Das Märchen Von Der Einsamen Wandersfrau

Sooo, after another night of Navratri and dancing until 6 am at Earthdance, I had too more or less significant changes in my life: A new haircut and a new phone! Some ass had stolen mine and the long hair got too hot.

My life itself mainly consists of work. Kids’ birthday parties, school, extra lessons - yeyy! But at least I’ve made a couple of friends to go out with. For drinks, food, events, even (Kaja, you’re gonna be proud) to an escape room. I’m hoping to experience more of the nature and traditions of this country soon as well tho!

Hell’s Gate National Park! My first time going anywhere on my own here in Kenya. The guy I went with is Loye from Nigeria who was here on a work trip. It was super fun. We left Nairobi at 7am and got there at 9pm. There we had 8km on the bike, 2km hiking, 8km on the bike again. It got pretty hot in between, but it was still great! About 1 km into the park we had the possibility to do a bit of rock climbing, which, as you can see, we did. Now I feel like I need to do this sort of stuff more often again.

After seeing the wildlife in the park, we drove to Lake Naivasha to see Hippos, heaps of different types of birds and to have a late lunch at 4pm.

In general it was a pretty relaxed trip, and I feel like doing the trip through the park with the bikes and not on bus was a really good idea. :)

This Friday then one of my neighbours, Raisah, took me to this Hindu festival, Navratri. The whole thing goes on for 9 days. It was pretty awesome, because I finally got to dance again. I learned a couple of Indian dances, but unfortunately, I can’t remember their names. It felt good to practice picking up steps again tho. We’re thinking of going again together on Wednesday, even though it’s a weekday. 

I decided to move to Kenya for a while. As an Au Pair. I’ve been here for a week now, so it’s time to share my first impressions.

First of all, no, sadly I’m not with an original African family, but I am still planning on volunteering in Uganda or Ghana or wherever at some point in my life.

Anyways, so now I’m living with this richer family in Nairobi to help their kids to improve their German. The mum’s family is originally from Pakistan and Muslim, the Dad’s family is from India. They have three sons, the youngest one just started Kindergarten.

I’m not going to talk about the Au-Pair experience right now though, because I believe most boys at that age are the same anyways. What I’m going to talk about is the culture shock I’m experiencing here and some things I’ll probably never get used to.

Most people I grew up knowing did most of their housework themselves. Or, as kids, their parents did it for them. The occasional wealthier family maybe had a cleaner come once a week or once a fortnight, but that’s about it. I guess quite a few of you have had the same experience. Even more, a lot of kids, including me, had to help with the housework sooner or later. Washing the dishes, vacuuming at least the own room, things like that. Here, it’s different. A lot of the families here have servants. At least a maid to help with the basic housework. The family I’m with has a Nanny, a maid, two drivers, a gardener, a cleaner and a janitor. With me, that’s 8 people on the regular payroll. I’ve talked to another German who moved here, and apparently that is a lot of servants, even for Kenyan standards. But yes, 2-3 servants is pretty normal, even expected if you have a bit more money. Because it creates jobs that are desperately needed. But I don’t think I will ever get used to this. I just grew up knowing that I have to clean up after myself. I feel bad to have other people do my laundry, clean my dishes, clean my room and bathroom every day.

As a former waitress I know that a ‘servant’ rarely gets the appreciation deserved. I know that a lot of people think those kinds of jobs are jobs for uneducated or generally dumb people, or people who just take whatever "easy" work is available. And I already feel like a lot of employers here in Kenya are no exception. People don’t see that you can’t always be 1000% on top of your work. Especially with kids running around, making a mess, demanding attention from literally everyone. I know a boss needs to be a bit harsh sometimes, needs to set limits, but some of the things I’ve heard so far are just social standards I will never get used to. Especially because the mentality that originally African people are dirty and dumb is still widely spread, which goes against everything I believe in. Anyways, we’ll see whether my perception changes over time or not, because of course I don’t know about everything that’s going on and whether the mentalities are more accurate than what they might seem to a newcomers eye.

