The real world beckons

To continue from the last one, here's more email luvin...

More important announcements:

2) Less than 2 months left in Canada (and more importantly only 3 weeks of classes left FOREVER!). For those back home, I'm coming back at the
very end of April for my Grad ceremony on May 6.

3) After many sleepless nights deliberating over comes after these next 2 months (ie what am I going to do with my life post 17.5 years of
studying), this issue was cleared up literally in a day's flurry of events.

In January I applied for an AIESEC traineeship with DHL, and on Feb 11 after an early-morning email and late night phone interview, lo and behold I found I'd be off again for a 12 month stint in SINGAPORE come mid-May!!! I'll be working in the soon to be 2-person legal division conquering such things mergers and acquisitions, taxation issues, employment contracts and generally being thrown in the deep end (am I apprehensive? hmmm maybe!).

On the upside (I think), I'll be reunited with my brother Adrian who has been working in Singapore for the last 3 years - apparently I'll get the pleasure of walking his dog and cooking for him. great. And although both children are still away overseas Mum and dad will surely be happy to be able to visit us in the one place!

It's sometimes all a bit strange to think I'll be living in Singapore and a few months. I'd never envisaged going there mainly because it's a country I've been to a few times before. But my thinking now is that there is a lot more to find out about the country and I'm fascinated to learn more about this capitalist-oriented city state. I'm also aiming to pick up Mandarin there and yey I get to go on business trips (the first to Beijing at the end of May!).

Well that's all for now folks. I'm off to go count flowers. (every February, while most Canadians are still shovelling snow and relying on heaters to keep warm, Victorians are counting flowers as part of the "Annual Flower Count". Apparently the grand total is celebrated as a farewell to winter and as a welcome to an early spring – and goodbye to pasty white skin, hoorah for some sun!)

Take care everyone. Write back and let me know how things are in your neck of the woods!

xot

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Greetings to you all on the first day of the Chinese New Year - The Year of the MONKEY!

And a special mention to those born in 1980 (as well as those born in 1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968 - but I don't think I know many of you who are that old)...this is your year!!!

"Monkeys are fun and loving persons who are always cheerful and energetic. They are very clever. Give a monkey a boring book to read and he'll turn it into a Musical. Better yet, he'll (or she'll) invite everyone to see it free! That's how talented, creative and generous monkeys usually are."

Fellow celebrity monkeys include: Will Smith, Julius Caesar, Lord Byron, Elizabeth Taylor, de Vinci, Harry S. Truman, and Jennifer Aniston

I must say it's interesting seeing the large scale festivities that are going on in Vancouver (famous for it's multi-culturalness and "bananas" - if you don't know what this is, it's basically what I am!). They have a huge weekend long celebration in their Chinatown and even have an "Asian wedding convention" on in case you're an Asian planning a wedding soon (not me).

And as a present, those long-awaited photos from the year of the Ram:

September - my first month in Canada involving handcuffs, bunny rabbits and other fun stuff:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.adosugon&x=1&y=4c33mm

October & Nov - Canadian festivities period incl Halloween, Thanksgiving, riding ambulances:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.6eoi3he7&x=1&y=-obi5et

December - More fun and games for the last month of the year: http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.5cd7ichj&x=1&y=-7ek7hw

If you don't remember your Ofoto username and password, you can use mine

teresalee82@hotmail.com
password: aeroplane

So, here's to a prosperous year of monkeying around!!!

I'll be in touch again soon.

Love Teresa

Part 3: Luxury snowflakes and cakes

Part 3: Luxury snowflakes

Firstly, a special hello to my brother Adrian who has just managed to sign himself up to this list. Well done brother, you are cool.

So to continue this grand story...on Boxing day we headed back over to Victoria where I got to be the proud host showing off her new hometown. It was great exploring and finding lots of cool new cafes and restaurants (culinary world tour) for me to visit this semester. Also went to a jazz tribute concert to Chet Baker which was SUPERB and another resolution was added to my list – learn to play jazz on my keyboard.

We then headed up to Tofino (about 4 hours up island) – famous for its surf, long beaches (we went to a beach aptly named "Long Beach") and electrical storms. The drive up there made for THE most spectacular road trip. We went through such beautiful terrains – surrounded by ice-capped mountains, roads lined with snow-dusted perfect pine trees and glassy lakes. I would definitely say this part of Vancouver Island rivals NZ as one of the most beautiful places in the world. It really was
breathtaking (once again, see photos coming soon - it's a photographers paradise!). Tofino was a great retreat. We relaxed, breathed fresh frosty air, sat by the fire and read books, knitted, wrote letters, made pasta, went on walks, had coffee in quaint little cafes and chats with random people. Quite a pleasant corner of the globe – I highly recommend it to everyone!

