..is in Bergün. A small village in the swiss south eastern mountains. My new home. Words cannot express what a whonderful town this is! I think i was really lucky to find this job up here and with every day i love it more.
Mountains, clean and cool air, absolutely breathtaking views, snow-topped mountains and a peaceful, sleepy village. What more can one want? Ok food is not the best, surely, sombody who likes meat and cheese will say its heavenly. For myself, we actually fight for the sallad bowl up here as fruit and veg is scarce for the personell..
Last week, i had 3 days off and headed home immediately. After leaving Bergün, i already started to feel sad, and spending time at home wasn`t really enjoyable, i MISSED BERGÜN!!!! How funny, locals, who gave me a lift told me "Einmal Bergün, immer Bergün!" (Bergün once, Bergün forever)
... to be continued.. with pics soon!
Hitching from the end of the world to my home town on a weekday:
5 lifts, 5.5 hours ---> about the same time than the train and, yes sounds unbeleivable in fact
Edinburgh and Killin' all!!!
So, im supposed to tell you more about my recent adventures. Hm... only a short trip but very relaxing.... was in Scotland as you can see.. Tried some of the indigenous clothes and it fit me well!
First, of course had a look ad Edinburgh. A lovely city! Here i am playing zany on the sqaure in front of the castle. Nope, no pic of the castle. What for if you can have me??? LOL
Well i had never been to Scotland, but it was always on my list, so it came in quite handy at in march. Totally enjoyed it and it was a great thing to do, escaping boring Zurich for a moment. I must admit it was a real holiday for me. Not like usually, the traveller-thing. No, just relaxing and not thinking about tomorrow for a long time. That was indeed Amazingly relaxing!
We drove to a place called Killin (ha ha, i thought the same...). Whonderful place with nice waterfalls (Falls of Dochart) and smoothly buckled hills... and loooooads of fresh air.. plus some weirdoes... they are to be found everywhere:
Silcene, i kill you in Killin!!!
First, of course had a look ad Edinburgh. A lovely city! Here i am playing zany on the sqaure in front of the castle. Nope, no pic of the castle. What for if you can have me??? LOL
Well i had never been to Scotland, but it was always on my list, so it came in quite handy at in march. Totally enjoyed it and it was a great thing to do, escaping boring Zurich for a moment. I must admit it was a real holiday for me. Not like usually, the traveller-thing. No, just relaxing and not thinking about tomorrow for a long time. That was indeed Amazingly relaxing!
We drove to a place called Killin (ha ha, i thought the same...). Whonderful place with nice waterfalls (Falls of Dochart) and smoothly buckled hills... and loooooads of fresh air.. plus some weirdoes... they are to be found everywhere:
Silcene, i kill you in Killin!!!
How to find a new job and a husband in 2 hours
New day and new adventure...!!
For some entertainment during reading, click here
Hitching is not always fun, especially if you really have to do it because you have no money and in minus 6 degrees and on sunday morning. This time something really amazing happened to me though...I expect many strange things to happen while hitchhiking, but not that......
I hitchhiked from Zurich to St.Gallen on that shitty, grey and f**ing freezing sunday noon. Half past 11 and i was standing (oh now i can update the link on the hitchwiki ) next to the road that leads to the highway. Asotnishingly much traffic but the place wasnt the best to stand so i spend like half an hour there until somebody gave me a lift to the next city. From there i found another lift to like halfway to St. Gallen. The italian man and me talked a lot and had a fun time while driving. He was pretty amazed by my travels (nothing new most people are...) I told him now i had no money for the train and so needed to find another job and work first. He offered me a job right away in his company! How cool is that??? So before you, Mila, the new secretary of this friendly italian mans company!
