Hi all - went out to Borobudur on a field trip - am amazing World Heritage listed Buddhist temple near Yogyakarta. It was built c750AD and buried for hundreds of years by an eruption of Mt Merapi and then rediscovered and uncovered about 1815 by Lord Raffles who later went on to found Singapore. Amazing place - and we went on a day that was ( Read more... )

Jakarta is amazing - the people at my work are wonderful and such fun. I feel so much better now that I've had a couple of days here to see that it's not all horrible slums (although I saw a few of those beside the highway on the way to the airport today - very very sad) - the whole city (or the bits we live and work in) is very Westernised and, ( Read more... )

So it's two weeks until D-day and I am at my limit for the number of things I have to do in a VERY limited amount of time. I have my BIG exam on Friday, I have just finished the inventory of my worldly possessions (oh, god how did I end up with 38 pairs of shoes and a house deposit worth of kitchen stuff?!?!?!) and I don't have enough nights in ( Read more... )

Today I realised it was exactly one month until I leave my entire life behind and take the plunge into the unknown! It's official - I am now freaking out. In the next 30 days I have to study for a major language exam while packing up my life, selling my car, sorting out insurance and saying goodbye to everyone I care about ( Read more... )

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So, after studying hard for the last two and a half months I passed my first exam with flying colours...despite mistaking an 'A' for an 'R'in a flight number on my listening task. Sigh. I mean who needed to know it was GA and not GR anyway ( Read more... )

Yesterday my circle of knitting friends (and I) went on a girly knitting road trip to Bowral to check out what can only be described as Australia's best knitting shop (way to go Wool Addiction!)... We listened to a knitting pod cast on the way up, which was quirkily great! I have made a mental note to check out more podcasts soon. It was a ( Read more... )

How hot is it going to get this summer? Just when I thought that I had gained my 'training wheels' for 35 degree plus heat... thank you Mum for buying me an air conditioning unit - the woman is a saint ( Read more... )

Language training chugs along, mostly with me feeling panicked...will update soon. Promise!