And as I highly recommend Tofino for a relaxation retreat, I don't recommend staying in Victoria for a big New Years! Otherwise known as the home of the nearly-wed, nearly-dead and under fed – there wasn't much-a-happnin in this quiet city in terms of large-scale public celebration. We had a nice gourmet home-cooked meal at home accompanied by a NZ bottle of wine that my parents had brought over and went downtown to a nice restaurant/bar. We ran to the waterfront to see the fireworks. But
alas, there were no fireworks...or any kind of excitement of any other type - we thought maybe our watches were wrong! So anyway, we welcomed in 2004 with looks of bemusement and confusion, and proceeded home for hot cocoa, a "reading hour" and some quiet reflection by candlelight.

We headed back across to mainland again (and were pleasantly surpised to find a foot of snow had been dumped all over Vancouver) to prepare for the celebration of my NZ birthday – a day skiing on Mt Baker down in the States. Highlights were crossing the hostile US/Canada border (fortunately they didn't yell "WHAT'S YOUR CITIZENSHIP?!", but they did have a nice big picture of George Bush which was equally as scary), going to a typical US supermarket where you could only find extra-large-king-jumbo-sized chocolate bars, watching new-on-skis-Jenny zoom past me as I turned to see how she was doing (she is now embarrassingly better than me), having perfect snowflakes fall on my jacket and realising they really are as they are drawn - so intricate and delicate!, and lastly being led through powdery snow and stupidly deciding to slow down which led to my sinking up to my waist. 20 minutes later, after retrieving my lost skiis (and my legs) from under the snow and feeling like I was about to die from exhaustion, I found I had to climb up - with skis on -
an almost vertical ramp to the chairlift = kill Tee dead. Might I also quietly mention that the chairlifts didn't have those pull-down safety bars, making for very scary rides precariously perched on the edge of the seat (clever me had my backpack on)...ehrm and I only managed to "slightly" fall off once (SHH! don't tell anyone!). So it was a wonderful day despite waking up the next day with previously unknown muscles aching.

And the next day was my Canadian bday! It was a fab day though, and a brilliant sun shiny day. I woke up to find a whole bunch of carefully and surreptitiously bought prezzies from my Ryan family siblings and a cinnamon roll bun bday cake with candles – the first of 4 lots of candles on 4 different cakes I’d get to blow out that day! Had a scrummy HUGE brunch at Sophies Cosmic Café, a very eclectic place often frequented by Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn amongst many other stars (like me haw haw) and then did a whirlwind tour of more amazing places in Vancouver. Granville Island treated me to another bday cake and rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday To You" sung in a very crowded cafe by a family of 6 that I’d just met, then to see my people in Chinatown, Gastown (where the main St closed off due to a fatal shooting earlier that morning – eeks), Stanley Park (truly beautiful), Caffe Artigianno – home of the best latte in town, then rushed off to the ferry home. I managed to finish reading "Brave New World" during the trip (excellent) and felt much the wiser for my 22 years. I arrived in Victoria to see more white, which was a shock and more of a shock to arrive home and find my roomates (flatmates) had decorated our apartment with streamers, banners and make me sushi, 2 more bday cakes with sparkler candles and heaps of more cool prezzies. I felt so loved! It really is touching to have such
awesome caring friends as roomates – I’m such a lucky girl! [and yes I made 4 sets of different wishes! YEAH!]

So that wraps up the fantastic holiday I had with the Ryan clan - good food, good company, lots of laughs and lots of beautiful scenery! I could have gone on forever, but my photos will explain a lot more. I've got about 300 of them just from the last week and it's taking awhile uploading them and sorting them out all good and proper!

I'll be writing again soon.

Thinking of you all from this winterywonderland. Please email me back at eelaseret@yahoo.co.nz to let me know how you're doing!

Love Teresa

Part 2 - Xmas: Finnish Swedes, walking down the aisle & 2 kilos of meat

I hope you are enjoying the backwardsness of my emails. Much like the flurry of snow we’re getting here, you’re going to be getting a flurry of emails from me!

One of my New Years resolutions is to write emails more promptly and in chronological order. I'm not doing very well so far.

Anyway, the last 2 weeks were yet again a completely and utterly jam-packed with action...would you expect any less from Jenny & Tee - they who attempted to see half the world in less than a month ;)

So how was the Canadian Xmas and NYs holiday? I spent the lead up to Xmas in Vancouver, a city I've completely fallen in love with (more on this later). Xmas eve was spent at Jono's landlords' upstairs (he lives in a gourmet basement suite). We walked straight into a setting right out of a "Home and Garden" magazine and had a delightful Finnish meal eaten off fine silver dinnerware.

