I once was lost but now am found

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me...
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught...
My heart to fear
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear...
The hour I first believed.


January 18

So I've heard that when you travel with someone you really get to know them.
And one of the things I've learnt about Jono is that he sings all the time, especially when he is walking places. Even if he just makes up the words. And one of the songs he's been singing this week is Amazing Grace.
And now this is the song I've been singing out loud all afternoon.

You see today was my challenge. I was on my own. With just a map. And for those of you who know me that's probably not a great thing. I'm not the best navigator/map reader/ place finder person in the world.

All week Jono has been testing me....Do you know where we are now? Work out where in the map we are? Letting me walk past the hotel and see how far I went before I realised etc etc

So today he went off to visit his cousin and I was on my own. And because Jono borrowed my phone so he could contact his cousin, I was on my own with just a map and no phone GPS or google maps to back me up.

soooo........

test 1: found my way to market square.. READING MAP .passed

test 2: realised after walking for 10 mins that it's actually quite cold and I forgot my beanie and gloves, walk for a few more mins and decide I need to go back and get them...... BE SENSIBLE  passed

test 3: found my way back to hotel by a different route without map. ..... SENSE OF DIRECTION passed

As I set off for the second time I wandered back through the market square, through gardens and then thought I would find myself a shopping centre before going to the city wall that I was going to go and see.
(Only needed a shopping centre to get a charger for my phone and iPad as I left mine in Helsinki. Damn those early starts- we had to be at the airport at 4am so I wasn't thinking too clearly and left it plugged in at the hotel.)

Found the shopping mall quite easily. It was huge. Wandered around the three levels for an hour. Found a charger. Had a quick drink and left the shopping mall about 1.30pm.

Now that's where the problems start. I left the shopping mall by a different door, but I knew that and thought I knew where I was.
I didn't!

Headed towards where I thought the city wall was when I realised it was quite cold and maybe I would go back to the hotel for a while and then head back out, so I crossed the road and headed back in the "direction " of the hotel.

After a few blocks I was getting confused so I stopped and got out the map to double check at the next intersection.
Hmmm. It turns out the city centre map is only useful to do this with if you stay within the confines of the city centre.
Once you have wandered out of the map, then it's pretty hard to figure out which way to go.
So I kept going, turning different ways every now and then trying in vain to locate a street name.

But after having had a bit of a panic earlier this week when I got rather lost at Stockholm airport and having talked with Jono about why I'd panicked so much, I'm pleased to say I didn't panic once.

I realised I must be off the map and that I could be going further off the map. I told myself that if I couldn't figure out which way to go by 3.30 when it starts to get dark, then I'd find a taxi.

I did, however, sing Amazing Grace a lot as I walked!

When I realised I'd been walking for an hour and I saw a sign pointing to Warsaw I thought I'd better find someone to ask, but I had to walk for another 20 minutes before I found someone who could help me in English. Turns out I was way off the map, but I was pointed in the right direction and away I went. A few wrong turns and a few more right turns and I found the hotel at about 4.30pm.

I am pleased I managed to get back here without having to resort to a taxi.
I am pleased Jono took the time to pass on his map reading skills.
And my feet are very pleased to be out of my boots after 5 hours straight walking!!

It is a medieval city full of young people.

Krakow is one of my favorite places on earth. It is a medieval city full of young people. A wonderful, striking combination. Jonathan Carroll

I think this quote actually sums up Krakow really well. It is a really old city with palpable history, but it is full of young vibrant people today.

We've spent the last couple of days wandering round the streets just looking at some of the old buildings

(Jono photo bombing my attempt to take an artistic photo!)

.

 

Yesterday we spent a few hours at Wawel castle. The castle was amazing from the outside and the views over Krakow were amazing too. We went and visited a couple of exhibitions and went in a tour of the state rooms. Unfortunately the tour was rather excruciatingly boring, although Jono tried to lighten it up by asking questions about trapdoors and secret passages to the mirth of the other people on the tour and the disapproval of the tour guide!

 

 

 

 

Had to go back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta after that as my legs were VERY tired! We have walked a lot in the last couple of days!

(The view from the hotel window as the sun was setting about 3.30pm, the days are longer than Finland but the sun still sets very early!)

 

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I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

 

January 16

 

After a couple of days wandering round Krakow we went to Auschwitz yesterday..

 

My overwhelming impression was of the vastness, I didn't expect it to be as big as it is.

 

I'm not going to write much about it, it's hard to put it into words. A very sobering few hours, full of contemplation of what was, why it happened and how we ensure it never happens again.

