The Little boy on a walk - (a story of virtues)

One day...
There was a little stick boy who went for a walk down his street to the shop.



As he was walking down the street he saw a man trying to put money into his pocket, sadly the man didn't notice he dropped a euro. Luckily the boy saw this, and as he was HONEST the boy picked up the coin and gave it back to the man.
Continuing down the street the boy reached the corner. Standing on the corner was a lady who was wearing very little clothing. The boy was very CHASTE and proceeded to walk past the lady with his head held high in the air, he would not be ashamed.
Finally the boy was nearing the shop he had set out for. As he turned the corner he saw a black man. Instead of sticking out his leg and trying to trip the man the boy showed his TOLERANCE and smiled at the man, saying "Good day".
Thus he arrived at the shop with a greater capacity than when he set out...

this story came as a result of being asked to mention 3 virtues.. I am dedicating it to Danny and the great night of discussion we just had :D

Its only monday but dont forget!

Don't you hate it when no-one remembers to remind you of events and/or anything else that is important to not stuffing up ones day.



All the best for the coming week, and don't forget to try and stay cool..

Sometimes life can be ohhh sooo.... hmmmm whats the word???
maybe this picture will jog ones memory

OHH THATS IT!!

Awkward

All because its an empty feeling monday....

Life is a collection

"Life Events are like stamp collections, as you collect them it seems uninteresting, but in the end you have an impressive collection" (Katrina Rohr)
I was talking to my great friend Katrina today, about our lives and what we have done so far, when she made the above statement. Instantly I was blown away by the sheer insightfulness of it. It is such a true thing to say, the fact of the matter is that to us our lives always seem somehow complicated and boring, when in fact the opposite is rather true. When you talk to friends you think 'Wow, if only what I was doing was as interesting as that', when in fact that isn't what we should be thinking at all. All our lives are interesting, and we are all being dealt the experiences we need to have and have also chosen for ourselves. My decision to return to Slovakia to live has changed my life massively from the direction it was originally going to take. In the future I will be able to look back and say, 'hey I was successful at that, I did something interesting for a few years there' and that will make me proud. At the moment its a hard slog, and I dont look at it that way, even though really I should. We all should.
Out of all the collections we ever make, our lives are by far the most important and the most interesting. They define who we are as human beings, and shape the people that we become. If it wasnt for these collections, well you could be a very dull person. Its the only collection I know that is added to no matter what you do, fail at a job, it added. live somewhere but then move away, it added. Love and then it falls apart, still added.. Such an interesting thing.

Our collections make us individuals, they define us, they reveal the true us. We can never hide them, and really, with such a beautiful thing in each of our possessions, should we really want to?

Perceptions

This weekend, many families around Slovakia spent some of their time at a cemetery, to commemorate a holiday of the dead. It has connections to the Catholic Holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Personally for me, this Idea of going to a cemetery and celebrating the lives of family members is a foreign idea. It is not something that really happens in Australian culture. When someone first told me of the weekend I thought that it was a bit of a strange thing, why would you go and spend time somewhere like that? Cemeteries in most peoples mind are spooky places, that are not really ventured into. Especially not at night. Then I started to think, why is this such a strange thing? surely it is a beautiful time to spend with living family, and also remember those that may have played a large role in your life, or at least contributed to your family being the group of people they are. In my culture the last time most of us will think of a dead person is when we go to their funeral, we dont visit gravesites, and if we do, it is very irregular and not for a substantial amount of time. Why is this? because we are so concerned with a material world of the living. To me this seems to show how many of the people I come across here are quite open, often comfortable in who they are and on the whole nice people. For me it seems to stem from they know their own backgrounds very well, they are comfortable with where they have started and are able to look foward to the future.. In western culture we spend alot of time looking for where we have come from, because we never held onto it. Then there is a thirst for knowing what people as close to us as our grandparents did as a profession, because we never bothered to actually find out. Maybe this is why now we have so many tv and radio shows who are exploring the pasts of peoples lives, and finding out about heritages. In this quest for material wealth and self gain we have forgotten about the most important things in our lives, family...
TO take this whole matter a step further I was reading the paper today, and found that in Taiwan people are now beginning to hold "living funerals". These are often held by people who are suffering from a terminal illness, which has left them in the final stages of life. It is seen as a great way for the person to find closure and be able to face death with renewed courage. Now, again, froma standpoint of a person that sees funurals in the traditional standpoint, this seems like a strange idea. However, again, it doesnt necissarily mean it is wrong.

I guess what I am trying to say is, perhaps we should learn from these other people. We should be celebrating each other as people, not just caring about ourselves. If we all cared about each other and our families like these people obviously do, then wouldn't we all be much better off and perhaps more complete people than we are now?

