Delilah and Jack

I've Been on Hiatus for So LONG!!!!!

2010-11-27T20:50:00.005-05:00

I was having a lot of trouble signing into my account/ I have been incredibly busy and time just flies by! I want to reinitiate my blog....We are planning another trip and this is a handy-dandy way to document our adventures. Expect more posts and details ASAP!

Slash, follow my new Tumblr......

http://jackanddelilah.tumblr.com/

EEEEEEEEE, lets catch-up!

and then "IMPACT!"

2010-02-02T14:18:00.005-05:00

Here in Canada land we have a graduated licencing system, you can get a beginners (G1)when you are sixteen by writing a multiple choice test. If this is successfully completed you can drive with a (G2) driver who has completed a road test and who has five years experience. I have had my G1 for about five years and I recently booked my road test. I have been slowly gaining confidence driving. My Mom and I were cruising along in our car the other day, approaching our drive way, which is on a fairly busy road. I slowed down, put on my blinker and went to turn into my driveway when...IMPACT. Before I knew what had happened we were barrelling through a forest of spruce. I deftly maneuvered the car, narrowly missing the trunks of the old trees, instinctively slamming the brakes. I screamed, first profanities then a "mommmmmyyyy!" and a "I didn't do it!!!!!" We were showered with a spray of glass as the passenger window shattered. I quickly shut off the car at my mothers prompting and emerged. When I got out of the car and climbed the embankment to the side of the driveway I could here a steady stream of profanities coming from the forest. My mother emerged, snapping branches and shaking off glass as she yelled, as I have described it since the incident, like a banshee, a bat out of hell and a Sasquatch.

It happened so fast I could not believe what had happened. Unsure of whether to cry or swear I approached a group of my neighbours who had convened on the lawn. My mothers introduction to the new neighbours was her gone hulk, but when she caught up to us she explained "I am not always like this." A young guy approached us and explained what happened. He had been following us and a women followed him. It was said woman who was following him much too closely, and did not anticipate anyone slowing down. To avoid hitting the young guys car she swerved left clipping our Pontiac at 60 miles an hours and causing our descent into the grove of trees at the end of our lane. After two hours in minus ten weather, filling out a police report, talking to firefighters and paramedics the ordeal was not yet over but we got to go inside. The car has sadly passed into the great parking lot in the sky, so affectionately called 'Sexy Car' by my mom who acquired it after losing her Aerostar van to a similar hit from behind seven years ago.

Needless to say I am now terrified to drive, although I did yesterday at Jack's prompting to 'Get back on the horse'. As I tell him, the roads are fraught with danger and as a precautionary neither of us should ever enter a vehicle again! You cannot account for other drivers being careless on the road!

Maybe my bad luck streak will be ending soon???? I am just happy we were both o.k. and things could have been worse!

-Delilah

p.s I have pictures of the car! I will post them!

p.p.s The picture from above is by Robert Bateman a famous Canadian artist, see here for more of his work!

p.p.p.s My brothers friend Jay showed up and felt sorry for me so he gave me a deep-friend Mars bar; it was delicious, I would highly recommend it in all of its gooey fattening deliciousness.....

Roar!

2010-01-25T11:02:00.003-05:00

My computer crashed;

I want it smashed.

I turned it on, a file popped up with a question mark,

now ain't that a lark?

I tried to find a photo of someone destroying an Apple,

to no avail...

But this picture of snowwhite is pretty cool, don't you agree?

-DDDDDDelilah!

P.S Planning a trip to Quebec city!!! Better brush up on my French! Parle Vu Francais?

LIVIN' THE LIFE AT THE U OF EARTH

2009-12-17T23:15:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to post some beautiful pictures my friend Brit took on a trip to Guatemala- one day I would love to visit Central and South America....too many places to see too little time!!! For now I will have to satiate that urge with looking at this pictures, closing my eyes and playing a little good ole' make believe. Brit's blog has a bunch about her trip and also some political meanderings I quite enjoyed. Check it out at Livin' Life at the U of Earth- I am also digging the name!

VOLCANO- I Love the volcano!
There is something spontaneous about this picture that I enjoy- the colour composition is very nice; the red car, the yellow wall and the nun in stride...hmmmm

This is Brit's fav picture- that sky is nothing short of absolute technicolour madness!

I am in love with this cactus pot man- I need a man like this in my life and it would be complete :) I mean Jack is pretty good and all but does he have sprouting cacti eyes? I think not!

-Delilah

True? Not True?

2009-12-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

For C. Flower in response to....

2009-12-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

This is a pic for my most ardent reader and favorite blogger Miss C. Flower....in response to her post concerning her le petit pug Cubbie; see here...

This young pup is Jack's fathers dog, Doug the Pug who has a prime position is Papa's wallet...I recently had the pleasure of meeting Doug on a trip to his hometown of Winnipeg- and PUGS MAKE ME HAPPY and they do look like Susan Boyle!?!? What?!?!?! I agree, it was an interesting observation.

ENJOY and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I just cannot believe it is Christmas- time is just flying!!!

Sorry the resolution is not the greatest- it is a picture of a picture done by my Mac....

Good night, D.

Three Day Road

2009-12-15T16:38:00.005-05:00

Life is crazy and wild and wonderful and hectic and cold...cold? Yes it is cold outside and snowy and slushy, hence there is nothing better than to curl up in bed and read a good book. With exams finally over I can read without guilt!!!! Woohoo!

A few months ago I read 'Three Day Road' by Joseph Boyden, representing authors of the Canadian Metis variety. I would highly highly recommend the book which follows two native Cree snipers from Moosefactory (an isolated community in Northern Ontario) to the trenches in WWI France. Normally I am not attracted to violent stories, but this historical fiction was fantastically written and entrancing is only the way to describe it. Based loosely on WWI Ojibiwa hero, Francis Pegahmagabow, Boyden chronicles with scary accuracy the triumphs and defeats experienced by Canadians stationed overseas. The psychological impact of war is explored as well as reactions to that environment, which represents a particularly moving narrative as my own Grandfather and I am sure many readers relatives experienced during the world wars. Furthermore, Boyden relates a rich history derived from his own heritage, replete with myth.

Since exams have ended I have picked up the second book, which is to become a trilogy, called 'Through Black Spruce'. I am pining on a warm bed and that book at the moment!

I had an opportunity to go to a reading and to meet Boyden which was a unique experience.

For more about Boyden and a full synopsis of his books visit his website here.

Sometime I feel like this.....

2009-11-18T21:14:00.001-05:00

Roaming around the university in a daze amid the throngs of other 19-25 year old kids all vying to get the top grade, to graduate, to compete to get into grad school/ med school/ law school, to get a decent wage and ... and.... I love university but I hate it sometimes too.... I guess I just need to stop and think about what makes everyone unique- including myself.

-D

Dear Santa:

2009-11-18T20:56:00.003-05:00

All I want for Christmas is this wicked awesome owl dress (from www.etsy.com), a new ankle for mommy (hers broke), and for school to be over.... Kinda overwhelmed with essays at the moment, having a bad day; owls make me happy. I have a friend who collects owl things so everywhere I go I always get her owl paraphernalia- salt and pepper shakers; macrame wall hanging; wooden carving.... ummm thinking of more things to write to procrastinate but I had better get back to reading "Institutional Design and Democratic Consolidation in the Third World" sounds exciting doesn't it?

-Deeeeelillllaaahhhhh

Sorry for my absence....

2009-11-08T21:30:00.002-05:00

Been busy completing the above list:

(1) Wrote a small article and submitted some photo's [from the trip] to a magazine on campus [woohoo]

(2) Working on finishing essays; so far so good

(3) Went on a fantastic hike with Jack and my dog Jak{eeeee} today; it was fantastic weather for November so finally we got to bask in the sunlight and trek through muddy cornfields and swampy coniferous forests

(4) Have not been reading so much other than textbooks, which I devour everywhere... my history of sexuality class as some pretty scandalous chapters!

(5) Keeping myself interested- in rug hooking (I want to start!), cooking (mmmmm West African Peanut stewwwwww), the beat generation, hunting (I will explain later)

(6) Constantly dreaming- of today, tomorrow, ten years from now annnnddddd purple unicorns flying through marshmallow clouds

(7) Trying to write- anything!!!!!

-Over and out, DDDDDDDD

Some More Pictures From Bethlehem I Have Been Meaning to Post...

2009-10-09T21:50:00.002-04:00

Two young boys who we met in Bethlehem in the Aida camp....their family took us into their home as guests and fed us (we tried real Palestinian olives!). The young girl in the orange was an aspiring salon stylist.... she insisted on doing my (and Margot the girl we were with) makeup and hair. I even had the veil done properly and boy...I can attest it was hot! They were absolutely amazing to us and I think of them often....especially the lovely baby whose name I cannot spell but is pronounced 'Nee-lah'....I have many interesting photo's from our day there as the boys ran off with the camera and took a million photo's, I especially like the one of their friend on the street looking up :)

-D

My New Career Path (s)....

2009-10-07T18:29:00.005-04:00

Besides being a student that is! I have started off my own cleaning business which I call 'Green and Clean" an eco-friendly business that uses all natural products while leaving your home sparkling! It has really taken off and I have just increased my clientele to five which is sure to keep me busy.
My happy little slogan :)

I also got a job at 'LUSH' woohoo! For the holiday season....As a teenager I made frequent trips to the city to visit what was then, the nearest Lush store. When a Lush opened up in my local mall I was surprised and delighted. Lush’s dedication to maintain ties to ideological values and business ethics are traits that I identify with and personally would like to support. These traits include; organic and vegan ingredients, no animal testing, responsible packaging, hand-made products, and other green initiatives. As a practicing vegetarian and past vegan, Lush became a natural option for me for bath and beauty products. More recently, Lush Cosmetics innovative campaign to raise awareness about palm oil use and the effects this has on Malaysian and Indonesian rainforests is an admirable commitment. Lush’s move to eliminate the use of palm oil in their cosmetics is a responsible move when many other companies, such as Cadbury, continue to increase their use. As a political science student I am well aware of international social-political issues pertaining to this type of environmental degradation. Lush represents a viable, affordable and high quality product that acts as an alternative to companies such as Procter and Gamble and Unilever. The Charity Pot Program with proceeds going to various NGO’s, represents yet another example of an ethical company that I would like to become involved in.

For more info. please look at:

Lush Canada

Ecosalon: The Green Gathering

-Delilah!!!!!

People always ask..."What were your favorite places on the trip?"

2009-09-30T21:26:00.006-04:00

Jack and I agree that it is A) Difficult to choose and B) Czech Republic! Turkey! Israel! I guess if we could choose....ummmm it would be these three.

We did not post too much on our way back through the Czech Republic because our hosts were very magnificence and very thorough. We saw everything in their tiny town of Kopřivnice and learned so much of their Czech custom and food. We met Pavel and Lenka on a night train from Romania and on a whim (and after a bottle of white wine they shared with us) we decided to spend the last week of our trip in their home. It was one of our most memorable experiences by far!

This is in Stramburg, after we hiked a trail to a cave where a child neanderthal skeleton was found, we headed up to this picturesque tower to watch the sunset.
Our fire in the old quarry! Pavel and his brother Michael are in the background playing their song 'Ahojte!' and Elena roasts delicious cheese over the flames (which Jack and I later determined to be Halloumi which we have done on the BBQ at home!)

This is the wild (WILD) hedgehog we ran into on our trek home through the dewy fields. I was in awe that he let us pick him up....Pavel's friend 'Peppa' says he knows him and sees him often in the area at night searching for bugs and slugs and whatever else hedgehogs eat.

Well I gotta return to school work, which is seemingly never-ending despite the fact I am part-time?!?!? Hmmmm....

Over and Out, Deeeeeeelilah

The Canoe Trip on the Magnetewan

2009-09-16T13:23:00.008-04:00

Yeah, I am kinda a procrastinator!!!!! But it is a new school year and I no longer have to rely on dial-up (the only internet available in the boonies where Jack and I currently reside). So I am back for good! People keep asking about updates...they say "WWHHEEENNNNNN?????" So here I am back in my old haunt, pining for the times spent on the open road and planning our next big trip!!! It won't be for a bit, but I am not going to settle for mediocrity! Period.

The camping trip went great and I finally got some photos uploaded. It was largely uneventful (many fish fry's, swimming, hikes etc...) with the exception of when our canoe tipped over when we tried to get over a beaver dam. Jack was in the back steering and I was hesitant to get my feet wet. Big Hmac (mom) was in the middle and had reassumed her roost in an orange lawn chair when it happened. Over went to boat. Luckily we had dropped off most of our supplies on shore but nonetheless I was waist high in beaver shit and not happy. Judging from the sound that came from my mouth , Jack was positive I had broken something. Thanks to my life jacket my head did not get wet, but Big Hmac went directly under and came up with a mouth full of beaver water.

My brother and his GF (Gypsy women as I will refer to her as due to her Hungarian gypsy heritage) could see us. We knew they were laughing. "Most likely to tip....TIPPED!" Gypsy women later sputtered as she laughed incredulously. She was merely jealous as we had dubbed our boat the 'party boat' and she was not privilaged to be part of it.

Anyways, I managed to navigate myself to the top of the dam and gain secure footing (after struggling to extract myself from the black sludge in which I was submerged). We got the water out of the canoe and Jack was so kind as to dive in to retrieve the orange lawn chair that had made itself comfortable at the base of the beaver home.

After we reunited with Daddy-O, Jake and my lil' Bro they expressed unrestrained mirth and mentioned how long it took us to get going again. Hmmmmm... I now have a personal vendetta against all beaver-kind. We then commenced the five hour canoe out to Big Bing Inle, soaking wet and quite cold.

I promise more stories will follow!!!!!

-Delilah

Our West Bank Excursion

2009-08-15T12:32:00.005-04:00

Ok. So here is the deal. After our travels I have been inspired to write. About anything. Things I know and things that are new to me. To expand my mind, to discover and rediscover. I have been thinking for awhile about writing something to submit to my favorite magazine The Walrus (a Canadian publication which is a general interest magazine dedicated to things such as politics, canadian fiction, poetry, art etc...) as well as to our student paper and on campus magazine. I think we has some unique and fantastic experiences on our trip and what better way to connect with the world than sharing through this type of media. I would love your feed back on something I am working on. This is the bare bones; I know what I want to do with it but for starters I just sat down and wrote out what I felt and what I saw. The rest will come.

The day was hot. We boarded a bus outside the old city Damascus gate in Jerusalem and headed to Bethlehem. Waiting attentively, I watched as people boarded the small bus and get off once again. By the time we reached the West bank border, there was only myself, Shaun and another girl (blond, likely a tourist). The bus pulled up and we emerged into the glaring Israel sun, meters from the barricade. Looking around anxiously, I asked the blond girl if she knew where to go. Shrugging she introduced herself as Margot and we discovered we had a mutual acquaintance. Margot mentioned that she was from Switzerland and that she also aspired to journalism.

