This Kiwi Flies

Flying Breast Peak in January

2009-05-25T03:56:00.000-07:00

I wasn't up to flying this day, so I went along as a driver along with a couple of other keen para-groupies... We sat at the top of the hill drinking a rather nice Pinor Noir Rose wine and nibbling some cheese while the lads and ladess' took off. It was a perfect day.

Kat taking off.

Jan, Ruth and Quentin were other para-groupies on the day.

Grant took Tom the station owner for a flight, he got to spend an hour cruising around his farm enjoying the veiw from a new perspective!

You can almost see my house from here!!

Back in Nelson

2009-05-24T03:57:00.000-07:00

So finally i put some more words on the page.

I have been meaning to update this for so long, and the longer it waits the harder it is to figure out where to start. I wanted to get some photos downloaded and actually write about some of the things I have been up to, but never got there. Grant and I have had some great adventures this summer and autumn.

- We spent a great week sea kayaking in Stewart Island, and some shorter trips on Lake Wanaka and the Abel Tasman National Park.

- I have carried on flying, and had some fantastic days flying around Wanaka and Nelson (and one flight at Taylors Mistake in Christchurch)

- We have got out on the mountain bikes in Westport, around the Port Hills in Chch, and of course Sticky Forest in Wanaka.

I have healed up nicely since my adventures last year. It is almost 6 months and I am pretty much fixed. I just have to get fit and strong again... I was very lucky to have injuries that could heal fully.

Now i have a job and I am working in Nelson for a couple of months. It is great to be living in Nelson again (my home town) and I am enjoying the fact that i keep bumping into people I know. I will hopefully head back to Lake Hawea in a few months and have enough work to do to pay the mortgage. By then the ski season will be in full swing which will be great!

12 weeks to the day

2009-01-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

On Friday i had my first flight since the crash back on 30 October, twelve weeks after that day.
We are up in the Wairarapa on holiday and so i had a short but lovely flight from a local hill here. Since then i have managed a couple more short flights and some thermalling... i am very happy to be airborne again!!!

Anyway some pictures etc might eventuate if i can get organised with a good connection and my camera any time soon...

It is 30+ degrees hot every day, with light northerly winds and cloudless blue skies at the moment, this feels like what summer used to be like! Long may it last.

Stuff I've been up to

2009-01-15T02:45:00.000-08:00

Another big improvement in my recovery has meant that i can now do some stuff that i really love. I have been out swimming, kayaking, biking and walking now... all relatively small adventures (generally 20 mins is enough to tire my out) but all good to be there.

The weather has now come right after a long period of crap and I am loving the hot days and the compulsory (and still really chilly) dips in the lake. There has been a terrible number of drownings in NZ this year, 12 since Christmas, and we witnessed a near drowning at Lake Hawea the other night when we went for a quick swim. The young girl is very lucky to be alive by the sounds of it but the volunteer fire brigade, a quick response st johns and a normal ambulance turned up.

On Sunday Quentin Kate and I took out some kayaks on the lake and blatted over to a wee island. Quentin has a fancy video camera that is waterproof and he recorded this wee clip - check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEdfuHfwA3Q&feature=channel

He has got some other pretty cool videos on there now too - check it out.

Life in the southern hemisphere

2008-12-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

I got back to NZ two weeks ago and this is my first attempt to update the blog, bad I know.

The flight home was long (as usual) and a bit tiring (also usual), it was made challenging by the fact that I had 5 large pieces of baggage and I couldn’t lift a single one of them… the saddest part of this story is that I couldn’t buy any duty free alcohol as I was carted around on a golf cart!

I acquired a walking stick which I used to my advantage, it makes a big difference with injuries like mine when there is something physical for people to see… otherwise they push you around like normal. I got special treatment by the airhostess – they were great! I was also upgraded to business class (which is the only way to travel long distance I am telling you!!!).

It took a few days to recover from that trip when I got home. My energy leaves have been very low and I haven’t been keeping up with communication.

I am definitely improving on the energy front, I am managing to last some days without nana naps most days now and I am definitely more active. I am going to physio. I had my first 10 minute session on an exercycle yesterday and will be doing more today and after New Year I start a rehab programme in the local pool which will help fitness.

Yesterday I went 24 hours without taking any strong pain killers, it wasn't particularly comfortable. The one good thing to come from this accident is that I am lighter than I have been since I was a teenager; I am down to 66kg which means I have lost about 8kg over the last couple of months. Only problem with that is that I will have to carry ballast on my paraglider as I will be too light now.

I have sent my glider away to get fixed, it will still be a few weeks before it is all together and flyable and I am thinking I will be ready for it then. Grant took me for a tandem flight a few days ago. I was a little nervous in the air but that is to be expected. I think I have a healthy regard for the ground at the moment!!!

It is funny being a minor celebrity in the paragliding world, everyone has heard or wants to hear about my crash… shame the celebrity status isn’t for something a bit more impressive or skill related!

More Lucy Happenings

2008-12-07T16:32:00.001-08:00

Another week or so has passed and i am still on a rather too slow for my liking recovery (but at least there is progress). I have got to the point where i can walk/sit/hang out for several hours at a time which is nice.
I went for a check up at the hospital on Thursday and got the all clear. My back is healing well, my ribs etc are on target and i am going to have problems in my shoulder/collarbone area for a while yet. I also got the go ahead to fly to Armenia. I had to wait to do so as i had to allow my burst lung to recover fully.

I managed to get through Heathrow airport on Friday and travel to Armenia, where i am now. It is SO nice to be back in Kapan where i have so many friends pleased to see me. I am really glad that i came back. I had a hassle with returning after my accident as the General Manager didn't want me to come back (he made me redundant a month ago...). He wanted my posessions packed up and sent surface to NZ which would have taken 3-4 months.

Anyway after some discussion which didn't go very far (it wasn't actually a discussion if we are honest) he allowed me to return at my own expense and pack up. So, here i am.

I am packing and hanging out with people and convincing them that i am not half dead (i dont know what the rumours were around here but there were obviously poorly informed!). It is the first time in a really long time i have been in Kapan and not been stressed. Work had become extremely stressful over the last few months and i am rather grateful that i dont have to return to that environment.

I am flying back to London on Thursday then flying to NZ on Sunday the 14th Dec.

I am organising dinner on the 12th in London for anyone who is arround and wants to come - so if it isn't too late and you are in london keep the date free!

Take care all
Lucy

Home, Sweet Home

2008-11-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

Almost anyway - i am staying at my mum and sister's bedsit in London. It is another good milestone to leave hospital. Another of my sisters is also here, she is helping me out and waiting for her new job to start next week.

I am walking every day but not that far yet, it is improving everyday. On Saturday we walked to the new Westfield mall in Sheppard’s bush. It was a little further than we realized and when I arrived I was pretty sore. Even getting into the building was a problem – we had to walk another block to find an entrance with a manageable number of stairs … It was once I got home I realized how much I had overdone it…I couldn’t even reach for the loo paper I had stiffened up so much!

I am constantly having to be more realistic with my goals... But everyday i am improving. This part of the journey isn't particularly fun or exciting... I am aiming to be on a plane home to NZ by mid December (Already pushed out later than i orginally planned, hopefully this is a realistic timeframe this time...)

Life in Wellington Hospital, St Johns Wood, London

2008-11-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

So now I have access to facebook but not to my blog… these things are sent to try us. (Kris has posted this for me....)

I arrived in London last Tuesday, the trip went well. I loved flying business class on the seats the lie flat and the good food, service and entertainment… I was taken by ambulance to Wellington Hospital in St Johns Wood where I have been ever since.

Wednesday I had more x-rays which showed that I had broken my transverse process, a little sticky out piece of vertebrae (L2) in my back. This wasn’t completely surprising as I have had a lot of pain there.

I didn’t sleep well and woke in the night feeling sick – nausea. I had taken some laxative the night before which the nurses thought may have caused this. To cut a long story short I started vomiting and didn’t stop until I had a stomach tube inserted through my nose and down my throat to remove the contents of my stomach manually. It isn’t nice vomiting with broken ribs.

X ray showed an obstruction in my small bowel so I was started on IV fluids and not allowed to eat or drink anything at all. I spent a couple of days like this with just a little ice to relieve the pain in my throat where the tube was rubbing. On Saturday afternoon I was allowed a glass of water and some clear soup. I have started to have a low residue diet and will slowly work up to normal meals as my tummy allows.

Problems with bowels are common after spinal injuries and this is just a little strange that it took so long to develop. …

So, it has been a bit longer in hospital than I thought I would be… I am just relieved that the hospital identified the problem quickly and did the right thing as the nausea was horrendous. Now I am slowly coming right and starting to think about getting out of here- before the end of the week!

I'm Leaving Delhi!!

2008-11-10T08:06:00.000-08:00

I am off to London in the morning!!! i assume i passed my x-ray this morning cos no one said i didn't and i am now packing up (read: i am sitting in bed directing and managing while poor Kris is busy packing up). We are moving stuff around cos i am worried the airline might damage my glider - kind of ironic isn't it??

