An update for all you creepers out there

I'm here on the computer trying to get a few things done, planning for the future a bit, and coming up with solutions to my little list of curiosities. I wanted to write a few things out and I figured I'd use this blog to do so. This one's not too "emo" so you can put away your black lip liner, skinny jeans and lip rings. While you're at it, it's just as well you throw out those blessed razer blades and them old HIM cd's. Not Hym's grandmom. Here's a short run down of where I've been the last year and a bit, jsut to get you up to Speed. I don't tihnk paragraphs are showing up still, but there have been 3 so far that I can pick out.Innsbruck, Austria to Prague, Cheq Republic, Barcelona and Sevila, Spain, then Berlin, Germany, where I met up with the chick Grace and her friends. From there I went to Poznan and Cracow, Poland, then down to Budapest, Hungary. My last stop was in Stuttgart Germany to visit Andreas and Taylor. I also took in Heidelberg during that stay. From there I I passed through London on route home. I was home for 11 days before visiting Lee-Anne and family in PEI for a short stop pre-planting season. She's my sister. Flew into Vancouver and hung out with the buys, then started planting trees in Williams Lake, BC. Planting was a whole other bag of stories, that I suppose I should jot down at some point, but that's just too much for right now. I planted from May 12th - July 16th. Then there was a huge party in the gravel pit where I was the only sober person to be seen. Holy banana's was that a fun time. OKay, I'll tell you a bit about it. The night started around 5pm with BBQ salmon and chicken, with all the fixings. There were 3 kegs and $1000 worth of free alcohol for the night, along with some Dr. Pepper for me. I was to be the designated driver had anything gone array and one dizembowelled planted needed tending to. Nothing bad happened, and we're all safe. There was an open bar, 2 bonfires, a DJ set from 5pm-5am, and a 10-14 seat hot tub. The hot tub consisted of a large whole dug in the gravel in bench seating, with tarps to hold the water and a shower trailer pumping hot water into it. All these stations were connected by teaky torch lit paths. So we had fun and said our goodbyes. I wet to Vancouver for a few days to stay with Dawe. We did some skim boarding at the beach, and went downhill biking at Whistler. Dawe's girlfriend's family has a time share at Whistler, so we stayed there and took everything in for the weekend. From Vancouver I flew to Fort Mac. Now the plan was for me to surprise Bob with a visit, so his girlfriend, and fellow blogger, Ceara, picked me up at the airport at 4pm and brought me to Bob's work. He wasn't around, but he showed up about 20 minutes later all stressed out because the boss was off for a week and left him in charge. He was shocked to see me, and immediately offered me a job. We called the boss and I had a chat with him. long story short, I was working by 5pm, and continued until 10pm. I said I'd give them a month, but upon further consideration I decided to stay until December, or the last weekend in November. Work is plentiful, and the money is good. There isn't a whole lot of time off, but that's not why I'm up here. When I do get time off I do stuff with Bob. He has 10 bikes he found at the dump, and a few of them are really nice, so we take them on the trails around town. Fort Mac has a lot of good bike and walking trails on the fringe of every neighbourhood. The city has put a lot of money into recreation with dog parks, tennis courts, skate parks, ball fields, and outdoor rinks. It's a nice place ya know. So, here I am, and I've had enough of this blog, so that's all you get. later. Dave

