September, 6th, 2010

This weekend I wanted to venture off to the town of Nis, which is about 2 hours south-east of Belgrade. I pitched my plans to Dad and he agree mildly enthusiastically - keep in mind he has been in Serbia three years and hasn't really seen much so making him be a 'tourist', isn't on the top of his propority list. We were home no longer than an hour on Friday night when he gets a phone call, knowing all too well what and who is on the other end of the line, I know whats coming. Sure enough after the 5 minute phone call he informs me that he is working in the morning. But to my luck he remembered the agreement of going to Nis and suggested that we both go into work and we can leave from there …. good enough for me (it took me much longer to agree to that than it did to type it). Saturday morning we get up early headed to work and it looked like it was going to be a great day weather wise so I wasn't to disgruntled about not getting to sleep in because apparently I haven't lost my teenage craving to sleep until noon whenever possible haha.
After working a little but knowing I couldn't really do a whole lot to help my dad complete his work I turn to web surfing. Now for anyone who is on a computer most of the time at work you know the frustration of not being able to access half of the websites you want because of the settings your employer has on the internet access. I know this is to prevent unprofessional use of the internet at work, but for the times you are not on the clock its a pain. But where there is a will to surf, the waves will come - this may involve news reading, 'map-questing', 'google-earthing' and weather checking but it passes the time. I continued to check out our Nis destination and everything seemed lined up for nice afternoon and evening - with the weather and events going on in the city.
Around noon we were on our way, windows down temperature getting warmer and the roads not too busy - I was pretty excited! Well not 30 minutes into the trip, all I see coming over the horizon, dark clouds. Ok no big deal, the weather is suppose to be nice it will pass. Well, as we get closer Dad and both come to conclusion that the clouds are not going anywhere fast. But we had made the two hour trek so we weren't turning around. I had my checklist of things to see so we were determined. Whether is was the rain, the lack of signs, or our mounting frustrating with both of those it took a while to find things. It ended up being an 'Afrain Lion Safari' version of european landmarks haha. We drove to one sight walked around took some pictures and got back in the car. I would read the information I had about each site in the car, prior to see it, that way we knew what we were looking at. Needless to say they don't have much information by the sights or people around to explain and unfortunately there isn't a lot of up keep of the sites either. Here is what we were able to find and my basic understanding of each:


1. Small town right outside of Nis - Niska Banja. Known for its hot mineral springs, first used by the romans. There was lots of spas - natural indoor swimming pools and outdoor springs. It was a rainy day so not many people were out walking but we walked through the parks a bit and you could see the clearly of the water and the different public washing stations that people use. Weird concept to understand until you see it, but I tried to get a picture of the steam that was coming of the one of the springs. And the view from the town outlook. Oh and there were signs that we later found out said that the water is radio active so it's really healthy in small does … yeah I'm sure your thinking the same thing I did haha.


2. This is Mediana, the remains of the birth place of Constantine the Great and where he lived off and on. This was one of the harder places to find. There was one sign that lead us to an field with a don't enter sign, so I did what must tourist do, 'pretend' not to know was going and we just went in. It is basically just a field of foundations of what is left - enough to make out what building it probably was but not a whole lot to see. There were piles of bricks you could tell they were sorting to possible build in the future. But took some pictures to say we did and continued on ….


3. One the many sites we had no idea what it was but wondered in. Our conclusion on this one, was a Serbian Orthodox private school for boys. As we walked further up this hill there was a brand new state of the art school facility, we quickly noticed it was not meant for tourist (gates, guards, etc.) so we walked back down. Where we noticed only groups of boys seemed to be entering the gate, having performed an religious gesture before entering, hence our conclusion.




4. Skull Tower (Céle Kula) is exactly what it sounds - and for me is another complex political story. But the short is, it was originally built by the Turks after 3,000 Serbain died in the first national uprising, to show thier defeat. It is now enclosed by a chapel and only a fraction of the skulls remain, as the Serbians took most of them for proper burials. It is now regarded as a representation of Serbian courage during the battle.