So i am up to walking about 50m now, the sacro-illiac (sp??) joints in my back are still causing grief but i am going to survive. I I was pushing a little hard to get active in the last day or so and have had higher levels of pain and exhaustion as my companion as a result. Today i slept most of the morning and this afternoon i had two sessions of physiotherapy.

We had a dinner party in Austalian Chris' room tonight. We managed to get my dinner sent down to his room. The food and beverage manager loves Australians(his son lives in Canberra) and thinks that Kiwi Kris and I are both australian so he keeps sending complimentary meals up to Kris... we stopped trying to correct his mistake after a while. It is funny. The only thing missing was the kingfisher beer.

Quick update on my status

2008-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

I am feeling better everyday, my improvement is really quite remarkable. My lung has re inflated, and now i am doing exercises to make it stronger. The pain in my lower back is slowly reducing, although i do have problems with the joints between my back and pelvis. The rib is bearable except when Chris makes terrible jokes. Chris is an Australian i was flying with in Bir, three days after my accident he had a bad landing and managed to break his back... Funny how his accident was so much less impressive but worse damage. He is in a room two floors down so i spend much of my day scheming on how to convince the nurses to wheel me down there to say hi. They wheel my bed into his room and so we can lie together like two munted peas in a pod.

Today i got out of bed and had a shower, walked about 50m, sat in a chair for 40min and did 5 sessions of physiotherapy for my chest, neck lower back and legs! I managed to walk to the toilet a couple of times too - such an improvement from a bedpan! The other day i had a bad day when i missed the bedpan twice - i have to say i was a very small child last time i wet the bed and it isn't a nice feeling! Now if i can find someone to help me i can get to the toilet!

So, i am on track to be capable of leaving India on Tuesday - to leave i must pass one last chest xray on Monday and be able to sit in a wheelchair for about 90 min and sit upright on the aeroplane for landing and take off. i have to be able to move between chairs and fly for 8 hrs and make my way to the loo if i have to go. I hope it is all achievable as i am pretty keen on a change of scenery.

Old Delhi and markets

2008-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

The streets are heaving with people. There is so much work being done. people are carting stuff everywhere. Looking down at part of teh Spice market where people are busy buying presents for Dwali

Autorickshaws can fit four tourists plus driver - as long as everyone keeps their fingers and toes inside!

When it all gets too tough for the rickshaw riders they just jump off and push.. We were pedalled around the old city for an afternoon and just had to place our full trust in our driver.

Delh in pictures

2008-11-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

I think you have to be born in Delhi to love it. The smells, sounds, sights are pretty overwhelming.

The parliment and presidental buildings are large and rather impressive - very British. We are looking at various ministries in the photo.

I visited a Sikh temple which was beautiful i was shown around by a sikh teacher who went to great lenghts to explain the persecution they have endured from muslims. There were many graphic pictures showing sikhs with their heads cut off.

Kris got close and cuddly with some vipers... makes me shiver.

This is a great indicator of the state of energy in Delhi, the lines make great gyms for the monkeys... not sure about supplying poewr to the masses though!

Crash photos

2008-11-07T04:02:00.000-08:00

The dark ridge in the foreground is where I crashed - where it is "flat" in the middle, and just on the other side. Photo taken just before the rescue team left the Police Station to start the climb up to rescue me!

If you want to see more than to to this Album http://picasaweb.google.com/kiwilucy/DharamsalaCrash#

I should probably mention that there are actually photos of both my and Chris 's crashes. He had a bad landing two days after my accident and ended up compressing his spine so we both visited the same hospital. He was also airlifted to Delhi and is lying in a bed a couple of floors down. We occassionally get orderlies to push beds to go and visit each other!

Faces of Himachal Pradesh

2008-11-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

Cleaning a pot in a flooded rice paddy

This lady has three children and she is 30 yrs old

My troup of children followed me giggling and skipping down to the road after i landed in their village.

A part of an Indian wedding was held at the resort we were at. A huge outdoor kitchen was set up and these guys were the chefs, the cooked for 400 people and served excepional food. We snuck out into the kitchen and they started to cook and feed us everything there. I am sure the food tasted better when we watched it cooked! The only strange thing about this wedding was that there were NO WOMEN present. They were having their own party up the road. Kris E said that the night reminded him of a Gay Disco -and he would know!

Crash

2008-11-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

I crashed my paraglider in the Himalayan mts on the 31 October and end up lying on my back in a hospital in Delhi, India ever since.

I am fine, it was a close call, but i will fully recover. In the meantime i have spent the last week being happily drugged. Now they have reduced the pain medication to sensible levels, and i am becoming coherent again.

I will leave the story of the accident to another day when i am up for writing it (hopefully i will have some cool pics too) in the meantime i can post some pictures of flying and travelling in India before my accident.

Launch on a beautiful day.

This is the closest picture i got of a Himalayan Griffon Vulture. These guys love to thermal and they also love to come pretty close to paragliders as we all share the sky. They may look a little scruffy on the ground but they a so beautiful in the air. One came so close to me at one point he flew straight over me and i could see his shaggy cuddly looking underbelly...

On glide with friends, it is so nice to just hang out in smooth air with friends, we are all just cruising here.

This was my longest flight ever, about 40km and i landed in a rice paddy near a village, in microseconds i had lots and lots of kids coming to watch. They were adorable children and i felt like the pided piper leading them all away from the village back t the road.

I made it to Delhi

2008-10-23T05:59:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Delhi after a rather disorientating 14 hr stop in Munich (which i managed to fill effectively with some shopping- a beautiful pair of black leather boots - and a trip to a concentration camp).

Delhi is an assault on the senses. There are a hundred different smells, sounds, sights at every turn of the head. I saw an elephant yesterday, and cows with big humps on their backs - ox i think, and so many people. Some in rags and others in riches - and they are all going in some direction (which probably isn't the direction the traffic is going in).

He-who-does-not-wish-to-be-named (but i am sure some peoples can figure out the paragliding pilot i am travelling with) arrived today, a day late (after he forgot which day he was supposed to be on the aeroplane). He was lucky - he managed to have his ticket reissued and left me to it yesterday to get acquainted with the madness that is Delhi. Tomorrow more paragliding people will arrive and we will all head to Dharamasala (in the north) on Saturday.

I will try to post some of the millions of pictures i have now taken as soon as i find some wireless Internet!

The Good and the Bad

2008-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

So, the good news - I bought a house - it all went proper on Tuesday.

My Mum and I have been working on buying for a long time, and my friends were looking to sell. It just worked out that Mum and I managed to buy their house and they have got something else now too. It is in Lake Hawea and is a lovely wee place, not big but definitely cosy and a good location.

The bad - the whole worlds economy is taking a turn for the worse. The financial news keeps getting worse. We are protected from the day to day and I have only read things on the internet and watched CNN but it is not good reading!

Tomorrow they are laying off more people from work. At the moment it has just been one or two here and there; a couple of obsolete departments. Now we are going to see some large cuts and it is going to hurt. Out of our 1500 employees we could easily lose 300 or more. I don’t know how well the town is going to cope with this. There are definitely going to be expats going. All I hope this is enough to keep the place floating while the world goes mad.

Curiosity the cat (and me) PART TWO

2008-10-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

So by the way, what ever eventuated from my sister's request for my friend and blogger Karen's address? I know this happened ages ago but i never did get to the bottom of it...

What did she send you???

High risk adventures in kapan

2008-10-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most dangerous thing i have done in a long time, and i do like to do the odd 'extreme' sport in my spare time. I was having a couple of beers at one of the lovely summer cafes in town with a couple of the lads when they decided that we needed to move cafes. Apparently there were not enough pretty girls walking past our location.

I mentioned that i had considered risking my life by having a ride on the old, rusty ferris wheel in the park. Peter gallantly offered to come with me and even paid the 100AMD (30 cents) entrance fee. He and i jumped onto this ancient soviet beast and secured the rather ineffective seat belts. Calling this ferris wheel old is like saying that the US financial markets are in a spot of bother.

The whole ferris wheel had that unmaintained, broken down kinda feel. It was surprising how it still operated!

We got surprisingly high, and had a great view over the tops of the four storey buildings around us. We could see the lights of kapan running down the valley. Actually, we are getting close to the local governement elections and so the street lights really are being installed and turned on at night. There are actually quite a number of lights visible now!

So, Peter didn't actually hold my hand, but i am sure i wouldn't have got on the thing without his company. Afterwards we adjourned to another cafe in town where we sat and drank more beer while the boys 'bird watched'.

2008-10-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

Summer weddings

2008-09-28T05:50:00.000-07:00

Well, i am back at work and there isn't much exciting happening in my life. It is raining, and has been now for almost a week. The only excitment i have had is going to Liana and Matthews wedding and trying to drive up slippery muddy roads without sliding back to the bottom.