Poznan, Poland

Poznan is only a three hour train ride from Berlin which was pretty much the deciding factor in my choice to go there over other cities in Poland. I asked one of the three polish girls I met in Barcelona where I should go in Poland and she listed three cities. I looked at the map and chose the closest one, Poznan. I got to Poznan and had no trouble finding the hostel, which was super, awsome, fantastic, star number one. If you’ve read any of my former travels, like December you will know I don’t always hit the nail on the head when it comes to left and right etc. in the streets. Good location and friendly staff. I dropped off my stuff and went out for a walk around to see what I could see and found myself in the town square. This place is pretty historic, but I don’t know the history, I could just tell by looking around. Poznan is nice, and you can buy a Kabob for 8-10 zlot which is around 3 Canadian dollars. I love the exchange here. ___________________________________________________________________________ The next day was my birthday which I spent walking around Poznan. I walked for about 8 hours up through a big park, then down around a 5km lake where there is a fake ski hill. It’s one of those ski rugs. I didn’t bother to try it out but watched two people on it. From there I went to the mall, and then back to the hostel. I was going to buy some pierogies but I noticed that once you palce your order you then have to wait for it to be called out and I felt like I wouldn’t know if it was my turn or not. I had bought a few things from people that didn’t know any english so I didn’t want to venture into this situation. I grabbed a burger which looks a whole lot different than at home. It’s made with ham covered in crums in a grilled bun with cole slaw, and veg avec hot sauce. After that I was still in the mood to eat so I bought a kabob and an apple flavored bottle of water before heading back up to the hostel to chill out and chat with people in the main room. I was talking to this girl on front desk who took me to a BBQ after she got off work where I had a real polish sausage cooked by a real polish person. It doesn’t get much more authentic than that. I spent the night listening to conversations I didn’t understand and laughing with my new friends about my pronunciation of Polish words. Good times were had by all. ________________________________________________________________________ The next day I went to the zoo and chilled out with a Donkey and some sheep. They had monkeys and stuff there too, but you couldn’t get close to touching them. I guess they might run away or bite your face off if ever given the chance. Donkey’s aren’t so keen on face, rather, they are more into the buds of greenery that sprout up around them. One of them sniffed my neck though. _______________________________________________________________________ I went back to the hostel and chilled out before some german guys showed up. They were going to a Polish cup football match so I tagged along. The stadium was pretty full, and on the way you saew plenty of police in cars, vans, foot and horseback. Everyone in the stadium was dressed in blue and white and chanting their chants all game long. Poznan won 2-0 so there was no bloodshed that day. On the walk home you could see the tram packed full of chanting fans who were bursting out of the windows. It was a good experience of culture for sure, and the ticket was like $10 canadian. __________________________________________________________________________ After that I went back to the hostel and chilled out in the main area until late at night, watching as people came hoem from the bars. There were these three guys from Norway who came back one at a time. The first guy was looking good, the second guy drunk, and the third guy was having a hard time getting his limbic system to cooperate. __________________________________________________________________________ I went to bed and completely slept through my alarm so I ended up taking the 12:30pm train, rather than the 8:20am train from Poznan to Cracow. I checked out the platform and got on the train, however, my negligence to ask someone about the trip would cost me as I got on the train on the wrong side of the platform heading in the wrong direction. _________________________________________________________________________ I went an hour in the wrong direction, then waited 1.5 hours to take a train back to Poznan where I waited at the station for 6 hours before the 11pm train left. I spoke to a guy this time who confirmed that I was on the right train, and when I got on the train was packed so tight that I ended up next to the washroom at the end of the car. There were 3 of us standing there and several people would come and go as this was the place to come for smokes. I spent 7 hours in this smokey smelly little spot where two guys almost got in a fight, and several other gentlemen would stumble out to pee, smoke and talk to me in Polish. I told them I speak english but this didn’t seem to hinder them any. Some spoke a bit of english, but others just smiled and shook my hand. It was fun to watch the interaction and try to communicate with this language barrier, and even though I didn’t get more than 3 minutes sleep I know I’ll always remember that train ride. I smiled and laughed and was thankful that it was only 7 hours. Travel is gorgeous in that way. ________________________________________________________________________ I arrived in Cracow hostel at 7:30am running on fumes so they told me to take some rest ad then come check in. Some rest turned out to be 9 hours as I woke up at 4:30pm. High fives to the staff because they just pushed my reservation ahead a day so that I didn’t have to pay for the night I spent on the train. It’s something like 7€ per night anyways. _________________________________________________________________________ I’m killed. I’ll tell you more later. Time for bed out of it.

