| Sun, 27 Oct 2002 15:25:10 -0800 (PST) VIBEKE Hello good people! VB calling! She's actually being a good girl, sitting in the comp. labs at 11 pm on a Sunday night doing assignments!!!! (I just realised it's spelled "ass-ignment" and I betcha they had a good reason to do so!!!!) Yup that's right, it's a new an improved (or was it "improvised"?) VB who's come to England heheh I actually got very annoyed when I got back FROM A WONDERFUL WEEKEND IN WALES and found my floppy disc with all my work missing so I had to come down here and re-type it... Oh well, it ought to teach me a lesson but will it?? We shall see... So how's everyone doing then? Approaching summer I assume?- NOT FAIR! I'm already sick of this (/&%* rain and it hasn't even started for real yet! Otherwise I'm doing well thou- uni, my friends (I pay them well heheh) and football (soccer that is) are keeping me very busy so I cant complain... OKIDOKES, just a little hello from me since I know you're all at work enjoying yourselves like always d; Do write back when you've got the time and take care ya? MIss y'all lots'n'lots!!!! Love always, Vibs |
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| Sat, 12 Oct 2002 07:04:08 +0000 BROOKE When I first started to tell people I was moving to Darwin I was generally greeted with three responses. 1. �Darwin�..great place to live, you�ll love it.� And who wouldn�t? As the local paper informs me, Darwin is a multicultural melting pot of over 100, 000 predominately young, predominately transient people. People come for a visit and stay for a lifetime. 2. �Brooke, you are the LAST person on EARTH I would have ever expected to move to DARWIN!� Yes, my thoughts exactly. An example. We have geckos that live around the house. We also have louvred windows. The other evening whilst opening said louvred windows I discovered a cheeky little gecko with its eye on me. �Look Dan�, I said, �the little gecko likes me.� Upon closer inspection I realised that only one eye was looking at me, the other was, well, missing. Its little head also appeared to be at a curious angle. �Umm�.Dan, I think there is something wrong with this gecko�. I had, in fact squashed the little geckos head in the window. I made Dan throw said gecko over the fence, him laughing, me hysterical at the thought of icky crushed gecko head. Dan is now solely responsible for the opening and closing of windows, as well as taking the garbage out. 3. �What about the weather?� It�s hot, damn hot. Sunburn not a problem; far too hot to spend any time in the sun. And moist, did I mention it is moist. After my first game of basketball my face stayed bright red for an hour. I was teased with taunts of �southerner, southerner�. I�ve only now cut back to a sensible two showers per day. And so it is that I found myself almost 3 weeks ago standing (sweating) at the beginning of an outback adventure. The airport pick-up wasn�t quite as romantic as I had envisaged (Dan now knows to greet people at the gate not the luggage carousel, praise mobile phones.) I live in Berry Springs, 80km from Darwin. Mail isn�t delivered but you can send it to the local petrol station. Woollies is about 20 minutes away, a choice between Coolalinga and Humpty Doo (yes, there really is a place called Humpty Doo). My car of choice is a Land Rover Defender ute. We have a mango tree and a vege patch and some chooks in the backyard. Our swimming hole is a natural spring surrounded by pandanus. But you can�t swim there in the wet because of crocs. Dan jumps the fence and tottles off to work each day � the new Territory Wildlife Park pin-up boy, his face plastered all over ads on telly. A woman even recognised him at the petrol station the other day (much to his delight). So far I�ve seen bird shows, a pelican feeding and wandered (very slowly) through the air-conditioned aquarium. I�ve even touched a croc*. Darwin - the good, the bad, the ugly and the odd The good There is a friendliness and openness amongst the people here - a real community feeling. Our neighbours are lovely. The food is good, and there are markets everywhere selling great, cheap stuff And there is no traffic. The bad There is nothing like waking up after a good nights sleep with BO. Or getting 10km down the road before remembering you forgot to put on deodorant. It is not unusual for me to gag placing Dan�s work clothes in the washing machine, or simply walking behind members of the community less dedicated to hygiene. The ugly Territorians don�t mind a drink of an evening. And they certainly don�t let the drive home from work delay a cold beer. Cars are air-conditioned, the