London

My London network is developing. I have a really good friend living there for what…a couple of years already, another friend has been living there for about half a year. And now….yet another good friend is moving to Lnd, which is in a way bad (I will miss him) but in a way good (another friend to meet up in Lnd).

Plus I heard from my Mexican friend that his father just opened a Mexican restaurant in London called Mestizo. So, whenever I go to Lnd, I am very welcome at that place. And Mexican food is delicious…..

But what is this all about? Why’s everybody moving to London? Is London like a city equivalent for what USA is as a country? Is London the city of all possibilities? What is it that draws people to London these days? It isn’t the weather, that’s for sure – for that you’d go somewhere more south, it’s not the cheap living costs – you’d pick some less westernized country, I think it’s not even the best party places – for that I think Madrid would be better. It has to be work then, I guess. Big business! Money! A guy from New Zealand once pointed out that he would never choose London as a place to live, but the money is just too good! So he works a couple of months and travels, works again and travels some more…

I like to visit London – go shopping, go out with friends, spend hours in bookstores, travel by tube, walk around, talk to people, make some photos, read a book at some park, spend some time at Portobello market, bump into celebrities:), enjoy the endless diversity of people, and basically, just have fun – but I am not entirely sure if I could ever really live there…
Having written all that I realized that I miss London and I think I should really book some flights and go and take another look at the city of all possibilities:)

Strange feeling

Do you know that awful feeling of getting sick – dizzy head, sore throat, wet eyes, sleepy etc? And, have you experienced that it usually happens before an important client meeting or at the time you are busiest at work or when you have a date ahead or sth alike – at the time you absolutely cannot allow yourself to get sick? I felt it yesterday (and today a little). It makes me wonder if it is really so directly connected to the stress level and how could it be possible to avoid it? There are periods with such a workload that it would be amoral to fall ill but if this is exactly what IS causing the illness…then we have a vicious circle…

I am absolutely sure that most of our illnesses are caused by our own thoughts…and can be avoided the same way, but I am really bad at controlling my stress level…I have also noticed that people are not ill when they are happy… and vice-versa – you have a bad breakup or you are in a bad relationship and poof! you’re ill…you are unhappy with your work and poof! you’re on sick leave all the time…

I am very rarely ill…so what does that mean? I am happy? I am not unhappy? I take stress well? One thing I do know – I hate being sick! Hope the illness goes back to wherever it came from and stays there….i plan to be healthy!…this weekend and later too!


"I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours." - Jerome K. Jerome

Hernes

The final countdown

On Friday we thought the best idea is to catch the very last glimpse of sun and sea and headed for Portoroz again. Bathed in sun a bit, chilled on a terrace of Nika’s friend and headed home. This time with a concrete plan to hitchhike home coz transport in Slovenia is not as cheap as you might think. Anyways…5 minutes and we were already in a car on our way to Lju…and it got even better, as the car took us straight home…as it appeared, the guy lived very close to where we were based. Incredible! In the morning we payed 2800 tolars and spent 2,5 hours in a bus (plus about 0,5 hour going to the center). And in the evening we paid 0 and spent 1,5 hours in a car:)

In the evening we went to have pina coladas in Ursula, talked about Estonian and Slovenian economy, met the Portuguese guys again, went to a nightclub Global, which was full of babes (I don’t understand, are babes a nation on their own? Wherever you go, they’re there!), Nika went home earlier, I stayed and had a good time with Portugal, experienced the heaviest rain I have seen in quite a while and finally took a taxi home.

On Saturday I finally wrote my postcards, bought some local delicacies, had a wonderful lunch in Romeo, did some packing, slept, watched Ice age, went out again – As, Global, more fun with Portugal, traditional Slovenian “after-party-at-5-in-the-morning-snack” called burek and back home. Slept for 3 hours, did some more packing, went to airport, said the goodbies and headed home…Ljubljana-Berlin-Tallinn… and home I was… the end of a wonderful experience!

The three S

Wednesday was the sad day of Ruth leaving which doesn’t mean that we were sad. Using Ruth’s own words: “Why would I be sad if I have had such a wonderful experience. I am happy.” We had another Lju city tour, visited the castle, had a virtual tour through centuries, learned that Ljubljana means “The beloved”, was once called Emona and dates back to the Greek myth of Jason and Agronauts, but most of the buildings are from around 1600… something.

Afternoon brought yet another, this time final, Slovenian food attack, and this almost killed me. Katja was cooking – everything was delicious – and the result was a belly as big as 5 months pregnant…

In the evening Erasmus student party in KMS, where I felt like a kid in a candy store – so many goodlooking boys from all the different countries for all the different tastes – that finally you are unable to choose and loose the appetite…We danced a lot until it was high time to literally RUN to the train station and send Ruth away... After that, back to the party, danced some more, met three Portuguese guys, who all look like football players to me. Maybe, coz so far the only Portuguese I knew, were the football players.