October is Over

So this is the end of October, and I didnt get to blog anywhere near as many times as I would have liked to. This has come from a combination of just being so busy with so many things happening in life. This month was the first month when I have found myself teaching full time, my own lessons. I am now a head teacher in first grade, teaching English, Math, Social Studies, Computers, Drama, Library and also Assembly lessons has meant that I have had barely enough time to think about myself outside of planning lessons, teacher meetings, parent meetings and all the other things that go on around the teacher life. This week was a week of, but still I didnt get huge amounts of time to relax. I am still trying to do university via distance education and we also tried one last time to get the, thorn in my side, car registered. On that issue the originality check place told me that it is basically impossible to register this car as there is no previous papers and with two VIN numbers stamped onto two pieces of metal with no-one telling them which VIN to use, the car is unusable. So basically at the moment thats over 2000 euro of mine down the drain. We just have to hope that with lawyers and things something can be sorted about getting my money back from the guy I bought it off. That will be a long process so now I just have to sit back and wait and see.
The best news of recent times that I have heard is that my parents are coming to visit here between December 21st and January 23rd. So I am really looking forward to that, we have already planned a trip that will take in Innsbruck, Zurich, Dijon, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich.. and also some small trips to Vienna and Prague. I cant wait until they come here and I can finally show them where I live, the friends and people I know here. Its going to be amazing to show them this place in winter, even though it will be freezing cold, Im sure they will love it here. After seeing them in Summer, I really thought that it would be a year or maybe two more before I saw them again, and to have this happening to end the year is a real treat. Its going to be amazing.
So next week it is back to the mad house of usual life. The week break has felt like stopping to take a breath of fresh air while running a marathon, its a great feeling, but just before you start to move again all the tiredness hits you. You firmly set your vision on the goals and try not to think about the weariness you feel. That is how we all feel when it is time to go back to work....

Weekend Wonders

This previous weekend has been absolutely great. On Saturday I finally just got a chance to relax at home, sleep in and then relax and watch some tv. Finally after the whole day Lucia managed to motivate me enough to go and buy some extra things to cook a nice dinner. At Terno we bumped into Gudrun and Peter, Its great to bump into friends when you least epect it. What made this chance encounter even greater was that we were then invited back to their house to watch an episode of IT crowd, and also Black Books. Peter also made a delicious soup for dinner, it was lovelly. Today I then got to pick up a new coffee table, only 15 euro's.. A great deal considering it looks almost new and has a glass piece in the middle of the wooden framed table top.. IT is going to go well with my new sofa when I finally manage to get one. By far the biggest news of today is that Lara has returned to Slovakia for a week. Yes our favourite fin has arrived to be back with us. This meant that this evening I journeyed to Farah's place to see her. This also meant that I got to spend time with Lucia, Ludo, William, Nava, Lucia, Imogen, Lua, Mike and Farah... along with many others.. The short time that I was there was very enjoyable. It was great to be able to catch up with such a great bunch of friends and just relax, forget the world outside and just be comfortable being who we are around each other.. Talking about many silly things and laughing at nothing in particular. What an excellent weekend, with excellent people... Now to get back to reality and the week of work ahead....

An Angel Visits

Today while teaching my lessons in grade one, My desk at the staffroom was visited by an unknown angel. How did I know I was visited?.. well the appearance of a jar of coffee and a yellow post-it note informed me... the message on the note read, This is for you... just making sure you wont run out of coffee.. S... I was puzzled. Who could this be? who would be wanting to leave me coffee on my desk. My heart warmed thinking that my coffee needs would be well and truely satisfied for the next few weeks. With such terrible weather outside, this jar seemed to shine, smiling at me, knowing how much I wanted to mix it with some hot water, milk and sugar, and enjoy that tasty beverage the way it is meant to be...
Warmed by the thought that this gift had appeared onto my table, I went to my next lesson, to be granted my next gift for the day. All the students had practiced reading their books overnight, and today they could all read the story easily. I was overjoyed..
Later at lunch, I began to think, perhaps it was a representative from YYYAAAAKKKKUUUBBBSSSS *flem* that had swung past quietly to give me some new coffee to make up for being robbed the other day at the potraviny.. I started to get worried, how could they possibly know where I worked?? I could hear the mission impossible tune start in my head, Shiftily I looked around the corridor, and was about to start my dash up the corridor for the staff room when Sandra, our lovely receptionist approached me and asked if I liked the coffee, with a wry, smile. Suddenly I knew what the S on the note stood for. Laughing I thanked her for her heart warming gift.. Instantly I felt relaxed, changing my mood and having a merry walk up the hall.

