I love...

...my three stitches! They are a NECESSARY FASHION ACCESSORY for any adventurer. Also, they are great for getting atterntion, especially if they are dramatically thrust in peoples' faces.

If only there was a way to get stitches without needles or cuts...

The ACCIDENT

ooh, doesn't that sound ominous?

Last weekend was great fun. W's squeeze stayed over and we went ATV and horseback riding. The ATVs were fantastic. We zoomed accross the African hills to a pond-y lake. It was so hot and sis and I were sorry we had not brought bathing suits. Actually, that is not strictly true. Sis and I hesitated only a second before we merrily stipped off all of our clothing and splashed into the muddy pond. It was lovely, and we dried our underwear on the bike handles on the ride back.

Why oh why am I such a bad horseback rider? Even the novice boyfriend could canter and he was a horseback VIRGIN. Cry. My first stupid horse Petunia bit 3 other horses before we even left the corral (I was told that it was not the horse's fault but how I handled him. Yikes! I was just sitting on thw horse. Does my sitting on animals make them vicious??. The second horse Jamaica (the same one I rode there last time) would not trot or walk reasonably fast. I kicked him and kicked him but all that did was make him break into a run for 15 terrifying seconds (I was CERTAIN I was going to fall and probably die).

After all this fun we drove back to Sis' community for Tapas night. We had each planned to cook Tapas and desserts and then (being us) judge them and name a Tapas champion. Sis and her boy went to shower while I started cutting a squash. An EVIL squash. I cut and then cut again and then the knife slipped and sliced my poor right-hand index finger right open.

There were many curses, and blood spurted everywhere (including on sis' door... oops, forgot to clean that up before I left). I begged W not to take me to the emergency room, but she ignored my frenzied pleading.

I had to get a tetanus shot. Ew.

I had to get 3 stitches and s freezing shot right IN the wound which didn't work because I could feel the third stitch. EW.

Now sister knows how terrified I am of needles. They are just WRONG. It is a huge violation to let a stranger pierce your skin and stick something foreign into you. It is just WRONG.

I actually like the stitches very much, but don't tell... :)

For Safari Happenings...

...Sis said it all the best:

www.welcome-to-wendyland.blogspot.com

Anything that makes me look like a fool (...ahem, electric fence...) is completely false. Of course.

Frustrations at the Q-Photo

I was going to write all about Safari, but after 2 hours in the bloody photo store where everyone is (as usual) completely inept I would rather rant about the photo store.

WHY are there 30 employees in the photo store and not ONE who knows what the machines do?

WHY am I expected to get off the only decent machine to let people go who only have 3 photos to print? I was still there first!!

WHY does the self-serve photo machine cut off borders AFTER I have custom cropped each picture and WHY is there no sign advising the customer of that fact?

At least I ducked the completely COMPLETELY inept girl who 'helped' me every time last visit. Whenever I went in no-one else would do anything for me since they work on commission and I was 'her' customer.

The photos will not be right.
And will have fingerprints on them.

Yes, there are bigger problems in Africa, but grrrrrrrowwwwl!!!

An Uncomfortable Encounter

The Flirty Guy in the Net Cafe

(He asks who I am chatting to.. I say my boyfriend.)

"Hello, boyfriend."

"Tell your boyfriend that if you were single I would follow you anywhere...you are so fine. For you, anything"

"I'm sure you hear that every time"

"so your email address I guess you're going to give me. No? Oooh, you're impossible baby"

"whatever your age is baby,. it's fine."

"Whatever you eat whatever you drink, keep it up baby. Because you are the most finest thing I have ever seen. Like I said, keep it up"

"You are everything a man of my nature has dreamt of all these years. Everywhere you go baby, I want to be with you."

"The people at the counter say that I only like you because you are white."