The three of us watched as buses rumbled past as a woman gestured us toward a door, opening to reveal a concrete passage that immediately took a sharp turn right. Shaun led the way and we walked for a few moments before reaching an open area caged by a chain link fence and sharp, twisted barbed wire. I distinctively recall a single yellow rose, in bloom, growing through the parched soil on the opposite side. Perhaps a desperate attempt to make the border crossing seem less like a cattle corral. I think that rose could be representative of the beauty and generosity that we would later experience within the confines of the wall in Bethlehem.

Army officials stood at attention with smug expressions as the sun formed beads of sweat on their furrowed brows. We entered another gate, again adorned with barbed wire, into the concrete slab structure that was before us. Inside the walls were glaringly white. It was a labrinth of closed doors, metal detectors and x-ray machines. Besides a few men lingering at the other side as they completed the rigorous process of exiting the compound, and the few soldiers about the place was empty. It was silent and possessed an asylum-like quality. We flashed our passports, which were not even open, to a bored looking man in the booth and continued on. Winding our way through more concrete hallways, under red flashing lights, through another chain link fence and metal enclosure we emerged into a barren parking lot.

-Over and out, Delilah

Graffiti of West Bank Part I

2009-08-15T11:33:00.008-04:00

During the duration of the trip we were constantly on the look-out for great graffiti. The best place by far for this endeavor was in Bethlehem, West Bank (the Palestinian territory in Israel). Jack was in his glee snapping photos so this is the first installment here. Enjoy!

-DDDDDEEEEEE

It has been so looonnnnnggggg!

2009-08-07T16:04:00.003-04:00

Helloooooo out there! I realize it has been quite awhile but Jack and I were in motion, flying from Israel to Romania, taking multiple trains to the Czech countryside- where we stayed with the most amazing people ever- then travelled to Germany and flew home to Canada!!!!!

As many of my readers might know I am a university student studying politics and history. I aspire to perhaps one day do journalism so this is my creative outlet for the moment- although I try not to get too controversial on this blog (concerning politics). Since the trip is over, after I catch up on my posts I intend to continue writing and posting so...

PLEASE KEEP READING!!!!

I have some amazing stories to share, including one about our experience in a West Bank refugee camp, about the amazing people we met in the Czech Republic and our experience there, the 600 euro we almost scored, and much more. For the month of August we also have a big canoe trip planned for Northern Ontario so I will include tips on:

How to bear proof your campsite
How to clean a fish
Idea for a tasty camping friendly meal

Anyways, I will keep posting.... Over and out,

-Delilah

Dead Sea!!!!

2009-07-28T00:45:00.006-04:00

Took an hour bus ride to the Dead Sea. When we arrived it was soooo hot! 42 degrees celsius... so we were carefult to consume plenty of water.

Jack and I made our way down to the water (mind you- no sandy beaches just big rocks covered in crusty salt) and dipped in a te. The water was hot as well and you could see it was murky with a film of salt on the surface. When you first walk in you feel a very weird sensation as the water makes your skin feel slick or slimy. You can see Jordan enveloped in a thick haze across the sea and Jack was convinced he could float there.

Before we arrived we got a few pieces of advice from other travellers:

"Do not get it in your eyes! It burns like hellfire!"
"Do not drink the water, you'll vomit"
"Do not try to swim, it might splash in your eyes"
"Most important thing I can tell you, do not for any reason pee in the Dead Sea or open any bodily orifice for that matter! Trust me."

Luckily, Jack and I, after our two dips managed to not succumb to any urges to gargle it or pee in it! All was well!
I just wanted to include few facts about the Dead Sea as well:

It is the lowest elevation on Earth (above water that is); and has been known as the Earths navel
It is 8.6 times as salty as the ocean
No animals orish can live in its environment
The Sea level is dropping as much as 1 meter a year
Large sinkholes form and can be dangerous near the shore due many different ecological factors

Anyways, heads up, Jack and I depart Israel tonight from the Ben Gurion airport and head back to Bucharest. The next few days we will try to scramble back to Germany...hopefully there will be many adventures in store! I will try to keep you updated....I have more exciting stories about Israel and the West Bank to come!

-Deeelllliiilllllah and Jack (who is sleeping ont he couch beside me :))

Free Tour of the Holy City

2009-07-28T00:41:00.002-04:00

A view of the Western wall after passing all the security... A couple of orthodox Jews cruising by after a morning of prayer. If you look closely the right hand side is reserved for women. Many people leave special letters in nooks and crannies of the wall. Our guide described this as a kind of 'direct post office to God.' Also modern technology allows you to email, text message or twitter your requats to God....what is this world coming to! Do not get me to rampage about cellphones- the ban of my existence!

Anyways, Monday was free tour day! There is a company which runs free tours in Jerusalem and across many major European cities as well. It runs on a tipping basis, leave what you can afford if you enjoyed the tour.

Many of the major sites we saw included:

The old city wall and a view of the 'new' city
The Armenian quarter, the Christian quarter, the Arab quarter and the Jewish quarter
The Western wall, or wailing wall which is a very important Jewish holy site
The Dome of the Rock where Mouhammed (the Muslim prophet) ascended into heaven to barter with God
Al-aqsa mosque
The 13 posts, spots marked where Jebus carried the crucifix and places where he fell or his hand touched the wall
The Church of the Holy Seplchur where Jebus is supposed to be buried and resurrected
Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus
Temple mount
Tower of David
and Much more!!!!!
The Brazillian woman on the tour. When everyone in the group introduced where they were from, her son and her were quite obvious as you can see by the brazillian flag vest she is sporting. She was hilarious!She was always wandering arounf muching on falafal and blowing on that horn thing (as seen in the photo). At one point the tour guide, Kobbie, was talking and she had made friends with some young Israeli soldiers. Before we knew it she was blowing that freaking horn again! The whole time her son (in his matching Brazillian flag t-shirt) was either looking for her or snapping photos of her wailing on the horn with the city in the backdrop.
This is a plack dedicated to George Double-yeh Bush for being such a great friend to the Israelis! It is dedicated to him for being such a 'loyal partner to the state of Israel.' One interesting thing to note in a book Jack and I are reading called, 'Power Faith and Fantasy: American Involvement in the Middle East from 1776-Present' George Bush had a great uncle, also named George Bush, who was a pro-zionist and supported the resettlement of Palestine....who woulda thought?

-D

Hitchiking to Jerusalem....

2009-07-28T00:38:00.008-04:00

We set out for the holy city with our packs and two thumbs. We set out from the tip of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret as it is known to the Israelis. After a restless night following the elderly party animals arrival, we went for a morning swim while I continued to stew. They even had the guts to invite us to coffee! Not impressed. If anyone is familiar with 'Bailey' my evil alter-ego please note Bailey was out in full force!

Anyways, made it into town after a trek up to the road and caught a ride with two young guys. Man it was hot! It was only about 8 am but we were pouring sweat. I think it was about 42 degrees celsius and humid. We walked to the edge of town to catchanother ride but we had some competition in town, as there were a few young Israelis also vying for a ride at the designated hitching spot.

"Pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' about half past dead;I just need some place where I can lay my head."Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said." -The Band lyrics, The Weight [had to throw this in there, I love this song! If you have never heard it please youtube now!]

We managed to arrive in Beit Shean and waited at the junction with Nazareth. A few rides later, as the sun climbed higher and higher in the sky we found ourselves effectively stranded in the occupied territory of West Bank in front of an army base on highway 90 to Jerusalem. The one girl we were with caught a ride immediatly and we waited and munched on cookies. After a bit, a bus did arrive which was seemingly our only option as there were not very many vehicles on the road. A girl who arrived shortly after us lent us the three shekels needed to fund our ticket and we were off! Arrived in Jerusalem after a long and arduous day, completely exhausted.

Now about that Holy city...Jerusalem is one of the oldest, continuously occupied cities in the world. It is a crucial holy place for people from all three religious denominations: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the course of it's history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. So some people think it's worth killing and be killed for. Some people think it's beautiful, some say it's ugly, some say it's boring, some say it's fascinating. Some say it's holy. You can find here a mixture of people living in a harmony of love and hate to each other. Some of them say this city changed their life. Some went a little wacky.... [I will update you on mine and Jacks impressions!]

Jerusalem Syndrome is a mental illness thats onset is triggered by a visit to Jerusalem. It centres around religious delusions and psychosis, including a belief that they are the manifestation of the messiah, they represent the second coming of Christ or that God has communicated with them. If you do not believe me see Here!

Also, there is an interesting interview about the illness Here! from which the below quote has been borrowed from;

"The malady called Jerusalem Syndrome is no joke. Afflicted tourists have been found wandering in the Judean desert wrapped in hotel bed sheets or crouched at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, waiting to birth the infant Jesus."

Absolutely bizarre! Hahahahaha!

-Signing out, DDDDD

The Sea of Galilee

2009-07-28T00:34:00.006-04:00

Another sunset....another sea....

Our shoddy campsite after we moved....

Hitched to a public beach after our arrival in Israel. When we arrived at the Sea of Galilee, we started to set up camp under a tree that afforded a bit of shade. After awhile Jack was making a fire pit when he turned over a rock and noticed a turd. He began looking around and noticing more, and more and more, "Theres poo everywhere!....Delilah, we are camping under the shit tree!" This beach was seemingly 'THE' spot to kite surf (which is crazy!) and the kitesurfers used this evry spot to do their business, and everyother spot with a tree. So when the sun retreated we moved to the edge of the water.

The Sea of Galilee is famous for its appearance in the Bible. Here Jesus delivered his 'sermon on the mount,' walked on water, calmed a storm and fed a ridiculous amount of people with some bread. Now the Sea is the place to party on weekends when it is bombarded with rowdy Israelis. We were rudely awoken to 'beats', aka shitty club music, not five metres from our forlorn little camp. There was another group partying far down the beach, but there was tonnes of space and two trucks decided to pull up right next to us at about one in the morning as we lay sleeping peacefully. Music blaring, headlights on about eight geriatrics poured out of the trucks. I was infuriated and prepared to crack skulls. Although Jack asked politely for them to turn down the music they never complied as they loaded their crap onto the pebbled beach. I slept fitfully, haunted by intrusive dreams that included a background soundtrack of 'Boom Boom Bamb Boom" that eerily made me feel as if I was asleep on the floor of a crowded night club.

The next morning, I grinded my teeth and managed to wave an offensive finger to a few of them. They were old! They should know better! I can't even think of it anymore because it make my blood boil....Grrrrrrr....

-D

P.S. about the sea: it is perfectly calm in the morning and warmer than bathwater! In the afternoon to wind picks up and there are wave....then it dies down again as the sun sets.

Our Trip Back to Israel...

2009-07-26T12:17:00.009-04:00

Jack and I caught a bus from Wadi Mousa to the Jordan capitol of Amman. We hopped on the bus with our French-Canadian friend who seems to be following us- aka we have seen him in Egypt, at our hostel in Petra, on the bus and multiple times in Jerusalem now... Jack and I were sitting in the back seat talking with a young couple from Spain. After awhile, the bus made several stops in the desert, and we were joined by a young girl and a man (her father? brother? uncle?) who sat down beside us. They did not say much as the girl peered over the seat at a woman from our hostel listening to an Ipod.

Soon we made some small talk with the local Jordanians; the man was wearing the traditional headress (think Saudi king style), a long white robe and had a massive beard. In rudimentary english he asked us where we were from, if we were married (one day we said, but I think he interpreted 'yes'), and do we like Allah? He kept talking on his cellphone, and I think he was talking to someone who spoke english so they were translating a bit for him. He asked, "Baby?", "No, no, no Students!" we responded. When he asked about Allah we broached the subject tenderly... we were not sure if 'agnostic' translated. All and all it was an interesting ride. From what we interpreted of the conversation he was taking his little sister to visit his wife and baby in the hospitable. The funny thing about the ride is that he kept gesturing to the Spanish couple, "We don't like...not married." I dressed very conservatively for the bus ride, while the girl was wearing a sari exposing her entire leg and canoodling with her BF. The thing about Arab countries is number one: you have to dress conservative. The Jordanian women always wear the veil or the hajib or chador (black material covering everything except your eyes). Our Jordanian friend asked me, "You like the veil? You wear?" All I could do was laugh, thinking I might pass out if I wore that in this heat!

When we got off the bus, us foreigners stuck together. Instead of a bus station we were left on a roundabout island in the middle of the highway. After a moment, collecting our thoughts and looking around we were encircled by a group of men who had taxis waiting for us. "My friend! This way! I make you a deal!" Since beginning our travels we have had enough of cab drivers cutting us a 'deal' so we all loked at eachother and attempted to fnd out where we were. Jack and I were heading to a northern border crossing, so we left the others to fend for themselves and began walking. After a busride, a cab ride and finally another bus ride we reached a town where another cabbie cut us a deal to take us to the border as no buses ran there.

After a long and arduous day we arrived at the border where we discovered we had to pay another cabbie to drive us across the border (to our chagrin), and a bus to drive us 200 metres. When we arrived at the Israeli side, we were searched rigourously and questioned (likely due to Jacks out of control beard and having been in an arab country). We finally made it out alive and started walking. Luckily we hitched a ride and found a decent accomodation (although we literally slept in a janitors closet with a bathroom) for cheap, but the hotel had a pool! and my favorite thing...in the courtyard there was a 'Kitten!'

All is well that ends well in Beit Shean, the city we stayed in. We regrouped and prepared for our next adventure!

P.S I wanted to include a picture of King Abdullah II of Jordan as he is everwhere (a la Ataturk). On the backs of buses, in car windows, blown up photos adorn shops and homes. To find out more visit his official website here. My favorite pic in particular was one of him in army fatigues aiming a rifle on the back of a truck...priceless! Imagine a picture of Stephen Harper (our Canadian Prime Ministers for everyone out there taht might not know) like that! Hahahahaha!

Upon further research I discovered that Abdullah II stared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyageur while still prince....this is Priceless!

Slow Ride Home

2009-07-25T12:37:00.003-04:00

In our hostel in Wadi Mousa we met this really cool Aussie named Ben, who unfortunatly we did'nt get to spend much time with. What we did find out about him was that he had a blog called the Slow Ride Home, documenting his motorcycle journey from London, England where he had been living and working home to Australia!!! Amazing!!! He gave us his address to check it out, and so far he has seen so many different places with so many more to go. We chatted about his upcoming trip to Iran and what else he had planned on the 13 month or so journey. I suggest checking out his blog because as our NZ counterpart Hamish would say "This guy is a LEGEND!"

