Interim Report

(Disclaimer: This blog may be a little bit longer than normal as I have a bit more to say – It has been like 6 months or something)

I’ve decided to start blogging again, which I am super excited about. I don’t really care if nobody reads it. It’s my own creative endevour and positive habit in making me focus on the funny things in life. I’m not going to talk about my dogs in this one, I promise. Although, be prepared, and warned, I have a sneaky suspicion that they will feature hugely in all the rest. For now though, a quick interim report…

So, I came home from overseas and back to Sunny Dunedin. Coming home is never how you anticipate it and, to be honest, it was probably the hardest thing about going away, by a country mile. I was so busy worrying about going away that coming home didn’t even feature. Until I got home, and reality crashed down around me.

Sunny Dunedin

I got home during a real inbetween stage too… Like, I didn’t have enough time to go back to uni for second semester, but then I had summer break right after, so I had about 8 months of time to kill before semester 1.

So, like any normal person would, I went to Antarctica. I went to summer school. And now I’m back at uni. The thing that everyone seems to want to hear about is the trip to the Deep South.

Dry Valleys, Antarctica

A lot of people ask me to tell me what it was like, as their bright little eyes light. And I feel like everyone kind of expects me to say 'mind-blowing,' or 'jaw-dropping,' or 'insanely beautiful,' or, I dunno, 'life-changing.' And it was all those things (to a greater or lesser extent), but, to be honest, if I was free associating, bizarre would be what would come to mind.

Man-hauling on the ice 

(I'm the one slacking off)

I can give you an example of this… So in my great little team, there were three big wig professors (I mean, like BIG WIG), two of the world’s funniest Russians, my task-setter and another oompa loompa (who had already been there twice, so was very familiar with the systems). And me. The only girl. No degree. No skills. In fact, I discovered that I couldn’t even put tent pegs in right, or turn on the gas stove, or help take apart the mess tent. I think they just needed someone to help eat the food or something.

Chilling out in the Deep South

Oh, and choose the entertainment. Yes. We had a laptop, in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, for our amusement. No wi-fi unfortunately. I should explain also, that I refused to chose the music for the entirety of the 3 weeks we were in the field as I claimed (and believe to this day) that it’s a window to my soul.

Pearse Valley, Antarctica

So picture this:

Dry Valleys Antarctica

2 900 m altitude

-30 ˚C

Sunny. All the time.

BIG WIG professors

Other people to judge.

Steph’s turn to choose the movie.

Cyanobacteria, The Ice, Antarctica

What did I choose?

Fired Up.

I’d never seen the movie before, but I’d heard it was funny.

Brief synopsis:
Two football guys go to cheerleading camp to get girls...

Maybe not my finest hour...

'Oh gosh,' was kind of my mantra for the whole movie. Luckily for me, the BIG WIG professors and other people to judge kind of took to it. From then on, 'We are drilling! We, we are drilling!' became out chant.

If that doesn't make my experience in the Deep South bizarre, then I don't know what does.

Other anecdotes from the interim:

Christmas involved surfing in the Pacific Ocean with my beautiful Canadian friend who went swimming in the ocean for the first time ('so salty!'). January and February were summer school, with some fantastic professors of Middle Eastern descent (why does the fact that you had curry last night have anything to dow with me?'). And now I'm back to the grindstone. But hey, funny things happen even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light (loosely paraphrased from Albus Dumbledore - RIP)

Till next week!

Oh and I'm not jet-setting anytime soon, so my posts will probably not have oodles of travel in them, as all the others have... Just letting you know now, ahead of time! 

Ransom

As a continuation from last week, which was a continuation from the week prior, I have another story of lost and found for you… This week, in the Lost Property Bin, was my friend’s iPhone. I think that pretty much makes it a complete set that he has lost over the course his time overseas. So congratulations are in order.

Church in Cappadocia

It was one of those ominous days from the start, because he was woken up half an hour earlier than normal (at 04:35 am) by the call to prayer. This put him in a phenomenally bad mood. 

Wishing Tree in Cappadocia

Next, his phone fell out of his pocket in a taxi to the airport.

He realized this just as the taxi disappeared into the sunrise

The plane was boarded.

Homeless man in Istanbul

He arrived in Istanbul with no cash.

He also had no money on his credit card to get cash out.

~ I paid for his bus ticket to Taksim Square ~

~ Saint Steph saved the day ~

New Mosque, Istanbul

There he found some Wifi to use his laptop.

