New School, New Family

So, today I FINALLY got to Jedwabno. And they really weren't kidding about it being tiny. This time we have primary and middle schoolers for a change. Who by the way, are actually VERY interactive. I love it!
They ask questions, they're not shy and most importantly, they're bloody cute!
I finished last today, even though I started first, which was a little errrrrrrh. But, considering that I missed school AGAIN yesterday, I can't really complain.
My host family rocks though. No where near as bad as I was lead to believe. The way they teacher was talking about them this morning, sounded like, they didn't want me there, and was only taking me in out of obligation. But, they seemed so nice! I can't bring myself to believe that one bit.
When I got to the house, I found that the grandmother was there, and you can believe my shock, when she spoke English! And good English too! Later she told me, that she never formally learnt it either! She just picked it up, during the times she waited for her son in the private English lessons she used to make her son go to. Her English is probably the best in the house. I was just mind blown.
And what's else? She made duck with apple for dinner. I haven't had duck since I left Melbourne, so boy was I in bliss!

On another note. Today marks the fourth day of Sayed's disappearance. Still everyone believes he ran away. I'm starting to feel obligated to believe this theory, it's better than believing the worse. But, it just doesn't make sense. We talked about too many things that he said he would do, as a group, just the two of us, him with other people, alone. But, all things were either AIESEC related, or with people we met from this exchange. So, he can't have just dropped them...could he?
But anyway, yesterday I decided. That no matter what. Until we know for sure what happened to him. I am going to leave him at least one message a day, in hopes that, I don't know he had some super talented hacker friend that allows him to check his messages without us knowing, and he'll see them. Realise how much he's missed and come back. Or that, he wakes up from a long spell of amnesia and not think we all just forgot and gave up on him. Though today, I realised that if he really doesn't want to be found and realistically doesn't have a super hacker friend, he'll never see these messages on Facebook. However if I'm lucky, if I put these messages on a public area, like another blog and he goes blog surfing, (like I said if I'm lucky) and he sees this page, he'll be so wrecked by guilt he'll have no choice but to come back.

Micro brewery

So, I thought I'd give my hand at doing reviews. And for my first one, I realise I chose a bit of a hard one since I'm not exactly an expert or even the tinies knowledgeable on the topic.
But, yesterday at the walking tour I randomly joined, they handed out nightlife pamphlets. While not much of an night owl, when I saw that this was the only bar that made its own beer in Krakow. I felt almost as though I was obliged to give it a go.
And here it is.

C.k. Browar
Large but, cosy. Has a bit of an old fashioned feel to it, especially with the brewry at the back of the bar. Not many solo drinkers like me, so it's a little bit awkward, but good beer. Most expensive one I've had in Poland. But the uniqueness makes it worth it in my opinion. I definately wouldn't recommend agaisnt it. And this is actually the first place since coming to poland that has asked for I.D. When purchasing alcohol or even cigerettes.Which actually makes me feel a lot safer considering the recent events.
I brought strong beer, didn't seem worth it to buy light for two zloty less, nor wheat. First time drinking here, and still experimenting with the alcohol, so decided to play it safe and drink something I knew I was more likely to like. Normal strong beer here has a bit of a bitter taste not much, and only when you swish it around in your mouth.
Beware, that if you have skin missing from parts of your mouth like me for whatever reason, too much swishing may sting you a little. Other wise its a nice sweet taste. Not much of a deacription I know. Sorry. Though i may be wrong but I think I detect a bit of a nutty taste. Not much of a professional taster im afraid
Starting to regret not getting a larger beer
Three quarters done and still nothing.
6.90 for 0.3 vs 8.90 for 0.5 litres.... I made the right choice yeah? Besides still in the stages of hoping that ill get a phone call about sayeds where abouts, so hoping to retain most of my witts...heres to hoping, *cheers*

Though strangely, this bar sells Tyskie beer cheaper than its own...way to promote.

Now off to the train station. Still hoping Sayed will show up, with a cheeky grin and be all "Hey, sorry I ditched you, but I just had the most amazing two days of my life" after i swing my backpack at him a few times of course.