Highlights of the night were...
- Eating Finnish Xmas delicacies: pickled herring, mashed swedes and other root vegetables (apparently it gets cold in Finland during winter and there isn't much food to cook with) – despite how it sounds it was very delish!
- Talking to old Finnish people: I only had to explain to Finnish grandma about 10 (dozen) times that I was from NZ and was studying in Canada for a year, Finnish grandad also told us interesting stories including about how in the old days when you liked a young lass you had to ask her father for permission to take her on a date...and the date would be at her house (I'm glad it's not like that now!)
- Being asked what the Japanese community in NZ was like. I had to avoid looking at Jenny or Jono for fear of bursting into laughter. I think I replied something like "well there are a lot of Asians in NZ nowadays...err mmmm..."
- Watching 7 year old Gabriel delight himself with the results of the consumer binge high season. I have never in my life seen a child get soooo many presents, it was unbelieveable! I've learnt it's not unusual for 7 year olds to get excited about computer software and that Ninja turtles are making a major comeback. Cowabunga dude! I made a mental note that all my children are ever getting for xmas are wooden blocks and lego.

After the Finnish dinner we drove to a lovely nearby church for a Christmas service. My first one ever. It was a very enjoyable experience, reminded me of what the season actually meant to me, got to sing (very badly) to nice carols and walked down the aisle with Jono (for communion, hehe).

We returned home after midnight and after many protests that in the Lee family we are allowed to open Xmas presents as soon as it turns midnight, I reluctantly conceded that as long as I was part of the Ryan clan, I'd sleep first and open presents the next morning (boo). It was worth the wait. We had a gourmet pancake breakfast (thanks to freestylin' cook Jono) and had fun opening our presents that were lying under our homemade Christmas tree (see photos). I now have some awesome reading
material - Culture Jam (by Adbusters founder) and How to be Canadian (I'll be sure to share some excerpts with you in following emails!). I particularly enjoyed watching Jenny open my present. I didn’t quite finish making it – a scarf - so wrapped up the lot of it, including knitting needles, and spent the rest of the holidays finishing it off. Aren’t I great!

The rest of the day was spent making a pavlova (thanks to mum's special recipe) and a spanikopita (for those less culinary-inclined, a greek spinach and cheese pie). Sounds easy enough right? But no - the previous day we’d been on a daytrip up to Whistler (famous ski village) and arrived home at 6:05pm to be told that all supermarkets in Vancouver shut at 6pm...oh no! Thankfully enough to the ever open Asian produce store across the road supplied us with some ingredients to improvise us with. Who needs filo pastry anyway! The potluck dinner with some of Jono's classmates was great fun – we were told we had a kilo of meat to each eat – and since Jenny is a vego I got to have her share. We also got to eat pumpkin which was exciting. Canadians only use pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns.

Enough reading for now. So that was Christmas Canadian style.

Part 3: The aftermath - what happens after you eat 2 kilos of meat (and pumpkin, and pavlova, and mince pies, and fruit cake, and chocolate cake, and....)

more more more 2004

There are a few parts to this email and I'm trying to get something out before my next class starts in 20 minutes, so here is the first part...

PART 1: Will I thaw in 2004?

Yes it's flippin freezing here!!! I seem to have a habit of hitting freak extreme temperatures. First it was the European heatwave and now it's been snowing in Victoria (the most western and warmest part of Canada). Apparently they only get snow at ground level every 5 years or so. It is -10 degrees (not counting the howling windchill factor) and tomorrow a snow storm is arriving!!! Much excitement!

It really is amazing how much more beautiful everything is when it's covered in white. It's such a novelty to be walking around in snow, but I've been told that my wide-eyed enthusiasm will soon fade as limbs start freezing off and I slip over and crack my skull on ice.

So here I am back at law school in the UVic computer labs clad in thermal pants under my jeans, thermal socks, a polyprop top, long sleeve top, woollen jersey [which they call "sweaters" here - so wrong], huge english duffel coat, toque [Canadian for woollen hat] and gloves. mmm toasty warm. This term I'm planning on taking 3 courses, most chosen on criteria that results in a minimal timetable and minimal work load - oh and may be interest and usefulness too.

- Conflicts law
I feel I don't have enough conflict in my life so was endeavouring to rectify this...but the course is actually about private international law, oh well. My lecturer is a kiwi and was surprised how good it was to have a familiar style of teaching i.e. boring droning voice talking for an hour and a half out of a textbook - how refreshing!

