Party Pictures

Okay, I've had quite a few people enquire about where these so called pictures are, so I'm finally going to put them up here (mostly because I'm on morning reception when there isn't a whole lot to do). Tim, Phil and I at the jungle party. Yes I realize they don't look very jungle-y, but it was still fun to dress up.
Here's a picture where you can see my 'costume'. See the brown arms? I'm a monkey of course! (I also had a tail). The other people you can see in the picture are staff, most of whom aren't here anymore.
Aaron with his Orange nose. He was on the shuttle to Amsterdam with us the next morning and the orange wouldn't wash off. He had to spend the entire day in Amsterdam with an orange nose. Haha. He was still here until a couple of days ago, but is now also gone.
Who is that crazy pirate?? I can't be related to him...
Pixie Party! This is the costume that Amanda (also gone now) and I fashioned out of lost and found clothes and olds curtains. No sewing involved.

A guest and my first attempt at face painting. I wasn't too impressed with my artistic abilities (or lack thereof) but he seemed happy enough to be a prom queen with a purple beard of sorts. Amazingly enough though, I did get better at face painting (I don't have any pictures of the other jobs I did)
A closer picture of Amanda and my face painting. We didn't really know what pixies looked like... this is what we came up with.
This won't mean much to most of you, but for Tim, who met both Chris and Aaron before they had mohauks. Aaron (left) only kept his for about a week, but Chris (middle) still has his, and as you'll see in the next picture, it made for a very good troll costume :-)

A few of the people I work with. Chris (as a troll), Renzo and Jasmijn (I'm not really sure what she was, but she's awesome at doing her own face painting!)

At the beginning of the night we put out a blank canvass and left paints and brushes out. This is what we ended up with. I thought it worked out well! Quite the mural... can you see the fork that someone stuck to it?

That's all for now. Things are going well. Tonight is the next party: Under the sea! So when I get off work at 2 I'm going to be getting this place all decorated up and then trying to sort out some sort of costume. We aren't very many staff right now but we're still going to throw a GREAT party!

Cheers!
Kaila

Hi There!

So I'm not really a traveller anymore, so my life isn't nearly as intersting or as exciting as it was through the summer, but I'm going to update everyone what I've been up to anyways. I've been at the Pig now for almost 3 weeks and it's really starting to feel like home. I still haven't been surfing again yet, but I'm hoping to be soon :-) The girls who were teaching me went in yesterday and said the waves were about 2m and that they're supposed to be even higher today! I don't know if I would be able to even get out past the waves in those :-P

So what have I been up to? Here at the hostel I've sort of been thrown into reception. I had about one afternoon of training and then had to do a shift on my own. It was daunting at first, but I'm getting the hang of it and it's really not all that difficult. Next week 2 of the guys here are leaving and I'm doing the bar shift for the first time :-) I'm most nervous about picking good music because I'm so clueless with music :-P I think I might have to recruit someone else to help me :-P

Last week Steph came all the way from Germany (well I guess Germany is close compared to Canada, but it's still about a 5 hour train ride) to visit me for a few days :-) We spent her first night in Amsterdam at the Flying Pig there. That night we did a canal tour and of course had to check out the red light district seeing as Steph had never been to Amsterdam. The next morning we decided to go to the Zoo, which is the LAST thing you think someone should do when they go to Amsterdam, but we both enjoyed it thoroughly! We even got to see a baby elephant that's only about a month old. SO cute! We also went to the sex museum (more what is expected in Amsterdam) and then came back to the beach. She stayed here for 2 nights and I think (or I hope) she had a good time! I worked Thursday morning, but in the afternoon we headed into Leiden, went to a Windmill museum (yes, we are that big of nerds :-P... it was actually pretty boring, but cool to be in the windmill) and went to a movie (she can't go to english movies in Germany because they're all dubbed in German). She had to leave on Friday, and the trip definately seemed too short, but it was still fun and I love having a familiar face around for a while :-)

Yesterday I ended up getting a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant here on the beach and made a little extra cash. It was a pretty simple job and it was definately nice to make a little money since I spent so much while Steph was here :-) With that and my work here at the hostel I ended up working about 11 hours yesterday, so I was definately tired. But instead of going to bed like a normal person would have, I stayed up and went to a Metal Show with a few other staff and a couple guests. I know what you're thinking: YOU went to a METAL show?? Yeah, I probably wouldn't have ever imagined that I would enjoy somethign like that, but it was really nice to get out of the hostel and I actually really enjoyed it. I think it's just the matter of seeing live music that I love so much! etal defiantely isn't my music of choice, but I can definately appreciate it better than I ever have before.