Another thing that is really, really different from how I grew up are the security measurements and the gap between rich and poor here. Gates and security scanners, enclosed compounds (schools, housing estates, shopping malls) on the one hand, on the other side of the wall tin shacks, dusty ‘roads’ and donkeys as a mean of transport. I mean, that was sort of expected and it’s not as if the people are dying of famine in the areas close to where I life, but to see that everyday on the way to school, while I’m sleeping in a queensize bed, have my own bathroom and more food than I can eat is devastating for me. It supports me in my wish to minimise my life and work towards being capable of helping people who need it.

The thing I could definitely get used to is the food though. So many delicious dishes, great chilli flavours, new experiences, it makes me overeat every single day. I’m looking forward to being settled enough to exercise properly again.

OK, so it’s been about a month and a half since I last posted something. The reason for that is that nothing really happened that I wanted to write about. As I said last time, I was getting quite low on money. So, I started nannying again in the Cairns region, to pay for my car registration, a new tyre, a bit of work on the engine and for my flight tickets. I’m gonna be spending only a few days in Germany and then fly over to Kenya for who knows how long.

The main thing I have been doing in my free time has been exploring the ‘local’ waterholes, waterfalls, rain forests and markets. Some of them are truly amazing, and exploring them with a local’s companionship has been heaps of fun.

The young fellas on those last two photos are called the Geckos. Jarrah (11), Flynn (9) and Calvin (7) are three brothers, living about half an hour outside of Cairns with a passion for music. I met them 2 weeks ago by cuddling their dog, Bella, and instantly got along with them and their parents. In fact, I got along so well with them that I ended up spending a couple of nights at their place while the kids I’m looking after were at their dad’s for the school holidays, helping out as a ‘roady’ when in town.

The Geckos are homeschooled and therefore spend most of their time making music. We ended up having races on surfboards in their creek, playing chess, climbing trees and tree houses and racing around on scooters instead though. It was so much fun, even though I fell into the creek with my regular clothes on. 

I’m back folks! Back in Australia, back to nannying, back with new tales to tell and new friends to visit across the world.

I should have known: I made a rough plan and who would have guessed, they did not work out. But I had an amazing time! I’m seriously considering doing a w&h year in NZ as well, because I think I fell in love with that country. Anyways, how did my plans not work out? Well, I wanted to get all the way back to Wellington, but the furthest south I got was Taupo. I didn’t even do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, so I really have to come back. So what did I end up doing? 

I spend my first night at an Airport! Exciting, right? Well, not really, but I arrived quarter to 12 and had to pick up the rental the next morning like 10 minutes away from the Airport, so that really was the best option for me. It’s not too bad, with a good temperature and wifi and everything. 

After picking the car up, I went to Mt. Eden to get a good view of the city. The weather was crazy, within five minutes it changed from ‘I have to wear a beanie’ to ‘oh my gosh let’s take that jacket off’. Apart from that, the view was great and I met Oheney, a Boston guy who’s originally from Ghana and currently lives on Hawaii. We spend the rest of the day together, I got to have a shower at his hostel and had a few drinks on the roof with some more backpackers. From there, we went to a club, where I met some more amazing people. I ended up being the last of our group to be there and went to the casino with Jack and Alex, two Kiwis who I really enjoyed spending time with. After figuring out that I would otherwise sleep in my car, Jack offered me to stay at his place. Guess what? He’s moving to Germany for his girlfriend while I’m typing this! What a small world.