- Human Rights and Global Justice
I'm going to try and learn to heal the world, make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race....This is my Monday 6-9pm class (boo) and apparently only 6 people got into this course. I have just found out it is also being conjointly run as a masters philosophy course. Am I scared? Yes.

- International Topics
What topics? I'll be finding out on Friday. It's kinda nice to be enrolled in a "mystery" paper. Although on the other hand I'm still deciding if I want Friday off for a long weekend so may drop it.

- Race, Ethnicity, Culture and Law
Sounds good eh?

So that's the low-down on the term for now. I'm also thinking of taking up indoor soccer and joining the photography club.

I must run and get to class, but the next email will be out tonight: my FANTASTIC winter holiday bonanza.

ka kite ano

xo ice tee

I'm still in time!!!

The Christmas Edition
***********************

Yes, it's not quite Christmas Eve here in the Western part of Canada, but I know for those of you back home in NZ it is only a mere 3 hours away.

At the moment I'm in Vancouver sitting in my brother Jono's bedroom (as the ethnic addition to the "Ryan clan") feeling decidedly un-Christmassy...

1) It is cold here. No beach or barbie for me this Christmas! Annoyingly enough it's not quite cold enough for a White Christmas....booo!

2) It feels a little strange to not be involved in the commercially-driven-buying-presents-mad-rush as being so far away from friends and
family there aren't many people to be buying for!

3) I just finished exams a week ago so it feels a little strange that Christmas has come up so soon! And I feel so cheated that I only get a 2 week break (unlike the 4 months I'm used to!) as I'm back to school on Jan 5th

So Christmas Canadian style is still a strange concept for me, but I've partaken in some interesting festivities so far:

1) Egg nog - I'm not entirely sure what the nog is, but I the drink tastes something like a mix of egg and milk - kinda like a hot tangy custard like drink. Steamed from a cafe = good. Out of a carton = not so good.

2) Christmas deco - My apartment took on a festive feel in our last week of exams - complete with a fresh beautiful smelling LIVE pine tree decorated with pink wool, ninja stars, mistletoe picked/borrowed from peoples' gardens, popcorn strings and any other random colourful things we could find. We also had mistletoe hanging from a doorway (but couldn't find any nice guys, so made it a hugging mistletoe), and a wreath hanging on our front door.

3) Christmas lights are also a huge thing here. Some people's houses I'm sure are so bright that they can be soon from the moon, and I'd hate to imagine how big their electricity bills are! The newspaper has put out a list of houses that have the best displays - not just lights, but santas, inflatable snowmen, raindeer....you can just imagine!

So it's still going to be a great Xmas for me and it's great to be surrounded by my adopted Ryan family members, as us orphans have a Kiwi Christmas away from home. We're planning to celebrate both Christmases as consolation (and I'm looking forward to celebrating both New Year's dates, and both Birthdays coming up!).

Lastly I'm glad to inform you that Jenny and I have resumed our "World Culinary Tour" and are partaking in some fantastic cafe/bar/restaurant dining experiences in the wonderful city of Vancouver. We've found one of the best Vegetarian restaurants in the world, finally found somewhere in canada that serves a decent latte, frequented one of the best night music spots and drunk red wine out of jam jars and mini carafes, had corn chowder at the Art Gallery, had THE cheapest lunch - a $1.87
felafel donair kebab on Commercial Drive (Cuba St similarity), and tonight we helped cook serve and eat spag bog at a downtown Eastside community centre.

WOOHA

We'll also be heading up the mountain to Whistler, across to Vernon for some snow and skiing before heading back across to my island and cruising round Victoria (my hometown), Tofino (up island), celebrating 2004, my 22nd year and then it's back to school for another exciting semester.

Crazy to think it's been 4 days short of 4 months that I've been here in Canada. It's been a simply amazing time. My list of highlights and NY's resolutions will be coming out to you in January along with photos.

So, till then, i'll leave you with some magical wise words from my close friends:

"What you see...What you hear...can be an illusion. follow your heart, for only that will lead to the truth."
:: Siegfried and Roy (of the tiger-mauling fame)

Please have yourselves a safe and merry little Christmas and a wonderful New Years where ever you may be.

I miss all of you and I wish I could give you all a huge hug.

Take care and God Bless

Love Teresa

Wish you were here

da da da

Upon my German flattie's request I am getting Pink Floyd-erised.

Well it's been another long period of time since I wrote, which this time I will blame on the laid back culture here in Canada - I'm just trying to assimilate!

So, NY.


What I came away with:

1) Realising that all my preconceptions of the US were true, everything was like I imagined (except Times Square...there's nothing in the middle of the square?! It's not a square!), everything is like the movies...scarily so.

