Saturday, December 28, 2013

Thank you & Merry Christmas

Dearest Chia

Thank you for your birthday wishes! I really really loved the photo! I ended up saving it on my phone and used it as my wallpaper!

My birthday was a nice day. I was still sick and so I was tired and nauseous but I still managed to walk around Innsbruck in Austria.

It's funny, because I'm overseas, my birthday (which is usually a big thing for me) didn't feel so big. In fact it just felt like any other day, until I got the messages from friends and family.

So besides spending time in Innsbruck for my birthday, we also spent Christmas there. Christmas was quite sweet. We found ourselves a 'Christmas tree' to put presents around it. Here's the before shot:





Here's the after wrapping shot:



It was a nice relaxing in the hotel room styled Christmas. There was no snow, but we had mountains and we also watched Christmas movies with snow in it. :)

So I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! I can't wait to hear about your Christmas!




Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Wherever you are...

Always there for me
Now she is travelling to places she has
Never been and making new friends
And I would like to say...

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Four days left

Third time lucky!

Just lost my other two posts!

I've been busy with school concert, reports and graduation and it has just been mayhem. I'll be glad when the year is over. Four more teaching days but I know I'll miss it when it's all over.

Just a glimpse of what else had been happening last week or so.

I received your postcard from Vatican City. Aw.. Wish I was there too!

I woke up one morning with a spider on my pillow. It didn't bother me that I never caught it. Perhaps that's what living in the country does to you.

I had a lovely dinner at that cafe I took you to when you were in Narrogin. I had lamb , carrot mash and pomegranate. Presented very suitably to the Christmas season.









Saturday, December 7, 2013

Waiting to leave Florence

Hi Chia!

As promised, trying to blog little bits and pieces here and there. We are waiting to leave the apartment to go to the train station to head off to Vienna, Austria!

We are taking the sleeper train and we have a room for 4 people. So I am curious who will be bunking with us tonight!

So it's arrivederci for now!









Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Florence, Italy

Hi Chia!

I am so happy that you received the postcard and bracelet!

I was getting anxious thinking that it may have gotten lost or something!

When I bought the bracelets, I was looking for something that was distinctively Turkey/Istanbul but something that was subtle enough to wear out in Perth!

So, I've been a little slack on blogging here, I am so sorry. I am trying to blog on both here and the travel blog with Kev and admittedly, majority of the blogging time has gone on the other page.

I've been thinking that I will try and focus the blogging on here for the small things that amuse me, and perhaps some more personal insight on what's happening in my mind.

The trip so far has been interesting. That being the word. I feel as if days go by in a blur at times, and admittedly, there are days where I don't even realise I'm traveling (which is bad). However, the one thing that remains consistent is that I don't feel ready to return back to Perth. There is something out here. I can weirdly feel it. But for some reason I do feel like there is something holding me back from getting there.

I am in this transition period where I just don't know what's going to happen next in my life. I have some idea how I would like things to go, but for most days, I don't feel in control of what's happening so far. It's a little frustrating admittedly. But oh wells.

On a brighter note, here are some happy snaps for you as requested! The weather is getting colder (though so far the last few days have been pretty 'warm', that being, warmer than Rome!).

First glance at Florence!

Yay! I'm in Florence!

A notebook that I purchased today!

I had to make note of where I bought this notebook! :)

I constantly wish you were here! It would be so awesome exploring the art galleries, eating gelato, discussing how beautiful it is, and how we would be if we were here in Florence back in the day when the city started to emerge!



Monday, December 2, 2013

All the way from Istanbul

Aw Anna!!!! Thank you for the postcard and gift! I LOVE IT! I love how dainty it is and the lucky charms are just gorgeous. Perfect gift too because I'm in need of some luck.

I know we do chat a lot but it's a real treat to know you're thinking about me and taking the time to write and post something. I wish I could do the same for you. But I'm so envious that you have the freedom to be anywhere you want to. I really hope you enjoy it as much as you can and truly satisfy as much of that wanderlust you have.

Of course if I were with you we'd be partying and having the time of our lives. Ibiza comes to mind. I wish with all my might that in this moment I could be teleported to Florence with you. I loved Florence as much as I loved Istanbul but for different reasons. Florence gave me beautiful memories that I shared with my parents. The memories of strolling down cobbled streets, deciding on our flavours of gelato, shopping for leather bags... I am very happy to hear you're having some extra time in Florence and just taking it at an easy pace.

I do hope you post more photos. I can't get enough of seeing your smile! You look very cute in your winter outfit. Such a contrast to weather to Maldives.