So, since there are no nice photos of driving up muddy hills i thought i would share some nice pictures of Liana and Matthew's wedding.

Liana and Matthew got married in a 6th Century church just out of Kapan. It is a beautiful old place where the doorways are only 5 foot tall! Liana is Armenian and Matthew English, so there was a fusion of traditions happening though out the day. Matthew's parents and sister had just arrived from the UK and were still looking like stunned mullets. No amount of prior warning can really prepare you for this place! Liana wanted everyone in the church when she arrived, which is a little unusual in Armenia, but we all managed to do as asked! The ceremony was conducted in Old Armenian, so no one understood it, there was singing, chanting, waving a bible around while circling the pulpit and sticking some funny look crowns on and facing each other... fairly standard really!

The wedding photos didn't quite happen as planned, the usually beautiful sunny weather dissappeared, but i like the misty look inthe photo below!

There was no dancing at the reception for the first hour, this was very strange for the Armenian contingent (normally you start dancing even before eating at an Armenian wedding) and the Tamada (toastmaker) compared the wedding to the 1 year anniversary of a death he had attended earlier that day- saying that the anniversary was more lively than the wedding! Still once Liana and Matthew had completed the first dance together there was plenty of dancing to keep everyone happy.

The last few days

2008-09-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

Village life in St Andre and the kids play while we drink beer... waiting for the wind to drop.

So flying out the next morning i headed to Antibes to see my friend Brian before heading back to the airport.

So, now i have swum the mediterranian sea from Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. Its a good life!

St Hilaire and Laragne

2008-09-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

I got a train to Grenoble and was met by two good friends from home, Kat and Bryan at the train station... We made our way back to their campsite and woke in the morning to more good weather. A strong southerly was predicted so we got up Allevard for a short flight. Still no southerly so we went to St Hilaire where I got to fly the famous site for the first time (the southerly never arrived). It was traffic mayhem and it felt like 400 people were all flying in same place. In reality it was about 40 people flying a site not much bigger than Barnicoat. Still as soon as you got away to the next ridge it became very enjoyable.

We made tracks to another little camp site in the hills and got to Laragne to fly the next day. This was another nice site but we had a very crossed wind (straight down the ridge) and had to take off in thermal... the 300m cliff edge added some excitment to the launch. It was a nice flight but with a thunderstorm happening behind us and big sink zones I ended up on the ground after an hour of blatting around. Bryan on the other hand went for a nice tikitour to Briancon, over 100km away. It was a nice drive through scenic France to pick him up!

The weather finally packed in for flying - so we spent a day rockclimbing at a nearby village. The village had decided to become a rock climbing destination about 10 years ago - so they paid some climbers to come and set up some routes. Word got around and 10 years on the town is full of rockclimbers spending money.

I waved goodbye to Kat and Bryan at the medieval town of Sisteron before getting a bus and train to St Andre...

And then a Swiss wedding

2008-09-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

So i used Priscilles rather vague (but useful) instructions to drive to Bagnes then follow the signs to... And arrived at a paddock that was filled with cars. We sat on haybales in a paddock while she arrived on horseback and then Priscille and Luc-oliver sat in paragliding harnesses for their service... I have to mention the bells - even though it was outside and nowhere near a church some of the boys were ringing bells - like giant cow bells before the service to tell everyone to sit and after they rode in on a tractor ringing lots of bells it was good fun! The service was in french but it still made me cry. A huge convoy of cars (around 400 people!!) made our way over the country roads to a lovely garden where there was a festival/picnic atmosphere.

We drank wine, ate icecream, wood fired pizza, cheese and olives, chocolate fondue and little pastries... The kids had pony rides and a bouncy castle. There was a game with a cow - where people bought a small square of ground and then the person 'owning' the peice that the cow pooed on won a tandem paragliding trip, it was very amusing.

An unexpected bonus was that i met two kiwis at the reception. One girl is the girlfriend of the Groom's brother and she had studied at T-col when i was at uni and we lived in hall-of-residence across the road from each other in our first year!

The best bit of the whole day - it was super stable day so no real flying could be had i didn't feel at all hard done by being there... ahhh perfect!

Straight to France

2008-09-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

So i arrived back in London early afternoon - and got myself to Stanstead airport (via a quick stop to see Jenn and her little triple babies she was working with). I arrived at Geneva late at night and jumped into the rental car. I drove the non-motorway route that TomTom thought was good and found myself at a locked gate across the road. It appears that this may be a 'border'. So i turned around and found a nice peice of quite farm road to stop and sleep. The veiw was pretty nice when i woke up and the smell of freshly cut grass was overwhelming!

In the morning i wasn't sure if i had crossed the border or not, but as i entered the little coffee shop (at about 9am) and i saw the two old guys drinking their little glasses of vino i guessed France. I pulled out Euros and this was the right move!

Igot to annecy in the morning and spent the next few days flying. I went on a tiki-tour with a couple of guys to this random site in a valley somewhere... we struggled to stay up (my top landing was a bit unspectacular!) but late afternoon we got some good valley thermals and great flying.

Nice clear skys with some dissappointingly stable weather...

Flying in Annecy is really nice, but it is one of the busier sites i have ever flown, so that can make it a little stressful. Here i am ridgesoaring with about 30 other pilots on a very small area. It is like a 3D motorway! I can count 8 other people in this photo!!

Lakes District weekend

2008-09-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

I have finally downloaded my camera.. the first adventure of my time off -

First step: Get supplies. We stocked up on essentials, wine, cheese, crackers, chocolate, lollies.... it was a big shock to my system after all the healthy food in Armenia!

Step 2: Drive to the Lakes district. This took a while. I managed to drive around a round about the wrong way and probably worry everyone a lot.

Champagne before, during and after dinner...hmmm... life is good!

Of course, we saw some pretty nice scenery and did some nice walking (all be it in the rain). The region is pretty spectacular - despite the compactness of the area it really is gorgeous.

The last couple of weeks

2008-09-04T12:46:00.001-07:00

Have been great! No photos yet but they are coming. I went to the Lakes District with some good friends and then crossed the ditch to France and flew around Annecy for a few days before a quick drive into Switzerland to go to Priscilles wedding. Now i have made my way south to the Provence region of france and i am enjoying the hot days, cooler evenings and and good wine and food... The paragliding has been pretty good, but i have finally had a couple of days off as the wind and rain has caught up with me.

It has all been fun, but i haven't had much time to play on the computer - definitely a good thing! I will be heading back to work in a couple of days, three weeks passes fast when you are having fun.

Rally taxi driving

2008-09-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is a little late - i wrote this a couple of weeks back while still working in Yerevan.

I thought I was going to die. The majority of the day was enjoyable and passed without incident. But then we needed to go to a meeting and called a taxi. A silver lada turned up. I should have known that a lada painted silver and working for a company (aptly) named Rally would be bad.

We hurled through the streets of Yervan. Me clinging to the front seat and the door hold, bracing with my legs (they were splayed in a most unlady like manner) and maintaining an attention distracting one way dialogue with Vahe assessing the probabilities and the chances of survival (him: front seat, no belt = no chance, me: back seat, no belt but Vahe between me and the window = limited chance).

We took a wrong turn which meant that we effectively had a scenic tour of Yerevan, we drove up steep streets barely managing the make the corners and we drove down cobbled streets not slowing for anyone or any minor inconvenience like 2m deep holes dug into our side of the road.

As scary as it was (undertaking with millimeters to spare at intersections) he showed remarkable ability to approach hazardous situations at a million miles an hour and not crash.

Vahe asked the guy to slow down – twice – this is also a first – even Vahe was slightly shocked by his driving! But alas, our taxi driver seems to be genetically programmed to have a short life. I just hope that he doesn’t take too many people with him when it happens.

Oh yeah, I did an unofficial survey earlier in Yerevan. I counted 42 cars before seeing one person using a seatbelt. This is despite the fact that half of these cars had belts installed.

Blackberries and ice cream..

2008-08-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

Fresh blackberries with icecream, sitting in my comfortable lounge (complete with computer and stuffed tiger) with the air conditioning on while it is 37 degrees outside after a hard days work... can it get much better??

I love it in the summer whent there actually is some fresh fruit and vegetables around!

Things in Georgia seem to be settling down. there is talk that the border will open again soon and the russian blockage to the ports will be moved so that shipments might start arriving.

I hope so as we dont have much diesel left in the country at the moment. There have been rumours floating around that the airport has no aviation gas left too - these are only rumours our travel coordinator tells me!

Developments in Georgia

2008-08-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

The last day has seen terrible escalation with the problems in Georgia. Now there are bombs being dropped on towns outside of the disputed area - including the capital Tblisi and the main port Poti.

It is a little scary as there are so many Armenians on holiday around the black sea and close to Poti, the main port. To think that i was going there in 10 days time. I hope the guys i know get back to Armenia where it is safe soon!!