-Over and out, more posts to come, D

The Bedouin

2009-07-25T12:10:00.004-04:00

When you are in Jordan and Egypt you can camp and travel with a bedouin tribe. Many tribesmen work and live out of the caves surrounding Petra, making their livelihoods offering camel rides, Donkey rides, trips to the desert, and selling food and jewellery.

The bedouin we met, Ali, gave us this saying:

"The Bedouin are as strong as the desert;

Soft as sand;

Quick as the wind;

Free forever."

Check out the wikipedia article on Bedouin

Also, a site documenting Bedouin life in Petra specifically The Bedouin Tribes of Petra; which the photo above is courtesy of [the tea he is drinking is bedouin tea which we enjoyed in Petra and in Egypt, it is a sweet black tea with dried sage leaves....it is delicious!].

Our Donkey Friend!!!

2009-07-25T11:58:00.002-04:00

HHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA....There were Donkeys everwhere! Our friend Eileen, who is German, kept calling them monkeys (as english is not her first language). Jack and I kept looking everywhere "Monkeys! Where!" but all we saw was this friendly fella'...

Petra and Wadi Mousa Part II

2009-07-25T05:10:00.005-04:00

After our trek to the Monastery we befriended a bedouin, named Ali, who lived in a cave a couple of kilometres away. We spent the hottest part of the afternoon hanging out with Ali and listening to him play a rudimentray flute he fashioned out of a chair leg! It was amazing! Later we went to his friends shop and he dressed us up as Bedouin brides, complete with black kohl eyeliner. Jack looked exactly like Moses, hahahaha now that his beard is gettin out of control. He invited us to hang out at his cave later that night but we sadly had to decline as we had paid for dinner at our hostel (a delicious buffet!!!!) and Jack and I were catching the bus to Amman at 6:30 in the morning. Luckily, we will keep in touch with Ali via facebook, because yes, Bedouin tribesmen who live in caves have laptops and facebook...believe it or not!

I will continue to catch up on the blog- at the moment we are in the holy land!!! and we are going to attend a Shabbat lunch hosted by a local Rabbi who we must meet at the Wailing wall at 12:45...so we must vamoose!

-D

Petra and Wadi Mousa Part I

2009-07-25T04:50:00.003-04:00

I am so behind on the posts!!! So I am going to try to bring it up to date as quick as possible. We spent some time in Petra before heading North towards Amman, and crossing over to the Galilee in Israel...
"Hey, Wat up baby...nice donkey if I do say so myself..."

View from the top of a big mountain we climbed to see the monestary in Petra...I am pretty sure from this vantage point we are seeing Israel/ Palestine...

The monestary- If you look very closely, in the right hand corner that is myself (Delilah) and Eileen, the German girl we hung out with in Petra...Good times!

Puffing our way up the mountain..too cheap to pay for a donkey ride plus we felt bad for the poor asses lugging us up to the top... Some little Bedouin boys (riding donkeys) saw Jack, Eileen and myself and remarked: "Lucky man...Two wives!", to our amusement. Many Bedouin take as many as four wives as is customary. The Bedouin work and live in Petra, making a killing off of selling bottled water to thirsty tourists for as much as 3 Jordanian Donair a pop! 1 Donair is the equivilant of a euro roughly....

The treasury! It was beautiful! Amazing! and the camels who chilled in front of it all day... There is Delilah, slowly approaching to make friends with the camels.

Part II will follow....

A How To Guide...

2009-07-20T04:44:00.004-04:00

Make that Camel sit down!!!!

I finally got to ride a camel!!!! I know it is a cliche thing to do in Egypt but it had to be done, especially since we were missing the pyramids. I just took a quick jaunt on one while we were at the blue hole snorkling, it was much fun! They are such peculiar creatures, hee hee.

When we went snorkling our new friend Moustafa (the 26 year old heart surgeon from Cairo)had an underwater camera. We snuck some bread in and wham we were attacked! hopefully got some good pics, he is going to mail them to us when they get developed.

The food in Dahab was cheap. We spent many evenings relaxing with our texan friend and our egyptian friend by the serene waters of the Red Sea (which is surprisingly reddish at sunset due to the reflection of the red tinged mountains in the distance). It was a sad departure when we finally left but we have finally arrived in Jordan! I am going to try and get a guest post from braedon who is heading towards Cairo as compensation of not going... and perhaps I will make a contribution to his travel blog, Coach Merril.

Also, below is a pic of the lovely letter and drawings Moustafa did for us....in Arabic as well! He stayed up all night working on the dragon...I love it! Going in the scrap book!

-Over and out, D

Black Hebrew Israelites

2009-07-20T04:17:00.005-04:00

Picture via gutmusic.garagepunknyc.com

While in Mitzipi Ramon, we learned about the black hebrew settlement in the village. Apparently there was an influx in immigration from the United States, specifically Chicago, of a group of people who claimed to be descendents of the Israelites or of the ten lost tribes of Israel. Although officially identified as practicioners of Judaism, the black hebrews are not fully embraced by the jewish community. they posses their own destinctive traits and traditions. Mainly they are identifiable and known for the long, colorful robes; intricate hairstyles and headdress; vibrant music; adherence to a strictly vegan diet devoid of alcohol and pharmaceuticals and of course their chicagoan dialect....maintained even by second, third and fourth generation Black hebrews living in Israel.

The Black hebrews also settled in a place called Dimona, about a half hour from Be'er Sheva. It is known for its music festivals and vegan/vegetarian restaurants.

For more info I found a wikipedia link for you to check out!

African hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem

We might visit Dimona, if only for vegetarian cuisine, mmmmm!

-Delilah

Eleven Easy Steps to Enter Egypt

2009-07-18T08:57:00.004-04:00

After our stay in Mitzipi Ramon with Adi, and the last night with another couchsurfer Jenny (an english teacher from South Africa) with whom we took in the sunset and saw the hyena 'skulking' around as we decided was appropriate to term it at the end of the world. The end of the world is what Jenny called it when the road stopped. It literally turned to dust and a rough, rocky track descended into the crater floor.

The next day we decided to hitchhike to Eilat to try to cross the border, since hitchiking in Israel is common place in the South and safe. Mostly we saw young families heading on the one road that led to the resort town of Eilat. Jack and I crooned away on the guitar, danced and tried to get a ride. After we exhausted our efforts a white truck (everyone seemingly drives white vehicles) pulled up. A young guy, whose name I cannot remember nor pronounce, loaded us in and we set off. He spoke a bit of english and told us he was visiting friends in Eilat. He was a twenty three year old army officer who cammanded a battalion of tanks, even spending time in the war torn region of the gaza strip. At one point in the trip the traffic was backed up and we went off roading, bypassing the line of cars... and we made it in due time to Eilat and he dropped us off at the bus station.

As I mentioned above, it takes eleven exciting and easy steps to get to Egypt across land. (1) Catch a bus to the border area (called Taba) and walk a hundred feet; (2) Little taba snack bar and cold water fountain; (3) Passport pre-check; (4) Passport control booth, one has to pay 95 Israeli shekels to leave the country, 95! Ludicris!; (5) Israeli last pastport check where they stamp your passport; (6) Stroll through no-mans land; (7) Egyptian passport control- fil out entry form, get stamp; (8) Egyptian security (X-ray machine); (9) Past border passport check and entrance to Egypt fee; (10) You are now encircled by twenty bedouin tribesmen who bicker in arabic about who gets to drive you to your destination because the buses are done for the day, you try to strike a deal, the tourists in your group look either bored or confused, your luggage is loaded and strapped to the top of a random mini-bus so you get inside; (11) Welcome to Egypt! As you speed across the Sinai, taking bends in the road at a neck-cracking, bone crunching speed....you hold on for dear life! Plus pass a million border security checkpoints.....

Luckily, we arrived in Dahab unscathed....life is good and food is cheap! Unfrtunatly we cannot go to the pyramids, long story short, we did not recieve the appropriate visa to visit anywhere outside of the Sinai, nor do we have the funds to retrieve that visa, nor the time....

It is HHHOOOTTTTTT, more updates soon....plus I want to tell you about the Black Hebrews! remind me....

-DDDDDDD

Watching the Sun Rise Over the Negev Desert

2009-07-18T08:40:00.003-04:00

" The sun rises, and the sun drops away. While hundreds of years roll by. The desert is calm, bursts to storm, then silence steals back too its place."

-Chaim Nachman from 'The Dead of the Desert"

The Alpaca Farm and the Epic of the Lost Keys

2009-07-18T07:53:00.003-04:00

The next day, we went to the visitor centre in Mitzipi Ramon and our host took us to see a movie about the desert. We enjoyed the fabulous vistas at a lookout point and Adi dropped us off at the Alpaca farm and left us to our own devices. When we arrived he was adament that he only had one set of keys which were lost by one couchsurfer, thus the blue lanyard attached, so "BE CAREFUL GUYS!". We walked around the farm, had a presentation about Illamas and Alpacas and why there was farm here. Above you can see Jack admiring 'Bambi' the Ilama who was used as a demonstration. Ilamas and Alpacas are indigenous to South America but the owners brought them to Israel after living with native peoples in many countries (such as Bolivia and Peru) and learning about the ways of the animals and their sacredness to the peopes there.

In Israel the Ilamas have begun to be used by the Israeli army to carry supplies. They can withstand extreme temperature, can carry a lot of weight on saddle bags and are very calm. They could be in the midst of war, with bullets flying overhead and will sit quiet and still, chewing their cud. The lady doing our presentation was very nice but did not possess all the words in english to describe some of the Ilamas habits, we had a great time trying to use words to help her describe their poo: "excrement?", "feces?", and we finally decided "turd" was appropriate...like a bunny, heh heh.

The Alpacas are smaller animals and like the ilamas are distant relatives of the camel. They are mostly used for their soft wool, and are a bit more excitable then the Ilamas. When the presentation was through, we were given a canister of food pellets and let loose to walk around. The Ilamas and alpacas mostly were given free range of the farm and ket in check by the border collies...to make sure they did not run away.

We wondered out among them when we heard a peculiar noise. "grough, grough, grough, spppp......", the alpacas had by this point encircled poor Jack as I jumped backwards nervously. He was trying to reach out and feed them, but when one animal was not getting its share it prepared to spit! Ilamas and alpacas spit their cud, food regurgitated from one stomache to another (similar to a cow). We both got spit on a few times but it washed off, although the smell lingered. By the bottom of the food canister we were more content to feed the ponies, donkeys, horses, ilamas and even the dogs...but nt the alapaca's because we prefered not to get spit on.

Afterwards we set off into the desert and walked back into town, had lunch and meandered. We were about to pick up some groceries and to our surprise the keys were missing!!!! An epic search ensued. We walked back to the patio we ate our falafal on, we walked back to the apartment, back to the watertower, we even had the audacity to sneak by our hosts place and peak in his truck to see if they fell on the seat! We felt horrible! After his implicite instructions to "NOT LOSE THE KEY!", back up the big hill to the visitor centre, Jack and I walked dejectedly in the glaring, mid afternoon desert sun. We searched the entire centre while one of the ladies working there diaed the Alapaca farm. The keys were found!!! Now we only had to walk all the way outside f town, about a five mile trek to the farm. We set out, with water in tow and walked along the crater edge, the Ramon Mahktesh. We met a nice dude bicycling and chatted, rested beside an army compound (where we saw an Ibex and two babies!), and began to cut through a rocky outcrop when a large blazing white landrover pulled into view on the road. We ran towards it and the lady asked if we needed a ride. "We are going the otherway"..."jump in" she said and she drove us to the farm, we picked up the keys and deposited us outside of a key cutting centre. She thought we were nuts walking out there without a hat! All is well that ends well, we presented the newly cut keys, our fantastic adventure and a botte of wine to Adi and his wife later that evening...

-DDDDDDD

Mitzipi Ramon and the Negev desert

2009-07-17T02:59:00.003-04:00

We took the bus from Tl Aviv to Be'er Sheva and then jumped on another to Mitzipi Ramon (pronounced Mitz-ahh-peh Rah-Mone...Jack had trouble buying the ticket b/c no one could understand his mispronounciation!)

The bus was loaded up with soldiers heading to the huge army/ training base in the Negev and Jack and I stared out the windowin awe at the desolate and alien landscape that stretched before us. The bus driver was a young guy with a smile plastered on his face and was wearing a mint green shirt and black tie. He bopped along to the music as we hurtled through the rocky desert...I remember the song playing distinctly, it was the fifties classic "Its my Party and I'll Cry if I want To."

Upon our arrival to the tiny town of Mitzipi Ramon, we hunkered down for a falafal to find our bearings. All one could see for miles was rocks, dust, and an endless blue sky. We had arranged two couchsurfers in the town, and we dialed up our first host Adi. When he arrivd he excused himself to go into the corner store then drove us to where we would be staying. To our surprise we would be occupying Adi's mothers apartment that she frequented every few monthes, in other words we got our own pad! Out of the bag of things he bought at the store he pulled out chocolate chip-hazelnut cookies and a few beers. We got acquainted and Adi showed us around the place.

That night we went over to his beautiful house down the street. He gave us a tour of their garden in the back, full of herbs and fruit trees. Then we relaxed on the rooftop terrace with his wife, who served us tea (made from the garden herbs) and wraps (veggie for me and chicken swarma for Jack). They were the most hospitable hosts and we chatted for a bit. Adi is a theatre teacer at the local highschool and spends his summer vacation writing (currently a book of shortstories based inthe serene desert town of Mitzipi Ramon).

I gotta wrap up the post for now...we are going snorkling (we are in Egypt by the way)...but internet access is secure so more posts will follow shortly! I will regal you with stories about Alpacas spitting, the lost keys, traversing the endless desert, seeing a hyena, sleeping under the stars, hitchhiking, the longwinded process of trying to cross the egyptian border, the crazy bedouin drivers in the Sinai and all about Moses and the Ten Commandments! Phew, that was alot. I am going to get biblical on you!

-Delilah

P.S The weather in the desert was beautiful...imagine...it even got cold at night! It is a dry heat during the day- no humidity like Tel Aviv and nighttime was comfortable and breezy....

Shalom שָׁלוֹם

2009-07-13T04:19:00.004-04:00

Sorry it has been so long for a post! After our initial arrival in Tel Aviv we have been sightseeing and absorbing the Israeli culture! We have been staying with a girl named Noa from the couchsurfing community (if you have not heard of it check it out!) who had been so kind to host us for a couple of days. She tok us out with her friends, to the beach, a restaurant she enjoys and we have had many great adventures. It is extremely interesting meeting somebody from Israel, to recieve the inside scoop about the city and about Israeli life in general. Noa (not like Noah's ark she informed us...which is mispronounced when it is anglicized....it should sound like Noa(esh)) grew up on the Kibbutz and has been living in Tel Aviv for the last year.

