I didn´t expect San Jose to be pretty. It´s a capital city, it´s not meant to be particularly pretty or feel at all safe or seem at all relaxed.. but it was.
Some things that made me smile, wandering around after my arrival this afternoon:
The families and lovers out in the plazas, chilling out while the pigeons milled around - enjoying Jan 1st, I think.
A guy calling out to me from the other side of the street:
¨Hello!
I like your hair.
I like your smile.
I like your walk¨(then I think he ran out of english. It doesn´t usually amuse me much to be harrassed by guys, but I think being across the road helped, and it was sort of amusing.. I didn´t enjoy the very drunk, over-sized young guy who was in my face when I was trying to buy a snack from a street-side stall.)
A little shop. A large, white rabbit, sitting in the middle of the floor. Very large. Very white. Just sitting.
Two dogs playing in and around the animals & people of an outdoor nativity setting.
The little local pub/eating house where I and a german couple and a lady from Minnesota had dinner. The whole place was covered in pictures, flags, labels, lights, and a little Christmas tree. A couple of friendly locals too.
Feliz Año Nuevo everyone!
Showing posts with label event. Show all posts
Showing posts with label event. Show all posts
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
Carolling
On Christmas Eve my family and I went carolling. Candles and songsheets in hand, we wandered down the street in the growing dark. Across the oval, flames flickering in the light breeze, and wax spattering on our feet as we stepped, we had to dodge the sprinklers as they suddenly came on!Down by the river we sat on tree branches and kicked our legs, and dribbled more wax on the tree, and on our paper, almost obliterating the words of the songs. And yes, we sang..
I wish I could show what it was like; the lights, the tang of eucalypt, frogs croaking, crickets chirping, mozzies buzzing. The breathing night..
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Ingredients for an Eastern European Christmas Party...
Food:
Borscht (beetroot soup)
Homebaked bread
Golabki (polish cabbage-wrapped mince & rice rolls)
Bigos (meaty sauerkraut stew)
Pierogi/Pelmeni ("pig's ears" - little dumplings. The ones we made had potato & mushroom in them)
Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage)
Mashed Potato & gravy
Pork
Chrusty (deep-fried doughnuty twists, dredged with icing sugar)
Friends:
a fun & friendly conglomerate from the worlds of uni & newie
Drink:
Home [shh..] distilled insanely strong firewater.. or just ordinary vodka if you please
Russian Caravan tea
Gifts: (distributed by freakish furry St Nick)
something for everyone!
The only real thing missing was snow!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
belated blackstump stories - or why never to travel in convoy!
This is going to be more about the journey than the arrival, ok? Cos we know know that's what really matters.. [or so some would have us think!]
We planned to set off at 10am on the Friday, meeting at Burrabadine around 9:30 to pack the cars. Actually, the first hitch of the weekend was hearing the night before that the bus we were planning on taking had a cracked head, so we couldn't take it. So a bunch of people had to bring cars instead.
It was nearly 10 before my gang even got out to Burrabadine. We had all been up early and were pretty much ready to go.. when Dad decided to change the oil and mess around with the car for a while. And then we still had to connect up the trailer.
We got to Burrabadine and joined up with the swirling masses there. Bags, swags, tents, pillows, boxes of food and goodness knows what were going everywhere! I ended up just standing back and watching. They'd get packed in one trailer just to get moved to the boot of a car.. and then out again. It was beyond me! In the end we were ready to head.
But wait! A petrol stop in Dubbo before we could actually get away. I think by then it was 11:30, try 11:45 by the time we actually left town.
First stop: Wellington, to pick up a camper. (only 40mins on, arghh!)
Then a toilet stop in Orange.
Then lunch and another camper pickup in Bathurst.
Then fears that one of the cars wouldn't make it. And another stop.
Going through the Blue Mountains, the convoy got totally separated. First there was the fog, then.. I'm not sure, couldn't see!
What I do know is that our car beat everyone else there, arriving at 6pm that night (so much for arriving and setting up tents in daylight!). And it was raining.
The other thing I know is that the last car didn't arrive until after 9... the poor things went all the way into Sydney and back!!
Blackstump was fun. Wet, muddy, pizza-filled, coffee-sozzled, but fun. There was even a few bands I liked. ooh, and a big impromptu singalong on the final night - where more & more people trickled in and joined the rowdy balladeers in the Supper Club tent into the wee small hours. Too bad we couldn't remember all the words to most of the songs!
The trip out from BS was also eventful. We rolled up our soggy tents, mats and clothes, and set off together, deciding to give this convoy-thing another go.
