THINK!

Kia Ora koutou,

Where were we the last time I chronicled “The Sweet Life of Meliesha and Laura”? I believe it was early July from Hermagor, Austria – the office of Barbara Ladstatter to be precise. The date today, according to my cellphones calendar is the 27th of August… a Thursday too apparently. It gets difficult to keep track of the days while travelling.

So how am I feeling right now? Definitely not hungry, definitely quite sober, a little sad, isolated, hopeful, pensive, nervous, happy, grateful, unsure… conflicted. Not the most positive start to a rant I guess but the truth none the less… Meliesha and I went our seperate ways yesterday… she landed an Au Pair job in Nice, France for a month – 150 Euro a week… difficult to turn down this kind of opportunity when your bank account has been steadily declining and especially after being  so used to seeing it being topped up week after week… and besides that, why would you pass up such an opportunity?? A good piece of advice was given to me just before I left NZ, and it was simply “SAY YES… to every opportunity, even if you are tired or whatever, say yes because you never know where it will lead.” I liked that. I’m trying that out. As somebody who knows Mel pretty well I have to say I am very, very proud of her independence in taking up this particular opportunity… I know it is taking her some courage.

It’s strange though… being apart from her after spending 70 days straight with her… and I mean literally every hour (aside from bathroom and shower breaks). I just worked that out to be 1680 hours… I guess you can take some of that off for sleep, but you get my point…

So here I am, alone in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest trying to claim back my independent nature.

Hmmm, whats happened since last time we spoke… I will try to chronicle the events in chronological order shall I? Its difficult without the photographs in Melieshas camera as a guide, but I will give it a shot (those photos, by the way, are on their way as soon as we retrieve the cameras USB cord from Katis house).

Climbing the Spittal mountain in Corinthia, Austria… 1199m in the hot sun with backpacks containing Mars Bars, rolls, cookies, chips and water. It took Meliesha, Marisa (Katis sister), Angie (Katis old friend) and I five hours up and four hours down, and at the the end we were greeted by a very small pub in the middle of nowhere surrounded by long haired cows (you will have to wait for the photos, sorry) for a celebratory beer and shot from the pubs manager. Then, as if they weren’t already a perfect ending to an excellent day we proceeded to strip ourselves off as we walked into one of Austrias beautifully clear, fresh, amazing lakes just as the sun was setting behind the valley around us. Perfect.

BEATPATROL Festival in St. Polten, Austria – 24th and 25th July. Stand out act for me – Santogold in the rain. Great performer, can tell shes been on the circuit for a bit now, she was great despite the poor sound, but thats semi-to be expected at festivals. She said we looked “like colourful trash bags” as the punters stomped on beneath the comforts of plastic makeshift raincoats. Creator was the best song, as well as her new unreleased song that went something like “pop that booty”… you can rest assured I did exactly as she asked. Funniest part was the Austrian drunk man singing in my ear with heavy accent the wrong words; correct lyrics: “I’m a ladyyyy” mans lyrics: “are you readyyyy?”. The drum n bass room was excellent as most drum n bass rooms are with just the right amount of additives

After all these fun and games it was time for Meliesha and I to be put to work, thus our first pseudo-wwoofing experience. Packing, painting, shifting and building furniture with Katis mum and sister for Marisas new flat in Vienna and berry picking and de-seeding for jam making for Katis aunty. It was nice to do some work for a change I must admit.

While we were in Vienna, Meliesha and I were fortunate enough to visit the Hundertwasserhaus (search it in Google if you don’t know what it is, okay? Now. Do it, I’ll wait here). It was amazing, and no offence NZ but much more impressive than his public toilets in Kawakawa. We also went to the Hundertwasser Museum and saw his Waste Management factory. Meliesha described the sight in a way only Meliesha could, “Wow, we’re in Dr.Seuss!!”.

Off to Czech Republic for a 9 day vegetarian (yuss!) work camp in a place called Osinalice which is around 60km away from Prague. A work camp is like wwoofing en masse. Something I think Rose would enjoy. There were 20 people in the camp representing a myriad of different nations; Russia, Beligum, France, Finland, South Korea, Australia, Spain, Czech and of course the Kiwi girls. Heres how a typical day goes:

7.30am: Breakfast – usually muesli, fruit, yoghurts, bread, cheese, jam and whatever the Kitchen Team add or don’t (Kitchen team is 2 people, who take care of Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Dinner and washing up for the day)

8.00am: Work begins around the future camp retreat;  painting, mixing cement by hand, building a stone wall, sanding, weeding, compost toileting, building a scaffold, hammer drilling walls, cleaning the attic, clearing forests, chopping wood and more.

10.30am: Snack at the Kitchen Teams disposal. When I did it I made baked bean/cheesy/herby sandwich things (totally Kiwi and unheard of here… so people were well impressed) and nipple cakes (another invention, this time of my cooking partner Hannah of Belgium)

11.00am: Back to work

1.00pm: Lunch (an array of yummy vego dishes to feed 20)

1.30pm: Free-time which can be spent hiking, swimming, reading, blacksmithing, skill sharing, limestone carving, beer drinking, bike riding and more.