Anyways, that's all I've really been doing. Today I was supposed to be cleaning, but I've ended up here doing reception all day, which suits me just fine because not only is reception more fun than cleaning, but I'm also working more than 5 hours which may mean I'll get to make a little more money :-) Money is good! :-P

That's all for now!
Cheers!
Kaila

Surfing!

Hey there!

So I went surfing for the first time yesterday :-) I can't really say that I'm very good at it yet, but it was so much fun! A couple of the local girls (who I think go surfing pretty much every day) came and convinced me to come out with them. So I got outfitted in a borrowed wetsuit and the hostel's board and I was off! It definately looks a lot easier than it is! I spent most of my time out past the waves trying to keep my balancing and paddling like my life depended on it only to miss most of the waves :-P I think I only actually caught like 3 on my own. The first of which was fun, but I didn't even start to stand up. The next, the wave crashed over on me and I had my first fall. It's scary at first, but really not as bad as I thought it would be.

After a while of letting me struggle on my own, the girls took me under their wing and started helping me get the waves :-) They would hold on to my board and when there was a wave coming give me a little push. I still didn't manage to stand up, but one time I was almost up! I was just too slow and the wave ended before I really did anything. But yeah, I had a lot of fun. I'm hoping to go out again soon! I'd never worn a wetsuit before, but it makes such a big difference!

So I'm from now on a surfer (since I can't play soccer OR go skiing here). So far all I have to show for it is a few bruises but before you know it i'll be world champion :-P Haha, not really, but hopefully I can at least get standing up sometime in the near future.

That's all for now! Other than that, same as usual around here. I've been meeting a bunch of cool guests and today I start getting trained on reception :-)

Talk to you soon!
Kaila

Hi there!

I know I haven't posted pictures on here yet, but I promise they're coming soon. To do that I have to get on the computer behind the reception/bar which is usually taken by whoever's working there. Even though I'm still on the other computer, I thought I would update a little anyways. My time here has been great so far. Pretty laid back, but still a lot of fun. For the first about 6 nights I was on night shift every single day, but now I'm starting to get used to it. I just had to get the hang of sleeping whenever I get time and being awake when I have to. And I sort of like being up until 4am every night because that's when people at home tend to be on the computer so I've gotten to talk to quite a few people :-) The weather here is starting to get more like fall (it actually reminds me a lot of Nova Scotia weather), so I haven't spent a lot of time at the beach, but we did have a couple really nice days when I got to hang out on the beach some, go swimming and play a little beach volleyball :-) Today, even though it's not very nice out, I took my soccer ball out to the beach and juggled for a while. It was fun, but doesn't really compare to the real game :-) A couple of the local girls here have said they'll take me out and teach me how to surf which would definately be cool!

Other than that it's been pretty quiet around here. I guess now that the summer is over it's going to be really quiet during the week and will pick up on the weekends. Tonight is Amanda's last night, so there's a sort of going away party for her. And luckily, I don't have to do nightshift because it's my first day off! Yay!!! In the next couple of days I'm on cleaning duty, which is okay, but what makes it better is that when I'm done (because it's so quiet it definately won't take the 5 hours its supposed to) I'm going to start getting trained on reception!

Anyways, in less exciting news, I've started my applications to medical schools (just UofT and Dal) and it's not so bad but a bit of a pain. Filling out all my information and getting references is the easy part. What I'm NOT looking forward to is having to list ALL my activities since age 16 including having a verifier's contact for each one. UGH!! But I'm getting through it (the free access to internet helps a lot) and soon enough I'll be done and won't have to worry about it until interviews :-)

Anyways, that's all for now! I promise I'll post some pictures soon.
Dui! (what Dutch people say all the time... translates approximately into 'see ya!')
Kaila

The Flying Pig

Hey!

I've been here for a couple of days now, so I thought I would update everyone on what it's like. So far, it's a lot of work. I think mostly because they are so short on staff, I'm needed to do the night shift (every night so far) but then I also have to get trained on how to do other jobs. my first night on night shift was easy as pie. I start work at 2am and by about 4 I was done all my duties and could sleep until the end of my shift (8:30) on the sofa or in the lounging area. At 8:30 I get woken up by the person doing breakfast and I can just go down to my bed and keep sleeping. Yesterday I got to sleep until about noon at which point I shared the cleaning (and got trained how to do it).

