THINK!

Ponderful August 27, 2009

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.