Creepy Crawlies and a Love of Life

As I gazed into our makeshift fruitfly trap upon arriving home this evening, I realised two very important things:
1) That Bananas are not supposed to move
and
2) That it was probably time for me to update my blog.
What these two things have in common and why squirming formerly-banana-looking-mush should remind me of my blog (perhaps it's the similarity to my thought processes/brain matter?) I genuinely do not know. I do however now know that, in addition to making a cheap and excellent fruitfly trap, sliced banana in a bowl of shallow water covered over with lightly punctured plastic wrap, if not changed frequently enough, presents the perfect breeding ground for maggots. Lots of them.

Needless to say, I haven't touched them yet. I spent some time watching them (I named them all Maggie, em suggested Edward or Bella but I don't think any of them sparkle quite enough. Besides, they all had far too much personality to be named after those two :P) and then decided that, rather than waste it, I should put the time I'm spending patiently waiting for em to come home so we can tackle our new pets together to good use and update my blog (and so, the real link between the two things comes to light ;) ). The only problem being that I have now been tackled by a serious case of the creepy crawlies... as in I can just feel them crawling all over me... all the time... in my hair, down my back, on my nose... ugh, *wrinkles said facial feature and squirms in disgust* and it's not even Halloween yet! so out of season! and so not cool!
But you know what are cool? Snakes at balls, and churches made entirely of bones *grins*, and trips to Europe which are only meant to last a little over three weeks but grow to last three whole months and encompass jaunts over to Israel and Russia *grins even wider*.

Yupyup. Those Definitely count as cool *nods rapidly, maintaining aforementioned wide grin while simultaneously attempting to surreptitiously brush off any lingering feelings of creepy crawliness*

lol, and with that lovely prelude, I shall delve into where I've been keeping myself these past few months and why exactly it is that I love life ('cause it's just awesome, that's why :D).

Let's see, where did I leave off? *quickly checks previous postages* Ah yes, WFR re-cert weekend! Awesomely great and mosquito-bitten as per usual. Gotta love sleeping on the ground, looking at gruesome pictures, cleaning dirt out of chicken-breast wounds and running long simulations involving carrying individuals long distances in makeshift litters (or, alternatively, being strapped to one yourself when you really, really have to pee ;) ) with people you just met :D. So much fun!

After that, it was back to normal life where showers exist and bathing is the norm for a week or so in order to pack and finish up last minute details before running off to europe for a time.
So our trip started with first class flights (why have I never traveled with Papa before? Ah, yes, now I remember, 'cause apart from the comfy chairs, I've rather worryingly discovered that I actually prefer economy class. and backpacking. and roughing it. and.. yeah... How weird is that??? Not saying I'm complaining about having awesome food or being able to afford box seat tickets to things like the Vienna State Opera Ballet (their Coppelia was so good!!!!) and the Budapest Opera (also great!) and Mozart and Vivaldi and various other concerts, 'cause those were amazing and totally worth it. But yeah, apparently I actually prefer my general budget traveler technique *shrugs* who knew?:) ) over to Budapest (with a brief stop in frankfurt) where we spent our time leisurely (for my pace anyway, Papa disagrees ;) ) exploring the city - on foot of course- and eating deliciously yummy food. In addition to dancing to and listening to traditional Hungarian Music (love it), we also got the opportunity to waltz to the Blue Danube while overlooking said river on the terrace of Fisherman's Bastion up on top near Buda Castle one evening which was Am-a-zing *smiles happily* I still say Papa is one of the best Viennese Waltzers out there - not that this makes up in anyway for his snoring which kept me up the whole trip, even when we were in separate rooms :P!!! But yeah, pretty awesome :D. Being in Hungary was made even greater in that it really made me aware of my hungarian roots... boy am I ever hungarian in nature. I mean, I knew I was Italian already, but Italian-Hungarian I definitely am. They're all just so jovial and music/dance-loving and food-loving and open and ... loud? well, maybe not quite to the same degree as the Italians... perhaps hearty is the word I'm looking for... Yup, definitely felt like the other half of me was finally explained :). Can such traits even be passed down genetically??? Papa always acts so white-washed I have no idea how I could have gotten them otherwise! Anyhow, next it was on to Vienna where we got to explore the lovely city, listen to great music, check out the swarovsky store and see amazing Ballet. Of course, no visit of mine to Vienna is complete without a trip to the Schonbrunn Palace. And, so, just as when I was four, I dragged Papa over to see it with me (it's scary how much you can remember from when you are four!) - though this time I didn't make him climb up the hill to the Gloriette with me on his shoulders... I thought I might actually be old enough to do that one on my own by now ;). Ooh! we went to the strudel show while we were there to learn how to make appel strudel and I got to be the assistant (yes, I still get excited about such things :P) and I even got a diploma for my efforts *grins stupidly*. After Vienna, it was off to Prague and it's breathtaking sunsets over the Vltave River. Omg, was Prague ever gorgeous. That is definitely a city I would absolutely love to visit again. Such rich history with stunning architecture and loads going on - friendly and fun loving people too! I just loved all the little winding streets and the gloriously old churches! We were also there during the spring music festival (and all the rain and cold brought on by the ash cloud) so the sounds surrounding us were just incredible - classical organ concerts, string orchestras, marching bands, everything! Hilariously, Papa also ran into one of the smithys/coin makers in the market who remembered him from when he used to work there just after the iron curtain came down. It was great. The guy said, and I quote, "but you had more hair back then" *laughes evily*. If Prague was a hit with me, the town of Kutna Hora and it's ossuary at Sedlec went down even greater *grins*. Can you imagine what a church filled with the bones of over 40,000 people is to an anthropologist??? Heaven, that's what it is :D!!! Sooooo coool!!! The arrangements were just so pretty!!! And there was even a Chandelier (and we all know how much I loved those as a child ;) ) containing every bone in the human body!!! What's not to love??? *sighs happily* Yupyup. Everyone looked at me really strangely when I asked if I could live there. I can't for the life of me fathom why!

