We did all the fun touristy things and cooked heaps of Southern food (cornbread, biscuits, collard greens, green beans, ham hocks, etc).

And we drank beer and wine every night and fell asleep watching My Name is Earl on DVD (one of my mom's favorite shows).

Atlanta was pretty easy to navigate, well since there's actually public transport. We'd take MARTA (the rail and bus system) pretty much everywhere we needed to go. Got all over the city. So I feel well explored now.

Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

Centennial Olympic Park with a statue of the guy who founded the modern olympics. I think he'd be good at high jump, he's huge!

My mom and fishies. We went to the largest aquarium in the world. The Georgia Aquarium. It has whale sharks, baluga whales, sea otters, penguins, sea lions and much more! But not particularly educational. Just pretty. They don't have signs that say where the fishes are from.

We also visited the CNN center, which was actually alot of fun. Playing with green screens and sitting at the anchor desks.

We also went to the Atlanta Historical Center which has some lovely gardens with native Georgia plants. And lots of civil war history.

I had to drop off my Mom at the airport today, which was so sad. I'll miss having her around, especially having someone to cook with. But to make it even worse, the Atlanta airport was flooded with soldiers being shipped out. Crying kids saying goodbye to their fathers and mothers. Parents saying goodbye to their sons and daughters. I couldn't handle it. Don't die! They're going for no good reason anyways. Atlanta seems to have alot more reminders of wartime than LA did. The culture is just different here.

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Sunset from the plane descending into Atlanta

Three of my intern roomates picked up me up and drove me to our house in Decatur. Decatur is a suburb just outside the city. It's very cute. I'm walking distance from the supermarket, a wine store, the ymca and lots of ethnic food. Yay for ethnic food. I had Thai food last night, and it wasn't bad. I found a Vietnamese food place today called Saigon Cafe. They sell all sorts of Pho, but no Banh Mi unfortunately. No Vietnamese desserts either. Lots of Chinese food restaurants. And there's a bit of mexican as well. Including El Bar. Which is an underground bar without a liquour license. Awesome name though. There's even an Indian Spanish fusion restaurant. Curry tapas? I don't know how I feel about that.

Atlanta is beautiful. The trees are red, yellow, orange and green. Full with autumn. The old houses are gorgeous, southern architecture. With their brick and huge verandas.

I went to a "work party" today. Which pretty much means you're a construction worker on the weekends to help work for my stay and for free breakfast and lunch. I work for a non profit sustainable building organization. They're building a new Eco Office. It's very innovative and the organization has won heaps of awards. But it's a non profit organization, so they need lots of volunteers and interns to help with the building. I got my hard hat on, and jumped right in. I held the ladder for people to spray foam insulation. I painted primer and fire retardent. And I sorted the scrap metal, cardboard, and wood. Lots of haulin and a bit of lifting. Quite fun for a first day.

I start my proper orientation on Monday. Looks like I'll be rotating between the office, research, building inspections and construction working.

My street

These neighbours actually bothered to rake up all their leaves.

Me and the street sign

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Now on our walking safari, we looked at the flora and saw a herd of zebra and cape buffalo. They work together. The zebra eat the tall grass while the buffalo eat the short grass. One sees and one hears.

But we also found some other friends. A mother and child white rhinos.

see them in the distance

And now they're following us

Still following us

The guide told us to zig zag our path.
Luckily, the pair just decided to walk in the other direction in the end.

Animals in Swaziland remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Our hut was quite nice. It had no walls. We had a special gate to keep out the wildlife, which was definately needed. I saw a baby nyala run by. The entire structure is open to the external bush, including the toilet. It's like having a toilet outside. You've never felt something so relaxing as doing your business outside, on a real porcelain toilet. We had Impala venison for lunch. My favorite meat out of the entire trip. There's no electricity at the camp, except for solar power to heat the water. So you get to use old fashioned paraffin lamps. All the meals are prepared on gas stoves or open fire.