berlin

Berlin was a good time. As soon as I got into the Hostel I met some Ausi guys in my room who were going out and invited me along. We walked the streets and found it was easy to tell where you were based on your location in relation to the TV tower, which is sort of like a low key version of the CN Tower. The prostitutes were more attractive here, but still not worth throwing my life away on. I always pictured prostitutes to be in their 40's and kind of like your bosses wife. You know, trying too hard and inappropriately forward. I didn’t think about it until after, but these girls could very easily be doing this against their will in an attempt to escape Russia or somewhere else. The first encounter with one was with the Ausi guys, and it went something like this. P= Prostitute and A=Ausi __________________________________________________________________________ P: “Hello, you want to do something tonight?” A: “Yeah me and my mates are heading to this place, you should come along.” P: “I can’t, I have to work, but we can still do something.” A: “Na come with us. Why where you working?” P: “Um, here?” A: “Here?.... You mean on the street?” P: “Uhh, yeah.” A: “You’re a prostitute?” P: “ Yes why else would I be wearing this? So you want to do something tonight?” A: “Ohh, no, I don’t do that sort of thing sorry.” __________________________________________________________________________ I don’t know how well this conversation translates but it was pretty hilarious to watch. Especially when I light went off in his head and he looked her in the eyes and said, “You’re a prostitute?” __________________________________________________________________________ We went to this bar where the boys were meeting up for a pub crawl. That’s not my thing so I just hung out with them for a while and when they left to go to another bar I got some chinese food and walked around a bit, just to get a feel for the city. __________________________________________________________________________ The next day I did a free walking tour and got to see a whole lot. I touched the berlin wall, saw the only remaining Natzi building, which is now loathed as the taxation centre. It was used a lot in the movie Valcuri. I learned a lot on that walking tour as it was about 5 horus or so I think. The next day as I was going to check out I ran into Grace and her friends. It worked out well because I was about to pay for a 26€ room and one of her friends was checking out of their room which was still booked for another night. I moved in with them and went around Berlin on Bike. ___________________________________________________________________________ Side note. I just overheard someone ask the front desk, “Where is a good place for someone around 30 years old?” and I thought, that’s me, I’m around 30 years old. Anyways, on with the show. _______________________________________________________________________ Saturday on bikes in Berlin was awesome. I had so much fun with my Kiwi friends checking out a market, seeing sights and eating good food. We went to a place that used to be a broom shop for blind Jews. The man who owned the place was partly blind and he highered Jews, even hiding some in his house and other places during WWII. We got to see the false room behind a book shelf where an entire family lived. There was lots to see and read, and often the stories ended with the death of each person. Berlin is a serious place to see, with plenty of history. I’m so glad I went there. __________________________________________________________________________ Later that night we went to a BBQ birthday party for the pastor of Berlin Hill Song. I had lots of fun, mostly eating plenty of good food. I ate more meat than you can shake a stick at, which is saying something, because meat is rarely mobile enough to avoid a stick shaking. After the BBQ we went to meet up with some friends and went to an American 60's diner. After that we walked a bit and went back to the hostel. On the way home we saw some of these bronze plaques in the ground that caught our attention. They are placed outside shops with descriptions of Jews who were either removed to be shot in the street or taken to a concentration camp and exterminated days later. It’s a powerful reminder as you walk Berlin and see these emblems encrypted in the concrete. Go to Berlin out of it, and eat a few Kabobs. ___________________________________________________________________________ That’s enough for now, I’ll write about Poland later, for now I will eat.

spainishness

No pics, they were taking too long and I'm hungry April 2nd Where do I begin? Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I was talking about Barcelona and the last thing I said was that I was going to talk to the girl sitting behind me. She’s pretty cool. We’re friends now, and we hung out the next day before she left, then I made some more friends. ___________________________________________________________________________ If you ever walk down La Rambles at night in Barcelona, you will see a thing or two. There are always street performers lining the edge of this 30 foot wide walking lane that divides the two traffic lanes of the main shopping district. There are people dressed up in crazy costumes, and some in lame ones too, and everyone has something to sell, from plants to birds, to bodies. Yeah, there are a lot of prostitutes on the strip at night. They are these little black African girls who look between the ages of 16 and 22, dressed in jeans and hoodies. They don’t look promiscuous, but they don’t have to because they don’t need approaching. You’ll be walking and there she’ll be, in the corner of your eye, closing in on you. They lock onto you, literally. They put their arm around you and then ask you if you’re interested etc. One night I had three girls come up and talk to me. I chatted with one of them for a bit, and it always makes me wonder how often these girls get to talk to a guy who isn’t looking for something else. _________________________________________________________________________ Sunday I went around the city with some new friends checking out the Gaudi stuff. After that I went to Sevilla where you can pick oranges walking down the sidewalk. They are a bit tart but worth eating at least one for sure. _________________________________________________________________________ Man, Sevilla seems so long ago now. It’s one of those places to just chill out and walk around. I checked out a bull fighting arena on an off day, and everywhere you walk looks good. Had some Tapas and jet scene to Berlin.