To top all that, the next one to pick me up for the last bit of travel was a guy who is married to a russian woman. Of course i was going to tell him all my (travel-) experiences i had in Russia and that i liked it. Now, everybody who knows me, is aware that i always tell that joke that i am looking for some rich russian man to marry who can pay my studies and living in Australia for he next 5 years. I told him that i had been looking for a guy in russia but since they are all so materialistic, none was interested in me. So he goes: you want to marry a russian man? I know somebody! It turns out that his wifes brother, age 19 (beleive it or not) would like to come to Switzerland and marry a swiss woman... Because of the lack of money, i had to decline, even me can be materialistic for a change... especially with the russians... LOL We still had a nice chat and i gave him my card, and he will surely read all this here. Thank you Markus, it was nice meeting you! Leave your email address in a comment here and the 19 year old guys annual income ;) ha ha just kidding, dont feel offended..
So, i actually had lots of fun hitching that day and this story will most likely serve as little entertainment- story for hosts when i travel.
Total number of lifts: 3
Total number of new jobs: 1
Total number of new (potential) husbands: 1
Amount of fun: countless
For some entertainment during reading, click here
Hitching is not always fun, especially if you really have to do it because you have no money and in minus 6 degrees and on sunday morning. This time something really amazing happened to me though...I expect many strange things to happen while hitchhiking, but not that......
I hitchhiked from Zurich to St.Gallen on that shitty, grey and f**ing freezing sunday noon. Half past 11 and i was standing (oh now i can update the link on the hitchwiki ) next to the road that leads to the highway. Asotnishingly much traffic but the place wasnt the best to stand so i spend like half an hour there until somebody gave me a lift to the next city. From there i found another lift to like halfway to St. Gallen. The italian man and me talked a lot and had a fun time while driving. He was pretty amazed by my travels (nothing new most people are...) I told him now i had no money for the train and so needed to find another job and work first. He offered me a job right away in his company! How cool is that??? So before you, Mila, the new secretary of this friendly italian mans company!
To top all that, the next one to pick me up for the last bit of travel was a guy who is married to a russian woman. Of course i was going to tell him all my (travel-) experiences i had in Russia and that i liked it. Now, everybody who knows me, is aware that i always tell that joke that i am looking for some rich russian man to marry who can pay my studies and living in Australia for he next 5 years. I told him that i had been looking for a guy in russia but since they are all so materialistic, none was interested in me. So he goes: you want to marry a russian man? I know somebody! It turns out that his wifes brother, age 19 (beleive it or not) would like to come to Switzerland and marry a swiss woman... Because of the lack of money, i had to decline, even me can be materialistic for a change... especially with the russians... LOL We still had a nice chat and i gave him my card, and he will surely read all this here. Thank you Markus, it was nice meeting you! Leave your email address in a comment here and the 19 year old guys annual income ;) ha ha just kidding, dont feel offended..
So, i actually had lots of fun hitching that day and this story will most likely serve as little entertainment- story for hosts when i travel.
Total number of lifts: 3
Total number of new jobs: 1
Total number of new (potential) husbands: 1
Amount of fun: countless
Another day in paradise
After 2 weeks in the canaries i have found some kind of "stable situation". I found a long term host in Lanzarote and friends.
After arriving to Fuerteventura, i had to find out that most people i had contacted didnt answer me or they are actually starting to answer me now (after a couple of weeks??? WTF??) I spend 3 days in Fuerteventura, Corralejo first. I kind of liked this place. Its full of surfers and therefore all these nice surf shops and stuff in the so called "main street" which is really small. The island is full of young people, as its more for surfing and active holidays than enything else.
I hitchhiked from the Airport to Corralejo, maybe a mere 40 kilometers away. As the touristic places are in the opposite direction, it was not easy to find a person who drove north. I finally found a nice lettish woman who was just about to arrive here too for living. She took me to Corralejo. There i stayed with my friends Tibor and Thomas, whom i knew already from last year. It was great to meet them again and we had some good chats. Due to the lack of hosts i then had to leave the island to Lanzarote, the neighburing island. Thomas arranged me a cheap way to get there, omiting to pay ridiculous amounts for the normal ferry... sure i was very happy to get on this catamaran for such a great price....