So thankyou to Sandra, our school receptionist. Always smiling in the corridor, and now giving me some coffee.... This more than makes up for being robbed the other day..
I guess we have a angel for a receptionist then. :)

Her Gift...

Daylight Robbery

On Tuesday I finally got paid for last months work. Its not the date of the pay that was the problem, I always knew I would be back for over a month before pay came in. The problem is, once I got paid I decided that I needed some food. Ok I admit, I was mostly after more coffee, which I had managed to stretch out until the day before. So I toddled off, with my happy little face on, down to the local potraviny. Now this Potaviny is basically a small store that is run out of the garage of a local elderly couple. Usually it is quite nice to go there, they have a few shelves filled with things, and you have to stand on one side of a counter and use slovak to tell the lady what you want.. On Tuesday I was extremely pleased with myself, I managed to order Bacon, Eggs, coffee, sugar, coca cola and milk Using my slovak.... But then disaster, the total come. 15 euro for the lot. I was stunned. Who is this lady? is she really a nice old lady or some sort theif.. Looking at the top of the coffee jar I found the reason for my high bill. The Coffee, it had cost 9 euro's on its own. This coffee was only 200g worth, not like i was buying gold coffee either, just regular Jacob's.. or YYYAAACCCKKKUUUBBBSS *lots of flem* if you are in slovakia. When I looked up the lady had a balaclava on. I knew it I though, Ive been robbed.. Awkwardly I moved backwards out of the store, the Icy Gaze of over 100 years practice following me out, daring me to say a word. That gaze still haunts me now, so much so that I am slightly scared to mention anything about it now. My only comfort is that im sure the potraviny lady doesnt know my name, nor have internet connection herself.
All the way home I wore my sad face, unhappy that the coffee had cost me so much.. Just to put this all in perspective, I have been managing to do a weeks shopping each week for the past few weeks for only 15 - 20 euro a week. So to spend 15 euro on so few things.. I am sure I was robbed...
The Coffee:


Sad Face :(

Lucky Moment of the Week

Imagine being this guy, your doing 170km/h about to turn into a corner, uphill, over a blind crest with walls on either side of you,, suddenly you loose the rear end,, what happens next??



Not only to miss all the walls, but also be missed by the 30 other cars that are coming over that crest at over 170km/h is an amazing moment...
Thats this weeks winner of Lucky moment of the week :)

Santa Headware

At the end of our trip to Australia over the european summer, ( which you can read about it at http://gotlost-summer2009.blogspot.com/) my parents gave Lucia a present of a Santa Beanni... (for those of you who dont know, a beanni is a woollen piece of headware that you wear over the winter to keep your head warm).. Now while this isnt what most people would think of as being a traditional present to give someone to remember their visit to Australia, my parents thought it suitable for 3 reasons. 1) it was made in Australia, 2) When we were in Australia it was cold and we needed to keep warm, and 3) It is much colder in winter in Slovakia than in Australia and Lucia seemed to find the Australian winter cold enough...

Well tonight while we were out in the sleet and the rain on a cold windy Bratislava night, I noticed Lucia putting on the Santa beani. My parents would be glad to know that Lucia likes wearing it and it keeps her head very warm.. Then I started thinking how could this be? how could a beani made in Australia be more adequate for Slovak winter conditions than the local made headware... It cant just be because we are the most awesome people on the planet... :)... As I thought deeply about this subject, wearing out my bald spot... I came to a conclusion, The beani must have its own absorbtion field, it has somehow retained the warmth and heat of Australian summers inside it, and that means when Lucia puts the Santa on her head it is like putting her head into an Australian summer.. Can you imagine putting your head in a fridge right now? well it would be like the opposite, putting your head in an oven... As I finished increasing the size of my bald spot this idea was clear to me, Australian scientists, cotton growers and wool producers have somehow come together to manufacture the warmest beanies in the world, by capturing some of the Australian warmth and making sure it stays within the headware....
We are without doubt, amazing..
Here is Lucia at Novy Most wearing the great Santa Beani

Crazy Week!!