He ended up giving me some advice on what to see north of Auckland, and I ended up going to Bay of Islands before then driving down to Lynne’s (a cousin of a friend) place in Matamata. There, I booked my Hobbiton-Tour for the next day, which I really enjoyed. Especially the free beer at the end. :D At Hobbiton, I met my next companion: Nick, originally from Argentina and at the moment living in San Francisco. We ended up spending the day together, went swimming in 10° cold Spring Water and warmed up out feet in Rotorua’s hot springs. After Lynne heard that he would stay the night in his car, she invited Nick over to stay at her house as well. He went on on his own the next day, but he had forgotten a pair of shorts at Lynne’s, so I had to get those back to him by Monday. I figured I would go to Mount Maunganui and then out with Alex on Saturday again and meet up with Nick on Sunday. We then went to Waiheke and as we weren’t really interested in the vineyards, simply had a great burger and a long walk around half of the island. Took us the whole day that trip. I crashed at Alexander’s place - his family is amazing. Roots in Samoa, lived in Africa for a while, dad does trips across the world as a teacher, it was just really interesting to talk to them.  After that, I went to Rotorua again to see the mudpools and hot springs, and travelled the next day from there to Taupo have the greatest experience of my time over there: I finally did my first bungee-jump. 47m over the river, getting my picture taken and then it was 3, 2, 1, bungee! I have to say, I’m probably going to do it again whenever I get the chance to. It’s such a great feeling!

The same day, I met a friend from high school who’s travelling New Zealand at the moment. We exchanged stories of our travels and discussed what the future might hold for us, before parting again after sunset.

I went on to discover glowwormcaves, waterfalls, beaches and a green landscape worthy of New Zealand’s reputation, but as I said, really did not get to see even close to everything I would have liked to see. I relaxed for another day in Auckland before then really being sad about having to leave that beautiful place. For a moment it even seemed as though New Zealand felt the same way, because the responsible employee failed to type in my correct Passportnumber multiple times, which resulted in my check in taking ages.

Let me introduce you to my baby! 

I must be one of the luckiest people on this planet. Thanks to making friends out surfing, I actually got it for free! Can you believe that? *-* Well, I paid 100$ for a travel bag, but that’s still a lot less than I would have had to pay for the whole equipment. Now I just have to find a decent wetsuit. :)

Now to my plans that, as always, don’t quite work out the way I expected them to. I am still going to New Zealand, as I already bought the tickets. But I’m not going to travel around more in Australia, at least not in April. Instead, I will continue living with this amazing family here. How come? Their next Au Pair can’t start until the third of May, and as I like it here, I figured I might as well stay longer. You know, surf is reasonably close, I’ve got friend’s around here, the girl’s like me and I can use the money, but yeah, I just like it here. 

My life is pretty unexciting at the moment. Which I don’t mean in a bad way. 

I got the opportunity to save up some money by working as a nanny again. Tbt, I do prefer my current family over the last one. Things are more organised, the communication is amazing, the girls (turning 1 and just turned 3) are lovely, the list goes on and on. Penelope is so full of energy though. I’m glad she started preschool now so she can let some of it out twice a week there. And Stella is teething, that’s a bit rough, but honestly, I couldn’t have asked for better kids.

What helps me being satisfied here a lot as well is that I have fixed “work hours”. Of course, when I’m home, I still play and help out with the girls anyway, but 4 out of 7 days I can just leave and do whatever I want which means: soooooo much time for surfing. *-* It’s an hour drive to the beach, but totally worth it. I can’t believe I didn’t try that earlier in my life! Well, I never really got the chance, but it’s just the best! But I’ll try not to drift into hours of talk about how much I love surfing again. :D

Now to the two a bit more exciting things that have happened:

1. My birthday and the follow-up weekend. I actually got birthday cards. *-* And then went up to the Gold Coast and went out clubbing for the first time since I came to Australia. Which was really fun, free drinks and everything and finally just dancing through the night again. :) Sunday was too hot to do stuff, so we ended up binge watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which is what I do when I’m home anyway. :D Such a great weekend. :)

2. I booked my flight to New Zealand! Yes, that’s right, I’m going to NZ. Two weeks, right after I stopped working here. Such an adventure! Nothing planned apart from the flight yet though, so I gotta do a bit of research on hire cars and must-see-places! Looking forward to this. :)

Australia Day Fun! :)

