The Hill

Where ever I go, I manage to end up living on a hill. At camp, I have lived on "The Hill" for the past three summers. At CITYterm, the dorms were on the top of a huge hill. In New Zealand, I had to walk up a short but steep hill to get to my apartment. And finally, in Australia, I lived in the neighborhood of Newcastle called, "The Hill."

You may be curious as to what all of these extremely different places have in common besides hills to complain about. Well...all of these places have hills that I have struggled to reach at the beginning. The first day, the hill is hard to get up, but I'm not going to complain. But on the second and third days, the hill gets steeper and steeper, becoming a dreaded part of my day. After a week or so of struggling and heavy breathing, the hill becomes a tiny slope, and eventually equal to flat land.

At camp, I always manage to struggle during my first week (despite the fact that I have been going for eleven summers). But eventually, the hill becomes flat, and I have amazing and unforgettable experiences. At CITYterm, I thought I had never walked up such a steep hill in my life, but it gradually became easier (especially when I took a taxi up!) to walk up. In New Zealand, the hill was small, and took only a day or two to overcome. The hill in Australia...well it was long. But eventually, I made it to the top without the shortness of breath.

What I am trying to say is that despite the struggles that I experienced during my time in New Zealand and Australia, it was worth the hundreds of laughs and amazing friendships that I developed with people from all around the world. I will never forget these memories, both the good and the bad.

My trip back to the United States was long, but went well. I slept for eight hours out of fourteen on the flight back to Los Angeles, and was eager for all of the six hours back to New York. When I finally saw Mom and Dad at baggage claim at JFK, I was ecstatic...we were ecstatic. I was greeted with tears, a balloon, and an egg bagel. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

Three days have passed since I left Australia. I am lacking sleep because of the severe time difference and trying to readjust to being without friends 24/7. I am glad to be home, but I miss all of my friends and life Down Under. On the other hand, I am excited to go to Boston on Wednesday to see some camp and CITYterm friends, and of course, my brother. Just another hill.

Until next time...

Some Costa Rican adventures to come!

Sydney

My last weekend in Australia, as you already know, was spent in Sydney! Because the only Sydney that I had seen before this weekend was
the airport, I did not know what to expect.

We left Newcastle at 8:30 in the morning to catch the long two and a half hour train to Central Station. To my surpise, the ride went fairly quickly. Nathan and Tom slept for the majority of the ride, while Jana, Hannah and I listened to music. Hannah's friend Diego met us on the train as we approached Sydney. When we arrived it was only 11 and nothing was going right thus far. We were unable to purchase tickets at the Newcastle station, and had to sneak our way behind strangers to escape the exit
in Sydney. After that mess was sorted out successfully, Nathan said his goodbyes again (he had made a speach at the BBQ we made for him the night before) as he departed
for Melbourne.

Our next mission was to find a hostel. This task was much more difficult then it seems. After our third try, we finally found a hostel called Wake Up! that had one room available. We dropped our bags off and got ready to explore the massive city. We got on another ten minute train to Milsons Point. The beautiful area on the oter side of the Harbor Bridge was a fantastic place to begin our explorations. We had great views of the Bridge, Opera House, and the city! We also went to Luna Park, a place very similar to Coney Island! We then walked
over the bridge back into the city and over to
the Opera House. It was a great but long walk. We manages to see a majority of the downtown area during that afternoon. After a long but fun-filled
day, we went back to the hostel to e ready for the evening. We went for a quick Thai dinner and then went to meet Hannah and Diego's other friend, Max from Austria. We all had a great time together!

On Sunday, we all went out for breakfast. After, I met up with an old friend from Saddle River Day, Jared Suresky! It was great to seem him after a few years! What a coincidence too because he is her studying abroad. After a great lunch, I met up with an old friend from camp, Margot Harley! It was awesome to see her as well! We took a dive to Bondi Beach, a popular destination in the Sydney area. After a few hours, I met back up with my CVA friends and we went to see the world's largest IMAX and then relaxed at a cool park before having to head back to the train station. We finally made it back home to Newcastle at 10 at night.

We were exausted from our busy weekend on Monday morning and did
not do a lot of work Monday! It was funny though...and we were all onthe same page. Weeding was the last thing we wanted to do. Today we got lucky! It is a rainy day so... Day off! So here I am in Gloria Jeans coffee shop on my iPhone typing this! Today we are seeing the Social
Network which should be great!

You will next hear from me from New Jersey!! Three more days of Aussie adventures to come!