There are some pretty serious repercussions for our business too. The main fibre optic cable has been cut to Armenia as it runs through Georgia - meaning most people have no Internet access in the country (we run on satellite so are ok). Almost all supplies come into Georgia and all our export leaves via Poti. It wont take us long to run out of stock required for work and we wont be selling anything either.

The only way out of Armenia (assuming that it is unsafe to travel in Georgia and the airport is closed for some reason) is via Iran... talk about feeling isolated right now!!

Its all about me

2008-08-08T05:18:00.000-07:00

You could say i don't have very good luck...
First Mt Ararat is a no go. Then i decide to go to Georgia and finally see the Black Sea from a position other than 35oooft above, but it is not to be.

Heavy fighting in South Ossetia (northern part of Georgia) has meant that it probably isn't a great idea to be a tourist in Georgia this week. ttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7546639.stm

So, i have decide. I am going to London. I will cross my fingers and hope that there are no terrorists or wars started before, during or after my visit. I will head to France and Switzerland and keep my fingers crossed for their security also. After all - it must be me - right??

Curiosity the cat (and me)

2008-08-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

My sister (who blogs here) has messaged my friend (who blogs here) to ask for her mailing address. My only role in this transaction is to pass the address on (which i have now done!) I feel like a middleman in a drug heist here, and now i am curious- Why??

What is my sister sending my friend??? Now i am living with the curiosity until one of these guys fills me in!!!

What to do now?

2008-08-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well, there is no trip to climb Mt Ararat these holidays. Now i am trying to decide what to do instead.... I have a couple of days less than three weeks, and a wedding in the middle in Switzerland. Decisions to be made!

I might not be walking up Mt Ararat this summer but the almost-trip has meant that i have started walking and riding my bike around town. It was hard to start - there are lots of reasons not too - its hard to get out of bed early, its dirty and stinky in the heat with all the rubbish lying around, i am tired at the end of the day. Then there are also staring locals and lots of stray dogs. Admitedly not as many as there were since someone has been going around in the evening and shooting them. We saw the results lying on the side of the road walking to work the other day.

But - I cant believe how good it feels to ride a bike again!!!

Mulberry vodka making time

2008-07-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

I was walking through some gardens and came across this old lady and her distillery. The old lady let me take her picture and was even prepared to let me try the rough vodka (she was only on her first distill of the mulberries). I declined as i am sure it would have made me blind!

Final note on the smelly bag and the rest of the drama

2008-07-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

My missing bag finally turned up (after 10 days), and i am a little disappointed to report that there were no whiffy cheesy smells emanating from it. Until i opened it. And then i got to clean smelly mouldy slime off the rest of the contents of the plastic bag the cheese was in. I considered throwing the whole plastic bag out but common sense and a desire to eat the packet of biscotti held out.

Apparently the walking poles that Luftahansa lost on the previous flight are now at the Yerevan airport and so i could be reunited with them early next week.

The only outstanding issues/items from my flight back to Armenia is the missing sandal and olive oil out of my other bag (this is perhaps the most disturbing - there was one sandal and 1L of olive oil missing out of my bag- the bag must have been opened during the time it was with the airline...)

Honestly, how often do you manage to lose walking poles from the outside of a pack on one flight, then lose the pack in the next leg of air travel and get to the end (minus walking poles and the pack they were attached too) and find out you are missing items out of the remaining bag (the one that wasn't lost for 10 days??)

I can't wait for my next flights.

update on the bag

2008-07-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone else gets a a kick out of smelly cheese, it is still missing (along with the bag) i expect it might be getting a little whiffy now, and i would predict that bag to be found in the next week.

The site record for longest amount of time to have a bag lost coming into Armenia is 2.5 weeks, the lucky holder of this record is Ward (who was a consultant and didn't actually have any clothes other than the ones he was standing it).

I am only at one week now... and i have clothes here so i am doing ok in the scheme of things!

The next adventure...

2008-07-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, my next adventure is already booked and paid for (well, the permits are anyway) and now it all looks a little dubious.

I am supposed to be walking up Mt Ararat and flying my paraglider back down...it is a significant hill clocking in at 5165m and since it is a stand alone kinda mountain it is pretty damn impressive (click here for a pic from my old blog).

A few days ago three German tourists were kidnapped by the PKK (Kurdish workers union) from the 1st base camp as they were climbing the mountain... The Turks have closed the mountain, so, maybe i wont be climbing it in 5 weeks time after all.

It seems that the PKK are protesting the German government shut down a pro-PKK TV station in Germany - i imagine if i were kidnapped, when they find out i am from NZ i would get the standard response i get from everyone

"oh, i love New Zealand i want to live/move/visit there one day - how do i get a visa?"

I would then spend the next ten minutes listening to how wonderful NZ is, how wonderful Lord of the Rings was, and how much they want to visit...

Smell that bag

2008-07-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned a while ago that Austrian Airlines rocked.... well, they are not quite making my christmas card list any more...

They lost my bag when i came back to Armenia. Its been three days and they still haven't tracked it. This happens to everyone i know... but i bet not everyones bags contains half their body weight in smelly italian cheese, do they?

hehehe.

I think austrian airlines might be able to locate my bag by smell soon...

hehehe.

Only in Kapan?

2008-07-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

I am sure you can find this kind of picture all over the world right?
Check out the people patiently sitting in the van waiting to get to work!!!

Thanks for sending the photo Steve!
Ill get around to writing more on Italy soon...

Churches, Delays and the Austrian Question

2008-07-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Mum spent two weeks here in Armenia, she spent time in Kapan with me while I worked and we also travelled around a little. I sent her to Iran (well the border anyway – they wouldn’t let people like her in there!!) and to an amazing monestry a couple of hours drive away with the boy from work who I am mildly suspicious that he might have a crush on me (think 27 bloody roses a few months back!)

I saw more old churches than I really needed to, and I am sure that even mum was a little jaded by them too. They are very impressive but I think there should be a warning attached that there are only so many you can see before boredom kicks in… this warning may also be attached to similarly old cultural sites in Italy to – but more on that soon.

The rigmarole at the airport proved that you can put a first rate modern airport in a developing country and you can give them all the fancy equipment in the world but when it turns to crap then all passengers will stand in line for hours delaying all flights until the ‘system’ gets running again. This also means that passengers miss connecting flights – and Mum and I get to stay in Vienna for a day. So we wandered around Vienna for a day and saw some pretty stuff, ate some nice chocolate torte. Austrians are supposed to be very serious, and it is said that they lack imagination and/or sense of humor which could perhaps be illustrated a few hours later back at the airport as we are leaving for Rome

Security lady standing at the xray machine

“please take off your belt”
Me - ah, ha, actually this belt is made of plastic
Her - Yes that’s nice but you will have to take it off
Me - But my belt is made of plastic and fabric (me showing her the construction)
Her - Yes, I can see that, but it is policy that you must take it off and put it through the machine
Me - But my belt is made of PLASTIC!!
Her - Please take off your belt and put it though the machine (the que behind me is growing longer)

Basically, we went back and forward, me getting more animated trying to explain to a very nice, polite, STUPID woman a that my belt wasn’t belt – and eventually taking off the blinking belt and putting the blinking belt thorugh the machine, muttering and cursing not-so-quietly under my breath.

So, the Austrian Question - is this security woman an anomaly in Austria? Is litral interpretation of all regulations - despite obvious absurdity the usual??? I have heard some rumors about Austrians but some more investigations might be necessary!

Birthday money spending!!

2008-06-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

It has taken a lot of miscommunication and poor organization to be this delayed but eventually we got to the old peoples home in Artsvanik! Having finally got organized and collected all the necessary bits and pieces together we wandered off….

Mum, Penny, Roubina and I turned up carrying bags of goodies for the (mainly) old ladies. There is one old man, and he seems very happy. Apparently he is very interested in marriage but he hasn’t found a lady young enough for him (yet).
We piled inside and the ladies came with us (they had been relaxing outside enjoying the lovely evening). Different people looked excited by different items, one old lady was pleased by the paper we took, there was plenty for her poetry. There were quite a buzz by the women by the knitting stuff. One was especially keen on the chickens, and she was so excited when we gave the money to purchase these. The residents and staff had already prepared the area for the chickens and now is a good time of year to get them. I have a strong suspicion that next time we go there we will be fed omlettes and given socks for our efforts…

We took some nice chocolates and had tea with the residents and staff. The staff and residents are very proud of the art work and craft and so we were shown their art room again... Both Penny and Mum who hadn’t been there before commented on how nice and clean the place was and also how relaxed and friendly the staff/resident relationships seemed. It is easy to see how this place really has a long wait
list as compared to many elderly these guys have a safe secure place to live.

There is a little money left over – enough we think to purchase a DVD player, so they can watch old movies etc.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed – I am looking forward to finally passing on the DVD player and going back when they have got the chickens established and laying!

