New year - new trip....
So..what exactly am I gonna be doing?!
well, because 2005 hasn´t been too great for me (after returning form Australia in January, I fell into this traveler-comes-home-and-doesn´t-know-what-to-do-with-it-hole. Due to the rainy and cold weather here in Germany, a break-up in a realtionship and some troubles at home I had a severe health break-down including weight loss and my lung function results to drop dramatically.
In Australia I realised that a warm and dry climate hasa very positive effect on my lungs so I packed my bags again and went to Spain. It was meant to be a 2-week vacation in Malaga to get better and to sort my head out....and I endet up staying for 6 months. Did a language course and worked in a bar.
My health got better there but I was really unsure of what to do with my life. You think if you have less time you sure as hell don´t wanna waste any of it...so traveling like this was great in a way but (coming from a family whose ethics are quite big on working and being independant) it´s not really a career to just have a low-paid job - hey..I got 4.30 EUR/hr in the bar...! even backpacker jobs in oz were paid better..hehe - here and there. And I had basically been living out of a backpack since I left for Australia in June 2004 - it´s exhausting after a while and I could feel myself losing energy. So I wanted to kinda "settle down", at least for a while (yeah..go on... all of my friends will have a laugh at me for that one...! that´s why I won´t even mention my attempt on getting a "serious" job...hehe) but had no idea where. By that time I had gotten tired of Malaga and was thinking of moving to Barcelona. But then I endet up going to Turin in North Italy with a friend - big ol´hugg to Patrizia, my fave raggazza..! - where i didn´t stay very long beacuse of the weather. Very moist and rainy which amde my lungs worse.
So I decided to head back to Germany, stay at my parents for a while, get an IV therapy - lasts for two weeks, 3x a day you get a strong dose of antibiotics trough a tube straight into the vein. To fight the germs in the lungs. very annoying..!! - and make up my mind about - some of - my future.)
ah....what was I talking about before giving you all this banter about what happened this year....?! Right, so 2005 kinda sucked so I wanted to for 2006 to start off a bit better...I chose South africa for its climate (it`s gonna be summer there...30°C...will be running around in shorts...ah...nice!). I´ll be living in a kibbutz in Worcester near Cape Town where I´ll be doing "Communtity developement" as a volunteer for 3 months. Means, I´ll be working with street kids, HIV orphants, drug addicts..etc. Might do some teaching as well (that´s why I just did a TEFL - teaching english as a foreign language - course in Oxford which was fantastic by the way).
One reason for doing this is because I have always worked in Hospitality and I´m wondering if that´s really what i want to do.
I would like to try out something different and I want so see another country without traveling like a backpacker. I think you always get to know a different side of a country and its culture if you work work with its people. i´m doing this with a british organisation that has volunteer- and teaching projects all over the world. i decided to do that rather than going on my own because I have never been to South Africa, don´t know anyone there and basically..have no idea what I´m getting myself into...;)
So I thought it would be nice to have someone to turn to if necessary...and on Jan 22nd I´m flying out to Cape Town..into another adventure..haha!
This volunteer programme lasts until april 16th and by that time I should have come up with something to do afterwards. Right now my mind is pretty much set on going to the UK (maybe Scotland or South of England) and working there for a while. Cos I´ll need the money - either for a trip to Latin America or for going straight back to Australia (I´ve heard Adelaide is supposed to be nice...?! hehe).
But none of that is set in stone yet....anyone who knows me is used to my plans changing quite frequently....;)
So for now I´m just busy with preparing for South Africa...getting some CF contacts as well as some information about bringing my meds into the country, health check-ups, vaccination, kicking my self in the arse to do some exercising (trying to get my lungs in shape....cos at the moment it´s not all that great)...hehe..and, of course...packing (ah..I´ll probably leave that to the night before take-off....as usual..)!
well, more about all that (or whatever else I think I need to write about...) in my next post...
For now I hope you all have a good x-mas..is anyone having a white one by the way..?!
well, because 2005 hasn´t been too great for me (after returning form Australia in January, I fell into this traveler-comes-home-and-doesn´t-know-what-to-do-with-it-hole. Due to the rainy and cold weather here in Germany, a break-up in a realtionship and some troubles at home I had a severe health break-down including weight loss and my lung function results to drop dramatically.
In Australia I realised that a warm and dry climate hasa very positive effect on my lungs so I packed my bags again and went to Spain. It was meant to be a 2-week vacation in Malaga to get better and to sort my head out....and I endet up staying for 6 months. Did a language course and worked in a bar.