The Country: Part Two

My horrible Wednesday began on Tuesday night...almost immediately after I posted the last entry. I was walking upstairs to my bedroom...and all was well...untill I saw a HUGE spider crawling..or more like running...along the wall and ceiling. It was disgusting..and let me tell you..you have not seen a big spider until you have been to Australia. To put it in perspective, it was the size of a man's hand. I didn't know what else to do but call Jesse out of his room to get the spider. He was hesitant to touch it, so he used a cup to get it outside. After he went back into his room, I found another one crawling in the hall. Cel, the guy from Belgium, thought it would be hilarious to "play" with the spider and hit it with a towel into my room. Jana was brave and removed it for me. I then found a third spider in my room...which Jana again, removed for me. I was so afraid to sleep so I read until I passed out with the lights on. The next morning, I was washing a glass...dropped it..and it broke. I had a hunch that this was not going to be a very good day. I was excited to see that our weeding was alongside a bunch of horses. We got to pet them before we started work which was cool! The second that we got started with our work, I felt a painful bite on my leg. It felt as if a wasp had bitten me. I kept my cool and let Jesse know. I then felt it again and again and again. Jesse laughed with sympathy and told me that I had ants in my pants. Litterally! Jana had gotten bitten too, so we sat on the side for a little with ice to sooth the pain. When we were done with work, we had to climb under a barbed wire fence to get back to the car. Of course, I got a nice big scratch from the fence, ripped my pants, and was bleeding. Since we finished work early, Jesse decided to take us to the Timor Caves. He didn't know exactly where they were on the mountain, so we went for a nice big hike though the bush and up the mountain. As the thunderous clouds rolled in, we decided to give up and head back to the house. On the hike down, I got bitten by more ants. As soon as we reached the bottom, Hannah and I found the cave...on the bottom. At least we got to go in and it was very very cool! The views on the drive to the caves and back were also spectacular. It was beautiful horse country with grassy, green mountains.

The remainder of the time at the Murrurundi House was spiderless, thank god! And yes, we made it safely back to Newcastle. Tomorrow, I am venturing with Hannah, Tom, and Jana to Sydney for two days! I am very excited to be able to explore the city and of course, see Margot on Sunday! Also, I will be home in a week from today! I hope I am not forgetting something, but that is all for now!

Some Sydney adventures to come!

The Country

Sorry that it has been almost a week since my last post, but it is very difficult to find enough internet time to actually write! But, here I am...two hours inland in Murrurandi, Australia...A.K.A...the middle of freaking nowhere...using Jesse's (our conservation team leader) computer and the free wi-fi that is supplied by our accommodation. So far, my time here in Oz can be explained by me as nothing but strange. This discription is neither positive nor negative, but neutral until I am able to have a deeper understanding of my experiences here. Let me start from where I left off last week.

Most, or all actually, of last week was spent weeding. The boring work was inturrupted by sporatic jokes and laughter about the menial work that nobody was excited about. Lunch time was generally the best time of day, and we all explored the different location we were weeding in. One day, we even got to make video snapshots for the partner organization that we were volunteering for...nobody took it seriously...and therefore, it turned out much better! Tom, the hilarious guy from "near Amsterdam," even pretended to be a superhero in his. At times, we all found it difficult to be motivated to do the work because they did not have much for us to do. Jesse even was frustrated, but did a good job of not letting it show. He would often pull over to the side of the road and say "OK guys...lets weed here for about twenty minutes and then we'll go." He is really cool and doesn't mind if we take it easy! My favorite day was probably at the Hunter Wetlands. We worked for a total of an hour, and listened to music the whole time. After, Jesse took us on a bushwalk, and we got to see beautiful birds and wetlands.  On Friday, we were all exhausted and the weather sucked so we ended work at noon and had the rest of the day in the volunteer house relaxing and watching movies (The Beach, with Leo...I would recommend it!). Hannah, from Scottland, made awesome cupcakes, which was a huge plus. Also, two new guys came to the house...Cel from Belgum and Simon from France. We all went out on Friday night to a pub and then the beach...it was a great night!

