Crossing Oceans

B and I keeping warm

I opened my eyes this morning and didn't have to think twice to realize I was back in the tropics, it's growing on me. Monkeys instead of foxes, sweat instead of shivers, dresses instead of jumpers and rice instead of bread. I'm back in Asia! Stepping out the plane doors the familiar sticky heat blew over us, and the layers of clothes that I'd been wearing was slowly minimized. My eyes couldn't focus on one position due to sleep deprivation, climactic shock and a crazy week that involved a few brain numbing activities. I dragged my luggage along behind me, with no sense of self-conciousness after a 15 hour flight, only to hear my name called by a recognizable voice - 'shit.' I thought.  I turned around to a beaming familiar face, and her brother - She'd been sitting 2 seats behind me for 7 hours, and we hadn't seen each other once. My immediate response was 'what the fuck', that came out slightly louder than expected, only to be received by dirty looks from all the conservative Muslim women in burqas that surrounded us. To my relief, we all looked as bedraggled as each other, and it only served for more delirious laughter. The 14 hour flight was not something I'd wish to repeat, non-stop crying (by both myself and the 2 babies sitting in front of me), no sleep, delays, a hectic 10 minute transfer period, food that tasted like it'd come out of a clinical trial, uncomfortable seats and never mastering the right temperature.. but I'm here, safe and sound (much to the surprise of my entire extended family that for some reason, had their doubts..)

See the double halo?

Where to start, can I first congratulate everyone for 'surviving' the apocalypse!  I was so intent on feeling some sort of change occur at 11.11 on 21/12/12 but when I looked at the clock it was already 13 past - oh well. I was browsing Facebook yesterday though and on a group that I'm a part of called 'Catalysing Change' there was a post that explained what causes the 'halo around the moon'; apparently it's "caused by pencil-shaped ice crystals in cirrus clouds that bend moonlight. On Dec. 21st, Harald Edens of Magdalena, New Mexico, witnessed a double halo as seen in this photo. The inner 9-degree halo is caused by ice crystals in the shape of pyramids" - If you don't know the significance of pyramids, please do a bit of research, It's fascinating. But my point is, though I didn't see any profound physical change, at least someone did?

Grooving with my favourite boy
in the beer garden

The last week has been the craziest of my life. It was a familiar feeling that my grade had experienced post-graduation. Having to see each other as much as possible, attend everything that was going on and leave no time to breathe for 'FOMO' (fear of missing out) - only to suffer the consequences later. I remember having a conversation with my mum about this ages ago, because after about a week of the craziness, when it has died down slightly and your body has a minute to recuperate, the suffering begins. Why that happens is common sense, but what I found difficult to understand, was how your body can keep pushing when you know there should be a limit. In spiritual terms we call it 'ancestral energy' - it's like the core storage space that draws energy from 'our ancients' if you will for when we really need it, during illness or dire situations etc.. not when our body's can't handle too many substances or late nights out, which is where it can be wasted. Woops, the consequences aren't proving to be too fun.

Typical.

To summarize a week in a sentence: Party-crashing for free drinks by the Thames, Civilized dinners by candlelight in caves being served red wine and cheese, regressing to our youth with drunken nights on southbank in playgrounds, arcades and Japanese restaurants,  shivering on Hampstead heath watching psychedelic vibrating trees and London's reflection on an invisible lake, grooving to tunes in the beer garden in winter wonderland, farewell lunches with friends and family and raving in ecstasy under tube stations to deep dub with an eclectic mix of all my closest friends. It's been a sleepless adventure that I wouldn't give back for the world - they say living with someone makes or breaks your friendship, and M. - as best friends since day zero, I reckon we can say we've achieved success.. So the alarm went off 2 hours after bedtime and after a few kicks to turn it off, I scrambled the last of my things together, leaving a trail behind me of course, to jump into the taxi and head to Heathrow airport terminal 4. 'Christmas is coming, Christmas is coming' could be heard softly on the radio as I nodded off, only to be woken (what felt like) a minute later when we'd arrived. The recent loss of my debit card meant I had to actually pay attention to where my money was and what I was spending, so I bought the usual duty-free chocolates for the family, a couple of locks for my bag, and a coffee to keep my brain mildly active, counting the pennies as I went. The water-works soon started and I'd switched from the normal'ish looking teenager, to an exasperated mess.. that went on for longer than I would've liked..