Plains, Trains, & Skateboard Wheels

I woke up two days ago and I wasn't sure if I was going to be spending the night in Prague again until half way through my breakfast sit down. Breakfast is all you can eat from 8:30-12 so I sit down with my laptizle and eat over some emails and travel planning.___________________________________________________________________-- Check out was at 12 so i checked out and then sat in the hotel making some final plans for the day. I booked a ticket for 5pm to Barcelona and then got some directions to the airport from the front desk before heading out. Travel was easy and I'm doing a lot less getting lost these days. I don't think it's me, so I'm not going to credit myself with maturity. I would say it has more to do with the city maps. _________________________________________________________________________________ Not much to say about this trip except I'm here now in Barcelona. _______________________________________________________________________________-- I chatted and computered with a guy from france til 3am in the hostel and the next morning I moved to one closer to the city centre. It's right across the street from this place at the end of AV Parel ell that I've seen in every single skateboard video that has come out since 2004. I went downstairs to look at a map and then head out, and that's where I met these three Polish girls. They were going out to the beach and some other sights for the day so I tagged along. We had a good time, but the water was about as warm as Northern Bay Sands and the air was around 18 degrees, so there was no swimming. Actually there was, but night by us. There were a few crazies out in the water, and as I watched two young boys playing in the waves I thought about how all my younger cousins would have braved these waters if they were given the opportunity to swim in March. ___________________________________________________________________________________ We walked through Olympic grounds and a nice big park as well on our way back to the hostel. The plan was to go out to a traditional Spanish restaurant but the place was packed so we settled for a sports restaurant instead. __________________________________________________________________________________ It was a good first day in Barcelona, but the girls left today so I have to make new friends now. We had fun but my body needed some rest today after all the walking I've been doing. I think the 40 minute walk with 35 lbs of luggage on my back might have contributed to my exhaustion. Maybe I'll go for a skate across the street, or I could chat up the cute Japanese girl sitting behind me.............

czech inn

Czech Inn is dope. This hostel is so nice that even my mother could stay here! No, seriously, I’ll pop up some pics when I remember to bring my sd card down. Free internet, good foods in the morning, and it feels good inside. _______________________________________________________________________ Prague is a very nice city. It’s so old and rustic like. I walked through town today and everything is super old. I went to a castle that I’m going back to tomorrow, and it was built in 900+AD. The prison was interesting, and this street called, Golden Road was a preserved little rickety sting of shops with thatch roof in places and a foreign feel. From the castle walkway you can see a huge chunk of sky line with lots of detailed towering bits of weathered fashion protruding here and there. I walked through the old city square, and got a good feel for where things are in town. I like it here. _________________________________________________________________________ I guess my blog wouldn’t be complete without a hectic little story, so here it is. __________________________________________________________________________ I was at the train station in Innsbruck yesterday buying a ticket to Prague, and when I used my debit card it was not accepted by the machine. I used my visa card instead, then proceeded to call my bank about this predicament. They weren’t up yet in London town so I waited until they opened and then called again. Now, I had told them before I left for the trip where I was going to be when, so there should not have been any issue, but nonetheless there was. So I told them about my further travel plans and the HSBC rep told me they would place a travel notification on my card. All was well, I took my train, had a good conversation with a stranger, and then made my way through Prague. The bank machine at the train station was out of money so I found another one in the town. I put my card in, entered, account number, requested money, and waited. The machine informed me that it would not be able to process my request at this time. I considered asking why not, and when might be a better time for my to try again, but alas, these machines tend to be as knowledgeable as the 24 hour customer service representatives of _________________ (Insert your poison of choice here). I tried a few more times, then called HSBC again to see what was what. I still have some decent credit on my cell phone, but it doesn’t last so long when you’re over seas. I get through and they place the travel marker on my phone again, though I’m not sure why it wasn’t there in the first place. They list the other countries I’ll be traveling to as well, then tell me to wait 15 minutes. I wait, and I try try try, but to no avail. The false hope is sucked out of me once again as the machine continuously spits my card back out. I hate this. I’m not having a good time. Je suis tres mal. _______________________________________________________________________ I call them back and they now place a 1 hour marker on my card which will allow me to do whatever I want in the next hour. Waiting another 15 minutes, I finally put my card back in and receive my money. No, no I don’t. I receive another rejection, and my cell phone is losing credit. I call them back and this call takes a lot longer because I have to answer several security questions. When mister man finally gets back to me he says it should be working and suggests I try another machine. I had thought of this, but my card was fine because this machine had recognized my hard chip, pin etc. I had also watched another person come in and get money out no problem. So I left and found another machine, which gave me money. I was content with that and went on to czech Inn. Fin. That was about an hour of unrest, but I’m up and at them and things are well and good right now. Fin