NEWS FLASH: We interrupt this riveting post to bring you an all essential creepy-crawly update. Okay, just wandered into the kitchen for some food, and I gotta say, what's in the bowl is now more maggotty than it is banana-y... Oh em, please do come home soon :P.

So, after our trip 'round the former Austro-Hungarian Empire it was time to head back to Jolly old England in order to meet up with Ma and Nal and get this whole graduation thing over with! Omg, is an Oxford graduation ever hilarious! I have never before seen so much bowing, random strolling, unnecessary clothes changing and poorly pronounced latin! I have no idea how Claire, Julia and I managed to remain composed throughout, but let me tell you it was a struggle! and the instructions from the old lady who was Hertford Dean of Degrees (yes, that's right, Oxford Colleges have dean's of degrees) beforehand! lol! It went something like, 'now, the DPhils will... the MSc's... the M...' and on and on, insert something about jumping up and holding her hand like it was the happiest days of our lives and, then, when she finally got to the BA's it sounded something like 'and then, well, you'll no what to do *smile*' No we wont!!! We're the only ones who;ve never had a graduation yet!!! *shakes head* yeah... And then there was our Rad Cam inspired photo shoot afterwards ;) and seeing everyone in the Turf for a final pint (or half pint in some of our cases *points to self*) at that lovely establishment. Yupyup. Papa took off the next day leaving Ma, Nal and I (the latter two of us who had attended the Bollywood themed Ball at the Union the night before my graduation and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves playing with snakes, dancing to bad music, getting hennaed at the last minute, ensuring Nal got her first try of Shisha (you should have seen her face, I don't think I've ever seen such an expression of pure bliss!) and gorging on food) to take in the sunshine and hang around Ox a bit longer. *Sighs happily* I'd forgotten how much I love that city! and in Trinity term too! How did I ever leave??? Out of the Blue was busking (to our everlasting pleasure - love them so much!) and Nal finally got to ride on a punt - Yay! Punting!!!! and yeah, just lying on the lawn and seeing all the pretty buildings... and of course all my friends! But yeah, after a few days the others took off (Ma homewards and Nal off to London to visit Daggs before heading on to Paris, where she stayed extra long too - similarity in travel much? ;) ) and I moved into Jo's abandoned room to live with Tabby and Jess Evans (and, by default Mark!). It was just so great to see everyone again!!! And of course there was Yuka's Ballet Classes! I've missed them so much! And Yuka! It was great to see Tiger and Dragon again as well! They've grown so much!!! and Tiger still has so much energy!!! I got to attend rehearsals and help out with the show again too (my god am I ever terrible at spot lighting *shakes head in dismay*) which was loads of fun :D.