We had everything we needed: Pool, Bubbles, BBQ, Movie under the sky (it had to be the castle of course) and ended with a small sing along around midnight. :) It was a great day, although I woke up with a cold. It got better during the day though, so all good. :)

I finally got new swimmers that fit well enough to go surfing without having to worry about losing my top. :D Which was awesome today. :) Went for a surf and the waves were really good for me when we first arrived, but at some stage, because of low tide, they were just too flat to surf properly. I’m getting the hang of catching waves on my own now, although it’s definitely easier to pop up when Danny pushes me into the wave. Anyways, I tried to surf along a wave and not just to the shore, and it worked quite well. I’m so looking forward to being able to do that properly! :)

By the way, that’s my new baby. :) Her AC just needs a regas and then I’m good to go again! :)

Why have I not written much over the last 2 months? Well, first of all, it's pretty unexciting if you're staying at the same place and basically have a daily routine consisting of walking the dogs, housework and coming up with puzzle or decor ideas, only interrupted by well, getting my tattoo and going to a concert. Not that my days were boring or anything, but you know, it's just not things that are exciting to read about on a travel blog. Then, secondly, tumbler is a b****. I am one of those people who have there creative writing phases only every once and a while, and if the website you are posting on then constantly says "Whooops, something went wrong. We'll try again later.", I do tend to get tired of typing the same thing over and over again. Which, I know, could be spared me if I would just type the stuff as a note on my phone or Lap Top, but somehow, I manage to forget that tumblr does tend to stuff up every single time. Like literally, every single time. That results in me getting frustrated and only writing up to five sentences to at least try to have my family and friends up to date which then again results in my mum frequently asking whether I'm getting homesick. No mum, I'm not, thanks for the concern. :D I'm not going to fill the gaps that have come up in the timeline, because I just cannot be bothered to do so. But I am going to say that I completely understated my love for my tattoo and wakeboarding. I desperately hope that I will get a chance to experience wakeboarding a lot in the future and am definitely planning on extending my current tattoo and getting a few more.

Now that that has been cleared up and I actually thought about saving this as a note before trying to put it up on tumblr, let's have some realtalk:

There's also a third reason as to why I haven't written anything lately. I have been in a car crash and figured it would be easier to share my experience once everything with my insurance is sorted out. It wasn't a sinister accident, like neither I nor the other driver were hurt. But: both of our cars have been written off by now. We were both insured with different companies, and they both stuffed up, but in different ways. Shanaye's (she is the other girl) was fast at the start. The car got assessed right away, so that she basically knew directly that she needed to look for a new car. Mine on the other hand towed my car to a smash repairer's who was still on holiday. So I didn't find out for nearly two weeks whether or not I needed to find a new car. That's why I'm still looking. Also, my excess was horrendous. Like really, really high. Then again, Shanaye needs to wait for up to 4 weeks for her pay out directly, whereas mine should be on my bank account within 2-3 working days. And, because she only insured her car on market value, she gets paid out less than I although her car probably was worth way more than mine. All in all, insurance companies suck. I nearly had a breakdown every time they called me, because I basically never knew where my car (with my camping gear still in it!) was and what was going to happen to it next.

