the right time or if what you’re doing is meaningless in terms of the bigger picture of the universe. I think the key to being content in life is feeling like you’re doing exactly what you should be doing at that given point in time. Even if that’s just being at home with a casual hospitality job or being a mum or a cleaner or unemployed – when you have that sense of peace about it, it gives you a satisfaction that you don’t necessarily get from doing more adventurous things like travelling the world or having a high flying career. I guess I haven’t really found my “thing” yet for this stage in my life. I love travelling, I really do, but at the end of the day, if all you’re doing is taking things in without really giving out, it seems a bit hollow and selfish. Maybe I need to be more proactive in finding ways to give out while I’m moving from place to place. Any ideas anyone??

So I think I’ll leave it there. It was a bit of a short journey, but sometimes if you just keep going, you’ll never stop! So I will save you all from a lengthy spurt of incomprehensible psycho-babble ;)

Hopefully by the next time I write, I will be in another country, in the home of someone I know! Ahhh, a house. A home. What a nice thought. Until then, signing off from Spain for (hopefully!) the last time…adios!

Lou :)          

The Rain in Spain

Hola peeps! Sooo....as I write this, I am sitting in a tiny hotel room in the middle of Barcelona when I should be in the land of tulips and windmills. But we'll get to that in a moment.

First of all, Spain is amazing! It's a very clean and beautiful country and although I've only seen the cities, I am already in love with this place. Good food + good drink + lots to do and look at + great weather = pretty awesome. It doesn't seem like anyone does any work here. Men in suits are a rarity! So I flew to Madrid from Mombasa, via Nairobi and Cairo and all went smoothly. Took the metro from the airport and met up with Liz at the hotel which was worlds away from what I'd had in Africa...hot shower with disco lights, free coffee & bottled water, clean white bed sheets with no mosquito nets and a flat screen TV! I felt very spoilt. That night (Sunday) we met up with my Spanish friend Alberto, who I had studied with in the NL back in 2007. He showed us around Madrid and took us to all the good Sangria places. Liz and I did the typical Australian thing of eating dinner at a "normal" hour (ie around 7pm), but then later regretted it when we found out that most places give you free snacks while you're drinking there, plus we were given more free food by a guy Alberto knows who runs a little bar. I practically had to be rolled home. I was wrecked from my previous night of triple flights, so we called it a night around 2am...which is pretty early for Spanish standards!

Madrid is a great city and possibly my favourite so far. We had a good wander around, ate, perused, went in a row boat, took photos and then headed to Valenica on a bus for La Tomatina 2011! Arrived in Valencia to discover it was not the sleepy little beach town we were expecting, but rather a large city. Checked into our 'tour' hotel and had a wander around New Town where the aquarium and a bunch of weird looking buildings are...we think they're different types of museums! They're surrounded by massive swimming pools that you're not supposed to swim in. How silly. I waded through one and got told off by a policeman on a scooter. Went out that night to a part organised by our tour company around the harbour and met a fellow Aussie, Paige, who was travelling solo. She's 31 from Perth and very chilled out, so we made friends and had dinner together along the water at an Italian restaurant where I had one of the best pizzas I've had in ages. Mmmmmm, food memories. Went to the club/bar where the party was at and chatted to random drunk middle-aged men from the UK and danced with other Aussies before calling it a night early so we could be in bed by midnight. Grannies.

So La Tomatina was the next day and we had to leave the hotel by 7am - ouch. Arrived in Bunol about 45 mins later, dressed in our ever-so-attractive gear for the world's biggest food fight! Managed to squeeze into the fast-growing crowds to get a quick view of the ham (google it!), before making our way further back to avoid being crushed to death once the tomato-throwing began. Found a spot along the street where people were starting a water fight and eventually got sprayed by a local man with a hose! Ah well. Decided to go further up the street, away from the ham and the crazy people. Eventually the trucks arrived at our end, so we got the first taste of tomatoes...literally! At first, they just drop armfuls of whole Roma tomatoes on your head, but after a few minutes, it basically looks like someone tipped several hundred litres of pasta sauce onto the road! Tomatoes are quite acidic and not fun to get in your eyes, but the whole experience was hilarious and we had probably the best position - lots of tomatoes but not too many people! We were talking to people later on who were near the ham and they said they were so packed into the crowd that they couldn't even bend down to pick up the tomatoes or throw them! Glad we went further back where we had plenty of elbow room and an array of human targets on the opposite side of the road...will hopefully have some pics when Liz gets the photos from our disposable waterproof cameras developed!