It turned out to be a nightmare. The sea was rough and me and some other poor tourists (i am not the tourist,,, i am the traveller, the others are tourists ha ha haa) happened to get seated at the back of the catamaran and throwing up into the smelly black rubbishbags they called "sickness bags" Maybe because they make you even sicker.. So after about 90 mins we are finally out of there, arriving in Puerto del Carmen on Lanzarote. The german guy, with whom the deal was made made sure he took my money (deutsche Gruendlichkeit!) and i left. No sign of pity from his part. But form the other crewmembers:yes. They tried to cheer me up and gave me cola as i needed to lie there at the harbour for another 2,5 hours until i finally was feeling well enouth to walk off with my backpack.
I had arranged to stay over with Jenni, a german (another german) woman who lives in Puerto del Carmen. she already gave me the adress but we had arranged that i would call her when i arrive. This woman, i still beleive she is a shadow here, could not be reached. I rang multible times, sent text messages but nothing happened, the phone was switched off.. I made it to her house after 3 awful hours walking in the sun, with the heavy packpack. Important to say, that the esplanade leads along the beach but is currently being rebuilt, so there were no busses coming.... i had no otehr choice than to walk. Arriving at her house i found out that nobody opened the door. There must have been something wrong with this shade...Luckily i had arranded another stsay for later before and already talked to that host Ryan. He picked me up 5 mins later. I have stayed with him for more than a week now, he is really cool and i like te place. The woman, in contrast, remains to be a shade.... she has called me once telling me what happened (something severe i dount want to share here for pricacy reasons) but only after a couple of days told me that the problem was solved. Still, no answer to my text messages... She remains to be a shadow,,,
... to be continued
Now let me tell you more about this paradise. Its full of tourists, tourist shops and a mere number of locals (they still exist here). Sure, its not the best place to meet locals, and the environment is artificial, but i am still quite happy to be here, not in a small countrysite town as there is lots to do here and everything is awailable. Supermarkets and shops, beach you will all think. I knew it. You want to know about the beaches for sure and you all beleive that i am lying on the beach every day..? Sorry, i have to disappoint you. I have only been to the beach twice, in the water once only... (because i had to pee... dont tell anybody please, we know only tourists do that) Its quite windy here, and lately its been a bit clowdy, even rainy and cold.. I hope it will get better this week and i can really enjoy the beach. I also tried to find a job, but no luck so far, there is little work, the canarios are in a very bad economical situation themselfs, they lose their jobs and many of them are poor. Prices for me are quite ok though. And even hitchhiking works... i will tell you later.. the battery of the laptop is almost empty, but there is enough time to tell you how i got into internet for free today
my host borrowed me my laptop and i walked along half of the esplanade to find a spot where i could finally get a connection. It took 2 hours but as we all know i got looooooads of free time.
After arriving to Fuerteventura, i had to find out that most people i had contacted didnt answer me or they are actually starting to answer me now (after a couple of weeks??? WTF??) I spend 3 days in Fuerteventura, Corralejo first. I kind of liked this place. Its full of surfers and therefore all these nice surf shops and stuff in the so called "main street" which is really small. The island is full of young people, as its more for surfing and active holidays than enything else.
I hitchhiked from the Airport to Corralejo, maybe a mere 40 kilometers away. As the touristic places are in the opposite direction, it was not easy to find a person who drove north. I finally found a nice lettish woman who was just about to arrive here too for living. She took me to Corralejo. There i stayed with my friends Tibor and Thomas, whom i knew already from last year. It was great to meet them again and we had some good chats. Due to the lack of hosts i then had to leave the island to Lanzarote, the neighburing island. Thomas arranged me a cheap way to get there, omiting to pay ridiculous amounts for the normal ferry... sure i was very happy to get on this catamaran for such a great price....
