What better time to write another blog than the day of my 6 month anniversary of being in Australia? It has been a whirlwind and it really is true, time flies when you're having fun. In the past 2 months not too many things have happened, but a whole lot happened at the same time. I had some tough decisions to make and a new routine to settle into, but let me start where I ended last time. 

After I came back from Sydney, Koen came by to visit me for a couple of days. I took him to the Sushi train, which was a very exciting experience for him, judging by the way his eyes were shining! The following morning, we got up early and were on our way to K'gari (Fraser Island) where we were going to stay for a 2 day tag along tour. While we were there, we got to drive on the sand and in the forest with the 4WD, we swam in beautiful lakes, either made of extremely clear water or tea tree oil, we floated down Eli Creek, visited the shipwreck and a whole lot of other things! We had a lovely evening of playing cards against humanity and a tourguide who sang his own creations to us. 

After we got back, we took a short trip up to Mount Coot-tha, and into the city before saying goodbye once more. I had one week to rest up and gather the energy for the next trip, surf camp with Shannon! After a 4 hour drive, we arrived at Spot X and after a nice stroll, some lunch and some dinner, we got ready for the following day. The days passed by very quickly, because of the surfing and the kayaking and the fun and games at night. Too bad that the weather took a turn for the worst and we firstly could not go out to surf and after that we had a couple of surf lessons in the rain as well. However, that did not spoil our fun and the surfing got better and better every time we went out there. We walked into the mystery machine when we went to look at the sunrise one early morning and decided to join the team! The week after I got back to Brisbane, it was time to rest up and get the house ready for when the family would come home. 
When they finally got home, it was so good to see them again and be able to hug the kids and have the liveliness in the house again! After they got back, we went to the Gold Coast, we went to the Lifeline Bookfest (second hand books for no more than 5 dollars!!!), spent a day at South Bank for Australia day and I met up with the people Ihaven't seen for 6 weeks. I picked up the weekly Saturday morning parkruns with my running buddy Dawn and beach trainings started. 

After two low key months, it was time for the next adventure. After weeks of practice, it was time to go to Adelaide to play the beach handball nationals. Tiago, Thijs en Bas were on their way there as well, to help out the Brisbane Wolves and win some games for them (which they definitely did). Arriving on Wednesday, we went out for Mexican (and decided to change the name of our team to the Burritos next year ;) ), we went to bed early to be well prepared for the games on Friday. 
After 8 mixed, 8 women's and 1 men's match, coaching the Wolves and reffing some games in between, I ended up with 3 medals around my neck. Silver in the women's competition, Gold and Best Goalie in the mixed competition. Except for the blue eye because of a rough encounter with someone's head, it was an awesome weekend, spent with amazing old and new friends. 

After this short resume of what has happened, there is one more thing that I need to get off my chest. I loved having my family and friends over and even though saying goodbye to them never gets easier, I have made a decision about my future. I really do love this country and the people in it and I have definitely bonded with the people I have met and am now happy to call my friends. I do see myself living here for a longer period of time and that is why I have decided to stay in Straya, to try and get my equivalency and get a job as a physiotherapist. It is a long and difficult road to take, but I reckon it will be well worth the risk and I can't wait to start the next adventure!

Until we meet again!

The beginning of December, the month of joy and celebrations! The week after Straddie went by rather fast. Tuesday was the last AusLAN class and afterwards we had some drinks together, to finish it off properly. Wednesday I went to court, to see Susan in action, which actually did not happen in the end, but at least I had a nice lunch with Dani after! 
On Friday I went to the local physiotherapist, where I spent my day shadowing the PT, all to figure out if I would like to do my equivalency here. 6 more weeks to figure out what the answer to that question is!
Saturday was the infamous Santomauro Christmas comes early party, 3 tables filled with food, swimming in the pool, fun and laughter and a whole lot of new people to meet! Too bad there was also the cleaning up involved, especially taking everything inside right when the storm hit..
After a beach handball training with the national team on Sunday and going to the movies and a Sinterklaas dinner (with pepernoten) on Monday, Tuesday was the day my parents arrived!!!! It was so good to see them again, especially around the holidays. The first few days, we hung around the house with the kids, went to lunch in different places and to Lone Pine, because my parents wanted to cuddle with Koalas and Kangaroos. We went for a hike on Mount Coot-tha, we decided to do the long walk, because it seemed fun. My mom did not thinks so after climbing hills for 2,5 hours, but we made it after all! 
On Friday the Santomauro's went on their holidays and so did we. We picked up our campervan and set out for Rainbow beach. It was a funny drive (not for me, I was driving), my parents sitting next to me, without enough leg space to sit comfortably. The van was comfortable enough for travelling for 10 days, but it is a good thing that we did not have to endure it any longer. 
We started our trip in Rainbow beach, which was a beautiful small town, but being stuck on a campsite with a lot of rain is not a very fun way to start off the holidays. Luckily, we had booked a trip to K'gari planned (Fraser Island). In aa big ass army truck we drove over the beaches and through the inland tracks to end up at Lake McKenzie. We went into the water for a little bit (only until the ankles, because of the cold) after which we just enjoyed our time on the whitest beach I have seen so far. After lunch we hiked through the rainforest, before going back to Rainbow Beach. It was an amazing day, with a lot of amazing activities, except for the one where a branch got stuck in the window and sprayed me in prickly leaves. We went to the beach a little bit the following day, did some shopping and went up to Carlo Sandblow to see the amazing view of the cliffs and a beautiful sunset, before heading up to Yeppoon for the second part of our trip. 

When we arrived in Yeppoon, we got informed that our snorkelling trip got cancelled, so we had to arrange another one fast. On our free day, we went to Koorana Crocodile farm, where we saw, fed, held and ate some crocodile (it tastes just like chicken). After our tour, we drove to the Capricorn Cave, which were incredibly impressive, since they were aboveground, instead of below ground where they normally are. We went to the cave where operas and weddings are held and experienced the accoustics and the utter darkness. Then it was finally time for us to go to the Great Barrier Reef and go snorkelling the next day. Great Keppel Island was beautiful and we had an amazing time on the glass bottom boat, but being able to go into the water and actually see the reef and all the animals that live inside it, it was an incredible experience and very sad that my parents were not able to enjoy it. Happily my mother was able to enjoy the boomnetting we did, which is basically hanging on a rope behind the fastcat. It was already our last day in Yeppoon before heading back. Time to go to Noosa, walk through the national park, relax on the beach, take the ferry to see all the beautiful spots Noosa has to offer and explore the town of Montville, which is basically only one street, but which will make you go back in time. You have an epic view off the mountaintop, where you can sit down and have a quiet drink, after which you can stroll the street with all the old houses and stores that it has to offer!

After this little holiday, we had a little over a week left in Brissy and we did all the touristy things you can do, including the Christmas essentials. We saw city hall, the bell tower, the museum, we went to the botanical gardens, the planetarium, Mount Coot-tha lookout, drove down to the gold coast, saw moveis and of course we went to Eat Street Markets, because if you love food as much as we do, you cannot not go there. Christmas was spent with the Nonnies, with a lot of Italian food and good company. I never knew that I could eat for a couple of hours in a row! Boxing day we went shopping (SALE!!) and it was time for our final dinner together. I found plastic in my salad so I got my food for free, which was not too bad at the end of the holidays. I hated saying goodbye to them the next morning, especially since I don't know exactly when I will see them again. 