The photos of Santorini are just stunning! I adore the architecture and choice of colour. It seems to be the perfect romantic destination.

And yes, one day we'll have to do a holiday over again. Who knows? We could be having hamams together or feasting our eyes on hot Turkish men... The thought makes me want to stop spending frivolously on clothes and such and channel it towards an Anna and Chia travel fund :p

Well my day today was rather unexciting. Monday's are a struggle and it became better thanks to you :)

I was in Perth briefly for the weekend and that was lovely. Saw familiar faces and caught up with a friend that's soon to be a mum!

Well that's it from me. It's been busy and there's no stopping just yet. Take care and happy travelling Anna xxx





Sunday, November 24, 2013

Buongiorno Rome

Hello Chia!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post on here. I've had very little internet access lately!

I thought that since I've just arrived in Rome that I could do a short post!

My time on the cruise has been a lot of fun. The food was delicious and plentiful, and the tours were a lot of fun. It was great to not have to think about anything. However, I missed the flexibility of independent travel, and I was soon sick of being full all the time!

Anywho. On the cruise we stopped in various ports in Turkey, and in Greece!

Here's a sneaky preview of Greece:

Me in Santorini

In Mykonos

Greece was wonderful, but the experience was so quick that I can't even remember being there.

I definitely think it's a place I would like to return to!

In the meantime, I am enjoying Italy, the Italians and wishing you were here with me! I can soooo imagine us tearing up the place just like in Spain!

Miss you heaps!!!! :)


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Tiny teddies and my first Christmas card for the year

Well here I am on a Saturday night, too tired to do anything. Not that there is much to do in Narrogin. I've spent the day doing reports and it's going to be the same thing tomorrow.

My mind keeps wandering to other things like when I'll get to dip into the ocean.

It was hot today and so I had an ice cream topped with Tiny Tedies. Half coated in chocolate of course. Felt a little silly but it was yum. Did you know I was once addicted to Tiny Teddies?

My eating habits are going downhill. I haven't bothered to cook properly for a while. Tinned tuna is my very convenient source of protein and is a staple paired with vitawheat or corn thins.

Gosh life is sounding a little dull when there's no travels in the horizon. I'm eagerly waiting to hear your travels as usual. I'm going to start wishing you wifi everyday. I know you should really be enjoying and immersing yourself in your surroundings, but I'm selfish :))

Well Christmas and a few important birthdays are just around the corner ;)

Bless this child in my class. Gave me my first Christmas card. I've noticed that whenever a kid writes something personal for me, I have to refrain from becoming a spelling Nazi and focus on the message instead. It's a sweet one especially from this particular child. However it bugs me it's not 'you're'. Haha!





Monday, November 4, 2013

Thinking of you

Hi Anna

How I miss you! Short MSGs through watsapp aren't enough. I want to know everyyyyyything about your trip right down to every second.

I hope you're enjoying Istanbul. I wonder what you'll think of the bazaars and the extraordinary flavours and abundance of Turkish delight. And the mosques such as Sophia Hagia and of course Topkapi Palace!!! I wish I was there today. Haha! In fact I wish I was anywhere but here.

Ah such is life. I'm drowning in school work now that it's the end of year. There's just too much to be done. Where has the year gone? It's been a long time since I've done anything creative or even completed a novel. I've been making a list of things I want to do when it's the holidays.

Below is one of them. First time I saw this cardboard sheep shelf in a shop I knew I wanted one. The shop had display items in between but I thought it would be a very fitting shoe rack.

After my second visit to the farm I knew that I'd have to have this or make it since really, it's only just cardboard slotted in together.

Anyway who knows when I find time.. . For now I'll leave you with some pics of the country life!

Take care and I'm sure I dont need to remind you to have fun and soak up all that culture xxx

Photos of the farm, shearing shed, freshly shorn wool, me climbing a harvester














Saturday, October 12, 2013

Chillin in the Maldives with MWSRP

Hey Chia!

Love the photo of you mixing music! What a dj!

It must have been great to catch up with friends over good food!

Things here in the Maldives have been pretty awesome, I've been slowly getting used to sea sickness which is a big plus. I can now ride the Dhoni without needing to fight off the urge to purge. However, I still feel nauseous at times and still get land sickness (swaying).

I've been learning heaps about whale sharks, the ocean, people in the industry and about myself too. I really enjoy chatting about the importance of conservation with the MWSRP team and they have wonderful ideas and experiences around this area. I also enjoy hearing their active lives. They all have been well travelled and live each day on the basis of living simply and sustainably.  I feel my mind expanding each day.

