Une Bounty, Si Vous Plait.

Wednesday 14th April 2010

Sorry about the title – it’s a family joke but it seemed fitting as today we went to FRANCE! Many of you will know how I feel about France and the French – it’s a love hate relationship (without the love). This irrational detestation of the French stems from my GCSE French teacher who did not see my potential as an interpreter. In fact, he crushed my self confidence, making me believe that I would never progress to the expert level of ordering a Big Mac with cheese and ketchup only. He was a little jerk and I hated French. I did however, pass my French GCSE, not that you would know – the extent of my French chat today was “Eeeeeenglish???”. But that’s another story.

So anyway, we left pretty early this morning and took a coach to Annecy, France. The drive wasn’t too long and it was really quite scenic (right Emma, full of beautiful buildings? Much nicer than Switzerland?). Once we arrived we took the not-so-scenic long way to the lake and stopped for lunch. I love food. I love talking about food. I love taking pictures of food. I think about food all the time and therefore I have decided that I’m not going to fight it – I will tell you about my lunch and I won’t feel apologetic. I got a Rustic Croque Monsier, with local ham. That means that the pig is local. As in local. As in raised locally. Do you understand that it was local ham, from a local pig? Good. It was like beautifully presented and ridiculously tasty and it was like I was on an episode of Saturday Morning Kitchen.



After my lovely lunch (the other girls weren’t eating because they are sensible and make packed lunches) we walked around the town, took lots of pictures and visited some tourist shops that STUNK (or is it stank?) of cheese! My nostril felt violated.


Speaking of violation, I made a friend. Some old French man started talking to me. As I have trouble with the French language I had no idea what he was saying and I tried to tell him about this predicament (Englisssssh?), but he was a little bit/very creepy, so we swiftly moved along.

After my brief Frenchman encounter we walked along the canals and round to the lake and I can hardly even describe how lovely it was. It was a perfectly sunny day, warm enough for a skirt and t-shirt but not too warm and the town itself is really old fashioned. Everything in Switzerland (and in this case, France) looks like it has been taken right out of a Disney film. I’m useless and describing things – think canals, cobbled streets, beautiful old buildings, coloured shutters, lakes, mountains and sunshine. If you can imagine that, then you’ve got Annecy down. If not, have a look at the picture below – hopefully it’ll do the trick!





When we finished exploring we headed back to Geneva and had a lovely dinner followed by a lovely theological debate. I love Geneva and the anthropologists, especially when they’re combined.



xx

P.S Attractive Man Count was significantly less in France - By the end of the day the count had only risen to 24 - meaning that I only spotted 8 attractive men. I also saw several tiny dogs, I stopped counting at 18. Ahh, the French.

Hello America

Arizona

3rd May – 18th May

So... when I started Blogging, I had high hopes. I wanted to write a daily Blog, which is a really great idea, in theory. I actually do enjoy Blogging, but it’s like writing a diary - you get busy and you forget to write all the great things you have done. That’s basically what has happened to me. I’ve been having such a good time I haven’t had time to write about the good time I’ve been happening - I’ve fallen really behind on my Blog entries and the idea of writing week’s worth of Blogs is killing me... So instead I’ve just decided to do an overview of my first few weeks in the U.S of A, land of dreams and hope and all that jazz.

Basically I arrived in Arizona on Sunday the 3rd May at around dinner time. The family I was staying with came to collect me from the Airport and the kids had drawn me a big poster, it’s actually really good, it features Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Piglet. We then went back to their house – it’s in Tucson Arizona in Oro Valley and it’s really lovely! It’s a really beautiful area – I was really surprised by Arizona, it is so green and pretty – totally not what I was expecting. Yes, the greenery is mainly Cactus and other desert plants, but it’s still very green! There is also a lot of wildlife – which I did complain about (Arizonian animals like to eat and bite people) but I did really enjoy seeing Rattle Snakes. I’ll actually talk about the animals later, so back to Blogging about Arizona. I had a really great time there; it was so nice to be in one place for a while, with a family, doing regular family things. I love every day activities. Skydiving is great, but nothing beats a family trip to Walmart! I’m going to Blog a little differently – I’m going to have all my favourite activities or events as little side headings and I’ll just write about each of them – so you hear all the great things I did in Arizona, without reading 14 different boring entries! Think of this as Greatest Hits of Arizona album.