"I say that it is because you are so fine. I am not worried about your boyfriend because I have 2 wives already. Variety is the spice of life. I give them everything. Love, love, love, sex, sex, sex. Come join the party baby. I am the kind of man who needs a meat pie and a kidney pie and not just one kind of pie"

"Cheers, I am only joking baby"

"Come join my party"

"Is your boyfriend black? You gotta try a black man baby, look at me baby. Everythig is prop[ortional. I can get you right there baby to the spot."

Then he left. Phew! I didn't want to get anyone angry, as the racial tensions are on the surface here and I am the only white person in or aroud the cafe. Sigh!

In Africa

Wow, a lot has happened since I wrote on this thing last. Let's see, in brief...

Sept 4 - Spent the night in Brussles Airport. I actually kept otes on what was going on every hour since there was really nothing else to do all night. I have no idea what I wrote, but I will post the notes later.

Sept 5 - Flew to Dublin, spent the day buying fat-free salad dressing and other goods for my health-conscious sister. In the evening, WAY over-laden with glass food jars, I flew to Paris, arrived late, and ran through the airport with 4 other transfers to the SA flight, just making the flight to South Africa.

Sept 6 - Arrived without anythig lost or broken. Hurrah! Sister arranged for a driver to meet me at the airport. I unpacked and did laundry. Since I had a few shirts to wash I also tackled sis'laundry basket. I am a very nice (and perhaps underappreciated) sister, after all.

Sept 7 - I had planned to drive in with sister and check my email and drive around the city. Sadly we were carless, and the much-anticipated Pretoria cruising (I had always meant to go to the museum and the peek around the downtown core of ths city. And to go to the botanic garden) will not happen. I did more laundry and ironed some of my clothes.

Sept 8 - Sis came home and we went to Johannesburg to meet her BF and for dinner and a show. We went to Montecasino, which is a huge Las-Vegas (I assume, I ahve never been) - style complex with shops, restaurants, a casino, and a gun safe. Dinner was good, show (a musical based on a vampire who had broken his fangs) was the worst thing I had ever seen. BF was v. nice. It was fun to dress up ad go somewhere in a car, since in Europe going anywhere involved metro and buses. Ooh, and I had new SHOES. I had bought them on my last morning in Budapest. The had cost 1990 forints, or under 5$ Canadian. They are actually very stylish, and no more uncomfortable than one would expect. I was v. pleased to have them, as going out for a post evening in bright red running shoes in not so much fun.

Sept 9 - In the morning sis and I went to the Irini market, a great farmers' market halfway to Johannesburg. We bought farm-fresh eggs, a present for one of her friends, ice-mocha drinks, popcorn flavouring, and PAINTING CANVASSES. Hurrah, painting is fun, and the hand-stretched canvasses were top-quality.

Sept 10 - We went out really early to buy wall paint. Painted walls, and sat in the hot tub.

Sept 11 - Moaned about the colour of the paint. It was all wrong! I did more laundry and walked the dog. After work exchanged paint colour of other paint and shopped for Safari

Sept 12 - Watched movies, walked dog, etc

That is about all. The guys beside me are working on a resume and it is SO BAD. I just want to ask them if I ca FIX it but that may not be appropriate...

On the way to Africa

Hurrah, I'm on my way!

Day in Dublin

...or a few hours anyway. I am so tired! I spent 17 hours at the airport yesterday and I would LOVE a slurpee. Or sushi.

Time to run to this airport, and then to Africa. Yea! Safari!

People are cheering outside. I wonder why?

I love this city!

I had a clever title but I am so tired, I just forget what it it... oh right,

Having my cake...and eating it too!

Todaz I woke up early - no I woke up at 4 am when the drunken girls came in, and 6 when the drunken guz 1 came in, and at 640 when drunken guy 2 came in. Then I woke up again at 8 and dragged myself out of mz pallet and out of mz loft and down the many stairs and accross the bridge to the Gellert hotel.

