cham-cham

Today we have had our first meal in a restaurant since coming to India, in Bangalore.
We entertained the whole restaurant. At first we couldn't read the menu properly. We asked for everything except for the things they were serving at that time.
Like that:
"Could I have mangojuice please?"
"No Mam, we only have pineapplejuice"

We know this is a good example.

After we started to eat the waiter came to give us a spoon. Only one spoon. We are two people. Indians usually eat with their hands. One spoon must mean that at least one of us was eating like a proper indian, but
we don't really know which one of us.
Nina was hungry for dessert and ordered a cham-cham after looking under the headline "sweets" in the menu.
She got a strange looking white sausage soaked in sugarwater. yummie... It looked very lonley on it's plate.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Chennai. Hoping for tastier desserts there.

On the farm

As we suspected we don"t have internet access on the farm, so now we took the bicycles and drove to the next town, which is actually quite big.

The last days were calm - we were just helping where we could. We made peanutbutter, baked bread in a oven (one, where you have to make fire with wood), planted seeds, replanted some vegetables... and we ate a lot. Especially papayas, as they planted more than they can eat or sell - but they are really tasty, so it's not a problem at all. We were really impressed by the variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs they grow here.
We sleep in an open hut, wrapped in a mosquito net, and guarded by Nipples, which is one of the three dogs also living on the farm. Beside dogs, they have baby cats, chicken and cows.

The owner of the farm, John, is american, and he lives there together with his indian wife Swetha. As they met in Auroville (a community of about 2000 people), and we heard about that place from other people too, we got curious about it, and we are thinking about going there. It's in the south-east, and we would pass it anyway - travelling from Chennai. That's one reason why we will leave the farm earlier than expected. The other reason is that we feel a bit like living in a bubble: There are not so many other people on the farm, and as we stay at the same place most of the time, we want to move on and explore!

In the town of boiled beans

Three delayed flights, two missed flights, a (probably quite expensive) cabride and half a days searching for internet is what we have accomplished so far.

Air India was riding firstclass. The food was nice and the plane had discolights during nighttime.


But: we have warm water in the mornings and India smells nice. The people are really friendly and helpful (even though they are staring at us all the time) - and the traffic is unbelievable. We always try to cross together with some local people, but when they finally reached the other side of the road, we are still waiting; astonished.

Plan for tonight: Bollywood! Simone apparently has a hidden gift for spotting cinemas. She already found three.

Plan for tomorrow: Finding the busstation and our way to the farm. We are not sure whether we'll have internet access there or not so fully enjoy this post!

Last report from Vienna

This were our last days in Europe:

Nina arrives in the evening and successfully invades the floor of Simones room before sunrise.

                                We were dancing at a french concert.

                The last evening we discovered new ways of transportation.


...and then we were walking around, drinking coffee, talking, visiting Christmas markets... and in 2 hours we are going to drive to the airport. And that's it, then. Bye, Europe!

On the way...

I guess Nina is sitting in the train to Vienna now. And I am sitting here, getting nervous. How is it going to be? What will she think of my home? How are our last days here going to be? Did I organise everything? Haven't I forgot anything?

Nina is already on her way, she said goodbye to her family and friends, she packed her bag, she took the airplane... and she met new people, a new country... for me it still seems so far away. I am leaving on Tuesday?? No way. But yes, it is true. In some days I will understand how she feels now. I hope I will. In some days we will be in the same situation again, in the same world. Until then life may be strange, discussions may be hard and thoughts may be confused. But we are leaving soon. That is for sure.

After 6 months of waiting I can finally say: We are leaving on Tuesday!!!

It's time. Nu sker e!

In two hours I am leaving Finland. I'm nervous exited and sad. All feelings possible at the same time.
First I'll visit a friend in Hungary before going to Vienna to catch up with Simone.

I really can't belive this day finally came.

Bye bye fields and forests of Ostrobothnia, my dear Pampas,
 see you in the springtime.
Hello Simone, Vienna & India.
See you really really soon!

                                                                          finished packing!

Meanwhile

Home is a strange thing to me. In a way I belong here.
The forests that are mine, driving along the roads in the middle of the night. Having stupid theme-partys
with best friends. Coffe at the only café in town. The language, the family, the smell om coffe in the kitchen every morning and homemade marmelade. The newfound lover, our language.

But.
Home is like chocolate. In small pieces it's good for your well-being and your peace-of-mind.
But too much could make you get high bloodpressure, die young perhaps, get chubby.
I am having an overdose of home right now. And I think if I can't go really soon
I am going to have a smaller mental breakdown. I need a challenge and a vacation.

Visa, vaccinations, all of that I've got it.
13 days left of work. 13 days left to freedom.
16 days left to leaving and
23 days left to adventure.

But at the moment I am just...
waiting.

Home sweet home?

