Black Eyed Peas

I was feeling a little bummed today. I was really missing my mates and love in SoCal and just needed to be out with my crew having a boogie.

One of my favourite bands, the Black Eyed Peas, just happened to be doing a show and I decided to go.

Having never paid for a concert in my life I wasn't about to start now. I chose instead to head to the rooftop of the German parliamentary building (where Hitler ensured he claimed absolute power and started the war) and planned look over the Adidas stadium, a stadium specifically built to house 10,000 fans of the football and for concerts during the World Cup. It was a great plan that didn't cater for the fact that this specially built stadium is well designed and you can't really see into it from the parliamentary roof and you really can't hear anything from up there either...

This upset me because the last time I saw the Black Eyed Peas was from on top of a QUT building in Brisbane that I had scaled with two friends and I thought it would be nice to continue the rooftop boogie theme....

Anyway, heading downstairs to stand outside the stadium I started talking to some people doing surveys. They had designed the surveys to be a kind of game for young teens to get them thinking about drug use and hopefully discourage their use... I volunteered to help and we got talking. End result: They had enough volunteers but I unexpectedly gained free access to the Black Eyed Peas show and a potenial free ticket to Robbie Williams gig in the near future!

Karma baby!

Love it!

The Peas were great and I thank Tanya (the lady who gave me the ticket)!!!
I hope I can return the favour some day!

k

Italy vs. Australia

It was a beautifully warm day in the centre of Berlin. I was surrounded by literally hundreds of thousands of fans. The game was going well, our voices, though strained were still loud and proud. There was plenty of Australian humour, lots of beer, faces of yellow and green and capes of the Australian flag. Everyone was having a good time until, well into overtime, a referee clearly experiencing sun stroke mistakenly awarded a goal to Italy.

It was a costly error that resulted in me witnessing more grown-up Australian men cry than I have ever seen at once. (There were two). It was a really, really sad moment that silenced the Aussies while the Italians went crazy. It was a really, really sad moment that silenced the Aussies until one of the guys who I saw cry wiped away his tears with the Aussie flag on his back, and yelled out, 'Let's go do what every good Aussie does, LET'S GET DRUNK!'
It would have been unAustralian to have not had a beer at this point in time (I have already explained to my American mates how calling an Aussie 'unAustralian' is the worst insult ever!). So I did my patriotic duty and had three quarters of a beer. It was gross and being the Cadbury (glass and a half) that I am, I got tipsy and then quickly sleepy. After a two hour nap and a little whine about the game I ate a green and yellow pizza (cheese and spinich) before heading to sleep and dreaming of better things...

Truth be told, I am not really a sports fan. Truth be told, I actually enjoyed this match.

Even though we didn't make it to the next round, I think the Socceroos did Australia proud!

k

Go the Socceroos!

Well who would have thought that I would care that the Socceroos made the quarterfinal qualifier?!?

Furthermore, who would have thought that to watch the game I would have painted onto myself not one, but FOUR Australian flags and a great big 'MADE IN AUS' across my head. All this to match my AUS jumper and Aussie flag cape.....

Who would have thought that I would have looked nearly as ridiculous for this game as I did hopping onto the recent flight to Germany pregnant with my clothes....

Probably anyone that really knows me....(P.s. these are NOT my toes... They are the toes of an Aussie supporter who was standing next to me at a match.... My toes are prettier...)

In other news, got a stark reminder today that I am no longer in the States when fireworks went off in the street after Germany scored in their match and I freaked out because in the States, the sounds would have meant gun shots....

Ta ta for now!

k

Berlin

I left Toronto on a flight with two items of checked in luggage (one weighing 30kgs and the other weighing 14kg) and two items of hand luggage (a backpack and a handbag). Upon switching to a cheap flight in London to get to Germany I was allowed one item of checked in luggage weighing 20kgs max and one item of hand luggage.

Eee!
I am not sure how I did it. But I actually managed to check in one item of luggage at 26.5kg (which resulted in a 30pound excess weight allowance charge) and one item of hand luggage, plus handbag. I have no idea how I didn't have to leave anything behind but I can tell you that wearing jeans under a long skirt with the heaviest shoes I own, two shirts, a jumper and a jacket as well as a scarf on a 1 hour and twenty minute flight gets hot. However! When you look like a pregnant woman (because you are dressed strangly and have a belly absolutely STUFFED full of jumpers, you get treated pretty nicely...
;)

Anyway, I am safely in Berlin now, at an internet computer, having just spent a really warm day in German sun with thousands of crazy Europeans cheering for Germany in the FIFA game against Equador (3:0).

I am about to feast on watermellon before watching another game and then crashing in bed.

Love you all and had a little teary yesterday because I missed you! But Bjorn is here to take of me and so everything is going a-ok!

Take care of your good selves!

k

Toronto

Today I went to Niagra Falls.

It wasn't that I was unimpressed, it was just that I was missing people in the USA. This was NOT helped by the fact that across Niagra Falls was USA turf. In fact, I managed to talk my way across the Candian border without a passport. Happily I marched back onto USA ground until I got to border patrol who basically congratulated me for trying but assured me they wouldn't let me into the states despite my Californian student ID card...

