How I know I'm ready to come home

- Every time I see a McDonalds I think "hey, free washrooms!" (pay washrooms are the devil)
- I can list every item of clothing I own (ready? Black fleece, blue hoodie, blue sweater, raincoat in a bag, jean capris, beige capris, greenish long pants, white, red, blue, purple, 2 black tanktops, blue and white tshirts, 6 pairs of undies, 2 pairs of blue socks, walking sandals, flip flops, smooshy trainers, sports bra, plain bra, fancy bra, PJ pants and top, bathing suit).
- People walking around with gigantic guns seems perfectly normal to me. In fact, just about everything seems perfectly normal to me
- If I see one more church, mosque, synagogue, or other holy place, I may go insane
- I'm starting to think that Crocs (those hideous shoes) would be a good thing to own. I've even tried a pair or two on.
- My camera (the second) is in the process of being checked into rehab for "exhaustion"
-The following things excite me way more than they should - laundry machines, English books (preferably used or exchanged), people who speak English
- I am starting to think in Hebrew
- When I speak, I've taken to using hand gestures, extremely basic words, and speaking extremely slowly. Yeah, even if the person I'm speaking with is an Anglophone
- I'd love a big old Poutine and a game of pickup ice hockey right now. No idea how I'd manage those at the same time, but trust me I'd find a way.
-Shakira is starting to feel like an old friend
-...which is because I have no idea what songs have been released in the past 6 months. Seriously, all they play here is Shakira... ("Shakira, Shakira)
- I am covered in Mozzie bites, the bottoms of my feet are once again peeling off, and I have scabs. Everywhere. I have no idea why, but my skin seems to be fleeing my body.
- Socks and sandals seems to have become an acceptable outfit (layers!)
- The thought of losing my compass/rape whistle/thermometer (broken so it's always 28 degrees outside/magnifying glass makes me want to cry
- I have trouble naming, in order, all the places I've seen
- I often forget which country I'm in
- My boyfriend is threatening to become my ex boyfriend
- Washing a shirt once every 3 wears is starting to seem normal
- My backpack is breaking, and has recently acquired a skin disease of it's own
- Spending Halloween in shorts feels disturbingly normal. Much more of this and I'm afraid I'll never be able to reajust to that weird white stuff y'all have in Canada
-I have no idea what most my people in Canada is actually up to at the moment. Where do you live? Where do you work? Oh, you're back at school? Yeah...
-I'm pretty sure everyone has forgotten what I look like.
- I want to cook for myself, in my own kitchen!
- I am so sick of answering the following questions - where I'm from, how long I've been traveling, when I'm going home, where I've been...
- Everything I own smells like backpacker.
- Spending time with a friend I've known for more than 3 days would be unbelievably cool.
- A day spent in front of a TV, reading, at a coffee shop, doing nothing wouldn't be cause for guilt anymore!
- I should start training for that marathon I plan to run (one day).
- Winter is coming to Europe, and I don't have enough money to escape to somewhere in the southern hemisphere (summer again?)
-In fact, I don't have any money at all

Foreign territory and a homecoming

Turkey. My mom warned me not to go. It isn't safe for me, a Jewish girl, to head off into Turkey. Especially on my own. I had some nervous thoughts at the last second, but in the end I decided I needed to go.

Turkey? Israel? Don't people get blown up there?

Yeah. They do. Just like they do in New York City, or Madrid. London England was attacked last year, only a couple months before I moved there.

It's true where I am right now isn't fully safe, but where is? Car accidents, kidnappings, hurricanes, cancer. Find me somewhere on this earth where none of those things could happen to me.

I need to understand. That's half the point of this journey. I need to know what it's like in Turkey for a woman. How else can I fully appreciate home, where I know I have the right to not be stared at by creepy men. It made me question a lot of basic rights that I take for granted. But I also was impressed my the helpfulness and friendliness of the Turks. People who didn't speak English walking blocks out of their way to help me find my way home. The girl on the bus beside me translating every word the bus driver said. Cabbies giving me free rides home, just because.

And Israel. Ah, Israel. What do you think of when you think of Israel? Suicide bombers? War? Conflict? Yeah. That's because the news rarely, if ever, consists of "everything's a-ok". Yeah, bad stuff happens here. Yeah, there are soldiers with gigantic guns everywhere. But also, there are millions of people going about their lives. They work, they date, they go out on the weekend. They garden, own cats, shop, go to the gym, go on vacations, watch reality TV, and do art. Y'know, real lives. I don't feel unsafe at all here. It's the same as home - take care to stay in the 'right" part of town after dark (for me, the Jewish part), stay alert, and stuff should be fine. It's might not be, but the same holds true anywhere.