Jack and I were excited to meet Noa. After we called we set up a meeting place near her house, where we waited for her after work after having a nice nap in the park. We walked to her place in a quiet and beautiful suburb of the city called Kiryat Ono. After introductions...and a much needed shower!.... we hit the town. We spent a few days traversing Tel Aviv...going to an outdoor antique market on Sabath (Israeli weekends span Friday and Saturday and the week starts Sunday unlike our own weekend), went to the beach, went hat shopping for her friend, visited an awesome indian restaurant (where we spent the night on the terrace roof for very cheap). We split up for an evening and Jack and I stayed in a hostel in the Old Jaffa District of the city and spent some time being smashed by the waves on the mediteranean coast plus getting a mean sunburn (Boo).

Last night we returned to Noa's for a farewell dinner and to retrieve our bags. We are planning a trip to Galilee for the weekend after next so we will meet again. I have to finish up the post as we are catching a bus to the Negev desert in the south...will update soon! Lots to say!!!!

The beach at sunset.....breathtaking!

The Port of Old Jaffa.

The crazy cats in Kiryat Ono, whom are fed by an old lady. There are so many of them, I could not believe it! When we went back to Noa's we remembered how to get there after seeing the cats milling about near dusk...heh heh...
A cool performance artist at the artists market that opens on Friday mornings....He was surreal.

-DDDDD and JJJJJJ

Amazing Graffiti in Tel Aviv

2009-07-13T04:09:00.002-04:00

Well Tel Aviv take ths prize for the best Graffiti we have seen on our trip so far. The walls of this city are plastered with amazing street art which reveals the cool vibe the city emotes. Some are politicized, some pose for pure asthetic purposes, and there are many identifiable artists who do multiple pieces around the city. We'll post more from around Israel as we head south!

-Jack

Arrival!!! At Last!!!

2009-07-09T03:20:00.002-04:00

We finally have arrived!

The last three days have been absolutely exhausting but Jack and I are ready to go explore the city of Tel Aviv...After a much needed shower that is. We notice that flies were suspiciously hovering only around us at the airport in Bucharest...hmmm...hope our smell did not offend anyone.

Our last day in Bulgaria we loitered at the train station aka laid on the floor and devoured our books until our departure time at 22:00. Side note: currently Jack is reading 'What is the What' by Dave Eggers and I am infatuated with 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' by Azar Nafisi. Anyways our last super cheap meal in Bulgaria was pizza and peanuts and then, as I mentioned previously, our destroyed loaf of bread that was better suited to feeding birds.

The train was a soviet era 1950's contraption, which had windows that would not open, despite the ferocity we used to try and crank them. I slept fitfully in the heat but at least it was a bed not the ground or an uncomfortable bus seat. The toilet on the train, when you flush it your excrement and pee goes right onto the tracks!!!! I personally could not get over that part! But I guess it is better, au natural.

The comrades arrived in arms in Bucharest at 6 am, a city not known for its good reputation. We meandered, we weighed our options and slept in a park. One was on lookout duty with the other caught some much needed shut eye. We only saw a few questionable characters, including a raving old lady complete with a cigarette dangling in her mouth and a two-litre bottle of the cheapest beer money can buy in Eastern Europe. Luckily she chose to bypass us in her ramblings, likely because she thought we were in the same circumstance as herself...sleeping on a park bench and all, or so we joked.

Arrived at the Otopeni International Airport and killed time playing Rummy and chess with our new friend Clara... a nice Romanian woman who could speak Spanish, Italian, Romanian, English and Dutch! She fed us traditional Romanian pastries and a green pepper (who she curiously ate like an apple)! It was amazing! She had a soft spot for Canadians as her husband hailed from Vancouver.

Our flight did not board until 21:00. It was a small Romanian Airlines plane; 737 Boeing. Eager to take off, Jack and I sat and waited while the engines revved up. We held hands as the plane prepared for take off when, all of the sudden a muffled voice came over the speaker phone. We could not quite make out what th voice had informed us of as we exchanged hesitant glances with the Romanian gentlemen seated next to Jack. The plane returned to the hanger. People stretched their legs as the lights cam back on. After a half hour delay, Jack and I held hands, tighter than before as I had become quite nervous about the flight by this point. The plane shuddered to life, we approached the runway, the pilot tested the brakes one more time and we ascended into the dark, starless night... A blood red moon hanging low on the horizon was creeping towards us, visible from the right hand window. It leant an eeriness to the whole experience. Anyways, we arrived in one peice after almost three hours. And to our delight, they fed us! The food was terrific!

Israel. Customs was no problem. We spent the night sleeping in the airport as it was past midnight by the time we arrived and we (a) were too cheap to pay for accomodation for the night and (b) were hesitant to go wandering around a city we knew nothing about in the dead of night. The chairs were very uncomfortable but we made do. Ventured into the city and here we are!!!

Arranging to meet up with a friend of a friend to see the city and get a tutorial in Hebrew...so far our impressions/ observations of Israel:

It's hot!
There are palm trees everywhere
The food looks delicious
There are soldiers everywhere (military enrollment is a requirement for both men and women)

Too tired to think of anymore, will update soon....

Shalom, Delilah

Heading out today....

2009-07-07T06:41:00.004-04:00

Quick update.... We are jumping on a night train to Bucharest, scrambling to the airport and flying to Isreal (Israel...I can never spell it!).... Next post will be from Tel Aviv!!!! We are starting to run short on funds so we are eating a loaf of bread for dinner, bon apetite....

-DDDDDD + JJJJJJ

P.S

Picture via Engage

Back in Good Old Eastern Europe...

2009-07-05T12:57:00.003-04:00

Where erotic sex shops are on every street corner and women can not only wear shorts (yeah I can wear shorts comfortably again without men Oggling me like in Turkey!) but they can wear pretty much any amount of cloths they desire! Women go topless on the beach!

We arrived in Varna, Bulgaria on Saturday. We wandered around for a bit, followed some dude from our bus looking for a hostel which was unsuccessful (a french canadian muscle man), had tea, slept in a park, and finally found accomodation using the internet at a gamer lair called DOOM. The initial thing we noticed is that it is so much different from Turkey here although it is only about an eight hour bus ride away...we noticed the culture is much more liberalized as I mentioned above the freedom women possess; women work in shops, go to bars alone etc etc....

Anyways we are having the strangest experience in the strangest hostel that I am not so keen on... we have a few days to kill before we have to get to Bucharest (Romania) to catch or flight to Israel. Yes! We are going to Israel!!! Woo hoo!!! So basically we have been relaxing on the coast of the Black Sea. There is not much otherwise to do in Varna except drink cheap beer.

We arrived at our hostel which is inhabited by S.African, British, American men who all like to drink. Here they serve Vodka for breakfast out of the 'famous' funnel while free beer and icecream is handed out at seven. I politely declined the funnel at nine in the morning before we were shown our room. The main hostel is full so we have been placed in another apartment about ten minutes away. The apartment is occupied by said men who work for accomodation. It is pretty filthy; think six single dudes who drink a lot of beer in one small apartment...hmmm... They are pretty nice I guess, but it is not my cup of tea for sure.

Jack and I are not sure of our plans for the next couple of days, we fly out Wednesday night... we will see what happens... it might be another beach day tomorrow.... I'll update soon....

-Dededededelililililahahahahaha

Some more Pictures From Turkey...

2009-07-05T12:37:00.005-04:00

We left Turkey...hopped on the bus and hit the open road! It was sad departing our little apartment, but we were itching for something new. Here are a few of my favorite pics from when we were traveling about with the units....

PPPPeeaaacccee, Delilah

Interview with the Parents

2009-07-02T07:39:00.003-04:00

So our whirlwind tour of Turkey has sadly come to an end. Shipped the parental units off last night (with postcards to mail from Canada b/c it is so much cheaper! heh heh). To conclude their travels I decided to host a brief interview of their experiences, perceptions and (mis)perceptions of Turkish culture.

Question 1. You were culture shocked! What were the most shocking things you saw?

Your neighbourhood; kids running around at all hours, garbage floating around, stray cats and dogs everywhere, the men selling random things from the backs of trucks, when a truck came spraying pesticides on the kids and women, when they had a herd of sheep and they slaughtered one right in the street! Roosters crowing although we are in the most urban part of the city.
The toilets!!! " 'cuz they are just a hole in the ground surrounded by ceramic and you have to squat over it. Not a big fan."
The streets; people weaving among cars, taxis driving aggressively, narrow steep streets
The restaurant district and how pushy they can be.
A woman sitting in the dirty street in her wedding dress
How well dressed people in the slums are
No one wears a helmet on motorcycles and mopeds
How cows and horses graze beside a four lane highway and there is no fences to stop them from going on the road
Men selling water on a big highway at night, weaving between cars
How men sometimes gawk at single women... especially the blondes! More so than home even!
How swank the buses are- stewards serving drinks and treats; also how the spare bus driver sleep under the bus with the luggage!
In small towns people drive tractors like cars with the whole family loaded in the back
Muslim women swimming the full hijabb
The food! not like home hence Daddy-O's gastrointestinal illness

Question 2: What is the same to home?

McDonalds, Burger King etc... (McDonalds has a McTurk burger heh heh)
Irish Pubs
People dress pretty much the same except for the predominance of muslim women, which we have at home but not as many

Question 3: Favorite places or experiences?

Mom-

Shopping in the bazaar and Istiklal cadessi... "I am bad at haggling though!"
Visiting my first mosque, much different than a church but very beautiful.
Boat cruise of the Bosphorus was relaxing
Loved the Topkapi palace, the Harem and the "Big diamond... which was 186 karats!!!"
Cappadocia was "Freaking awesome"; the underground city was "amazing but scary"; our cave hotel was beautiful, peaceful and the staff was astoundingly friendly
Fields upon fields of sunflowers on the Gallipoli peninsula
Trying 'real' Turkish Delight

Dad-

Seeing the old mopeds they drive around, some more than 30 years old!
Gallipoli, the tour of Anzac cove
Going to the Flintstone bar with a young Canadian couple we met, they have a fire going there...and good music
The best night was the night on the town with our Turkish movie star friend in Istanbul!
The 160 km per hour ride down the mountain from our Cabbie guide that took us on the Anzac tour; Mom put her seatbelt on as they hammered it down winding roads and he laughed exclaiming "Do not worry! I drove a tank for 18 months!"

Question 4: Overall impressions? Messages?

Even more different than we expected! But fun!
The Turkish people were extremely friendly and very hospitable and nice (way friendlier compared to our trip to Scotland!)
It is safe! Some people in Canada view Turkey as a very dangerous place which it is not at all... we felt safe the entire time!

And so Jack and I continue on the last leg of our journey... Two brave souls set out into the great unknown... We are thinking about camping out on the Black Sea for a few days before catching a flight to Isreal.

Cappadocia- Land of Fairy Chimneys and Beautiful Wild Horses

2009-06-26T12:43:00.006-04:00

We took the overnight bus to Cappadocia and it is the most amazing place I have ever seen! The name is a derivative from the old Persian name Katpatuka, meaning land of beautiful wild horses. It is a surreal almost alien landscape made up a these things called 'fairy chimneys' created by volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Over time due to erosion the unique cave structures we see now were created. The town we are staying in dates from Biblical times (and is mentioned in the Biblical Book of Acts). We explored many churches hewn into caves that date from the 7th to the 11th century as well as an underground city that served as a refuge for prosecuted Christians that were located in the area.

Cappadocia is famous for pottery, rugs and red wine!
A typical Fresco in the churches which have been preserved through the centuries. This one in particular is probably the most well preserved that we saw. It is disappointing though because many of the faces or eyes have been scratched off over time before these churches were included in the UNESCO world heritage sites in 1985. The most likely explaination is that many muslim farmers resided in the area in later times and many inhabited these caves. Conflict of beliefs (and also creepy eyes staring at you while you sleep) prompted this defacement.

A typical cave house exhibited in the area, people still live in these although in Goreme many have been converted into Pensions, hotels or bars.

Our amazing Cave hotel, complete with pool, Yahoo! It is quite nice staying in a cave as it is well insulated, meaning it is cool in the summer and warmer during the winter monthes. Cappadocia experiences strange weather patterns, it is either really hot or really cold. It gets snow as well, amazingly enough.

The very happy camel we saw on our walk to the Goreme Open air museum. I just had to include him!

I will post some more pictures of some of the sights we saw on our tour yesterday! For everyone I promised a postcard they are on their way!!! I pinky swear!

-Ddedededededelilililahahaha

P.S I cannot believe Micheal Jackson died...Insanity! My cousin is obsessed with anything MJ and she declared to me via Facebook that her summer is RUINED. I send my condolences out to her. RIP MJ. My Mother is also astounded that Farrah Fowcett died as well. RIP Farrah.

Is...TaN...BuL....CoN...StAn...TiN...oPLe

2009-06-26T12:19:00.004-04:00

Hagia Sophia from behind

We have been busy busy busy doing a whirlwind tour of Istanbul with the units...but having a fantastic time!

Went to the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi palace...did a night on the town where we made friends with Huesyn, a Turkish drama actor (or so he tells us). He took us to his favorite bar, a place we would never have found without him. There was an amazing band playing traditional music and he treated us to beer, wine and nibbles. One of the band members and his wife showed us a turkish folk dance. Huesyn had us all dancing, even Daddy-O! It was the best night we had in istanbul thus far!!!

Blue Mosque from the front...

Jack's battle wound.... walking down the infamous steep street our apartment is on I was carrying the groceries when 'POP!' as bottle of mineral water poking out of the bag went flying to the ground. It shattered spraying Jack's leg with shrapnel. We were shocked at the amount of blood! It ended up being a small one centimeter cut but wow it gushed as you can see from the sock. He was O.K, it was nothing a shot of vodka could not solve.

Walking down the Kabatas to take the units to the Topkapi palace...

Finally, Jack outta that freaking urn! Hahahahahaha!!!!!

The Parental Units Have Arrived Safe and Sound!!!!

2009-06-24T04:05:00.003-04:00

Jack and I collected Big Hmac and Daddy-O from the airport on Monday and have been busy showing them around istanbul...the first night we kicked back with some beers after taking a stroll down Istiklal Cadessi (the main shopping district). We did a cruise of the Bosphorus Strait yesterday and then went to lunch in a little village we got dropped off at, near the mouth of the Black Sea.

All the people milling about Istiklal Cadessi (meaning independence avenue)

The boat we took.....NOT! See below!

Delilah and Big Hmac taking in the sun on the boat cruise!

Daddy-Os delicious fish lunch... not really expecting three little fish but pretty tasty nonetheless, I managed to steal bits of skin to feed the cats begging under the table heh heh...