Then it was time to meet up with Wessel to visit Sydney for a couple of days and see the fireworks. I arrived on Thursday and met up with Monique to do some touristy things and we ended up walking around for one and a half hours looking for the opera house and the harbour bridge, only to find out that the girl we asked for directions, had send us in the wrong one. We finally found the opera house and the bridge, did a little tour around the rocks and could not stand on our feet anymore. When Wessel arrived the next day, we decided to do the Bondi to Cogee walk and we saw some of the most beautiful beaches, either sand or stone and we walked around a lot of amazing (and very high) cliffs. We walked it in a very Dutch speed and finished the entire walk in one and a half hours! The following day we needed to find a spot at Sydney Harbour from which we could watch the fireworks. The best spots (at the opera house) were already taken, so we had to find the second best ones. We ended up sitting in a tight spot where we could barely move around. After 10,5 hours of waiting and sitting, lying and standing up to stretch our legs (walking around wasn't possible in the sea of people that surrounded us), it was finally time for the fireworks and they were amazing. It was a beautiful show and definitely worth the wait, but I won't be doing it again, ay time soon :).
New Year's Day they organised a 'nieuwjaarsduik' (a long kept tradition in Holland), so we had to own up to our heritage and go for it (it did help that it was over 30 degrees instead of below 0). We got lost on our way to the beach, arrived just in time for the national anthem and started running down the beach, jumping over people who were shocked at what was happening. We stayed in the water for a bit, got our stuff and went to Manly for a stroll around the beach and some dinner. 
Before heading back to Brisbane, I took a quick dip in the Iceberg Pools, which are filled with ocean water, right next to (and partially in) Bondi beach. The flight back to Brissy was one of the worst I've ever been on, because of the storm passing over and we had to stay up in the air for another hour before it was safe to land. 3 more weeks of holiday to go!!!!!

My sincere apologies for not updating you on my adventures sooner. So much is happening and there is so much to tell, there is just so little time to sit down and tell you all about it. 

Last time we left off after my surfing weekend. To be honest, the only things I need to tell you about, is what I have been up to during the weekends. During the week, I am enjoying my time with the kids. It is good to have my routines with them and sometimes switch it up a little bit. 
As I already said, I really feel like a part of the family. Outside of my family I am also quite busy with the people I meet here, the work that I am still doing for my old boss and thinking about what I want to do. Do I want to stay here, study for my equivalency and seeing if I can find a job here. Or, do I want to move on to the next country after this experience and work there as an au pair. Do I want to find a job as a physiotherapist elsewhere, do I want to be a surfing instructor? There are just so many options. I don't really want to think about it yet, but it always stays in the back of my mind. The moments I am not doing anything, these questions come rising up and I start weighing the pro's and con's and I end up in the same position every single time. I just don't know. But luckily I still have a little while before I have to make up my mind about all of this. 

So the weekend after the surfing, I spent with Kim. We stayed in and watched a lot of movies (I actually slept through quite a lot of them). The only time we got out of the house, was to get some manipedi's and some food. The monday after, I went on a hike on Mount Coot-tha. Shannon and I really wanted to find the slaughter falls and all the Aboriginal artwork, but after walking the trail twice, we still did not succeed. Our final count on the artwork was 6 and the falls 0. We only found out later, that the falls are only actual falls when there has been a lot of rain. Since it had not been raining for a couple of days, we were out of luck. 
In the evening, I met up with Harry. It is funny that we have lived approximately 2 km from one another for years and the first time we had a drink together was when we met up in Brisbane. He was here on business, so we couldn't not meet up. Even though I had to cut our dinner short, we still had a fun time catching up:). 

The weekend after a sugar market was scheduled. Lamingtons, fudge, brownies, fairy floss, cornuts, chocolat, smoothies, who could say no to all this yumminess. So Synne and I decided we should pay a visit to this market. We ate way to much, but it was delicious and totally worth it. Afterwards, we decided to go on a little walk (2 hours only), just to make that filled feeling disappear.
Sunday was a quiet day, where I brought Anna and Malena to the rehearsals of their dance concerts and I went out to dinner and a movie together with Kim, to finish the week properly!
The following monday it was time for Halloween! The moment we got back from school, the kids started to paint their faces and get changed. I put on my costume and beautiful mask and with the whole family, we went trick or treating around the neighborhood. A lot of the houses were very beautifully decorated and the amount of disguised people astounded me. In Holland, we are happy if we have one or two trick or treaters each year, but here it is a really big thing and everyone joins. After the pizza for dinner, all the kids bags were filled with candy, which they wouldn't even share! 

On Wednesday, it was time to go to Lone Pine once again. With a special goal, taking a picture with a giant snake around my neck! The thing was incredibly heavy and kept moving around my hands, but I got an amazing picture with it (and I even look as if I am enjoying the moment ;))! On Saturday and Sunday, I went to see three movies and visited 3 different markets. It was a lot of fun to catch up with the girls and the free Ben and Jerry's at the open air cinemas were definitely a good dessert to our delicious dinner at Vapianos. 
The following weekend, I went to the dance concerts of Anna and Malena and to the goodbye bbq of Kim and Iris, where there were only Dutch girls and one Ozzie guy, which was very unique! It is funny how small the world can be. Out of the girls I met here in Australia, I have mutual friends with two of them. It is just completely random how this can happen halfway across the world!
I witnessed my first assembly and mass at the school the week after, because Anna and Nicky both needed to recite something and on Thursday they had their swimming carrnaval, where they could show off all the skills that they learned over the course of the previous term. There was another trip to Lone Pine and lunch at the Sushi Train.
That Friday, it was time to leave for Noosa. Together with Kim and Demi, we drove up to Noosa, where we would spend the weekend. Both days we woke up incredibly early, meaning that we could really enjoy our day! On Saturday we spent the morning at the Eumundi markets, the largest market of hand made goods. After that, it was time to brace ourselves for the coastal walk through Noosa National Park. It was a beautiful hike, with stunning views, a very cute panda and a not so interesting nudist beach, but we couldn't have been happier to take off our shoes when we arrived at the bottom of the couple 100 steps (approximately) at the end of the walk. We couldn't muster up anymore energy, so we took an uber back to the center, had food, went shopping (barefoot like real bogans), went home and spent the night just chatting and enjoying our girl time. The Sunday was spent at the farmer's market and the beach and we finished our weekend with a sunset cruise on the Noosa river with some beautiful views and a very good  tip for getting the best pictures of the sunset (hint: it includes using your sunglasses).  We also got to peak inside of a hummer limo, with all the lights and such turned on, which was waiting outside of a wedding. The only thing he wouldn't do was take us around the block in the hummer, what a shame!

On Monday, yaaaaay, I went to (finally) see Fantastic Beasts and where to find them. What an amazing movie!!!! We really lived up to the moment it finally came to the cinemas. On Wednesday another goodbye lunch with Kim and on Friday we went to Straddie with the Santopeppins! We left to get the barge, after another short drive (and a lot of amazing RNB Friday songs) we arrived at the campsite. The cold beers after our great teamwork and hard work, were well deserved and we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. The entire weekend was filled with surfing, playing games, swimming, tanning, walking and even a midnight visit to the beach with cocktails and good conversations. Even though we had some rain on Saturday afternoon, we had an amazing time. There was a koala in the tree above our tents and a few minutes later three kangaroos hopped by to go to the beach. It was an eventful weekend and after breaking up our tents on Sunday, we all headed home again. 

So there it was, a quick overview of what happened in November :). The next blog is already in the making, so keep an eye out the coming two weeks!