2) A pocket-sized Charter of the United Nations (after paying a visit to their HQ and checking to see if their buildings were nice enough for me to work in)

3) No longer being afraid of people with big guns (it's so normal to see hulk-sized men with guns all around the place...outside the NY Stock Exchange, on the ferry across to Liberty and Ellis Island, police walking down the street)

4) An ability to completely miss my desired subway stop and travel for a further 20 minutes to Brooklyn (we did this on 2 occasions - once we went underwater, the other time over the Brooklyn bridge)

5) An appreciation for the sheer magnitude of what happened on 9-11 (the gaping hole where the twin towers were was scary)

6) An affinity for big fat breakfasts, bagels and Ray's famous pizza (the best I've EVER had) - we did well with our culinary delights - Chinatown, Little Italy, Cafe Teresa, Katz's Deli (of When Harry met Sally fame), giant pretzels in Central Park (don't ever buy them! they taste like plastic - yich terrible!)

7) A greater appreciation for the arts - after 2 group tours around the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a whole day wandering around the museum, as well as an appreciation for free shows - outdoor Shakespeare in Central Park, jazz on the waterfront and nearly got to a Boyz II Men concert...how good would that have been!

8) A sighting of someone being proposed to on top of the Empire state building! (we think she said yes)

9) One fine programme from the STOMP! show. Lining up for cheap
broadway tickets paid off even though we didn't get to broadway - it was a faaaaaantastic show and I'd recommend it to anyone - simply amazing the ways you can use brooms, plastic bags, matchstick boxes and rubbish bins to make great sounds!

10) And rounding off the top 10...a nice suntan from a whole day sitting in the sun in Central Park. Beautiful.


Jenny and I have plans to return to NY to set up a backpackers hostel - kiwi style. There really is a lack of good accomodation unless you want to fork out a tree of those green bills.

Although after recently watching Bowling for Columbine and reading Stupid White Men, I'm not really sure I'd like to return to the States!!! A fellow exchange student here from Arizona has plans to marry a Canadian boy so she can escape - many scary stories such as phones being tapped, red/orange/green lights at airport security and people snooping around her apartment. Big brother? Where?!

Oh! and another interesting thing we found was that NYers are extrememly helpful. I never got to open my map fully as before I could some passerby would run up and ask if we needed directions. Good people. Although one man obviously had trouble with our 'accents' as we asked where we could find an internet cafe to which he replied "the Rockerfeller Centre is just down the road, you'll find a CIBC there". This
conversation went on for about 5 minutes whereby he still couldn't understand our
words "emailing" "internet" or "cafe with computers". oh well! we made it in the end after detouring through the Rockerfeller Centre (which turned out just to be a building lobby - very disappointing!).

ok, stories by pictures:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.3hq4hjzr&x=1&y=-hk816k

My All Aboot Canada list will actually start to be about Canada very soon! Stay tuned there's heaps of juicy stuff coming your way - as juicy as the turkey I had at my first ever Thanksgiving last week :)

love to you all

xo tee

PS write to me at eelaseret@yahoo.co.nz

Give us a Guinness!

So the tale continues...after London we travelled to the land of good beer, lovely accents, leprechauns and we were hoping - pots of gold. In fact on the plane over we came to the realisation that we really had no idea what would fill our 2 and a half days in Dublin - apart from the stereotypes mentioned above.

We decided to ask our taxi driver what there was to do in Dublin, who promptly told us it was a town famous for it's lack of things to do apart from drink Guinness down at the local pub and that we should 'do as they do in Rome'. Jenny & I with our strong dislike for beer were so thrilled to hear this piece of local advice. On hindsight I think perhaps this was a cynical Irish man who didn't know the full array of wonderful entertaining activities his city had to offer (he was also a new taxi driver which made for a lot of fun - how often do you get to pull out your taxi driver's map and navigate for him?!).

My first impressions of Dublin were that it was really really quaint and "old school" - more like what I thought England would be like. We stayed first off with Jenny's Irish Dancer friend who lived in a suburb which reminded me of Eastenders. We also spent the first night in a gay bar (not sure why?!) and care of my friend Mike, had my first taste of Guinness - YUCK! I discovered Dublin pints are no smaller than London pints (unfortunately).

Other memories of our stay:

1) Not forgetting this was a culinary world tour - having a home-cooked meal made by the best Indian chef outside of India, our very own Mike Percival. He cooks a mean curry alright! And it was complete with Indian entrees and NZ wine - perfecto!