5. The Nis Fortress - regarded as one of the biggest and oldest existing Fortesses, there is tons of history behind it and dates back to being originally used by romans. You can see the various types of building which display different architecture. My Dad began to teach me how you can tell what time period they are from and what national possibility built them. This is where one of the festivals was suppose to be going on but the rain had put a hold on it. There was lots of remains of the fun they must have had the night before haha.





6. A army depot camp (Red Cross Camp) used by the German in WWII to hold people before they were sent for torture, execution or death camps. Bubanj Monument, the three giant fiest and wall, for the 10,000 Serbians that died in WWII. The river front monument for the 1999 NATO bombing victims.This list just keeps going … war is still so fresh to this city that is hard for someone like me to understand it and put into perspective but a visual of the effects that war has is always a powerful thing. It is unfortunate because this city is so rich in history and there is tons more to offer than just war memorial. But for now it is rebuilding nicely and is becoming an enjoyable tourist spot.

Sad to say for us we just hit some bad weather and were unable to enjoy their numerous markets, walking streets and the on-going festival of Nisomnia. So my perception may not tell the whole story, but I'm glad we went and saw what we could and if we get a chance to go back we will definitely be able to find things a lot more quickly :).



On the way home, about half way between Nis and Belgrade the sun was setting beautifully and it turned out they had great weather in Belgrade all day .... go figure.

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal." MK
Mich

Wednesday, September 1st

I feel like an update is overdue yet I don't have a whole lot to update on. I spent this past weekend like a regular weekend you would have with or without a European empire outside your door haha.

Friday we went out for dinner with a family from work - it was an 'international' restaurant, which means they just group the food by countries for you. I have been very adamant about trying Serbian food so I didn't even seriously consider other countries' choices haha. I had been working in the plant all day and it was around 35 outside so I was still in the process of trying to cool my body down to just a mild sweat instead of the pouring that had occurred all day. So I knew I wasn't going to eat much and I probably couldn't handle anything that would challenge my gag reflex. The resulting choice: Serbian boiled chicken and vegetables. Well the Serbian part was the portion size - a mixing bowl served over a hot flame, otherwise it was just a different version of Mom's chicken stew. I was mildly disappointed with my lack of an 'adventurous' choice but in reality the 'comfort' food was a nice change for a night and probably all I could handle. All in all a good night and another successful restaurant choice - there is no lack of options thats for-sure.

Sunday we just hung out and walked around Belgrade. One of great past-times that I haven't quite mastered is the 4-hour- café-sit. Most of the time when we go out to eat we are typically the only ones in the place actually eating. Meanwhile everyone will be drinking coffee or beer and/or smoking cigarettes - I mean each their own, but it may take me a while to enjoy such a past time - I'll sick to eating for now haha. It's weird to think that hour long walks through the streets of a city lined with cafes, single buildings more rich in history than my entire country and family customs so foreign to me, is starting to feel normal.

Meanwhile work is starting to fall into routine, which is a welcome feeling. About this time for the past 18 years I would be gearing up for the daily regime of school and activities, so it's nice to have a little bit of that feel towards my day. Don't get me wrong I'm loving the fact that I can come home and don't have to study or go to the next activity on the colour coded calendar but we are creatures of habit and it's nice to know somethings can always feel be the same.

