Onward to Rome!

Have I mentioned my upcoming trip to the Continent. I’m going back to the land of my ancestors with the clever woman who played a key role in my being Italian, MJ. (who brilliantly thought to marry an Italian man – sure we don’t get passports, but the nice surname is something).

Today I started thinking about the itinerary which is being guided by a conference that MJ is attending in Rome and visits to places that relate to her work. I can accommodate that I suppose.

I drew up a spreadsheet just to extend the lovely planning process as long as possible. I’ve never really planned a trip before, tending to use the, “let’s get there and see what happens” approach, but I realise now that this way I get to THINK about Italy for much longer, which is certainly pleasurable in itself.

I’ve got an Italian dictionary next to me so I can slowly trawl though Italian websites and a million butterflies in my stomach as I worry how we are going to fit everything in.

This will be my third trip to Italy but there is so much I haven’t seen and would really like to do. We’ll be in Europe for three weeks and also have dates with Paris and Bruges. How is this possible?

If only it wasn’t winter and I hadn’t become allergic to cold weather…I could have just stayed.

Oh, there’s one other brilliant aspect to this trip. We’re going in December, in the lead up to Christmas – which is my favourite time of year. There will be Christmas markets and actual religious references (novelty value!), and I won’t have to listen to everyone hating on Christmas, (ugh, so many parties, have to buy presents, have to eat delicious food, everything looks pretty, grumble grumble grumble), because they’ll be doing it in Italian!

Making sense of my Saturday

Today is so odd. I know I have a few things to take care of before I move next Thursday but I’m not sure where to start. I had a dream last night about leaving Bangkok, but Bangkok was a small regional city in a country where the capital was Jakarta. My office was similar to my real office, but had a look about it that reminded me of a luxury hotel and a much better view (I could see Jakarta). My apartment closet (that I keep my clothes in) was located in my office so when it was time to finish work and fly back to Australia (via Jakarta) I was running late and hadn’t even taken the clothes from my closet and packed them in my suitcase. Then I realised I’d forgotten to book my flight anyway.

Anxious dreams about missing flights are not uncommon for me. Usually they seem to be reflecting anxiety I have about something that could just as well be related to travel as to anything else, but this time I have a real flight to catch which makes the symbolism even more obvious. Also, someone asked me yesterday what day I was flying out and I said, “Thursday night.” Then they asked what my last day of work would be and I said, “Thursday.” Then this group of people standing around told me that was a dumb idea and I need to take a day off. I don’t need to take a day off, but their words got lodged in my mind somewhere and made me worry that I needed to take a day off. Proof positive of the power of words to affect our subconscious I suppose. I think that was another reason for my dream. Running from the office to the plane was a really bad thing in my dream. In reality there will be about four hours between my finishing work and leaving for the airport.

My anxious dreams used to be about being late for my Friday night shift at the bookshop. They even continued for a few years after I stopped working in bookshops. Sometimes I would be hours or days late to my Friday night shift at the bookshop, but I was still trying to get there. Then one night I had a dream that I was running late for the bookshop and I saw Greg who was running late for work at the library. We both sat down on the curb and decided it wasn’t that big a deal anyway, and we’d just skip work that night. That was the last bookshop anxiety dream I had, and so began the ‘missing the plane’ anxiety dreams. Once I was in an airport terminal and got stuck in the China terminal and couldn’t make my way back to the France terminal. That was really confusing.

So now it’s Saturday and I know my mind is anxious about getting organised, but I don’t really have that much to organise. I have a lot to do, I don’t know how I will fit it all in, but it’s pretty straightforward. I’m pretty sure my subconscious is overreacting – but whose doesn’t from time to time?

I came over to Wawee Coffee just now to use their internet because I’ve been waiting for a call from my landlord who has been hard to pin down and remembered that she wanted to use email, so I needed to check email too – she’s probably the greatest source of anxiety. I got here and five minutes later she sent me a text message telling me when we can meet, which makes it easier to plan the rest of my weekend now.

So now that my greatest source of anxiety is more predictable, rather than spending more of the time talking about my dreams, I’ll head back to my apartment and start packing.

Where is Sarah when Sarah is at home?

Where is Sarah? began when I left Australia for Indonesia in September 2007 (I wrote my first post instead of packing my bags).

While I’m obviously quite fond on non-travel related tangents, for the most part the idea of the blog is to report home about my travels (and sometimes to report on Australia to everyone else).

But shortly I’ll be back in Australia in a more permanent sense for the first time since I began the blog, which kind of muddles the basic motivation behind it. So do I continue Where is Sarah? or let it die a natural death?

Well, don’t give it too much thought because I’ve made an executive decision. For the time being I’m going to continue writing on Where is Sarah? as though nothing has changed. I’ll be travelling and doing fun stuff for the first couple of months after getting home, so I’ll still have stories to share, and I’ll still have plenty of “the thing I don’t understand about this culture is…” moments, because Australians are essentially pretty weird.