Mum's here and fire

2008-06-08T01:32:00.000-07:00

On an exciting note, Mum has arrived! She is currently sitting at home relaxing and doing a jigsaw puzzle… She is learning fast. Everyone says - how are you? Then the next question - how do you like Armenia? (answer: oh, I am fine, Armenia is very nice) The more you gush the more people like you in return! I will definitely write more about her visit soon...

We had a fire in our floor at work last week and so now we are without power, it looks like it isn't going to be fixed fast - the fire was caused because the wiring is old and there is no earthing, neutrals etc. The wires are not even in conduit, the wires are just plastered straight into the walls... The whole lot is being rewired now... Funny how something bad has to happen before they finally get around to fixing stuff. I guess there is so much to fix here...

All the people on my floor are refugees, trying to find a power point in some other part of the company, trying to find a desk to borrow for a short time, trying to get some work done. It is difficult for us but this is even worse when there are some people around who are refusing to allow people to sit at the empty desks in their offices. I love the cooperation and team work here. Grrr. I don’t think that people seem to realize that we are all working for the same common objectives.

I am starting to think I might bring some bad luck with electricity as I have already set fire to my apartment once, fried my computer, melted various cables and other bits and now had a fire in the wall of my office…

Sibling rivalry and snakey visits

2008-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

So I have finally been shamed into writing something. Or maybe it is the sibling rivalry kicking in a little. The rather pointed comment from Jenn regarding my lack of update, while she has been blogging furiously, has pushed to finally write something. Maybe it is also the fact that the IT dept has finally blocked facebook at work, so now if I want to waste any time on Facebook I have to do it at home.

I am halfway through my time now. It is still passing pretty fast which is good. Summer has pretty much arrived and it is rather pleasant to be outside… I have spent a few days playing with hydrology in the sun and I saw my first snake of the summer last week.

The locals think I am nuts wandering through the dodgy areas (you know, nice sunny rocky areas or the grassy places) calling out ‘go away snakes, I am coming…’ The fact that there is (apparently) no antivenom in the country has made me rather, lets say, cautious about an unexpected snakey visit while bashing around the countryside. I am wearing my gumboots so they will get a mouthful of rubber too (that’s how much of a wus I am!). I am getting better, when i met the snake the other day i was by my self, but i wouldn't have embarassed myself anyway. I just stood rooted to the spot as it saw me and ran (slithered) away. Phew.

I have added a couple of pics from Yerevan – I had a couple of extra days in the city before coming to site. The first is a cathedral built into a rocky hill which i visited with a friend and the other is a couple of us finishing some drinks before entering a fine drinking establishment. The proximity of a big pile of smelly rubbish somehow seems, well, just so Armenian that we decided to record the occasion. Just another holiday pic!

Quick update

2008-05-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to get some pictures and a bit of commentary on my life for the last wee while posted here but haven't had much success with technology recently. i have lost my cable to download my camera and so i went to a photo shop and had the card burned to DVD, then i blew up my computer.... with the CD of photos still stuck in the CD drive.

Apparently as i plugged my computer in last night (with the intention of backing up the hard drive onto my new portable hard drive) the power surged and it now smells like melted plastic on the inside... My files haven't been destroyed but i am now using a borrowed computer and have no access to my usual programmes and files or the CD with some nice holiday pictures on it.

So, there are some amazing photos coming.

Other than that, life is good, it is nice to be back in Armenia. There is lots of work to get done and i am looking forward to some consultants arriving on Saturday armed with nachos, baked beans, bacon and brown rice...

I'm Home (if Armenia is home that is)

2008-05-07T07:53:00.001-07:00

I have got technologically able again... So here goes the last email - it was a great holiday and I had heaps of fun with everybody in Istanbul, Gallipoli, then adventuring into the Unknown with Rachel and Lauren. We had a couple of days in Istanbul and managed to see many of the tourist sites... Topkapi palace, St Sofia, blue mosque, a turkish bath...

Rachel, Matthew and Lauren at one of the many Mosques in Istanbul. I think Istanbul is the most beautiful city I have been too thus far in my travels. It is a fabulous mixture of styles, materials, age and heights.

Anzac was an amazing experience but it was also cold and windy. We set up on our piece of turf at about 9pm and sat there til the service started at 5.30. I basically didn't get much sleep until right on the start of the service when I couldn't keep my eyes open!! Judy Bailey and Winston Peters did NZ proud..

Ephesus is a must see as part of any tour of turkey and there were plenty of people around to see it with... We were lucky to be there right at 5pm and were shown a small amount of the covered mosaics display for free... we even had the air conditioning units pointed out (small pipes in the ceilings).

Rach and Lauren who I travelled with after were very cool! I am normally a little hesitant about travelling with people as I am rather selfish when it comes to wanting to spend time paragliding. Usually this involves me wandering off by myself (well with some other pilots anyway) and ignoring them. I can’t tell anyone any certain information either – how long will I be? Where will I land? How will I get back? I cant even guarantee that I will be paragliding, the weather might be good, it might be bad… who knows!

Oludeniz was a beautiful locations with plenty of activities for everyone to enjoy... Especially paragliding! This was the real break, four days of relaxing and hanging out was needed after such a busy time the rest of my break.

Guest appearance by Rach and Lauren!!

2008-05-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Lucy hasn’t written for ages but she is still alive. She has been travelling around Turkey with some cool friends for the last week and a half.

The plan began in Istanbul with a couple of day’s spent carpet hunting and spice gathering before heading to Anzac day celebrations in Gallipoli. We headed to Anzac celebrations with about 10000 other people and a group of 10 friends on our bus.
The actual ceremony was a cold sleepless night spent in a cramp grandstand while we watched old movies and documentaries about Anzac day through the night. The dawn ceremony was nice but Lucy kept falling asleep and then we all walked up a big hill to Chunk Bair where the NZ ceremony was held. Judy Bailey and Winston Peters made NZ proud!

We were picked up by a hot chauffer at Canakkale and driven to Izmir – thanks to Lucy’s Turkish contacts and we got a free rental car for the rest of the trip!!

The next couple of days were an archaeologists dream with lots of old stuff while travelling east. We finally arrived in Oludeniz for a couple of days of sun, sea and swimming (and paragliding). It is with some sadness that we now find ourselves in Antalya with planes and buses to catch…
We felt that we could impart some good knowledge that may help future travellers out when in Turkey:

Lessons learnt in Turkey with Lucy, Rachel, Lauren and Gertie.

1. One can never have too many figs.
2. There are many ways in which onion can be cooked, maybe not quite 1001 though.
3. Leftover seafood pasta shouldn’t be eaten after having sat in a warm car all day, however this does reduce the food bill for the budget traveller.
4. One can never have too many pistachios, any form will do – nuts, ice cream, turkish delight.
5. On the subject of accommodation, sleeping mats in a tent make it insulated, while the presence of a Turkish carpet creates luxury.
6. Good coffee can be hard to find.
7. More than two CDs should accompany a road trip
8. The probability of your tour bus being last to pick you up when there are 500 of them is 1:500, but it did happen.
9. Leave the tour, before the suspension in the bus breaks
10 Lucy loves this paragliding thing.

It was with sadness we had to leave Gutless Gert, our nice (free) rental car and carrier of figs, paragliding kit and other sundry items in Antayla, especially after such auspicious beginnings (delivery by a hot guy).

Ps. Rach was whisked away to the airport and now Lauren and Lucy are deeply depressed as we prepare for our departure..
P.s.s photos are coming soon, as soon as I find a cable to download them with!

P.s.s.s And lastly a comment by Lucy - I have been dissappointed by the lack of marriage proposals, and to be honest we haven't been hassled or harrassed by any nice or not nice Turk men... maybe they are a bit intimidated by us...

Flying at last!!!

2008-04-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

My first couple of days in Bulgaria were a little wet, the weather didn’t co-operate but it was nice to hang out in Sophia. I stayed at a nice hotel and had time to buy some new toys. Bulgaria is cheaper than other European countries and Sofia is fun.

My camera came to a rather messy end recently involving a bottle of milk and my shoulder bag. There is a good lesson here – dont carry milk and cameras in the same bag. I bought a new Lumix Tz3 in Sophia, it was (of course) the most expensive one there and so far I am very happy with it. So now I can post some pics about the flying.

I arrived in Sopot on Friday since the weather cleared and I had an afternoon flight. It was pretty thermic for late afternoon. I had 6m/s average climbs in smooth conditions. A Russian girl showed me her vario from her mid-day flight and it showed a 12.9m/s climb!!

I flew from the chairlift once - and then they decided to stop it for maintanance for a week.... so now we are flying from a site we can drive too. There was cloud Saturday and we only did top to bottoms, then we got some good conditions today. The landing field is next to this village - which is a gypsy village. There are heaps of little kids on the landing area all trying to get your attention and convince you to give them some money.

This valley is called the Valley of the Roses, as they produce lots of roses to make into rose oils. I hope i have figured which fields not to land in.