Old City

So, as he said he would, the student guy came over at 12 today with salt and some home made grape juice which was nice. Still hasn't made it any less odd.
Then as promised, Nourhan made some Egyptian food. I didn't waste any time in telling Yostina my disappointment in her. That an Egyptian that I met two days ago was already providing me with Egyptian food, something Yostina had failed to do in the two years that I've known her.
Although, in Yostina's defence, the food provided was just food from a can. Something called Hava beans. Yosh (Yostina) says that they're only eaten during fasting periods, a shock to me, since they belong to two different religions, and up until now, I only knew that Muslims fasted.

The beans, were apparently meant to be served in soup, was easy enough to prepare, some lemon juice and salt after microwaving it. Must admit. Was a little disappointed in the simplicity of it all, was expecting something at least a little exotic. The taste...while not great was nothing to complain about. Was enough to act as a lunch for me.

Though as soon as we (Nourhan, Maciek and I, Anna decided she would rather spend her day at home doing her nails, and other princess stuff) left, Nourhan and Maciek were already talking about what to eat. Mind blown. How they could be hungry already, I will never understand.
So, Nourhan wanted to go to the lake, which we had to take the bus for. Bit annoyed, a small thing I know. But, I still haven't received my ISIC card yet, really hope it comes soon. Tried to get away with a student ticket anyway, with my photo of it. Though, my luck being what it is, an inspector came on board. He didn't fine me luckily, but said that there would be no next time, and only because he had connections with AIESEC or ISIC, couldn't hear probably. He's reasoning that the photo wouldn't work was because, photos could be fake. Although, in my opinion, the actual ISIC card itself could be fake too, seeing as you just stick your own photo onto the card. Dodgy as shit. Got to the lake, and absolutely nothing special about it at all.
Not clear, not blue, not beautiful, nothing at all really.
The one thing I did like was this one area, where I could get a photo of me completely surrounded in autumn leaves. Unfortunately, no matter how I explained to Maciek, he couldn't get it quite right. So there was always either tree trunks or green bushes.

Electronic School

So, today was our first day at another school, and we would have to take the bus there from the dormitory at 8:06am And for the past week Anna's been struggling to even get to the 8:50 class at the school right next too the dormitory.  So I'm like that's it. Enough nonsense we're sleeping early today since we need to get up early. Neither her nor Nourhan listened.
So, in the end I gave up trying to make them sleep, since Anna started to get annoyed at it, just like how she gets annoyed when I wake her up after she sleeps in. But, Anna's using her laptop, the engines loud at its old age, the mouse has an echoing click and Nourhan decides to start calling one of her friends at 1am. Then when Anna finally decides to sleep, turns out she still has to wash her face and brush her teeth. On goes the light and off goes the clickety clackety. So much for a good nights sleep.

Then unsurprisingly no-one was willing to get up in the morning. Even when it was 8:30. Got no few rude complaints, Nourhan missed her breakfast all together. Well whose own bloody fault was that. I don't think Dominik was too hapy about having to rush us out the door like a group of children either.

Though when we finally got to the school. We were greeted with good news. The confusing ass time table we got the day earlier? Turns out we don't need to worry about it. It's just different students every session, everyones together. And omg this schools English is SOOOOOO much better. I was honestly worried when we were told that this school had very little girls because it was too hard. I thought it was too hard physically. So it being a physically intensive school and all, they would teach English much. But I guess not.

Apart from being a bit shy, the kids were quite interactive after the first 10-15 minutes.

Now to see what the rest of the day holds.

Landing?

Part two of my flight?
The plane engine was MUCH MUCH quieter. It was a little bit weird though as i had EXACTLY the same seat as in my first leg. Middle seat at the back row of the middle section. This time I was sitting between two, what I think yo be high school students on their way to a year abroad in England. Was a bit disappointed though, was hoping they were actually on their way to Dubai, so that I would be able to have the back row to myself on the way to London. No such luck. But, the Dubai stop was an interesting one. Even if it was just the airport. There was a lot of Islamic people, but unlike in Australia, they were almost all in ...what I think to be traditional dress. Then men were mainly in white gowns. Will have to ask Nazha about that sometime.
Although, the food was a bit plainer, especially the dinner, beef with rice again. Only this time the beef was quite horrible indeed, but they did give us a potato puffs as a snack (yes, this airline gives out snacks!) which was really good!