It has taken me 3 weeks to find the time to sit down and write up some more stuff about what has been happening, so there is a lot of catching up to do. Last time I left off the day before my birthday, which passed by smoothly and I was happy to spend it with my Aussie family. However, it was weird not to be able to spend it with my family and friends back home. Fortunately, I got a lot of lovely messages and it seemed like they weren't all at the other side of the world. 
As I said, my birthday and the day after passed by rather quietly, just spending time with my family and enjoying the last days of the holidays. Friday night it was time for my little party. I made some dinner, we had some drinks, talks and laughter and after showing some masculine dance moves, we went into the city to have an amazing night! What a night it was and what an awful day Saturday was. After getting up at 1.30 pm, one of my kids asked me if I wanted to do some exercising with her, but I kindly refused. I spent the weekend lying in the sun and enjoying the peace and quiet. 

Monday was last day of the school holidays, because it was a public holiday. We spent the morning at the pool and in the afternoon we went to LaserForce, to play a few games of laser tag and go throught the laser labyrinth. Even though I sucked at the laser tag games, we all had an amazing time and it was a good way to finish the holidays (even though the Mexican restaurant we ate afterwards was definitely not good, "we do not have burritos, but we do have quesadillas, which are basically the same thing"). 
On Tuesday we went to one of our new discoveries: 'De Kruidenier'. Apparently there is a Dutch shop, which only sells groceries from the Netherlands, together with a Dutch club that buys the products and organizes get togethers for special occasions (such as Sinterklaas!). They have everything from drop to paprika chips, from boerenkool to bokkenpootjes. The only thing missing was the pepernoten, but they are expecting them soon :)!
On Thursday, it was time to leave for Sydney at 5 in the morning. I am really greatful that Michael was so kind to drop Synne and me off at the airport! It was time to shine at nationals and we sure did! After a horrible first half of the first match on Thursday (8 points difference at half time), we regrouped and started playing proper handball. Even though we still lost by 6 points, it felt as though we had won. The following matches on Friday and Saturday were all won and I even scored a field goal during one of them (#proud). On Sunday we played the finals and after a thrilling match, we finally lost the game by one point. However, the silver medal was still an amazing accomplishment and I even became the best goalie of the tournament, which is a great honour as well. I had an amazing weekend and I really enjoyed spending so much time with the girls, getting to know them better and having so much fun (even wearing the dickhats;))! It was an amazing weekend, but bittersweet at the same time. The person I would have loved to have next to me during this entire weekend couldn't be there unfortunately, to share in my joy and be proud of the person he trained me to be. However, when I called my dad, he could not have been happier for me and wanted to know everything. After having a beer and only barely making it to the car rental company on time (finding out that we did not have to rush because we actually still had half an hour), it was time to fly back to Brisbane, where Susan came to pick me up and I was greeted with cards and a video that my kids had made especially for this occasion!

The week after flew by, walking my kids to school to prepare them for their big trip to America during the summer holidays, taking them to after school activities, doing my chores around the house and doing some work to help my old boss out. I also started my AUSLan course on Tuesday (Australian Sign Language), which was really exciting and will be quite challenging, since our teacher is deaf and can only communicate in sign language and lip reading. The first class, an interpretor was present, but only for the practical information and she will not be joining us during any other session. 
After a fun, but tiring week, it was time to pack my bag, get out the shakers and get my surf on (yeeeeeew), on Friday. At 6 pm we left on our 5 hour busride. We arrived at the location at 00.30 and went to bed immediately. Kim and I woke up early to head to the beach to watch the sunrise, since this was one of the top 10 locations to see the surise. We walked to the beach, but had to walk back because the bridge was closed, only to be told that we actually could just climb over the chains. It was a pretty sunrise, but the sun was hidden behind a hill, so could only see the sky changing coulours. 
At 8 we had our first surfing lesson, starting with some theory before putting on our (still wet and cold) wetsuits and heading out to the ocean. After some practice, it was time to go into the water and try it out. It was a lovely morning of a lot of nose dives, face plants and starfishing, but in the end I pulled throught and got up. I was able to stand up and keep my balance, even without the help of one of the instructors. 
As we surfed more and more, I felt more comfortable and confident and really enjoyed being on the water, even thought I swallowed a lot of it. Saturday afternoon was not a good time to go surfing, but we tried our best and were spent when we got out of the water. We still had ocean rafting planned thought, so we carried the raft out to the ocean and climbed in. It was hilarious. The waves were ginormous and we had difficulty getting past the waves to try and tip the raft over. The girl at the front of the raft kept falling out with every wave and in the end, we finally managed to completely tip the raft over once.
There was a party later on, but my body was too tired and at 22.30 it was time to go to sleep, especially since we had a nice walk planned for the next day, to properly see the beautiful sunrise from the top of the hill. After walking back, wading through knee deep water and having breakfast, we had our 3rd and final surfing lesson. The waves were perfect and I loved it, stood up nearly every single time and had a lot of fun practicing the new things we were thought.
After lunch it was time to head home, with a short stop over at Byron Bay, arriving back home at 7 pm.  

Monday was a pupil free day, which meant that the kids would be at home. Kim and Iris came over with their kids and when another friend of the kids showed up, there were 9 of them running around. It was an amazing day, but there were so many of them, it looked like an invasion and I couldn't wait to go to bed! 
The rest of the week has passed quietly so far and I am looking forward to movie night and going out this weekend! 

​Friday was the day! I got to take a picture with a KOALA!!! Well, let's start at the beginning. Friday started off nice and easy, after walking the kids to school, I did some working out and then it was time to head off with Kim and Iris. Our destination was Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. This is a kind of small zoo, where you can find all kinds of different cockatoos, kookaburras, lizards, you name it. However, the biggest attractions are the very large number of koala's that are there and the feeding of the kangaroos! For a heap of money, you could take a picture with a koala (which a real tourist cannot reject of course) and food could also be bought to feed the kangaroos and take adorable selfies with them (the kangeroos being adorable, not me ;)). In this place, there are only fences around the birds or the animals that are dangerous. Other than that, there are just walls to keep them from crawling out. Wherever I went, I could see koalas. There were trees all throughout the sanctuary, which held at least two koalas and I even saw a mother with to baby koalas!
The kangaroos were in all different sizes and states of awareness. Some of them had already been stuffed with so much food that they didn't want any more. Others were still a bit shy around humans that they hopped away as soon as you came close. There were some who you had to serve as if they were kings and then there were the greedy ones who couldn't wait to get up and grab all the food they could get. However, as soon as you did not have any food anymore, you were not interesting enough and they left.
After this amazing experience, it was time to pick the kids up from school and go to the park with them and Messi (the dog, it is not quite sure whether or not he was named after his behaviour or the famous soccer player). After a tiring afternoon in the park we drove home and I went to Brisbane festival with, yet another, Kim. We took pictures in front of the Brisbane sign, had some amazing food and after a delicious donut (triple chocolote brownie) for desert, it was already time to go home.
Saturday passed with a lot of swimming and relaxing and an awesome movie (Nerve is definitely worth seeing!) and on Sunday there was a come & try day of Queensland Handball, which I thought would be fun to participate in. I thought it would just be a regular training session, but it appeared to be for people who were new to the sport as well. It might not have been at the level that I expected it to be, but it was a lot of fun and it made me realise that I do miss my sport quite a bit.  