It turned out to be a nightmare. The sea was rough and me and some other poor tourists (i am not the tourist,,, i am the traveller, the others are tourists ha ha haa) happened to get seated at the back of the catamaran and throwing up into the smelly black rubbishbags they called "sickness bags" Maybe because they make you even sicker.. So after about 90 mins we are finally out of there, arriving in Puerto del Carmen on Lanzarote. The german guy, with whom the deal was made made sure he took my money (deutsche Gruendlichkeit!) and i left. No sign of pity from his part. But form the other crewmembers:yes. They tried to cheer me up and gave me cola as i needed to lie there at the harbour for another 2,5 hours until i finally was feeling well enouth to walk off with my backpack.
I had arranged to stay over with Jenni, a german (another german) woman who lives in Puerto del Carmen. she already gave me the adress but we had arranged that i would call her when i arrive. This woman, i still beleive she is a shadow here, could not be reached. I rang multible times, sent text messages but nothing happened, the phone was switched off.. I made it to her house after 3 awful hours walking in the sun, with the heavy packpack. Important to say, that the esplanade leads along the beach but is currently being rebuilt, so there were no busses coming.... i had no otehr choice than to walk. Arriving at her house i found out that nobody opened the door. There must have been something wrong with this shade...Luckily i had arranded another stsay for later before and already talked to that host Ryan. He picked me up 5 mins later. I have stayed with him for more than a week now, he is really cool and i like te place. The woman, in contrast, remains to be a shade.... she has called me once telling me what happened (something severe i dount want to share here for pricacy reasons) but only after a couple of days told me that the problem was solved. Still, no answer to my text messages... She remains to be a shadow,,,
... to be continued
Now let me tell you more about this paradise. Its full of tourists, tourist shops and a mere number of locals (they still exist here). Sure, its not the best place to meet locals, and the environment is artificial, but i am still quite happy to be here, not in a small countrysite town as there is lots to do here and everything is awailable. Supermarkets and shops, beach you will all think. I knew it. You want to know about the beaches for sure and you all beleive that i am lying on the beach every day..? Sorry, i have to disappoint you. I have only been to the beach twice, in the water once only... (because i had to pee... dont tell anybody please, we know only tourists do that) Its quite windy here, and lately its been a bit clowdy, even rainy and cold.. I hope it will get better this week and i can really enjoy the beach. I also tried to find a job, but no luck so far, there is little work, the canarios are in a very bad economical situation themselfs, they lose their jobs and many of them are poor. Prices for me are quite ok though. And even hitchhiking works... i will tell you later.. the battery of the laptop is almost empty, but there is enough time to tell you how i got into internet for free today
my host borrowed me my laptop and i walked along half of the esplanade to find a spot where i could finally get a connection. It took 2 hours but as we all know i got looooooads of free time.
Golden October in Zurich
I came back to Switzerland to undergo a painful but also relieving back-therapy. We finally managed to get rid of the symptoms after the 8th session but i very much enjoyed the treatment..
The leaves hat already gotten yellow when i arrived to Zurich in the beginning of October. I got dropped down close to my host and friends place. I started with - you can probably imagine - dodging the fare. Good old Switzerland, too expensive for a poor traveler like me! But now i know how to deal with you!! Ha ha haaaa!
Ahhh, it felt somehow strange to be in this city again. It took me a couple of days to get accustomed to the fact that i was now in Zurich. The change form Munich to Zurich had happened all too fast. After a couple of days though i started meeting all my good friends here and started to enjoy it. Already in the first week i met so many of my friends here in Zurich that it simply flew by at once. The first week-end was awesome and afterwards i also spent some time with my family up in the mountains. They later became snowed in one evening in the end of October, when i as riding my dads car through the 25cm of new snow. That night got me some more experience driving in snow since i hadn' t done that for ages. I never owned a car.. only in Australia but there is no Snow there :) Time was flying and all of a sudden i realise its NOV 8th, time to pack and go.
Thank you Zurich: It was such a pleasure to see all my friends again and to relax a little bit after the long and strenuous journey! I had ever experienced such a nice community and so many great people in one place that it had wanted me to stay longer.