The actual work I'm doing is mostly on the project management side - so just learning all the little details that need to be done for big scale engineering projects (price tags are in the million range). Small tasks and forgotten formalities are my calling at the moment haha, which on the bright-side is an easy way to not feel over whelmed by the fact I don't know half of what is going on, it's a pretty good learning environment and I feel I get to contribute. That vaguely sounds like the role the younger sibling gets that doesn't really mean anything …hmmm …haha … I do the little stuff that the important guys don't really like doing - so everyone is happy really. And apparently because I'm from generation Y, means I don't respect my elders well enough, I'm too sarcastic and not respectful. Meanwhile they seem to get a good laugh out of it … I can't help that it's way too easy to poke fun at some of the things that are said 'by-accident' because of the language differences. I'm the only female in the office, there is one Serbian guy who is just starting to learn english, one Serbian guy who went to university so knows his english from an academic perspective, another Serbian who lived in Canada for 10 years but is originally from Czech Republic, an Italian-Serbian who has just learned english through necessity of the industry and my Dad who has learned all of 15 words of Serbian over the past 3 years … need I say more. I'm not knocking my Dad in anyway he has made it work. My goal of learning a word a day is often a challenge in the fact that I can't even physically make the sounds with my mouth, resulting in a 'hooked-on-phonics' lesson, which usually results in me laughing yet again. Conclusion, I would bet that these guys think I'm crazy or on drugs haha.

But on a serious note, they have been very welcoming to me in the office and not made me feel like a hassle or than I'm an inconvenience. I am hoping with time the traditional female treatment (nor good or bad) changes a bit towards me on a professional level. After spending a few day in the steel plant I have come to the conclusion that I will always get stared at and looked at with the expression of "is this girl on a field trip for school?" from most of the workers, but I hope to change the guys' I work with perspectives that I'm not completely useless in the field and can help when needed. So I'm trying to find the balance between knowing when to step up and offer my help and to know my place when I know nothing about the situation haha.

Anyways that was a long-winded update. I have some pictures of me in my safety gear for everyone to laugh at. Talk soon.

"If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American" AO

- Truthful thought of most Europeans ... can you blame them? haha

Mich

Sunday, August 22nd

A typical weekend for my Dad while working over here has been: work on Saturday from 6am to 2pm, relax in the afternoon than go out for dinner somewhere, Sunday sleep in a bit do some work from home and any personal work he can get done and than relax for the rest of the day. Well I'm sure I will appreciate this once I have worked a 70 hour work week but until then I'm raining on his parade haha. So the tentative compromise that I thought I would make with him, which I decided better left to just trying rather discussing it, was to do something 'touristy' every weekend. We will see how that goes …
So yesterday we decided that we need to go check the Belgrade Beer Fest that we had been hearing about at work all week. We decided it would be a lot easier to just walk down to the park from the apartment, which took about 30mins. My history lesson continued and I'm begging to put together a bigger picture of the city and what it's all about. I decide to try my luck with filming the event along with my usual picture taking. Well lets just say my previous filming experiences have all been pretty planned out so this didn't turn out in the 'best quality'. It doesn't help that filming on a digital camera isn't great but thats no excuse for my unsteady hand. Oh well! :). I hope you enjoy and can really get a feel for the amount of people that were actually there - thousands!!!!

Beer Fest 2010 - Belgrade from Michele Hynes on Vimeo.

"Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor's noisy party than being there" FJ
Mich

