The title of this post really sums it up, eh? No posts since August, shame on you Kate, shame!! Well it's really hard sometimes when you do the same thing every day and you don't have the internet at home. I guess I could write them then upload them later on. ......GENIUS!!
Umm so a brief update what has been happening since August-
working,
no more accidents
went on an awesome trip to the Gili Islands
fell out of love with Bali
decided to move to Australia when my contract is up
1) Working.
Alright, since this takes up most of my time lately, I will start here. Work is going okay. This job is nothing spectacular but it's better than some of them that I have had. I mean how can you get really excited over coming to work and sitting on a computer every day and teach English over the internet?
Most of the classes are spent sorting out technical problems or sorting out people who are not in the correct level for their speaking ability. The most heard phrases in my day are "Teacher, you listen me" and "I don't know, teacher".
I mean sometimes you can get a good student or have a good class but if someone asked me, "Hey Kate! You want to teach English online again?" I am going to run away. BUT on the otherhand, I do have a lot of free time to play on the internet (so I really don't have ANY excuse for not writing this blog more).
2) I haven't had any more accidents, which makes me think, I don't think that I have written about my accident actually.
Short version: I got hit by a truck :)
Long Version: I was riding my motorbike with my friend on the back, a guy tried to pass me in too small of a space, hit my handlebars and sent me flying into an oncoming truck.
We were okay...in that we didn't die but I had to have surgery on my leg. Nothing major but I had about a litre of fluid in my leg that needed to be drained as a result of the skin and muscle separating from each other.
So I didn't ride a motor bike and could barely walk for about a month but I'm okay now with a big scar and a rad story to tell.
3) Awesome trip to Gili
On November 15th, I turned 29 (eeeeekkk). And me and some friends decided to take have a birthday extravaganza as it was my birthday on the 15th and my friend Sara's on the 17th.
If you are not familiar with the Gilis, they are a group of 3 islands off of the east coast of Bali. And they are what I imagine Bali would have been like about 20 years ago before all the crazy Aussies (love you guys) started using it as their breeding ground.
So we went over on the 15th and spent about 2 hours wandering around in the blisteringly hot sun to look for a hotel because 'there are better deals if you don't book somewhere before you go". finally we found somewhere but they didn't have any good rooms until the next day so there were 4 of us squished into one kind of small room for the day. We all got really comfortable with each other.
Other than the obvious tropical paradise fact, one of the main draws is that there are no police on Gili and in a country where drug possession is punishable by death, no police to look out for means party time! Now, fair reader, I am not saying that we partook in any illegal activities, you can make up your own minds about that. The other thing about Gili T is that there is only 1 party spot a night and only on alternate nights. Apparently the 15th was an off night, so I had a bit of a bummer birthday but the 16th was awesome and then the 17th was another off day but we managed to make it work somehow.
On the boat trip home I got ridiculously sick. This is the first time EVER that I have been motion sick on a boat and I do not wish to repeat it. I spent and hour and a half in a tiny little bathroom puking my guts up and getting looks ranging from sympathy from people who have been in a similar situation to "Oh God, you aren't going to puke again are you? Why can't you just swim back?"
4) Falling out of love with Bali
A few months ago I fell out of love with Bali....hard! Bali is a cruel mistress and unless you are here on a two week holiday quite a hard place to be. When you live here and live really close to the tourist centres there is never a break from the constant hassling. Whether it is people trying to get you to have a massage or a Bali boy telling you that he loves you as you walk past, I am going to be so happy when I never have to hear, "Oh hello honey", "I love you, honey" ever again. This has made me feel even more cynical about love and relationships than I did before.
As my wise stepfather said. "Someone has to hate paradise and apparently that's you". Thanks M ;)
I don't always hate it sometimes I have AMAZING experiences here and I now have some of the most amusing stories about random shit that I have seen- eg teenaged boy riding on the back of his friends motorbike with a meat clever in his hand.
But I don't think that this is the place for me...I might be wrong and I might decide to come back but for now my plan is #5.
5) Going to Australia
After falling out of love with Bali, I needed to make a new plan. I know that I am not ready to go back to Canada (sorry Vic). It doesn't make sense to fly all the way back to Canada when I am already out on this side of the world and I have so much more to see. I have a couple of friends that I made here who were moved back to Sydney in October and we came up with a genius plan of moving in together in Sydney. Who knows how that will work out but if you never try you will never know.
I am getting a working holiday visa so I can work in Australia for a year- the only stipulations are that you have to be under 30 and not work at a job for longer than 6 months. You are only supposed to be funding your travelling not setting up a life for yourself. And as I am sadly almost 30, I had to do it now. I love that I am totally doing it backwards. Most people do this working holiday visa when they are 18 on a gap year before university and I am pushing it to the age limit. What can I say, I love living on the edge. hahahaha.
Okay folks. I hope that satisfies you for now....if anyone is still reading this. I hope I can keep it up more regularly.
Kxx