Innsbruck

Today is march 20th, and I’m on my way to Prague in the Czech Republic. This feels like the first time I am liberated to write about the travel. I could have taken some time to myself, but there really was no need and I always felt more interested in doing whatever was happening at the time. Sure I took some time to read or play video games, but there’s something about this time that feels freeing to my mind. The landscape is gorgeous out here. Passing through small towns with traditional churches on hills, fields and stuckow houses, each with a nature scene mural painted on the side. Austria was fun, but the next few days I hope to connect with God on a personal and intimate level. When leaving London I met up with Joel and Steven at the bus stop, then proceeded to Gatwick Airport where we checked in, passed through security, put our footwear through a second security check, and then drank water & ate chocolate. We chatted on the flight with one another, talking about dreams, goals and fun ideas. I read a bit of a book I leant from Aunt Mary-Anne, entitled, Three Cups of Tea. It wasn’t hard to find the hostel, and we settled in well before going out for a walk around the town and a taste of some turkish eats which were recommended. I was an early night. Tuesday the 10th we got up at 7 and enjoyed an all you can eat breakfast. 6 different kinds of cereal, two kinds of bread, some cheeses and processed ham-ish. Also some juice and apples. From there we took the 8:30 ski bus that picked us up outside the hostel and made our way to Axum Litzum. We rented gear and enojyed the day. There was a good mix of terain. There was some steep lumpy stuff through the trees with a few drops and lots of fresh powder The park was fun and there were lots of groomed and ungroomed runs of various difficulties. Visibility was minimal at the top for some of the days, but we also had some really beautiful bright sunny days where you could see the whole town in the valley among many mountains. We all suffered minor injuries, but nothing that kept us off the slopes, just a few tumbles or scrapes. I guess I’ll have to put some of my pictures up, but the guys have the best ones with their fancy dangled cameras. In all we road 3 different mountains, one of which was a glacier. They all had their selling points but we spent the most time on Axum Litzum, which I have not spelled correctly. We road 4 days, took one day off and then road two more days. The plan was to take one day off and then go back for two more days, but the conditions were getting icy and we were not as driven as we were from the start. Instead, we took a day trip to a couple small towns not too fare from Innsbruck. There we did some hiking, passing a bunch of elderly folk, all decked out in their poles, ice grips and back packs. I had some old skate shoes and a skate board, but this only made the trip more interesting. The slopes we walked town were hard packed so we could slide down them on our feet. It was a beautiful day indeed. We ate pretty cheep. Breakfast was free, for lunch I packed almonds and craisens, and for supper we ate microwave dinners, or eggs, or sandwiches and bread. Snacks were chocolate and pepperoni sticks. The spiced meet is good in these parts. The night we came back from the day trip the shops were closed so we splurged for some Burger King. I didn’t feel like holding back, so I got the triple paddy whopper meal. It was € 6.89, but I don’t think I care to convert that to Canadian dollars. We walked around Innsbruck a couple of days, and a few days ago we went to the Sauna. Well, we went for a swim and a Sauna, so we thought, but when we got in we couldn’t find the Sauna, so we asked one of the life guards who directed us toward a door upstairs. We tried it and found it to be locked, with no response from the other side. We then walked down and asked at the front desk, who sent the cleaning lady to take us back to the lifeguard. The Life guard told us we had to pay for the sauna at the front desk and that it was female only day. Well, I guess a few things were lost in translation. Steven didn’t have any trunks so he went home out of it, while Joel and I went for a swim and a few rides down the water slides. A couple days later we returned to the Sauna in hopes of it being mens day. It was not. It was mixed day, and not in the hermaphrodite sense of the word. We were the only young people there. By young I mean under 65. It might have been a bit awkward otherwise, but we adapted well as we took no interest in our surroundings. There were dry saunas and a wet sauna, along with hot and cold showers, as well as a cold pool for dunking in. There was also a pool cut in half with hot water on one side and cold on the other, only knee deep, meant for walking around in a circle. You could spread salt on yourself, but we didn’t know where to put it so we stayed away from that bit. There were also two bottles of oil, one citrus and the other yukaliptus, which both felt very nice on aching muscles, however, as my comrades found out, they did not feel so good when in contact with the nether region. The Sauna was a good idea, and that was about it for Innsbruck. It was a fun little trip no doubt, and I only expect to find more adventure along the way. The bulk of my expences have been spent. Everything from here on out can be minimal.