There were some really thought provoking and disturbing exhibits. I'm not going to write about them, I'll just post a few photos

 

 

 

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“Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person

“Well, I know now. I know a little more how much a simple thing like a snowfall can mean to a person”

― Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

January 14

I wanted snow...and I sure got it.

The temperature was reasonable the first couple of days in a Finland. Around 1-3 degrees.

But we were told it was going to snow at the weekend. and snow it did. We went for a drive and small snowflakes were dropping. That was kind of exciting.

But after a bit of a rest back at the hotel, we woke up to find snow covering the ground.

That was really exciting, even if the temperature had dropped to about -5.

We tried to get the snow off the car to go out for dinner but gave up pretty quickly and stayed in for the night.

 

The next day calked for a bit of snow play before venturing out in the car again. Temperature dropping towards -8 by midday Sunday.

 

We went to visit a school on Mondays morning. Schools are locked up fairly securely and we found ourselves waiting outside for 15 minutes with lines of kids for the doors to be unlocked. Only -11 degrees!

 

 

This morning we headed to the airport to fly to Sweden and onto Poland. We left the hotel at 4am. the car told us it was-14 outside. the plane taxied to the end of the runway and then we were delayed while the wings were de-iced.

 

There is definitely something magical and special about snow. And I'm quite happy that the temperature in Poland where we are headed now is a balmy -3, rather than -14!

 

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To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change. ~Charles Horton Cooley

To get away from one's working environment is, in a sense, to get away from one's self; and this is often the chief advantage of travel and change. ~Charles Horton Cooley

 

Day 18 January 11

 

So we've been in a Finland for two days now. We've visited two very different schools in those two days. Visiting schools and looking at the school system was the draw are for visiting Finland. There's been lots in the media about the school system and how well Finland performs in international testing. Read lots on twitter about it as well.

Really interesting seeing a completely different school system, and developing an understanding both on a systemic level and at the grassroots classroom level.

I will leave the in depth comparisons for our professional school blog.

However I will say that the experience has only reinforced the fact that we are creating some pretty exciting learning back in New Zealand and at TKAS.

While I am enjoying the break away, I am really looking forward to the plans we have for developing our learning environment in 2014. I've known the learning environment we try to create and the learning opportunities we try to provide are different but I am starting to realise how special what we are doing really is on a world wide scene.

( The view from outside the hotel we are staying at, it's on a bit of an island! There's lots of little islands in Finland. )

 

Off to explore some of the Finland countryside today.

 

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The modern airplane creates a new geographical dimension.

The modern airplane creates a new geographical dimension. A navigable ocean of air blankets the whole surface of the globe. There are no distant places any longer: the world is small and the world is one. ~Wendell Willkie

 

Day 16 January 8

 

Kind of lost track of what day I'm up right now but i think this is my entry for the day January 8, although I'm writing it on January 9-Finnish time anyway!

 

So I spent the last 2 days flying and in transit. Having never flown further than Perth before I was a little unsure how this was all going to go

o I left Melbourne at 11.30am on Tuesday January 8 and arrived in Finland at 1pm on Wednesday January 9. I was in transit in China for five hours and in Amsterdam for four hours. In total it was 35 hours after I departed Melbourne when I arrived in Finland.

Thankfully someone warned me that some airports are bigger than what I might be used to. having flown from Melbourne for 10 hours, getting off the plane in China onto a packed bus which h everyone standing up holding on for their lives as the bus careened around corners in the dark would have freaked me out even more than it did had noone mentioned the possibility of buses to me.

Was starving because the meal on the plane had had peas right through it which I am not too find of!!

The only thing I could recognise in the Chinese shops at the airport were M & Ms. I bought a container but then couldn't figure out how to open them. Finally desperation won and I got it open.

My mind was blown by the size off the airport in China. The plane had to park so far away from the terminal because of all the different landing strips.

Another 13 hours on a plane and I was in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam airport was amazing.

It was like a mini city, there were lots of shops and other services. awe were loaded off into one section but when I figured out where I gad to go to depart the departures board said it was 33 minutes walk to the gate! Wow,! I didn't know that airport gates could be that far apart.

( A not very good photo out the window of my boarding gate at Amsterdam. Over the other side of the photo is another whole strip of boarding lounges. You can't really see them very well though.)

Four hours later I was on the last flight- just a small 2.5 hours to Finland.

Finland airport was small by comparison although there were still two arrival lounges? I figured out where Jono would be landing and went to that hall to wait for him.

