[Insert more lame apologies about being a slacker here]
I guess I can use surprising my family and friends at home as a good excuse for not keeping this up to date. Of course they all knew I was leaving Edinburgh and going to Hong Kong but nevermind. It's been a hectic few months and I worked and partied myself silly in Edinburgh before I left. No excuses but a healthy social life and lack of motivation and/or time for writing.
Congratulations to my cousin and her husband on having another healthy girl. She was born on her grandfather's birthday, which happens to be Christmas as well. Poor kid will have a future full of slashie presents (Christmas-slash-birthday). I know the feeling.
This is an excerpt from the Christmas email I did this year, so you may have read it already. It will probably be my last post for the year. At time of writing I didn't realise 2006 was quite as crappy for some people as it was, so here's cheers to 2007.
[ ... it's been a year of travel, experience, challenge and emotional ups and downs. I've been literally and figuratively all over the place, but it has been a great year all in all.
For the first time that I can remember, it was really hard to leave home to flit away overseas. I had made some very close friends last year and actually felt comfortable being at home for a little over a year. I had to miss my grandmother's funeral to go to China and Hong Kong, where I found some closure upon meeting her family that I didn't even know existed until last year.
I had some bad moments in Thailand (the most trivial of all being having to ride a night bus on my birthday), but these were more than balanced out by some amazing times around Thailand, Cambodia and Laos (thanks so much everyone I was there with).
From there I spent a little while in the UK - saw snow settle in Edinburgh, experienced the Norfolk seaside and the Welsh - before heading out to Turkey for the total solar eclipse. Some spectacular scenery, great company (old and new friends), six days of psy trance and a rare and amazing natural phenomenon later, I found myself living in a small town in central Turkey. The culture was fascinating from the inside, although sometimes challenging and occasionally I found myself really quite lonely. I did meet some excellent people though and they made the time go by quickly with great company and a lot of food! I saw more of the country to the east and thoroughly loved it. Two months later I was winging my way back to the UK with a planeload of English white trash (remind me not to fly the lowest budget airlines anymore!).
After the most awful immigration interrogation I've ever experienced (who wouldn't trust my face? Honestly!) I paid another visit to Wales and spent a bit of time in the Lake District before heading up to Edinburgh for yet another amazing summer and my best festival so far. I worked in a venue bar which allowed me to see as many free shows as I could fit into my schedule, socialised a lot and barely saw my very understanding and wonderful flatmates and their cats. I was also really happy to have friends come up and visit me several times, which is unusual but I so loved showing people around the city I love so much.
I moved back into High Street and worked on reception as well as doing a stint as (dun dun dun) Head Cleaner, which I never thought I'd do, but it came with its perks. I felt like I was more involved with everything there this time, and met pretty much everyone that came through. As always, but especially this time, a fantastic little tribe of people were gathered there, and leaving them was the hardest it's ever been. I am still wishing I could be there.
Meanwhile, I flew back to Auckland via Hong Kong and surprised my mum. That was nice. I've been home for a couple of weeks and my time has been split between catching up with family and friends, and doing family-related trips up to the Bay of Islands and down to Taranaki (both beautiful)... ]
Here's to a possibly more structured but always as fun 2007 ...
I guess I can use surprising my family and friends at home as a good excuse for not keeping this up to date. Of course they all knew I was leaving Edinburgh and going to Hong Kong but nevermind. It's been a hectic few months and I worked and partied myself silly in Edinburgh before I left. No excuses but a healthy social life and lack of motivation and/or time for writing.
Congratulations to my cousin and her husband on having another healthy girl. She was born on her grandfather's birthday, which happens to be Christmas as well. Poor kid will have a future full of slashie presents (Christmas-slash-birthday). I know the feeling.
This is an excerpt from the Christmas email I did this year, so you may have read it already. It will probably be my last post for the year. At time of writing I didn't realise 2006 was quite as crappy for some people as it was, so here's cheers to 2007.
[ ... it's been a year of travel, experience, challenge and emotional ups and downs. I've been literally and figuratively all over the place, but it has been a great year all in all.
For the first time that I can remember, it was really hard to leave home to flit away overseas. I had made some very close friends last year and actually felt comfortable being at home for a little over a year. I had to miss my grandmother's funeral to go to China and Hong Kong, where I found some closure upon meeting her family that I didn't even know existed until last year.
I had some bad moments in Thailand (the most trivial of all being having to ride a night bus on my birthday), but these were more than balanced out by some amazing times around Thailand, Cambodia and Laos (thanks so much everyone I was there with).
From there I spent a little while in the UK - saw snow settle in Edinburgh, experienced the Norfolk seaside and the Welsh - before heading out to Turkey for the total solar eclipse. Some spectacular scenery, great company (old and new friends), six days of psy trance and a rare and amazing natural phenomenon later, I found myself living in a small town in central Turkey. The culture was fascinating from the inside, although sometimes challenging and occasionally I found myself really quite lonely. I did meet some excellent people though and they made the time go by quickly with great company and a lot of food! I saw more of the country to the east and thoroughly loved it. Two months later I was winging my way back to the UK with a planeload of English white trash (remind me not to fly the lowest budget airlines anymore!).
After the most awful immigration interrogation I've ever experienced (who wouldn't trust my face? Honestly!) I paid another visit to Wales and spent a bit of time in the Lake District before heading up to Edinburgh for yet another amazing summer and my best festival so far. I worked in a venue bar which allowed me to see as many free shows as I could fit into my schedule, socialised a lot and barely saw my very understanding and wonderful flatmates and their cats. I was also really happy to have friends come up and visit me several times, which is unusual but I so loved showing people around the city I love so much.
I moved back into High Street and worked on reception as well as doing a stint as (dun dun dun) Head Cleaner, which I never thought I'd do, but it came with its perks. I felt like I was more involved with everything there this time, and met pretty much everyone that came through. As always, but especially this time, a fantastic little tribe of people were gathered there, and leaving them was the hardest it's ever been. I am still wishing I could be there.
Meanwhile, I flew back to Auckland via Hong Kong and surprised my mum. That was nice. I've been home for a couple of weeks and my time has been split between catching up with family and friends, and doing family-related trips up to the Bay of Islands and down to Taranaki (both beautiful)... ]
Here's to a possibly more structured but always as fun 2007 ...
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