Besides, according to my Israel Let's Go guide, more Israelis have died in car accidents than in all their wars combined.

And in the end, what's the point of this life? It my head, always taking the safest road is a waste. I'll always be careful, but that doesn't mean I'll shy away from a challenge.

Italy with my mom, Ramona

Well, my mom has come and gone. (I know she reads this.. so HI MOM!!)

Week one: Rome - the sightseeing city
Rome was a mad dash. See! Eat! Take a picture! Next.
We saw a lot of... stuff. And cats. We discovered that the Italian food is only good if you order the following - pizza. pasta. gelato. That is all. Unfortunately, we discovered this after paying 900$(ish) for a piece of bland fish. My mom sat on the lap of a warrior and I took a picture. The hostel had 900 steps which my mom hated. We saw Pope day (Wednesdays, for anyone interested), and watched him drive around his Pope mobile. It looks like a zamboni. A big, white zamboni. Also, mom's feet hurt a lot.

Week two - Florence. The shopping city.
I estimate half our time in Florence was spent shopping. Most the rest was spent eating. On the plus side, I have a bunch of new swag, including much needed pants (trousers for the Brits). Good thing. String was holding my last pair up. We also ate bunches of good food, made sure to sample every gelateria in town, and We also did a couple of side trips. Sienna (more shopping and meandering), and Pisa. Damn that tower is tippier than I thought it would be! Also, spending an hour trying to get the perfect picture in front of the thing was fun. Mom says her favourite part was the sitting. Heh. The pint sized hotel we stayed at had the most surly receptionists of all time.

7th inning stretch - The boatride from Italy to Greece. Mom thought it'd be a big ferry with some benches. We wound up in the swankiest place we stayed all trip. Private bedroom, private bathroom. Those boats are like mini cruise ships. This one even had a pool (closed for the winter, sadly). But no buffet! Hmph.

Week three - Athens. The eating city
Mmm, Greek food. And rain. Lots of rain. We saw the important sites, and spent a lot of time eating, shopping, and chilling. Luxury is having a shower and toilet in your own hotel room - and an elevator! I thought mom would weep with joy. Also, mom started to crack. One day while eating, a group of people walked past. She looks at them and goes "Hey! Look! There's a group of people walking!". Right, mom. Thanks.

Hmm. This one has been hard to write. I guess because usually only I know the whole story, so if I skim over something it isn't a big deal. But now someone else has been with me, so if I miss something, she'll know. So, sorry if I've missed something important. I slept on the floor of a boat last night, and I'm half asleep.

And the store is called H & M, mom. Not S & M.

Oktoberfest

I know there's a genuine history to Oktoberfest. But really... people crack out the beer when they want to party. Beer IS a party. Oktoberfest is really a party to celebrate...the party? The concept cracks me up. Most other festivals have beer as the background noise. You know. music festival...and beer.

highlights
-Burning the whole roof of my mouth off on a bratwurst...and not noticing till the next morning.
-A drunk Aussie explaining to the lady selling sandwitches why it's overpriced because at home it would cost 50 cents. "3 Euros? For that? Are you kidding? No, really. That's bullshit." She was just nodding politely.
- Muddling all the words to the German toasts songs until half them were about girls not wearing underwear
- Indecision costing me a pair of Birkenstocks
- The delicious little sandwitches (not the 3 Euro ones) they sold on the grounds. I think there was crack in them. I lived on them.
- The fairground rides
- The blokes who cook fish over the fire and then sell them to... well, who whoever wants them, I guess. It made for some good pictures, anyway!
- The super weird guy in my hostel room the first night. According to him there are too many sinners in Quebec.
- My favourite llama showing up... resulting in many drunk emails, texts and MSN chats. Sorry.

Ah, Oktoberfest 2006. I hardly knew ye. And that's probably for the best.

London Calling

...and then I went to London. England, to clarify. I love that city. Its like a million small villages, each with a different feel. I shopped some, worked a lot, spent time with friends (especially after things got un awkward)

The best bit was not telling a soul that I was coming, and then just showing up at a football/soccer game. My boss Tor kept asking what I was doing there, looking all happy and hugging me (aww, and it was his birthday). Mullet gave me a full on double take.