2) Getting fish and chips in Dublin, as we never managed to get around to doing it in London. The lovely old fish and chips man found it hard to understand that we were speaking English, but managed to engage us in a (more or less one-sided) conversation about the US, Iraq, the state of the world and how everything was about "bluddeh" power and money...how his son was studying accounting and kindly advised us that the best business to get into nowadays is religion (Jenny and I thought law was close enough). Yes, I must say Irish people are friendly indeed!

3) Visiting the famous Kilmainham jail and learning more about Ireland's turbulent history. For one, Ireland's flag isn't green white and orange just because the colours look good together - the green represents the native (largely Catholic) people of Ireland, the orange represents the British (largely Protestant) supporters of William of Orange who settled in Northern Ireland in the 17th century, and the white in the middle represents the peace between these 2 groups of people. ohhhhhhhhhh.

4) Spending about 2 hours waiting for a strange, unfamiliar Irish front-loading washing machine to wash our clothes, finally working out how to open the door only to find our clothes were PIPING hot (too hot to touch!)...and that Jenny and/or I had unadvertently managed to pop in something black...which ran through everything - boohoo :( The day continued to get better as I spent another 2 solid hours circling Dublin city looking for somewhere to cash in my travellers cheques without having
to pay half the value of my travellers cheques in commission (and in typical Teresa-style I discovered it turned out to be in a very obvious place, close to where I'd started searching from!). I've termed Dublin my bad-luck city since I also managed to leave my new Prague sunnies on a bus. It also rained for the first time on our trip! (actually that was quite nice)

5) Going on our last night in Dublin to a traditional local pub, listening to some lovely traditional Irish music being played, being merry and having a yarn with some great people. It really was a wonderful atmosphere and I can understand why the Irish love it so much that they can be found there all times of the day!

6) Saving the best for last of course - our visit to The Guinness Store House!!! Needless to say Jenny and I were strongly advised that we could not leave Dublin without going to find out about the legend that is Guinness beer. We were also keen to arrive in Canada and impress all the boys with our thorough knowledge of beer and all things beer-related hehe. It was decidedly a good decision to go as it was an amazingly interesting and interactive place - complete with smelling beer at different stages in it's production and watching archives of old Guinness ads. I also discovered that the Guinness Book of Records originated from this company and that Guinness really is good for you (see my photo album for details). Needless to say we also thoroughly enjoyed out free pint at the end (whyyyyyyy? why why am I a person that does not like to waste things?!)

Other random insights about Dublin:

- I love the way they say "grand"
- There really are the rows of coloured doors in Dublin that you hear about
- To my surprise the main street in Dublin felt busier than downtown
London and food was also more expensive than London!
- Jonah Lomu appears to be still in his height of fame in Ireland - he's on billboards everywhere advertising a sports drink wearing an All Blacks jersey which I found pretty funny
- I don't think leprechauns or their pots of gold are real

Oops this turned out to be longer than I thought it would. Ah well, Irish are well-known for their grand story-telling so it's fitting really!

Once again, for those who can't read ;p or would like to see my story in pictures - my London and Dublin album can be found at:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.2vq86oqf&x=1&y=4brooy

Tales of the south side Bronx (or south of Bronx) will be coming soon.

Take care and hoorah I've found out what poutine is!

xo Tee in Canada

just a little reminder...

If you want to reply to me at any time (yes you do yes you do) please remember to email me at either:

eelaseret@yahoo.co.nz or tmlee82@uvic.ca

And yes, High Crimes was a great vid, but it's nearly 1am and I have to be up in 6 hours to go whale watching, so tales of Dublin, NY & my time so far in Canada will have to wait for later today.

Just quickly though...

Phone numbers:

Mobile +1 250 884 8735
Home +1 250 472 8027

Mailing Address (mail me mail me):

Apt 59204C
University of Victoria
Student Residences
PO Box 2100 STN CSC
Victoria, BC V8W 3A4
CANADA


Postal Address (for all those care packages of course!):

Apt 59204C
University of Victoria
Craigdarroch Office Building
Parking Lot #5, Off Sinclair Rd
Victoria, BC V8P 2Y2
CANADA

Hope you're all doing well!

Be good

xo from Canada

Tee


:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Dream dictionary:

Dreaming about email indicates that you need to reach out to people who
may not necessarily always physically be around. It could also very
well mean that you have been spending too much time in front of the
computer and this has carried over into your dreams.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Legless!!!

No I haven't become an alcoholic...

I haven't fallen into an abyss...

I haven't forgotten about all of you!!!

But yes I'm legless in the sense that after 11 countriesm 16 flights, 14 airports and far too many horrible inflight meals, I have arrived at my final destination - Victoria, Canada and have been here for nigh on 3 weeks now.