Love for J in Trafalgar square

I gazed out of the small oval airoplane window that was cold from the high altitude.. The stars above doha twinkled in scattered clumps and before my eyes closed again, I felt like one of them. Stars appear on clear dark nights and leave when the sun comes up, always temporary but always there. The instability of my life at the moment feels immense in both a good and bad sense - the on-flight crew definitely picked up on it as my blanket got wetter and wetter with tear stains - but tonight wasn't about keeping up appearances as I slunk back to sleep in DLD trackies and a comfy hoodie - the best way to fly. I only managed to watch one movie 'L'amour dure trois ans' (love only lasts 3 years) that felt quite appropriate given that nothing seems to stay the same for long, but it's a good one to watch - not your typical Hollywood romcom.

The end of the world party <3

The stars faded and Kuala Lumpur showed it's face in the light of the dawn - driving along the highway chatting to our sweet taxi driver felt surreal, returning to the familiar after having experienced 6 months of different is an odd sensation. I was sat down in McDonald s before arriving home, for a cup of coffee with Z. our taxi man, because apparently 'my eyes had to be slightly more open when I greeted the family'. My heart rate increased as the caffeine rush kicked in, and we zoomed past the twin towers, school, our local roti cannai stall, up the hill, into the rainforest and through the gates to our house, to be greeted by an emotional family of three - how I'd missed them. The next few hours are a little bit of a blur, I know it involved swimming, a few more coffees, a light lunch and a social dinner in a scrambled order, and then my head hit the pillow, and all I saw was stars, until a very loud "STOCKING TIME" could be heard, making it's way into my room. My 13 year old brother dragged everyone into bed, as we opened our stockings in delirium and fed off his contagious excitement. My stocking mainly consisted of bits and bobs for travelling, lots of yummy chocolates and a bit of make-up -- Santa, you did me well. After a light hearted christmas jam (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8NeUGA0An0) I got on the Irish coffee's while dad began scrambling eggs to be served with buttered toast and smoked salmon - a Chrimbo must. Handel played in the background and the Christmas spirit continued throughout the day as we opened presents, socialized with friends over a big Christmas turkey and ham and gorged with minced pies and christmas pudding that were drowned in brandy butter, clotted cream and haagen daz ice cream... that will last for the next week. 

Family.

Family skype sessions on both side commenced as dusk approached, and we ran back and forth between the two computers to send our love to kin across the universe. The day wound down with a session by our pool, breathing in the KL night, and a few other things, with old friends and music - suddenly it didn't feel so strange any more  a friend described the sensation as 'having the pause button switched to play after 6 months of living different lives'. I miss London, the people and the fun, but KL has a few adventures of it's own that we're all ready to take on - expectamus in antecessum. 

Recipe of the day: Devils on horseback (our christmas classic)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/mar/27/nigel-slater-devils-horseback-classic

