Well we've had a fantastic month, super busy, but fabulous. Here are a few reasons why:
1. My ma and pa have been here. It's been so lovely to see them again after 9 months away. I know some people are ok to go years just talking to their family on the phone, but we're all so close knit, that 9 months seemed like forever, thank goodness for skype! Mum and Dad have had a ball. We've taken them to Paris, and then over to Ireland and they did a tour through England, Wales and Scotland. I think they're tickled pink to have seen so much in such a short time. And I am very proud of them being able to catch the tube around London all alone. Gonna miss them heaps when they go home. We're a bit spoilt though, Mama Harkes comes in a few weeks time for a visit. It will be lovely to see her and we'll zip around to a whole heap of sights again, can't wait.
2. A little baby will be born soon, very soon, maybe at this moment, it's possible :) any day now Glen and I will have a little niece, hang in there Lozza! We're all dying to meet little Peachy girl!
3. We bought a new camera, splurging big time! Our little compact camera was starting to get a bit insufficient: just too unreliable at night, slow to respond and not so great on the zoom. We figured we've taken a gazillion photos on it already, and it's had a good run, we needed something that would do the job a bit better to take a gazillion more photos. Enter the Canon SLR 550D. It looks very flash, takes amazing pictures, and has heaps of settings - we have a lot to learn.
4. We've given notice to conclude the lease of our flat, on the 27th of this month to be exact. We're getting the ball rolling in the process of selling our basic furniture and packing up all our goodies in some boxes to ship home. It's gonna be a mad rush to get it all done by the end of this month.
5. We've booked our tickets home. We arrive on the 10th of January. Can't wait to see eveyone! So much has happened in a year. There are dogs to hug, family to kiss, friends to catch up with, sunshine to lap up, open spaces to enjoy. All these things are waiting for us. I am even looking forward to getting back into work, yes really.
6. We visited Poland for a week, staying in Krakow. I don't mean for this to sound morbid, but I really wanted to see one of the WW2 concentration camps. I've learnt so much about the war, read for my own interest, taught at school, even learnt at school myself. It was such an interesting and humbling experience. The atrocities carried out by the Nazis in WW2 are unfathomable. How brave those interned at the camps had to be, and how very, very sad it is for the loss of all those lives. I can't believe the Nazi regime believed their actions were justified, how disgusting. May we, as citizens of the world, never forget this tragedy. A few pictures for you to see...
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| Entry to Auschwitz |
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| The buildings, this haunts me more than inside the buildings, maybe because it just seems to natural and normal for a place that has a history far from these things |
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| Inside one of the buildings |
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| A horrible picture - those who have just arrived on the trains... |
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| Lots and lots and lots of glasses.... there was also a room of shoes, prosthetic limbs, suitcases, a pile of brushes and a huge collection of bowls (families leaving for a better life, cook a big meal to last them the long journey to this 'better place'). Awful, makes me feel sick |
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| Watch tower and barbed wire |
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| View of the train tracks into Auschwitz Birkenau, |
Our tour guide's Great Uncle was interned in Auschwitz - they never found out what happened to him. It's so sad to think that each person in the nation of Poland (and many other countries too, of course) has been touched by this horror in some way. It is a nation still very sore from events of the past. Schindler's Enamel Factory was another amazing visit. It's been turned into a museum, and is probably the best one we've ever been to. If you ever get the chance to go there, allow 2 or 3 hours. This Mr Schindler represents all those people who fought their own battles against the Nazi regieme. And the special thing is, he was a German. It's good to know there were some who were brave enough to make a stand, even if it is in the most discrete way possible. These are the good stories that should be told too.
Our time in Krakow wasn't all about WW2. We visited this amazing salt mine, hundreds of metres under the ground and hundreds of kilometres long. One of the special chambers we visited is below, and it's entirely carved out of salt! The chandeliers included.
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| Much of this carving was done by workers |
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| The last supper, in salt! |
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| A highly salinated pool, more so than the red sea! |
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| The immensity of this chamber is highlighted by the pylons holding it up! |
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| While it no longer functions as a proper salt mine, you can go for therapeutic sessions there, and of course buy their salty products. |
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