Friday August 20th

Well I officially finished my first week of work. My initially thought process when first entertaining the idea of doing a co-op term over seas was I really wanted to find something totally different, on my own, get to travel to a different part of the world and where I could really get a feel for what engineering is all about. In a city where I could maybe play basketball along with that sounded like the ideal and maybe a bit unrealistic but nonetheless ambitious haha. Other than that anything was game… Well I'm doing something different, I'm in the field - not my specific field exactly, I'm getting a good chance to learn about engineering, and I'm definitely in a different part of the world.
I'm quickly learning that it's really hard to do anything without knowing someone, or know someone who speaks English haha. Aka the saying "its not what you know, it's who you know" is all too relevant at the moment. But to be perfectly honest what can't it be both? What and who you know together can make for a good combo and I have definitely learned over the past few years that you can't always have one without the other. Well that's my take on it and its working for me. I didn't want the latter (who you know) to over rule my experience here but it is what it is. Yes I'm working with my Dad for a Canadian Engineering Consulting firm at an American Steel Plant (USS) in Smedervoo Serbia, but it has already been way more than I expected. So yes I did end up using my Dad's situation for a placement, but is that such a bad thing? I think I would be stupid not to - I don't think I could have found a better situation given my lack of experience in travel and in work and my wavering decision to do this. So I took advantage of the situation and I'm going to make the most of it.
In the first week I have already had to pull out some stuff that I thankfully already learned in school to help me get some of the work done. Although the tasks I'm doing are tedious and at times mundane, I quickly realized that all levels of engineering have these types of tasks to complete at some point and it's part of the project process. Luckily I finished workplace and gas safety training so now I'm just waiting for my safety equipment so I can mix up the work day with some jobs in the plant - which I'm pretty excited about. But for now I put in a solid week of AutoCad drawing cataloguing for the upcoming project we are working on. Not only did I have to enter every one of the 1395 drawing's details into an excel spread sheet, I got to translate them into English from Serbian! Let me tell you I was pumped when I finished the last one - definitely did a little dance and fist pumping in my head, while I calmly walked over and ask for my next task haha. My reward was getting to help with a drawing in progress for the project - screen shot below.

(Lets play 'I Spy': find the 6 small boxes that are very faint and you win!)


You see those tiny insignificant red boxes that you can hardly make out, within all the important stuff around it I didn't do, I did those boxes! Drawing one complete! hahaha - pathetic I know but when you see 1395 complicated drawings that you think you will never be able to do and start to panic because as usual "school taught us nothing about the real world" this was very rewarding :).
While trying to wrap my head around the fact that I now have a 9-5 job (here it's more like 6am to 5pm) I get to enjoy a nice relaxing weekend. Hopefully get into some fun!
Until next time ….

"Learning is not a spectator sport" DB
Mich

Sunday August 15th

I'm starting to get use to having no idea what is going on around me from a verbal perspective. I didn't realize how much I paid attention to what others where saying even if it didn't involve me. I know some of you might think this is eavesdropping, but when you are listening to understand people, place or situations around you or learning something you may not have other wise known I call it information gathering haha - that may be a stretch I know... So the result of not having the luxury of comprehension results in 100% people watching which, lets be honest, everyone does anyways but now we don't know what they are saying so we can make up even more far fetched assumptions about people. Which Dad and I often do and ends in a ridiculous story that we have a good laugh at. But I digress haha …
I'm becoming more comfortable about my surrounding and how things are different here. My second day here I had to go to the police station to register my passport for a temporary resident card, which I would have never known to get. Having Dad around to show me the ropes the easy way is a little better than find these things out the hard way haha. This was my first task on the solo but like Ty and I have said since day one about my Dad working over here - he knows people who know people. So I get a knock on my door, knowing to expect someone but not knowing what to expect. After taking 5 minutes to open the door, because I apparently can't figure out a door with 5 dead-bolts which you can turn to three different positions, I'm greeted by a Serbian gentleman telling me, in broken english, someone is here for me. So I quickly grab my purse, where I had strategically placed things (keys, Dad's cell number, my address, etc) in case of 'emergency' and head down stairs. Where I meet an other guy, who's english is better, and he tells me he is here to take me to the police station so I figured my Dad probably knew this guy. We walk outside to his car, an automatic Mercedes with black tinned windows, which you don't see around this tight streets to frequently - you can imagine the different scenarios that are going through my head at this point (cough cough … Mofia …. haha). He opens the door for me, which I don't think I will ever get use to, it is forever in my head that only forgein men in American movies do this gesture haha. Getting use to the 'difference' in driving we made our way through busy streets to the station. Needless to say this guys knew what he was going. All it took was me handing over my passport (slightly holding my breath) and 10 minutes later I was back home and a register resident of Serbia for 90 days. I ended the ordeal with a good old fashion american hand shake, which I have learned it my link to saying thank you without actually have to say it, although my pronunciation of 'Hvala' . Later I recount how things went with my Dad when he informs me he had no idea who the guys was that took me but we don't have to worry about it now cause I got home safe (ear muffs mom) haha.
Well that was a long winded example about all the fun and interesting situations that I'm just beginning to experience and over analyze - hope I painted a good enough picture for you to enjoy :).
This afternoon we spent the day going down town to the shops and visited the old fort. Kalemegdan is the castle located where the Danube and Sava meet on the coast of Belgrade. My history lessons are continuing and my cluelessness to history is coming along nicely. Its starting to sink in now that when someone says something is from the 13th century is not a mind blowing concept in Europe like I think it is. Anyways here are some pictures and hope to update you again soon. …