The rest of Valenica was just hanging out, looking around town, meeting up a friend of Liz's from back home and generally just being tourists. We headed to Barcelona from there by bus, and at some point along the way, my passport disappeared. Fantastic. Called the bus company but they didn't find it. Lodged a report with the police and looked up the details for the Australian embassy in Barcelona, only to find the person was on holidays for 4 weeks and it would reopen on Monday. I had hoped the passport would turn up before it came to that, but I was not so lucky. Barcelona is a huuuuuuuuuuuuge city brimming with things to see and do, so I guess it's not all bad that I'm stuck here until Thursday, but still, I was supposed to be in Eindhoven by now! Some of the stuff we did here was: visit some famous Gaudi buildings, eat amazingly well (as in delicious, not healthy!), drink cheap mojitos, get lost in little side alleys full of cool stuff, walk along the harbour, swim in the Mediterranean Sea, hire a talking 'go-car' with gps and talking tour guide (scary driving on the wrong side in a massive city!), eat ice-cream, look at random buildings and walk and walk and walk and walk. Phew!

Liz left for Copenhagen yesterday morning, so I went and swam at the beach and sunbaked before wandering around town and stumbling upon a free concert in front of the cathedral that had traditional dances from countries all over the world, complete with live music - very cool! Today I went to the consulate to apply for my emergency passport and met a bunch of fellow Aussies in the same boat! We swapped stories of missing passports and I have to say I'm very glad it's the only thing I'm missing! There was a couple there who had had everything taken - bags, money, clothes, cameras, wallet, cards, ID etc. That would suck SO bad. At least I still have my credit cards and driver's licence etc. They have to send them to Madrid for processing, which takes 2 days, then they send them back. Which means I'm here in Barcelona until Thursday! Not the best situation, but I guess it's not the worst either! I've checked into a cheap hotel near the city centre cause I couldn't handle staying three more nights in a hostel with no space of my own other than my bed! So this shoebox room is my home for a couple of nights and I guess I will get to see a bit more of the city this week. Lucky there's lots to do, eh?

 My plan is still to fly to Einhoven, although I may need to take a flight on Friday rather than Thursday due to early flight times. The lady at the consulate said I could take a bus or train to the Netherlands without a passport, then apply for a full one once I get there, but I didn't fancy the idea of a 16+ hour bus ride over there and then having to hang around The Hague for a while. So emergency passport it is then...148 euros later. I'm hoping my travel insurance will cover all my costs with this debacle! Such a pain in the butt.

Anyways, I'm dying of dehydration, so I'm off to the nearest supermarket...or supermercat as they're called here. Thanks for reading and I'll let you know when I'm off to the next destination! Ciao,

Lou :)  

The Kenyan Coast

Jambo from Mombasa! Well I’m not actually in Kenya as I write this, but I have some catching up to do on my blog....

So what did I get up to in Kenya, I hear you ask? Well, the day I arrived, I basically hung around the house and relaxed for the day – not terribly exciting, but hey, not everything about travel is uber cool. That night went out for dinner with a few Australian girls also living in Mombasa that Adele met through her AYAD placement. Went to a really nice Japanese restaurant and had teppanyaki and spent more on a single meal than I have for a few months! It was very delicious though. Thursday I went to the local beach solo and hung out at a nice resort (Nyali International) that had two nice swimming pools and beach-side bars and restaurants – so weird after being in Mbale for a few months! 

 Swam in the Indian Ocean for the first time and had lunch at a table right on the beach and revelled in my Greek salad made with iceburg lettuce. Oh lettuce, how underrated you are. Walked part of the way home, then got a ride with a random Indian-looking guy who was 3^rd generation Kenyan. That’s Mombasa for you. 

That night I went out for dinner with the Australians again, this time to a floating restaurant! It was on the river and had pretty fairy lights all over it. Aww. The next day I met Adele at her office (Red Cross) and went out for a local lunch before walking over to Fort Jesus where I hung out for a bit and took some pics (see Facebook). It was stinking hot and humid and by the time I had seen the fort and wandered around Old Town, I was exhausted! Met Adele back at her office, went across the road for a cider, then we walked over to a local restaurant where I had goat biryani and potatoes for dinner. Yummy! Went out a bit later that night for a G&T, which was served with a bowl of free popcorn. Random. 

Saturday Adele and I took 4 matatus and a ferry to Diani beach, which is about 1.75 hours south of Mombasa. It’s quite popular with tourists but not too touristy if you know what I mean. The part of the beach we went to was almost deserted which was nice. Had a swim and hung out and had fish and chips and swam again, went for a walk down the beach, past some Maasi guys, camels and a whole lot of white tourists. Headed back home again in time to pack up, say goodbye to Adele and head to the airport for the next part of my travelling adventures!   

Stay tuned for updates on Spain and being stuck in Barcelona without a passport...

Lou :)