Monday was the first day of the holidays and that meant spending the entire day with the children on my own for the first time. Malena had gone to her grandparents for a couple of days, until we would leave on our holidays to the Gold Coast, which meant that it was the four of us. We spent the day watching some television, playing some Lego, because Luca got a gigantic new bank to build, and swimming in the pool.
On Tuesday a trip to the cinema was planned. We went to see The Secret Life of Pets, followed by a Subway lunch and some light shopping. When we got home, the pool was calling and we spent the afternoon swimming and lying in the hammock (all four of us!).
Wednesday was another stay at home day, which ended with a dinner at Remy's, an amazing burger bar, with Michael's friends. The food was lovely, as was the company. They were all very excited to meet me and hear the stories of my travels, Holland and my plans for the future.
Thursday, after spending the morning in the pool, I took Luca, Nick and Anna to Lone Pine. They loved it and could not get enough of feeding the kangaroos. Luca made a new friend, a kangaroo that was approximately twice his size and there was one kangaroo they did not dare to come close to anymore after he tried to eat the entire bag of food which Anna was holding. After the sheep dog show and the active snakes, that were devouring complete rats and baby chickens, it was time to head home. 
​For dinner I made them a traditional Dutch dish, boerenkool it was! Michael started laughing pretty hard when he saw a picture, because it was all green and they don't particularly like green vegetables. Even though they were quite reluctant at first ("ieeeeuw that looks disgusting"), they liked it a lot when they tasted it and I was, and this is a quote, "the best chef in the world", which is always a nice thing to hear! 

Friday we packed all the bags and headed off for the Gold Coast to have a small vacation. When we arrived at the hotel, I did not know where to look. It was ginormous. There were multiple heated pools. The elevators have proper benches to sit on with pillows. The rooms are massive, with a view over the tennis courts of the hotel. Next to that there is a gym, a pool to swim laps in and a spa. To top it all off, the beach is only a 10 meter walk from the hotel!

Saturday, Sunday and Monday we went to the beach, then to the pool. We did some shopping to finally end up at the pool again.

The beaches around here are beautiful. The sand is so fine that it actually squeaks under your feet when you walk on it. It is incredibly soft, but still sticks to your body like crazy. The ocean is clear as day and you can see the bottom without any problems. The currents are strong, the waves are high and the water is cool, but it is still amazing water to cool down in after having sunbathed for some time. 

Monday evening, after a very fun afternoon of skateboarding for the first time ever (and I didn't even fall!!), it was time to go to the Ninja Chef. For the birthdays of Susan and me, we went to a tepanyaki restaurant, where they cook the food right in front of you. Our chef was called Dennis and he was hilarious! He did weird tricks with his spatulas, he caught his herbs and spices in his hat and the food he prepared was delicious! He drew on the grill, made a chicken out of eggs and threw shrimp into our mouth from the other side of the table.
It was an amazing prebirthday dinner and an amazing night!

Tuesday we packed up, went to see Storks and arrived back home.

​I am settling in with my family more and more and the kids warm up to me. It is funny how incredibly honest they can be. One day without my make-up on and they ask me questions like: 'Are you sick?' or 'You don't look like Tara anymore'. But a lot of things are also very unfair all the time and it is very difficult to define the line between what is allowed and what is not, but also the 'but he did this', 'this toy is mine and not theirs' and 'she said that', what is truth and how to handle it. I am very grateful for Michael and Susan helping me through these rough patches and showing me how they handle the situations.

On a final note, I got some amazing news. After the come and try day on Sunday, I also went to practice on Monday and Tuesday. During practice on Tuesday, one of the players came up to me, to ask me if I would like to come with them and play in the Queensland team for the state championships in Sydney in October. I am very excited to join the team and see what will happen when we get there!

Another week and a half passed by so quickly, let's see what my birthday and Sydney will bring, after which I will be going surfing for an entire weekend

I can't believe that it has already been 2 weeks since I first arrived here in Brisbane. The Santomauro's have been very welcoming and I instantly felt at home when I arrived at Brisbane airport and saw all the kids and Michael come up to me! We walked to the parking lot, where Michael told me that they came with the car that would be mine to drive the kids around. The car is massive, quite a lot bigger than what I was used to! When we were driving towards their house, I couldn't believe my eyes. All the houses in the surrounding area were so big and there were so many hills! All houses here are built on a hill, which basically means that most of them have a garage downstairs and then have their house one floor higher and the house normally is not bigger that 2 floors (excluding the garage). Another fun fact about Australia, basically all the houses have pools in their backyard, what a luxury!

The first weekend with the family was quite relaxing. On Thursday and Friday they were still in after school care, so I could just get used to being here. On Friday I went into Brisbane with Susan and after we had arranged a couple of necessities, I wandered off on my own. I walked over to the South Banks, along the Brisbane river. I did a small rainforest walk, went up and in to a temple and after that I had a nice relaxing meal while reading a book. 
Brisbane is a lovely city and it has some amazing artworks and the contrast within the city astounded me. There I was in the centre with all its sky scrapers and all of a sudden I pass this old brick church which just doesn't fit in with the surroundings. There are all kinds of decorations all around the city, for everyone to enjoy.

The weekend was very relaxing, Saturday we stayed at the house and on Sunday we went to the Gold Coast. The beach was beautiful, with soft but sturdy sand and one of the clearest oceans I have ever seen. Even though the water was still quite cold, I had to go in for a swim. 

We had some nice family dinners and I got to know the family a little bit better as well. They all made cards for me when I arrived and they really enjoyed the gifts that I brought along for them as well. During the first weekend I did not meet a lot of people outside of the family, but I still had an amazing time! 

It is very funny to see how quicky you can settle into a routine. On Monday I was already quite accostumed to the routines. I practiced my driving skills and on Wednesday I went for my first solo drop off and pick up :)! The driving on the other side is definitely not as difficult as I imagined it to be, only the indicators kept being a small problem. However, that is all fixed now that I have driven some more! 

I settled into the weekly routine and during my free hours, I simply caught up on some sleep and some reading. I have had such a busy period the last couple of months, that it is rather nice to not have to do anything for a change and just enjoy my spare time. I started working out on a regular basis again and boy! Do these hills kill me every time I go for a run.. 
When Malena, Gianluca, Annalisa and Nicholas get out of school it is a lot of fun to play games with them, play in the cubby house or just simply watch a movie. They are all very enthousiastic and fun kids and I really enjoy spending time with them. It is also really nice to see what they do outside of going to school, such as the scouts and their dance classes. Too bad soccer has already finished for the season, but I will be a part of that as well when it will start again!

On Friday I met up with one of the Dutch au pairs that works very close (a 5 minute walk) to me. We went to have lunch at the bakery that is owned by my family and we chatted a little bit. On Sunday we met up again to go to the Scandinavian Festival, which turned out to be one street, with some stands selling all kinds of Scandinavian stuff. It was fun to stroll around, but not too excititng. So after that we went to Eat Street Market. This is a food court where they sell anything you can imagine. Europe, Asia, South-America, it can all be found here. Cotton candy (which is called fairy floss) bigger than a human head, a country band playing in the background. It was an amazing experience and the food was delicious. I even had my first TimTam, which are delicious chocolate biscuits they sell here. After our lovely food, we went up to Mount Coot-tha to enjoy the Brisbane view.

On Saturday I witnessed my first torrential rainstorm. It was pouring, the rain going straight down. Luca had to play a soccer game, and we were playing a little game after with all the kids, but as soon as it started to rain, we all rushed inside. I was very happy we did, because we would have been soaked instantly. This was also the night of the surprise birthday party of Michael's sister, which meant that I got to meet his entire family and hear some funny stories about him as a kid (+ seeing some "cool" pictures :)).