Great to be home. I guess that's why I didn't update this sucker. I wasn't travelling. I was home

All together now: awww...

Where did you go?

So, um. Where did I go? And why didn't I write about it?

Well, after Budapest came...

Belgrade, Serbia. I took the overnight train to Serbia, and rocked up at 7 am realizing I had no map, no idea where my hostel was and... whats this? Cryllic alphabet on the street signs? But...I have no idea what this says! Yikes. I would up with a McMap of the city (map with all the McDs locations in the city. No joke) and somehow stumbled towards my hostel. It was 10 am and about 900 degrees outside.

Belgrade was pretty cool. I had the best iced tea and the worst guacamole of my life. I got yelled at by a gypsy because I took a picture without paying. I ate way to much ice cream, and my hostel owner had to tell me to relax. I sat in a McDs for 3 hours on afternoon because they had air conditioning. Really, I just needed to get to a beach.

Sarajevo, Bosnia. Who goes to Bosnia? There was a war there, right? Well, yeah. And it is still evident. Everywhere. Bullet holes, damaged buildings, landmines everywhere (walk on the grass and lose a leg!). It also happens to be a stunning city. It is surrounded with hills (and graveyards now, sadly), and they just look so damned pretty. Also, this is where snipers sat and picked off the people living in the city during the war. The houses have holes, but there are cafes and grocery shops, and people just live their lives.

Mostar - I took a day trip to Mostar, an old city with a famous bridge. There isnt too much to say, mainly because I spent 2 hours taking pictures of boys jumping off a cliff into the water. But hey, I got some awesome pictures.

And then Croatia. Croatia. There was this girl who lived on my street when I was little named Jen. Her family had come over as refugees (I think) during the wars around there. She quite possibly had one of the crabbiest dads I have ever met. This man was just nasty. And from the second I arrived in Croatia, I understood why. Who on earth would be happy to leave that gorgeous country - all sunny beaches and amazingly blue water to wind up in London Ontario? Sorry for assuming your dad was insane, Jen.

Dubrovnik is amazing. Heaven. The water is a colour I've never seen before, but hope to see many times again. The gelato is cheap, and there is a bar where backpackers can make friends. They even had a book exchange. There, I met a group of 3 Aussies who I spent a couple days with. I was supposed to meet up with one in London, but due to some drama llamas, it didn't quite work out.

The day I was supposed to leave I called up my hostel in Split. Yeah, turns out their reception closes at 9, and I wouldn't have made it there in time. And everywhere in Dubrovnik was full. So I hung out with the Aussies (Kurt made out with a hot blond chick and I took some pictures), and then sat outside my hostel waiting for them to open so I could get my backpack and go. Being tired, I dozed off. And woke up with a stray cat on my head. Ever wake up with a cat on your head? Yeah, bye Dubrovnik...

From there, via Split, I headed up to Ljujbjljajnaja, Slovemia. (note: I know this is not the correct spelling, but who needs that many js in one name? It rained for 3 straight days. The highlight of my time there was my meeting with Omar of Eurovision fame. I met some Slovenians, one of whom pointed out Omar to me. "He represented Slovenia in Eurovision, you know." I didn't believe him. At which point he produced his CD (does he carry them everywhere with him?) of the cheesy male crooner variety and handed it to me. I made everyone in the hostel listen to Omar, and there are some awesome pictures of everyone in the hostel striking Omar poses.

So I gave up and went to Lake Bled, a bizarre name for a gorgeous city. I helped row a boat, went down a mountain in a cart on a weirdo metal track, and... went white water rafting. And jumped off a bridge. If you don't believe me, I have pictures. Then, on my last morning there, 2 lovely girls named Corinne and Kat straightened my hair, I was stung by a bee, and I was off to London.

Sleeping in the trees

My hostel in Budapest was one of the coolest so far. It was a little way's out of the city centre, which is great when you show up at midnight and public transportation has stopped for the evening. The hostel made up for it all, though. In a word - HAMMOCKS!! They're meant to be just for daytime chillin', but after a night of sleeping in my loudish, slightly stuffy room (not the hostel's fault, it was in the middle of a heat wave) I knew what I had to do. The next 4 nights were spent sleeping under the stars, and at a very reduced rate!

Budapest is also where Jeff B came to visit. It's so nice to see an old friend in the middle of this meeting new people a bunch of times a day. We just basically wandered, ate, drank, took some cool pictures (a little boy jamming to some bongo drummers makes for great video...) and hung out. Merci, Jeff. Glad you came out.