Oh dam

Pretty Canals

Haha, hey Amsterdam

Sitting on the carpet in my friends apartment in the centre of Amsterdam I can hear the church bell tolling and feel the temperature dropping. The bell rings every 15 minutes so it just becomes light and cheery background noise after the initial irritation passes. We're conveniently situated in the centre of dam, right next to the red light district, lovely coffee shops and gorgeous art galleries so we have sex, weed and art at our doorstep, perfect getaway. I'm here staying with a girlfriend for a little break from the madness that is London. I've been surprised by a few things since I've been here 1) not many people actually speak English. The one downfall of not being bi-lingual :s, so navigating my way through platforms and stations that all had kooky names wasn't too easy - thankfully I'd been given directions, all of which were perfect except the spelling mistake of the house number '85' instead of '58'. This lead to some rather exasperating conversations with neighbours that didn't understand a thing I was saying, and those that did were telling me what I refused to accept 'there's no house number 85 around here'. But despite the slight confusion I eventually made it safe and sound. The second thing that surprises me is the not so lackadaisical attitude towards weed. I expected to walk around with fumes of spliff drifting through the air and joints casually being rolled next to the pretty canals, but as I was told by my friend yesterday, that's really not what goes on. Police roam the streets fining public smokers or people with (a rather unlikely amount) >9g in possession, and the frowned upon image of teenage stoners,  is still frowned upon. But it's a fair system that I think should be adopted by more countries, the novelty isn't present if it's so readily available, the coffee shops swarm with tourists, not locals - and the government makes money off us all! The laws are changing, but I doubt they'll last.

Bicycle traffic

Before I came to Holland all I imagined were flat grounds and copious bicycles, and the stereotype rings true! It's so lovely though, I feel a lot more inclined to move out of the way when I hear a bell ring for a bicycle to get passed me as opposed to a loud horn and a bulky convertible. It also adds to the freshness of the air - here you feel like you're actually taking in more oxygen compared to London where the air can be stifling.
Speaking of breathing I learnt an interesting fact the other day -- to 'inspire' or to breathe in, is the root of the concept of inspiration. And if you think about it, when you're inspired you take a deep breath in amazement or admiration for the person, place or thing and you therefore gain something of value. I love looking at the etymology of words, it adds a whole new layer to something that was once flat ground - a bit like Holland, ha.

The second bell just tolled and I'm rocking side to side slightly, trying to keep my eyes open in my fairly delusional state. Over the passed three weeks I don't feel like I've had 1 proper nights sleep and last night didn't help. Flights in the early hours of the morning used to excite me more than anything. Getting up when it's pitch black to go on an adventure somewhere in the world gave me butterflies. But now nothing could be worse than waking up in the cold darkness, and attempting to function well enough to catch your flight on time. I decided against having 3 hours of sleep because that groggy feeling is almost worse than not sleeping at all. And I've come to realize the danger of this - I'd be staring at a painting to realize that the painting wasn't actually spinning in circles around me but when my eyelids had closed for the last blink in-between my nonsensical thoughts, had lasted longer than a few minutes and I was now dreaming. I managed this by setting an alarm every half an hour, much to the annoyance of whoever was sitting next to me but sacrifices had to be made. So now the endless days of not giving my body its 8 hours of sleep is catching up with me, and by 6pm, or after a puff on a joint, my eyes are droopier than the image to the right..

An old friend!

I had to slightly gather myself together and make an effort to socialize with a friend that I hadn't seen in a few months - he introduced me to my first coffee shop, that was by far the best - "Relax" (Binnen Oranjestraat 91013 HZ). I walked in and was sucked into the trip - crystals growing out of the tables, trippy colours and paintings all over the walls and images of eyes made out of beautiful stained glass. I enjoyed the experience while it was still a novelty, it was the strangest thing ordering weed from a menu over the counter and it being OK! You literally choose your strains off a menu, and a communal vibe of rolling and smoking. Looking around me as my head was floating into space I held onto the crystal to ground me and ensure my whole body didn't float off. It was so strange looking around me and wondering whether everyone else was feeling the same when their external appearance looked 100% normal.. besides the red, droopy eyes and the giggles. 

Pies..

It didn't take too long before our stomachs were rumbling and we made our way to the only English food joint that I knew in the area 'Pieminister' - I've figured out the reason why McDonalds, Starbucks etc etc are all so succesful are because no matter where you are, you always know what to expect of the ambiance, the menu, the music etc. it's always guaranteed so it makes people feel comfortable and 'at home'. That's how I felt in the pieminister, surrounded by Dutchies but yumming down a spinach, sundried tomatoes and feta pie with mushy peas and gravy made me feel right at home :) -- Mm so far Amsterdam, you've served me well. 



Recipe of the day: Feta, tomato and spinach pie 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4540/crispy-greekstyle-pie-