On Monday everyone was sick. So we all stayed at home, played some board games and in the afternoon we went to the park to play some cricket. For me it was the first time ever and it was a lot of fun to try! Wednesday I took my first bus through Brisbane, when I went to the gigantic Indooroopilly shopping centre, which is kind of tricky. You really have to pay a lot of attention to the bus, because if you don't hail it, it will just drive past you (even though it might be the only bus that stops at that specific bus stop). In the bus itself, there is not indication of where the bus is going and what the next stop is, so it is just some guessing that you need to do. A funny thing was that the busses over here actual have seat covers with the name Brisbane printed on top of it. 

Two weeks have passed so quickly and so much has happened. I am really enjoying my time with the family and I am starting to get to know the way things work around here a lot better. I even got some great news this week. I will be sharing my experiences here in Brisbane with my parents, when they come over for 3 weeks during Christmas!

I am excited to see what will happen next and what new things I will learn. You will read about it soon enough!:)

Time has come once again. After one year of staying in Holland and finishing my studies as a physiotherapist, it is finally time for my next big journey and accompanying adventure! This time my journey will lead to Brisbane, Australia, where I will be working as an au pair.

Since the seed of this idea was planted in my head, I have not really had the chance to get excited about it, since I had to finish my studies and then the beach handball season came around with a lot of small vacations, tournaments and sailing.

It was only this Friday that I could finally think about packing and what I still needed and so on. I tried to put some stuff away, but with all my diner- and lunchdates to say goodbye to my friends and families, I just couldn't get myself to start packing. On Monday, it started to get a bit close and I sat down with my mom to finally do my packing. Oh how I hate packing a suitcase (especially when it is for an entire year). Three hours later my bags were all packed and I could sit down and relax.

Today was the day, I finally got to leave on my long awaited journey. Going to Australia, a dream come true. Even though I hate saying goodbye (or rather, see you soon), it seems to be getting easier every single time. I did not really feel like I was leaving until I actually had to pass those gates and continue alone.

Now, sitting in the plane towards Beijing, it is really starting to sink in. There are all kinds of questions swimming around in my head. What will my family be like? Will they like me? All I can think now, is that I cannot wait to find out and figure out what this journey will bring. Only 30 more hours of travelling to go and I will hopefully will find questions to at least some of these questions.

It goes by so quickly, well at least for the fun things then. My internship is long, I have little patients and I am just sitting there, doing nothing most of the time, but yeah, the last few weeks are always tough. We did take a photo of the whole physiotherapy team, which was quite difficult, because when the doctor finally arrived, the ladies first had to brush their hair and do some touch-ups before we oculd actually take the picture. 

As for the rest of the weeks, we already have almost every night planned out, so that we know for sure that we will go eat at the places we still want to go and the places we want to say goodbye to. We have had some movie nights, went out to dinner in La Hacienda, we made sushi, went to the pubquizzes at Reilley's and O'Shea's and you name it. So we definitely enjoyed our evenings just chatting and having fun and already kind of saying goodbye. 

Of course we went out as well, as per usual and we danced all night long, to go Laguna de Apoyo one more time to just sit back and relax and do some kayakking. 

And then the last weekend with our group arrived. After a long search for something to do, we decided to go to Leon for the weekend. We booked our hostel and on Friday afternoon we were on our way to Leon. Friday evening, we had dinner, listened to the live band and went out dancing afterwards. 
Saturdaymorning, it was time to do some relaxing in the hammock and around twelve, I met up with the rest of the group, who climbed the roof of the cathedral. At 2 we went to the mudpools of San Jacinto, close to the volcano Telica. It was really interesting to learn about these mudpools and the minerals and everything and it was so fascinating to see what those things look like. Just literally boiling pools of mud, which can reach up to 180 degrees Celcius. The guide also showed us how hot it was by pooring some water in a hole and seeing it starting to boil right away. Afterwards, we also went to an Iguana farm, where they breed the endangered green iguana. They caught one for us, which we were allowed to hold as well. This needed to be done in a special way, so that they would not be able to move or claw at you, because their nails were really sharp. After returning to the ViaVia, we played some pool and had dinner at one of the bbq stands behind the cathedral, followed by a movie in the theatre of Leon. The movie was called Tomorrowland and I am not gonna say anything about it, just that you should go watch the movie because it is really amazing. More dancing and little sleep followed afterwards. Sunday we spent travelling back home and just doing nothing all day long! 

Then the last week of my internship arrived. It went by quickly, mostly because on Tuesday and Thursday I only started work at 12 o'clock and Friday we had the day of because we were having lunch with all our colleagues at our home. 
Monday evening was sushi time, Tuesday we went out to dinner with one of our patients, wednesday we wanted to go to the garden cafe, but since it was closed, we went to la hacienda. In the pubquiz that followed we got in third place. Thursday, after going to my patient in Granada, we went to buy the last souvenirs for the family in Masaya, where there was supposed to be music afterwards. We arrived there, did the shopping and found out that there would not be any music, so instead of eating there, we went back home to have our last Gallo Pinto, before going dancing. 
Friday morning, after finishing some chores, we started cooking. We were cooking for 6 people, or so we thought. In the end 8 showed up, but it was a good thing that we had way too much food, so much that we went to some of the owners of restaurants/stores we visit often to hand out our homemade food! The lunch went rather well, we had a lot of fun and we all said our goodbyes. When they left, there was still some time left to pack my bag to go travelling to Rio San Juan the next day. In the evening we went out to Imagine and Reilley's and Kelly's. It was 2.30 when I arrived back home, so I decided it was better not to go to sleep, because my alarm would be going off in one and a half hours. Frederique kept me company for another hour and after that I had my breakfast, took a shower, packed the last part of my bag and set off for San Carlos. I fell asleep on the bus right away and woke up in Managua, just long enough to grab a cab to the next busstation, buy a ticket and get on the next bus, where it took me half an hour to fall asleep. We had a lot of stops along the way, but I slept through most of the journey (which took 7 hours) and woke up when we were very close to the busstation of San Carlos. Where I was picked up and brought to my hotel, on the other side of the river. The nature around there was amazing! It was so calming, so beautiful, I couldn't help but feel right at home the moment I arrived at San Carlos and got into the boat. 

The first day, I spent doing nothing at all. I stayed at the hotel and read my book, made some puzzles and at the end of the day, I went to the sandbanks where I saw a beautiful sunset and could enjoy the quiet walk along the beach.
Then on Monday, I decided to go to Solentiname. After a kayakking tour of 2 hours, going upstream for one hour and 45 minutes and then downstream for 15, they dropped me off at the boat going to Solentiname. When I arrived, I just followed the only path that was in the only village on the island of Mancarron and found my hostel at one of the bends. 
On Tuesday, I went to the church of Solentiname, which is very different from the other churches I have seen here so far. It is just a rectangular building, with nothing flashy on the outside and some wall paintings on the inside, with only wooden benches without any back support. It was beautiful to see something different for a change. The big churches are very impressive and beautiful, but sometimes simplicity is everything. 
I also went to the museum of the island, where I counted about 10 stones that were found on the island and that was about it. In the afternoon I did a tour of the island with a guide. He showed me the indigenous cemetery, some birds, some plants and some petroglyphs. We also enjoyed a beautiful mirador, which was overlooking some of the other islands. We took a quick look at the elementary school of the island, which serves as a highschool one Saturday every other week as well. Then he took me to the church and explained to me the history of the island, which I would be glad to share with you, whenever you are interested enough to ask:)!
One thing worth mentioning is that I finally found out why so many poles and streetlights here are colored red and black. This was the symbol of the revolution. Black signifying death and red signifying resurrection. 