6.00pm: Dinner

7.00pm: Games, activities, fire activities and one night in particular we built an Inipi… which is a traditonal Native American sauna made from flexible branches, holes in the ground, thick cover, a bonfire and hot stones. We did it in traditional style with three rings, affirmations, songs, chants etc. The idea is when you leave the Inipi you are reborn, your soul and body cleansed.

During the workcamp, we also got to hike 35km to a castle, packs and all and then made up camp beneath the stars in the middle of Czech rainforest. Beautiful.

After the work camp we went to Prague, where Meliesha and I discovered the coolest drum n bass club outside of the City Centre!! It was 5 levels, and decorated with working old school welded machinery and inside bits of computers that lit up and three rooms and 4 bars and all up very confusing and fun. We got home at 6am and slept outside that day (safely and legally don’t panic…) until 5pm. In Prague we also disovered the best pizza ever! Wood fired goodness topped in cheese, spinach, corn and whatever you call that yummy tomato paste stuff. Mmmmm… Prague is a really cool city, I can see why its so recommended… the Neo-Gothic influence is heavy and a sight that can’t be put into words, at least not by me… I love the contrast of modern life amongst these 1000 year old castles and such.

Which brings me to now… it is not 8.00pm in Budapest and I think its time for me to leave this virtual reality and enter a drunken one. Haha, I kid, but seriously European beer is so so so so so good. Especially Austrian and German – my favourite is Otakkringer which is a Viennese beer. I have probably missed out loads in my rant but for anyone who has even read to this point I’m sure its enough for now… and besides I have had to leave out some bits… for parents sake, for saving Meliesha from embarrasments sake (I have stories she won’t let me tell till we are back in NZ, but I’m pretty sure she won’t read this blog, so I am safe saying just this) and for general state of minds sake. Too much internet make Lauwa cwazy.

Until next time compadres, adios and aroha.

I know what you might be thinking… WTF is New Yealand? New slang perhaps? Another one of Lauras feeble attempts to be down with the kids? Some random European language? The answer is: none of the above, it is simply a matter of fact that German and Austrian keyboards are laid out differently – the Y is where the Z should be and the keyboard features strange smileys I know are actually characters of their language (i.e Ö ß Ä ü) This change has made me realise how many times I type the letter ‘Y’, reading back on this paragraph alone I have typed it 11 times.

Anywhom… one month in: We landed in London 27 hours after we left NY… I mean NZ and it was 5.30am there. By the time we got through customs etc it was about 9am. Very shortly after Meliesha and I had our first encounter with the London Underground tube system. The tube at first glance of the map looks very complicated and hard to decipher - but this is actually very simple to understand and get a handle on (props to the designer person) - it reminded me of the time I spent in New York and its subway systems. We stayed in a place called Barnehurst which is in Kent (around 40min train north of London) with Melieshas great Aunty Joan and Uncle Alan. They lived in a really nice suburban neighbourhood that I think was mainly inhabited by the elderly and retired. We spent the next few days travelling between Kent and London with the occasional venture to the local shopping centre pursuing various tourist attractions such as the Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, various Monopoly streets (Oxford, Picadilly, Victoria), Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall and Buckingham Palace. I was slightly disappointed with the Palace; the guards don’t wear those  big black caps anymore – these days they look much more militant rather than hilarious which is what I had been hoping for. First week in, Meliesha and I set out to do what must be done by all dnb/dubstep-heads when in London – we went to Fabric. BEST. VENUE. EVER – for dance music anyways. Fabric is 5 levels and has 4 rooms. The night we went only two of the rooms were open; one for dnb, one for dubstep. The line-up consisted of Caspa, Hatcha, N-Type, Grooverider, Fabio and a whole bunch of others and MC’s. I will leave out the naughty bits but basically we danced from 11pm to 7am and left the venue all bright (slash wide) eyed and bushy tailed. The next week we spent at some friends from New Zealands house experiencing English pub culture (fish n chips and proper pints yeah?) til London became too much, well, for me anyways – I think Meliesha was still quite content there – her eternal positive outlook both mystifies and confuses me, isnpires and bothers me. I hadn’t realised until this journey how much I actually ENJOY the odd bout of cynicism from time to time. A strange realisation.

 After two weeks of deliberating and deciding what to do in the near future (travel? work? both? where?) it was a single Facebook comment from Kati that sealed our fates. We would go to Osoppo, Italy for Rototom; the 10 day reggae festival and there we would meet Katis sister Marisa. Strange how life works out sometimes, because going to this festival was actually our original plan when we first decided to come to Europe… then at the very last mintue the cosmos switch and we end up where we originally planned, and now I write this blog from the office from Katis mother at her very lush home in Austria.

