Adelaide Cf hospital, Adelaineans and more of them

Tah-daa.... loads of good news here...!!

Ok, where to start...last week we went to some of Alice's jewellery exhibitions which were great fun since usually I'm not so much around arty-creative people( or at least they don't pursue that plan if they have it) and I'm yelling ya...there sure as hell were a nutter or two but all of them really nice..:) There was even a guy from The Messenger, a local paper I reckon, and a day or two later a picture of Jaan and me's in there...hehe, not even 48 hours after first touching ground in lovely Adelaide...
Seriously though, Alices stuff is really cool, she just makes stuff out of really normal things like puzzle pieces or dictionary explanations..I dunno, you have to see it. Gotta ask her and Jaan for some photos that i can post.

So i started looking for house shares and it was a bit frustrating cos there are a lot of nice and affordable places but most of them had a minimum stay of months or longer which I can't commit to 100% because if I don't get another visa I'll have to move out before then. then I almost had a place, right at the beach but then the girl rang and said she's gonna go with the kiwi guy who also had a look at the room cos he can stay longer...argh!!
But then I gave it another go at suburb called St. Peters, a REALLY nice area (one I could never afford if it wasn't a house share in Adelaide), and...I got the room! So cool, I'm living with a couple, Pippy and Tim. They're my age and they are hilarious! Blond, beachy-looking...typical australian for us europeans :) He's a carpet layer, just started his own business 5 days ago and she's studied photography (1 year in Spain so there are some stories to share - mostly of dirty flat mates, shit jobs and cockroaches), wants to be an actress (is currently in a TV commercial) and works part time at The Yoghurt Shop.

Last night we went to her parents' place (who are currently in Melbourne) to visit her sister and man...talking about some wealthy people!!! Huge house, garden...Her dad's South Australia's first glas blower. he makes glas art and sells it for thousands of dollars in the United states! So you see, you can't escape the creativeness here in Adelaide.
Anyway, we're haveing pizza and watching some show on the telly (the australian word for TV- haha) and Pippy and Tim are saying that their ears are still sore...so of course, nosy me wants to know the whole story...and guess what?! They actually got their ears pinned back just 3 weeks ago! And Pippy even got the job done for free since her daddy's friends with the surgeon!!! That's some shit for my blog I tought..heheh. Of course after that revelation I had to take the piss out of them...! But they're cool and funny even though a bit high maintanance sometimes.

So that's that and before I moved out of Jaan's yesterday afternoon he took me along to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (chest clinic) so I could introduce myself to Rosie, the (lovely!) nurse who deals with all the CF stuff. Great, so if anything goes wrong or I need information about getting meds on a new visa I know who to talk to and Rosie was also like "yeah, no worries..we'll look after you". I shouldn't be surprised really, since it was like that in Sydney when I was there last time but I still think it's great that there are these kind of people who always try to find a way to do things even if that causes some inconvinience.

So now since I've got a place to stay the job search is on. will have to see what's available but I think now since the dreads are gone (yes, hair is SHORT!) it shouldn't be too difficult.. Will have to decide whether I just look for some casual part time job to pay my bills or if I already start looking for a place that might sponsor me on an extended visa. I've heard that adventure tours here are doing training ships for tour guides and also sponsorships so I'll definitely check them out.

Anyway, that's it for now...my health is still good and this weekend I'll start exercising, since the botanic garden and the river are just a 5 min walk from new place there is no excuse, eh..?!

All is good, just waiting for something to trip over because when it all goes so well it's scary..:) Still, my mood is excellent, there is the euphoric state I was missing...

xxx Janka

Baked beans and fish & chips

another post already...can you believe that...?!

anyway, London was great even though it took me 5 (FIVE!!) hours to get from London Luton to Southfields where Mark lives. Because the flight was a bit delayed and we had to circle over Luton aiport for about half an hour because appearantly there was another airplane in the way(...) by the time I got to King"s cross the tubes had stopped running which meant taking the night buses. No biggy, really but hanging around King's cross at 1am isn't the most fun thing to do (especially with heavy luggage) and after various offers of weed, crack or money for sex i decided to talk to one of the guides about how I could best continue the journey. Nice guy but unfortunately he didn't have a clue so he sent me on the wrong bus...great. after 45 minutes i was back at the Cross and I was honestly considering spending the night right there with the drunks.
I finally caught the right bus on which I met this rogue eddy who told me I could have taken the train from Luton station straight to Wimbledon and then taken a taxi from there, would have saved me about 3 hours.....argh!

Was great to see Mark again, met his lovely girl friend Sharyn (probably spelled totally wrong!) and had a very relaxed weekend with them and a Gwyn, one of mark's friends, which was good to have before the trip to Australia.

Monday morning I left to Heathrow where they have absolutely strict security checks now but since I'm german (= well organized, absolutely on time, etc.) I had my liquid medicine packed up neatly in a transparent re-sealable bag, doctor's letter and all which meant no hassle even with dreads. :)

watched movies all through the flight, had to stop and reflues in Hong Kong and then continued on to Melbourne where I spent the night at the airport (couldn't sleep of course) and at 7.00am took the (very small and rocking!) plane to adelaide. there i got picked up by jaan (on time!) -you're a star- , had a shower and we headed to town.
So now I'm staying with him, his girl friend Alice and her sister Lucy for the first few days until I've found a flat share of my own. Hope that doesn't take too long even though it's great here with them. just don't wanna be a pain in the arse.

In town we met Holly, a friend of jaan and alice who's a singer and has the dirtiest mouth ever...talking about some swearing! I'm NOTHING compared to that. Love it!
Later we went for a coupla drinks with peter and Trudy whom (or is it who?!) I had met in London about a year ago and ben, who is only here until monday because he's studying in canada. Don't worry...loads of names but I'll post pictures soon. Just trying to introduce them to zou since you'll be hearing these names more during the next coupla months.

Today we went to the beach (and NO, I haven't turned lobster red yet due to my 30+ sun blocker!), swam in the sea and just chilled. Lunch at Glenelg (different beach, quite touritsy) and back to get ready for tonight. Alice makes jewelry (spelling?) and tonight she's got an exhibition and of course we all go.

This is really different from the last time I was i Australia. then I was always in hostels, around backpakers or other internationals when this time I know only locals. In Sydney or on the east coast it's so easy to meet other travellers, there are internet places on every corner as well as hostel, bars, clubs, etc. I enjoyed it but after a while I just got tired of it. this is totally different. If you don't know anyone here it's a lot harder to start your own network of people. but when you do you meet their friends in no time and everyone is just so helpful.
And they all look normal, they don't all carry surf boards under their arms or shoot kangaroos or say "crickey" all the time (for the ones who are picturing the aussie stereotype...)

So yeah, it's all good and my health is improving already. i was pleasantly suprised how well i felt on the plane, no tightness of chest at all. And since the weather here is great (mid 30s I reckon) i feel even better.

Feel sorry for you in the nothern hemisphere freezing your arses off...hehehe

anyway, take care you all.
xJ.