After cleaning, we had to start preparing for the Enchanted Forest Pixie Party! It's still technically working, but it was fun! Amanda (the only other girl staff member at the moment) and I fashioned pixie outfits out of old curtains, sheets and lost and found clothes. Then we got our faces all facepainted and we were ready for the party! I like being staff and getting as many people as possible involved in the festivities :-) I even got to work on my creativity doing some facepainting.

The party was lots of fun, but working night shift afterwards wasn't so much. As opposed to the first night when the bar was empty at closing time anyways, the bar was still very, very full at 2am as well as all the decorations makes for tougher cleaning. I was up until about 6:30am, at which point I fell asleep even though I wasn't completely done everything. It wasn't all bad though, because even after all the guests had gone to bed, a few of the staff members were up and kept me company the whole time :-) I even got to take a little break around 4am and went swimming :-)

8:30am this morning came entirely too quickly. I was supposed to be trained on breakfast then because I have to do it by myself tomorrow, but I was way too tired so I just went to bed. Amanda just had to show me where some stuff is when I did get up. I don't think it'll be too hard :-)

So yeah, I guess I've basically just been working nonstop since I got here, but it's still a lot of fun and I'm really liking the people. In a couple weeks I think I get to start getting trained to do reception and/or bartending which will be awesome. I moved from the dorm to the staff room yesterday, but I haven't really had a chance to unpack at all and really have barely even slept there since I've been on night shift every night. Everyone here just went to the beach but I think I'm going to take the afternoon to get settled in a little and maybe get a little more sleep.

So I think that's about it. There are lots of people here with digital cameras so I'll try to post some of them (like me as a pixie :-) soon.
Cheers!
Kaila

Here they are, finally! I had to be really, really selective on which ones I put on here. Hre are 11 pictures that are either my favorites or depict a favorite part of my trip thus far. There are a bunch of things I've done (like Lowlands and my time at the flying pig) that I don't have any pictures of because other people were taking the pictures. I'm hoping to get those at some point and I'll add them to my online album. If you have time you can go look at all 137 of my pictures by clicking here. Here it goes!

This is my favorite picture from the catacombs because it's dark and creepy, exactly like the catacombs! Those are real skulls lined up between piles of other real bones (mostly leg bones I think).
The Nice beach: how amazing is that color? I didn't swim in it much because I was sunburnt from being in St. Raphael, but with water like that I was just happy to sit in the shade enjoying the beach and reading my book :-)

One of the islands off of Venice where we went to see glass blowing. my picture of the person actually making stuff out of glass didn't turn out, but the islands were really cute, as you can see!
Justine posing in front of the view we got in Fiesole. We had been spending entirely too much time in cities and this little break was exactly what we needed! I think it was probably my first really gorgeous view of the trip (although the picture doesn't really do it justice, as usual)
On the ferry to Greece. That's Graham there admiring it. It was probably the best part of the ferry trip. Except sleeping on the deck next to the puking turkish boy of course :-P

I like this one. I don't really know why... It's Justine taking pictures of Santorini from the top of the mountain where we ended up after going up the craziest cobblestone, switchback road ever. As you can tell from her skirt, it was VERY windy up there.


A picture perfect view of San Sebastian. I'm so happy with how this turned out! I think this is the view we had when we walked up one of the mountains that are on either side of the bay.

This is how Tim and I lived for about 3 weeks :-) It was a lot of fun!


This is how I slept in the Alps before my mother got me a sleeping bag :-) I think I have about 3/4 of the clothes I brought with me on.


Hands down my favorite picture and right up there for my favorite moment in the whole 2 months. Believe it or not, the view was even more spectacular than the picture shows. I could live off ham and brie baguettes forever :-)


How we lived for 4 nights at the Lowlands festival :-) In this picture you might be able to see about a quarter of one of the campsites. There were 7 of them. I wish I had some pictures of the shows themselves, but we only took Tim's camera into the festival: it's less bulky.

Anyways, that's all for the pictures. It was really hard to choose which ones to show, but I think those give a good idea of some of what I've been up to.

Now for what I'm up to now :-) I ended up spending 2 nights in Amsterdam, which was scary at first because it was my first nights completely on my own, but it turned out really really well. I met lots of cool people in my hostel and during the day I kind of relaxed and also checked out the Anne Frank House which we missed on our first time through. This morning I got up early and headed to the beach. Everyone here remembered me and within an hour I had a job :-) I have an appointment to get my work visa tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night I'm on the night shift. Exciting!!