One thing i realised after some time is that its actually getting boring here. Everything is in order, everything works out well. I can say precisely what time i will arrive somewhere if i check the timetable (WTF is that?? now talking about timetables after the odyssey in Russia) and i can get whatever i like from the supermarket. And even getting it only takes 10 minutes. Ill be right back, no phone calls, no traffic jams, no endless waiting involved, no unforseen things happening... It is getting boring and one thing i could not adapt anymore was that my stomach has been rebelling against the western food ever since i left that bloody plane RIGA-BERLIN in September.
Ahh well.. My flight is leaving soon and heart-broken i am leaving this city. It will always be my favourite place. See you soon again!
The leaves hat already gotten yellow when i arrived to Zurich in the beginning of October. I got dropped down close to my host and friends place. I started with - you can probably imagine - dodging the fare. Good old Switzerland, too expensive for a poor traveler like me! But now i know how to deal with you!! Ha ha haaaa!
Ahhh, it felt somehow strange to be in this city again. It took me a couple of days to get accustomed to the fact that i was now in Zurich. The change form Munich to Zurich had happened all too fast. After a couple of days though i started meeting all my good friends here and started to enjoy it. Already in the first week i met so many of my friends here in Zurich that it simply flew by at once. The first week-end was awesome and afterwards i also spent some time with my family up in the mountains. They later became snowed in one evening in the end of October, when i as riding my dads car through the 25cm of new snow. That night got me some more experience driving in snow since i hadn' t done that for ages. I never owned a car.. only in Australia but there is no Snow there :) Time was flying and all of a sudden i realise its NOV 8th, time to pack and go.
Thank you Zurich: It was such a pleasure to see all my friends again and to relax a little bit after the long and strenuous journey! I had ever experienced such a nice community and so many great people in one place that it had wanted me to stay longer.
One thing i realised after some time is that its actually getting boring here. Everything is in order, everything works out well. I can say precisely what time i will arrive somewhere if i check the timetable (WTF is that?? now talking about timetables after the odyssey in Russia) and i can get whatever i like from the supermarket. And even getting it only takes 10 minutes. Ill be right back, no phone calls, no traffic jams, no endless waiting involved, no unforseen things happening... It is getting boring and one thing i could not adapt anymore was that my stomach has been rebelling against the western food ever since i left that bloody plane RIGA-BERLIN in September.
Ahh well.. My flight is leaving soon and heart-broken i am leaving this city. It will always be my favourite place. See you soon again!
Doin' the baltics!
I blog, therefore i am!
I will never forget the weeks in the Baltics. I absolutely loved Lithuania and Latvia. Surely, it has something to do with the people i met but most places i have seen were just fantastic.
I first spend about 3 weeks in Vilnius at my friends place. He was kind enough to let me stay on the couch when i was ill which i am very thankful of. I wouldnt want to imagine me couchsurfing in this condition or staying in a hostel for 3 weeks... After recovering, he and his sister showed me around Vilnius and we also drove to the countrysite on one week-end to their house in the forest. I expected a small hutt without heating and water but it was a huge villa next to a lake for swimming with all the facilities you can dream of: we all had our own rooms, a living-room with an open-space fire, sauna and on top of that even internet! Its funny that they call it forest-house... well maybe just because it IS in the forest. We had great fun all together, walking at night without light and singing, getting scared by some monsters who were trying to kill us.... out there in the forrest... uhhhaaaa
Also i very much liked talking to my friends mother who had grown up in Siberia. Her parents have been deported to Siberia before she was born. It was shocking to hear and to learn about that past in Russias history. Also, when i was at the occupation museum i Riga (the one and only museum i have visited during my entire 5 months trip, but really worth it Never has anything toughed me so deeply. If you ever get to Riga, please visit it and find out about GULAG
Reading all about GULAG in there made me finally understand why the people in the Baltics are still almost in a "waiting for the evil to happen" position 24/7. They fear thet Russia is going to occupy them again. This is also the reason for them to work so hard day and night. To get their economy rise what would make them eligible for joining the supportive organisations....