Which was unable to transfer money to his credit card, because he needed his phone.  

~ I leant him my phone to do this ~

~ Saint Steph saved the day ~

Turkish delight and baklava heaven

He was able to get some money out.

Our Turkish friend then rang the hotel to enquire about the phone.

Delicious spices in the Spice Bazaar

The taxi driver proceeded to hold the phone ransom for 100 TRY.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Which was finally retrieved, 2 days later, at the agreed ransom price.

Unfortunately, there were no exciting taxi-hold ups nor were there any exciting ransom videos where the phone was tied to a chair and the taxi driver (with a balaclava, of course) explained the terms of the deal to us. 

ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli

However, things are slowly getting more exciting (given that there was a ransom bargain involved…). 

Beach Cemetery, Gallipoli

Stay tuned for the next episode of Stupid Stuff My Friend Does While Travelling.

To Blame

As a continuation from last week, to add to the items lost, my friend’s camera power cable was added. To resolve this, he bought another. But then his SD card has also broken, so he is limited to the 25 photo capacity of his camera. Such is life travelling with an Australian...

Travertines at Pammukkale

In our travelling duo, I always take the blame for everything – that was established early on, when I was blamed for the losing of the bag, the losing of the shorts, the heat, the tiredness, the laptop being insufficient, and of course, his getting sick.

View over Pammukkale

But it’s ok that he got sick, because I had drugs (imported from NZ and everything).

I gave my friend some pills and told him to get better.

Castle at Selçuk

He didn’t improve nearly as well as expected.

Library of Celsus, Ephesus

Then I was talking to the parents about the drugs. They kindly informed me that there were two lots of drugs that they had given me. One for skin infections, and the other for gastroenteritis.

Details at Ephesus

Unfortunately, to me, pills are pills and drugs are drugs. Turns out, that despite my 50/50 chance of choosing the correct ones, I had in fact chosen wrong.

I am still deciding if this was a pure accident, or if perhaps it was horribly passive aggressive.

World's cutest kitten

Either way, he’s still sick, I still have the drugs, I am still getting the blame for everything and nothing has really changed.

Cappadocia houses

However, if he had even tried to contract a skin infection, he would have failed miserably on this front, due to my forward thinking and preventative measures.

Hot air balloons over Cappadocia

So, you see, I’m actually the hero in this story.

Lost and Found

This week, I found a friend.

This dog is also a friend, but not the one I am talking about

Who had lost his bag (and previously his passport. Twice).

Water angle #1

So he found some shorts, to tie him over.

Water angle #2

Then he found his bag.

Water angle #3

And promptly lost his shorts.

Water angle #4 with Turkish flag compliment

Morning sun on Bodrum

Crows on a hilltop

I found my friend.

Sunrise

But I have lost my sanity.

I'm going to be a pirate now

Monty Python and the Life of Turkey

Another week… This week, I have travelled to Turkey. Here I am effectively doing WOOFing.

A turkey... In Turkey...

Sometimes, the situation reminds me of Monty Python (for the sake of this blog entry and privacy, my superior will be impersonating the Knight of Ni and later the Bridgekeeper).

Some pretty fuchsia flowers

Recently, the Knight of Ni had me move a large pile of straw (about 20 m to the east).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The Aegean

Then they wanted me to rake up the leaves and feed them to the goats (but now while there are customers, which is all day every day).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The countryside

Then they wanted me to sweep the path (but it was too dusty, so my mission was aborted earlier than anticipated).

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

Dinner

Then, they wanted us to ‘clear everything’ from a particular area on the farm.

To which I responded:

“Oh, Knight of Ni, you are just and fair and I shall not return until the deed is done.”

The café

Two days later, the Knight of Ni, who has, for the sake of this weeks’ blog miraculously become the Brudgekeeper and exclaims:

“He who approaches the Bridge of Death, must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see…”

The café

To which we replied:

“Ask me the questions. I am not afraid”

“What are you doing?”

“Clearing everything”

“What for?”

“Because you told us to…”

“No, I just told you to pick up the rocks. There is a machine coming through later to do what you are doing. Are you stupid?”

“Do you know the definition of ‘clear everything’?”

“Huh? I don’t –“

The café

And then he was fired from his role as Bridgekeeper and thrown into the great chasm beneath the Bridge of Death.

The dogs

My life here thus far has reminded me of the epic 'Monty Python,' minus some of the epic-ness.