My health got better there but I was really unsure of what to do with my life. You think if you have less time you sure as hell don´t wanna waste any of it...so traveling like this was great in a way but (coming from a family whose ethics are quite big on working and being independant) it´s not really a career to just have a low-paid job - hey..I got 4.30 EUR/hr in the bar...! even backpacker jobs in oz were paid better..hehe - here and there. And I had basically been living out of a backpack since I left for Australia in June 2004 - it´s exhausting after a while and I could feel myself losing energy. So I wanted to kinda "settle down", at least for a while (yeah..go on... all of my friends will have a laugh at me for that one...! that´s why I won´t even mention my attempt on getting a "serious" job...hehe) but had no idea where. By that time I had gotten tired of Malaga and was thinking of moving to Barcelona. But then I endet up going to Turin in North Italy with a friend - big ol´hugg to Patrizia, my fave raggazza..! - where i didn´t stay very long beacuse of the weather. Very moist and rainy which amde my lungs worse.
So I decided to head back to Germany, stay at my parents for a while, get an IV therapy - lasts for two weeks, 3x a day you get a strong dose of antibiotics trough a tube straight into the vein. To fight the germs in the lungs. very annoying..!! - and make up my mind about - some of - my future.)
ah....what was I talking about before giving you all this banter about what happened this year....?! Right, so 2005 kinda sucked so I wanted to for 2006 to start off a bit better...I chose South africa for its climate (it`s gonna be summer there...30°C...will be running around in shorts...ah...nice!). I´ll be living in a kibbutz in Worcester near Cape Town where I´ll be doing "Communtity developement" as a volunteer for 3 months. Means, I´ll be working with street kids, HIV orphants, drug addicts..etc. Might do some teaching as well (that´s why I just did a TEFL - teaching english as a foreign language - course in Oxford which was fantastic by the way).
One reason for doing this is because I have always worked in Hospitality and I´m wondering if that´s really what i want to do.
I would like to try out something different and I want so see another country without traveling like a backpacker. I think you always get to know a different side of a country and its culture if you work work with its people. i´m doing this with a british organisation that has volunteer- and teaching projects all over the world. i decided to do that rather than going on my own because I have never been to South Africa, don´t know anyone there and basically..have no idea what I´m getting myself into...;)
So I thought it would be nice to have someone to turn to if necessary...and on Jan 22nd I´m flying out to Cape Town..into another adventure..haha!
This volunteer programme lasts until april 16th and by that time I should have come up with something to do afterwards. Right now my mind is pretty much set on going to the UK (maybe Scotland or South of England) and working there for a while. Cos I´ll need the money - either for a trip to Latin America or for going straight back to Australia (I´ve heard Adelaide is supposed to be nice...?! hehe).
But none of that is set in stone yet....anyone who knows me is used to my plans changing quite frequently....;)
So for now I´m just busy with preparing for South Africa...getting some CF contacts as well as some information about bringing my meds into the country, health check-ups, vaccination, kicking my self in the arse to do some exercising (trying to get my lungs in shape....cos at the moment it´s not all that great)...hehe..and, of course...packing (ah..I´ll probably leave that to the night before take-off....as usual..)!
well, more about all that (or whatever else I think I need to write about...) in my next post...
For now I hope you all have a good x-mas..is anyone having a white one by the way..?!
posted by Janka @ 1:49 PM
5 Comments:
At December 24, 2005,
Jaanie said…
yes, adelaide is definitely where its all happening! man, seriously, this place is a rockin right now. i forgot just how cool it is. i had a huge talk with another friend last night and we want to start a pro-adelaide club. awesome.
oh, yeah, nice post by the way...
At December 25, 2005,
Janka said…
A "pro Adelaide"-club..?!..damn, that is some serious aussie pride right there, man..haha!
At December 26, 2005,
Jaanie said…
damn straight!
At December 26, 2005,
Becky said…
Hey Janka, very happy to see you've started your blog off with a couple of decent big posts! Looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures in Africa. Actually I will have to get some tips from you on volunteering...I've found them all to be a bit expensive?
As for Adelaide, Jaan is certainly unusual - it is a pretty and very cool city but not many Australians are as proud of it and as patriotic as Jaan! I am starting to be proud of it as well, I think you should definitely consider it!
At December 26, 2005,
Janka said…
Hey Becky!
thanks for the kind words..well, yeah some of these organisations are really expensive because they don´t get sponsored by the government so you have to basically fund some of the project. But (obviously AFTER signing up with an expensive organisation..!)I have found some volunteering places where they really need english teachers (e.g. thailand, latin america, poland...)and they even pay them. If you get a long-term contract for like a year, they might even pay your travel expenses to get there. won´t make you rich, but you can definetly get by. All they normally request is a native english speaker and some qualification like a TEFL certificate. And in some countries they prefer the american accent, for example in Japan.
But of course you can always travel to the country you wanna stay in and look for volunteer places there.Might be e bit harder if you don´t know anyone there but you should be able to find something. Still have to pay your flights but nowhere as much as with an organisation!
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