Be obscure clearly

(oke, so two updates on one day: didn’t have any internetacces for quite a while (sorry guys for not emailing!!) but wrote some blog entries none the less. so there we go->)

So now I’m officially a staff member of the Oban Backpackers hostel. I work together with Jordan and Allesandro doing the same old cookie: changing sheets, toilets and showers etc. etc. Allesandro and I had already briefly met in Pitlochry (he left the day I arrived) and he’s a strange, passionate (about everything, even cleaning :S ) maybe even slightly attractive, hairy (facial hair out of protest ?!) Italian who is a master in complaining (which is kinda funny) Jordan is a fun-loving, easy-going Australian with such a heavy accent that even his fellow Australians can’t understand him. We have cool talks but a big part of my responses consist of: ‘what? Pardon? Sorry? Could you repeat that?’ and the ever returning classic: the puzzled look… 

The Manager, Nicky, has a  HUGE Scottish accent but for some reason I always know exactly what she means… maybe some Scottish blood in my veins after all?? Kylie, the receptionist is a very cool chick (I hate that expression but it describes her perfectly, so there you go!) who just seems…. Jolly… all the time. Yesterday I walked to a nearby castle (or more of a watchtower) and after climbing the hill it is situated on I had drank in the magnificent view… WOW! So here’s a little video of that view, (note my cute nose smiling at you in the opening picture, it took me 5 tries to get one where I didn’t look like I was just stung by a wasp in the right eye or eating a particularly sour lemon…) 
 

That evening we went to Point of Neist (a very beautiful lighthouse) to enjoy the sunset, but again, our socks were very  much in danger of being blown off our feet. So no pictures of that, because it was physically impossible to hold your camera still :-/ too bad eh?  

Day three! We drove to Portree (kind of capital of Skye, tiny harbour town) to get some money, do groceries and we shared the most brilliant slice of lemon-raspberry-cream cake together… yum! On this day we had quite a bit of rain again and we were both quite tired so went to the B&B again after that to relax and do some reading. In the evening we had a little walk to the coral beach (which we didn’t reach haha) and actually saw several eh… Jan-van-Genten? (Translate that for me Arthur….) anyway, big seabirds hunting, diving into the water with great speed. Beautiful! And we even saw the head of a grey seal, who made the cutest little hans-teeuwen-like ‘euow’-sound 

Yesterday we travelled back to Pitlochry (in about 4 hours less than it took us on the way to Skye :S) and arrived around 3 o’clock. The guys there determined that: Yes, I am indeed the smallest person on this planet. And it has been written on the doorpost to tell the world forever more that this freaky twist in dutch height (I) waz der! Mum was so proud! Mum and I shared a ridiculously huge but yummie double carrot cake in the coffeeshop (where I used to go to so often in Pitlochry) with the very bad coffee but oh so nice view (my mum agrees, ze guy working there iz cute!!! ).

I was desperately trying to go to Oban (wescoast), which wasn’t working because they weren’t taking any bookings but that night it finally worked out. What did the trick was me mentioning that I wanted to work for free accommodation. Apparently they need people… lucky me! 

Sat with Fab for a bit that evening and he told me he’s getting a bit unhappy in Pitlochry. He was friends with Greg but he left (but will come back soon for a little while) but other than that he’s not really friends with anyone there, it’s so isolated, nothing to do… actually all the reasons why I wanted to leave after those 9 days… sad to see him sad. Hopefully Cristina will follow her plans and work in Pitlochry soon, they got along very good. (I miss her!) 

Got up freakishly early today (7 o’clock! What the hell!!) to catch the quickest bus to Oban. So… now here I am, sitting in quite a nice lounge in the hostel in Oban after a very nice but kind of scary and long (4.5 hrs.) bus ride. At the time the reception is closed  so can’t have a quick nap (which I really want!) have to wait until 4 o’clock (1.55 min. to go :S) Hope to find some wifi soon, so I can upload this pretty piece of text.
love you all!!! Cheers        

Mein liebe menschen! I’m writing this to the universe from the Isle of Skye, which has now yet another admirer: Yours truly!

Mother dearest has arrived in Edinbrough on the 31^st and we’ve spend that day walking around The Old Town for a bit, shopping  and after that we had a great dinner at ‘The Mitre’, a very nice pub on the Royal mile.

  I was still staying in the hostel because it was way cheaper than the hotel so in the evening around 11 I walked into the kitchen to find Albert (French chef cook) instantly inviting me for my second dinner that night: lobster (!!!) the restaurant he works at had a power failure so the lobsters had to be eaten that evening… poor us! He prepared them the way he serves them at the restaurant… my gosh… YUM! On the 1^st mum and I did some more shopping, the crazy woman gave me a digital compact camera!!!!! CRAAAIZY as John would say… it’s a wicked little thing though

That afternoon we had planned to go to an African drum/dance thingy playing for the festival but unfortunately it was cancelled… so we had to look for something else and found a Flamenco (guitar-dance-singing) performance and it was SO damn good, it turned out to be a very famous flamenco guitarist. We enjoyed it a lot. Ah and had lunch and dinner again at ‘the Mitre’ because we are boring like that (and of course because the food was very good!) 

