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The second 6 months of 2008.
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Talk about time slipping away, I blinked and the second 6 months of 2008 disappeared!

Although receiving news that I was unsuccessful in my application for the Rotary World Peace Fellowship, I did find out that I had been accepted to attend the 4th World Youth Congress based on WhyCantWeGetMarried.com.

On the way to the conference (in Canada) we stopped in Los Angeles to do some much needed catching up with the familiar crew. We even managed to squeeze in a mates 30th birthday party, a trip to Las Vegas and a trip to Red Rock Canyon! It was so lovely to do a little bit of exploring again and see some much loved friends!

The conference itself was held in August, in Quebec. It was really surprising just how anti-English Quebec seemed to be although it was a very pretty place. The conference itself was good but there were several hiccups which blocked many delegates receiving the full conference experience that I had met in Scotland three years prior. It was still worthwhile and we met many wonderful people and learnt many valuable things that have continued to influence our work and projects.

While in North America I received notification that I had been successful in a full time professional position I had applied for, back in Aus. I have now been working here for three and a half months and am loving it. My team is supportive, my employer is appreciative, the benefits are very reasonable and the work load is fine. In addition, I am able to keep tutoring part time and they appreciate my life outside of work, namely my work on my volunteer and NFP projects! Hurrah! Gold!

Soon one of my best friends from the States is coming to visit and I look forward to showing her around my home town!

It finally seems that, *gasp*, I've settled. I have a steady job, I am enjoying being back in Brisbane, I am in a loving and stable relationship and things are just hunky-dory. I am very, very grateful for having reached this point.

Much love

Kristiana

December 20, 2008 | 11:11 AM Comments  0 comments

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The first 6 months of 2008.
Related to country: Australia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

I think I have realised the two strongest contributors to the evaporation of time;
1) Taking it slow and steady
2) Age.

Taking it slow and steady (CERTAINLY wins the race).
This first 6 months of 2008 have definitely been consumed with less on my plate. I have tried to tackle each task as it has arisen and in doing so, I lost track of time.

I welcomed in the new year while volunteering with Kristina at the Woodford Folk Festival. It was a wonderful opportunity to take a break from work and reconnect with everything else I love; people, food, music and the environment. It was a break I was definitely craving and it left me with some clear resolutions for 2008.

By the time my birthday came around I realised just how unhappy I was at work. The job itself was fine but the organisation was not a fit with me, this was emphasised by a few key people who were determined to drive me away. So I gave myself a much needed present and quit the job in favour of working part-time at the Queensland University of Technology as a tutor of marketing and creative industries classes, and volunteering part-time at the Hear and Say Centre for deaf children and their families.

I am so delighted I gave myself the freedom to move onto QUT and the Hear and Say Centre because I LOVE WORKING AT THEM BOTH. I am able to keep up my marketing and communications skills as well as meet, interact and shape the learning experiences of many intelligent individuals. I get to guide, share and learn with my students in a very rewarding exchange that has made me very happy.

There have been other projects that have come up this semester but nothing in particular worth mentioning just now. Maybe sometime soon though...

Age.
The other factor I have recognised as the major consumer of time is age. The older I get, the more time slips away! I haven't quite recognised why this is the case but I have recognised that there are probably only about 65 years or so left of my life (and at this rate, that is going to disappear in what will feel like 5 years), so I have to take advantage of this second before it passes!

It is kind of in this mentality, of living for this second and valuing everything that it is offering that I got married, vary spontaneously (yet a long time in the making), in June. We were on a walk and looking out over the ocean as a storm became ever-present. We decided there and then that it was the right time and so asked the wind and the sea and the earth to recognise the fire within us and bare witness to the exchange of our commitment to each other, to our relationship and ourselves. I have no doubt that I am with the right person for me and although not legal, we, and those around us know that our relationship is real, our commitment is real and our love is real.

So although I haven't travelled anywhere in particular this first 6 months of 2008, I have come a very long way. I am very much looking forward to keeping up with the next 6 months of 2008.

Thank all of you for your support along this journey.

Kristiana

July 1, 2008 | 1:43 AM Comments  0 comments

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The second 6 months of 2007
Related to country: Australia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Amsterdam was a lovely way to bring in the second half of 2007! We hung out with a friend, played the tourist game and had a lot of fun, until the last night when we ran into an unfortunate crowd. None to worry, life goes on...

We got back to Berlin alright and decided to move house and just when we were about to move got a phone call from my partner's family asking if we wanted to come home because my partner's father's health was not good. We decided that we would go back to Australia, at least to find out what was happening, but hopefully not to stay.

We came back to Australia via a week long play in London and a day trip in Tokyo to find my partner's father was actually in a much worse health situation than we had realised.

Thankfully he got better, then he got worse, then he got better and eventually unfortunately he took a very sudden turn and died. Much of this last 6 months has therefore been spent in Aus, checking on everyone's health status and going through the grieving process. It has been a long and difficult time.

It has also been a tough time to try and find employment with the obvious emotional trauma, a national election and the wind-down towards Christmas and the new year. I have been fortunate enough to find work with an established international charity group where I am now responsible for the marketing and fundraising for the state. My partner is currently 'on holidays' but we are working on event management jobs...

Having just spent the Christmas and new year holiday break at a folk festival in the bush, I now feel cleansed, refreshed and a hopeful excitment for 2008.

It has been a long and rough 6 months but I now feel more grounded and calm. And am very, very grateful for strong, supportive family and friends, for my partner and for me!

Happy new year to everyone else and best of luck!

Sincerely

Kristiana

January 1, 2008 | 11:11 PM Comments  0 comments

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The first 6 months of 2007

I was surprisingly disorientated at the beginning of this year because at the end of last year it seemed like I had everything sorted, a job, a house, house mates and a plan. When my working visa got rejected I tried to remain positive but I was really depressed for a while there.