The US Customs guy did give me some good advise though:
"Have fun, get into trouble, but not more than you have bail money for".

Sound advise me thinks.

Back on the Canadian side, they had no idea who I was because I had no offical ID but they decided to let me in anyway...

I was bummed and fell asleep in a park with dreams of friends which made me feel better when I awoke. I also learned that Toronto is the home of Degrassi street (for those who know what Degrassi is/was - OH MY GOD, I KNOW!!) and the set home of Anne of Green Gables (my tour guide says she actually went to school with the guy who played the character of Gilbert!!!).

Anyway, I leave tomorrow for Berlin via London so you shall hear from me next there.

Bye-bye America!

Love you long time!

What a character!

Montreal is interesting.

It doesn't have as much buzz as the States and there isn't a constant competition for my attention but it is a very chill city. There is heaps of amazing graffiti on street walls and cafe doors, most of it welcomed. Even through I arrived only yesterday, I have seen a few live gigs and a few closed off streets due to outdoor festival events that go all summer long.

Where I am staying (with my cousin Michael) is a student area of town so there are lots of punker kids. There is also probably a bit more English spoken around here than the rest of Montreal and definately more than Quebec (which is known for only Quebecan French in parts...).

It has been good to hang with Michael for a bit, even if he has given me a bit of crap for having an American twang, but that's okay because he is the one saying "Eh" at the end of every second sentence...

Today I made a man cry. This guy crossed the street to talk to me and five minutes later (after telling me he was adopted, satisfied with life, STD clean, has never gone for a girl younger than him - he was 35, and that he thinks that women and children are the most important things in the world, especially women - he always takes care of his women) he found out I was taken and started crying. I asked him why he was so emotionally unstable and he started on some tangent about something random and then got angry about the government trying to take away his smoking rights. (I think this was after he told me that the last tornado moved the equator and so now the Earth's off balance...)

Anyway, move on to Toronto tomorrow via shuttle and will hopefully see Niagra Falls.

Au revoir!

No phone.

p.s. Please note that because my American mobile phone only works in the US and I am no longer in the US, my phone is now redundent.

I really do (heart) NY!

I would never have thought such a big city could be so friendly.

NY is definately on the possible list for potential future establishments....

Moving on, I have now arrived safely in Montreal, eh.

Yes, people really do say 'eh' (when they aren't speaking Canadian French).

Montreal is about the size of one of the major Aussie cities with more of a student vibe. It is so chill, with lots of awesome graffitti, gentrified dodge areas and music/outdoor festivities.

I dig it.

I'll have a proper look around tomorrow before moving on Friday to Toronto via a carshare...

Missing all the kids in SoCal so big holler to y'all!

raffie

I (heart) NY

After a night of much appreciated partying with mates on the eve of LA Pride and my departure from California, and a brief encounter with Michael Richards of Seinfeld (Kramer) fame, I slept through a 2 hour delayed flight to New York. Courtesy of the fact that the entrie plane was filled with Aussie's I caught up on a little Aussie news and made some friends before catching a shuttle to my hostel in the Upper West Side of Manhatten.

I have been fortunate enough to be in NY at the same time as a mate from Sydney, Shasheen. Shish and I spent all Saturday being tourists and seeing the Statue of Liberty, visiting the UN headquarters, running under the Brooklyn Bridge, seeing the courts (as seen on Law and Order) - where filming of Spiderman 3 was going on, saw Chinatown, Times Square, the Rockafella centre, etc.

It was great but I was SO POOPED!

Got up the next day to go to a gospel church with a few hundred other tourists and so as you may guess, couldn't fit in. Wondered instead around Harlem for a little while before enjoying a glorious day and lunch in Central park. In the evening I made it out to Long Island to see a friend, Jackie from Aus who lives in NY for dinner. It was splendid!

I have realised how much living in the States has altered my perception of people and previously "exciting" things. People with bandanas are not scary anymore, limos are overrated and accents are worth more than you can imagine!

Those are my thoughts for now.

Right now I am in an Apple store in SoHo about to go to Bryant's park for a free summer movie. On the way I shall grab a slice of infamous NY Pizza.

Much love to everyone!!!

k
(raffie)

THANK YOU TEAM AMERICA!

Bye-Bye Bonfire

I leave on Friday morning so tomorrow night, one of my friends, Cindy is hosting a bonfire at Huntington Beach.

For friends who can attend:
Wednesday Jun 07, 2006 at 6:30 PM

Near Lifeguard stand 4 at Huntington State Beach
Take PCH to the Brookhurst Entrance and turn right
Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Bring bonfire things, LIKE WOOD and musical instruments, bonfire snacks and smiles.

Heart you!

k

This week

Sleep deprivation has got me wondering how long I have been back in Orange County for.... I believe it is a week today....

In that time I have been crashing on friends couches, partying in West Hollywood and been a little tourist around LA again (e.g. yesterday, before going a hunt for the HOLLYWOOD sign I went to the LACMA where I noticed that just outside was the tar pit from "My Girl" where the girl thinks the boy has thrown her mother's ring...). Oh! I also made it back down to Las Vegas briefly where I got tattooed....

Anyway, big thank you to Lena, Grace, Marissa, Natasha and Claudia for your hospitality this week while I have been homeless!

k