Now I will hand the keyboard over to the Chief aka Big Hmac who has been eager to let everyone at home know she arrived safe and now will impart her initial impressions:

Hello from Istanbul! We expected a culture shock and boy did we get one!!! D and J's apartment was a major surprise. Well, not actually the apartment which is very nice and comfortable apart from the bathroom, which has the shower right in the room. This means it sprays on the sink, floor, toilet! Very strange indeeed!!!

Outside, as Delilah has explained, are numerous kids, old muslim mama's and men carrying on until late into the night. Oh, and lets not forget the cats everywhere (and curiously the herd of sheep outside the window when we arrived... one of which was slaughtered in the street). Apart from being jet lagged, the general uproar coming from outside keeps you awake. So chess and cards have been our late night entertainment. Daddy-O beat Jack in chess which imparted quite a shock!!

The boat ride yesterday was beautiful and we also visited a mosque which was very interesting and beautiful. There are so many people everywhere! A very busy city ! The weather is hot hot and still hotter! Anyhoooo today we are heading out to the Blue mosque and Hagia sofia. We are also going to the bazaar to find gifts and hopefully our haggling skills are up to par! I tried to pratice at home before I came...now we will find out if it has paid off.

Signing off now... Updates to follow soon, 10=4 over and Out!

Some more pictures of Gallipoli!!!

2009-06-20T19:10:00.002-04:00

The absolutely beautiful view from the campground.

The beach!!! Oh how I long for thee...

Our pathetic little camp...except for the fact we have a fridge. We kind of got attacked by the mosquitoes at night, but at least it was warm.

Our South African friend has departed, until we meet again in Canada in one year we will hope your travels are safe! But my parents arrive on Monday and we will be busy helping them navigate their way around istanbul, and we might be heading back to Gallipoli! Woot!

-Delilah

Friends of Jayyous Interview

2009-06-20T14:13:00.011-04:00

I am sure I have mentioned our Indian-American neighbour Karan who occupies the apartment above ours. I have been meaning for quite awhile to interview him about the NGO he started while an undergraduate student at the University of Washington. Tonight is our lucky chance!

We have been kicked out of our studio size apartment for a luxe sprawling one bedroom apartment complete with three...yes THREE....burners on our hotplate...that's right... a TV and a real shower! (not the kind you can pee on the toilet while being pummeled by the shower head) while they fix the leak in our washroom.

Anyways, back on track. Koran is over this evening making his 'famous' pasta sauce and entertaining us with his philosophical meanderings.

*D is Delilah

*J is Jack

*K is Karanvir (Koran for short)

D: So Mr Singh, describe to us how this all started? When did you visit Jayyous?

K: Visited 2003 and 2004, I was in the Middle East typically as a tourist, having a good vacation and it was friend Mark who went to Jayyous first. When we met in Seattle having travelled abroad we discussed how we noticed the different quality of lifestyle we were privilaged to in the West. It seemed some people struggled to buy day old bread while others lived luxeriuosly...it didn't seem right.

D: What happened next?

K: We had a long discussion. What could we do in the name of citizen diplomacy to make some difference or some small change. The village of Jayyous came up; it is located in the West Bank and there was proposition to have it blocked or walled up by the Israeli apartheid. In many ways this proposition directly affected the livelihoods of the villagers. The legal implications of the wall impeded the people of Jayyous to travel to sell their product and greatly reduced their standard of living.

J: What did the Israeli's expect them to do?

K: Israel wanted the peoples to begin to farm tomatoes instead, in that way they could maintain a monopoly on the produce by having strict control of the water sources. It effectively put the villagers in a strangle hold as they would have absolute control.

D: What made you want to get involved? Seems like a lot of work...

K: Obviously, it is the disparity of lifestyles. The multiple layers of depression. We are about the revolution, of making things accessible to the disadvantaged.

J: I just want you to clarify some of your sentiments towards Israel, especially as it is a very touchy political subject.

K: I want to make it clear there is no animosity to Israel. It is a powerful state and the other [the Palestinians] are a disenfranchised group who lack political and economic power compared to their neighbour. There is existing disparity and social immoblity. If the situation was reverse and there was a powerful Palestinian state oppressing a Jewish portion of society we would act in the same manner. Whether they are Jewish or Palestinian does not matter to us. It is the fact that there is oppression.

D: So tell us the first steps in getting Friends of Jayyous started.

K: Well, I was just graduating but Mark was still a student. Mark applied for the Mary Gates Scholarship which existed to promote idealist projects and progressive ideas in the social sciences.

D: How long did it take?

K: It was quite a lengthy process, there were interviews and they filtered ideas down. We were accepted and received a fund of around 5,000 US to start a fledgling project.

D: O.K what were the next steps after this?

K: At first it seemed daunting, we had no business experience, no experience creating web sites...nothing. We knew nothing about taxation or legal requirements. At times it seemed as though the project would not happen. But we prevailed.

J: Any extra difficulties dealing with Palestine specifically?

K: Well it really depended on this one guy we met Abdel Latife who really facilitated communication. We then used money from the fund to pay for initial bottling and Mark kind of had to pay a bit out of his student loan to pay for the label design.

D: Who designed the label?

K: It was a friend of Mark's from Palestine, a known local artist who I was introduced to when I went back to Israel and Palestinian territories.

D: What happened when you went back? What did you expect?

K: There was no expectation how we would be treated. It really was about social difference. We connected with the people on a level 'I see you, you see me...let's shake hands.' I feel we really bridged a gap, the mystery surrounding the 'other' had disappeared. These were no longer people on TV or in the paper. Palestinians were not so unlike us. We really wanted to promote a cultural bridge. It is like a carpet, we are all unique strands woven together to create a world community and together we create something beautiful.

J: What happens when you purchase the olive oil?

K: First of all it is 100% a non-profit endeavour. We only pay for shipping and the rest of the funds go directly to the community fund for the people of Jayyous to determine how it is used. We are as non-involved with the process as possible. When you purchase the oil you enable the kids to get clothes, school supplies, sufficient food.

J: Is it self-sustainable?

K: We have yet to find out if this is achievable. So not yet, it is an eventual goal, but the project is totally non-profit.

D: What is the most important thing derived from the experience?

K: Most important thing is that we would someone to look at we did on an individual level, not two experts, like anyone out there who wants to make the world better. If anyone is inclined do not think twice. Pick your cause. In the end, all you have done is try to be a better person and that is not too bad.

J: Was it worth it? Did you learn a lot?

K: It is not about Jayyous itself. It is about keeping the spirit, the mentality of concious buying alive. We learned that two students can start something like this and feel good about what they have done. It is about anti-typical consumerism, not your run of the mill capitalism. For me it is spirituality, human outreach and what it means to the dude who squeeze these olives...

CONTACT FRIENDS OF JAYYOUS VIA:

http://friendsofjayyous.com/default.aspx and email them for details while their new website gets set up!!!

Picture Via http://annies-letters.blogspot.com/2009_02_22_archive.html

Scrap-Booking

2009-06-18T07:40:00.004-04:00

So Lauren and I discovered we were kindered souls because we both scrap booked and thus it was logical for us to travel together. Often times we serenade Jack with Beatles songs while we work cutting up paper and colouring (much to his disgruntlment...we are not exactly good singers).

Included is two of my many pages completed in istanbul...depictions of nargile, turkish tea and backgammon! The two of us are little vultures, tearing off labels of beer bottles, snagging travel pamphlets and picking up newspapers...heh heh great minds think alike!

Au Revoir Haminator

2009-06-18T07:13:00.005-04:00

Our New Zealand counter-part has sadly departed for Scandanavia before he heads to South-East Asia... And once again there are three. We had a lovely departing dinner. Jack and I prepared a special going away gift... a Turkish eye for protection, a beer, chips, pistachio nuts for sustainance among other things. Hamish gave Jack and I a piece of Jade which we will get carved into a pendant known in Maori as Hei-tiki. It is a traditional Maori gift in New Zealand and I believe it must be given by a friend.

Watching Man vs Wild will not be the same without him. Hamish joined our entourage way back in Prague and we have had many grand adventures! We wish him all the best and will continue to try and coax him to visit in Canada or meet us in Cuba next year! We already know Lauren is coming to visit...but I will still be sad to see her depart as well :(.....

Gallipoli

2009-06-16T05:11:00.003-04:00

Loaded up the crew and set forth for Gallipoli, a peninsula situated on the Aegean coast of the Mediteranean sea. We were astounded by the absolute beauty of the aqua blue coast line, sprawling beaches and decidedly overall atmosphere. Our campground was a minute walk from the beach, and from that vantage point we could see a Greek Island.

We spent a few days relaxing on the beach, swimming in the salty water, trying to tan and hanging out with the extremely friendly Turkish university students who extended their hospitality to us. Our neighbours were so kind as to turn up at our camp bearing gifts and food... likely because of the state of our situation they assumed we were poor. We lacked a tent and slept under a rudimentary tarpaulin strung between trees. The last night we smoked nargile (water pipe containing flavored tabaco) and indulged in Raki, a traditional Turkish liqour which you mixed with water. As soon as I took a sip of the Raki (which is an anise-flavored apertif) I shuddered and I got goosebumps running up my arms! I was just researching how to spell Raki and this is what Wikipedia revealed to me "In Turkey, raki is the unofficial 'national drink' and it is traditionally consumed mixed with water; the dilution causes this alcoholic drink to turn a milky-white colour, and possibly because of its colour, this mixture is popularly called aslan sütü (or arslan sütü), literally meaning "lion's milk" (a(r)slan is also used to mean strong, brave man, hence milk for the brave)."

On our last day we hiked to Anzac cove, which was the landing place for the Australian and New Zealander troops during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915. After galavanting about, and running into a very poinsonous snake in the depths of a bunker we investigated we managed to arrange a guided tour we a cab driver for 60 Lira. We learned much about the campaign and the role of the Ataturk in the battle. There is one quote we stumbled upon in particular which was enjoyable uttered by the Ataturk himself and immortalized in a memorial of Anzac Cove, commemorating the loss of thousands of Turkish and Anzac soldiers in Gallipoli.

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.
—Atatürk 1934

The New Zealanders who flock to this area of the country are embraced by the Turks and no traces of animosity exists. Hamish was excited to meet a few people sporting New Zealand motif t-shirts and hats. Our guide was hilarious and well versed. On our trip back into town he cranked a disc and 90s music and we rocked out to MC Hammer 'Can't touch this' while racing around bends in the road with the windows down and hair flying.

Overall, Gallipoli was beautiful and we are planning to take my parental units to visit when they arrive in istanbul next week!

Ohh la la, Delilah

The Turkish Bath

2009-06-15T13:59:00.004-04:00

Hello, this is Lauren. I'm a single gal who attached myself to this entourage of travelling folk in order to get the benefits of their free pad in Istanbul and access to their culinary wizardry. Lekker ek se!* I interrupt this blog owing to the fact that Delilah is an exemplary house wife who happens to know her place in the kitchen, and does not possess the skills to prepare my dinner and update this blog simultaneously. Hence this compromise... :)

Adventures in a Turkish Bath House

After an arduous journey led by the Haminator himself, we found ourselves on a rather grey street corner somewhere in central Istanbul wondering which road would lead to our destination, a Turkish Bath House. Ham Sandwich insisted on continuing straight along the road which we'd come on. Delilah and I disagreed with his navigational skills, owing to the incongruity of the road numbers according to the address we had written down. Jack stood silently on the street corner looking with a seemingly wise air about him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, we were approached by a pair of ancient looking old Turk gentlemen, who informed us we were already standing right outside the ablution house and need only enter (through separate entrances according to sex naturally). All the while two precious little young'uns peered over their shoulders, interested in the alien behavioural habits of real life foreigners.

Delilah and I migrated slowly toward the female entrance. The door was made up of two swinging portions, one of which was fully open. We went inside, half expecting a neat reception with a sweet lady who would gesture towards a changing room and provide us with towels. No such luck. Greeting our virgin eyes were a bunch of rather voluptuous old Turkish women, half of which were naked and the other half sporting rather sexy panties. The leader of the pack came forward and spoke: "Hello lady, bath lady?" Simultaneously, we smiled, and indicated that a bath was exactly what we'd come for. "How much," Delilah responded. "1 ten bath, 2 ten special." This was a fraction of what any of the tourist houses we'd found online had quoted, so unanimously decided that a special bath it would be.

We were ushered into a small room with a bed in it, where we stripped down to the bare essentials (panties and a towel). We then moved into the actual cleansing area, and poured water on ourselves using the buckets provided. It was so incredibly humid that the cold water was rather welcome. The walls were covered in moss, presumably a couple of years worth at least. We then lay down on a central slate, as per the pack leader's instructions, and awaited further commands. As we turned our heads to the left for a more comfortable lying position, we spotted her. A rather over sized lady with a spectacular display of rolls hobbled past...she was wearing a gorgeous pair of pink knickers, which exposed her equally rolley bottom when she bent over to reach for some shampoo. Delilah and I suppressed a giggle, and awaited the return of the pack leader to her lair (Here in after referred to as Mustafina). She brought with her a second worker, who stood beside me and started a scrub down exfoliation, followed by a hair wash. Mustafina took the task of cleaning Delilah into her own paws.

*Delilah is done with cooking, cleaning and other house hold chores not fit for a South African of my social stature who is accustomed to having a personal maid to take care of such pleb tasks. We will continue writing this together*

After the bath itself, we stood around for a while and until we were beckoned into the main entrance parlour by Mustafina and Mohamaddina (my washer who sported a pair of sheer chiffon lace under garments-and nothing else). We have already mentioned that the ladies in this area of the bath house were rather naked. What we failed to mention was their preoccupation with other activities which did not have anything to do with ablutions...cooking some kind of mysterious pasta mix, smoking fags and the act of receiving a bikini wax rather kaalgat* in the middle of the common room. Now was time for the massage...wooooooot!

Delilah was shoved into a small room that came off of the main one, while I was plonked right in the middle of every-man's land for all present to take in. Mustafina and Mohamaddina both got down to business, breasts freely swinging in time to the rhythm of their massage routine. I was rather spoiled in that Mohamaddina serenaded me, making sure that each recital made me smile more than the one before. I could hear the gum chewing of Mustafina despite the fact that she was in another room.

So frequently, those who are not fluent in English are the same who have a healthy curiosity for English culture and long to discover where people hail from. When asked this, I replied: "South Africa." The most common response was exactly the one which I received from Mohamaddina, echoed by a couple of Turks spotted about the room: "Africcaaaa?" She then slapped her cheek and slowly repeated her response. She beckoned to my white ass and relatively underdeveloped anatomy (in comparison to the stereotypical mamma), and made it clear that my failure to have a darker complexion equaled an impossibility to have hailed from this "dark" continent. She gestured to my companion: "Canada," Delilah responded. She seemed much more relieved at this information than the disclosure of my African roots. "Ah, lady, Khan-a-daa."

