So, last sunday i was supposed to leave Zagreb to meet my parents in sarajevo. But that morning i got a phone call from them to say they wouldn't be on the plane, as my mother was in hospital in singapore with a fever (but not swine flu). She was ok, but they wouldn't be flying just yet. So, with only an hour before i was supposed to pick it up, i cancelled the rental car and stayed in Zagreb.
They finally arrived this morning, having changed tiers flights to come directly to zagreb, which saves me a trip to sarajevo, and means i get to spend this week here! And it happens to be the week of the queer festival! Quelle chance!
So last night i went to the opening, and then woke up at crack of dawn to get to the airport, them we made good use of the car i had borrowed, and drove up the mountain to Sljeme, just because we could.
The plan now is one more day in zagreb, then on friday to budapest to start this cruise on the danube! But first- i get to in to two more queer festival parties!
After all, who needs sleep when there's coffee?

Kat On Tour

So this Sunday my summer starts. A little earlier than for most people, but hey, who ever said my life was normal.

So, because I keep finding myself explaining it, here is The Summer Plan:

On Sunday, May 3, I leave Zagreb. I pick up a hire car, drive to Sarajevo, pick up my parents from the airport.

The next few days I spend travelling in Bosnia with them, and then return to Zagreb for One Night Only on Thursday May 7.

May 8 we catch a train to Budapest to join this cruise-tour thing that leaves us in Istanbul 15 days later. My parents leave from there on May 24.

I'm thinking I will leave about the same time, and make my way back to Zagreb, probably detouring through Macedonia and Serbia on the way. I'll onlyl have a few day in Zagreb though (the beginning of June) because then I'm booked for a workshop in Zurich for the OFF_PRIDE festival (the alternative to Europride).

As soon as I can, though, I'll be back in Zagreb, and be here for at least a week - by no small coincidence, it will be the week of ZG Pride... but then, no doubt all too soon, I will have to leave again to get to another festival and another workshop, this time in Tabor in Czechy.

After that, I have 10 days or so to make my way towards the UK in time to start my regular summer job at the beginning of July. I'll be working until mid-august.

At the end of August, just a few days after I finish being professional me (ha) and revert to regular old anarchist-queer me, Oslo queer festival is on, and I'll be workshopping at that as well.

And then, well, I'll be in Scandinavia, a part of the world I haven't seen much of, so I hope to do a few weeks of travelling, maybe get to the arctic circle and iceland, see more of Sweden than Malmo airport, that sort of thing.

And *then*, I have to decide what I'm doing with the rest of the year. Current plans involve travelling overland to Australia, moving back to Montreal (visa willing) or coming back to live in Zagreb.

And right now, Zagreb is winning...

Travel blog

I know this is my NON travel blog, but I'm on dialup internet, and this loads quicker! I'll fix up travelpost later.

I left Brisbane 10 days ago, and I've been in Darwin, Kakadu National park (the famous remote, crocodile infested north of australia), and now I'm staying at my parent's place in Galliwinku, the township and remote aboriginal community on Elcho Island off the north of the northern territory. It's another world, really. We went four-wheel driving yesterday. Can't go swimming cos of the crocodiles, of course, but the beaches are nice to walk along, and we only got bogged once. Didn't see another soul all afternoon. And this morning the barge came in - it only comes every fortnight - which means that my parents' supermarket order arrived and we had to go down to unload it. It also means the local shop has fruit and vegetables, until they run out in a day or two.
This afternoon I'm going to visit my parents at the clinic, and then walk along a beach (watching for crocodiles... keeping the psychotic poodle from being eaten by crocodiles...), and I think we're having my adopted 'sister' to dinner. She's 60-something, but adopted my parents as her parents. I don't know why, but it works in the local culture, it seems! Probably something to do with respect, I guess. We were supposed to have a gay couple for dinner, but they couldn't come. I met one of them yesterday anyway, and will go to the local art centre where the other works tomorrow. Apparently some dutch people have arrived and may or may not buy all the art from the art centre, so they couldn't come to dinner, as they were entertaining them.
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I had to run at that point - Mum arrived and said "quick! come to a clapping!", which I discovered was when they followed the ambulance down to the airport to load a body into the plane to be taken to the morgue, probably in Gove, the nearest city on the mainland. Lots of ululating and rolling in the dirt, and clapping and didgeridoo playing. And then this evening we had the woman who has adopted my parents as her parents, which means she's my sister. I learnt that I am Duwa (though I'm still working out what that means) and that my totems are snake, shark, turtle and dolphin.

So tomorrow I leave here, fly to Darwin, where I have about 12 hours before I have to check in for my flight to Singapore. I'll be in London by the 3rd, and at Downe House two days later. At the moment it seems about as far from here as you can possibly get! We have a couple of days there before the Queenswood people (including me) go to the other school campus. It will be good to see everyone at downe house first. I hope I'm still running the IT program I half developed last year. I haven't really heard. If I'm not, I'd rather be back at downe house with the smaller kids!

Another brother update

So I have two brothers overseas at the moment - Kieran is in Taiwan visiting Kathleen's parents, and Rhys is still in Europe, though is starting to make plans for coming home about the same time I leave here (which is nicely timed). He has, however, just sent this video from Rome, where he was a week or so ago. I think he's in Ireland now.

My Brother's Blog

Rhys is in Europe, and has started a travelpost blog. (I should start getting commission from those guys for introducing new people) I'll add it to my sidebar here soon. Until then, if you want a running update of Europe's beer prices, click here.

My mother will be happy...

So, having done that last silly quiz, I naturally have wated the last hour on other sillly quizzes on the same website, with no intention of blogging any of them. But then I did "What Higher Degree Should You Do?" and this is what came up. Hmm... And I was hoping it would say either the TESOL masters I'm finishing this semester, or the translation masters I have some idea that I might like to do sometime in the future...

You Should Get a MD (Doctor of Medicine)

You're both compassionate and brilliant - a rare combination. You were born to be a doctor.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?