After another quiet night, Thurday I wanted to take the boat at 9, to go to El Castillo. So I was sitting and waiting at 8.30 and there I met some French people with the same idea. We chatted and waited and waited, until someone came to tell us that the boat was not coming because they thought that there were no peope to take the boat in Mancarron. So we went to ask one of the guys of the company and he assured us that they had to pass through Mancarron, so we waited some more. 45 minutes later, there was still no boat. The guy told us, that something must have happened and when I asked him what our options were, he said: 'Stay another night or pay $120 for a private boat.' Staying wasn't an option, because there was nothing to do and paying that much was not an option either. They gave us some phonenumbers to call, but since we did not have service on the island, someone else went to call them, but all the phones were out of service. In the end, someone from the army called someone, I don't know how, I don't know why, but a boat showed up, only 2 hours late, so we could still make it to El Castillo.  We had to wait again, but this time it was planned, because the boat only left at 2 in the afternoon. It was a long 3 hour ride with the boat, and definitely because the guy sitting next to me, reeking of beer, would not shut his piehole. The only way to shut him up, was to fall asleep, so that is what I did. When I woke up we had almost arrived at El Castillo and when it came into view, it was amazing. 
The fortress on top of the hill, looms over the river and all the small houses below just give the town a cozy, busy feeling. The town had one main street, where we found an amazing hostel at the end, where the beds were firm but soft and the host was really nice. When we told him we would do a tour the next day to the nature reserve of Indio-Maiz, but we were leaving the same day, he offered to keep our luggage safe for us and we could also still take a shower there afterwards. Since it was already quite late, we arranged our tour for the next day, went to dinner and went to bed.

Thursday would be a very, very busy day. First, at 6.15 we had breakfast. At 7 we went to the boat to go to the reserve of Indio Maiz. At 11.15 we arrived back in El Castillo and I climbed up to the fortress, which closed at 12 and at 2 would be the last boat to San Carlos, the one I needed to take. The track to and through the reserve was beautiful. We saw birds, monkeys (all three types that live there), frogs, chameleons, a crocodile, a tarantula and a butterfly (which, the moment the guide pointed him out, was snatched up by a falcon, so we only saw his wings falling into the river). We even saw the pawprints of the jaguars who live in the reserve, that followed the track the night before. After the hike, we swam a little and returned to the town, so I could climb up to the fortress. The fortress and the museum were pretty and the history was very interesting, but the most amazing part is most definitely the view you have from atop. 

Coming down from the fortress, someone told me that the last boat to San Carlos was not coming, because it had problems in Sabalo and could not continue. Since I decided to cut my trip a day short, because I had seen everything I wanted to see and I wanted to spend some more time with my friends in Granada, I had to get back to San Carlos, to take the first bus to Managua in the morning. Thank god there was a boat coming from San Juan de Nicaragua, on the east (Carribean) side of the river, that stopped at El Castillo. After explaining the situation, I was allowed onboard, which wasn't normally allowed, but only this time because of special circumstances. When I got back to San Carlos, I went back to the same hotel I stayed at my first 2 nights and after having a lovely dinner, we went on a kayman tour. One of our guides fell in the water, when he tried to grab one. I did not get to hold a kayman, but at least, I was able to take pictures and we had a lot of laughs along the way. 

So on Friday, I had a dreadfully long ride home. 6,5 hours to Managua and another 1,5 to Granada. I left at 5.30 and arrived at 15.30. I went over to Frederique's work, to play some football and then we had her late birthday dinner at the Garden Cafe, with a muffin and a candle and everything! We went dancing afterwards and then, my phone got stolen. So in the middle of the night, I called to Holland to cut off my plan and the next morning, I went to the police straight away. It surprised me that everything went so easily and we were out of there within the hour. It was just my luck for this to happen on my second to last night. The rest of the day, Frederique and I spent packing, doing groceries and preparing for our birthday/goodbye party. I had dinner with my host mom for a moment to say goodbye and then the party started. 
At first it was awkward, without any dancing and whatnot. But thanks to Elijah, we had a good DJ and after some beers, people started to get loose and the party became amazing. We stayed at our place until 1 and then we went to Kelly's to dance some more, until 4 in the morning. 
Sunday was our lazy day, we had all you can eat breakfast, cleaned the house, then I had to pack my suitcase and Frederique and I had our goodbye dinner together. We finished the night off with an amazing movie and tomorrow, we will have to say our goodbyes. 

I don't like goodbye's, not at all. I just want to get them over with as soon as possible, but my last weekend in Granada, has been one of my best. After a week of travelling alone (I am still not sure about what I think about doing things all by myself), I really enjoyed seeing all my friends again and I have a hard time leaving this place. It grows on you and it sucks that you won't have your routines anymore and there are so many people I will have to miss. 

But on the other hand, I have so much fun stuff to look forward to when I return, I get to see all my family and friends again and I have 3 months of holidays, so that is not such a bad prospect either. 

Holland, I will see you soon! 

Another slow two weeks at work, at least I have enough time to get some reading done and all the things I need to do for my thesis and for my reports and things like that. Patients are leaving, but we are also getting some new patients in return. We are planning to do a presentation next week or the week after, to see if we can increase the knowledge of our colleague physiotherapists. 
Last week was my last week with the children, or at least so I think, the doctor has not said anything about this. 

Last weekend, I stayed in Granada, to enjoy a weekend at home, which was not too expensive. We went out, I had a hangover and did not do anything for the rest of the weekend, except for working on school, relaxing and having delicious food (Catalina makes a killer paella). Also I watched the sensational game of PSG  against Vespem (handball;)). During the week we had some friends over that we met while we were in Costa Rica and we finally found a place that had ribs! (And now I keep finding ribs in every restaurant...) After 2 months of searching for ribs and two restaurants that were there before, but closed down, we found out that the bar just next to us had ribs. So we decided right away to go there the next evening. 
Thursday was our last day of work before the long weekend, so we decided to celebrate with some happy hour cocktails at O'Sheas. The next day we were going to the Laguna the Apoyo. Which is a lake where there used to be a volcano. We stayed at the hostel Paradiso, which lives up to his name. There were pool tables, petanque fields, pingpong tables and what not. It was a weekend filled with sunbathing, swimming and enjoying the peace and quiet. I even got up at 5 one day to watch the sunrise, just to go back to bed later on. 

Sunday evening it was time to pick up my mom from the airport! We have had 3 days of sightseeing around Granada, going to places I haven't visited yet on my own. She really liked it, but the heat was killing her.

Saturday, after doing some groceries, we set off to Jiquilillo, which was supposed to be a really nice beach. We would have arrived there way earlier, if I hadn't driven in the wrong direction 3 times, but we made it anyway. The last road to Jiquilillo was horrible. Loose pebbles everywhere, not to mention the holes in the ground. But there were a lot of speedbumps, even though you could not drive much faster than 20 km/h anyway. 
We arrived at Rancho Tranquilo, which was recommended by Margje and we found ourselves in a little paradise. It was not much more than a campsite, but with cabins in stead of tents. The people were nice, the vegetarian food was delicious and it was really quiet, which was nice after a week of the busy cities of Granada and Leon. We spent our days there relaxing in the hammocks, tanning on the beach and reading books. One thing we did do, was going over to the neighbor to see the baby seaturtles he was nurturing there, to put them back in the sea when they will be big enough to take care of themselves. 

Monday we went home after our last hour on the beach. This day turned out to be a very bad one for us, where the cops pulled us over 3 times and I got a fine twice, but let's not get into this whole story.. 
After a nice dinner, my mom packed and three hours later, my alarm went off to say goodbye to her, because she was already going home. It was a lot of fun having her here for the time she was and I was happy that I could share some of this amazing country with her. 