Apologies for not emailing sooner, but life for the last few weeks has been convoluted with such mundane but essential matters such as setting up bank and telephone accounts, buying food and then the plates to eat it off, getting to grips with a different university system....and of course attending various law school social events such as beach days, tramps (or 'hikes' as they call them here), IMAX screenings, wine & cheese evenings and harbour cruises – all important for my educational pursuits here!

All in all I think I have essentially sorted life out...for my Canada days at least.

But before I tell you all "aboooot" Canada - what about the rest of the Jen & Tee's Culinary World Tour I hear you say! What of the conquer-age, conquer-ation...our conquest of the anglophile part of Europe and then some (NY)?!

Since I have left these updates so late this really ensures that I tell you about the best bits.

1) LONDON - Good vibes all round

Loved the multi-cultural vibe of the city and the fact that there was soooo much going on, so much to do!

What comes to mind...
- Relief from being in temperatures of a humane level again (no need for 3 showers a day) and being able to understand what everyone was saying again!
- 5-star accomodation at Jane & Megan’s trendy Balham apartment (and here I was informed by Megan our resident Canadian source of info, that Victoria was a nice place but also has the highest Satanists per capita - okayyyyyy good!)
- Discovering cider...discovering pints are HUGE!
- Free nights out c/o Jenny’s rich London lawyer friends – it’s good to be connected (especially with well-paid London lawyers!)
- The sights: Buckingham Palace, The Tate Museum of Modern Art (favourite/most-entrancing exhibit was a video-picture of a bowl fruit decomposing slowly over 3 minutes...never realised it could be so interesting), Thames River (yucky dirty), Camden town with it’s eccentric markets and personalities (equivalent to Cuba St atmosphere and culture), Harrods (highlights were having £200 shoes on my feet – if only for a short time...and eating the most divine and sinful chocolatey chocolate fondue)
- Getting used to being stolen from every meal we ate (or the feeling of being stolen from when we paid – lunches where on average NZ$15-20 ouchy)
- Laughing at being told to "Mind the gap!!!" on the subway EVERY single time we got on a train – the gap’s not that big anyway!
- Seeing my hero Stephen Gately (of Boyzone fame - the gay one) in his first musical...more than half-price tickets, near front-row seats and seeing a pint-sized dainty Irish boy take on the role of the great Joseph - lets say the technicolour coat, and little skirts he had to wear suited him down to the tee! heehee
- Poms weren’t nearly as whiny as I’d heard they were

Conscious that this email is getting long, and also conscious that my flatmate Eva has just asked me to watch a video with her...

Therefore the next exciting installment will come a lil later (not too long I promise!)

Ohhh and before I forget, you can see my travels by photos.

Brizzy, Spore & Msia :
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.8nbpd6qv&x=1&y=-xgi461

Prague :
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.499g5uuf&x=1&y=sq983q

Paris:
http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=vjrceuf.9jh95q9j&x=1&y=-lih7gr

Tee's Intrepid Travels - Legs 4 & 5

Ahoj! Bonjour!

Yes, this next exciting installment covers the first half of our European continent conquer-age.

The last time I left you I'd just touched down in the magnificent metropolis that is Prague...

It's getting hot in herre
*********************

Water and juice... Amount spent CZK500 (NZ$25ish)

Ice-creams... Amount spent CZK500

Being in the European heatwave... Priceless!


Jenny and I stumbled unknowingly into the hottest temperatures known to man (or us two kiwi's from down-under at least). As most of you know, there is a heatwave in Europe which may sound lovely to people from NZ or places of colder climate - but believe you me it is almost unbearable (imagine it being 11pm at night you are standing motionless and there is sweat dripping off you). mmmm yummy.

But being the troopers that we are - we have managed to see the most of the sights.


Prague - Random Central
***********************

Things that come to mind during my Prague stay:

- Language: Arriving in a place where words look and sound like gobbledy-gook was interesting to say the least. No words looked familiar but we managed to navigate ourselves around ok (thanks to Dave, Charin and good charades skills on our behalf).

- Old buildings: The same as everyone else says. Everywhere you look are beautiful old buildings (our mouths were constantly gaping and muttering "wow"). Buildings built before 1300 just blow me away. Everyone has to go see it for themselves as my words won't do justice!