Budapest's busses seem to run on an honour system, until the bus inspectors show up at 1 am looking for tickets. I tried to pass off an old one, but even though the stamp looks like a serious of fully random holes to me, apparently it makes sense to them.

Inspector: You owe me a lot of money
Me: I don't have that much on me
Inspector: Well..give me your passport then.
Me: No.
Inspector: Well... get off my bus, then!
Me: Okay.

Budapest - Thermal baths, sleeping in the trees, a gigantic heat wave, bus inspectors, and the best seafood risotto I've ever had.

Heaven is a used English book store.

Wow, I hadn't realized it'd been this long since I'd written. Sorry, folks. I realize that reading this blog is the highlight of your day...

Umm, I think Krakow is the last thing I wrote about, so I'll carry on from there.

After that I hit Cesky Krumlov, a teeny Czech town on a river. There's a castle, and a river.. they pretty much make up all the tourist attractions. So people rent a floaty boat and drift around lazily all day. Sounds like the life, except that because I'm traveling on my own they wouldn't rent me one. And everyone at the hostel already had a partner or had already been. Heh... kind of like being the odd man out at recess or something. On the plus side, I found an English used book store. On the road, that's pure heaven. I traded in every old book I had (I always keep them until I find somewhere to trade...) and bought a big, fat one that lasted me a few decent train rides. So I sat, eating a picnic lunch and reading... ahh. Heaven. My hostel there also came with it's resident 65 year old backpacker who was telling me that I was much too uptight because I like having a Lonely Planet on me. According to him, I might as well be on a fully guided tour and not ever doing what I want. I tried explaining that a guide book is just that.. a guide. He didn't quite get it.

Vienna. Someone explain to me how there aren't more accidents there? It seems impossible to keep looking straight ahead with all the amazing buildings... Sadly, after having been in Central Europe for a while, the more westernized Vienna was quite costly. Unfortunately, eating 3 square meals of delicious Gelato a day has put me off the stuff. I haven't been able to touch it since. Hmph. I hope that goes away before Italy...

Brataslava - Is it weird to run into a bunch of people doing what appeared to be a Hebrew poetry reading at an outdoor cafe in Slovakia? Well, it was for me. Sadly, they didn't seem as excited to see me as I was to see them. Brataslava also seems to be well known for it's lack of good hostels. I stayed in a really bizarre place, it seemed to be a bunch of mattresses on the floor, strewn about some guy's house. The wonder, by the way was super-bizarre. He made me "practice" using the key to the place before he'd let me have it. And he kind of hovered over conversations. never saying anything, but never quite going away, either. I had visions of waking up and finding him watching me sleep. Eeek. When I left, I found him at the train station, harassing people to come stay with him. He then tried to convince me that my train had already gone, and I should stay another night. Lies! I spoke to some other guy, though, and he said that his hostel in Brataslava closed halfway through his stay because the building was condemned. Huh.

And onwards to Krakow Poland, via Warsaw.

On varous reccomendations, I decided not to spend more than a day in Warsaw. I had just enough time to wander around, and admire that the city was pretty much rebuilt after WW2 because something like 85% of it was levelled. The Warsaw history museum was pretty lame - no lables in English was the most annoying bit. But there were some cool monuments and memorials, mostly to Jews and other uprisers. However, I did witness this exchange at Warsaw Ghetto uprising memorial (by the Jews in the ghetto) -
Lady: This place is a mess. You'd think they'd clean it up a bit (talking about flowers and candles left there, as well as pebble which are a Jewish cutom to leave at a memorial site)
Man: Well, to be fair, tons of visitors come here every day. Besides, the flowers are all still fresh, so obviously someone takes care of it.
Lady: Well, you would think the Jewish community would want to take care of it
Me *in my head* This is a memorial to them. They're all dead....
Gah.

Krakow is an awesome city, and I want to thank everyone who aimed me there instead of Warsaw. First of all, it's gorgeous. It's got tons of old pretty buildings. Second, it's cheap. Not as cheap as the Baltics, but cheap nonetheles. Third, the people are lovely. The town is small enough that they aren't all crabby, but it's big enough that there's always something to see/do.