"Imagination is stronger than knowledge. Myth more potent than history. Dreams more powerful than facts. Hope always triumphs over experience. Laughter is the cure for grief." RF
Mich

Thursday August 12th

"Sorry to say but I can't stay …" Today was departure day from Barcelona for everyone. Dad and I were off to Serbia while the rest of the crew was on route back to Canada. Didn't have much repacking to do so I was able to get a good sleep in before the trip. The flight to Serbia only took 2 hours so it was basically the equivalent of my usually flight from Winnipeg to Hamilton which covers only two Provinces in Canada. Througout this flight I passed through a couple of countries, a couple of parts of the Mediterranean - which is still a hard concept for me to put into context some times haha. But we arrived in Belgrade without too many delays. I don't think I have ever seen seat aisles on an airplane so narrow but luckily my five-feet-something worked to my average this time. My dad has no idea what I'm talking about as he is a 'business class flyer' - overrated I'm telling you. Having a free drink is not even that great of a deal because it guarantees you trip to the washroom, which can be an even bigger of a hassle on a foreign plane with funny looking toilets and no English signs haha ... mildly kidding ... it really was a fine flight.
I don't think I had prepared myself enough to know what surroundings I was landing in so my optionated canvas was blank with only Canadian comparison. Did I mention I don't remember anything from European history class??
Well it was interesting from the moment I was out of the airport, so many different sights and expected norms gone! I can't even give options or perspectives because 30mins in I knew it was going to take a while to rap my head around everything. So for now I'm on the other side of the 'immigration' experience, the one who can't explain myself to get what I need in stores and the one who will probably put my foot in my mouth many times to learn different parts of the culture. But I'm excited to observe and 'learn' ... I'm finally getting a sense of what people mean when they say 'travelling helps you grow as person'. I'm definitely not anywhere near there but that feeling of uncomfortable-situations-ahead has settled in so I'm in for an experience ...

"Live consciously, continuously and with out fear of the unknown"
Mich

Wednesday August 11th

Having arrived towards the end of the my Aunt, Uncle, and parent's trip to Barcelona, they were pretty tired and ready for a relatively uneventful day. So we decided to go for a nice short shopping trip in downtown Barcelona. We all had a few souvenir and must have item to pick up so we knew we couldn't get sucked in to do too many things. Well let me tell you, I was tempted to want to do so many things but I understood - the feeling of going back home from vacation tired can be very draining. But after walking around, stopping at the stores we intended to and seeing the usual interesting-people-watching-scenes I found myself back in the car as planned.


We came back to the house for a famous Monsterat lasagna lunch and fruit. After which everyone had the feeling for a much needed siesta. This is where I caught up on my sleep I think, mine lasted a good 2 hours! Than I woke up to a full household of people. They had planned a drive up to some of the close by mountains to see the view. Meanwhile I went and played some basketball. Losing track of time, after 2 hours of playing the call to come home because we were heading to Barcelona for dinner was received. Got home, showered and dressed all within 10 minutes to enjoy a great night out. The restaurant was beautiful (fun fact: the restaurant was the one from the movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"), the food was great and the company even better!

We finished off the night with a visit to the eldest brother Carlos' house in north Barcelona, to see his new digs and the painting he did for the baby's room haha. It was a very cool place, the perfect size and use of space, which they had done a great job of making into a home. You don't find anything like that in Canada that's for sure haha. Said our goodbyes :( and headed home.



