GVN volunteers

My photos from last week unfortunately somehow disappeared off my camera, but here’s a nice group shot of last week’s rotation. Stay tuned for a proper blog post, hopefully tomorrow. (Btw, if you have questions about Haiti or volunteering, shoot me a comment and I’ll do my best to answer!)

GVN volunteers

Meine Fotos von letzter Woche sind leider irgendwie von meiner Kamera verschwunden, aber hier ist ein nettes Bild von der letztwöchigen Rotation. Ich hoffe, morgen einen richtigen Blogpost zu veröffentlichen. (Übrigens, wenn ihr Fragen zu Haiti oder Freiwilligenarbeit habt, schickt mir einen Kommentar und ich tu mein Bestes, euch zu antworten!)

First picture from Jacmel



A visit at Claude’s

Originally uploaded by Evamaria N


The internet connection here is rather slow, so I don’t think I’ll be able to upload all my photos before I’m home. But with some patience I can get the occasional photo to you – this one from last Saturday at Claude’s foundation.

Die Internetverbindung hier ist ziemlich langsam, also werd ich die meisten Fotos wohl erst von daheim aus hochladen koennen. Aber mit etwas Geduld kann ich euch doch ab und zu was zeigen – so wie dieses Bild vom letzten Samstag bei Claude’s Stiftung.

Back in Switzerland

After a long flight (well, 14 hours to London, but because they put me on a different plane in Singapore I was stuck in the middle of the row) it felt utterly surreal and see the typical Swiss rolling hills/forests/small towns combination from the window of the small plane from London. The feeling got more pronounced when I saw my mother through glass as I was waiting for my luggage and then walked out to see my family, my brother’s girlfriend and my best friend Sibylle waiting for me. They even had a self-made banner!

Then we went to my parents’ new place in a tiny village near Zurich, which is going to be my home for the next couple of months at least (I need to find a temp job while I do a proper job hunt in the UK and Ireland). It was sad that everyone except for my parents had to leave to go back to Basel in the evening, but as far as coming home experiences go, this one couldn’t have been much better! Now if only I wasn’t missing Wellington so badly…

Arrival in Switzerland Arrival in Switzerland Arrival in Switzerland Arrival in Switzerland Arrival in Switzerland Arrival in Switzerland

As always, all my photos can be found on Flickr. The rest of the homecoming photos, Australia and Singapore are collected here, New Zealand here.

Singapore, the last

In about 24 hours I’ll be home in Switzerland after about 11 months. How weird is that?

I’ve had a lovely time here in Singapore despite my nasty cold, doing shopping and eating yummy food with Amy. Also, again I managed to be here for the Lantern Festival in the Chinese Garden – this year’s topic was (oh dear…) “Hello Kitty”. Still, it was very pretty!

Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore Singapore

Singapore

Arrived in Singapore and was met by Amy last night. Unfortunately I now have a proper cold/flu and am coughing and running a temperature, in addition to some inexplainable stomach problems. Despite this I’m enjoying spending time with Amy again and we had fun shopping in the city today. Monsoon is early this year, so currently it’s raining outside.

Singapore Singapore

Also, a photo of Nancy’s lovely parents and brother in front of their house in Claremont (suburb of Perth):
Perth

Perth: Last post from down under

Leaving Australia tomorrow to head to Singapore for 3 days. I’ve had a lovelylovely time here in Perth, seriously, mostly thanks to Nancy and her awesome family, who spoiled me rotten. 🙂

More things I did here: Explored the beautiful Kings Park Botanic Gardens, visited the lovely Perth Zoo, another trip to Fremantle (or Freo, as the locals call it), a family outing down the coast, lunch with Chris and Gill from the Uluru tour and Scarborough Beach with Fiona (who I’d met on the bus to Monkey Mia) and her boyfriend. Oh, and played with Nancy’s three cute cats (Rogue, Melma and Lenny) and a lonely little dog named Alby on the way to the train station here. I might also have indulged in a little bit of retail therapy and caught a bit of a cold, which I hope will go away and stop bothering me.

Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth

As always, all photos can be found on Flickr here. And a cute little video of a monkey playing at the zoo:

Perth

On Monday I arrived at my final Australian destination, where I’m staying with my friend Nancy and her family. I’m enjoying myself a lot, and not just because I have my own room (even with ensuite bath!) and wireless internet… *g* On Tuesday I met up with Barbara (who I’d met in Broome) and we went to the pretty harbour town of Fremantle. Yesterday I explored Perth’s CBD (Central Business District) and went to see a concert – Panic at the Disco, Cobra Starship and The Academy Is… – which was awesome despite it getting quite squishy in the first few rows sometimes. Almost the best bit was that I ran into Panic’s drummer, Spencer Smith, in the street while out sightseeing. 🙂

Perth Perth Perth Panic in Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth Panic in Perth

As always, all photos can be found here. Less than a week now until I leave down under and head to Singapore for a couple of days…

Also, I discovered another little movie I made in Monkey Mia – pelicans vying for fish leftovers at sunset:

Still relaxing in Monkey Mia

All day yesterday I didn’t get internet, but now it’s suddenly working again, so I’m using the opportunity to get caught up with my photos. Staying here is wonderfully relaxing – after the dolphin feeding in the morning, all you can do is hang out on the beach, read or listen to an audiobook until a glorious sunset. I also met a few nice women here – Susie and Rebecka in my dorm room, who both volunteer here, and Shan (?) from England, who was on the bus with me. Both her and I are leaving tomorrow morning – at 4am, so that’s going to be fun, but I’m really glad I had the three days here.

Monkey Mia Monkey Mia Monkey Mia Monkey Mia Monkey Mia Monkey Mia Monkey Mia

As always, all photos are here on Flickr. Also, I made two little movies of dolphins:

Broome

My 3 days in Broome are almost over already – tomorrow it’s 25 hours on Greyhound to Monkey Mia. I met a few nice people here, including Barbara from St. Gallen and Miguel from Zürich, so I got to talk Swiss German. I’ll also be on the same bus with Frederike from Hamburg, but she’s going to Exmouth, not Monkey Mia.

It’s been a relaxing few days. Monday evening I went to admire the “Stairway to the Moon”, which was incredible – I’ve never seen a moon that big or that golden, it was almost like a sunrise… On Tuesday me and Frederike went to Cable Beach, which is all white sand and turquoise water, and in the evening Barbara and I saw “Mongol” at the open-air cinema, which has been showing movies for over 90 years. Today I went to the beach again and walked along it to a place where you can see dinosaur footprints at low tide. Unfortunately the tide had turned when I got there, but it was still a beautiful place. As always, all photos are here on Flickr.

Broome Broome Broome Broome Broome

Also, Dave sent two group shots from the Uluru tour, which our guide Mike took at Kata Tjuta:
Uluru tour Uluru tour