Greenery and Animals

I’ve already spoken about these so I don’t really need to go into a lot of detail. Basically, Arizona is a lot greener than I thought it would be. I was expecting it to look like an old western movie, where they come out of the Saloon and have a showdown. That didn’t happen. I know, try to contain your disappointment. There were also a lot of animals. I saw lots of creepy Lizards, lots of Quail (which are surprisingly small and strange looking – they looked totally different in my mind. How exactly did Dick Cheney manage to shoot someone in the face, thinking it was a Quail? I won’t even answer that.), quite a few Bunny Rabbits, which I was very glad to see, there so cute! I saw a Coyote, they have really big ears, I would quite like to have one as a pet and we also saw a deer, which I hear is pretty rare! We saw a Grey Squirrel, Bull Snakes and Rattle Snakes! Exciting stuff! I also saw a lot of birds, mainly big birds of prey, they were probably Hawks or something, but there were a few that could definitely have been Eagles. I think. I’m not really a bird expert, despite what some may say. Oh, one wee story about snakes – a Bull Snake got into the garage, but they’re good snakes, they eat the Rattle Snakes. I saw two Rattlers, I think it was the same snake, but twice. The second time we saw it, one of the kids spotted it and we had been standing right beside it! Alison (the girl I was staying with) called the Fire Department and they came out to the house to take the snake away! How crazy is that! I was so flipping excited!

These don’t really count as animals, but we went to a Pet Store and saw all the animals – they have puppies! Like real doggies in the window. Just like the song! I was ridiculously excited. My favourites were, two Miniature Daschund’s one was a black and tan long haired and the other was a red short haired. I also saw a Cockapoo, which was lovely and two beautiful Huskies! There was also a Boston Beagle, which is a Boston Terrier and a Beagle mix and it was so beautiful, there was a little Beagle puppy, which I love love love! I’m all about Beagles!

My favourite bit of wildlife in Arizona was definitely Stitch. Stitch is a Miniature Daschund and she is the reason why we have Kelso. When my sister went to Arizona a few years ago she stayed with Alison and her family and they had just gotten Stitch. Heather saw how awesome Stitch was and she told us, I then did some research (I’m all about the research) and we decided that a Miniature Daschund would be the dog for us! A few dog shows, some begging, a million phone calls and a trip to England later and we were the very proud owners of little King of the Hill, originally called Otto, but known as Mr Kelso to his friends. Anyway, Stitch is roughly the same age as Kelso and she’s a little different – she has long hair but she gets shaved so her hair is all soft and short, she is also Daple couloured, which means that she’s basically black and tan, like Kelso, but she has little bit of grey and light brown through her coat. She’s also shaped a little differently, bone structure wise. American Daschunds are actually pretty different to well bred European Daschunds – they have longer legs, they aren’t as barrel chested, their wee noses/snouts aren’t as wide, they are more pointed and they don’t seem as long to me, but I think that’s just because they aren’t as close to the ground. Well that’s what I think and I bet you really don’t care! Anyway, Stitch is great! I love her! I wish I could have taken her home! She’s just so well behaved compared to our little beast – she’s so chilled out, she just lets the kids play with her and she doesn’t freak out. She also sleeps in her own little bed in the garage and has set meal times. She goes to the door when she wants to go outside and she doesn’t bark in the house. She even sits on the tile floor, something Kelso would never dream of doing! Stitch and I became good pals, we watched movies together and sunbathed together. Good times. Dogs really are man’s best friend. I can’t wait to see Kelso, my little Gentleman! If you don’t know me and if you don’t know Kelso, then you probably won’t understand anything I have said, you will probably think I’m a right freak (like a crazy old cat lady, but with dogs) but if you do know me and Kelso then you will know that we’re tight. I think he’s great and I think he’s pretty fond of me. Right, I’m going to stop talking about my dog.


Food

The next highlight of my trip was obviously food. Alison made really nice food and we also ate out a lot. We went to In-n-Out Burger, which was so yummy. We also visited a few Buffets, which are Gods way of showing us that he does actually love us. We went to a Pizza Buffet and we got salad, pizza obviously and dessert, which included brownies, cinnamon rolls and apple pie pizza, which was really strange because it tasted just like the apple pies you get at McDonalds. There were also free refills, which I think are just the best. Drink will be the death of me, not alcoholic drinks, but Rootbeer, which is my favourite drink in the world (along with Fanta Exotic, they are tied for first). If you are ever in Arizona then you need to go to Sweet Tomatoes. It is probably my new favourite eatery, but they don’t have them in Utah, where I’m going next, so that’s pretty crappy. Anyway, when you go into Sweet Tomatoes you get yourself a plate of Salad – I filled mine right up because you can only get the Salad once – they had all the classics including my favourite, Caesar Salad and then this Won Ton Salad, which is just amazing. I also got a whole pile of Red Pepper because it is my all time favourite. Once I had destroyed the Salad Bar we paid, got our drinks and were seated. I got some Strawberry Lemonade, which was so amazing – I’ve never had anything like it and even the Strawberry Lemonade I’ve had since isn’t anywhere near as nice! Sweet Tomatoes also has Pizza, Pasta, Soup and fancy breads – these are all you can eat and I really did eat as much as I physically could. Walking after was not a possibility – I think this is the only time I have been grateful for the American Car Culture, where everyone drives everywhere!

Another great discovery was Ranch Fries – crinkle cut fries (like our McCain Oven Chips I guess) covered in Ranch Sauce with Bacon sprinkled over the top. Oh. My. Life. They are amazing. I’m actually bringing Ranch Sauce home so I can make these bad boys! They actually reminded me of a Spice Island Kebab with Kebab Sauce, so that was nice! Americans haven’t mastered the art of a Dirty Kebab!

I am also now partial to a Vanilla Frappuccino – there’s no coffee in it, so I guess it’s just like a vanilla milkshake, but it’s so good! We made a trip to a place called AJ’s, it’s a supermarket, but so much better – even better than M&S (but don’t tell anyone, they might not invite me back for Christmas)! There’s a Sushi Bar and a Pizza place inside the store – we got the Pizza and it was seriously good. We also made a trip to a place called Cost Plus, which is another Homeware Store thing, but it sells international food – so I stocked up on a few Wispa’s and some Fred Ferkles, which are exactly the same as Percy Pigs from M&S. I kid you not. I was very surprised to see them, so I did the natural thing; I spent a ridiculous amount of money on junk food. Some things never change.


Picnicking

I didn’t know that picnicking was actually a word, but apparently it is, so I won’t complain. Anyway, the day before Mothers Day we went for a picnic. We drove from Oro Valley, through Tucson and then up to a place called Mount Lemon, making a few stops for pictures on the way. It was a really beautiful day and the drive was great – you really got to see just how green Arizona can be. It was also nice to see a different side of Arizona – the higher up we got, the less cactus we saw! There were even normal trees! There is a little town on Mount Lemon and it’s really nice, really quaint and yet full of richies. My kind of place! We went for a little walk and then we had our picnic, with real food, like steak, yay! It was actually a really nice day, and a really nice part of Arizona, so yep, if you’re ever down that way, I suggest a visit to Mount Lemon and the surrounding area – you never know, you might even see a Bear!


Swimming and Sunbathing

Basically my entire holiday was spent doing three things, Swimming, Sunbathing and Eating or a combination of all three. As I have already described some of my eating habits I will now tell you about my other pastimes. Alison has a pool – which is really handy, I could never live in Arizona if I didn’t have a pool, it’s just too hot! So I took full advantage of this - I was in the pool as much as possible and when I was tired of being the graceful swimmer that I am, I decided to sunbathe. At first sunbathing was really nice, I would read books, but because I read books far too quickly I had run out of things to read pretty quickly, so it wasn’t as fun so I didn’t spend as much time sunbathing as I should have, which explains the lack of a tan. Well, I am tanned but I’m not a different ethnicity, Mediterranean for example, as I hoped. Despite this huge disappointment, I still managed to have a really good time, sometimes it’s nice to just relax and do absolutely nothing. I would know, I’ve perfected the art.


Twilight

If you know me, then you will know that I have absolutely no interest in the “Twilight” Books. I don’t want to read them and I wouldn’t waste money going to the cinema to watch a movie about Vampires and Warewolves. Well... it seems that I was wrong. “Twilight” isn’t a waste of my time or my money. It’s actually the opposite – it’s a great way to spend a few minutes or a few hours, or even a few days and if you really want you can read it over and over again, replacing the name “Bella Swan” with “Gina McCune”. Or not. Whatever.

Hmm, I sound like I’m obsessed – I’m not actually, well, I sort of am, but I’m pretending that I’m not because I want to seem a little bit cool. I will regret saying this later but I actually really like the books. Sure, they’re not exactly Shakespeare but that’s what is so good about these books. If I want to read “Coriolanus” then that’s exactly what I’ll do, but honestly, sometimes it’s nice to read a book with “regular words”. It’s nice to be able to pick up a book and totally loose myself in the pages – sure they aren’t as profound as other book, but who cares? Sometimes it’s nice to get through a book without the help of my trusty Pocket Sized Thesaurus, not that I ever used one in school, I just pretended I knew what I was talking about. No change there.

At risk of losing all my street cred (because I have so much) I will say that I really enjoyed the “Twilight” Books. They were nice, easy to read books and I now understand why they appeal to so many people. Basically the perfect guy falls in love with an ordinary girl. A girl that is so ordinary, she could be anyone, she could be me or she could be you, but she’s more likely to be me because I quite fancy Edward Cullen. He doesn’t just like or love her, he adores her and he would literally do anything for her, she is his every thought and that’s why girls love the books so much. It gives them hope that one day they will find someone that loves them as much as Edward loves Bella. It also appeals to older, married women, because it’s the story of a love that never has to end, which is what most people want, even if they won’t admit it. As for men and husbands, they hate “Twilight” because it gives women unrealistic expectations. Which it totally does. Or does it? Maybe not, maybe that kind of love is a possibility for us all. Maybe we will find our Edward, the one person who lives just for us. Or maybe I have unrealistic expectations because of the book and I’m now starting to believe that it is possible to find my very own Edward who I would love for ever. Maybe I’m talking complete rubbish. Yep, I think it’s the last one.

Anyway, what was I saying before I started talking complete rubbish? “Twilight”. So yeah, the “Twilight” series is actually really good – I was pleasantly surprised. The books were really good and I would definitely recommend them, I’d warn you first, they are designed to appeal to the thirteen year old girl in all of us (even in a few boys), but that’s not always a bad thing. It isn’t fun being a responsible grown up all the time, not that I would know, but I imagine that it’s not all that great. I strongly recommend watching the movie, but only after you have read the book, because the book is so much better than the movie. Just so you know, the actor that plays Edward Cullen is called Robert Pattinson and he is a god. Fact. He was sculpted by the angels and I think I might be in love with him. You should really go look at his face, it will make your day so much better. Flip, I’ve written quite a lot – in summary, “Twilight” is not rubbish, it is really quite good, it will make you feel like a thirteen year old girl, even if you are a boy, you will fall madly in love with the fictional character of Edward Cullen, you will want a boyfriend, you will watch the movie over and over again, pausing when Robert Pattinson comes on to the screen, you will realise how attractive he is, you will secretly wish Vampires were real and that you had one as a boyfriend and you will understand everything I have just written.

So, in conclusion (I feel that I need to conclude this Blog as it has been so vague and pointless) Arizona was really great! I had a really nice time, sunbathing, swimming in the pool and just chilling out in general! I was really surprised by how nice Arizona actually is and I would definitely go back! If you’re in this neck of the woods then it’s worth the visit – especially if you get up to the mountains and actually see how nice Arizona is! I didn’t manage a visit to the Grand Canyon, but I guess that just means that I’ll have to come back. I hope you’re listening daddy :)

Xx

Laundry, Swimming, Maori Men, Dancing, Stupidity and Lots of Laughter.

After our big night out I was glad we didn’t have to catch a bus! We were still up early, thanks to the heard of baby Elephants that were staying in our room (about four people had to catch the Kiwi Experience bus that morning) but at least we didn’t have to get back on the Duncan (“all I want to do is talk”) bus! Because we didn’t really have to do anything today, we just relaxed. Sally and I went to the “Pak ‘n’ Save” supermarket. It’s basically a cheap place to get your groceries – it’s not as nice as Tesco (I never thought I would say that) but it’s not as bad as Lidl (which is actually quite good for sweeties). It sells brand name products (like Uncle Ben’s Rice, which I chose to mention because I’m living off it) but they’re a lot cheaper here because it’s not a big fancy store, I suppose it’s a bit like Mackro, because it is sort of a warehouse, but not really. If there are any Americans out there, it’s a smaller Costco.

After buying our supplies we walked back to the Hostel. Sally and Jess then went to Te Puia. It’s a volcanic park and you can see geysers and hot mud pools, which did sound interesting, but I couldn’t really be bothered spending more money to go see some mud. I’ll Google it. I’m actually quite glad I didn’t go, they had a pretty rubbish day. The bus times were wrong and they missed the guided tour and then they weren’t allowed into the little show they put on because the man at the desk didn’t give them a ticket. To make the day even worse, Sally’s phone broke. Plus they did a lot of walking. So I’m really really glad I didn’t go. Instead I stayed at the Hostel and did some washing!