We'd just got on the road when something popped in one of the cars, so, determined not to be separated, all (7?) of the cars pulled over to check it out. Water topped up, we were off again.
The rest of the trip is a blur of phones ringing, stops because we thought cars were breaking down (well, one car), more phones ringing, people-swapping, dozing, m&m eating, more phones ringing "we're getting petrol" "we need a toilet break" "are we stopping for food here?"... you get the idea.
We finally got to Dubbo, and then straight out to the place where we planned to camp for the next two nights. Tired, hungry and a bit grumpy, we set up tents (in the dark again - getting to be old hands at it by now).
Finally, at 10pm, we had dinner (God bless the lovely lady who cooked it for us!) So. good.
There was a bit more camping, swimming in the river, catching mussels, spooky wide game-playing (ask me about the Terrors and Crawlers another time. Oh, and hefty guys acting the Princess!!), campfire marshies, songs and stories. It was great.
So there you go then. The epic Stump camp adventure.
We planned to set off at 10am on the Friday, meeting at Burrabadine around 9:30 to pack the cars. Actually, the first hitch of the weekend was hearing the night before that the bus we were planning on taking had a cracked head, so we couldn't take it. So a bunch of people had to bring cars instead.
It was nearly 10 before my gang even got out to Burrabadine. We had all been up early and were pretty much ready to go.. when Dad decided to change the oil and mess around with the car for a while. And then we still had to connect up the trailer.
We got to Burrabadine and joined up with the swirling masses there. Bags, swags, tents, pillows, boxes of food and goodness knows what were going everywhere! I ended up just standing back and watching. They'd get packed in one trailer just to get moved to the boot of a car.. and then out again. It was beyond me! In the end we were ready to head.
But wait! A petrol stop in Dubbo before we could actually get away. I think by then it was 11:30, try 11:45 by the time we actually left town.
First stop: Wellington, to pick up a camper. (only 40mins on, arghh!)
Then a toilet stop in Orange.
Then lunch and another camper pickup in Bathurst.
Then fears that one of the cars wouldn't make it. And another stop.
Going through the Blue Mountains, the convoy got totally separated. First there was the fog, then.. I'm not sure, couldn't see!
What I do know is that our car beat everyone else there, arriving at 6pm that night (so much for arriving and setting up tents in daylight!). And it was raining.
The other thing I know is that the last car didn't arrive until after 9... the poor things went all the way into Sydney and back!!
Blackstump was fun. Wet, muddy, pizza-filled, coffee-sozzled, but fun. There was even a few bands I liked. ooh, and a big impromptu singalong on the final night - where more & more people trickled in and joined the rowdy balladeers in the Supper Club tent into the wee small hours. Too bad we couldn't remember all the words to most of the songs!
The trip out from BS was also eventful. We rolled up our soggy tents, mats and clothes, and set off together, deciding to give this convoy-thing another go.
We'd just got on the road when something popped in one of the cars, so, determined not to be separated, all (7?) of the cars pulled over to check it out. Water topped up, we were off again.
The rest of the trip is a blur of phones ringing, stops because we thought cars were breaking down (well, one car), more phones ringing, people-swapping, dozing, m&m eating, more phones ringing "we're getting petrol" "we need a toilet break" "are we stopping for food here?"... you get the idea.
We finally got to Dubbo, and then straight out to the place where we planned to camp for the next two nights. Tired, hungry and a bit grumpy, we set up tents (in the dark again - getting to be old hands at it by now).
Finally, at 10pm, we had dinner (God bless the lovely lady who cooked it for us!) So. good.
There was a bit more camping, swimming in the river, catching mussels, spooky wide game-playing (ask me about the Terrors and Crawlers another time. Oh, and hefty guys acting the Princess!!), campfire marshies, songs and stories. It was great.
So there you go then. The epic Stump camp adventure.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
threads of the untidy event
Starting is always the hardest bit, isn't it? (apart from finishing, perhaps - good thing I don't have to think about that at this point). So if I just start, then everything will be ok? I hope so.
Why would one start a blog? There are a billion and one blogs out there, and I really don't have much idea about this whole thing..
Oh well. I'll just start.
for fun and frolics
thoughts
the world
for song and stories
life and living..
threads of the untidy event.
[thanks Pablo Neruda]
Why would one start a blog? There are a billion and one blogs out there, and I really don't have much idea about this whole thing..
Oh well. I'll just start.
for fun and frolics
thoughts
the world
for song and stories
life and living..
threads of the untidy event.
[thanks Pablo Neruda]
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