I will be working on about 70 new side-projects, including 15,000 new blogs, so if Where is Sarah? loses steam I might redirect my Where is Sarah? energy into one of my other projects. So if I start blogging frequently about what was on TV last night just tap me on the shoulder and I’ll take the hint.

There are ten days left before Where is Sarah? goes domestic, and I’m hoping you’ll help me reach 10,000 hits before then (take a look in the bottom right hand corner of the blog to see the current stats).

Thanks for reading!

Quick posts for Monday morning

Things are getting busy as I wind up my work here so today I will just post a couple of links instead of a story about my weekend (which, unless you want to hear about the report I’m writing, wasn’t really that exciting).

Thank you to those who gave positive feedback on my new WordPress blog and who have shown interest in the Middle East trip. Now I just have to show extreme discipline to stay focused on work instead of wandering off to sites about Syria and Jordan.

P.S to Greg: YES! That photo of the Pade Hotel…taken JUST DOWN THE ROAD FROM MY HOUSE! Can you believe it??

OK, to the links…

Benj sent me this link this morning. Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait. Wow.

Marcus sent me this article over the weekend. The Disadvantage of an Elite Education. Even if the subject doesn’t immediately grab you I hope you keep reading because there are many interesting ideas in this paper. The part about solitude (towards the end)…ugh, it worries me when someone pegs me so well when talking about ‘my generation’. If my personality defects are more than that (i.e. broad systemic failures)…well, we’re all in trouble.

Planning for the Future

I’m in the early stages of planning a trip for late 2009 from east to west through the Middle East and to Eastern Europe. It’s vague at the moment, I’m thinking I’d like to start in Pakistan but it’s probably the least practical place to start a trip, so maybe not, but otherwise I’m thinking Middle East, through Greece, then Eastern Europe.

So….reason for posting this? I need a partner for at least some parts of the trip (safety first people!) and I hope I can plant the travel seed in at least one person’s mind.

Moving this way and that

Saturday afternoon saw the end of a crazy stretch of work so now I will pick up where I left off as a diligent blogger.

The busy period gave me a lot to report so I plan to post a few photos from the last few weeks over the next week and get up to date. Now I move into a new phase of busyness as my time in Aceh draws to a close (I’ll be back in Australia next month). I have a lot of writing to do so I will be glued to my computer and therefore probably blogging as a form of procrastination.

Dates aren’t fixed yet but I’ll be home for a few weeks in September/October and then I’ll be relocating to Bangkok to take up a six month contract (the picture to the left is just one I shamelessly stole from the web). This is great news and I should be falling off my chair with excitement but I’m a bit too tired, and I suspect my soul is too weary, to be excited yet. But I expect that I will go home and have a rest, attend to the other parts of my life for a little bit and then jump back in feeling refreshed. And if there is anywhere to go for a weary soul it’s Thailand right?

I will be looking for accommodation with room for visitors as I’ve already had a few people signal their wish to visit, and in any given six month period a handful of friends and family visit Thailand anyway, so maybe people will like to stop in Bangkok and say hi. Again, no dates fixed yet, but I think I can flag the last half of January and a week or so in late March/April as times that I will be back in Aceh, so whether you’re coming to visit Sarah or want a vacant apartment in Bangkok for a couple of weeks I hope these times suit.

Now, after a lovely hour of blogging and interneting on Monday morning, I will start work for the week. Just after I find something for breakfast.

Because I always feel like I need to continue the discussion

A few points relating to things mentioned on this blog in recent days:

1. Benjamin, did you think I was joking about eating and looking at bookstores…? Seems like Batu Caves are a cool place to go if my schedule wasn’t already packed. I’ve said that about Batu Caves the last 5 times I’ve been to KL.
2. Speaking of book shops in KL, Kinokuniya runs rings around Borders and Times. That place is amazing:
   • Great selection of books (I’ve never seen a bookstore as well stocked with as much variety),
   • A section for everything including, philosophy (a whole wall devoted to it), sociology and a dedicated gender section. Greg reported that the history section was pleasingly ordered by subject rather than author,
   • “Bestsellers” walls that were actually just books they wanted to sell, but the selected books were great. Perfect if you’re looking for something new to read without a specific author in mind,
   • Great music playing over the loudspeaker (not too loud, not too soft, not too hideous…this is a warning to Borders that was playing covers of bad 80s songs by bad late-90s bands),
   • Books were where they were supposed to be,
   • Plenty of people to serve, but no one creepily following you around asking if you need help,
   • “self-help kiosks”, a name that received Greg’s scorn, but a good concept none the less. Can search for something on the computer yourself, no need to ask the sales staff.
3. Cherry Ripe anyone? I ate the one Elisa sent me. OH MY GOD, have they always been this delicious?

