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papersandkeyboards · 1 year

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6/20-26: finding Pride in many things (cooking for friends, hosting a farewell party, and witnessing naked cyclists, among others)

39th WEEK, JUN 20-26, 2016.

(a.k.a the very very last one.)

Wow. Okay.

Need to breathe it in for a sec.

Alright. The last week of 9 months.

A lot has happened, because of course I willed myself to have a lot happening.

Monday, June 20:

I took this day to do a last good tour of downtown. Did some last-minute shopping, took a fair amount of photographs (which I lost along due to the broken hard drive), and overall feasted my eyes with the wonder of downtown Seattle with its high-rises and hills and valleys and blooming trees lining the wide curb and the pigeons by Westlake Center and the innocence of Pike Place Market and the breeze along the waterfront and the Gum Wall and the hustle and the bustle and everything else in between.

(you know what I will not miss? The weed smell. It’s so Seattle, but at the same time, I can live in a version of downtown Seattle with no marijuana scent constantly hanging in the atmosphere of alleyways and city buses)

Maybe in the future I could be living in another big city or some other beautiful places, but I always know that nothing beats downtown Seattle in all its grandiosity and color. Nada.

Tuesday, June 21:

Part of the downtown tour agenda was shopping at Chinatown for ingredients for what I was about to do on Tuesday. Some of my friends from Rainier Beach (Mary, Rebecca, Emily, Kira) were coming to visit after school (they were juniors and so they still had school), and I planned to make some Indo food! The choice fell to the classics ketoprak (for its ease) and martabak manis (as my propaganda to promote chocolate-and-cheese combo to foreigners—don’t @ me).

I think I initially planned to make gado-gado but some veggies required in gado-gado were scarcely available even in Seattle’s Chinatown, so I settled down for something which ingredients are more readily available: ketoprak. As for martabak manis, I found a quick mix for that thing in the Asian market HAHAHA all I needed to do was wet the drys, pour them into the pan, and wait.

It turned out great—for an impossible-to-screw-up recipe, but I’m still proud of myself. As long as the guests were happy.

I’d see these girls again the next day on Wednesday, June 22, when we had a sleepover at Rebecca’s. Talk about sleeping over on a school night. But it was worth every second of it. I remembered we took a trip ‘round the city doing stuff, and we got back late at night, all of us piled into Rebecca’s bed straight away, too tired to think or do anything else.

Thursday and Friday I went to school to take care of some stuff. Friday, June 24, was the last day of school for the year at Rainier Beach HS (and for me, ever), and at the evening I had my own goodbye party hosted at home. I invited everyone from dear friends at AFS Seattle chapter and at school, former host families, to the adults I’ve gotten to know along the way, like Laura and Imad and other people.

Here's the funny thing: I couldn’t even eat for most of my own goodbye party. The party started at around 6 or 7 I reckoned, and sunset/iftar was not until 9. So what I had been doing—and Eric had been assisting me in doing—was once in a while grabbing a snack I wanted to eat and just sort of store them in a corner in case they ran out before 9.

Imagine roasting marshmallows and making s’mores but not being able to eat them straight away.

It was a fun one rather than a sad one, though, to be honest. Maybe because we weren’t yet registering the fact that a farewell is truly coming, and plus I still have one last chance for good-bye with my fellow exchange students.

Like a normal person trying to squeeze out as many agendas as she can in her last days of living, after the goodbye party I went to Hinaho’s for a sleep over with fellow AFSers. I had been to Hinaho’s before, and I love her house and her neighborhood and her host family is just the nicest people, so I was excited to be back and we had a great time. We all camped in her living room and watched movies (one I remembered was The Divergent Series: Allegiant Part 1) until all of us just dozed off and the TV was left on.

(another personal, trivial moment I remembered was me waking up at the wee hours of the night in my sleeping bag, being reminded that it was time for suhoor, so I lazily grabbed one or two energy bars from my pack.)

(not that it’s a good advice to give, but during this time of the year I realized I could survive a fasting day without suhoor, as I almost never miss one my entire life until this year—and an 18-hour fasting day at that. So I figured, at least these energy bars would be enough rather than nothing at all.)

(and I don’t know, maybe being occupied in activities that make the time fly by also helps with fasting because you’re too busy doing these things you’re not reminded of hunger and thirst—as long as it is not a physically-demanding activity. It was pretty much like you’re too focused on doing something that you just forget to eat and accidentally skip meals. Another thing is that Seattle—even maybe the US in general—just did not have that Ramadan vibes, and that’s okay, because in Indo, I am always reminded of Ramadan because almost everyone is fasting and Ramadan being the festivity season that companies take so much advantage of as their marketing strategies. Sure, the lack of Ramadan vibes was saddening—in a way that I was just living my days without eating and drinking and getting angry without the semi-obligatory crowded late afternoon markets full of scrumptious snacks and gluttonous congregation, and nightly two-hour long prayers with noises of kids running around playing cat-and-mouse in the mosque yard—but that’s okay too, because I already knew these things when I jumped in. All I was worried about was surviving 18-hour fasting days and turned out it was the least of my worries.)