On that note
- The salt mines are insane. It's like a small village underground, complete with 3 banquet halls. Some really bored/talented miners carved the place up - statues, flights of stairs, whole rooms, all in salt.
- I saw Aushwitz. I can't really say too much (what is there to say?). The day was sunny and a little too nice. My guide was a moron (reading quietly off posterboards in a heavy Polish accent does not make one a good tourguide). The whole place was creepy as hell, and I'm glad I went, but I was glad to leave. Also, who the hell would want to live in the town called Aushwitz? there are people who's backyards back on to the place...
- Did a bunch of meandering and a bunch of shopping. I didn't really buy much, but I sure enjoyed looking. What I did buy, though, kicked ass. For all those ladies in Ottawa, check out the new makeup store in the Rideau Centre. It's a Polish company and completely kicks ass.
- Completely unexpected meeup with my friend Dan, of Birthright fame. I was on MSN and so was he. He asked where I was, I said Krakow Poland. So was he. We went for perogies. He's the only person I know who I've seen in 4 different countries.
- My hostel was amazing. They had a ton of movies to watch, while laying on a big comfy couch. The best moment was likely when I dozed off beside some guy and woke up cuddling him. Whoops. But seriously, great bunch of folks there.

Anyway, keep the comments coming. I'm glad people are reading this.

I miss you all.

The Baltics (does my insurance cover ostrich bites?!)

Well, now that I'm in Poland I figure I'd better give a brief Baltic update before I get too far behind.

I didn't intend to go there. The original plan was to take a boat straight from Finland to Poland, and carry on traveling. Someone on a travel message board I frequent said I should consider Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It'd be easier than taking a ferry to Poland, she said, and they really are gorgeous countries. I admit I was hesitant. Estonia, for pete's sakes?

Estonia (Tallinn)- The old town is ridiculously beautiful. It's a mediaeval town, relatively untouched by the devastation of war. It looks, quite literally, like something out of a fairy tale. All red roofs, castles, city walls and churches. I climbed what was once the tallest church spire in the world. I paid almost 10 Canadian dollars for a small Estonian flag to add to my collection (one from each country), and less than 5 for a fantastic, full meal. Mostly, I just walked around in awe.

The bus between Tallinn and Riga - The washrooms in the truck stop... well, let's just say I've peed in my first toilet-hole. Picture a permanent porta potty with nowhere to sit. Just a hole. The flies were intense.

- Upon arriving, the hostel worker insisted I have a free welcome beer. I met some American dudes, who dragged me off to some trampolines, conveniently located in the middle of a public park. At 3 in the morning. As the sun was rising. I saw a gorgeous occupation museum, which detailed the struggle of the Baltics in general (especially Latvians) under the German and Russian regimes. It's interesting to see that they welcomed the (Nazi) Germans as the lesser of 2 evils, after having been invaded by the Russians a year earlier. Also interesting - when watching a movie, it said that the Russians gave them an hour to gather their possessions before moving them to Siberia, and they could only bring a long what they could carry, I was strangely proud of the fact that I could do that. Of course, for me this is a game. For them, it was their lives.

The bus ride between Riga and Vilnius - My new camera (still working on a name.. I kind of like Sammy) almost died a tragic death. The bus stopped at a typical bus stop - small diner, washrooms, and... ostrich farm?! Of course I busted out the camera to take a few shots. I just remember thinking "Wow, fantastic shot, he's so close... okay, zoom, focus- ARGH!!!!" The argh, in case you're wondering, is when the ostrich bit my camera! Right on the lens, too. Thank goodness, everything seems to be in working order (I got a mini lens error once soon after, but but nothing bad has happened since.) Well, at least he would have gone down fighting. And I got a good picture out of it all.

Lithuania (Vilnius) stay an extra night in Riga, because I liked my hostel (6 CAD a night!) and the city. That left me with one evening and one full day in Lithuania. Luckily, I met up with a mad Aussie chick, who whisked me around the sites in record timing. We even managed a full brekkie and lunch. In that time we: hiked up a castle, saw the KGB museum (old Russian prison... very, very creepy business), 2 churches, and a gigantic market. We parted ways around 3 pm, when I darted off to see the Holocaust museum. Closed, sadly, on account of a national holiday. So I wandered around the old Ghetto, where they kept the Jews, and found the last surviving synagogue in the city. It isn't mean to be a tourist attraction, but a man let me in and let me take some pictures. As I ws leaving, I said thanks in English, and he smiled politely. Then it occurred to me he had a common language. So I said thanks in Hebrew and smiled this huge smile and replied "you're welcome."