Mineral baths! I was feeling extremely healthy (twix bar breakfast nonwithstanding...oops, I probablz had more calories todaz than I have had in the last month combined!) when, ready for mineral goodness, I padded to the edge of the thermal bath...and scraped mz foot on a piece of rough stones. I was wearing SHOES! I sat in the bath while the blood swirled awaz dramatically and tried not to let anzone see. After all, it was not like I ARRIVED at the bath with an open sore, it had happened right THERE. An hour in the thermal bath. Also playing in the outdoor wave pool.

After that to a Kosher restaurant beside the synagogue for a lunch of hummous with fried mushrooms on top. YUM.

Then to the memorial of where Hungarian Jews were shot into the Danube. Zesterdaz Edit had told me a storz of a 12 zear old girl who was a swimmer and when she was shot it was not a fatal wound and she managed to swim accross to Pest and survive. The memorial is verz good, but there is no placque, so tourists pose and act sillz at a spot where silliness is not at all appropriate.

Then to the Terror museum, in the old Gestapo hearduarters. This was averz graphic museum of the treatment of prisoners under the Gestapo and Soviet regime. V. Graphics. The gallows were still there, and I watched a video showing corpses in all sorts of horrible states. For some reason, todaz was free student day, so I got in free. That was nice anyway. There were isgns sazing that photographz was not allowed, but since that is what it says all over Budapest and never followed, I took a photo of an old soviet tank and got in TROUBLE. The man made me erase the photo IN FRONT OF HIM *hee hee, 'undelete last' is a gerat feature*. I understand. auschwitz would have been a lot better if pictures were not allowed. I just don't like getting into trouble. I was more subtle with the other pictures I took!

I had wanted to see the old military prison but I had no idea where it was located. The girl in the Terror gift store searched on the Internet for me until she found a reference that mentioned the new name of the street (many street names were changed under communism). The are was not great, but I walked down the street until I found a building with bars on the window and a placque saying something about the war years. I think that was it...?

After that I met a friend at the sznagogue for an opera concert. She could not go, but she arrived with a friend who speaks French, se the friend and I went to watch the opera recital. At the intermission Lucia *friend* decided that cake might be more fun than another 2 hours of opera, so we escaped to a hungarian cafe. Hoorah, I had WANTED to go to one of the charming cafes, but I had not wanted to go alone. SO much fun.

We had cake. Apple pie cake with cream cheese, and blueberry crepes. I know that I say a lot of sad places today, but unlike - saz, Krakow - this city does not cover up the things that had happened in the past.

I love Art Nouveau.

On to Brussles tomorrow.

Whz I love Budapest!

I love Budapest! I was not sure what would make todaz fun and special, but it was the best day. In brief..

I woke up and showered and dressed quickly and after munching a free hostel croissant I hurried next door to the huge market. It is a food market, and I wanted to buz something foody to munch. Corn? Beans? Plums...? Finallz I foumd a stand selling pints of blackberries for 190 HUF. That is 72 cents a PINT. I bought two, had themm dumped into a bag, and munched my way down the road to where I was going to meet my Budapest friend Edit. I walked and walked and realized suddenly that I did no have the address. Somoethng about an insurance building...

A few minutes and a minor panic later, we met off and were on our way to the Ecseri market. Anyone who knows about my Budapest advenures knows that I was coveting an art nouveau brass ink pot holder. I was HOPING it would still be there and would not be too expensive (The market is run well. It is basicallz a flea market that brands itself as an ANTIQUE market. Antiques are SUPPOSED to be expensive...(

Well, Edit and I found the ink holder. It had been waiting there for me. It was reallz expensive still so we decided to look a little first. We had a plan. I LOOKED things that I wanted and she asked the price. No English. English drives up prices.

I adored looking at the booths, and Edit is the perfect companion. She was looking at furnature and lace and I was looking at art nouveau brass and porcelain. I bought a beautiful old photograph and an art nouveau pitcher (it was half the price of the ink holder). Also a little porcelain statue that matches the one I bought last year.

Then we ate LANGOS. Oh, for the love of Langos! They are deep fried pastries (and I have not eaten anything deep fried for months, yum yum). On top is spread sour cream and moyerella cheese. Then a bit of garlic and salt. SO SO good. Se split one (healthier than 2) and then split a second one.