Later I had the joy of eating wildebeast sausage. Oh so tasty indeed.

You might be wondering why I was able to eat game at a game reserve?
Well at Mkaya there are no natural predators, so they have to cull the herds so the population doesn't suffer from steep rising and crashing.

In swaziland, you eat game meat. The local cattle is actually a protected species. The game reserve was originally built to preserve this cattle. But you need the big five animals to draw tourists.

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Don't take my fries! remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Actual Three Randevaals

Bourkes Luck Potholes

Scenic stops in South Africa remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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the game meat side of the menu

This photo is a candid shot. My brother caught me in an absolutely hypnotized state. MMMM meat.

Hanging with the Hippo.

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Zoom was not necessary.

SEE!(I was a wimp. I kept my window up). That lion was licking himself for awhile.

Aren't the little lions cute?

Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve Johannesburg remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Christian Book Store remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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My eyes are constantly tearing up. The people burn trash and burn the fields next to the school. The school neighbours a township. Something is always burning in Jo'burg. Burning tires is supposed to be a symbol of public anger and protest. Burning the fields is supposed to bring rain. My eyes and my skin hate it.

My brother teaching his class.

We visited one of my brother's classes. The entire student body was pretty much Black, mostly Zulu. This was the first place where I wasn't greeted with catcalls or whistles (mainly because my brother told them it was rude to do so). South Africa is quite chauvinistic and patriarchal. Many of the men act like a bad stereotype of construction workers. (All of the commercials for cleaning products contain females, I didn't see a single man.) After finishing their review of Completing the square, the students were filled with questions for Tiffany and I. They were concerned with matriculating into Uni. The questions weren't all typical. One boy asked how he could avoid drugs. This is a problem in the townships, even within the family. A girl asked if she could go to university in America, etc. My brother later pointed out an inyanga sitting in the back. An inyanga is a zulu word for traditional healer. Apparently ill people of many religions come to this inyanga. Muslims, Christians, and other Zulus. The inyanga is wearing a green sweater in the photo below. Oh by the way, the Muslim neighbourhood in Jo'burg is one of the nicest in the city. They have their own security force. You'll likely be approached if you get lost there. They know everyone in the neighbourhood, and the area is impeccably clean.

Anyways the students asked if they could have a photo with us. One student asked if I'd marry him. I guess asian girls aren't common in this part of town (Chinatown in Joburg is more like China caldesac). We took a group picture, and then some of the male students proceeded to take cell phone photos of me.

Posing with the students. Can you find Tiffany?hehe

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We flew into Jo'burg on Gulf Air. Gulf Air had the best airline food I've ever had. But I got a really bad impression of Afrikaans. I thought they were impeccably rude.

In my travels throughout S. Africa. I found that my first impression was pretty much correct. White south africans were rude and unnecessarily mean. With the exception of my brother's landlord. We had gained his trust, and he was the nicest man.

On our first day in Jo'burg, we slept off the jet leg for the first couple hours and then went to the Oriental Market. Unfortunately, the Oriental Market only has Indian vendors. But I got myself a nice cheap purse. Then we spent the rest of our afternoon in the African Museum. The best exhibit in the Museum would have to be the photos. It has photos chronicalling, Ghandi, Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela, the Women's Right's Movement, and of the local townships over the years. The townships are essentially shantytowns made of corrugated steel. Black people live in the townships.

Eventhough the Afrikaans were not so friendly, I found the Zulus, the San, Khoi, and the Swazi to be particularly helpful and kind. Plus I think I heard the word Chinese in 11 different languages. No matter what kind of Asian you say you are.......you will always be Chinese in S. Africa.

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Prague was a bit strange. The food and the booze was cheap, as well as the clothes. Maybe its because they dont use the euro, or they only joined the EU in 2005. The rest of the Czech republic outside of Prague looked a bit dilapidated.