Another late night well spent. I was ready for bed after some initial packing but couldn't seem to fall asleep when I started to think about how lucky I was to have had the pass couple of day turn out the way they did. Pretty cool …

"When the doors of opportunity swing open, we must make sure that we are not too afraid or indifferent to walk through them." JJ
Mich

Tuesday August 10th

Another great breakfast to start the day and than we were in for a beach tour. We headed to the north east coast of Costa Brava where the family usually vacationed to when the boys were younger so it was fun to hear some of the stories. It took about 2 hours to get there, I tried to stay awake to see some of the scenery but it was mostly highway, which meant instant napping for me :). The first stop was to the top of a mount St.Sebastian, were the introduction to the great views began. This is where one of the most important light houses is located and below is surrounded by one of the busiest beaches.



Next we head to the town of Tamarin for some lunch on the beach front and a walk along the beach path - again it was insanely busy.



Than our snorkelling and exploring destination was just around the cove, where we set up on rock face and explored the water below. The water was a refreshing temperature and there were plenty of fish to see. Not to mention that swimming in the ocean always reminds me of how big the world actually is - when you look out and all you can see is water and the thought of the next content being so many swimming months away is always surreal to me haha. But we all enjoyed the day and no one got sun burnt. Being able to tell we were tourist from a cold country was too easy for the brown-sun-tanned Europeans :).



After leaving the beach we headed to the top of another mountain where the very cool hotel of Parador Hotel Aigublava was located. We walked around a bit more as the temperature was starting to cool down and the lightning on the coast made for some great pictures of the scenery!



Than for our final stop we ended up in Pals, which is a medieval village where the coast line can be seen from afar. This is the typical town that you would see in a movie with a medieval setting. Cobble stone streets, old farming land, gothic church, archways in the street, flowers that looked wild but well kept and endless scenic view from different viewpoints to make you think its the perfect spot between sea and land (wow that sounds like a travel adversitment haha).






We headed home, which definitely involved a nap in the car, and we were all ready for some much needed sleep. Had a snack of fruit - I swear they inject it with sugar and growth hormones, which makes every possible fruit delicious. Even fruit that I don't like look appetizing and I must try and ones that we don't have at home are that much more tempting to try haha. Off to bed ready to sleep for hours ….

“The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea.” ID
Mich

Monday August 9th

Had to do some serious reading to fall sleep after heading to bed around 11pm, as we had a 5am wake up call ahead of us. Our destination today was three and a half hours north west to the Pyrenees mountains for an exciting day of white water rafting and some site seeing around the village of Llavorsi. Getting there a few hours before our raft departure time, our gracious host of course packed us a picnic lunch, which we enjoyed river side - couldn't get much better! Then we walked around a bit and took in some of the mountain side town before suiting up for our water escapade! With my Mom a little nervous and my excitement building I knew we were in for some fun haha. We all got the traditional rafting gear and a quick intro to the basics, than we were off for an hour and 25 minute, 14km adventure. It was tons of fun highlighted by: some 'bumper cars' off rocks, some refreshing floating in the ice cold river, Mom's face when told to 'rescue' everyone, Uncle DV's determination leading the charge in the front, and many laughs having to do with our paddling (in)ability and general excitement when going down rapids! (Hopefully action photos to follow later)
After that little work out :) we were met by our ride back to the city as soon as we arrived back at the rafting starting spot. We decided we were more tired than hungry and start the trek back home. After an adrenaline-pumping-european-style drive back home we had some snacks and were ready for a nice night at the house. Of course this does not consist of nothing but we had a great time. Aunt Wendy and I spent a good amount of time helping prepare some bedding for the baby that the family is expecting any day now! Mom and Monsterat jumped in here and there while preparing some things for dinner. We enjoyed a very very good spaghetti dinner under a warm and comfortable night - oh did i mention that typical dinner time is around 9pm and we eat outside most of the time, one of my favourite parts and exactly my style haha. Another late night to try and fall asleep, I don't think the napping in the car anywhere we go is helping ...
"No day is so bad or too good that it can't be improved with a nap." CP
Mich