Yesterday we began the long ride to the Isle of Skye. Had a stop at Pitlochry, said hi to the guys there and moved further to Fort William. From there we drove to the bridge that would take us to Skye and that ride was… amazing, don’t have words for it. I’ve just given my heart to this country… And than the scenery in Skye! Sligachan is breathtaking! And the coast is stunning and overwhelmingly beautiful. And the light… people the light!!!! 

Sigh….Just go see it for yourself  

We arrived at the B&B at around 10 o’clock in the evening (we left at 10… ouch). It’s in Glendale, close to Dunvagan and the Glen Dunvagan is also beautiful. Today we only had rain rain rain… I don’t mind rain, but today it kept us from being able to take pictures so that kind of sucks. I made a few with my new digi though. We made a beautiful trip from Glendale to Uig, to Staffin, to Portree and then back to Glendale. Rain all the way, all of the day though so can’t prove it to ye  Tomorrow we will hopefully be able to do a tiny bit of walking in Sligachan and check out the Point of Neist (lighthouse) in the evening during sunset.

That’s all for now! Cheers!

Wiehoe I’m back in High str. Edinbrough and loving it . Sundaynight I’ve spend with John and Cristina just taking it easy in the hostel, drinking playing and talking. Yesterday I went shopping with Cristina (both broke…) and bought the most beautiful scarf with silk in it for only 5 pounds. and….. an actual BRIGHT PINK FLOWER-PRINTED cute top.. yes, I’m really wearing this right now… teehee

in the afternoon we sat with John on the street while he practised some tunes which was really wonderful. in the evening we went to a great jazz bar called… The Jazz Bar (zet iz BRILJANT!) with John, Cristina, Nadia (US) and Matt (Canada eh?). It was Jam session night and they guys playing were absolutely amazing. A pianist playing mad mad jazz, he almost looked like a beast, but it was briljant. After that a singer who sang some blues songs which was just beautiful and soul-piercing.  3rd was a Jack Johnson-kind-of singer-songwriter who I almost fell in love with (had he been cuter I would have jumped him . There’s just something about a man playing the guitar and singing while having this wonderful smile on his face like he’s having the time of his life (marieke understands )

John is thinking of ways to improve his performance, by tossing in some comedy so to speak, and since he very often makes me laugh so much that my drink sprays out of my nose (good timing…) I think he would do briljantly

Mum is coming over today! I still have to find out which bus I have to take to the airport though…. hehe I’m not so efficient when I’m here (oke, and have a slight headache from last night). We’re gonna look into what’s playing on the Fringe tomorrow, hopefully some jazz or good comedy.

alrighty that’s all for now, love you all and still miss you

cheers

Finally! I’m traveling back to Edinburgh today Pitlochry is a nice enough town but after about 3 days you get the feeling that you’re stuck… but it’s good that I’ve saved up some money and have about 5 days worth of free accomodation-vouchers to spend in any macbackpackers hostel which is cool

Jeff even offered me a job here (!?) but that would probably fry my brain… it’s about the sleepiest town ever and I haven’t been able to do anything worth my while… which sucks… so back to Edinburgh it is!
Twill be so good to see Angus, Charlotte, Cris, Scott and John again

Yesterday we had a kind of going away party for moi in the hostel. Kuba (polish) brought his vodka, I still had some wine left and the guys of course drank their nasty english beer. after the pubs closed some people came back to the hostel and Kylie (aussie) and Kati (germany) joined our little group of fun. we’ve spend the rest of the night laughing, taking silly pictures and tasting the difference between Vegimite (yuck!) and Marmite (YUCK!) thus eating away all the bread that was meant for the guests at breakfast… oops…

funny Fab kept trying to kiss and hug me (hehe, silly frenchman) but I was able to resist then I sat outside with Dave for a little while and tada! same thing… only he has a girlfriend… Theresa… again I was very able to resist :S
Why do I never ever meet a guy I like that tries to do this…. le sigh

oke.. so I’m gonna go get a hot chocolate across the street, read my book a little (this week I read about 500 pages !!) and make me some lunch.

cheers!

so not much going on here… I’ve been working a bit too much so quite tired but saved up a considerable amount of vouchers for free accomodation so: wicked! (<- I blame the Aussies)

Tonight the fire alarm went off at 4:23 in the morning…. turns out someone was smoking in their room… bloody bastards! so this morning everyone looks quite less atractive due to the lack of sleep. we might still have to hunt the smoker down and do something really bad, like putting salt in his coffee *devil horns* that’ll teach him…

Yesterday I did 40 freakin’ beds on my own…. which took me close to 5 hours so only two hours today.