Well its been such a crazy and intense week that I havent been able to take a moment to write anything here until now. Ive barely even had a moment to think about myself.
So what happened? well just some stuff at school, It all hit as a whirlwind and the changes took effect so quickly that when it happened we were all taken off guard. Unfortunately the changes occured as there were some staff issues that had to be resolved. For me it has meant an increase in my lessons to 25 a week. Which means pretty busy days from now on, I now teach: English, Math, Social Studies, Computers, and grade 1, as well as having to supervise the library lesson (I dont put this as a lesson really taught, though with the walk to the library it becomes more of a lesson in discipline for the kids :D). I also teach 5 lessons a week of Intensive English for the grade 1 and 2 students.
Even with all these changes, I am happy, as It means I get to spend a lot of time with children that I already know and understand from working with them last year in prep, and as I am with them most of the day I am really getting to know them well.
The only downside at the moment is all the lesson preparation I have had to do to get ready for lessons. I knew it was alot, but now preparing for 5 lessons a day takes its toll. Ive already said it amongst my friends before, but Man, one thing this job has taught me over these 2 1/2 years and especially more now is that my Teachers did soo much work that I didnt even know about. It makes me feel bad when I think that most of us half the time couldnt be bothered to finish homework or even really try too hard for it. That is one of the most annoying things for me now, putting all effort in and then the kids not doing something small at home that I ask of them.. So to all my old teachers that I didnt bother to do homework for, or didnt take the homework seriously with, I am truely sorry...
Now I've got to go, Im trying to juggle this full time teaching job and studying university as well as trying to get back into my cycling to train for that race I wrote about previously.. So that means I do not have much time for anything else.
I just read Lucia's blog and I would like to say that personally I am very open to bribes, anyone want an A? just 5 million Euro thanks..

Cows with Guns

I was walking through Devin late last night, when suddenly this song struck me. It has been stuck in my head ever since. I thought I would share this song as I find it quite funny, and always enjoy listening to it.


Cows With Guns.. Enjoy..

Satellite over 1 million, Lauch and control systems over 1 million, Watching some students get a camera up there for $170 dollars. PRICELESS!

Ok So I admit, with the title of this story I am ripping off master-card for no reason, and at the same time over-exaggerating what these students achieved. Comparing launching a digital camera up into the outer atmosphere (28 kilometers above the earth is as high as the camera got) does not really compare with launching a satellite into orbit, but still it is a really cool thing to have achieved.
Basically what these students did was fill a weather balloon with helium and attach to it a Styrofoam beer cooler. Inside of this they placed a Cannon A470 camera and programmed it to take photos every few seconds. The students also placed inside a mobile phone with GPS capabilities, to ensure they could find the container when it landed. The final touches being a parachute that opened when the balloon popped and a pair of winter gloves to protect both camera and phone from the -40 degree temperatures of the outer atmosphere.
The flight took just over 4 hours with the cooler taking approximately 40 minutes to land from the outer atmosphere with the parachute attached. All this was completed for $170 USD (116 euro), an amazing achievement to get some great photography.
I know myself as a young-en and even today I still dream about launching rockets, this is right up there with those ideas, to be able to get something to that level for that price is an amazing feat. I take my hat off to these guys.
Just to prove how cool this stuff all is, here is a photo of the camera they used:


If you would like to visit their website to see how you yourself could make a similar project then visit http://space.1337arts.com/

Below is a time lapse Video of the event.. enjoy..

Travel

Alright, I have to come clean. I have a TV channel at home on my TV (were else?) that I am totally and utterly addicted to. It's called travel channel, and basically what it is is a whole load of different travel programs aired all day every day. But they are not your typical programs. These are not some well dressed, overly attractive person who is strolling down a beach with a cocktail in hand telling you that this bungalow on the beach in Bali is great value at 10 000 USD a night, even though it has no electricity and no TV. ( o.k I admit, I over exaggerated that) Still, the normal travel show seems obsessed with showing your average person places were only a big bank CEO used to be able to go. (notice I said used) Which was totally pointless, and kind of pathetic, not to mention absolutely depressing.
Well, now you can begin to understand why I am totally addicted to travel channel, the have real, unscripted people traveling to places, on budgets that even I could afford. Saying how you can stay here or there for only a couple of euro/dollars a night. Its absolutely brilliant, these people rough it, go to historical sights, see things that you would usually see when backpacking or traveling on a normal budget around the world. The presenters are also awesome, they strike me as down to earth people, who are not signed with a multi thousand (insert currency of choice) deal, they are people who are in love with traveling and actually want to feel what its like to be somewhere. Somehow through the screen they can drag you along for the ride as well. What a ride it is, exhilarating. Until you turn around and find that you are just sitting at home in your boring old lounge room, not going anywhere interesting.
Depression sets in. But like any addiction, there is always a low after such a great high.

Globe Trekker is exactly what it sounds like, people roughing it around the world. Meeting people as they travel and experiencing the culture.
My two favorite presenters of this show are are:

Ian Wright
Megan McCormik

Another great show on the channel is the Julian and Camilla's world Odyssey. These two New Zealanders travel the world as cheaply as possible and see all there is to see when you are traveling on a budget. It is brilliant, not just for the show but seeing how they also interact with each other through all the highs and lows..