Time out on the boat for hours on end is great thinking time. It really has made me appreciate living and being in the moment and not being caught up on things like money and material things. I didn't think I was too materialistic before (except for my passion for gadgets) as I really paid attention to the small things in life, but I think that now, living out of a suitcase, wearing the same icebreaker shirt every day and being able to wash it every night, as made me really reconsider all the stuff I have. Like really, do I need 30-50 different tops etc?

I have 4 quick dry button down tops from mountain designs, however, I still find myself just washing my icebreaker top at night to wear it for the next day. I love the feel of the fine merino wool, it's stretchy, and I like the colour. No one judges here. :) I'm considering sending 2 of those tops back home so I just have 3 tops when we go to Europe.

You were so right about packing light. The guys at MWSRP were impressed at how light Kev and I had packed, however, I wanna make myself lighter. I think I did pretty well except for the shirt and for the toiletries department. I packed my Biotherm face washes, and they at so much weight. I never use them here too... Hrmmm

Anywho, here's a photo to leave with you. It was taken by Alissa and is of Chris, Kev and I (volunteers) and Neal (another MWSRP team member) on the staff beach at the Conrad Rangali.



Tuesday, October 8, 2013

End of holiday

Hi Anna!

I want to swim with whales and walk around Male! Sounds like you're having a blast.

I love holidays like that. But in Jakarta it's all about eating, walking around malls and spending too much time in TimeZone with the kids.

We're heading back home this evening. Traffic is usually bad in Jakarta but hopefully it won't take us too long to get to the airport.

Anyway here are some highlights, which mainly consisted of eating and catching up with old friends.

Oh and there were mirrors everywhere in the apartment building lobby and lift. It was like a theme park!











Saturday, October 5, 2013

First day in the Maldives

Hi Chia!

So a quick post on our first day in Male.

We woke up feeling exhausted, the time difference was a bit of a challenge (we are 3 hours behind Perth), however we got ourselves up and out of bed.

Here are some pics.

Our view from the balcony:




Male all flagged up with political fever. When we arrived last night, our taxi actually ran into a protest. We has to reverse out of the street. We were pretty safe and we got to our hotel soon after.







Some cool street art.



The AMAZING WATER! This is the water in the harbour; you know, where there is usually murky water with junk everywhere and rotting seaweed? Not in the Maldives! It's turquoise blue!




Kev and I had a free arvo and I asked him if he was willing to help me achieve my weird goal to walk or run around a whole island. He didn't hesitate to accept the challenge. We ended up walking for about an hour and 15 minutes to finish a complete loop around the island of Male.



We were super proud of our walk! I was gloating at accomplishing this mission!




The walk allowed us to appreciate things that other tourists wouldn't see, like where the army stay, where the landfill is placed, volleyball courts!, a lap and paddle pool created in the ocean by the locals so that they could swim!

We are now chilling in our room and are going to rest up as tomorrow we take the seaplane to the Maldives Whale Shark Research Program (MWSRP) base and start our volunteer role!

I'll try to blog when we get Internet access, however, I do not know how frequent that will be!

Good morning Male!

Our first glance of Male this morning!





Friday, October 4, 2013

Surprise award!

Hi Chia!
Oh my god! So something awesome has happened! I've been dying to tell you, but I was waiting till it was announced officially.

On Monday or Tuesday night (my days are blurring now) I received an email from the Directr team. I've been getting emails from them because I had issues with uploading films so I didn't think much about it. However, I was overwhelmingly surprised when I saw the subject line:

'Congratulations! You are Directr of the week!'

I had no idea what this was about, but as I read the email I realised that it was a pretty awesome thing. They have a blog on their website and they interviewed me so that they could write about my films and include some fun and interesting facts about me.

I was and am still so very stoked! I started making the films because it was just so fun seeing things that I imagine in my head come to life! I also thought it would be a great way to keep my creativity up and keep my mind thinking of film ideas/acting approaches/possible scripts to write.

I also loved that I could choose the songs to play over the films. I spend a lot of time listening to songs to find the right mood and lyrics to match the overall emotion and impression in the film.

I guess I am so very chuffed that my efforts were recognized! I didn't expect that! It was more of a personal thing :)

Any who the link to my interview is here:
http://blog.directr.co/directr_highlight/directr-of-the-week-anna-sasson/

Also, while in transit in Singapore, I made another film:
http://directr.co/m/4vv6k3

Kev and I are now in KL airport. It's 5.21pm and we have been here since 2pm. Our flight to Male is at 8.45pm. Aaaaaahhh! A few more hours to go!!!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Haircut

Selamat Datang!