A few days after the others left, I decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip to Amsterdam - such a great choice!!! Amsterdam was awesome!!! I had no idea I was going to love it as much as I did! I stayed in a Christian Youth Hostel (cheapest place I could find) right in the heart of the Red Light District (talk about juxtaposition!), met some great people and just had a genuinely great time! *sighs happily* I returned to much ballet-ness of course and the news that we were going to have an Arch and Anth reunion at Caroline's in London on the coming weekend - soo much fun!!! I've missed you guys sooo much!!! and Caroline's such an awesome chef!!! *hugs all around* but yeah, miss you!!!! Heading in to London meant I also got to see Charlotte - Yay!!!!! and, when I headed back that way later in the week on my way to Isreal (yup, that's right, Israel. At some point in my travels with Papa we discovered that Jessiann would be in Israel at approximately the same time I would still be in Europe and that, if I extended my trip, I could pick up cheap flights and come visit. So naturally, being me, I jumped at the opportunity :D) I got to see all of the Sterland family (including the gorgeous portrait Julia had painted of me - Thank you so much!!!!), watched one of Charlotte's gigs and we girls painted the front door hot pink. It looks amazing *grins* apparently now everyone on the street wants one!

Got a ride to Heathrow (which was great!) late one night, and even managed to sleep a bit on the lovely cold floor before my 6am flight (now, please tell me, why don't they have benches in the check in area at airports?) to Israel. How to describe Israel??? Jess met me at the airport and we took one of the local group taxis back into Jerusalem. It's incredible to watch the landscape change from costal mediterranean to Judean hills and know that on the other side of those is barren desert. Jess and I had such an awesome time. We stayed at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital where Jess was living and had just the most gorgeous view and great access to hiking trails. My first full day in Jerusalem was, unfortunately, a Saturday. And, uuber religious as it is, nothing in Jerusalem was open. So, naturally, being us, we decided to head over to the Arab village of Abu Gosh, where we spent a thoroughly enjoyable day wandering the town, exploring a French-run 11th century crusaders church (which backed on to a mosque ;) ) and playing in the park/watching the world cup with all the young boys in the village on the big screen TV they'd set up under a tarp next to a drink stand on the top of a mountain. Life doesn't get any better than that :D. Next day it was off to explore Masada and check out the dead sea from the Israeli-side - and this time there was mud to get covered in *grins widely and shakes head* some of the pictures are priceless. mostly it's great for your skin but man does it ever smell of sulfur and it definitely stains your clothes! Given that Jess had appointments, we decided to only do a half day the next day and, so, headed through the security wall to the West Bank in order to make our way to Bethlehem and check out conditions on that side of Palestine (we decided against going into Gaza as the whole blockade ordeal had only just gone down the week before and we weren't too sure how safe it was with tensions running high, though I'm sure now we would've been fine). Palestine was pretty great, though the wall is really daunting. And feels unnecessary. The people were really friendly and I managed to garner my first proposal of this trip (the count eventually reached 7, all arab, naturally. More on that later ;) ). The next day was the day we finally explored old Jerusalem, and it was pretty incredible. Oddly enough for a place so sacred and fought over, to me it didn't really give off that much of a vibe... that being said, there was definitely a vibe down at the wailing wall, and somewhat of one at the Dome of the Rock, which non-Muslims are, unfortunately, no longer allowed to enter given the current situation. Such a shame, I'd've so loved to go in. I love mosques in general and that one is supposed to be breathtaking inside. Old Jerusalem itself is pretty neat. Lain out in quadrants, the armenian and christian quarters are pretty dead, although there is definitely life around the tomb of Jesus and the church of the Holy Sepulcher (which I managed to investigate thoroughly late in the evening once all of the other tourists had left or headed off for dinner). The Jewish quarter too was fairly quiet in the residential areas - or at least I thought so, until later that night I discovered that the walkways in that quarter are really on the rooftops which provide a breathtaking view of the city and are a great place to listen too/watch the sundown call to prayer. In general, it was the Muslim quarter which was liveliest, filled with shops and stalls with yummy food and spices and everything you could want (well, bar pubs showing the football/soccer games, those were in the Christian Quarter ;) ). Through rather entertaining circumstances, I somehow wound up helping one of the store owners (Beduin trader, naturally) close up his shop once Jess had headed off back home. So much fun! He was really intelligent and entertaining and I even got a lovely pair of earrings as thanks in exchange for a kiss (well, several) on the cheek! These exchanges did not, however, result in any proposals... not sure whether this was good or bad thing as there was a high likelihood I may actually have said yes! :P. Once it got truly dark, the old city came alive once more, this time with lights, as my trip just happened to coincide with the light festival, so I spent a great night partying out in the streets with what felt like the entire population of Israel!!! After a nice sleep in the next morning, Jess and I decided to head up north to the Keneret, or sea of Galilea, for some more beach/exploratory time before getting some more of that (plus world cup watching on giant screens along the beach) in Tel Aviv, where we also met up with some of her family (and discovered Jess was allergic to sun. I'm still laughing - in a polite sympathetic way of course ;) ). All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip. We didn't make it to the Red Sea (I miss it!) or the Golan Heights (next time... or maybe from the Syrian/Lebannese side), but it was great all the same!