Back in London

SO I landed back in London after a long flight that really didn't seem that long. No conversations on eitherof my two flights, but \i had a good nap and watched parts of some movies.___________________________________________________________________ Yesterday I went to a skate park that's in Brixton, which is just down the road from where I'm staying. It was a cool bowl park, but I hadn't been on a skatebaord since November, and it was a brand new board so I wasn't exactly hot to trot, nor able to stay on my feet. It was fun none the less. Today I'm headed to ... Hamsted? Supposed to be a nice park ad twonish area their. might go through camdon market as well. I feel a little foolish about spending £6.75 on a bus ticket to the airport, when I could have taken the trin for £5, but I am meeting up with the guys to take the bus and for some reason I feel like the chances of the bus being out of operation or stuck are lower than that of a train. That's stupid sure. Whatever, I'm going and I may have waister £1.75 plus the extra pound or two it wioll take to get to the place I need to get to in or der to take the bus. That's the way she goes. I guess I'll make up for it bu eating almonds and craisens for a few meals on the trip.________________________________________________________________________________- Life is good, don't drop kick too many of your friends. David

I bet you don't read this now that I'm home

What I'm listening to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EduKNYVBKH8 ______________________________________________________________________________________ A few changes, I guess. "I guess" implies a sense of apprehension. I'm sick of bowing out of the things that test me, because I never learn what life would be like if I just gave in and listened. Listening implies there must be a voice. _______________________________________________________________________________________ Paul said he died daily in 1 Corinthians 15: 31, which isn't the verse I was looking for but it touches on the same concept I'm interested in, or is interested in me. It's about breaking the part of us that tries to crawl out of our skin before we have chosen each morning to live as God directs us. I feel like such a Jesus kid when I say this stuff but I guess that's what I am. I'm going to try doing a lot less talking and a lot more acting. I mean, I'll let you know what I think and what I'm up to, but I don't want my concept of my Christianity to be to rigid so that I cloak everyone else with it too. Sure there are things I wont budge on, but my path wont look like yours. ___________________________________________________________________________________ It's time for change kids. It's always time for change. I'm not one for New Year Resolutions, because I figure anything that needs changing needs to change now. Waiting until the new year is a bit of procrastination, but it's the new year so seize the day out of it, and if it works for you then have at er. __________________________________________________________________________________ Alright, I'm a church kid, and I have my mind made up about how life is supposed to be, so anything you get from me is passing through your filter of what you consider "Churchy", so lets keep the gospel simple. That way you'll warm up to it a lot easier. Tomorrow when you get up, make the difficult decision to inconvenience yourself for someone else. If you don't, I bet you'll remember the moment later on and wish you did.