The path to Northern Italy was a meandering one, we booked flights from London (Luton) to Vienna, Austria and from there we were to catch a bus to Venice, Italy via Munich in Germany. We spent two nights in Vienna in the 15th district – it was here Meliesha and I began to realise that perhaps the hostel style of travel is not exactly for us; whether it was a thirst to experience the REAL Austria or to immerse ourselves fully in another culture or to escape the hoards of Australian travellers, or simply the pieces didn’t fit together with us perhaps? I am not sure. I can say though – I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy Austrian and German beers. Very tasty, and like most European food and drink I have thus far encountered – there are very few (if any) preservatives and additives. It seems food and drink here is much less processed than that back home… it feels and tastes better and fresher here.

In Munich we went on a guided tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Tour with an indpendent guide called Gordon from Ireland – a very very well informed young man who seems very sure of himself and his beliefs, if you ever get the chance I recommend going on his tour. The tour started from our hostel at 10am, and from there we caught a bus and a train to the site. Dachau is the Concentration Camp Heinrich Himmler used as a ´’protege’ per’se for the other camps to be based upon. Dachau was also the camp that international visitors  would be shown around; thus it was very well looked after and given an aire of legtimacy to an outside perspective. Of course in hindsight we know what really went on within these walls. In the first part fo the tour we were shown a short 20min film briefly speaking to a general overview of Nazi history and particularly the history of this camp. Afterward we were taken through the museum where we were shown a map of Europe and all of the Concentration Camps that were formed within the period of the Third Reich. If memory serves I think it was around the 1500-2200 mark. And guess what? The National Socialist Party were essentially hippies. I am not going to go to far into the one for fear of a rebuttle, but if you so wish I suggest you delve deeper. Also, FYI; Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian.

It was an eerie feeling standing within the camp walls that was home to so many deaths, so much innocent bloodshed and torture and destruction. The sheer cold-hearted approach of these people is terrifying (in terms of what humanity is capable of) at such close observation. I didn’t know too much before this tour so for those of you like me, I will disspell the stories that stuck out the most in my mind. 1. People of the camp were forced to work themselves to death for factories such as Porsche, Volkswagen, Ferrari – as well as other work. 2. People would have their shouler blades torn from their bodies through methods of torture if they did something as simple as not making their beds. 3. With so many people sleeping and living within such confined spaces and for fear of disease of the workers group showers were taken once a week/fortnight/month whatever – this is how people were able to be fooled into believing they were going for a shower when they were really being gassed to death. People were moved (via train) from one camp to another to be executed – this helped to prevent the rise of a rebellion from the executed prisoners friends and family as they thought they were just being moved to another camp, not moved to their imminent deaths. 4. Hugo Boss designed the uniforms of the SS guards and the Nazi Party. He was never punished for his crimes against humanity. 5. To be part of the SS was an honour and a priviledge for many – they were like the rockstars of their times. 6. These Memorial Camps today serve as a promoter of life, not as a purveyor of death. They serve as a reminder to us all that we must fight injustice, or at the very least seek to be aware of the injustice which exists in our world. I write this in the hopes people, ordinary people like you and I will take the time to research the items we buy and consume and the companies from which they come, because it was not just in the 1930s and 40s that big business funded the efforts of war…

In an almost seamless segway I move on to a peaceful subject; Rototom the Reggae festival in Northern Italy. Mel and I went for the last 5 days of the festival. I have never thought I would say this but that is enough reagge for me for a little while. Michael Franti and Spearhead were by far the stand-out act for me. Even as the rain started to pour mid-set, we just lost a layer of clothing and stomped away in the mud along with several hundred happy hippies, quietly content in the fact that ‘thank god we got our tent up before the rain’. Rototom is a smaller festival than I had expected after tales from the likes of Glastonbury (75000 in attendance). It was situated amongst the mountains of Italy, amongst an array of flora and forestation. The green of the leaves here are a different shade than that of NZ, but somehow being at a reggae festival – a sense of home was ignited within us. Meliesha has been homesick a couple times since we have been here - I haven’t, but I think I don’t feel as strong a connection to things back home as she does, I also think my America travels have helped me in this. We have had quite a few disagreements and tensions between us thus far in the trip though- much more than we we ever did back home where we never fought…but at this festival we realised something, and started to put our fingers on things… the language barrier has been a huge challenge for us… and I think it is because both Mel and I are quite social creatures that crave conversation and shit-talking… so this strange, new isolation has been difficult for us. Marisa and Katis friends helped ease some of this feeling for us, it was nice to have friends to hang out with at a festival, share a beer and smoke with and do some poi. It is these simple intangible rewards and truths of life that I have found are the most important.

Next step is Spain, to do some wWooFing. We are going to frolick in the farms living off organic cherries and strawberries by day and bathe in the warm Mediterranean sea by moonlight. We will be venturing there via France. I guess those are two more languages I am going to have to learn my basic in. So far I have got the ‘hi’, ‘bye’ and ‘thank yous’ downpact for Italian and German… next step Espanol and Francois… haha, wish me luck.