Tuesday back to reality with little patients during the day, but an amazing (and free) meal in the evening. Even when I am writing this now, I still feel stuffed! 

Two days of work passed by without a lot of patients and special things. I ran into the Quebeckois my mom and I met in Jiquilillo whom I joined on the terrace for a little bit. Thursday night we went to a winetasting, where the wine was not as good as we hoped and afterwards, we went out for dinner and the two Canadian girls from Leon met up with us. 

Friday morning it was time to go to Managua, because it was the day of the Enrique Iglesias concert! We could not exactly find our hostel, so we walked around for about an hour, were sent in all different directions by different people, but in the end we found it. We went for lunch and walked about Managua a little bit. The stories that I heard about Managua do not do the city any justice. There are a lot of big, high buildings, but when we got to the old cathedral, it was a city just as the other cities of Nicaragua. There was a good vibe and people were really nice. They did have the ugliest cathedral I have ever seen (the new one).
After our siesta, we went to the concert, to be in line first. Since we had no idea how it would be to get in here, we got there around 5 (the concert starting at 8). At the entrance they said that we could enter just with our printed receipt, but half an hour later, we were told that was not possible and we had to go to the ticketcounter. Who told us, we could not get the tickets, because my dad (who bought the tickets) was not there with his creditcard. But in the end, we convinced him, only to find out the printer was not working, so we had to walk down to the other entrance and ask them to print them over there. We walked down the highway in the dark and when we finally got the tickets, we took a cab back and we could FINALLY stand in line. We picked our spots, had something to eat and we waited for the concert to start. Since I did not feel so well, I slept a little bit while sitting there and at 9 it started to rain. And to rain. And to rain. And to rain. And then there was the downpour, which was more or less a waterfall. We were soaked to the bone and then at 10 the supporting programme started playing. This was a Nicaraguan band, which had nice, up-beat songs, but it was too cold. After a while, at 11.30 Enrique finally came to the stage and then it started getting better. We started dancing and singing and in the end, because he moved to the stage that was 10 meters in front of us and everyone came huddling close to us, we got a little bit warm again. It was an amazing concert, all things considered. (And we even got a photo with him!) 

Saturday, after having a brunch at the chocomuseum, we went to Treehouse Poste Rojo, because there would be a full moon party there. We took the shuttle, which was an hour late, Nicaraguan style, and found ourselves in a little paradise between the trees. With the simplest toilets possible, asking if you could just pee outside, because that was better for the trees and if you pooped, if you could put a scoop of sawdust over it to weaken the smell of it a little bit and we had to pass over a hanging bridge to get to our hammocks. After relaxing a bit in the hammocks, we offered to help with the food and we entered into this nice chaos with people running around, things falling, things going wrong, you know the drill. Afterwards, we went back to the hammocks and chatted with the others, watched some games and saw a guy put a cricket into his mouth. We enjoyed ourselves, went to bed early and woke up with the sounds of the Howler monkeys and birds all around us. 

After breakfast, we went back to Granada, to prepare for our presentations tomorrow. 

So the presentations went by quick enough, only too bad that the responses were not as we expected. So after 2 patients and 2 presentation, it was time to go back home. In the evening I met up with the Quebecois to have a nice meal at the Garden Cafe and afterwards, a G & T at Reilley's and we tried to play the pubquiz, but we failed miserably, so we gave up after two rounds. 

Tuesday has become our almost weekly movie, pizza and ice cream night and Wednesday we went to eat and play the pubquiz at O'Shea's. Thursday we went to a tasting of Italian wines, in the same place we were before. There were little things to eat, good wines to eat and great company (even the waiter who asked us if we were from Argentina). We talked, had wine, had some food (not that much because the portions were small and they did not come by that often. 
To finish the night off, we went next door (with our bought bottle of wine) to the outside grill, where they sold Gallo Pinto with chicken and everything else. 

Friday after work, we left for Playa Gigante, a beautiful beach close to San Juan del Sur. After a long ride with the bus and the taxi, we arrived at Camino de Playa Gigante. The guy helping us was very chaotic and there were some problems, because we booked hammocks, but they actually did not have hammocks for rent. They did have some hammocks outside though. So the first night we stayed there, but the second night we went into the dormitory (for which we did not have to pay extra in the end). It was a beautiful beach, with loud waves and a lot of flies. We also went to the surfbeach that was close and enjoyed some people catching waves. The only downside of the weekend was the service on Friday. The guy helping us took forever with everything and forgot half of our order. The next two days, with different staff, were better thank god. We enjoyed the sun and the sea and then we wanted to hitchhike back on Sunday, which would be really easy according to the waitress. Well, this wasn't the case. We ended up walking about one and a half hour (I have no idea if it was really that long, but it felt like it) in the blistering sun, with very little shade to be found. Along the way, about 4 cars passed and no one picked us up. In the end we did find one nice couple willing to take us close to Rivas, from where we took a cab to the busstation, where we took a bus to Granada. After a nice beer and delicious ice cream, we got home and it was bedtime. But not before we went over to the restaurant next door, who said that we gave our cat to them as a present. When we arrived there, the women just lied to our faces, "no we don't have a cat here", until one of the waiters came out saying "the white cat, is she yours?". So Choco is back home, where she belongs. 

Today, Monday, we decided to go into Masaya. We have been doing our internship there for the last 4 months, but we have never been into the little town, except to go to the hospital or the Pali. I have been to the Mercado, but today we found out that there is a lot more to the city than I would have guessed. Actually, I think that the town of Masaya is livelier than Granada. The whole ambiance of the city is so much nicer. Yeah, there are still people on the streets whistling after you and those kinds of things, but it is just busier, the good kind of busy. 
When looking at the surroundings of the hospital, Masaya is really dirty, but when you get to the towncentre, it is really clean. We had lunch in the Central Park, visited the lake front and went to the artisanian market. This was the cleanest market I have encountered here so far. You enter into some kind of little castle and here there is no chaos. All the stalls are nicely organized and there is not a lot of dirt lying on the floor. Even tough the stalls are kind of the same, you can still find some special things there, definitely a place to go back to sometime in the 4 weeks that I still have here in Nicaragua!

Four more weeks to go before I return back to Holland, lets see what those weeks will bring! 

Wow, three week have come and gone and I am already over half of my time here in Nicaragua. Only 8 more weeks of internship left and then I will finish with one last week of travelling in the south. So much has happened in three weeks, that I actually do not know where to start and as I am reading my traveldiary, my dear friend Janna gave me, it all comes back to me. 

As far as my internship goes so far, I can be really quick about it. We have been covering for another physio and with the patients we have of our own, we have been double booked for one and a half weeks. I have been keeping quite busy and was excited for my holidays. After the holidays, we will need to start our presentations and the little booklet we are aiming to create. I got a lot of new patients and my roster is quite full at the moment, which is great, because that means that I have to do something all the time. I have seen something pretty amazing and scary though, in neonatal care, I saw how they intubated a premature infant and how they worked all the machines to make the child breath again. It was the smallest baby I have ever seen and I can barely believe there was a tube small enough to go into her throat. 
The only problem I have had with my work was today actually. The other PT's told us to tell our patient not to come today because we would be cleaning the rooms of the PT department and so we did and this morning when we asked, they told us we were not going to clean, because the doctor did not show up. It is still a mystery why he is so essential to the cleaning process.. So we wasted the whole morning sitting around, doing nothing at all. At least we were allowed to go home early. 

Now we can get back to the good stuff. 