seats comfortable, music in the background � the perfect drinking environment. At the local pub (BYO stubbie holder) the other night, Dan and I witnessed a kind husband carrying his very intoxicated wife to the car to be taken home. Or did we? Kind husband simply placed wife in the car and returned to the pub for a few more before they drove home. And the odd This is a people obsessed by iced coffee. Americans have coke, Jamaicans have rum, Eskimos have ice. The Territorians have iced coffee. And not just any iced coffee, but �The Territory�s own Pauls iced coffee�. You have to be lucky to find a choccy milk amongst the endless shelves of iced coffee. You�re dreaming if you think you can find a strawberry. Thanks to everyone for your kind wishes before I left. They really do mean an awful lot to me. If you want to ring my home phone is 08 8988 6987. Love Brooke * a juvenile freshwater crocodile being held firmly by Dan with its mouth taped shut |
| Hello hello good people! VIBEKE How are we all?!?!?! Me? Well I'm finally in England, something which is quite hard to believe- It seems like forever since I applied and here I am, sitting at an internet cafe in Guilford, YAEY! I arrived yesterday around noon and my superwonderful friend Dave came to pick me up at Heathrow which of course saved me a LOT of hassle! He took me to the university to drop off my stuff and after a 5 minute inspection of my room (it's not too bad...) we took off again to have a look at Guilford and then to his brother's place for a meal and a round at the pub with his friends to "inaugurate" me into British living :0) (Haven't met Dave's wife Karin and their son yet as they're in Switzerland at the moment) I'm so happy I've got some local friends- it's great! Today I've had a look around the university and I must say I'm quite impressed! It's huge and there are posters for welcoming parties and meetings and what-not everywhere so yes, 'tis very exciting times indeed! I'm also trying to sort out a few details with regards to opening bank accounts, buying kitchen utensils, FOOD etc etc so it's good, really, that I arrived a couple of days early, even if I never got to catch up with Aussies Kathleen and Ronnie :o( (I just missed them by 2 days...) Guilford is beautiful as well- typical English some might say but me loves the cobbled, narrow streets and old buildings and the whole atmosphere- in fact you should all come and have a look for yourself! Right well I should get going but should any of you need to get hold of me my contact details are as follows: Address: Vibeke Simensen Cathedral Court University of Surrey Guilford GU2 7JH UK Tel: (From the UK) 08702820429 then from abroad it's +44 8402820429 I haven't got a mobile number YET, but I'm working on it. OKIDOKES, this'll be it from me for now. Do keep in touch- I think about all alot and will try to keep you updated as often as I can. Hope you're all well and good like me! And for those of you here in the UK- can't wait to see you SOOOON! Tah Tah! Vibeke |
| James Hows it hanging DARREN Long time no see. Everything is fine in my neck of the woods, my little boy Zane is powering on. He is 17 months old now but thinks he is 20 years old. He is getting stubborn, like his mother. How is all the family. Fine I hope. Anyway that e-mail you sent me, you may have to send it again as I did not get the attachment with it. How is work going. Still with us or have you moved to greener pastures. OK customers have come in so I will have to go but give us a buzz one day in the not too distant future and we can have a chat. My number is 95514535. |
| Hey Hey, well by now u've probably landed in lovely Canada, thats if there was no delays with ur flight....was it a good flight? lots of bumps? haha i got that email u sent me, thanks and i'll be sure to check out what ur upto with ur gruelling schedule!!! i hope u have a great time away, and enjoy some sunshine cause it is freezing and raining here. well i haven't got anything much to write, cause u only just left, so i'm gonna go back to bed and try and finish this great book that i'm reading at the moment, u know when they say u get a good book u can't put it down, well i literally can't put this book down..... i hope ur well, and i'll write again soon take care love always sammy |
| I will translate Jules message for everyone; I Julian "Olive" Kurath invite Ben "fastcarnewsnowboard" Costantini, Jordan "stickysheets" Tang, James "shitinmypants" Okeefe, to my farm on the weekend. Although I have to do some work, you are all free to come and have a huge one and wreck my farmhouse and machines. MARK BAKER |