It has all been a bit of a rough week. Thursday I was told of a friend in NZ who has very seriously injured to his back through crashing his paraglider. This was pretty shocking as you always categorize people into conservative, safe, reckless, ignorant, stupid, etc and he is definitely a safe and conservative pilot with lots of knowledge.

Then today there was an accident in Sopot where a pilot 360ed into the hillside. He is in the hospital having surgery. I don’t know how serious his injuries will be. This accident was more predictable, as there were many factors leading to his accident – new wing (quite hot for him), not flown in 6 months, not flying the flight plan given to him by the instructor.

Nobody tries to have accidents but when there are enough variables accidents do become less avoidable. So now in one week I know of two accidents that will certainly result in long rehabilitation times and possible paralysis. I love paragliding so much that I couldn’t stop, and yet I have been scared by this. This afternoon something changed and it came together. I had a great flight where I explored the mountains, did some birdseye geology, flew with some bird of prey in a thermal, hung with some friends who were thermalling for the first time, checked out some mountain huts, annoyed some cows (hehe) and had a great landing. It was perfect.

Tomorrow I will fly then go to Plodoviv where I can hopefully catch a train to Istanbul. I am meeting hoards of kool kiwis and do the pilgrimage to Galipoli.

Thanks guys :-)

2008-04-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update before i go on HOLIDAY!!!!

Thanks heaps to Jenn £20 and Jane $30 for their help... Yay we are getting lots of money together (now i just have to purchase the goodies - the fun bit!)

I am going to be in Yerevan for a couple of days at the start of May and will buy the stationary, some wool etc then, and will be talking to some NGO's to purchase a hearing aid. We might even get enough extra monies together to get some glasses for another of the residents.

I'll be talking chickens with the local village leader when i get back... (just thinking about that makes me giggle!)

I am off to Bulgaria tomorrow in the middle of the night these flights are the joy of out-of-the-way airports (i think the landing fees are cheaper in the big airports if you get there at silly times).

Well, hopefully next time i blog it will be about Paragliding and fun!!

More contributions

2008-04-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Just to keep everyone posted on the contributions:

Big thanks to:

Gabe and Jamie for their $30
Roy gave a few thousand dram (~$6)
Karen for offering to send some more knitting stuff
Mythre who has already given me a bag full of stationary, pencils, pens etc.

Please, if you are still intending to contribute let me know before tuesday as i am trying to ge this tidied up before i go on Holiday!!!

Knitting vs the Olympics

2008-04-11T01:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks Karen that would be an awesome contribution! I am in the process of letting everyone know details now. I am technologically challenged right now, I have had no internet at home for the last week.

I am surprised at the number of knitters there are out there! They are quietly taking over the world. I feel like I should become part of the revolution or risk being left behind. Can you imagine a mafia of knitters throughout the world? That is what it seems sometimes. It is cool that there are some passions that unite strangers from different cultures.

A bit like the Olympics really, except that this year the Olympics aren’t really uniting people. Olympic spirit and human rights should go hand in hand – or surely that is the point? I have watched some of the demonstrations during the Olympic flame ceremonies and I am not-so-secretly cheering on the protesters. At the same time, I would hate to see the Olympics cancelled, or boycotted, as the real people to suffer are the athletes. Life will continue for most, but they have dedicated their lives to sport and winning the Olympics.

Growing up I don’t know a single little kid who didn’t want to compete on the Olympics. I was going to be a discus thrower, then later, a hockey player. I might have made it if I didn’t damage my shoulder but the thing is that the Olympics is about rising above the problems and issues and uniting. China is getting an extremely strong and loud message from the rest of the world now. The Tibet situation is on every TV, in every paper. I hope that China listen and react before the Olympics so that we might enjoy watching sport happy in the knowledge that there is some resolution to the problems out there.

The day after

2008-04-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Despite my telling everyone not to get me any pressies I am now the proud owner of a vase (which is really nice), 27 red roses (which was over the top – and I cant help but think he wants a pay rise), and a stuffed leopard/tiger (which I am concerned is going to eat my less carnivorous stuffed ducks).

I had one of my girls bring in the most delicious and elaborately decorated cake, which was wonderful and I had friends over for dinner, which turned into a bunch of rowdy people chanting to my mother (as I was on the phone to her) Lucy, Lucy, Lucy…

The results of that night of red wine, beef stroganoff and apple crumble is now a headache the size of Africa.

So, in summary it was a good birthday!

BTW – there are more good Samaritans to add to the list:

Kris H - $40
Derek - $60
Ron - $60

Total so far: $460!!!

Thanks everyone! Any and all contributions are fantastic and will go a long way towards helping a small number of people out…

Its time to give something back...

2008-04-01T01:49:00.000-07:00

In a day it is my birthday. Of course everyone I know already knows this (dont you!!)…. If you have forgotten don’t worry, you can fix your guilty conscience easily. Give me some money!

I am not going to throw a party, or take everyone out for dinner. I am not even going to buy myself a pressie (although that is tempting). I am going to purchase some gifts and give them to the homeless old people’s home. There is one shelter in our region where people over the age of 70, with no family, no property and no money can go. The home opened 18 months ago, and is currently only open to 10 people. The rest of the rooms still needs renovating and eventually up to 30 people can reside there.

So, this plan started last week when we visited to see what they needed a few days after the Red Cross event. The cost of renovations is high, but there are ways of helping these people without spending lots of money. We have put together a list of the items with their help and now I am hoping that you guys will pledge some money toward some of these

Items they would like:
The old people have nothing to do. They get provided food, and nice clean accommodation, hot water and washing machines but they have no recreation. Almost all of them are rural people and they have asked for some chickens to farm. They will look after them, and will be able to eat the eggs. The old people’s diet is incredibly simple and some good source of protein like eggs will be a huge benefit health wise.

Chickens approx $10 each we want to get 10 + rooster = $110

So Come On - BUY A CHICKEN TODAY... but wait there's more!!!

The ladies (there are currently 9 woman residents) would also like to knit. If they had some needles and wool they could even make items to sell, by doing this they will pay for the wool. We would like to buy knitting needles and wool to get them started. This is the meaning of sustainable development!

Knitting needles and wool $50 +

The lady on the left is very craft oriented, the one on the right writes poetry. If there were more materials for them then maybe others will join in. They would like some stationary, paper, pens, paints and craft materials.

Craft materials approximately $50 +

Finally, there is one resident who is both deaf and blind. She has no contact with the outside world, When I visited she just sat on the bench totally oblivious to everything happening around her. She was sitting and rolling some beads between her fingers while everyone else was pretty animated (for 90 year olds that is!). Imagine living in such a lonely world… But we can purchase her a hearing aid, so she could at least hear what is happening in the world around her.

Dont know yet - maybe $300

You can give in a number of ways, either deposit money electronically into one of my bank accounts in NZ, UK or Armenia… send me cash (not recommended) or pledge the money to me to pay me when you see me…. (I will have a memory like an elephant). I will email my account numbers to anyone who asks.

If we exceed the totals above then we will also look at hearing aids for other people and some basic foodstuffs.

Running tally:

Lucy (that is me) $100
Mum- £50 (half to chickens, half to hearing aid)
Rachel P- $100 to anything
Penny – All her knitting equipment and extra wool that she is leaving Armenia when she goes home to USA.

So come on, let me know if you can help out a few less fortunate people, who knows, it might be you one day.

I'm a TV star

2008-03-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i joined the Red Cross in Armenia while being filmed by a TV crew. It was almost reality TV. I just wasn't very glamorous (i might have looked out of place if i had been dressed only in a bikini or tried to sing my rendition of My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion) but that didn't stop them taking some disturbingly close up pictures!

I went to the opening of a Red Cross programme our company is funding to help elderly with no family or support. There are several hundred of old people in Kapan with no family and no income. The superannuation amount you get depends on your job when you retired, apparently it is between $20 - $60 USD per month. This is not enough money to pay for utilities let alone food, medicine or clothing. After being part of the opening I joined the Red Cross and gave a donation as I felt really moved by the sad situation these elderly are in.

This lady is in charge of the programme, she was telling me how people are really, truly desperate. How some of the old people come in and are so happy to be given a pack of tea that costs less than $1. The agency gives out food parcels to the elderly, the food below is a normal week supply.

Each week they receive a small amount of sugar, rice, pasta, cooking oil, tea, soap and detergent. This is to feed the person for a week. No vegetables, no protein.

The day we were there one of the old people was having a birthday, so as something a little special the old woman was being given a packet of biscuits and a nightgown (see the bottom of the picture). It just cuts me up to see this.

The agency also provides medical services and some very basic medication if the old people need it. I left feeling very humbled and rather sad that these people have managed to work their whole life, and now they have nothing to show for it. It horrified me when i was told these people aren't the truly unfortunate as there is apparently a house in Kapan for the homeless, destitute elderly which houses about 28 people.