We finished off and found ourselves outside the bath house beneath the strong rays of Turkish sun before we knew it. The boys had exited only 2 minutes before us, and we sat down to compare tales of the Turkish Hammami. We had had visions of the boys being accosted by large, hairy, greasy samples of machismo. It seemed that their experience was much the same as ours, minus the breast swinging and singing. They also failed to receive the same level of pampering as we did. While we enjoyed a relaxing massage, they were having their backs cracked and being slapped with wet towels (grrrr).

All out, it was a very satisfying experience that both Delilah and I would recommend to anyone who has the opportunity (and guts) to strut their goods in the wilds of a Turkish bath house.

*Lekker ek se: Good, I say

*kaalgat: butt naked

*Note on the names: We were aware that Mustafa and Mohammad were common male turkish names, but being in a misogynist society our knowledge of common female names was lacking. We therefore added the feminine suffixes "ina" for lack of a better option.

Over and out, Lauren and DDeellilah

A Turkish Delicacy

2009-06-10T17:50:00.004-04:00

MMM delicious.....NOT! You see these things everywhere, and apparently sheep's heads are a Middle Eastern delicacy, with the eyeballs being prized for their uptmost deliciousness. I tried to find some recipes and all I found was Organically Cooked Sheep's Head with Orzo Rice. Gotta try that one....hmmmmm...anyone who knows me knows I would not even enter a kitchen where this recipe was unfolding!

Went to a Turkish bath today...I will write a follow up post about the experience when we get back from Gallipoli. Got to finish packing, camping out on the Mediteranean coast, woohooo!

Good Night!

-Delilah

The picture I promised!

2009-06-09T11:07:00.003-04:00

Checked out some mosques today and spied a .....wee little Sultan! remeber the outfit I mentioned earlier? There were a few little sultans running about the mosque getting their pictures taken by a professional photographer. Purpose? Unknown.

The mosques were very beautiful. We visited the Blue Mosque and another that we did not catch the name of. You had to remove your shoes and it was a relief...the carpets were amazingly soft.

Jack and I are entertaining the idea of heading to Gallipoli for a couple of days with the Kiwi and South African...Not sure whether we will or not....updates will follow!

-Delilah

The Curse and the Fall

2009-06-09T10:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we were cleaning up the apartment in the morning and in the spirit of cleaning I grabbed our little rug and hung it out the window to shake it out. I was gazing out onto the street and shaking the carpet...not noticing anyone about. After a minute an old lady came trekking, but she was on the other side of the street so I thought nothing of it. Then she proceeded to raise her fist and shake it at me, yelling something I didn't understand! I was taken aback; it was not like I was deliberatly shaking dirt at her...
That night we were talking to our neighbour, Koran, who is studying Turkish culture and knows a bit about it. He told us that the people in these areas are very superstitious. the act of me shaking the carpet in the path of the old lady was cursing her to ill fortune or death! Opps. I felt bad, but I am sure she will be alright.

Had a lovely day relaxing in the park, reading and playing chess. The other incident of the day was when we were heading back to our apartment. The street we are on, as I think I mentioned, is steep and uneven. People set their trash out at night and stray dogs come and ravage the bags so sometimes there is wrapping floating about. Trying to step gingerly down the slick cobbles I did a weird fall twisting my ankle and scrapping the top of my foot. I made a quick recovery and continued walking when out ofa side alley there was an eruption of laughter. A bunch of little hooligans (six year olds) were laughing at me. I didn't have the presence of mind to stick out my tongue (plus I am not sure if that gesture is universal) so I limped back upstairs without my dignity. The foot was ok, Jack bandaged it up... I will survive.

In the evening, our South African counter-part Miss Lauren rejoined the crew after her hiatus in Bulgaria which she raved about. She couched surfed with some very generous Bulgarians who fed her very well and gave her a tour of the country. We now have four people in our little studio apartment... so it is snug but comfortable!

There is a concert outside our window!!!

2009-06-05T16:03:00.003-04:00

Last night there was a live concert in a random side street in our neighbourhood. Playing traditional Turkish music it was blasted through the streets so we could enjoy it in our apartment. Jack and I went out to investigate, a lot of the neighbourhood parents and children gathered around while the band played and women danced. One large woman in a huge sparkly ball gown danced while people threw bills in the air around her. It was quite interesting. Our landlord, Yilmaz, always reiterated every time we see him that it is 'a very colourful neighbourhood'. Our street is mainly Kurdish people, we really stand out as some of the only westerners. We were introduced to a few of the women but I cannot remember their names nor how to pronounce them! So many kids playing outside all the time, large trucks rumbling down the narrow, steep cobbled streets hawking their wares (everything from plastic clothes baskets, tables cloths, fresh produce, propane to suitcases). there are also a plethora of stray cats everywhere!!! and once in a while a stray dog sleeping which looks well fed!!!!

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out with our upstairs neighbour, Koran, an American grad student writing his thesis on Turkish media censorship versus Iran. We had many political debates with him (right up our alley) and we share some similar views. We are hoping to make a dinner with him one night, he bragged about his cooking! We are thinking curry, I have been dying for some, and he says he is pro ( his parents are from India) so I am looking forward to that!

Gonna play some cards and annihilate the boys hee hee!

-D

The Grand Bazaar and Egyptian Spice Market

2009-06-04T15:32:00.000-04:00

Headed to the Grand Bazaar (Kapali Çarsi) which is, as our guide book laid out, one of the largest covered markets in the world, with over 4000 shops, several banks, police stations, mosques and could be a city within itself. It is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops.

Apparently you could get lost for hours, we managed to get lost and wander directly out of the bazaar...don't ask how! Got an idea of what was there...some beautiful handcrafted things but also dozens of streets hawking made in China clothes which came in bales which we saw old men lugging on their backs. Predominantly out of the clothes shops they sold head scarves, long skirts and these strange little suits for kids that looked like something a sultan would wear (they were white and gold, with tons of glitter and embellishments, often with a turban and feather) I did not get a picture but I will mission there again to procure one!

Went to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar and bought spices to make Chai. The last photo above I think sums Turkey up quite nicely...Polis sign (cops are everywhere with those daunting automatic weaponry), backgammon and chess (at every cafe where men enjoy hookah and drink turkish tea) and pictures of the Atatürk whom is the adoration of every good citizen (I will do a follow up post about the Ataturk and why Youtube is restricted!).

Good Night! DDDDDelilah

Jack! Outta that Urn!!!!!

2009-06-03T15:59:00.001-04:00

I love this picture! Of Jack inside a weird urn in the Bran castle garden in Romania...heh heh, reminds me of SuperMario for some reason?

-Deeeelilah

WE ARE IN ISTANBUL!!!

2009-06-02T07:57:00.004-04:00

The train to Turkey took 23 hours...very intense... but it was a sleeper car and we met some very interesting people on the train (we shared out cabin with a a young guy from Brazil and a girl from Japan who was studying politics in the US). We parted ways with Lauren as she headed to the South African embassy in Bulgaria to figure out finger printing to retrieve lost bank cards from her robbery. Four became three and the three muskateers headed onwards to Istanbul, not quite sure what to expect.

The one surprise on the train which we were uncertain about was the Turkish style lavatory AKA a hole in the ground you squatted over. There were some very nice Turkish men on the train who were eager to help us but we had to accompany Mutsuko, the japanese girl to her hotel to pay back money she lent to us to pay for our Visa. In terms of visa's Brazillians paid 0, Japanese paid 0, New Zealanders paid 0 and Canadians paid 45 euro each! The most out of every country in the world! Double the Americans which was a bummer!

When we arrived we managed to catch a glimpse of the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque but Jack and I are saving our tour until my parental units arrive in three weeks (so maybe they will pay for the tourist-ee stuff heh ehh). We arrived to the area that our apartment is located and called the landlord who sent his helper to meet us outside the police station...next to the giant police tank pulled up on the sidewalk. Yes, Police TANK. Many officers were milling about outside the station caressing their automatic weaponry. It was a bit disconcerting.

The apartment is perfect. Studio size with many windows. The landlord, who is a university professor went out and bought a new blow up mattress for Hamish to sleep on which was nice. It is near Taksim which is kind of the art district, which is not too touristy. The neighbourhood we are in is a bit of a slum, there are kids EVERYWHERE but it seems very safe and beats staying in a fancy hotel in the tourist district. Plus the police with their guns nd tanks are only a hop skip and a jump away! Everyone in Turkey seems so helpful and nice, we have noticed a big difference from eastern Europe.

Anyways, out to sight-see and live it up in Istanbul!!!!
Over and out.
-Delilah

Romania

2009-06-02T07:20:00.006-04:00

Romania was much different than the countries we had been to so far, although I noticed some similarities with Poland. On the train we made friends with an older Hungarian-Romanian couple who spoke a bit of broken english. The man a was big jolly guy, who seemed keen to communicate. After the train had been rolling for a bit he pulled out a bottle of vodka and took a swig. He swished it around in his mouth, then followed with a sip of water. He proceeded to pass it around the small cabin in which we were jammed. He took a keen liking to the boys, teaching them some Hungarian swear words and with them returning with english ones. It was commedic to say the least.

At one point of the trip to Brasov (it was an overnight train with no sleeper cars) there was much commotion outside, a group of Gypsy (Roma) women had been thrown off the train with no tickets. Jack witnessed then exit the train (all fifteen or so) and march down the track to the front of the train and enter another car. When I looked out the window they had bee thrown off again. I saw them outside, old women and little girls with dirty faces, crouched on the pavement. They stared longingly with dark eyes as the train left the station. I wondered where they had been going.

Romania was beautiful but very dilapidated. It is a country impeded by its history of communism and the even harsher realities that capitalism brings. Many beggars, gypsies and children looking desolate. It was strange being approached by little boys (maybe six or seven years old) with an outstretched palm looking for money and a chocolate bar in the other. It seemed the norm to see kids alone looking for anything anyone would give them. In some instances we saw the parents directing them where to beg.

We spent a few days in the town of Brasov, where we managed to visit Bran castle. It poured for two days straight so much of the time was spent indoors writing and reading. -Delilah

oNwArDs!!!

2009-05-28T17:09:00.003-04:00

Peace offering.

Hungary was much fun... We took a free tour of Budapest, explored the caves under the city (which extend for over 200KM), went to Statue Park (where all the old communist propaganda statues were thrown from Budapest) and had a lovely evening on the citadel eating cheese and bread with fellow backpackers. I also, during the duration of the trip, had the privilage to touch a brass horse statue's balls which for the locals is symbolic of luck in love and in writing exams ( I will add a picture later).
We had added another companion to the travel posse, Lauren from South Africa, who accompanied us to Romania. We may perhaps even coax her into coming to Istanbul. I will add a story of our midnight train to Brasov, and the crazy Hungarian couple who swigged vodka all night as well as our first impressions of Romania (I saw my first stray dog!).
Bed-time; we ate garlic for dinner hopefully to ward of the vampires who roam these parts.

Nighty-night

-D

2009-05-25T12:37:00.002-04:00

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” - Bill Bryson

Some Pics

2009-05-24T19:00:00.004-04:00

The patio on which we soaked up the sun, honed our chess skills, read and watched the tourists canoe down the river (and flip in some cases!)
The dogs we were sternly told "not to touch, feed or acknowledge"? we had to follow the one and rescue it after it decided to go on a mission into town...
Salvador Dali above mine and Jack's bed...
Another random piece of art in that adorned the walls of the house. I really liked this one, it reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson for some reason...maybe the flag on the hat?
The view of the rowdy gypsy band at the bar, although I had to endure the debate between jack and Hamish about human nature once again, in the background. It never ends...What is truth? What is it to be human?

Goodnight!!!!!
-D

One Very Bizarre Busride Later- Hungary!

2009-05-24T18:23:00.004-04:00

Greetings from Hungary! I cannot believe we have arrived! We had a lovely stay in a home masquerading as a hostel (run by two eccentric hippy women) called Skippy. It had an amazing patio on the river in the picturesque Cesky Krumlov; another medieval town of cobbled streets and delicious baked goods. On our last night we enjoyed a gypsy band and explored the town castle.

The day we set out to go to Budapest started with a bus to another bigger town, then to Brno where we had to wait for a midnight bus to Hungary. This is where things start to get weird. First of all we were awfully glad for the company of a security guard and his vicious looking german shephard who patrolled the station at night. Second of all, the bus schedule was entirely indecipherable. What we found on the internet did not coincide with what was posted. We knew which platform it was due to arrive (although Budapest was not included on the stops) so we waited after our fast-food meal we managed to scrounge up at the mall near by. Waiting, waiting, station closed at eleven, went outside to wait.

After awhile a group of extremely loud people arrived with about five bags and three extra-large suitcases in tow. They were snapping pictures, yelling, smoking... we were not sure what to make of them. There was the father, an older man in a matching blue tracksuit which read "The Best of Luck" on the back. The mother. The daughter (whose teeth were rotting out). The butch-femme in adidas with a mullet and a scowl. A variety of sons, or boyfriends or nephews, most of which were wearing tight pants and even tighter t-shirts and who looked like they spent a lot of time in front of the mirror in the morning.

The bus was late. Around 1:30 it pulled up and we approached only to be swarmed by the crazy-seeming family. The bus driver emerged. A large man who began a story, everyone was laughing, we were confused. One of the sons explained in broken english that the bus was full, no room. Some of the family member apparently had reserved seats. The people on the bus began to streamed off to the use the washroom and smoke as the bus drivers attempted to put some of the luggage under the bus. After most of it would not fit they attempted to hoist the large suitcases onto the bus. Just when we started to think that we were likely to have to spend the night in the station with our tarp against the coke machine another man who had been waiting all afternoon prompted the bus-drivers to consider letting the four of us on to sit in the isle. Luckily we got to pay half price. I could see the bus was packed with extra luggage and a large birdcage?... we climbed the step and as the bus shuddered to life and launched forward we tossed our bags in the isle and crouched down. We managed to sleep a bit, haphazardly strewn in the small isle. There was a movie playing which had Romanian or Hungarian subtitles. It featured Cuba Gooding Jr. in it and he was on a gay cruise? I am not sure what it was called but it was kind of entertaining. After a stop in Slovakia, after braving a disgusting public toilet and looking at the elaborate signs warning about bandits! We loaded back on the bus. The family was loaded off and went onto another bus. The three of us got the back seats with the man who had helped us get on the bus. We managed to sleep fitfully.

Anyways, we arrived in Budapest at five in the morning, and successfully navigated our hostel! It was ridiculously cheap and we slept in the common room watching 'Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb' on a projector screen which was awesome. Tomorrow we are going on the free city tour and to Statue Park. More pictures....

Bella Ciao!