While  I walked through the hallway I suddenly found Cristina (from High str.) standing at reception! so funny! was great to see eachother again and we had a very nice evening together with Fab. She’s gonna go back to High str. on the 29th as well so we’ll see eachother again there. she’s up for Stirling today. to be honest, I can’t wait to go back to High str. and after that to Skye with mumsy

hmm, that’s about all for now, not a very exciting update eh…. oh well, more exhilirating stuff next time!

cheers!

8 days of Scotland and gosh, how I love this place I’ve had quite a wicked photo-stroll yesterday, where I even got to shoot a good sunset-picture. will try to upload it soon but yeah… public computer and all… sometimes I just can’t be bothered, I’m lazy like that

I’m doing quite a lot of work, about 3 hours a day, today a bit more and Jeff (the manager) was kind enough to put me up for 4 so that’s cool! 2 hours is a free night and for every hour I do more I get a voucher. 2 vouchers means 1 free night at any of the macbackpackers hostels so that’s cool

There were 2 dutch girls here yesterday and day before that, also sleeping in my dorm and they would not respect the fact that I did not want to get up at 7 and at some point wanted to have a nap at 4. they kept me awake by talking very loud and opening the curtains and everything…. little buggers. so now Jeff actually gave me a staff room witch Theresa which is wicked because she doesn’t get up until 10.30, good stuff! and cool that he already trusts me so much after only 4 days.

Today Jeff, Greg, Dave (aussie) and me actually had a swim in the Loch! man that was cold… so it was more of a dip instead of a swim but really really refreshing at it! had a bit of good weather today as well so we could dry up in the sun. Tonight we’re kind of having a party because Greg is leaving, so yes… headache in the morning  (don’t worry mum )

oh and I found a coffeeshop right across the street that has quite shite coffee but the cutest guy is working there so of course I have to go there every day now and read and pretend I like the bucket of black death (the coffee..yes it’s that bad) he gives me just to enjoy the view there you go…

that’s all for now, back to the party.

oh and met two other dutch girls today who are really nice so I’m not damning the country just yet.

cheers!

So some more ‘cool-to-know-facts’ about Pitlochry, it’s a tiny town in a very nice surounding. (see http://www.perthshire.co.uk/index.asp?lm=52). Had a beer with some guys here on friday in the local pub. that evening there was  a live band playing; some 45+ year old guys in kilts rocking like monsters, yeah man! twas the funniest thing ever, and they played some good stuff as well! but the pint of cider got the better of me after a bit… especially because I was quite tired :S so went home at 12 (according to the guys: freakin early man!)

today I changed 42 beds (!!!) together with Theresa (from south africa) which took about 3 hours… but I will get free accomodation, free laundry AND rent a free bicycle. so that’s fine.

tomorrow I’m planning to do a little walk to the Edradour distillery, which is the smallest distillery in Scotland (see: http://www.edradour.co.uk/index4.html) or, if the weather is nice, cycle to Killiecrankie (see: http://www.perthshire.co.uk/index.asp?pg=419). And hopefully come back with some nice shots

alrighty, that’s all for now! I miss you all…. sorry that I can’t email most of you personally but that would mean hours and hours behind a computer…. but you can email me

cheers…

p.s. I really do miss you guys….

p.p.s. my horoscope for today (in new’s world sunday  mag. anyway…)
The sun spins into your chart of new horizons and inspires you to learn new skills (making beds maybe? dunno… moving on->). But holiday plans change for a very exciting reason (well exciting…. but damn did they change!).
then there’s a bit about: You may be underestimating how deep love feelings go, destiny will introduce you to a sporting hero…… (no comments on that) that’s all!

WOOHOO! dear dear Annika told me this afternoon that I passed my exam with a freakin 9!!!! WOOHOO! how about that

Today I’m in Pitlochry… yes indeed… I’m changing plans about every hour or so :S I had to leave Edinbrough on friday because they were full. Had been looking at a bus to go to Killin to work in Peter’s hostel but after 3 hours of looking I still couldn’t find a good connection so… I started looking for another place to stay. Isle of Skye…. full, Fort William… full, Inverness…. full….
at this time I started freaking out

Then I saw that the hostel chain that High street hostel was a part of, also had a hostel in Pitlochry (where I’ve been before years ago) and just decided to go there.  so here I am now Doing some cleaning so free accomodation woohoo!

friendly people, Jeff (the manager) is a very typical New zealander but a very cool guy. Greg, from Seatle, is friendly as well. Fabio (god what a name) is from France and has the cutest accent haha! Danielle from Germany is a great gall who I made a nice walk with along the river today. oke people, didn’t have the connection yet that I had in High street…

On the 29th I’m going back to High street 31st mum will come over and spent a week here.

oke gotta go, have to write on a public computer so… no time and too much money :S

cheers!