Thursday, the three S day – shopping, which also qualifies as sports and salad, only the third S was missing. Met the Portuguese guys again – their names are Nuno, Bernardo and Paulo:)…. I’m tellin’ you – like footballers… learned the correct way of pronouncing Barrichello…and that pretty much summed it up.

Swingin' 60s

Tuesday was lazyday – we drove off to catch the last bits of sunshine in Portoroz. Topless on our own private dock, chilling and cherry sensation. Afterwards, seafood lunch in an adorable little town called Piran.

And in the evening – another “this-is-my-first-time-to-try-this” experience. There’s a new hype in Lju – swing. We had a private lesson of basic swing steps and then it was time to dance. Imagine a room full of boys and girls dressed up appropriately – dresses and shoes and everything – swinging the night away, doing all the jumps and spins and tricks (not us, of course, but the ones that actually could dance:) I felt like I am lost in 60’s. It was amazing. I should really import this hype to Tln.

And yet another moment of realizing how small the world is…there’s another Slovenian guy I know from last year’s SU in Turkey – Gregor… I wasn’t gonna see him coz he has a night job and for me night is the main time for meeting people:) …but suddenly, there he was, swinging like crazy! And wow, that boy can really dance. It was a great coincidence indeed…I was so glad to see him!

(About coincidence) “The connections may be invisible but they are always there, buried just beneath the surface.” - Dan Brown

The fast way of life

Monday morning saw 3 girls bustling around Nika’s new washing machine, trying to connect all the right tubes and wires – and we did it – so there’s only a couple of things left now that we need men for;)

Then it was time to go and check out the caves – coz, as everybody kept telling us – “You have to see the caves! You must!” The caves were beautiful and really big but otherwise, as all the caves. But I have to tell you that it is a strange feeling to know that you are inside a mountain…After the caves we had local wine and prsut in a little town called Vipava, met a local drunkard who spoke a mixture of languages – all incomprehensible to us:)

Oh… the funniest thing that day…have you ever met guys on highway? I can’t say I had before but now I can add that to my list of experiences. Driving at 140 km/h and giving a phone number in sign language…But we decided not to meet them, coz they were fuckers. Never trust guys in BMW. Their first sms was following: “We like the fast way of life – fast cars and fast women are for us! We are Casanovas!” So we turned the whole play against them and told them basically that they don’t call us but we call them whenever we get horny. We didn’t ( I mean …we didn’t call them).
After the long day we spent the evning in a bar called Macalonca, right at the riverbank on Ljubljanica river in Lju center – 3 hours of binladen and freewilly jokes…:)

Ne dela

Saturday brought yet another food attack, but this time in the form of cakes. In a very pleasant form:) Borut kept insisting that we have to eat some cakes in Svesda…Nika insisted in not being in the mood for cakes but when 4 of them were on the table, even she could not resist and finally there were 5 of them:)

Then Borut had to go back to Zagreb and we took a train with him…going halfway – to Nika’s hometown – Sevnica. Small town, approximately 17 000 people, 1 good bar (ok-ok, Nika, I know there’s three, but I saw just one:) and everybody knows everybody, literally! Ordered a pizza, drank tequila, ate some salt and lemon, had very deep conversation about life, went to party in Nulo-Nulo (Zero-Zero or 0:0), danced a lot, again and raised a lot of local interest… (“Who are those foreign girls with Nika, one blond and northern and one dark and southern?”)

Next day was Sunday, or Nedela, like the Slovenians call it – which is very appropriate as Ne Dela means no work. We took it word by word and went to Nika’s mum’s place on a mountain. This was the 3rd Slovenian food attack…like…how much can I take!!! So we ate, had some cakes, slept in the sunshine, had some more cakes, ate some more, had some more cakes and potica (a special local cake), rested some more, met some more family – sister and her guy and their kids… til it was time to head home…had a quiet night at home and made a resolution for the next week – to concentrate on 3S – salad, sport and sex.


"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." - Bertrand Russell

Borut

Friday brought us yet another story of how small the world really is. Borut was coming to town…So, the story is following – Borut is my friend from Croatia, who came to a Summer University in Estonia a couple of years ago, I was one of the organizers then. A year after that I went to an SU in Croatia, Borut was one of the organizer. So, me coming to Ljubljana was a great chance to see eachother again…and as it turns out – this year Borut went to an SU in Spain and our dearest Spanish girl Ruth was one of the organizers …sooooo…Borut now came to see both of us:)

Ok, we picked up Borut in train station – gave him a loud and warm greeting…went to eat in šestisa – place where you can eat some traditional Slovenian food. Now, pay attention here!!….this was the first time (of many to follow) where Slovenians tried to kill us with their food…See, the food is good and there’s always a lot of it…

Friday evening we had a European night – we were 8 people from 4 countries – Estonia, Slovenia, Croatia and Spain…drinkin sangria, Vana Tallinn, some local liquers and talkin, havin fun, listening to Borut’s crazy stories – he’s hilarious!