Three weeks ago tomorrow, we had a poweroutage, which lasted from 6 am until 6.30 pm. This meant no electricity and no water, but at least we did have the blistering heat of the sun. We could not take a shower, could not go to the bathroom and we did not have our fans to give us a gentle breeze. 
This would not have been all that bad, if we hadn't had our little visitor that afternoon. I saw something white creeping away, but didn't make too much of it. Until I looked again and saw that it was a skunk. Boy, do those creatures stink! We called in the help of one of the guys of the store and he put on an amazing show, trying to catch him, but he did not succeed. He only caused the skunk to spray his lovely odor into Catalina's room. In the end he fled away and that was the last we saw of him. When the power came back on, I took a lovely shower and finished my day with a lovely chocolate massage! 

Since the weekend on Omotepe was crazy expensive and the week after we would already be going to Costa Rica for our holidays, I decided to stay at home for the weekend. We had some lovely food (at the Garden Cafe of course) and we went out two nights in a row, because on Saturday, there was this big party at the beach. We were lucky that we bought our tickets last minute at the store, because at the door the tickets were $7 more expensive. On Saturday morning I was also up quite early to watch the rugby matches of the 6 nations cup, which Ireland one again! And the rest of the day was spent at the pool. 

The rest of the week passed slowly, uneventful and in big anticipation because of our upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Wednesday I started teaching French and English at one of the Universities of Granada and I really enjoyed myself. Friday was the last workday before the birthday of one of the PT's and so, we bought a cake, but what we did not know was, that it is normal to have a whole meal together for someone's brithday. So we had breakfast at 6 and then our lunch at 8 with cake as desert. After my class Friday, I had a drink at O'Sheas and then we went for dinner at the Garden Cafe (where else?) to say goodbye to Dave and afterwards I was to join them for one drink at Reilley's which ended up with me dancing in Kelly's until 2 in the morning. So after 2 hours of sleep I woke up to pack my bag and after a lot of stress on my part, I set off to Costa Rica with Catalina. 

And so we set out to Costa Rica, firstly to prolong our visa, but secondly (and most important) to have a good time and get away from all the PT stuff. It was a long journey, but we go lucky catching the ferry at exactly the right time and then meeting two guys on the ferry who were actually heading to Santa Teresa as well, just like us. They had a car and offered us a ride and this way, we were not stuck in a bus for 2 hours. They dropped us off at the hostel and that was the last we saw of them. We went out to dinner right away and had an amazing meal, but when we got the bill, we were stunned. It was so damn expensive. So that was the last time we went out to dinner in Santa Teresa (which is not completely true, we had burrito's one evening, but that wasn't a real restaurant). We found out we had two cool roommates in our dorm and we hung out with them and went to the bonfire on the beach all together, staying there until 4 in the morning. 

The next day we rented two quads for the four of us and we went on a tour. We went to some amazing miradors and we had stunning views and I even got to drive the quad for a small stretch of empty, straight road! We had a lot of fun, until one of the quads was not able to get up a hill, which he was able to get down. We sat there for three hours and the guys tried everything, hardening the rope, using the other quad to pull, pulling themselves, but in the end, the easiest solution was the best, just push and accelerate and we got out. 
We arrived at the waterfall at 5, we had a quick swim and went back half an hour later, because the sun was setting. Walking from the waterfalls in the dark was not the best idea, because there were loose rocks everywhere and we did not have that much light. But we made it, had a nice, cheap, homecooked dinner and went to bed quite early because the following day, we had surflessons at 8 in the morning. 

Why have I never done surfing before? I really enjoy being in the water, I like being sporty, why have I never tried this before? I had the best time. I got to stand up quite fast and could keep my footing quite well. It was very tiresome though. We went back in the afternoon and when we had to had in the board, my legs were scraped all over. After a night of amazing food, strong drinks and good conversations with Catalina (so good that one of the guys walked away of boredom all of a sudden), we rented another surfboard, I was able to stand up twice, but my legs hurt so badly that I was not able to continue and I just had to rest. After our nap, we went for ice cream and enjoyed our last sunset on the beach of Santa Teresa, because the following morning, we would be leaving for Monteverde, up in the hills. We decided to walk back over the beach, only to find out we walked too far and we had to walk back 15 minutes. 

After half a day of travelling, we ended up in our hostel, Casa Tranquilo. It was very relaxed and quiet in the hostel, not at all like her sister hostel in Santa Teresa under the same name. We met amazing people there and we had a lot of fun playing scrabble, cooking and just hanging about in the hammock. They told us that there was this amazing tree, IN which you could climb all the way up to the top, the strangler tree. We went there and the view from the treetops was amazing, even though it was really high. When we got down again, we spotted a group of monkeys and we also saw a tucan, which was very fast to fly away, too fast for us to grab our camera's and snap some pictures. 
The next day we first went to a coffee/sugar/chocolate farm, where we saw the whole process, tasted sugarcane, cacoa and coffee and where we had a short, but fun oxcart ride. At the end of the tour, we got a small snack and some local coffee and syrup, which was all delicious. I learned a lot that morning! 
After lunch, when we met an amazing Canadian couple with Dutch roots, we went to do the canopy tour, for which the region is famous. This region houses the longest zipline of Central America, 1590 meters. This in combination with 7 other ziplines, 1 rappelling line and 1 mega Tarzanswing (150 meters up). I had a blast and I shot a beautiful video while hanging on the zipline superman style (it will be uploaded on fb sometime soon, don't worry). I also jumped the Tarzanswing and I don't think I have every screamed so heard in my life. Thank god Catalina was there to help me through it (THANK YOU!)! 
Afterwards we went for tapas which were delicious and we had waaaaay too much to eat.

Friday morning it was time for some horseback riding. The walk over there was a bit longer than expected, but that didn't matter, because they had all the time in the world. The horses only do one trip a day, so it is either in the morning or the afternoon. It was weird being in the saddle again after all this time. We walked for a long while, getting used to the horses, then we trotted a bit and on the way back, we even went into a gallop. We rode uphill and had some breathtaking views. When we got back however, my bum was aching and 2 hours was more than enough. In the afternoon we did some souvenir shopping and we just relaxed a lot. 
Saturday arrived, which was our last day of holiday (yeah, we still had Sunday, but we would spend that whole day travelling, so it doesn't count) and we went into one of the reserves of the region, the Reserva Biologica Monteverde, with two Americans we met in the hostel. We hoped to see a lot of animals (sloths especially), but we weren't that lucky. We were able to enjoy the nature around us and we hiked for almost 4 hours. We went out to dinner one last time (cheapy style) and went to bed early because our bus was leaving the next day at 6 and we still had to make breakfast and lunch and do some stuff. 
This day turned out to be the worst day so far. I won't bore y'all (the Americans were from Texas) with everything that happened, but let just say it was a very shitty day and I couldn't get it over with quickly enough. One thing that is funny to mention, is the fact that the customs on the Nicaraguan side check everything by hand. So, you zip open your backpack, they take a quick peak inside and if there is nothing suspicious on the surface, you can just close your bag and continue. Also, our temperatures were measured, the bus was fumigated and after that the bus needed to drive through a carwash. I was so glad when I was home, could enjoy an ice cream and my bed after that. 
What I didn't miss that much about Nicaragua, was the fact that every guy you pass, will whistle at you or all the beggars and people/children selling stuff on the street. It is just very laid-back and you can just enjoy every minute of it, without being bothered by people other than the waiter in the restaurant. 

So as they say in every single place, at least 5 times when you are talking to them:

Pura vida!