Hope your having a wonderful time in Jakarta! My memories of Jakarta include, Pondok Indah Mall (PIM), Blok M, and that noodle house across the street from Blok M!

Just a few hours away from you, Kev and I have been having fun the Singapore attractions such as the Zoo, Night Safari and Universal Studios!





After universal studios, my hair was really annoying me. I had a cut last Friday actually, and I thought it was ok, but after a few days, I realised it was annoying me; it was flat, heavy at the bottom and made me look super chubby. So I got it cut again, and dyed it darker too.





I quite like it now! Now it's got body! And it does it's own thing instead of just being flat and boring. Haha!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Hi from Jakarta

Hehe...

Both of us are abroad!

Landed in Jakarta early this morning. Luckily the flight wasn't full and I had whole three seats to to lie down. However the ungodly departure time of 220am means that I'm still sleep deprived.

So it's been nearly three years since ive been to Jakarta. The first thing to hit me is the humidity. Then I notice how smoggy it is. And on the way to my friend's apartment I am reminded of just how chaotic this city is. The old with the new. Nothing is orderly. I am reminded how skilled the drivers are, weaving in and out with motorbikes pushing through every inch of space between vehicles. And it's all so fascinating!

I am looking forward to spending my days eating, shopping, eating and repeat. Yep, it's one of those types of holidays. :)

Day and night view from the apartment





Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Hello from Singapore

Your post really made me nostalgic! It's true! So much time as passed since we started this blog and you were off on your adventure! You were leaving and I was sad. I felt like you were moving forward and I felt like I was stuck in my job and in life.

I was sent to the airport by my parents. It was sad to say goodbye to them, but for me, if they were not at the airport, it wouldn't be the same. Haha. They've always sent me off!






Our flight on jetstar was far from relaxing. We barely got any sleep and when we arrived in Singapore at 5am, little did we know that we wouldn't be sleeping till 1am the next day!

Because checkin was at 2pm, Kev and I decided to walk around Singapore and find some food. We walked a good 15km and had sore achey feet by 3pm. We then had a quick nap before meeting up with Jnet and Darryn for dinner.

We ate so much... Oh my god. So much.









:)

Today we are off to the zoo!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

You'll be skipping

Anna,

I am wondering what you are doing now and imagining all the feelings that you would be having this moment. It's not hard to imagine because I vividly remember being at the airport, London bound, April 2011.
 
Feeling a little sorry for myself because I'm all alone. Feeling uncertain because I've never been to London. Feeling sad because I made friendships that I didn't want to end. Feeling lost because I didn't know where I belonged. Not having a place to stay, not knowing whether I would find work, not knowing anyone, not knowing what will happen.  And the more time I sat there by myself, and the closer I was to being on that plane, I realised, I knew absolutely nothing!!!

The unknown. That part is the most terrifying. But soon enough, or perhaps you've already realised it, that even though NOTHING is guaranteed,  ANYTHING IS possible! You plan flights and accommodation, but what you won't be able to plan, is the best part. The wonderful people you'll meet and the memories you'll have. Some of your best memories will be like shooting stars. They'll   fall out of nowhere and leave you mesmerised. If I know you well, you won't just leave a trail. You'll be skipping with glee and merriment as you leave that trail.

So it's you that will be in Singapore reading this blog this time around. And it's this blog that I'm grateful we've started.  As quoted from your first ever blog to me, things you said that seems fitting for me to copy and paste for you this time around.

"I miss that nervous feeling of the unknown. There is nothing for you to lose, you just have a whole lot of experiences and new friendships to gain!"

 "You are doing what a lot of us only wish to do."

" I am so jealous of you and will live vicariously through your stories."



I'm glad we met for one last time that afternoon :) It was wonderful. Goodbye for now and safe travels from Perth and from me xxx

Inspiration

Hi Chia!

I'm going nuts with the posts!

As I am doing my last minute clean up before I leave, I found this quote in my notebook that I wrote earlier this year when I was at work. I was so in awe at past Anna's insight of what was to come, that I wrote it out again today to reaffirm its positivity in my mind:




Some people may think I'm a failure for resigning and walking away from law . Some may think I'm irresponsible for not using my money for a deposit on a house but on a 6 months trip. Others may think I'm nuts for starting acting and seeing where it takes me, with no real end goal or idea on how it's going to turn out. For all I know I may just end up as a marine biologist or do something in marketing or communications.

Whatever it is; whatever choice I make, it's going to be mine. If it's a choice that leads me down an unexplored route, so long as it's going to be one that makes me feel happy, I will put on my trekking boots and damn well make sure I leave a trail. :)