Now, to find my way around Heathrow Airport and get my ass over to Miranda's place!

London Bitches!

So I finally made. No more "Europe here I come", now it's "Europe here I am!"
Getting out of the airport was simple enough. Xiyi wasn't lying about the questions at customs though, had to show them my email with booking confirmation for my flight to Warsaw. Then, it wasn't enough that I show them the address I was staying it. Was asked "whose house is this?" "My cousin" "What's your cousin's name?" "Miranda Ching" "Is she a British citizen?" "Yes" Theeeeen, it was finally "okay you can go now"

Almost ended in the wrong train though. Turns out the Heathrow Express and the tube are on opposite sides of the terminal. Good thing I asked just before I went through the door where to buy my Oyster card. The card deposit was more than I thought it would be, could have sword I saw that it was only 3GBP on the internet, but the guy at the shop said I had to pay 5GBP plus the amount on my card. Ended up putting 10GBP on it just in case.

And then the luck began!

Train arrived just as I got on to the platform.
Then on the train .."tube" must remember, it's not Australia, there are non-trains, on the tube I saw a guy who I swear to god, had to have been Jamie Dornan, or at the very least he's long lost twin. I was so mesmerised. After he got off, the rest of the train ride was peaceful, long without excitement. Though, I did take a picture of a rather interesting map, that pretty much helped me decide how to spend my day in London.

Although Miranda told me that there was a slight hill on the way to her house, I didn't realise she meant there was stairs required to get out of the station, and only stairs.
It was probably the most shocking thing I had seen all day, and I saw a LOT of stuff that day. It really never occurred to me that a first world country as rich a the UK could have stations without disability access.
And another thing I learnt in that one hour is, suitcases with 4 wheels are bloody hard to use. They don't wheel as well when they are full. On uneven surfaces, such as the ones near Arsenal station, the wheels get stuck in every single bump, and when you try to pull it instead, the bottom of the suitcase scraps on every little thing. Though, that's not to say that my walk over to her apartment wasn't amazing. It was my first time walking past so many old buildings, that still had the original mouldings, plus I got to see what turned out to be the old Arsenal football team. And more importantly I saw my first wild squirrel. It's a bit stupid of me to have not known this, but I seriously thought squirrels were native to North America only.

Not the best picture I know, but considering that I used my phone, was too lazy to take out my camera, I quite happy with the results.

Take off!

So, like I said I would, I managed to pack everything on time, though I did forget to print of the syllabus and studyvplan sheet for the new subjects I found on the Munster University website for English subjects. So I guess that will make it a little more difficult to get to Em to hand in for me. Shame.
Though, once I reached the airport, I guess thats when things started to go down hill, in luck, comfidence and well presumed I.Q.
Things went smoothly enough for check in, and lucky I asked, but it turns out vegemite counts as a liquid. I guess I'll have to start rearranging my luggage again  once I reach Miranda's. So that I can fiy that 1 KG glass jar of it into my main luggage.
Afterwards, I went in hunt for the cheapest currency exchange counter, since I read on trip advisor that Heathrow has crazy expensive rates and taking Xiyi's advice about the Polish Zolty, I decided to get some of that too. Found ANZ to be cheaper than the rest of the counters, but little did I know they charge an extra $8  per currency! It might be general currency exchange knowledge, but me being my oblivious self, did not know. There was no sign anywhere, nor did the lady at the counter mention it, had I of known, I would have gotten more of both currencies! Too late now I guess.
Finally, I went to the pharmacy, Amcal was just arount the corner, to get my photo copied license certified  for my Certificate 3. Only to find out this pharmacy charges  $5  for a stupid signature!  $5  for something that can be done for free at pretty much every other place, I guess I'll just have to wait till I come back in July to complete my Certificate.
So, then I went through the gates, only to realise I had left my phone somewhere, only no-one was free to help. When I finally found someone free, he just told me the supervisor was busy. The next person I asked was kind enough to let me back out to find it. Turns out I left it at the pharmacy, luckily they didn't charge me for that.
Once I was finally on the plane, the first thing I noticed was "this plane smells like a public toilet", but smell being the weakest sense and all, I quickly grew accustomed to it. Unfortunately all the window seats were taken, as were the aisle seats, so I was stuck smack dab in the middle of the plane. With a rather large man on both sides of me, which was rather uncomfortable to say the least.
Although, the service on the plane wasn't too bad. They actually handed out peanuts! Can't remember the last time this happen! The only compaint I have with Royal Brunei Air's service is that one of the air stewards that was handing out drinks just widened her eyes and said "drinks" when I tried to ask what drinks they had. Well, I can see that much!
Didn't take a look at the entertainment, tried to sleep instead, when that failed I started working on my presentation for 'Enter Your Future' which I was meant to send over today. Whoops.
Food was actually quite nice. Got roast beef with jasmine rice, but I didnt get a choice in food as they had alreasy run out of the other option when they reached me. Couldn't taste much jasmine though.
One last thing about my first leg of the journey though. Bandar Seri Begawan airport sucks. It's the main airport in the country and it still doesn't have free wifi? Seriously? The only good thing about the airpirt is that it had a bunch of photos of weird looking monkeys. One of them had a weird Mr. Bean nose.