Unrelated note

I am looking to buy a new carry-on suitcase but was uninspired by the selection I saw in KL. I did find one I loved but it was so expensive. Fortunately as I negotiated on price Greg thought we were talking 500 ringgit ($165). If he’d known we were talking about USD500 (after 50% discount) he might have dragged me out of the shop. For the record, I can’t afford a USD500 suitcase…but it was sooooo cute…and pink! Can anyone recommend a brand they like? I want it to last until I’m 80 so I’m willing to spend a bit of money (maybe not USD500 though).

My KL agenda

I’m in KL on yet another Visa Run, but this one is different because this time I have a GREG to keep me company. We’re pretty determined to cross everything off our ‘to do’ list. Fortunately the list looks like this:

1. Eat tasty food
2. Look at bookshops

Done and done. and we’ve only been here 18 hours. So for the rest of the stay (I leave tomorrow and Greg a couple of days later), we will re-do the list. Eat more good food and look at different bookshops.

I went to the embassy this morning and had a remarkably efficient time there. The system they have coordinates a series of counters and number taking and it means that 50+ people submitting visa applications can move smoothly in a very small space and any minor obstacles (e.g. forgotten photocopies, incorrect forms filled out) can be dealt with easily. All this and you get your visa later the same day. Quite a different experience to my visit to the Consulate in Melbourne last month. In a room with a three other people waiting quietly I went to the desk with all my forms in order and was told my visa would be ready seven days later. Grrr.

I’m writing this in a creepy, dark and smelly gaming internet cafe that makes you think it’s the middle of the night even though it’s 12pm and sunny outside. So I shall leave now and go outside, but only for as long as it takes to walk to the next mega-super-giant bookstore inside a mega-super-giant shopping mall. I love KL.

Dropped the ball

I’ve haven’t updated for a week even though there has been plenty of adventure. I’ll give a quick round-up and catch up on details over the next few days.

1. Greg is visiting this week. We met in Medan, stayed in the fanciest hotel I’ve ever stayed in (for around $60 per room per night), and eventually made it to Bukit Lawang to see orang utans. It was hard to drag ourselves away from the fancy hotel breakfast and the fancy chairs in the lobby and the fancy blankets they had (in the deluxe suite we were upgraded to because we wanted twin beds)….
2. but the orang utans made it worth the effort. We only stayed one night and set out early in the morning of our second day for a 4-5 hour hike. We saw a peacock that defied gravity and lots of orang utans…then bolted back to Medan to catch a plane to Banda Aceh…
3. …That was booked for the wrong night. When we checked in for flight they kindly let us know that our tickets were for the previous night and that there were no more seats on the last flight for the evening. So we went back to the fancy hotel who booked the tickets for us and let them know of our dilemma. After a bit of fussing about we had seats on a flight the following day and a free room for the night.
4. My wisdom tooth is infected! I have taken a steady stream of panadol for about a week. Is that dangerous?
5. Standing in the rain waiting for a taxi in Medan, I was helping a nice man move a hardwood bench that had tipped over but he dropped it on my finger and my fingernail is now gross. But it seems like it won’t fall off, so worst nightmare no.1 averted.
6. Going to KL again this weekend, for yet another visa run…

Procrastination post

I don’t have enough time to write proper posts at the moment, but I also desperately want to procrastinate, so I will just give bullet points:

• There was a snake in my house last week. It was lying by the dining room table and I thought it was dead because it was so still. So I ran for my camera and when I tried to take a photo it slithered into the corner. I ran away and when I checked in 10 minutes it was gone. I could only hope it had left through the back door I’d left opened. I walked around the house in sneakers for the rest of the morning (which is only funny if you know we take our shoes off when we’re inside the house, so it was kind of like walking around the house with an umbrella).

• I’m going to spend next week in Medan, the city of the future…after a nuclear war. I’ve posted photos of this beautiful grey city before, but I’ll be sure to let you all relive the magic next week. I get to stay in a pretty fancy hotel for the week. It has hot showers, a gym and a pool. There is also a shopping mall nearby with Starbucks and Dome. It’s going to be a busy week of training and trying to get my regular work done outside training hours, but it’s going to be done with a hot shower to start every morning, so I’m OK with that.
• In a couple of weeks Benjamin will be visiting, as will a couple of other AYADs who are posted in Java. I think we will be going to Sabang, the island near Banda Aceh to snorkel and relax to our heart’s content.

• I’m planning a week in Australia around the 14th of June. Please tell me now if that’s a good time to come (I’m 99% sure that certain babies will be born by then, which is the key deciding factor).

• Yesterday, when I arrived at my desk in the morning I found this: