French immersion - The Parisian

My brothers well kept kitchen...

 suitcase leaving Australia - Merry Christmas to you France

Paris Paris Paris. The city of love, drinking red wine, La Tour Eiffel, The Louvre, shopping in the Champs Elysees, macaroons and bike rides along the seine. Well that all sounds well and good however during my stay in Paris i did not participate in a single activity listed above. No i went to visit my 23 year old brother who was studying in Paris at the time. I was welcomed by his diverse 'appartment' aka, one room with a bunk bed, stove and shower, floor covered in clothes and dishes that had clearly not been done since his arrival 8 months earlier! not to mention the communal toilet (long drop) that was supposedly an attraction due to its medieval stone structure... It was not the St Germain you see in movies! Living on a student budget was interesting i learnt quickly that the Soup Kitchen is your friend,  use the restroom when at a restaurant, if your brother borrows money off you he won't be paying you back anytime soon and if someone offers to buy you a drink say yes because being polite is overrated. Now i can't completely complain, because although i didn't participate in any touristy ordeals, i met awesome locals, improved my french and attended cute soirées in my brothers friends apartments with people from all around the world who were studying in Paris. So when it comes down to local vs. tourist i vote local! parce que je kiffe la fete ;)

French Immersion - Lille

 Christmas French style.

Barbe à papa

 Les Filles après l'école

My stay in Lille (North of France) was amazing! I visited my french family friends who have a daughter my age, Perrine. I went to school with her for 4 weeks which allowed me to improve my french skills and meet a new bunch of diverse people, who had never met anyone from Australia nor had they ever heard of Perth! The language barrier was difficult at school thanks to my genius of a host sister who's average day at school consisted of double maths, physics and chemistry something i didn't feel comfortable in english let alone french! So my first two weeks of school were spent reading Harry Potter and Twilight... (only two books they had in english) and playing doodle jump on my ipod until the language barrier was slowly broken.

Mon séjour à Lille était incroyable! J'ai passée mon séjour avec des amis de ma famille, qui sont français. Ils ont une fille, Perrine, qui est le même âge que moi. J'ai assister à son école pendant 4 semaines pour d'améliorée mon français. J'ai fais la connaissance de beaucoup de nouveaux personnes, qui n'avait jamais rencontré personne de l'Australie. La barrière de la langue était difficile à l'école grâce à mon génie d'une sœur d'accueil qui est moyenne par jour à l'école se composait de mathématiques doubles, physique et chimie! quelque chose que je ne me sentais pas à l'aise en anglais et encore moins en français! Donc, mes deux premières semaines d'école ont été consacrées à la lecture de Harry Potter et Twilight ... (seulement deux livres qu'ils avaient en anglais) et de jouer à Doodle Jump sur mon ipod!

Next stop -> Paris

xx

Dutch Adventures - Amsterdam and Texel

Car packed for Texel.

 (Texel island)

Amsterdam. Not much i could say that would surprise you really. Dams/canals, Ann Franks house and yes there are 'Coffee Shops'. However i went to visit my beautiful Dutch/Australian friend Georgia, who was full of surprises! one such being taking me to spend new years eve in a tent on an island named Texel (Tessel) with her extended dutch family that didn't tend to translate much of the conversation. The island is notorious for its cold weather and much to our disappointment the population of sheep outnumbered the people by half. The Dutch who have been to Western Australia like to claim it's their equivalent to our 'party' island, Rottnest. However from first hand experience this sadly was not the case i would probably associate it with the likes of Augusta. Yet i can't complain because i was with one of my best friends and we made the most of an interesting situation by embracing the fact that our new years eve would be spent on a freezing cold beach setting off fire works with drunken middle aged men.

Stay tuned for more Dutch adventures in 2013

xx

Cambodia Service Trip Part 2 - Phnom Penh

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The nostalgia is indescribable! As you can probably tell from my photos i got to spend time blowing bubbles and balloons with the worlds most beautiful children! The first week in PP was spent getting a glimpse of the historical buildings and my favourite, The Royal Palace! (image 18) However i must say the second part of my stay in Phnom Penh was far more rewarding. I spent time doing service for the incredible Tabitha Foundation. This involved building houses for families who either didn't previously have a home or their home was ruined in various floods. This required the families to save 25 US dollars which depressingly took most families up to two years to make! The houses we built for them were basically the size of a small bedroom which would then house up to families of 10! (images 10,11,13) Yet it was hard to show our concern because this was a gift of a lifetime for them and i will never forget the tears of joy and overbearing smiles on their faces when we handed the houses over in the blessing ceremony.

Between shifts of nailing down timber floors in high humidities and making cordial to ease our dehydration, we spent time with overly excited and avid receivers who would sit and just watch for hours on end offering to help whenever we made eye contact. The children in this village (images 1-9) were so content although they literally had nothing more than their clothes. (all were bare foot) We entertained them with balloons and bubbles, by which they were mesmerised. We taught them how to play duck duck goose and by the end of the day the whole village including Grandma, were running around enticed by this new found entertainment! The craftier members of our service team who were confronted by the fact that these children had never seen the likes of a TV (despite the fact they lived in a village that had no electricity and the only transport for miles was a cow cart in image 9 and that was the wealthy family!) Attempted to teach a pack of eager youngsters Beyonce's Single Ladies dance, to which they were successful! (video below)

Other than building houses in rural villages outside of Phnom Penh we taught english in schools in the cities centre, which consisted of a lot of "head, shoulders, knees and toes!" As well as our voluntary work for 'Free the Bears' at Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, 40 km south of PP. We spent the day feeding the Sun bears and scrubbing out their cages which required an acquired sense of smell...(image 16). Also take the time to visit the central markets via tuk tuk! I managed to find two pairs of vintage doc martins and cheap converse sneakers!!

However building houses for families with Tabitha was by far my favourite part of the whole trip because of how grateful they were to receive something we all take for granted! I have never seen this type of happiness, they thought we were Gods. Ironic how they felt truly privileged and blessed to receive a home that most would classify a shed on stilts and that they didn't take it disparagingly like it was their right. I have never seen someone so satisfied and righteously, our spoilt Western Suburb eyes were truly opened.

(So parents if your children are being a royal pain in the...  or even if they are not! send them to build houses in Cambodia, because i can truly not describe the amazing experiences their senses will be exposed to! and even though i went on this trip back in October 2010 i am still reminded of it everyday!  and go with them because i got to take my wonderful father and now we are sending mum there this October! :)

xx