-D

Kutna Hora

2009-05-22T07:55:00.002-04:00

As mentioned previously we visted the Sedlec Ossuary, Bone Church in Kutna Hora. It contains about 40,ooo or more human skeletons arranged to form things such as chandeliers, a coat of arms amd skull pyramids. Not exactly the first thing you think about asthetically when you entertain ideas of a chapel. It was creepy but cool! The one thing we found very strange was that people threw coins at the skeletons and did signs of the cross. I was intrigued and I tried to retrieve a coin and touch a skull (what are dead people going to do with them?!?!?) and I kind of set off an alarm....hahahahha...it was quite comedic. I hastily withdrew my arm. I felt kind of bad, the skulls may have awoken and devoured my soul if I had done that so it was likely for the best! Come for us when we were sleeping in the haunted Hostel.... but we managed to make it out of Kutna Hora alive!!! Souls intact....more adventures in Cesky Krulov today!

-La De Da Delilah

It has been a couple of days....

2009-05-22T07:29:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts! After spending another night in Prague we headed to the Medievel Era town of Kutna Hora... It was absolutely beautiful, think cobbled streets, secret passage ways and stunning cathedrals. It was very calm and relaxing to catch up on a bit of reading. The major sites included St. Barbara's Cathedral which we visited at night and during the day and the Ossuary...or bone church (see photos above!)!The highlight of the trip to Kutna Hora was the extremely creepy hostel we stayed in, which seemed unchanged since the Soviet Era. We were the only occupants with the exception of an old man who we could hear coughing in the night. We only saw him once when he stumbled from his room mumbling (in Czech?) and went to use the girls washroom- very strange. I was convinced it was haunted. There was no reception, the only way you could pay was to be there at 5 oclock when a young girl came around to collect payment and then was gone.

I did find something very cool out the back of the building however. There were some chiseled steps leading into a type of garden out the back door. Jack saw a cat and ran up the stairs and I followed. There, embedded inthe wall was a a perfect cylindrical sphere of iron that could rest in your palm. It looks somewhat like a musket shot so I figure it must be an ancient artifact! It is very neat...I must do some more research!

Anyways, after Kutna Hora we endured a very hot busride to Cesky Krumlov, but we survived! We met Hamish (who had taken the train with his Eurorail pass) at a Hostel called Skippy which is fantastic. More pictures and stories to follow!

-LalalalalalDelilah!

A few more things!!!

2009-05-17T13:24:00.004-04:00

So we discovered that our jaunt from the Czech Republic to Poland was was about forty kilometers as the crow flies. We likely covered more ground, especially considering some of the detours we took! My muscles are finally recovering, and I think my six pack is intact (heh heh). Below is a painting our host did that we quite liked...a bit erotic? There was a bunch of other paintings in the apartment, not x-rated mind you, which were quite neat. Our hosts, whose names I cannot pronounce/ write unfortunately, helped us navigate the Polish bus system and the husband drove us at 7:00 this morning to the station which was very generous...
A crazy lizard we saw crossing the road after it rained...An old polish lady approaced the help it along and we saw it safely across the ashphalt. We attempted to communicate, mostly through hand gestures, and we discovered it is a fire Salamander. I believe they are quite common in Europe. The one we saw was quite big, about seven inches!!!!Anyways, tomorrow we are heading to the bus station to see where the wind carries us! Maybe back to Prague to retrieve the rest of our stuff that we stored at the Hostel...I am currently in possession of one shirt, that smells, I am using man deoderant to ward off the stink hee hee!

Salut, Delilah

P.S Another run in with the law! We decided to avoid the bar and indulge in some cheap Wroclaw beers from the local variety store... It seems public drinking is quite common. It was a lovely day and the boys suggested a park near the Hostel to enjoy the brew. We cracked open a few cans, were debating the Quebecois Seperatist movement having an excellent time soaking up the sun when I saw a police van pull up behind us. I motioned for the two boys to put their beers into the knapsack we had. In a matter of minutes we were surrounded by about six police. It was disconcerting to say the least. I attempted to wrangle our passports out of the bag without revealing the cans. They looked at our IDs and in broken English said no beer here please. We got off the hook, it was lucky I saw them and we hid the beers or we might of had to pay!!! Phewww....must be more careful...these were brutes...luckily they let us off....

Part II Pictures of Hike

2009-05-17T12:49:00.003-04:00

The fire! Which the boys started with a Flint and tinder, they are very good I might add....

A view of our humble abode from the lookout peak where we took in the sunset!

Where we slept the second night...We cut a small pine tree down to block the door...turned out to be our warmest night...
A lovely birch grove on our way into town...Almost there!!!

**Enjoy, Delelelelelelilah!

Some pictures from the epic hike!

2009-05-17T12:29:00.003-04:00

Trekking the mountains... exhausted!
A bunker we found!!! Likely residual from the time when Nazi's roamed this hills or perhaps the cold war era???
Sunset...

Some things we found out about where we are!

2009-05-16T11:52:00.002-04:00

The mountains we climbed- Karkonosze or Giant Mountains

The fable of Berge Rubezahl from the area

We are currently in Świeradów-Zdrój

We are heading to Wroclaw

2009-05-16T05:12:00.003-04:00

HHHHHEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOO

Delilah and Jack here webcasting from the beautiful Polish countryside. What began as a hastly planned trip into the Czech countryside quickly turned into a 3 day camping trip in the mountians in the north of the country. After the first day of hiking, and after consulting our map, we noticed that the border was not too far off and decided to walk to Poland. No tent, more beers than water, camping on the top of mountains, and minus degree weather made for one of the most memorable experiences of the trip thus far.

Into the wild. Packed too much we didn't need. After two days of solid hiking we made camp at a dilapidated lodge on top of a large lookout peak. We could not get inside but we managed with a few yards of rope, scavenged nails and our tarps to create a make-shift lean-to on the porch.

Hamish gathered dry fire wood and Jack made a delicious meal of potatos, carrots, red pepper and rice. It would seem we had found an epic place to spend the night (the view!) despite the wind and snow still on the ground. Just as beer oclock rolled around and we were about to get down to business getting a fire going, an old man approached. "Anglickski?" we asked, the only Czech word we could pronounce correctly. No english. Jack tried feebly to communicate with his Czech phrase book to no avail...A few other hikers came by. We thought he meant he owned the cabin and we were not allowed to be here. Worried, Hamish and Delilah gathered up the camp gear.
Jack concluded the guy was just another hiker who could not fathom sleeping up here because it is still quite cold up in the mountains. Besides it would seem people have camped here before by the fire pit and discarded and decaying toilet paper behind some of the low lying shrubs. After dinner, we watched the sun set from the lookout, a glowing ball of orange and pink sinking behind the horizon. We hoped it would not rain or snow that night and we were lucky! That was our warmest night due to the ingenuity of Hamish and Jack, who after discussing the tactics of the maori tribesmen to stay warm (hot stones buried in sand) they heated up stones in the roaring fire and place them into our lean-to. Furthermore the aluminum drinking bottles were filled with boiling water to place into sleeping bags to keep feet warm and dry.

Third day of solid hiking. Delilah hit the wall exhausted after climbing up and down hill with a heavy pack. Had to press on! Forward to Poland Comrades! Ran out of water and had to pump stream water. Camped inside a lookout tower, luckily inside for the night. Thermometer read minus two outside and about plus five inside. Coldest night by far. From atop the tower we could see the twinkling lights of the towns in the distance. The fourth morning we awoke early and set out. Physically exhausted we trekked downhill for about an hour. Took about five hours to reach the town.

We arrived in the most picturesque Polish Mountain village imaginable! Walked into a few hotel-chalets far beyond our budget, especially after saving money by not spending anything for two days solid, we did not want to cancel out our saving tactics. We found a tourist information store, possesing no polish currency and no knowledge of the language. The man inside made a call on our behalf, ten minutes later a woman arrived in a car with her husband. For thirty euro's a night (all together) we landed a lovely luxurious apartment with a view of the mountain, a short jaunt into town. Our hosts, who live above were gracious enough to do our laundry and lend us their personal laptop (on which we are writing). Shower! Food! a Bed! We were astounded by our luck. Then we set out to explore the town in search of food and beer. Apparently this is a prime tourist destination for elderly Germans. Not many english speakers but we made use of a notebook and a pen to communicate. Everything is very inexpensive. A bit difficult for Delilah to order off a menu to avoid meat, but ended up with delicious Perogies and homemade tomato soup!

Anyways, more updates, sorry about the hiatus! For some reason we cannot figure out how to load pictures onto the laptop but they will come! We got some beautiful shots of the mountain scenery!

-Salut! Delilah and Jack

View of Prague

2009-05-12T04:30:00.003-04:00

Had a lovely evening enjoying the view from the rooftop terrace at our hostel. This picture courtesy of Jack's artistic eye. We drank french wine Hamish provided and 8 crown beer! Thats roughly 40 cents Canadian! Political debate ensued needless to say- my personal favorite pasttime.

We are departing Prague today for the Czech mountains to check out some small towns (It is sad leaving our little hostel). There may not be any posts for a few days in the event we do not find internet...don't worry though! Will write soon! Then onward march....Austria and Hungary here we come!!!

-LlalalalalaDelilah

Munchen and the 'SLAV EPIC'

2009-05-12T03:00:00.002-04:00

This one is called 'Fate'...the gaze is particularily disturbing! I love it! Today we went to the innovator and contributor to the art noveau movement Alphonso Munchen museum. We learned about his 'Slav Epic' which we are really keen to check out in another small town outside of Prague. We really enjoyed to exhibit and had an informative chat with a proffessor and his wife from Portland Oregon, who taught us about some of the Protestant movement in Prague and about Jan Has, who was burned at the stake as a heretic and who effectively influenced Martin Luther.

After we parted ways from our American and Norwegian friends, Hamish, Jack and I were impeded by the Czech Transit Authority for not having tickets for the subway- which we kind of have been taking advantage of. It really sucked, we were lectured sternly by a mean-looking Czech beheamoth of a man, issued a fine and sent along our merry way. We were a bit shaken up- I mean images of me in a Czech prison were not something I wanted to entertain. We tried to talk our way out of it, playing the lost tourist to no avail. Thus we returned to the Hostel and picked up a few cheap beers to drown our sorrows. Luckily our friends/ dorm mates did not suffer the same fate when we bumped into them later in the night!

-Gutten Tag, D

Museum of Communism and Galavanting About the City

2009-05-11T08:12:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Jack and I headed out with Hamish and our new friend Jordan (from Montana) to see the museum of communism. It was stratigically located next to a McDonalds and a casino... which was quite amusing. There was plenty of sculptures and paintings of Marx and Lenin, but we found much of the commentary to be rather subjective. We also felt it was bit overpriced for what we paid which was a bit of a disappointment.
Afterwards, we went to the Prague castle. Although we did not get to go inside any buildings, we observed to magnificent views of the city from our perch. The church on the Castle ground was breath taking and I wished we got there in time to go inside.

The last picture is of me, peeking inside on the lookout for ghouls and the type. Unfortunatly I did not see much, but Hamish and I were certain we could hear voices of the torture victims ghosts within. The rest of the day we trecked through the royal gardens, scaled a rock ledge succesfully...hee hee...braved the jungle of a Czech mall which is similar to braving such places at home and went to a two floored Tesco grocery store to stock up on crucial supplies.

Woke up today to a pounding rain. Were entertained with fellow backpackers awesome guitar skills, Oystein, who could play anything you could think of...Even NEIL! He is from Norway which sounds like paradise. The cops do not even carry gunsthere...and apparently they produce guitar prodigies....

-Over and Out, Delilah

Quote of the day!

2009-05-10T15:39:00.002-04:00

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.
- Author Unknown

Found this on my pal Wilkies blog Turnip Creations from NZ...She is very talented with a needle and thread.

Our FREE Tour of Prague

2009-05-10T05:37:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, while Jack was on the lookout for graffiti I was busy observing the sights and learning more about the city of Prague. After arriving at our new (Cheap+nice) hostel we befriended a felllow traveller Hamish from New Zealand. The three of us trapized off to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the city indulging in our free tour. It started in the town square, where our guide (George from Missouri) enthusiastically regaled us with stories of Nazi occupation, communist Czechoslovakia, Jan Palach, Franz Kaftka, Mozart and many more. There is some amazing architecture in Prague dating from the Art Noveau period in the New City (new as in twentieth century) and the old city, which I believe is remanents from medieval times (OOOLLLDDDD).

After the tour was over, we spotted these giant brass babies. I managed to get a few good shots of us tickling their feet, kissing their bums (hee hee below) and Jack and Hamish riding them like horses. Then we walked along the river and watched the swans. We are off today to do some more indepth investigation... the old Jewish quarter of the city (with the oldest Jewish cemetary in all of Europe), the Kaftka museum, museum of communism andf perhaps a tour of the castle.

Anyhow, thanks for all the comments! Will post soooonnnnnn! -lalalalalalaDelilah!

P.s To the Hmac Mothership- How is Steven doing????

Prague Graffiti

2009-05-10T05:03:00.012-04:00

Here are some pictures of local graffiti in Prague. Since we've been in Europe we have seen tons of spray paint. There are loads of people tagging slogans and what not, those who know us well know we have a personal attachment to stencil street art.

This one was pretty neat.
I think the next one is by
the same artist.

For my girlfriend, my sister, and my cousin.

Freehand, but I like the message,

and colour. Definetly the same artist, on the same daymost likely. Im pretty sure both pieces say the same thing, one in English, one in Czech.

We'll keep an eye out and post some more soon!

-Signing out

Jack

The trip to Prague

2009-05-08T05:21:00.002-04:00

We have arrived in Prague! We ended up heading to Prague instead of Berlin because we got on the road late and missed the early bus to Berlin.

On our way to the bus station, we were in a busy area outside the town hall (see above) and an old man started messing with Jacks back pack. My first instinct was to slap him, and without thinking a gave him a good hard smack. He backed off and laughed, mumbling in German. Then he casually rejoined his wife and meandered on. We were a bit jumpy after that! We really stood out with a giant backpacks so we remained very vigilant .

We finally made it to the bus unscathed and we were pleasantly surprised by (a) the comfort of the seats, (b) we recieved free drinks...there was a stewardess! (c) the tv's, the stewardess kindly put on english subtitles for us.

Anyways...the story will be continued ...we are heading out to tour the Prague castle!!!!

Never Again

2009-05-07T09:26:00.006-04:00

We visited a place called Dachau today. It was formerally a World War II concentration camp. The camp in Dachau was the first concentration camp set up in Germany. Originally designed for political prisioners and those who posed a threat to the Nazi party, the camp was to become a living nightmare for Jews, Gypsies, Jehovahs witnesses, homosexuals, and people of a wide variarity of nationalites. The Dachau camp provided the model on which the notorious Auschwitz death camp was constructed.