So once again I find myself today getting ready for what of the world I am going to be able to see. Wanting desperately to get out and have my own adventures.

Little Brother - The BEST book I have read this year..

As the Title Suggests, I am praising a book in this post. For those of you who didn't realise, yes I do actually read. Funnily enough, yes I do actually enjoy it too.. This is one of those books you just randomly spot somewhere and pick up. I was in the school library and saw it, thought, hell I have some time spare to actually read something, Ill give it a shot.. Little did I know that this would be one of the few books that I would get so into that I couldn't put it down. The plot is full of suspense and so vividly and believably portrayed that you feel like you are actually living in a city that has gone crazy due to "terrorism". Cory Doctorow writes with a style that keeps you hanging onto every word, waiting for an unexpected twist or turn, its amazing how this book can have your heart racing and looking around you for people you expect to see. The way Doctorow also describes things such as encryption and jamming, makes it all seem like possible things to do with you computers, and gadgets. It brings to life the story of the characters. Stuff that I am DEFINITELY going to have a go at working out. ( Encryption )
I urge everyone to read this book, it is a great insight into society and scarily were we are heading as a society.
The book has been made available for free download by Cory Doctorow, so you have no excuse not to have a look. Download it to your PC's, E books, or Xbox Universals :)..
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

The Most Beautiful City in The World

Sydney is without doubt the most beautiful city in the world. It's built around the most beautiful natural harbour and has many great views to be seen from it. The Harbour Bridge and The Opera House are standard places people can think of. I also think a great view is looking up to the CBD from the waterside next to the Opera House.
Now on a normal day Sydney is Beautiful, but as if to lend credit to my belief, I have never seen a city look as beautiful when blanketed under a cloud of dust. Today a dust cloud covered Sydney and indeed most of the State of N.S.W. I have never seen the city look so interestingly beautiful.
Take a look.....

Sydney CBD from Next to the Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge on a Clear Day


Harbour Bridge during Sydney Dust Storm 2009

Sydney Harbour during Dust Storm 2009

Joys Of Teaching

Ahh Teaching can be such a hard job. Its something that is quite difficult to do at times. Especially in today's world of such technically intelligent kids. The class that even my grade 1 kids look forward to most now is no longer PE or Library, but Computers. The only problem is that sometimes their enthusiam outdoes their ability. This comes from the amount of technology kids of all ages have the ability to get hold of, Dvd players, Xbox's, Playstations, Computers, Phones. etc etc
To prove my point I can just look at the first 2 days of school this year. Now the kids I teach are 5 years old. In the first 2 days I confiscated 3 phones from the students, one phone I confiscated after finding a student taking photos of others during class!..
By the time these kids are in grade 2 they will be able to do things like program a laptop!
The problem now is, That with so much technology available to kids, How are we going to keep them interested in lessons?? A Blackboard and books don't seem as cool anymore..

Wiki Friends

In this new age of Internet 2.0 it seems that everyone now has a Wiki Friend, You all know who this is, someone who constantly checks on your statuses, or makes notes on your facebook profile, someone who just cant help themselves when it comes to commenting on something all their friends do.. But now it seems Wiki friends have hit a Wiki 2.0 level. No longer is the internet a place to express individuality, its now a place to express conformity. Just like Emo's want to show how different they are by all wearing black and being depressed, now there is no longer difference of opinion. We must all think alike, like individuals..
You all know you have a Wiki friend who just agrees with you for no reason, we used to have them at school.. Now they are invading everywhere ...

Mountain Biking

WOW What a Weekend, Lucia and I were entered into a mountain bike competition on saturday. Lucia's mum hired us mountain bikes at at 10:30am I found myself on the start line of a mountain biking + orienteering competition.. We had to look at our route and plan which points we wanted to get to... It was great fun and a lot of hard effort to cycle along the paths through the forests, some of the riding was incredibly difficult, but great fun too.. Today I am so sore, but it is in a great way, I am hurting in a way that I didnt realise I miss, I miss cycling so much and this day of biking made me realise that.. I miss the sheer enjoyment of cycling up a hill and conquring it, and then the adrenaline of trying to go down as fast as you can, picking a route betweent the obsticals and going through it, letting the bike flow, letting it ride bumps and slide slightly on loose gravel... ahhh sheer beauty.. I LOVE IT!!!....
All these means, I HAVE to get back on bikes properly and ride competitively again. And the best thing is, now I have found a way to race, and also have goals to train for... Motivation..
Me mountain biking::

The Bike I now Want to get: A Giant Talon 3.