Saturday, June 25, Karen took me for a walk around Capitol Hill and Volunteer Park.

I couldn’t believe it was my second-to-last day and I was still discovering new things—Volunteer Park, especially, being so close to our house and I couldn’t believe I never went there before.

The park, like most Seattle parks, was a beautiful one. It was vast, with a greenhouse and a lake and even a museum (Seattle Asian Art Museum, which we didn’t have the time to visit). Karen took me up the water tower, which had an observation deck that provided a view of the park and a portion of Seattle beyond it. By the lake was a sculpture that the park was famous for—originally titled “Black Sun” by Isamu Noguchi, and colloquially referred to as “The Doughnut” (reminds you a lot of the same case with Chicago’s “Cloud Gate”, huh?). From The Doughnut’s hole, you can spot the Space Needle with the lake in the foreground, as though the Needle rose from the waters.

The water tower (volunteerparktrust.org)

The "Black Sun" aka "The Doughnut" (volunteerparktrust.org)

Sunday, June 26: best day in Seattle ever.

No, not it being the last day in Seattle—that part was depressing. But at least I was ecstatic that I got to end the journey with a bang, by watching Seattle Pride Parade.

Add that to the list of things I would never ever ever get the chance to do in a million years had I not decided to jump into the exchange student bandwagon.

I forgot where I had heard of the Pride Parade from. Maybe Patricia and Amber. Maybe Karen, knowing my giddiness for festivals and public events to witness. At any rate, it was such luck that Pride Parade fell on that day, because if it were one day later, I wouldn’t have been able to attend and I would have missed one of the best experiences in my life.

So much coming from a mere spectator. But it truly was a thrilling experience.

Karen end Eric had stuff to do, so I hopped on to the bus downtown by myself (what else is new?) at around mid-morning, when the parade had just started. I was told that Patricia and Amber (along with Vera) would be there too (of course), so I planned on meeting up with them later on.

How was the parade?

Simply put, there were a lot of things.

There were of course big companies and brands with their employees dancing around carrying balloons with their brand on it, there were floats from big and local businesses, there were marching bands, there were local communities marching while carrying a long banner or letter balloons. Many floats have half-naked men dancing and having fun with themselves (from gay bars, mostly). There were people in just about any type of clothing and accessories dancing along the blasting music and giving free high-fives or even hugs to the spectators.

It truly was a day where people get to be free and themselves when 364 other days they don’t get to.

There were drag queens walking along with their stellar outfit and makeup, which amazed me the most because I had never seen such dedicated drag queens before. The image I have of drag queens are the ones available back in the home country—you slap a wig and dress and chest stuffing and you’re good to go to, either for busking around street food stalls for change or for other nightly services. Not saying that Indo drag queens are bad, but objectively the drag queen culture there is not as dedicated as it is in the US, with the addition that the US drag culture is well-facilitated, what with the bars and shows and RuPaul’s Drag Race and overall interest from the audience.

Suffice it to say, the drag queen industry was a flourish. And I was there to only experience the gist of it in the parade.

If I had posted this sooner, I would still have the chance to post the pictures, but since most of them are gone with the hard drive, here are some I vetted from my Instagram:

I met Patricia, Amber, and Vera in Seattle Center area, by the Space Needle. I hung out with them as they had lunch, me enjoying my last moments of playing with sweet little Vera while she still knew me in her toddler life.

After lunch, we went back to the streets. Vera looked excited at seeing these many things the parade had to offer (I remembered she was particularly excited when a group of people wearing leather and dog-like accessories—I later learned from Patricia that it was a community for enthusiasts of sub-dom puppy play and the sorts (CMIIW for the description)—and she went “pups!” so cute and blissful of her).

After a while, Vera no longer looked excited, which means she’s all drained. Patricia and Amber said goodbye while I stayed in the streets, still full of energy and not wanting to miss any of the event I would most likely get only once in this lifetime.

I walked along the streets from Seattle Center back to downtown, trying to find a good viewing spot. The floats were still floating, the dancers dancing, even the mayor was there too. At some point, I saw a group of people in the distance that I thought I had missed and would not see in this parade, but then again, on second thought, it totally should be in the parade.

Men and women and all the genders in between, cheering and cycling through the streets with their biggest smiles and hands waving.