Anyways, something good really does seem to come from everything if you just let it. Shanaye's lovely family took me in for the time I'm without a car and they are just amazing! They've got a dog, they've got a pool, they provide me with food and babysitting jobs and they are teaching me how to surf! Which is just amazeballs! Like seriously, I am so looking forward to our next trip to the beach! I've only been in the water with a board once so far, but I absolutely fell in love with it. People who know me might remember that I've always loved the water, especially the ocean. Just swimming around a bit, floating on the waves and feeling them breaking around me.. You might remember my post about my first swim in the ocean in Australia. :D But I've always wondered myself why, although I do love being in the water, I never really saw the appeal in going to the pool and playing around. Jumping into waves was more my thing, but it still didn't feel as satisfying as I would have expected it. And then I went surfing today. And I couldn't stop grinning. Although my eyes are still red, although my body feels sore, my knees are swollen and I have bruises on my knee from hitting it on the fins and although I got knocked over the head by my board, I just could not stop grinning. It's strange that I feel more one with the ocean with a board underneath my feet than with just being in there, but it is what it is. The feeling when you stand up and the wave just carries you further and further is just too amazing to be described. I'm just desperately hoping that I will get plenty of opportunities to improve my techniques and to precise pop ups so I can actually do them and not stand up awkwardly and to just surf in the future. I'm seriously considering buying a wetsuit and a surfboard to go surfing in the north sea. I really want to get in there properly. And I hope that going back to the Gold Coast will give me the chance to really practise constantly. I would not have dreamed of it being so much more amazing than wakeboarding, because, as I said before, wakeboarding is pretty cool, but surfing is just.. I don't know how to describe it. Let's just stick to I fell in love with it. Within the first try. And went on trying for 4 1/2 hours. Swapping to a slippery, lighter board for the last half hour. Which was strange, but I found the balance in the end. :D

What happened since Christmas? Nothing much really.

We went to Lake Eildon to go wakeboarding (which is soooo amazing btw - would have loved to do it for more than one day) and then I drove up to Sydney for New Years. Funny as: All the people I met there were German. :D

I literally feel like being on top of the world. Like, travelling just makes me feel so damn good about myself. You get to see amazing places, meet the best people, experience whatever you feel like experiencing.. It’s one of the best things you can do in your life.

Now, after being amazed by how many people go for a run during their lunch break in Brisbane, I went to spend the whole weekend at Gold Coast. Greg and Iris, the couple I stayed with, have a son about my age who introduced me to one of his friends the first evening I stayed at their place. I gladly passed on going to Surfers Paradise with him, as it was Schoolies Weekend, but I got to go and watch Fantastic Beasts for a second time on Sunday. Also, we all, that is Iris, Greg, Darcy, his girlfriend Emily and that friend of his, Ben, went to Miami Marketta, a sorta alternative street food place in former industrial halls with live music and just the best atmosphere. And I got vegan cheesecake there. *-*

After going for a few swims and a few hikes around that place, getting into a thunderstorm while standing underneath a waterfall and enjoying the luxury of hot showers again, I was ready to go on on Monday. Well, I didn’t want to leave, really, but I had to, so that’s what I did. But, gladly, not without being invited for a longer stay next time around, being presented with a S.L.S.C. shirt (surf life saving club) and the prospect of learning to surf myself when I visit again.

So with that to look forward to, I was off to NSW now. And woah, I am proud of myself. You know why? Cause I went up to Mt. Warning. Which is a hell of a climb. Although, getting down was a lot harder for me than getting up. :D But well, what to expect of a clumsy person such as myself? Anyways, the view was worth the effort. I am thinking about going up again to see the sunset from there, but only if I find someone who’ll do it with me.

After that, I was a bit worried about finding somewhere to sleep again, but let me tell you, that’s way easier in NSW than in QLD! So the next day I went to the most easterly point of the Australian mainland, Byron Bay, and apart from being a beautiful with the opportunity for great walks and beach relaxing, I was quite disappointed in parking being that expensive. I ended up parking a bit outside the proper town centre and tried not to mind having to walk a bit further. Glad I did, cause in the end, that led to me picking up a hitchhiker for 3 km when I left Byron again. 

My travels took me further to the Blue Mountains and then to a few different beaches, a lot of places I’d like to visit again because I didn’t have enough time or knowledge about them to see everything I’d like to. At some stage, my phone started to fuck me up though. It wouldn’t connect me to the network for in total about 50h, although when searching manually, it found the signal. So I am going to have to get a new one while I’m in Melbourne. And, as if that wasn’t enough, there’s some a**holes in this world as well. When I came back from the beach at Wilsons Prom, I realised someone had reversed his tow bar into my car. Thanks a lot mate.