On Saturday, CVA organized a trip to Port Stephens for us, a beautiful area about an hour north of Newcastle. Jenni, a CVA staff member tagged along to show us around. First, we visited a cool hostle that rehabilitates Aussie wildlife. They hadraised a kangaroo that we got to pet and play with. That was definitely the highlight of my day! We also got to hold exotic birds which was pretty cool as well. After, we had a classic Aussie barbie (BBQ) at a beautiful park on the beach. I, of course, ate salad, while everyone devoured sausages. It was funny to watch Simon eat them though because he keeps kosher at home...yes he is a Jew! After some time at the beach, we went for a nice little, meaning huge, hike up to the top of a mountain to get a 360 view of the beautiful area. We ended the long but fun day at amazing sand dunes. I felt as if I had taken a brief trip to Egypt beacuse of the endless sand and camels hiking along the dunes. When we got back to the house, I realized that I had my first tick. Hannah is a great doctor though and was able to remove it for me.

On Sunday, we all went to the Newcastle beach, the norm, for a while to get a nice tan. After we met up with Jana, from Germany, and ventured to a new beach, Bar Beach. It was amazing, and probably one of the top three most beautiful beaches that I have been too. It was hidden inbetween huge cliffs and had huge red rocks all along the water.

This week, we are on a residential project in Murrurundi. There is virtually nothing to do in this town because of its extremely small size. It is two and a half hours north of Newcastle, but is pretty cool. The only downfall is that we are of course, weeding all week in the most random places ever. It is still very hard to get motivated to weed on the side of a road. Yesterday, we only worked for an hour because of our late arrival in the area. Work was followed with a trip to the grocery story and another car ride to our accommodation. We were all shocked to see we were staying in a huge, beautiful mansion, on a graveyard. It used to be a monistary and has a church on the property as well. It is clean though, so that is all I can really ask for. With nothing to really do in the area, our afternoon was spent playing soccer, cooking dinner, playing cards, and hangman. Today was even hotter than yesterday, and we ended work at around one. After, we all went to town for a beer, minus me because I hate beer. I also had to go to the Chemist...the pharmacy in American English, to get a toothbrush and toothpaste because I forgot that at the Newcastle house! We also started a puzzle but I got so frustrated after ten minutes and here I am now!

I am very excited for this weekend because a bunch of the volunteers are going to Sydney to explore the massive city for two days. I am also pumped beacuse I am seeing Margot from camp there! Also, I will be home in nine days!

So, it is only appropriate for me to say, nine more days of Aussie adventures to come!

WEEDS!!!!!

In New Zealand..I was known to many as the bird lady. In Australia...I will become known to many as the weed lady. After completing my first two days of work, I am already so tired of weeds. Yesterday, we arrived at the wetlands to spend the morning with ice picks...hovering over prickly sharp weeds that were going into my pants and my skin...digging into the soft, wet earth, tearing out these poor plants from the roots. This tedious job lasted for about an hour and a half. After a wonderful morning tea (it was special because it was someones birthday so we got fresh fruit and cake), it began to rain so we spent the afternoon in a large shed taking apart large native plants, and putting them into little planters and filling them with soil. This job was more my speed and I got pretty into it. We probably made 300 baby plants to help regenerate this dying native species.

Today, we went to the forest. The ground was covered in tall grasses and there were small, thin trees sporatically located throughout the vast land. While we were on the off-road track to get to our weeding spot, we saw two kangaroos hopping off in the distance. It was very cool to see my first kangaroos! When we stopped, I knew we were going to spend only a short time at the woodsy location because we could see the mosquitos buzzing around from inside the car. I loaded up on a half a bottle of bugspray and braved the tick and mosquito infested woods. We worked for an hour and a half total before Jesse, our team leader, told us we would head back in order to watch the Melbourne Cup (the annual horse race that makes the entire country stop for five minutes). The weeding today was not as tedious as the day before, but still was not very fun. We had to cut beautiful vines that were growing on trees, and poision them...something I was not very fond of. We ended up standing around for most of the morning...although we had some laughs because some of the non-residential volunteers are hilarious..they are more or less the Aussie version of the three stuges! After, Jesse took us to the Blackbutt Reserve to see birds, koalas, and kangaroos. This was the highlight of my day and I got to take some great pictures.

Over the weekend, I got to know Newcastle a little bit better. It is a pretty small and boring city, but has some great beaches. On Saturday, all of the volunteers went to the beach for the day. At night, we went to a free outdoor movie, The Blindside, and then out to a bar which closed at midnight. On Sunday, Tom (the other new guy) and I walked for a few hours to explore the city.

Sorry that I couldn't make this more interesting/entertaining perusual! I am running out of internet time (stupid library)! I will try to write again over the weekend!

More weeding adventures to come!