I sometimes get the feeling that many of the NGO's out there are really not helping, they are profiting from the huge amount of sponsorship and donor money in the world.... but this is one case that i see real need being met by sponsorship and the truly needy benefiting.

From beast to beauty?

2008-03-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have been the cause of some pretty amusing rumours in the company in the last week or so. Apparently i am chasing one of the expats. I haven't decided to be amused or offended... It is pretty funny really, as living here i dont need to chase (i am one of two expat women, and the only single one living amonst around 35 or even more expat men - the ratio is slightly in my favour!).

It all escalated when I went to a beauty salon last weekend with a friend and spent an enjoyable evening of pampering. I saw a woman from work in the salon. I thought nothing of meeting her, but the next day rumours were flying. Apparently I was only going to the salon cos I was chasing a soon-to-be-divorced expat (who just happens to be her boss). I didn’t realise I was such a hot topic… So, when I showed him my lovely hairless leg at work the next day he must have gone straight back to his office and told her. She took that display to confirm her worst fears – she has competition!!! Hilarious. (No offense to the guy involved, but she is welcome to him!).

The best bit of my weekend of pampering are my new nails.I bite my nails, and the beutician suggested I get some acrylic tips put on, they look natural and now i can't eat them!

I am enjoying my nails – I have never nice ones before. Perhaps i will even break my biting habit and have my own nails one day... I am not sure if I would undergo the full two hours of strong paint stripper smell required to get them attached again in a hurry but you never know - It might improve my chances of hooking them into a nice rich expat man...

A little about work

2008-03-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

So i thought i would try to show some of where i live and work. i have talked plenty about this place but haven't shown any pics. I am sitting at my desk. One of the others has taken the photo (people here love photographing themselves - half of the pictures on the camera of of people rather than work!). I thought i would be the only person in Armenia wearing a bright coloured Earth, Sea, Sky (made in NZ) fleece, however i was wrong. The first day i wore this i had dinner with a couple of Ozzies living here and she just happened to be wearing the bright red version.

Here I am working with M she is working on her comp and we are discussing - if i can recall it was monitoring data. I reckon half my time is spent teaching, it is both highly rewarding and at times bloody frustrating!

We now have some pretty cool equipment, these are some of the meters we use on the laboratory bench. The guys are calibrating them before we take them outside.

When that is all done, we get outside to do the monitoring.

Then finally, we are back at athe start to get the data put into databases and interpreted....

If only the rivers weren't full of sewage, eh?

Impossible is Nothing

2008-03-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I am back, having arrived in Kapan a day late. I have signed onto a new roster, my old one was 6 weeks work and 2 weeks holiday and working 6 days per week. Now i am doing 6 weeks with 3 weeks and working 7 days per week. I will have to see how i manage without my usual Sunday morning sleep-in who knows when i will get my laundry done either! The three weeks hols make up for all the hardship though.

The workload is increasing and i think one of the main reasons is that we are becoming more competent as a group. This results in more work being passed our way and the end result of that is higher workload.... Hmmm... I believe some in my department would like to go back to the good old days of sitting around making elaborate cups of coffee and discussing how nothing ever happens. It feels like this when i try to push people through the general inertia that prevails.

Impossible is Nothing.

I was venting alittle this afternoon and discussing how things never get done and he mentioned this Nike quote above... II would like this to become the new motto of our team, i am SO sick of hearing how things are impossible. Or even worse, getting the instantaneous response that it is too difficult or that we can't do something because some other department is holding up the process. The funny thing is that when you force the issue then it is miraculously completed - so impossible or too difficult is really just a mindset.

There are times when impossible really does exist, like trying to transfer money from Armenia to New Zealand in NZD is not possible. However, after 40 minutes of heated debate we managed to get the problem sorted out in a different way.

Oh yeah, we had a meeting with the Mayor yesterday and he presented us two women with even bigger and better flowers than the Minister for Environment did - he was at the lunch when the minister gave us flowers and i just cant help feeling there was some testosterone involved - The reason: International Women's Day which has just past on the 8 March.

Heathrow - Its a fact

2008-03-07T20:56:00.000-08:00

You can not get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 in under 45 min. I had an unexpected night in London because of this. I arrived in Terminal 3 with 45 min until my flight to Armenia took off. However by the time i got to the check in desk there was 10 min and the man wouldnt let me on. It must be the only time in the history of the London-Yerevan flight that it has been ontime.

Yesterday when i did get to the check-in desk on time we were delayed over an hour while they changed planes as there was a problem with our orginal one. I would have made that flight!

What am I heading back to?

2008-03-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

I am in Hong Kong now, and have finally had some time to check out the news from Armenia. It isn't looking particularly happy right now. The elections two weeks ago triggered deomonstrations which have got out of control and resulted in 8 deaths and a big number of injuries.

There are lots of media coverage up to 1 March but nothing afterwards. It is now difficult to get the real story from the media as there is a media blackout going on. What news there is is not great:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7272299.stm

http://www.armenianow.com/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7273384.stm

Things are calming down, or the media coverage is so controlled we dont know what is going on. The other story i am reading which is also of concern is that the has been a break in the ceasefire with Azabaijan. The Armenians are saying the Azeris are taking advantage of the political situation and the Azeris are saying that the Armenians are doing it deliberately to take the heat off the political situation. Either way this conflict is a long way from where i live (its ok Mum!)and it sounds like things in Kapan is still pretty relaxed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7278871.stm

The emails i have had from work indicate that that things are fine in Kapan, and we should just be careful when we stay in Yerevan. They have recommended we dont leave the hotel in Yerevan. This brings a rather serious consequence for me, that means that i wont be able to buy any red wine or other treats to bring with me to Kapan. This could be a very long 6 weeks!!

More Photos

2008-03-04T00:53:00.002-08:00

Its a bit difficult to upload lots of photos at the moment as i am using Megg's computer. I couldn't get mine to work on the internet here. The photo was taken at the Boatshed where we went for dinner when Jamie was here. It was a lovely evening, Cody used his knife and fork (I started training him in Wellington) and we all enjoyed the food. Tric had a crawlie (freshwater crayfish) as part of her dinner and Cody took the head home to take to school show and tell the next day.

Tric gave it to him and said it had to be thrown out after school. His grandmother tells me that she smelled it in his school bag after the weekend... I think he may regret not throwing it out on Thursday when his school bag smells bad for a while.

Its really good to be home

2008-02-28T01:49:00.000-08:00

Thanks Myrthe for the award!! If nothing else is gained I am going to go and read the other blogs now.

It is difficult to imagine what is happening in Armenia at the moment. I hear that there are protests, hunger strikes and it sounds like there is violence also. This is all happening in the rather bleak winter conditions - the protesters have got some committment hanging out in an Armenian winter.

Meanwhile, I am here in safe, warm sunny Nelson. Nelson, where electricity is a given, sewage gets dealt with efficiently and cleanly, drinking water is really drinkable and where I get mad at my nephew for dropping a plastic wrapper on the ground. Where you notice the cigarette butt dropped on the beach, because there is so little rubbish lying around. Kids playgrounds are safe and secure, coffee comes with milk, there 5 brands of baked beans at the numerous supermarkets.

Yesterday i had an almost perfect day, paragliding in utopia (Takaka) then the evening spent camping on the edge of one of the three national parks within an hour or so's drive of Nelson (Abel Tasman National Park). The paragliding was awesome, I had never flown Takaka Hill before, and it was everything everyone had said it was. The views are spectacular when you get above the hill, looking over Nelson, Takaka, Collingwood, Kahurangi National Park and you are flying over native bush.

In the afternoon my twin bro, his little boy and I played at the beach, walked to the resurgence of the Riwaka river (it is a karst landscape - lots of marble and dissappearing rivers) and fed eels at our old house, which is now a cafe. Cody is now 6, articulate, stubborn and adorable.

I am posting pics of my rather cute nephew, and my not-so-cute brother (who i am pleased to say has finally succumbed to the shaving cream-but not before me taking all these pics!). He still has a fishy haircut, Cody (my nephew) thinks it is cool, and all i can say to that is that bad taste must run in the male genes of our family. The thing is that he is pretty ok looking when he scrubs up... Still, it could be worse - right?

Home sweet home

2008-02-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

I walked into Kris' office today and she was shocked to see me. It was a bit cruel perhaps as she had no idea i was coming back to NZ and she had been reading my blog that morning with stories of ball's and lunches with ministers. I forgot to mention that i was heading home. So, here is a general warning to anyone else - i am back in NZ for 10 days. It is a quick trip, i was in Wanganui at a wedding on Saturday and now i am in Nelson. I have had a pretty low key couple of days, today i managed visits to the doctor, optician, chiropractor and finances man - pretty exciting eh??

I will get together a few pics soon, but right now i am going to hit the sack. It is tiring running around in the sun all day! Oh, the sun!! It is bliss to be home! Tomorrow is a big paragliding adventure and some camping with my nephew, so some sleep is going to be useful!