At some point while I was in Israel, I was given the opportunity to extend my trip once again (which in this case, amounted to suspending my flight home and hoping fervently that there would be seats free when I needed to come back :) ) as I got confirmation that I'd been accepted to attend a government-funded youth forum in Russia... so I decided, what the heck, flights from England to Russia are cheap (less than a quarter of the price from here!) and transport to the forum was free, as was everything while I was there, I wouldn't even have to pay for my visa if I didn't do any touring (I did, so I had to pay)... I was never gonna get a chance like this again, might as well take it!

Best decision I ever made :D. Seliger was incredible!!!!
Picture a camp site in the middle of nowhere (it was 12hrs by bus SE of St Petersburg and 8hrs NE of Moscow) on a peninsula in a region that looks like the Muskokas filled with enough tents to house 3000 to 5000 people and populated with the most awesome group of intelligent, articulate and largely well-built/attractive, 18-35 year olds from all over the world (and I mean all over. take the most obscure countries and they were represented... with the exception, curiously enough, of the United States of America... Canada was represented though! by me and another Canadian - I miss you Kim!!!!) you've ever met, and voila, you have Seliger. It was great. We slept in tents of three, had camp fires of 15-20, showered in the lake, took turns making food (trucks came by every few days to drop off food and supplies), gathering the water, chopping the wood and doing the cleaning (when the Russian participants actually let us rather than insisting we were their guests!), got lectured by experts on a range of topics in the mornings (I was in the global politics section. There was also Art and Design, Environment and Sustainability, Civil Society, Business and Innovation and Mass Media), could attend whatever seminars we wanted/present our own projects in the afternoon (which for me, often involved mediating discussions and learning russian - Ya nemnoga govarit po-russki. Ya Lublu Rossiyu!! and I miss it very much too!), were woken up at 7:30 am by the Russian National anthem blaring through the trees, followed by the most ridiculous selection of 'wake up music' (including, but not limited to, the chip and dale theme song, russian cartoon songs, ghost busters (no joke!) and Queen) prior to 'the morning exercises' which consisted of 25mins of alternating HipHop/Peppy Aerobics for the girls (and any boys who chose to stay) and a 5k run for the boys (and any girls who chose to go). It was hilarious!!! So much fun! and you got to cool off/shower by jumping in the lake afterward!!! and had access to a beach, wind surfing, kayaks, catamarans, a high ropes course, bikes, trampolines, a variety of sports including beach volleyball, dance workshops and soccer/football - we even recreated the world cup!!! I played on the Nigerian team :D. we sadly got knocked out in the quarter finals, but that's not so bad considering there were 46 teams and ours had the handicap of a girl (namely a specific girl <- me, the other girl who was playing was certainly no handicap!). There were also concerts and parties every night (alcohol free due to the nature of the site - boy did I ever feel at home :D - and it certainly did not prevent any hilarity from ensuing!!! loads of ridiculous kissing games and limbo games and jumping over the fire games of the type that usually only result after significant levels of alcohol have been imbibed were played with alarming frequency... and by me as well!) it was amazing :D!!! I made such good friends and I miss you all :'(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hugs to everyone* None of us ever wanted to leave!!! Sadly, most of those of us from elsewhere missed out on meeting President Medvedev as his visit was delayed due to the spy swapping so he wound up coming the day after we'd left... I'm told, however, that it rained the entire time he was there (we'd had gorgeous weather the whole week) and only cleared up again once he'd left!