Not the best picture, but this is "my" street

After a year on Strynø I finally made my way home - and arrived in Vienna about 3 weeks ago. It was a good journey, where I visited some of the people I met during my stay in Denmark.
And now, after 3 weeks of reflections, confusions and irritations I would say I feel home again. Actually it feels like I've always been here: the people, the city, the daily life.. it didn't change a lot. Vienna is a constant - maybe the only constant in my life.

So now I try to do some orientation and organisation work: I go to university, write applications, buy books about India, talk to people and yeah... I am waiting . Waiting for the next part.

Who are we? - Part II

So now I guess it's my turn to write something about my dear future-travel-companion Nina.
It's not very surprising that I don't know her better than she knows me, but I'll try my best. Actually it's quite surprising how different "our story" is from my point of view.

You know, sometimes you meet people and the first time you see them and you talk to them, you feel they're kind of special and that they could be an important person in your life. Nina was one of those, and I can't even really explain why. I just knew it. (but I wasn't expecting it to become real)

So that's why I was really surprised when we were talking about our future plans in that jazz-bar, and Nina proposed that our ways could cross at a point. And now, when I'm looking back, I'm quite surprised about how quick and how easy we decided to go (without knowing each other).

One of Ninas most important characteristics for me (one I couldn't travel without) is, that she is so uncomplicated and "nemt at være sammen med". She was never complaining about anything (me getting up early in the morning when she tried to sleep, me coming late and noisy into her room when she was trying to sleep, me asking if someone else might sleep in her room too - that means two people getting up early... ok I think you get the point) I never experienced her being in a bad mood (maybe a bit tired), or unmotivated, or unfriendly. And even though I thought I must've been a very annoying guest - she was always caring.

What else do I know about Nina? She worked as a volunteer in a social café in Copenhagen. She grew up in a little village in Finland, where she is working as a postman at the moment. She has two siblings and she makes really good sauces. She's interested in plants and her garden, and she's just started to be a vegetarian. She can be enthusiastic about things, what I really appreciate, and she always thinks that she's being cheasy when she writes something (and then I begin to ask myself if I'm cheasy too or if I just say how things are, and if they are cheasy - why not?)
I like her humour and that she's not afraid of making fun of herself, and she's curious as well.

So after writing all these things (and there're many more) I realize, that I know quite a lot of small puzzle pieces. Not a bad start. To be continued -

Simone

Who are we?

Some of you knows Simone and some of you know me; Nina. A part knew one of us a long time ago and need to cath up a bit. But nearly no-one knows both of us. So we'we decided to make a short presentation of ourselves (better late than never), or actually I'll try to present Simone for you all and I'll hope she'll find something nice to write about me later on.

hey ho let's go...

let me introduce you to Simone. Age : 7 months and 22 days older than me. Haircolour: something between blond and brown. Eyes: Kind of blue I think. Occupation at the moment: working as a volunteer at loveley Strynø in Smakkecenter. Other facts: As we wrote in the post from Strynø. We don't really know much about eachother. I know she sometimes makes jewllelry, I know she had a cat that was older than her in Vienna, I know she tried to knit but she thaught it was too boring and quit. She's the only child and back in Austria she went more to the cinema than in denmark, partly because of the price and partly because they now don't easily have access to cinemas on Strynø. She's not THAT GOOD at football but she better than she says herself.I live in the belief that she reads quite a lot and is interested in literature. I always have a lot of fun with her. I think we have the same kind of bad huomor. We met: On a EVS-seminar in Ollerup, denmark. I must say I kind of liked her from the start.This will sound cheesy but I really felt like the smalltownchick meeting the bigtowngirl, I thaught she was really cool and I felt quite uncool. Yeah this IS cheesy (and It'll get worse) I know. Simone is really tolerant against other people. I never really heard her say something bad about someone. If she for some reason been hurt by someone and wanted to say something about it, it was always in a constructive way. No shittalk.It's a feature I envy. In decemeber 2009 the cop15 was held in Copenhagen and Simone came to visit. I guess she didn't care that much about me. The biggest clima-demonstation ever for sure had bigger effect, but I remember we were sitting talking for a long time the last evening about everything and nothing. After that I told my boyfriend I wanted to be her best friend. For sure it was a statement made with a bit of sarcasm - or no, self-irony is better, and my boyfriend laughed at me. But later on we met again in CPH for another seminar. This is when we hatched the idea to go. Simone was as always- cool. She said we had to think about it and do some planning. We spended an evening laughing trying to figure out if the best way to India would be by donkey, rollerblades or bike. After this i told my boyfriend he could be happy Simone was not a boy, then I would've taken her instead.He laughed again. The sentimental point of this is that it was yeah...perhaps a bit exaggerated. But actually I kind of ment it. ( I have to work on my sentimentalside before we start blogging for real, I'm aware of that. I'll be very proffessional when we once'n for all get to India, promise)

This is how I know Simone,

Since I am starting work at 5.00 am I'll say goodnight now.

Sleep well.

/Nina

picture: simone by me. At strynø for her birthday, march -10.