And later, off we went to a bar/nightclub called AS, which basically means ace but you might as well call it Ass. Why, you ask:) See, the place was packed and the only way some guys were trying to make contact was touching your ass when you were trying to walk past them. Lots of ass connection I tell you. But actually I think As was my favourite of the Lju nightclubs – I liked the place, the music, the mojitos were perfect and we danced the whole night so that sweat was dropping from our hot bodies to the floor…Oh, btw, they’re gonna have the TV show called Bar filmed in As and I think it has started by now..

Home

So I am back home and as you can see I had no chance to write in my blog for a long while… time flies when you are having fun…and FUN I had, lots and lots of it. I am gonna write about all my happenings…hopefully there are some people interested in my stories. I know at least 3 people who will read every little piece of it:) and that makes it all worth it..

Pepe

Eh, it's been what...3 days or just 2? and so much to write about...i wish i could get my MMS thingy in my phone working, coz you know...one picture says more than 1000 words..or sth like that.

We are one bunch of crazy girls and with crazy girls good/crazy things happen... on Thursday we had a daytrip to Bled and Bohinj...starting in Bohinj. Just imagine...a beautiful lake between mountains (ahhhh...i wish we had mountains in Estonia, really!), perfect weather, laying at our own little "private beach", drinking martini, laughing, gossiping, remembering the TSU. Ooh, and i heard some gossips which i didn't know yet and which never made it to the gossip diagram....veeery interesting;)

When it was time to start goint to Bled and we were waiting for the bus and waiting got boring we figured...why not hitchike ...but not really taking it seriously - coz you know, it's not so easy to hitchike with 4 people...but just for fun - why not try. And like in a couple of minutes, a van came - perfect ey? It was driven by an english guy called Gary (but we called him Pepe, he liked it:). So there he was going only to a shop to buy food for his barbeque, as his friend with broken leg was waiting for him.. .and he ended up driving us to Bled, having a special local desert with us (thanks to good sales work by Nika!) and having a good time:) Well, as a consolation we also sent a cake back to his friend and wrote a note about us being guilty coz Gary was just unable to resist us....but it was another big step in improving the international relations:)

I am really in travelling mode now ... takin it easy and just going with the flow and seeing what life has to offer...

Dig the city

Ljubljana greeted me with smiling, jumping and yelling Nika and Urska...well, it was a bit hard for me to match their energy:) So i had just a bit of rest and off we went already to zoom in Ljb.

Ljubljana gives me the feeling that i've already been here. Maybe coz it is a bit of a mixture of citites - there's a bit of Amsterdam going on with the river and the houses and little cafes right above it and a bit of Warsaw...(dunno why, though:) and i think a bit of some small southern European cities' feeling.

Had my first look at the city, and since we discovered our 2nd traveller - Ruth from eSpain;) - was only to arrive at about 2 o'clock at night we just had to find the nicest way to spend the time...so we headed to a place called Skeleton - where you get 2 coctails for the price of 1;)...yehaaa...bit of drinking, chatting and time went by flying...oh, and then a bit of dancing in another place called Baileys ...picking up Ruth at the train station....and off to bed...to be ready for whatever was waiting for us...

Slovenia - getting there

This is my travel diary from Slovenia, filling you in on my adventures here in the South-Eastern part of Europe.

So i have been travelling for sth like 3 days now and a lot has happened already. You know how it is with travelling... in normal life you can go 3 days without anything really happening, anything worth mentioning... but while travelling, things start happening, people start appearing and suddenly there are all the stories...

On tuesday evening i took a plane to Berlin (after working till 7, rushing home, packing and rushing to the airport). For future reference ... Schoenefeld airport is not the best place for staying the night. The benches are metallic, uncomfortable as hell, and the whole airport is so "well" airconditioned that you can freeze your toes off... making it absolutely impossible to sleep there. Luckily enough i had my first "meeting-new-people-all-the-time-while-travelling" moment and i found a sardinian guy Mauro, to spend the night with:) He had been, as it turned out, living in Estonia for a year and we had a lot to talk about...

The next morning, when already flying to Slovenia, provided me with another situation, that one of my Dutch friends would call "the Estonian way" - which means getting things for free without asking:) Was sitting next to a boy of about 18 and his father, chatted a little bit and ended up getting a ride from the airport to center of Ljubljana:) ...exchanged contacts...turns out the father is a president and CEO of a computer company...and found use for the first bottle of Vana Tallinnn - just as a thank you for helping me...

Exhausted

This week has drained me of all the energy. Work-work-work-work every friikin day until 8 or 9 or 10. Is this the price I have to pay for going on a vacation next week?:) I’m so tired that even Mr Friday is staying away... and he’s my most faithful lover...

Hopefully I’m back to my old self tonite... coz there are people to meet and places to go...

...I am so tired...

“Schizophrenic is the best word - I change from day to day. I can be quite confusing. Indecisive, workaholic, and tired today.” Brian Molko