We are now back in Slovenia and able to access our email without
too much difficulty. We were pleasantly surprised when we logged
on to find that some of you had actually remembered us and sent us a line.
It made us feel really great! For those that didn't, you'd better
do it soon or our friendship is at risk!!!
For the last three and a half weeks we have been doing our favourite
thing - travelling. We worked our way through Austria, Germany, Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Liechtenstien. It was fantastic.
We didn't need to stop at every touristy place as Mark and I have done
that before. We spent most of our time seeing these places from a
child's perspective. For example we went to an Archbishop's Water
park where we all got soaked by the trick fountains. We slid down
huge slides inside a salt mine. We visited fairy tale castles, experienced
an iron age lifestyle in an open air museum (we even had to grind our own
wheat to make flour for our pancakes), rock climbed around a bridge pylon
using harnesses, visited car factories (BMW & Mercedes), lost ourselves
in the Black Forrest (playing Hansel and Gretel) and had to follow our
bread crumb trail, went on the world's highest cog wheel railway and carved
our names in a 3 metre snow wall .
A kind and funny German friend of ours, offered us his holiday house
on the coast of the Netherlands, along with the use of their bikes etc.
It was a great break for a few days in the middle of our travels, letting
us catch some extra zzzzzz's, sunbake (yes it was warm enough already)
and generally take it easy. Kara and Lana took to Udo, Eva and their
adult children and even began to speak German English!
Accommodation for us around Europe has varied from 4 star hotel to private
homes, to dingy dives. Some were magical places direct from postcards
but others less memorable. Costs have been extremely variable and
more than USA and Aus. Generally we would continue with our
travels until about 7.30pm and then start dropping in on Zimmer Frie signs
(room available). This worked well nearly all of the time, but in
Munich and Koln, both cities had conferences and we spent hours trying
to find somewhere to stay. In Munich we started in the centre and
kept driving out, eventually leaving the city the having a kindly
hotel owner ringing around and finding a place for us. Funnily enough
the next night in Munich, we were walking through the centre and found
a Pension appartment the first place we asked. That night ( also
whilst walking through the centre of the old town), we bumped
into a teacher from Mark's work. It is such a small world!
During our travels we have kept a record of the kinds of Australian
music we have heard over here. Most of it is surprising. For
example how many times do you hear Sherbet on the radio in Aus?
Well we have heard them here as well as: Redgum, Men at Work,
Air supply, Little River Band, John Paul Young as well as more recent music
form Natalie Umbrulia, Human Nature, INXS, Savage Garden, Tina Arena and
others.
For those interested in costs, petrol prices apart from the US are shocking.
Example per litre, Germany $1.43, Slovenia $1.04, Belgium $1.58, Holland
$1.70 and USA $0.45. Food costs are also over the top with
McDonalds Big Mac menu costing $7 in Germany and $9.90 in Switzerland.
Food in Slovenia thankfully is approximately the same as home. So
at least we won't get too undernourished whilst here!
It was interesting seeing Slovenia again after having travelled around
Europe for a bit. As soon as we crossed the border you could see
the difference. Not in landscape, it is just as beautiful here as it is
in Austria and elsewhere, but in the general appearance of the place. The
buildings seem so much more run down and in need of maintenance. Cracked
and falling rendering, dirty exterior walls in need of a good paint and
clean, shutters on buildings loose or dirty all appear regularly throughout
the small towns and even in Ljubljana. The architecture is almost
identical to that in Austria, yet it doesn't look as fresh or nice. Even
along the roads you notice the lack of maintenance. Longer grass, rusted
car barriers, dirty signs etc.
Now that we are back, we are beginning the hunt for our own pad.
Each one of us has our own mental picture of what we will end up getting
- but in reality with the cost of units here, it will probably only satisfy
our basic needs. The work situation is looking good, in that we both
have 2 positions lined up (95% sure) starting in September. Both
positions are teaching. One teaching business people and the other
being a native speaking teacher's aid. We are quite pleased that
they do not begin until September as we still plan to go to Italy and France
before we begin the daily grind of work.
The girls will also start school in September as this is the beginning
of the school year here. Before they do however, we have enrolled
them in a 2 week camp where they spend the morning learning Slovenian (with
other children from abroad) and the afternoons going on excursions.
They also sleep over with all of their new friends and they are really
looking forward to it, counting the days but it doesn't begin until the
last week in July. This will be the first time that we will be separated
this year, so I hope we all survive. Mark and I are planning to do
something romantic, but we will probably be too worried about the girls
to really enjoy ourselves!
Each day the girls have still had to do 6 pages of school work ( from
Australia). Most days they find this to be a drag, but mum keeps
nagging and the work gets done. They have completed quite a few books
as they even work on weekends to make up for the days that we just can't
fit it in. It has also served as a good way to keep them occupied
on long drives. Books are always in hand and their game-boys have
also had a great work-out, with even Mark joining in to try and beat the
girl's scores on Tetras. Generally the girls have travelled extremely
well. They haven't annoyed each other too much (except for when they
are tired) and call themselves "best buddies" and give each other piggy
backs.
Anyway, I think we have probably bored you all enough for now.
We don't miss Australia yet, but it would be nice to see you all for an
evening. (I do miss using my credit card - I haven't used it all
year as Mark is always around!) Please keep in touch - it makes us
feel great to have communication with all of those we love. It's
also nice to have people to share our experiences with - Mark doesn't listen
to my jabbering (great for my nodules) but I still need to share all of
the important things in my life with anyone who will listen!
Please drop us a line when you can, even though we don't miss anyone
enough to come back to OZ yet, we still like to know how every one is.
Love to all
Irene, Mark, Kara and Lana