But yeah, Russia was unbelievable. I loved it so much! I definitely want to go back at some point. This time to Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostock to visit all my friends in Siberia!!! As mentioned earlier, I went early in order to get some touring done, Flying in to Moscow 7 days before the conference and then jumping over to St. Petersburg and heading in to Seliger from there. Moscow was really neat. I got to see the Red Square (and a military graduation! and a military Parade at the Kremlin for that matter!) and St Basil's and the Kremlin and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and well, everything really. But most importantly, I managed to wrangle tickets to a sold out performance of the Bolshoi. *smiles happily* talk about dreams come true. they were putting on a Balanchine suite (I know!!!! not only was it the Bolshoi, but they were doing my favourite choreographer!!!!!!! soooo sooo sooo happy! I swear I went into shock when I found that scalper and got the tickets. I had despaired of ever getting any since I knew they were sold out before I even left England!) They were incredible. Words can't describe them. I've seen individual dancers that good. but never a whole company *sighs contentedly*. Although I made some great friends in Moscow and had a genuinely good time (and found out I'd been at the same performance and missed meeting up with Kate!) it was St. Petersburg that really caught my heart. The Hermitage was incredible, the city as a whole is architecturally gorgeous. the landscape on the flight over was breathtaking. I saw the bay of finland!. the Peter and Paul fortress, Lenin Square/finland station and the Aurora (the ship that started the October Revolution) are all pretty cool. St. Isaac's is amazing and seeing the Spaz na Krovi church (the church of christ the saviour on spilt blood- think the 'have you heard there's a rumour in st. petersburg' scenery from the Anastasia movie) was a dream come true (despite the fact that my wallet was stolen just outside of there, which sadly meant I never made it to the Peterhoff palace (next time!) or the Kirov (which is okay since they're coming this way :) ) - thank you so much to the staff of the restaurant who gave me enough money to see the church and live off of for the rest of the night!). But you know what was most incredible??? The fact that on my first night there the sun didn't even begin to set until 2am and was right back up at 4! Not quite full white night since St Petersburg is 6 degrees south of the Arctic circle and it was a week or so after the solstice, but there was still midnight sun!!! a sight I never really thought I'd see until I properly got to the arctic. It was amazing!!! a bit maddening, but really really cool!!! It started to get darker earlier on the further we got from the solstice but it was still pretty light even at midnight when we were at the camp. In Saint Petersburg it's also really neat because all the bridges along the river Neva go up at 1:30 to let the big boats through and you can watch them! (they don't go down again until 4am though so you'd best not get stuck on the wrong side of the river!)

After all that lovely adventure in Russia (and an overnight bus ride back in to Moscow) it was back to England for me. Upon landing, I decided to go straight to Cambridge to pick up my suitcase and, more importantly, visit Tabby (and his mom, sister and Erica)! As a bonus, I also got to see Simon :). Cambridge is really nice. I still maintain that it's not as nice as Oxford. Though as Tabby pointed out, there may be sentimental reasons for that ;). After completing my tour of Cambridge (and falling asleep at a dinner party. What?! I hadn't slept in ages at that point ;P) it was back in to London and Charlotte's for me! This time to say a final good bye (and watch the world cup final). We had managed to re-book me a flight home (which would be changed the day of from the icky-late-arriving evening flight which I hate, to the much more convenient mid day flight which I love, so that was Happy!) - good thing too, as by that point I was well and truly out of money!. I stayed a Charlotte's (I miss you!!), got to visit the family once more (which led to a highly entertaining excursion to find suitable wrapping for the portrait. We succeeded and it survived though!!!), attempted to get back in some semblance of dance-shape and had a fortuitous meet up with El, Jess and Caroline in Camden :D. *sighs contentedly* Definitely an amazing trip and a style of travel (the Ah!-I'm-not-sure-what-I'm-doing-next-or-how-I'm-doing-it style) I shall definitely have to repeat in the future ;).

Uhoh: NEW CRITTER UPDATE: Em's not coming home, I'm gonna hafta be a baby-killer all by myself!!!! *sobs* what am I to do???? (deal with it later clearly. I mean, in the immortal words of Scarlet O'Hara "After all, tomorrow is another day")

Yupyup, so since I've been home it's been pretty relaxed, basically just spent time applying for jobs (successful, I now have two), trying to figure out where/how I'm living next year (less successful), reading (always successful ;)), dancing, circus-ing, hanging out with the family and friends, seeing Miss Saigon with Em B (it was good!) and, most recently, going up to the cottage for the long weekend (*sighs happily* I love tubing. And the hilariousness of our family... especially the younger set). And that brings us up to now, when I should really deal with the fly/maggie/banana situation and then head off to bed. The former of which, oddly still hasn't managed to kill off my general love of life ;).
*hugs and love to all - yes, even the maggies*