Lots of planes came in at the same time, and heaps of people came through, but Jono didn't appear for ages. Turned out he left his phone in his rental car in Scotland and then the airlines lost his bag. He was sending me Facebook messages from his iPad but I wasn't getting them because my phone and iPad were completely flat. So after he'd waited in a long queue to report his bag missing he finally came through to the arrivals lounge.

Off we went to get the car that we had booked. Don't think the lady behind the counter understood English very well. Jono said to her it's left hand drive here isn't it and she said yes, very different for you, and he said no that's the same for us. Jono tried to ask a couple of questions about road rules but don't think she was really understanding so he just said it's ok, well figure it out!

Once we got to the apparently too "girlie" car and seeing it was left hand drive, we thought this was going to be interesting.

Of course at 4.30pm it was really dark and so the GPS was extremely useful. We got out onto the motorway and realised it was indeed not left hand driving, it was right hand driving.

Jono said he was very thankful I wasn't driving! So was I. It seems weird just being a passenger in a car driving on the other side of the road. Don't think I'd handle driving at all!

So after that excitement and taking a couple of turns too early or late and having to be re calculated and redirected we made it to the hotel.

Didn't venture any further as the 30 hours of travelling were starting to catch up with me by then! An early night was definitely in order as we had arranged to visit a school the next morning and had to be there at 9am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

getting car, getting there

 

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We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

Day 14 January 7

Well that brings my little Melbourne journey to an end.

I'm writing this at Melbourne Airport waiting to board my flight to Finland, via China and Amsterdam.

5 days in Melbourne has been awesome, packed a lot into them, but it's been surprisingly relaxing and refreshing at the same time.

 

While the rest of Australia has been sweltering in a heat wave, Melbourne was cool enough that I though I might have to go and buy a sweatshirt, until i remembered I had a whole pack for Finland back in the hotel with warm clothes in it!

Caught up with old friends and relations, not seen for many years.

 

Admired old beautiful buildings.

Shopped.

 

Had massages and facials.

 

 

Lots of nice meals.

 

a quick flutter at the casino? I put in $10 which was gone in 5 mins. ang put in $5 and 15 mins later had $70! At least our cab to the airport was now covered!

 

Went to a couple of shows.

 

Thanks for the fun 5 "sister" days Ang.

 

 

Now it's time to move on with the next part of the journey.

 

See you again in a couple of weeks Melbourne.

 

Boarding for China in 30 mins!

 

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To reminisce with my old friends, to tell our stories and to play our songs again.

To reminisce with my old friends, to tell our stories and to play our songs again. Ricky Nelson

 

 

Day 12 Saturday January 4

 

Today was spent journeying into the past.

I left Angela with a number of things to suss out for us for our next two days in Melbourne, while I travelled about an hour out of Melbourne to catch up with Brianna and Merrin.

Friends from the good old days teaching in Fiji. We reminisced on days teaching and living in Fiji and listened to each other's stories from the last ten years since we last caught up.

 

( Brianna, Merrin and Lewis at the lookout over Ballarat.)

I got to meet one of their children, Lewis, and we had a lovely lakeside lunch. I caught them up in what the 25 year old Sam they used to baby sit as a 10 year old was up to!

The time went way too fast, and I was on my way back to Melbourne. we won't be leaving it for another 10 years to catch up. Maybe we will all meet up in Fiji one day!

The journey to the past continued with a stroll and some dinner in Chinatown, heading towards Her Majesty's Theatre where we had been lucky enough to get great tickets for a live show of the musical Grease.

 

What a great way to end a journey to the past. Angela hadn't stopped smiling yet!

 

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Expect the unexpected! Live life!

 

You can't spend you day wondering what's going to happen next. That takes the thrill out of living. Expect the unexpected! Live life!

BLOG Day 11 Part 2 January 3

I guess one of the great things about going on a journey is experiencing new things and going to places where you have no idea what to expect.

Last night we went to the Dracula cabaret and restaurant show.

 

 

(Having pre dinner nibbles and cocktails in the hotel bar,Angela wearing her Dracula sweater In honour of the show we were going to.)

 

A friend if Angela's said it was a definite must do in Melbourne.

 

We expected scary.

 

What we got was really funny, with a fairly liberal amount of x-rated action thrown in!

 

But all in good spirits. Lovely Meal, very slick operation, lots of laughter and noise.

 

A bit weird at times, but that all adds to the experience doesn't it?

 

Expect the unexpected the lesson of the day! I think?!

 

 

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