Being the genius that I am, I very gracefully spilt milk on my trousers, so I thought it would be smart to give them a wash – I probably smell bad enough, let’s not add sour milk to the equation! Because it was such a nice day I was able to dry my clothes over the balcony (our room had its own balcony), so that saved me a bit of $$$ - however, I do have $25 worth of change, because you need $2 coins for the washing machines! Once my washing was dry I thought it would be nice to go for a wee walk, I was going to hire a mountain bike and go for a wee cycle around the lake, but I got as far as the Hostel reception. That’s where I met Ellen and her roommate Tom (that’s not his real name, he’s Dutch, but nobody can pronounce his name so he gets called Tom – which is strange, because EVERYONE on this bus is called Tom. Literally about 5 boys, which in a smallish group is seriously confusing!). We had a chat and then decided that while Rotoura is nice, it would be much nicer to have a swim in the Hostel pool!

Ellen and I spent a good few hours in the swimming pool, it isn’t a massive pool, but it’s a decent size and it’s naturally heated because of all the geothermal activity in the area. Now if you have seen me in the water, you will know that I am extremely graceful. I’m like a Dolphin. By Dolphin I really mean a Whale – actually, I think a Whale might be more graceful than me. We were doing handstands and underwater sit ups, which was as fun as it sounds. I did a few wee spins and twirls and my attempt at the doggy paddle was fantastic, I looked so stupid, which doesn’t make sense, because I’m quite a good swimmer, but apparently being a good swimmer doesn’t make you good at the doggy paddle. I nearly drowned. But it was really funny. After a great swim we started getting ready to go out, to the Maori Cultural night!

The Maori Cultural night was run by a company called Tamaki Tours and they came to the Hostel to collect us. To make the day worse, they didn’t have Sally and I on the list, but after a few phone calls (and me producing my receipt) they let us on the bus and we were off on our adventure! The night is quite a production, it’s out of town and set in a reconstructed Maori Village. When you first go in you are greeted by a group of Maori people – all dressed up, singing songs, doing dances – all the ceremony you would have had if you were a visitor to the village. You then walk through the forest, where you see how the people used to live, they have replica houses and you can see how they used to catch their food. After having a walk around and getting a few pictures with some big attractive (and some not so attractive) Maori men, we went for the all singing, all dancing part of the night. Walking around the forest was really interesting, but also really funny – Ellen has a thing for Maori men, so we were trying to contain ourselves!

The actual show was amazing, I can’t even describe it, so I’ll type what it says in my little Kiwi Experience book – “Tamaki Maori Village is set firmly in Pre-European times, within a 200 year old native forest village. Celebrate and share in ancient traditions and rituals of the welcome ceremony. Learn more of our ancestors earliest days here, through a mixture of storytelling, Haka, song and dance. Ultimately share in an authentically prepared Hangi meal (cooked in an earthen oven) and enjoy the warmth and humour of your hosts.” Basically it was an amazing night. The music was fantastic and the food was so yummy! They had everything, chicken, lamb, sweet potatoes, boiled potatoes, fish, muscles, pasta, salad and chocolate cake desert, oh and Pavlova (which I always thought the British had invented, apparently not). So it probably wasn’t all traditional food, but there were no complaints here!

After dinner there was a nice speech and we all got back on the bus to go to the Hostel. On the way home our elected chief for the night, was made to stand at the front and sing songs all the way home – we sang Oasis classics, Queen and about one line from every British song ever written (we only sung one line because none of us could remember the words). When we got back to the Hostel we went to the Lava Bar, which was one of the best and worst ideas we have ever had. We were all “high on life” so a dance seemed like a good idea. Maybe not. Sally, Ellen, Jess and I were the only ones on the dance floor and we were properly giving it rice. Like really. You know when you and your friends just go crazy and have a total dance sesh, usually in a bedroom where nobody can see you – well we did that in the middle of a busy bar. It was one of the best night out I have ever had! The DJ was playing all the newies and all the oldies – we had a bit of Tiffany “I Think Were Alone Now” (that song comes to mind because Ellen and I made up dance moves for all the lyrics, the highlights include slow running across the dance floor), some Whitney and then all the usuals. After a while people stopped giving us funny looks and they joined us. I love when that happens. The “cool” people realise that it’s much better to look like an idiot that’s having a lot of fun!

When we were all danced out we ended up playing card games with a group of English boys, which was actually really fun. I was quite good at the games, for a change. We even played Go Fish, which I never knew how to play before! The card games went on for a while and then we just headed back to our rooms. Note to self - packing at night is not a good idea, especially when you have a room full of sleeping people! So that was how our second day in stinky Rotoroua was spent, a day full of laughter is always a productive day!

xx