After the market I went back to Edit's houst for a delicious lunch and an fun afternoon of plazing music and chatting. I love this sitz. Just saying! Tomorrow on to the mineral baths...

Bits from Budapest

The service was really nice, actually. I met a nice Israeli couple and I sat with the wife in the woman's section. More details later.

Just wanted to say that the irksome girl is a ROLE PLAYER. She is part of a worldwide circle of midieval role plazers who meat and joust and feast.. gah! I KNEW there was SOMETHING!!

The Smellz Man *or* A bit of last night

On the train from Vienna to Salzburg 2 weeks ago there was a detail that I did not previously relate. There was a man on the trian who, everz 5 minutes or so would shuffle to the car's cubice washroom. He was not an old man, in fact he closelz resembled mz mental image of Mr. Clean (because who does NOT have a mental image of M. Clean?)

Anzwaz, there were large bunches of kids on the plane, and everz single time, as the man shuffled past, his pants dropped to reveal his pastz plump buttocks. Every time. The kiddies loved it. To make the ride even more pleasant, everz time that the man returned to his seat his crotch would be stained with whatever substance was causing him such discomfort. There was no first class on the trian, and I had paid for my reserved seat. If I were to change cars I would have to sit on the floor.

So, I waited out the ride (hopping from car to car in search of another washroom when I had to go) and, once in Salzburg I promptlz forgot about the man. Two Salzburg weeks passed, and last night 1 a.m. I was waiting for my 2:18 a.m. train in the crowded but unusually silent passenger room. The night was cold and the small space - the ONLZ place in the station protected from the frosty night - was packed with tired strangers, grateful for an escape from the cold.

I pondered the sociological nature of the silence in the waiting room - was waiting and not talking an Austrian tradition? Most of the travelers were from elsewhere in the world...were they simply following the lead of a shz early arrival in the waiting room? Suddenly three noises cut through the thick air:

A burp followed by a bubbling fart amnd mz moan of "No. Oh, NO!" when I turned toward the sound.It was THAT MAN.

Mz train was called and the man shuffled past, and my poor tired ezes were further turtured mz the sight of his flabby pink buttocks. I knew that bum. it WAS the man! There was no doubt. I may be bad with faces, but those cheeks were unmistakable.

The train was a split train. Half of it was promptly detached and sent on to Zagreb, while the other half waited for 45 minutes and then continued to Budapest. By the time I found the correct car I was feeling more than a little harried. As I swung myself into the second class passenger car the door of the washroom swung open. How had he beat me to it? Was there no escaping the SMELLY man??

I eeked aloud and practically pulled the innocent man behind me into the next car to safety.

Why? WHY? Of all the people to meet again... ew!

Budapest Dae

WHERE is the letter before y on ...oops, there it is..yyy. In the keyboard the letter AFTER that one is marked. Confusing Eastern Europe.

There is a Canadian girl in this hostel who is SO ANNOZING. She is making soup for everyone. She keeps begging people not to go out and eat, butt o staz for her kohlrabi soup. Translation> I am desperate, please like me. I do NOT want to kick her in the head. I am reallz trzing not to. Ooh, I fond the letter z!

So, todaz I went to the mall, just to LOOK. I also visited a number of Jewish sites in the citz. I did not sleep at all last night and hardlz at all the night before. I am considering going to services tonight, just for something to do, but I do not have anz closed toed shoes but runners, and thez would look sillz with a knee/length skirt, and that is the onlz length of skirt *or shorter( that I have, and I cannot wear pants... I think circumstances will keep me awaz from services. But if I staz here I have to TALK to annozing girl! She has put on a fake British accent, just a bit. It comes and goes. Do..not...kick...

I could not find which bag I had put mz jeans in (I had to search for mazbe 13 seconds) and she began to advise me about how I should alwazs pack things in ziploc bags. She isan idiot.

More later~