Prague is quite pretty from atop. It definately is the City of a Hundred Spires. You can tell it is a very old city. It looks gorgeous at night. From the ground, the buildings are deteriorating a little. And the city is a strange mix of restaurants, stores and sex shops. The first shop I saw was an internet cafe sex shop. dont you think prostitutes would distract you from your emails?

The public transportation in the city is fabulous.......well except for the theft of my camera. We were easily able to visit all the sites within our trip. I went to the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, the Senate (which included in the dripping wall), the Jewish Quarter, Old Town, Wenceslas Square, The Lennon Wall (basically a wall completely covered in graffiti again and again. It occasionally has the likeness of John Lennon with a couple Beatles quotes), the Fred and Ginger building (which looks like it is dancing), the Prague market (I found all the locals and the Asians here, it was like the swap meet, so many Dolce and Gabbanna reproductions), passed by the Franz Kafka museum, and the park (which was exceptionally creepy because it had a running carnival, with carnies, but no other people. SCARY SCARY MUSIC).

I enjoyed the Goulash, but since we were there during public holidays many of the Czech restaurants were closed. Tiff wanted to get mexican food which really wasnt too my liking. I try to avoid mexican food outside of the American continents. But Czech Mexican food wasnt that bad. They had all the right ingredients, cooked in the wrong proportions.

On the way back from Prague, on we had to get off the train because they had to repair the train tracks. So we followed this old Czech woman, who spoke no english or German (Most Czechs were very friendly and extremely helpful, even if we didnt even ask for help). Boarded a bus to our next train station. We would've been totally lost without her. The train rides in Europe had me longing to watch Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

When we finally got back to Lothars place, this required switching trains four times, boarding a bus and a taxi, Lothar's new flatmate had moved in. She's fluent in Spanish and German, and her English isnt too shabby. Her and her friends made brilliant mexican food.

I cant seem to escape mexican food in Europe.

Tomorrow we fly to Johannesburg to see my brother. Which is good because I desperately need to do laundry and I cant seem to find my tweezers. My eyebrows are bushier than ever.

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Had dinner at a French restaurant. Which was quite nice since I could actually order for myself. The fries were so delicious. Cooked belgian style. We kept ordering more and more wine waiting for happy hour. And somehow we just missed it. Talked and drank wine til 1.

Lothar, Tiff, Lothar's flattie, Christian, and I went to Nürnberg today.

Started off at the Nazi fairgrounds, well the actual more PC title is something like, the Former Nazi Party Rally Grounds. The museum was quite cool. Had alot of info about the history. Nürnberg trials, etc. But it also showed the plans that Hitler and Speer had if the Nazis had one the war. We visited a half completed Congress building that resembled a coliseum. A Zeppelin field, where Hitler made speeches besides great big swastika banners.

Naziland was actually quite pretty. With an artificial lake filled with geese. and even a Great Road (Große Straße)for parades. I saw a sponsored by Coca Cola sign over the Great Road. A little creepy. There were also rides sittin on trucks, so not in use. People were happily roller blading around the grounds. And there were kids playing on a giant trampoline/jolly jumper. The lake even had pretty paddles boats you could rent out.

After Naziland, we went back into the city heart of Nürnberg. Had lunch, Drei em Weggla. Sausages are nice. Plus Nürnberg was alot more ethnically diverse than i expected. Coca Cola ads had Latin looking models because that's what is considered attractive here right now. The language barrier is a little annoying.

After lunch we headed to the Medieval dungeons. Which was actually freakier than I thought. Just dark, stuffy, lacking toilets, and full of torture devices. Of course, no matter how badly I felt. I still had to take goofy pictures amongst the shackles. I think my wrists were to small for them though.

Visited St. Sebald's church. They had this display of religions that detracted from jesus. Such as Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and then lastly football. The church had gorgeous gothic architecture, with high pointed arches and detailed stained glass windows. Churches are quite beautiful, yet I always feel that Catholic churches are so morbid. Too many displays of Jesus's death rather than life.