Going to a place like this is a disturbing remider of the capabilites of human beings. The holocaust goes way beyond 'normal' violations of human rights and dignity. It was systematic, industrised murder. Economic incentives for some high ranking members of the Nazi Party such as Hilmar Wäckerle, Heinrich Wicker, and Wilhelm Weiter were some of the original motives for creating a slave labour camp. Total authority for the Nazi Party was a top priority, and under this premise the camps quickely desended to places of human degradation and terror.
We decided to take a guided tour of the camp. Our guide Steven (which is also the same name as our cat!) was very knowledgable, and he took us through the process which prisoners would be initaiated through. Starting with the SS intergation room, moving on the the shower and de-lousing room, main courtyard, the cramped barracks', the crematorium and finally the gas chamber (dubbed barracks X). As you walk though a place like this you can feel the history. There is an erie sense of stillness, dispite the German school childern milling about (who are required to visit the site by the curriculum). Steven spoke of the process of removing the individual from the self and of the desensitization the prisoners endured in order to cope. It was as much physical pain as psychological which haunted those who were incarcerated here.

"Arbeit macht frei" are the words on the entrance gate, meaning in English "Work will set you free." This was on all concentration camps front gates. Its designated intent was to begin the dehuminazation process. It assumes that thoses who pass though these gates are somehow inferior or unworthy of the full rights of human beings. In some twisted sense of baseless justification it aussumes it was the prisoners fault as to why they ended up here... but with hard work and sacrifice they may be redeemed, both physically and spiritually. These words are in line with Nazi ideology and their ideals of racial superiority.

Overall, we were glad to visit this historical site. At the end, Steven really emphasized that the intent of the tour was not to serve a reminder of what happend in the past, but to ensure that something like this will 'never again' happen.

Greeting From Munich!

2009-05-07T09:04:00.003-04:00

May 5th (on the plane): Currently hurtling 32,000 feet toward the Atlantic ocean. Slight turbulence makes my stomach quiver. Babies whimper. I hear pages of a book being turned. Whispers. What a strange and unnatural feeling flying is! The muffled rumble of the engines become white noise. I can see the reflection of the half-moon on the plane. So many adventures in store! Estimated time of arrival- half past ten.

We we arrived in the city we were surprised by how quiet and clean it was. There are bikes everywhere. Not many stores. You can buy cigarettes out of machines. Booze is very cheap.
This is some cool graffiti we found on a side street...
Our first make-shift meal, havarti and yummy bread with coffee! We bumbled in the bakery trying to order. One cashier spoke a bit of English which helped. After we left the bakery we headed to a local library where the librarian (who spoke english well) gave us some pointers.

Help- Hilfe
Thank-you- Danke
How much is that? Wie viel kostest das?
Excuse me- entschuldigen sie!

We will keep working on our German!

Guten tag! -Delilah and Jack

2009-05-05T13:51:00.002-04:00

WE LEAVE TODAY!!!!!! Our bags are packed, we have bid adieu to family and friends and we are heading out to the airport in a few hours! More posts will follow from abroad...

Over and Out, Delilah and Jack

2009-04-30T19:47:00.006-04:00

Hmmmm, well we are off in less than a week. I have been home (to my parents house in the boonies) for the last couple of days and we have dial-up! It is the slowest thing imaginable! Thus I have not posted. Nothing of interest has caught my eye for the last couple of days, life has been catching up on movies and reading and trying to get Steve comfortable at my parents. Steve is our bratty cat (who my parents lovingly dubbed 'demon cat'). Otherwise, over the last few days:

1. We picked up our euro's!

2. We booked our hostel in Munich (Munich is surprisingly expensive!)

3. Moved all of Jack's stuff to my parents place for storage for the summer

4. Finished doing taxes (hallelujah!)

5. Went and saw the four-hour epic that is Che Guevara (amazing- we will write a post on that soon)

7. Finished reading the Carhullan Army

8. Executed a practice pack (which went very well I must say)

9. Got my first roll of film developed from my new camera (oh, how I long for a dark room, maybe one day)

10. Bought travel insurance

Jack is at work, finishing his last shift! Finally! Almost bon voyage! Will post a follow up about Che!

Life...

2009-04-27T11:22:00.000-04:00

Lucy in the sky with Diamonds!

2009-04-26T10:44:00.004-04:00

I took this picture on my return flight from Scotland! I am pretty sure it is Greenland?

Some lovely advice from a travel expert at my favorite blog yesandyes:

More Travel Advice From Galadarling!

Goods tips on Code for Something; Avoiding Jet Lag and Other Long Haul Tips.

So, I am pretty much ready to pack my bags. I am traveling light, with the exception of books! I am only bringing my skate-backpack and a side messenger bag (carry-on), Jack is bring the big bag. I definitely took some advice from fellow bloggers, who have much traveling credo under their belts. I invested in a shampoo bar and face wash bar (which is amazing by the way) from lush which minimizes the risk of spilling gooey shampoo all over my luggage. I have my travel journal (check), pencil crayons, tape, scissors (check), and books! Jack and I are battling over which books to bring...we have quite the pile to go through!

Over and out, Delilah!

In times of trouble...

2009-04-24T17:06:00.006-04:00

"In times of trouble a man should immerse himself in wilderness." -

Unknown

This is Jack's plan if the economy completely falters or the world ends in 2012... On a higher note....

The painting is by Paul Morin; a local Canadian artist whose work was hanging in my favorite coffee shop. I absolutely love his oil paintings which remind me of Group of Seven, of which I am also a huge fan! I particularly like the way he captures the late afternoon sun filtering through the trees. It reminds me of trudging through the bush on a crisp winter's day. The real paintings are much more impressive as they are huge!

Trip Update!!!

2009-04-22T14:06:00.004-04:00

Picture via jsmithinistanbul

We rented a furnished flat in in Beyoglu near Taksim and Tunel in Turkey for a month! So exciting! Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. Presently this figures prominently into the art/ music/ shopping district of Istanbul. Less than two weeks until we leave!

"Fighting Ignorance Since 1973"

2009-04-20T15:05:00.007-04:00

Want to procrastinate...and learn? Always wondered why do men have nipples? Will eating tape-worms help you lose weight? Is the grass always greener on the other side? What is the holy grail? Look no further! Cecil Adams will answer the questions which have been plaguing you on the Straight Dope Archive, a site (and a column in a Chicago newspaper) dedicated to unraveling the worlds mysteries and fighting ignorance.

In high-school I used to pass this house built right next to a graveyard. I was interested in science at the time, reading Bill Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything and I wondered a lot about particles and organic matter. I wrote to Cecil asking 'Are people living near graveyards at increased risk of exposure to biohazards? ' Cecil tells me to "get a grip champ!" When I received the email telling me that my question had been answered and that a gruesome illustration by Slug was to accompany it I was ecstatic! I recently went to the Straight Dope to ummmm, research? or ummm, waste time! and I searched out my question....neat huh? Check it out!

We are destroying the earth, period.

2009-04-20T13:41:00.009-04:00

Recently, my dog Jake was poisoned. We took him to the vet and they determined that it was pesticide poisoning that had attacked his central nervous system. We do not use pesticides nor do our neighbours. Really, the only possible conclusion was that it was the effect of 'spray drift'. My family lives in a rural farm area, surrounded by commercial agriculture. The effect of the farmers out spraying their fields on a windy day, combined with Jake having been exposed in a matter of twenty minutes resulted in us almost losing our dog.

This is the second time it has happened. Luckily we rushed him to the vet who administered a universal antidote, pumped him full of charcoal and valium and we were left aniticipating for the best. The day this happened my Mom saw the tractors out, spraying chemicals into the air that both we, our pets and natural wildlife breath. One asks how this is affecting our bodies! What about children! Luckily Jake was O.K but we worry if it will happen again.

I did as much research online as I could, we contacted the environmental sector of the government and talked to our neighbours. Turns out, that day they were spraying spinach fields which uses some of the most potent pesticides. The pesticide likely used is called demethoate, which is an organphosphorus pesticide, which functions similarily to nerve gases used during the second world war. Inhalation of air containing elevated levels of dimethoate can lead to a range of health effects including breathing difficulties, headache, a lack of coordination, convulsions, incontinence, unconsciousness and death. Exposure to dimethoate over long periods of time can cause similar symptoms as those described above and may also lead to impaired memory, depression, irritability, confusion and insomnia.

   Dimethoate is very toxic to non-target insects such as bees and also to birds and aquatic organisms. It may also harm other wildlife and livestock. There is also concern that exposure to Dimethoate may interfere with the hormone systems - that it is an "endocrine disruptor". This makes me sick.This is the stuff we are spraying on our food.
It really reinforced the pertinence of Rachel Carsons, Silent Spring, which exposed the dangers of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s. Continual chemical warfare on the environment is going to continue to degrade our health and the natural world. I view Carson as one of the most influential people in history, who participated in launching grass-roots environmental awareness that continues to gain momentum.

       "We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road—the one "less traveled by"—offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth."  — Rachel Carson

   Consider buying organic. Protest against private pesticide use. Be aware of what is happening. Take measures to make your life more green today. Earth day is Wednesday, why not start there!!!

My new camera!!!!

2009-04-18T11:39:00.003-04:00

So, I went to the city to visit my good childhood friend last weekend, because of our conflicting and busy schedules this is an unusually difficult feat. It was my birthday this past month and she got me a beautiful Asahi Pentax film camera! I was ecstatic. Han, being the photography buff she is (and bonafide world travel) could not fathom me traveling with only a 'point and shoot' digital (my Canon). This is the lovely camera (see above) taken on my computer camera (so you can kinda see). I have been practicing using it to make sure I understand shutter speed, focus etc and to make sure everything is in working order. I am very excited to get out and take some more pictures... yesterday I took a walk around campus and shot some of the old buildings... Hope they turn out ok!

Over and out, Delilah!

Fin! Dunzo! No more school....no more books! (as in text books heh heh)

2009-04-18T01:52:00.002-04:00

Done! Done! Done! Jack and I finished our last exams today, now I do not know what to do with myself...so I baked cupcakes! and cookies! It was awesome!

Now it is "summer time, when the livin' is easy." Not much longer till the trip, it is kind of intimidating...

Down by the river, I shot my baby...

2009-04-16T14:05:00.005-04:00

Neil Young concert was last night!!! And man he can still rock out for a sixty-four year old! The set was about two and a half hours long, with Neil (in flannel no less) performing 20-minute jams during songs such as 'Down by the River' and 'Pocahantus.' We had floor tickets, and managed to find our way to the front; I could literally see the individual beads of sweat on his forehead. I would guess we were about ten-fifteen feet from the old Neilster...the closest I have been yet! It was fantastic! Throughout the show there was a mysterious red phone on stage, but the origin or reason it was there was never revealed, I am curious if it was symbolic of something? Overall, I had an amazing time, it was about my seventh time seeing him in concert in the last seven or so years, each time gets better. I am nervous he is going to retire one of these days so I go every chance I get...but then again Neil is all about "It is better to burn out then to fade away." So I do not think he is going anywhere for awhile, hopefully.

Now to decide...

2009-04-16T13:41:00.000-04:00

Which books to bring on the trip! We are trying to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. I imagine we are going to be doing a fair amount of reading (we are both kind of book worms), especially during travel time (plane, bus and train). We have a tentative list of books we want to bring, hopefully our bags will not be too heavy!

Long Walk to Freedom- Nelson Mandela
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books- Azar Nafisi
The Story of B- Daniel Quinn
The Alchemist, The Pilgramage- Paulo Coelho
Brick Lane- Monica Ali
Earth Democracy- Vandana Shiva
What is the What- Dave Eggers
The Sleeper Awakes- H. G. Wells
The Yacoubian Building- Alaa Al Aswany
Clash of Civilizations- Samuel Huntington
Young Stalin- Simon Sebag Montefiore
Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776-Present- Michael Oren
Aman: Story of a Somali Girl- Virginia Lee Barnes and N=Janice Boddy

This is another picture by Jennifer Zwick.

I am almost done exams (last one tomorrow) therefore I will have much free time to read what I wish (AKA Non-textbook material, yahhhhhh!)

A word from Mr. Nietzsche

2009-04-13T11:04:00.006-04:00

"And those who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music"

-Happy Monday! P.S: Man could Friedrich Nietzsche grow a mean moustache!

Vegetarianism:

2009-04-09T22:28:00.008-04:00

"I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetarian because I hate plants."

-A. Whitney Brown So I get often get a hard time for being a vegetarian, but I had a harder time when I used to be a vegan! I was vegan for a year (I did not consume meat, dairy, eggs or any product derived from an animal), it was an experiment of sorts, it was difficult at times but it got easier as time progressed. When I started working at the East Indian restaurant I decided to eat dairy, because (a) I previously was not familiar with many indian dishes, (2) people would ask me about most of the food and I would have no idea because I could not eat it and (3) my love of butter vegetables with paneer cheese!

There are quite a few reasons morally I choose not to eat meat. I have no problem with its actual consumption and I have nothing against hunting game for food. The problem lies within factory farming and the brutality which occurs within. Animals raised for food are treated callously at all levels of production, from breeding, to raising, to slaughter. Furthermore, the amount of antibiotics and hormones pumped into the animals surely must have an adverse effect on the humans who consume them.

The second argument I would have to say would be based on environmental degradation. From the amount of energy it takes to produce one cow (in terms of feed, travel to the slaughterhouse, travel to the grocery store, in the freezer) it would be much more economically sound to promote the consumption of plants. The meat industry is extremely wasteful. Livestock consume 70% of all US grain production. Yet 20 million people starve each year. Americans could feed 100,000,000 people by reducing their meat intake 10%. On todays market there are more than enough options for a vegetarian diet to supplant the eating of meat, both in terms of vitamins and taste.

Thirdly, health benefits of eating fresh organic produce! Vegetarian live on average seven years longer than their meat-eating counterparts, with a significantly decreased risk of many serious diseases (cancer, heart disease etc...)

I don't think everyone should just give up meat, but I believe that more responsibilty and sustainability are needed and the elimination of factory farming. Today, many people eat meat at every meal. This is not necessary! Cutting down consumption, even marginally will benefit your health, the environment and your wallet (meat is mush more expensive)...so try to experiment with a vegetarian meal or cutting down on meat and see what happens!

Check out your local farmers market for organic produce, humanely raised meat from local farms: See bottom of page for links to find your local Farmers Markets

Here is a convincing article: "How to Win an Argument With a Meat-Eater"

For more info: Wikipedia article Vegetarianism

Good article: Huffington Post

Picture of market in my town via: Sue Richards

...How I long for summer mornings at the farmers market, eating homemade donuts and fresh strawberries!