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Day 77
Saturday 17Oct
1730
I took a bit of a reality check this morning. I was feeling really really crap this morning. A result of two months of abuse to my body I guess. I suppose I was feeling kinda invincible after the last course I went on before traveling overseas. My throat was really sore and my tongue felt like I’d been licking a cheese grater. I am feeling a little better now though and hopefully after another decent sleep tonight I’ll be ok to start traveling again tomorrow.
This morning was fresh. We got up a touch before 7 to try and get out the door by 8. Outside was -1degrees, the first negative temp for the winter in Graz, and I couldn’t believe how warm it was inside with no heating. But when Christian went out side for a cigarette I sure felt it!!
Sitting at the breakfast table this morning I was struggling to remember the last time I’d paid for a meal, again testimony to this couch surfing, since I got back from rome 5 days ago I’ve bought myself 1 meal. no wonder I’m spending next to nothing. Really the only thing I’m spending my money on is beer.
After finally leaving Christians we went to his Grandmothers and she was waiting for us out the front. Next stop was picking up his little sister. Christian said it was very common for his family to be always late. We were already half an hour late and his sister was not to disappoint us. We waited at his mothers house for 15 more minutes. Maybe the fact that she’s only 8years old makes it excusable.
Christians little sister is very funny, she knows a lot of English words, they tech them that at school but she doesn’t know any phrases. After a bit of prompting it didn’t stop her telling me the name of every animal on the planet, every couler in the rainbow and counting to 10 I don’t know how many times.
She also found my English very funny. And Christian told me that she’d told him many times that he was lieing to her and that I actually do speak German. As she’s not used to the accent it doesn’t seem right that I’m a native speaker.
We hit the road for Hungary at about 9ish, the drive was fairly uneventfull except for the Iron currtain crossing and the odd horse and kart on the Hungarian side of the border. It’s just like stepping back in time. There’s even road signs here indicating that the road should be shared with bikes, cars, tractors and horse and Carts.
The drive as we got closer to Hervez became a bit more chaotic. Christian drives like a German, hard, and there was pleanty of overtaking and quite close calls. I was quite suprissed at how calm his Grandma stayed in the back. Obviously used to it.
We parked in a parking lot that Christians Grandmother insisted on as it was guarded by a security guard, and walked through the town. Christain said his Grandmother hates getting her hair cut in Austria as “No body does it right” and had been coming to this one hairdresser for many years.
We left his Grandmother at the hairdresser and went to the lake for a swim. It was 7 degrees celcius outside and I was quite hesitant about getting wet. The water however was 30.7 degrees. The lake is not too wide but is over 100 m deep and is full of volcanic minerals. They recommend you don’t swim with out a tube, as many people pass out and simply sink, never to be seen again.
The change rooms were pretty funny too. It was Unisexual as a whole, but u went into a tiny cubical at the side when you wanted to change into your bathers.
We walked out the closed in pier out to the main swimming area, it’s like a big series of rooms with no floors and just walkways above the water. We dropped our gear and headed down one of the flights of stairs. The water was really nice. And the section we’de gone into was just above the where one of the main sources of heat was.
We left this section and went outside, both the water temperature and the air temperature dropping a few degrees. Outside was fantastic. Inbetween the fog coming up from the surface of the water was a heap of giant lillies. It was one of the most serene scenes I’d been in in my life. It was really beautiful, the moment being spoilt by Christians little sister deciding she’d found the perfect time to splash me. In Return I chased her with a massive Lillie leaf.
We hung out there for a while and had a bit of lunch. Next we went back into town. Christian had to get his sister back to his Grand mother in time for his massage at 1400.
(1040 18Oct)
I’m sitting on a train now with a yankee guy that Ioanna was hosting. He’s heading the same way as me so we’ll probably travel for a few days together. He’s not a bad bloke, from Boston, he’s been traveling around now for a couple of months.
While Christian had his massage yesterday I walked around town hoping to buy a few things before heading down the Balkans. But it was Saturday afternoon and nothing I really wanted was there. It was just a heap of really badly colored and cut Eastern European clothes. I did find a few pairs of shoes that I really liked, but none of them were in my size.
I went back to the Massuese at 1500. Christian left and told me that she didn’t speak any English so if I had any questions to ask him now. It was kinda funny, the massage went for 50 minutes and cost 10 Euros, about 16 Aussie dollars.
The massage was pretty funny. It was kinda odd. I’m pretty sure she was self taught but it was pretty relaxing. The bench was pretty s***ty tho. Another testament to the lack of height that most people inn Eastern Europe tend to have.
After the massage we walked around for a little longer grabbed a coffee and some marzipan figures for Christians little sister. Soon after we left. I was really really exhausted but forced myself to finish my diary in the car on the way home.
Back in Graz, Christian dropped me at his place before going to drop off his Grandmother. I grabbed some things and walked around to my previous hosts place. Where I’d left my bike (and my towel). I pushed the bike with the flat front tyre to Infeld where I worked and set about changing the tyre. In the dark. I pulled the tyre apart and realized that I had the wrong tyre. Refusing to become deflated (nice pun yeah) I kept at it and put the tyre back together. I also lined the inside of the rim with sticky tape, to try and prevent further punctures.
I set the bike back together in a record time of 15 minutes from when I pulled up to the repair station and headed off to Eheim. There Ioanna cooked and served dinner in the common room nearest her house Her, Broo and I ate while kiki sat on the lounge drinking her coffee she was being really weird. They had all thought that I was planning a really big night for my last night in Graz, I don’t know where they got that idea from, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep off my infected throat. Kiki actually got quite angry when I said I wasn’t having a big night. Or maybe that’s just kiki being complacent. She is the hardest person on the planet to read.
I left at 930 with my pack and went back to Christians to pack. My plan was to be ready to go and meet the girls in town by 1045. My self and Christian ended up leaving at 1020. It didn’t matter tho. The girls of course were running late.
We met at Hauptplatz. Myself Christian, martin, Ioanna, Broo, Kiki and two of kiki’s equally gorgeous Macedonian friends. We went up too Continuum, the bar with the water screen and had a couple of drinks. I was feeling really crook. Quite nautious especially with all the smoke getting around. So after a couple of drinks at 1230 myself and Christain left.
It was pretty weird I was really quite, I dunno, remorseful to be leaving. I’d made some really good friends here, I mean there, over the last few weeks and I probably wont ever see most of them again. I mean if I’m working there I’ll see all the locals. But I’ll only see Ioanna for a few weeks probably but Kiki will be well and truly gone by then.
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