Rode back to Bayreuth on the train after a little Gelato
We got a bit lazy for dinner, and just ordered hawaiian pizza, which was actually quite good. italian thin crust. Then watched the episode of Family Guy where Peter traces back his family line to Peter Hitler, Hitler's annoying brother. Constantly interrupting Hitler's speeches and calling him motherfuhrer
I then fell asleep while everyone watched the Big Lebowski in my room. Damn jet lag.

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fun with the german keyboard remains copyright of the author strinh, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Tiff and I left LAX at 7am. Our flights were good. 4 hours to Toronto and 7 hours to Frankfurt Germany. On the flight to Frankfurt they played Mission Impossible III and Whale Rider. I'm not sure why they would show whale rider now, but it's definately gotten me even more excited about my return to New Zealand.

We arrived in Frankfurt at 7am German time. My old flattie, Lothar, was there to pick us up. The sweetheart drove three hours to pick us up. So nice since managing the public transport system to his flat would've been quite confusing. Had burger king for lunch. Was strange ordering at burger king. Since the menu was in English.

Finally arrived in Bayreuth, where Lothar's flat is, since he attends uni here. The town is quite cute. I absolutely love the architecture. There are flowers sitting in window boxes all over the city. It's also Wagner's home town. I'm definately not a fan of Wagner but it's made for an interesting dynamic. It's essentially an old person's destination. We kept seeing old Germans in their tour buses while we were driving on the Autobahn. Student life at this uni is dismal. But there are heaps of breweries in the area. Apparently the most per capita. Been trying all the local brews and Schnapps. And enjoyed it greatly. Lothar hates his flattie's homemade schnapps. But I found it quite tasty cherry, white cherry and pear flavor. Maybe my american palette is much too unrefined. All those years of filtering popov in a brita filter to make it taste decent. Yes, the stereotype of german's drinking quite a bit is true. He even said that drinking a shot of schnapps after our meal would aid in my digestion.

The jetlag hasnt been too bad. I essentially stayed awake 40 hours straight to try and avoid it. I wake up at semi normal times, but my body never has a clue what time it is. I honestly dont know what time it is in LA. Dont really want to bother with the math either. It's about noon in Germany right now.

Today we'll explore Bayreuth a bit more and then maybe nuremberg or nurnberg.

on another note. I keep checking the department of state website. Our trip planned a 3 day layover in Bangkok. But now I'm not really sure we should keep that plan, with recent political news. We already booked our hotel there, so I guess I'll have to keep checking the news to see.

Lothar has been taking such good care of us. I adore the guy. Driving hours, buying us so many beers, setting up our beds, making dinner and breakfast. It's just so nice. Today I woke up early from jetlag, and did the dishes. When he got up and saw them clean, gave me this look, and said I didn't need to do that. But he's done so much for us! He even bought me a German sim card in case I needed to call him for emergencies.

Lothar's flat is huge. Each room is about twice the siye i mean size of a UCLA dorm room. And they pay heaps less. Plus German's make higher wages. No fair! He's even got a balcony and the cutest garden in the back. The city has real clock bells too! Not the UCLA speakers. His flattie is quite nice and funny. When he first met Tiffany he wasn't sure of her name, so he whispered to me "like Breafast at ...?". I said yes and he knodded in recognition.

Germans also seem to know very little about Jews. Lothar asked me if Jews wrote alot of books. At which point, Tiffany and I fell over laughing. Since he just fulfilled a German stereotype. He obviously didn't see why it was so funny. Of course there are alot of Jewish writers. hehe.

Tiffany is currently perusing the bookshelf in the flat. Edgar Allen Poe no longer rhymes once it has been translated into German. Quite disappointing. Plus the humor of American tv and film doesn't really carry over once translated. Lothar said the Big Lebowski was bad in German, but hilarious in English. He even asked me if I wanted to play the Big Lebowski drinking game with White Russians.

Anyways I hope I can keep this blog properly updated with all my adventures.

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