Of the 9 or so staff that worked here when Tim, Phil and I were here, 3 or 4 of them have left (mostly because they were just staying for the summer). But there's still 4 of them that are here and one guy who has just started too. (Tim/Phil: Chris and Aaron both now have mohawks :-P)I'm really looking forward to having a 'home' and hopefully making some new friends :-) I told Jos (the boss) that I would like to stay until December (when I go to the alps) but it's all volunteer, and so if I'm not liking it I can leave whenever I want. If I do like it though, it will be nice to stay for a while because I'll get better jobs like bartending and driving instead of just cleaning and breakfast.

Anyways, I guess that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed my pictures!!!!

Kaila

Back to Holland

Hey!

I've had a great week, but it's time to get off on my own and start supporting myself. This weekend Steph, Pia and I had an awesome time! On Friday we all went to the hairdressers so that Steph and I could get our hair cut. I was long overdue for a haircut, but it was pretty traumatic considering I've been getting my hair cut at the same place for my entire life, never once having een anywhere else. It was entirely too expensive, and I have yet to get used to how short it is, but I think it worked out okay. I'll show pictures when I get them :-) After the hairdressers, we went to the Sudhouse for supper, which is the restaurant that Steffi (Pia's mom) owns. It's sort of strange being able to go into a restaurant, order whatever you want and not have to pay, but it works for me! It was really good! And Steph knows most of the people there. They were all very friendly and talked to us as much as they could depending on their english skills.

Saturday was a little more exciting because we got to check out the Ludwigsburg castle which is the second biggest baroque castle in Europe (behind Versailles). I'm pretty sure no one was very impressed with the fact that we brought a 7 month old baby when we first arrived but Pia was soooo good and by the end everyone loved her! It was a great tour and I could almost imagine what it was like to live there in those days. Although I don't know what it's like to have 600 servants in something that's just your summer home!

Saturday was also exciting because I got my pictures back!!! Yay!!! I'm working on getting them on the internet so I can share them with everyone, and as soon as I do, you'll know. Sunday was pretty laid back. We played with Pia, cleaned up the house and just sort of relaxed.

This morning I'm up early and all packed. Steph has the next couple of days off, so she's going to come into Stuttgart with me this morning and explore. I'm taking the 2pm train heading to Amsterdam where I'll stay for the night before heading back to the beach hostel.

It's time to get dressed and head out now, but I'll be sure to let everyone updated on my whereabouts. Good luck to everyone that's starting school soon whether it's somewhere new or back at Acadia (or neither)!
Kaila

Hey!

The family I'm staying with is incredible. They are so nice and generous and treat me basically like one of the family. They have been feeding me all my meals and even took us out to a biergarten last night (aka beer garden if you couldnt translate that one). Antonia is a 7 year old girl who speaks only the english she learns in school (think core french... counting, days of the week, that kind of thing) and what Steph has taught her in the last month, but she's lots of fun. The weather has been really hot and sunny since I've gotten here so pretty much every day we go swimming in their 'pond' (it's a swimming pool in their backyard that they built to look like a pond). I'm hoping she learns while I'm here so I can see. So far it's just sort of slithering along the floor.

Steph and I spend most of the day hanging out and taking care of the kids, but a couple of nights ago they drove us to the train station and we went into Stuttgart (about 10 minutes away) for the evening. We didn't really know our way around, but we found a busker (speaking all german) and then just went to a bar/patio and had a raddler (beer mixed with 7up I think... kind of strange, but not bad). Today Steph got the afternoon off so we could go explore Ludwigsburg (where she lives). We were going to go to the Ludwigsburg castle (apparently pretty famous) but we were too late for the only english tour, so we're going to go on the weekend. Instead we spent the afternoon shopping and just sort of wandering. I'm contemplating buying a bit of new clothing, but I don't know if I can afford it. I think I might just buy a skirt or something because I'm getting everything else sent to me from my lovely parents :-) I can't wait! One of my favorite things about being here is getting to wear real clothes!! I've been wearing lots of Steph's clothes and boy does it feel good!! I wore jeans for the first time in 2 months a couple days ago!!

Anyways, tonight it's just me, Steph and Pia (who is already sleeping) home. I guess we should start getting used to that because that's all there's going to be all weekend! It'll be good because Pia can come with us pretty much anywhere. We want to check out the town market, the castle again and maybe a little more shopping.

Anyways, I guess that's all for now! Talk to you soon!!
Kaila