I ended up going to a meditation retreat in the middle of January and it helped me significantly. I was ready again to welcome all sorts of positive energy into my life and started to realise why things had happened the way they had.

In early February, just after my birthday, I was feeling very calm and back in touch with my intuitive self, something I hadn't been in a long while. I felt good, healthy and calm. It was in this state and surrounded by friends that I met someone very, very special. Shortly after we met little signals started popping up and it soon became undeniable that we were supposed to be together this lifetime. I had met the soul mate I had agreed to share this lifetime with.

At the end of February I was working briefly in the UAE at the Education Without Borders Conference. While there I landed a job offer to work in Dubai. It sounded like a great opportunity and although a little out of my previous experience, I was up for the challenge. So was my new partner.

As it turns out, the job offer was really dodgy and so I eventually said no. My partner and I decided that we would still move to Dubai however, because we had heard from several sources that money was phenomenal there.

In May we left Aus and set off for Dubai on a round-the-world ticket that would have us stop in California, New York and Berlin before landing in the UAE. We were able to catch up with many friends in the States, visit Disneyland, volunteer in Mexico, club in Hollywood and go on a road trip to San Fransisco, all before hitting the sites in New York. While in California my partner and I also decided to get engaged and it was in Times Square, New York that we exchanged rings to a crowd of delighted, cheering onlookers!

Next stop was Berlin. We ended up resolving that life in the States and Berlin was a lot more liberal than what we were anticipating life in the UAE to be and so it was in Berlin that we found ourselves settling.

We have now found jobs (after much hunting) with a tour company and are having lots of fun meeting new people and commenting on cultural differences. We know that the jobs we are in are not enough to keep us here but for now at least, we are out of options.

And so friends, it is in Berlin that we find ourselves at the end of the first 6 months of 2007.

Right now we are off to Amsterdam for a birthday weekend adventure and who knows what is in store for us ahead???

Hope your first half of the year has been splendiferous!

Kristiana

June 30, 2007 | 8:50 AM Comments  0 comments

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The second 6 months of 2006.

New York was fantastic! It had so much to see and do and was a great place to visit!

Canada was great, so different to the States!
Montreal had a lot of French attitude but the street music festivals and graffiti were awesome. I then travelled down to Toronto which is a small 'big city' close to Niagra Falls. The Falls were great but to tell you the truth, I was more impressed by Milford Sound in NZ. Spoiled by nature.... ha....

I then left Canada to spend a few weeks in Berlin (via the UK) in the middle of the worldcup action. It was a wonderful time and Berlin was a great place to be. It is such a happening city with a lot of fun things to see and do, while still allowing you space to be yourself.

From Germany I went to Poland with a friend. We were then going to go around the Ukraine for a few weeks but ended up spending one week there in total, and the other couple of weeks in Hungary and Romania before heading to the Netherlands, where my friend's family are originally from.

After the Netherlands I headed back to Germany where I found out about some exciting and amazing opportunities back in Australia...

I realised that I had done a lot of travelling during this year and a lot of personal development and that another year of travelling seemed like a bit too much, especially when there is so much going on in Aus...

Over the next few weeks I headed to Czech Republic (which I thought was charming but overrated), Slovakia (which I loved because it was modest but adorable), Austria (where I felt like I had walked into the most Western European city I had yet been to - meaning it was gorgeous and wealthy and fun while still historical) and finally Switzerland (which was nice but really expensive...).

I then headed back down under for a totally surprising and last minute trip to spend a few weeks with friends and family, to graduate and to receive a community award through the Queensland Young Achievers Programme.

I then headed back to the States to see everyone again and find a job. I managed to secure a job with Santiago Community College as a Student Services Specialist, responsible for a pilot program trying to get foster kids into college. Due to start in the beginning of 2007, I headed back to Europe for a little more exploration of the West...

I initially headed to Amsterdam again and met up with a friend before catching up with extended family and seeing some of the famous sites of Paris. Afterwards I travelled down to Spain and started off in San Sebastian where I met a guy who ended up being my travel buddy for the next couple of weeks. We ventured out to Bilbao to see the Gugenheim (which was amazing!), down to Madrid which we both loved (despite the cold) before going to Lisbon in Portugal.

Lisbon was totally random but a lot of fun! Afterwards my new travel partner and I had to part ways suddenly and I continued back to Madrid to meet up with another friend and do a trip to Salamanca. The university town was interesting but really cold and I was glad to travel down to the very South of Spain soon after to catch a ferry to Morocco. The north of Africa, contrary to what you might imagine is really mediteranian with heavy arab influences. While there I met two delightful families who showed me into their city, their religion, their homes and their lifestyle. I felt very privilaged and have made some new friends.

After Morocco I headed back up to Barcelona in Spain. To tell you the truth I thought Barcelona itself was relatively overrated but I had a great time because my Dutch friend as well as two other friends from Australia came and met me there! Yay!

From Barcelona I flew down to South Africa and was really scared of getting attacked and/or robbed. Neither incident happened, thankfully, but I did meet the greatest concentration of friendly people I have ever come across and saw some lovely sites and beautiful people in Johannesburg and Durban.

Just before flying back to Australia for Christmas I learned that my US visa had been rejected at that the job and future I had lined up in the United States was not going to be possible just yet. So Christmas and New Years were unexpectedly spent in Australia and I am starting off 2007 with new hopes and dreams, no plans and an open mind.

I hope that 2007 brings everyone exactly what they need!

Peace and love

Kristiana

January 1, 2007 | 8:59 PM Comments  0 comments

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