- Creamfields: Charin invited us along to a mammoth music festival with 30,000 in attendance. It was a great time out in an old airfield with various music-style tents. Massive attack was the big act - 2 hours ahhhh it was magic! For NZ$48 the 14 hours we spent there was well worth
it! (despite longs treks in the dark to find where our missing bus home
was)

- Water: difficulty in finding non-sparkling water (difficult when you can't read labels)

- Food: my greatest regret was not trying the prague-famous "fried cheese" - maybe next time! We did eat a lot of bread and holy cheese though (supermarkets were scary when everything seemed unfamiliar and labels were in gobbledygook)

- Dogs: apparently there are no middle-sized dogs in Prague (lots of small and large) and they go everywhere with owners, including frequenting movie theatres

- Ireland: a local told me of their similarities...famous for beer, small countries, fighting for freedom, wonderful people - I'll wait till after Dublin before I comment

- European fashion sense: interesting to say the least...matching couples, extremely short skirts (boys will love Prague), what we call "2/3 pants" (try to imagine Kylie Minogue butt-not-covered shorts with the middle section between mid-butt area and knees missing, and with tight-flared leg warmers...it's hard to describe!) - self-consciousness does not seem to be apparent.

Paris - The City of Lurrrve
************************

Unfortunately no French boys serenaded us, although Jenny was asked for coffee along the Champs Elysees and a guy grabbed her watch on the metro - go jenny!

Had a fab time in Paris, we stayed in Montmatre (for those of you who have seen the Moulin Rouge and Amelie - they were both filmed in this area). Complete with the Sacre Coeur, merry go rounds, material shops and local artisans galore - it was great!

2 days and monuments-a-rama - again, despite the heat jenny and I pushed our bodies to the extreme and managed to see the Louvre, La Concierge, Saint Chappelle, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower (which was insane - 2 hours queuing in 40 degrees = not good), the Pantheon, L'Arc du
Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Sacre Coeur....jealous yet?

hehe anyway, there was so much more and yes it was crazy madness - but fun all the same.

Greatest regret - not eating snails or frog legs or seeing a lot more sights...but that doesn't matter as it gives me a reason to return!

I think that should be all from me for now. Bet you can't wait for the next exciting installment - Europe Part 2 'the English speaking countries hoorah!'

'ttfn' or 'a bientot' or 'something I've forgotten in Czech'

be good my children

xo tee in London

Tee's Intrepid Travels - Legs 1, 2 & 3

Yes, I've conquered 4 countries to date and have only just managed to get my A into G to write something. I don't feel guilty though, cos half of you haven't written to me yet hehehe

So, for those of you who don't know, my friend Jenny and I have initiated our plan to take over the world whilst on our way to Canada to infiltrate their Legal Education System for two semesters beginning September.

ooh ooh Jenny says a big hello to you all even though possibly you don't know her - she is feeling much better after sleeping off a 48 hour no-sleep stint (she who does not sleep on planes).

Anyway, welcome to my list - hopefully I'll tell you some interesting things. I've been informed that coollists actually have to be cool...I'll try hard. I'll also try to keep things short - update you on the minties moments, kodak moments and other random assortments.

To save you and me time I'm only doing legs 1,2 & 3...

Leg 1 that was Brisbane
************************

Only a couple of days that consisted of:

1) Films
2 strange films at Brisbane's 12th International Film Festival. I suspect I'm not intelligent enough to interpret and fully appreciate the subtle undertones and metaphors that make these films so special. oh well.

Films = 3 stars Theatre seats = 5 stars (superb!)

2) Food
We ate lots. We have decided to re-name our trip to be "Jen & Tee's Culinary World Tour". Making gourmet sandwiches in the sun on the grass in the middle of Brisbane and World-renown 'fush and chups' from Scarborough were highlights. We also discovered the world's best gelato which was sent from Heaven (thanks God).

3) Mars
By chance, while up Mt Coot-tha (City lookout point) we discovered we were sighting Mars the closest it's going to be to Earth for 75,000 years. We also realised it was our last chance to see the southern cross for a long while and shed a tear or two.

Legs 2 & 3 - South East Asia Conquered
****************************************

Highlights:

1) Family!
Got to see my bro AJ who I have seen in a while and finally got to see his "bachelor’s" pad and puppy, Sage. Both were interesting. Mum and Dad were also there and we adopted Jenny into the Lee clan (she is definitely asian under that blond hair facade).

Also ventured to see my Ah Mah (grandma) in KL who was only expecting my mum to arrive - was nice to surprise her...only she didn't recognise me... something about me growing - hmmmm

2) Shopping & Food
Need I say more


And so we have arrived in Prague after too many hours of flying. Europe is having it's first taste of Tee since 1986 and like me is I'm sure enjoying it. More tales of Prague later, since I've only just arrived really.

Hope everyone is doing well, wishing you were all here (really!)

Love to you all

xo Tee
(and Jenny Mary who does not sleep on planes)