Almost ready!

In just over 18 hours I will be boarding the plane to my first leg of this once in a life time trip.
Yet, I still haven't finished packing completely! Really dont know how I'm going to get it all done on time, even though it's just a couple of small things left. I still need to find the room yo fit it all in!
More importantly, I have still yet to get everything sorted with Monash for the later legs of my trip!
I probably should have tried to do more of it yesterday, but my amazing friends both from uni and work gave me the best farewell ever! They knew my avoidance of making a big deal out of everything, so it was something simple, nothing said explicit. Yet, we all knew it would be months until I saw them again.
So now, once I finish what could possibly be my last shift ever at IKEA, it will be nothing, but a hectic tornado of rushing. Even so, I have no doubt in my mind that I will find a way to get everything sorted. Even if it means I won't get to sleep until after I get on my plane.

Seriously.

Okay, so I've put up a couple of random post here, that lead to nothing despite my ambitions. But this time, when I say I'm going to put up regular post, I damn well mean it.
What's my sudden motivation you ask?
The simple necessity to write down the every detail of what could quite possibly be the biggest, longest trip of my life.
This time next week, I will be on a plane to London, United Kingdom, stopover Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, to start an adventure that will journey on until at leas the end of July 2013. That's right kiddo's, you didn't hear wrong that's a trip of very nearly 10 months!
And quite honestly, I'm a little surprised to say, that this time, I am actually starting to feel a little terrified as the date draws nearer. It's not the first time I've been overseas for a long period of time (last time being 9.25 months), but it is the first time I am actually funding it myself through my oh so very hard earned money!
It's also the only time I've been to so many places at once!
If all goes according to plan and my university approves of all the programs, I will be going to AT LEAST Warsaw and Olsztyn, Poland, Shanghai, China, Osaka and Kyoto Japan and Munster, Germany on top of my 2 day London stint.
I know. I know. It's a bit of a giant U-turn, but at least, this way I can split up my European travels into at least two clear sectors. north east, and west.
Will hopefully be able to add on to those countries, for the days in between my programs, but must finish planning ASAP.
So back to planning I go!

Forgotten, but not lost.

Okay, so its probably been about two years since my first post, and quite honestly I had completely forgotten about, but recently I thought up a new challenge for myself to blog about. Only this challenge is probably a little hard to do spontaneously, as it will likely take a bit of research and preperation, but I couldn't wait, and wanted to start writing again, so here goes. My little challenge is that for 80 days I will cook breakfast lunch and tea from 80 cuisines.
Originally, I was just going to start a new blog altogether, but upon seeing my previous blog, I decided it might be fun to incorporate a little of this blog's original concept.
Seeing as I have finally gotten around to lodging an application to go on exchange next year, as well as the first steps to planning my semester off from university, which I plan to spend overseas for part of the time. Which is why, seeing as both these ideas revolve about different cultures, why not write about them together. So here's to hoping everything goes according to plan.

See you soon.