Sunday August 8th

I arrived in Barcelona after a 7 hour flight, my first international flight alone, which felt great to get out of the way to know I was comfortable doing it. I met a really interesting girl from the US who went to undergrad at UNC, it took all my strength to not ask too many questions about the sports culture but her best friend was a member of the women's basketball team so I was in luck haha. She had just finish an internship in New York for her third year in Law school and decided to take a 5 day trip to Barcelona before school started again in 8 days ... insane! The flight attendant thought we were sisters and travelling together to celebrate a vacation from school so she brought the drinks over right away haha. We had some good chats, some laughs, a nice nap and a really decent meal (for an economy class ticket) to make the flight pass very quickly. I arrived in Barcelona airport at 7am with a solid 3 hour nap to sustain me for the day - I don't know what all the fuss is about jet lag, the adrenaline and excitement of being in a new country had me ready to go haha .... maybe.
Getting back to the house, that I had been to 2 years ago, immediately felt like home. It may be because the family we stay with is exactly that FAMILY, but it also has to do with the hospitality and the way they go out of there way to make you feel like you can make yourself at home. So we started off the day with a typical European breakfast - fresh bread, cheese, amazing fruit, cafe, tea, and of course my favorite chocolate croissants! Than after much discussion we (Mom, Dad and Aunt Wendy) decided to head to the Barcelona Zoo for a few hours while the rest of the crew stayed at home to enjoy the warm weather in a more relaxing way and to prepare for the tradition Spanish meal of paella.






It wasn't as big as the Toronto zoo but there are still a lot of animals and you are a lot closer to the them than most zoos, good or bad you can decide haha. Another Barcelona site to check off the never ending list of things to do there!
We returned from the zoo right on time to enjoy a delicious meal of a paella, that had more ingredients in it than I can list but it was DELICIOUS! (google paella if you are interested in cooking, its a lot of fun to make and you can't mess up the 'receipt' because there are so many versions). Oh and we definitely could not have this meal without drinking sangria and having crema catalana for dessert. [Caution google imaging these items may make your mouth water] haha.
Being full and tired is the perfect combo for a quick siesta to get over some jet lag - well it felt like I slept for hours but it only lasted about 20 minutes, so that was either all I needed or I was just too over tired, who knows. Everyone was still too full from the meal that we didn't plan any dinner but more family members stopped by to visit. We took some pictures and enjoyed the warm weather and good company before heading to the beach for an early evening walk.



A great day to start with :) …

"The first step towards somewhere new is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." UK
Mich

Off Running with the Bulls

Well I'm not in Panploma but I'm close enough to get the cultural feel haha. I have finally made it to Europe after what feels like months of waiting yet it came up so quickly. I start in Barcelona for a few days of pure vacation and fun with family - my Canadian family and my spanish family :). It has been quite the journey to get here but at the same time a new journey is starting. I hope to share with you what I'm up to, with no intention or agenda just what comes to mind. Enjoy at your own pace and risk, some of it may mean nothing but this is my easiest way to share with everyone. And a very wise team of 'life coaches' showed me the rewarding process and peace of mind that 'journalling' can bring.
If anything I hope to strike your interest about something you may want to do or go, or something that you may realize you haven't done or may never want to do. I know that I'm beyond lucky for what I'm about to venture off and get to experience, so I want to share it with anyone and everyone. This is my way of trying to keeping everyone in on what I'm up to, because we all know I'm not the best of communicators when in the same country so a whole different contient could bring a whole new level haha.
But I'm so fortune to have family and friends genuinely interested in what I'm doing. You know who you are so here is to you….

"The future is always beginning now" MS
Mich