The V ball - a sucess afterall

2008-02-19T04:03:00.000-08:00

The ball went off without too many problems. We got the mix of Armenian and western pretty right. Things didn’t go quite as we planned, the flutist didn’t play at the start of the night (as we had asked him too), then decided to do his piece near the end when people were keen to dance – not listen to lovely haunting solo’s. The band kept stopping, and starting, but they did play some good variety of Armenian, latin and rock'n'roll music!

The champagne was there- but there was no one to pour it… so I think I poured 10 bottles of champagne in the first 30 minutes. People danced, others watched, the food went well, there was enough alcohol… it was all rather fun. Everyone had more fun than they thought they would (this isn’t necessarily saying much!) and they are already talking about the next one (this is slightly more telling!).

It isn't quite the same in still pics, but people were dancing and having a great time!

This is the only picture i have of me... i am sure there were hundreds taken of me on the night, i have already been shown a few of them. Everyone was rather shocked to see me wearing a lovely dress and heels!

D-Day, well, actually V-Day

2008-02-16T04:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the help guys! I am going to spend a bit of time tomorrow playing and get it all sorted.

I am about to sneak away from work early to go and prepare for our ball tonight. I am pretty well prepared, I waxed my legs last night (I had forgotten how painful it can be) and I have my dress organised…. The decorations are at the restaurant and the musicians are hired.

I am still adamant that I will not be organising something like this again. What a bloody nightmare! I think we have got 60 people coming, not too bad I suppose, but it took blood sweat and tears to sell those 60 tickets. It has been interesting seeing how everybody has responded… there are whole departments in the company coming, and whole departments not coming. The redeeming point of this whole affair is that one of our senior managers came to me with an envelope full of money (well, not full really) as he couldn’t make it he wanted to help us out. This means that I will not be funding the blasted musicians from my pocket. Bless him.

Hopefully everything is organised well, cos when I get there I will not be concerned about details, other than – my-glass-is-empty-where-is-the-refill kind of details. I might even manage some photos here afterwards, if there are any nice ones of me.

Help me out here!

2008-02-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

Right, I need some help with this site - if you can help me I would be eternally grateful.

1. How do I get a photo on my profile? (I may just be blonde but I can’t see how to do it, help me out and I will drag a picture up from somewhere)

2. How do see how many people are actually reading my blog? This may well be a narcissistic question but I am just a little bit curious! Especially if I can see how people come to my site too - I remember reading on someone’s blog that they could see what search words lead to their blog in search engines.That would be pretty cool, i might even share it with everyone.

3. Is there any limit to photos or volume of photos uploaded onto the site?

That is all for today...

The Angst of an Organiser

2008-02-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have been doing the hard sell today to sell some tickets to the Valentines Ball. I have decided it was a daft idea. Anyone who chooses to organise anything should be reminded of the stress, problems and possible failure of their chosen event. Right now there are about 6 people going. Ok, well, there are more like 25 but it still isn’t enough to pull it off. We are still negotiating with the musicians and have a set rate per person with the restaurant (which is more than the ticket price for the locals). I have sold at least half the 25 tickets telling people we will have live music and now I may have to pay the blasted musicians out of my own pocket because the chances of selling enough expat tickets to cover the costs is unlikely…

I have been cornering people in the hallway, walking the offices with a translator and generally trying to convince people to go. I feel like I am selling ice to Eskimos…

I am sure it will be fun on the night….But why did I agree to this?? (even worse is that I think I was one of the main instigators…) This is all on top of rather a heavy workload of work that MUST be finished… hence sitting at home after 10pm reviewing documents and writing blog entries!

Mental Note: Don’t organise stuff. Ever.

An exciting day...

2008-02-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

It has been quite an exciting day for this kiwi. I woke up to find the world transformed into a better (well, cleaner) place witha a few inches of snow cover. I dug the car out and got to work on time (this could almost be classed a miracle) and then we had a visit from the Environment Minister. He gave a talk to the staff in the snow, well, actually, he stood under the veranda and we all stood out while it snowed heavily. It was pretty much a vote-for-my-party-cos-we-are-the-best kind of speech, and then he looked at a laboratory. I wandered along with the caste of thousands. It was there that I was asked if I would like to attend lunch.

So, I had lunch with the Minister for Environment. There were some other officials as well, but in the end there were only 9 people. In true Armenian style we ate and stood to toast, ate a little more then stood to toast, eat, toast, eat, toast. The toasts were for the company, success and happiness, the minister, the mayor, the martzpetyran (government appointed head of region), to the women in the room (there were two of us), to cooperation, to success, to the new manager, more to the minister, the local environmental staff, the future of Armenia, to success in the elections… I hope you get the drift. I managed to minimise the vodka consumption to the point where I could return to work which was miraculous.

The best bit of the whole day was definitely the Minister presenting two bouquets of red roses to us girls. He didn’t know we were coming to lunch, so he must have sent one of his bodyguards or advisors out to buy them. So, although I didn’t get any photos I did have a lovely bouquet of red roses (7 – the Armenians believe odd numbers are good luck and even numbers are only for funerals).

Btw- check out my lovely mink fur cap, it is so warm i hardly even feel guilty about buying it... It came in handy standing around in the snow listening to election promises...

Myth Busting #1

2008-02-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

On another note, Charles de Gaule was NOT born in Armenia. Even more disturbing is that his father was a professor of philosophy, not a mine manager as so often told to me here.

How do I know this?

Well, I was driving around with some consultants and they told me that Charles de Gaulle was born and raised in Lori, a northern Armenian mining community, they had this on good authority from the locals up there. I was obviously shocked as I knew the truth, he was born in Suynik village, just a couple of hundred metres away.

So I began to think… and after some careful consideration of the issue, along with the knowledge that Armenians claim everything as their own, I turned to google.

De Gaulle was born in Lille, the third of five children of Henri de Gaulle, a professor of philosophy and literature at a Jesuit college, who eventually founded his own school.[1] He was raised in a family of devout Roman Catholics who were nationalist and traditionalist, but also quite progressive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_De_Gaulle#Early_life_and_military_career
The result is that I now know he was born in Lille (the first stop of the Eurostar!) and his father was a philosopher. The only question left – what will I say next time someone tells me that Charles de Gaulle was born here???

Inaugural Valentines Ball

2008-02-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Another week has passed only 9 days to go before I am heading home to NZ on leave. I have been busy with work, we had consultants visiting last week, I cooked dinner for people and ate at my new dining room table, went to dancing lessons, did my usual Sunday morning routine of washing, cleaning up and cooking a yummy breakfast. Then went to work to catch up a little.

Exciting news - we are organising a ball – a Valentines Ball. To be held on the 16 Feb (as in Saturday). So far we have got a venue and managed to negotiate with the owner to get some food and alcohol at a reasonable price. The Armenian band can apparently play music other than Armenian big hand dancing music… although I have my doubts. We have started ballroom dancing lessons and even these have been Armenianised (do you think that could be made into a real word). We have been learning a waltz, but it isn’t like any waltz I have done before. There are arms in the air step together then apart things which I have never seen before, ‘graceful’ arm movements for the girls (I can do arm movements but they aren’t graceful!) …. The girls get to twirl though, and that is fun. I am helping to organise it and at the moment I am worried that no one will turn up…

The bird, the people and the fruit

2008-02-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

I am finally starting a new with a new address. I spent hours trying to figure out what to call this, and when I finally made a decision I found that my first 12 options were all unavailable. I am nothing if not unoriginal!

Still, I quite like this name. It came to me as I was driving last night to the X bar (this isn't quite as dodgy as it sounds) it is the expat club in Kapan. It is a western style bar opened by some entrepreneurial locals to attract to attract the expats to drink. Anyway I was driving on the rather icy roads and I had my first half decent skid - I went sideways around a round about. All was good, I corrected and at some point after this had my idea.

There is something funny about flying kiwi’s (after all the birds don’t fly). I like being a kiwi (New Zealander), however has anyone else noticed that we (New Zealanders) associate ourselves with a large, flightless bird which, if we are honest, is actually pretty stupid. I do have some evidence of this, as I am one of a very few people who has ever seen a kiwi in real life. I was walking the North West Circuit on Steward Island and we saw three kiwis over the 10 day walk. One of these happened to see us (after we had spotted it) and it promptly stuck his beak in a bush and stood really still. This is all very well, except the kiwi has a rather large behind (it really is just a big bum with a beak) and a large kiwi bum is not inconspicuous. The not-inconspicuous bird continued to stand with his head in the bush except for the occasional looks over his shoulder to see if we were still there. This standoff continued until we decided to leave the kiwi in peace. Now tell me that this behaviour isn’t rather stupid??

So, despite the dubious intelligence of our fat flightless birds we (New Zealanders) like to call ourselves after them. The only redeeming feature is that we don’t eat our national icon (like Australians do) although they have named a fruit the kiwi (this is in spite of the fact it comes from China).

Right, I do believe I have drivelled on enough to post my first new post.

Ciao for now, L