Staying on that farm in Latvia was such a great experience. I got to meet all the family of my host including, father, mother, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces and uncles and aunties, also the farm hand who spoke in Russian to me. The little niece (probably about 4 years only) spent most time with me. I didnt understand her but we got along very well. When i was about to leave, she asked where i was going to. Her parents said Riga. But she does not like Riga, because its far away. How cute! She had accepted me as her "auntie" I could say... altough we could not communicate in one language. The farm was quite big, many cows which they were milking and lots of food. All you can imagine: cucumbers, berries, herbs, peppermint for tea, salads, apples and pears as many as you wanted. Just bend yourself and pick one of them! Of course much milk and everything that comes from it and is made out of it, meat from the cows... And when i say meat i mean like a kilo for each person. One evening there was some sort of leaving party for my hosts sister, who left for being an au-pair in France the next day. There was a 10litre bucket full of meat. Me made "shashlik" which is just grilled meat and fries came with them too. But don't think of Mc Donald's fries, no no! Real french fries, made in the oven, cut by hand and seasoned with fresh herbs and salt. None of the modern-western-world inventions needed, not even baking paper as we do use it here. .. the fries were so sticky and were glued to the baking tray.... but it was natural and true, tasting absolutely fantastic!
I have a 1000 questions, but nobody to answer them. I asked the flatmate of my host in Klaipeda (i spent more time with him as my host did not "have time" to talk to me while he was there) about the future of lithuanian agriculture. To explain it for you, here is how it works still nowadays: Older people often still live in the country site and grow their own food there. As they own loads of land, they are able to grow enough for themselves and all the family, their kids and so on. However, thats all they have, no money. The kids often choose to live in the cities, because they do not want to work for food only. -- we are talking about countries in the EU now folks!!! -- They have enough money to support their family on the country site and would get them the things they need. Also, what i learned from my host in Tallinn, its not necessary to go to the supermarket that often (more than once a month would be considered "often" i guess) as she didn't need anything. She got fresh vegetables and fruit from their parents and rarely got something from the shop. Its not so common to go to the supermarket because a) they dont need anything and b) they dont have so much money anyway. Ok lets get back to the problem i was going to portray. Nowadays, young people want to live in the cities, have money, nice clothes and travel. Nobody wants to live in the country site anymore. So i whonder, what will be in 20 years time? Will they all buy their overpriced imported and tasteless food from the supermarket too? The answer of the roommate surprised me "don't worry about that".
I spent 6 weeks in the baltics in total. Visited Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Unlike many other travellers i have met along my way, i do not only visit the capitals. Oh no, that would be a shame! I like to see the smaller towns, i visited Klaipeda, Talsi, Ventspils, Paernu: Have you ever heard about these places before? Still, these were quite populated areas and i would have loved to see more small towns. Unfortunately, the baltics are not so densely populated, which is why i could not find accomodation so easily out of town. It will all be changed in my furture travels! I was able to learn alot form the people i have met and i am very thankful for that!
Back to Europe
dont be afraid to be differentThe last days in Russia had been horrible, i felt some illness coming up and just wanted to leave. Many times i had been close to tears because i was fed up with what heppened there, with the fact that nobody talked english or nobody even wanted to help and make an effort. Why should they, they will get their paycheck anyway, no matter if they help me or not.
I breathe a sigh of relief when we finally cossed the border and are in to Estonia.
My frist stop in the Baltics is Lithuania, where i visit my friend Romas. Here are some first impressions abut Lithuania. Vilnius, the capital has many international influences and is claimed to be the middle of Europe.... if you count Russia to Europe: yes.
The lithuanian flagVilnius
modern buildings, wow! I love this funny language:
Visiting the Sovjet Park:
blueberries, freshly picked by a babuschka! hmmmm! 
The sovjet playground, its still like this in Russia now.I've seen many colorful playgrounds!
They took the finger off, so nobody could hang more rotten food on there... it happened in Lithuania before the curtain fell. I don't remember, but the granny was deported to Siberia like so many other Lithuanians. Also the grandma of my host! She now lives in Lithuania, the children brought her back
Hi Lenin!
Sovjet times water distributor
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