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