They were in on it so good, I didn’t even notice until they got closer that all that was on them was body paint.

Naked cyclists!

My remorse of missing out on the Summer Solstice Parade instantly evaporated. Apparently I’m just that easy lol.

Not long after the cyclists, the parade slowed down to a close, the last show was people carrying a big-ass pride flag as wide as the street itself, facing the sky. The sun shining through the flag turned the asphalt below it into wonderful shades of rainbow colors.

(southseattleemerald.com)

Again, to say that this was an exciting experience was an understatement. This was the thing I had been looking forward to, though I came in with no expectations. Personally admitting, the conservative corner of me was astonished upon seeing what the parade had to offer me, but as the day went by, I ended up enjoying every second of it. I was basking in overstimulation—the clear sky, the hot weather, the bright pride colors, the big floats, the loud music, a new thing to witness every 5 minutes, the sea of excitement radiating from both the spectators and the contributors, and most importantly, the overwhelming amount of happiness, freedom, and, well,

pride.

It may not be my freedom and pride, but seeing them celebrating it made me as jubilant as they were. Happiness is truly infectious.

The other thing I’m most grateful about from this experience is to be able to witness first-hand what the word ‘pride’ in this context really means. Sure, in this era, we can still educate ourselves on the matter—there are thousands of sources and internet friends you can find that can give you all the information you need—but honestly, the Internet can only do so much, especially if the surroundings you’re in do not support or facilitate the issue. I feel like if I hadn’t gotten out, I wouldn’t have been able to empathize this much. I did understand the existence of the issue and that there are struggles on it, but being in Downtown Seattle on June 26, 2016 was what really woke me up.

After all, it kind of boils down to one simple matter: if any goals you have in this life, whatever they are, lead to you being happy and living in a world that is also happy, then why can’t you let other people do the same?

-NS

#langkahanakbangsa #afs friends #rbhs #seattle pride #pride 2016

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starkerforlife6969 · 6 years

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This post is me replying to the lovely anons I got! But I didn't wanna spam anyone’s feed so it’s all down below in one mega post! Mwah x PS none of these are prompts, those would always be posted separately ;) so if you’re a prompter, just wait on me honeys i promise ill come through for you soon.

1) @janetpie1951: “i would kill everyone for sugar baby Peter. With No remorse.” and “Secretary Peter? Absolutely fucking perfect.”

We are the same, my love. Me too. I love that softboi so much i would pull a tony and just break everyone’s leg if they so much as looked at him the wrong way.

And thank you SO much, I was so scared no one would like the secretary Peter one because I found his character really hard to write as it was so OC, you know? So this put a huge smile on my face :)) x

2) I’m having mild social anxiety just typing this. I wanted to tell you how much I’ve been enjoying your writing. Especially the Mafia boss/sugar baby/bodyguard story line you’ve been posting. I can’t wait for the next part.

I cannot wait for Part 3, at the moment it’s just a few snippets because i need a few more ideas to tie it together, but i promise it’ll be up soon! And my precious thing, well done for typing it anyway!!! I know how you feel, but this made my day so thank you so much sugar xx

3) I wish I was brave enough to share my writing like you do. I'm really scared people will think I'm stupid or that I suck. I'm too shy to share much 🙈 How can someone get over that kind of fear?

Dude, if I could take you back to the first fic I ever wrote- I think it was Dramione? Or H2O, it was seriously just awful like wow oh my god. But the thing was- people were so nice. And dude, it was shit. I promise you, it really was. What i’m saying is- you are your own harshest critic, and that’s super cliche but it’s true. No one will judge your work the way you do. And the feeling when people are nice- oh god, it just- it’s worth the risk. No one is going to think youre stupid or you suck because you had the fucking moxie to create something in the first place. I know it’s hard to take that first leap- I was too young to truly comprehend how scary it was when I did it, but I know you can get there. Sometimes it’s nicest starting in a tiny little fandom because everyone is so supportive and you all know each other and you can build confidence that way- saying that, the starker fandom is by far the most supportive one i’ve ever been in (teen wolf a close second, but there can be some mean anons there who for some reason are obsessed with scott??? like i like him, but let’s chill out, sorry off topic) and there will be haters, but fuck them. I, personally, would read anything you wrote and i would never have anything negative to say. I might be like “dude could you put stuff into paragraphs cuz it’s hard to read a block of text on my phone” but that’s it- that’s the worst thing i would ever say. i’d be too busy being grateful that you’d written some glorious content.

It’s scary, my gorgeous darling, but you can get there. The more fic you read, the more confident you get, and soon you’ll get more confident in YOU. As long as YOU like your writing (which is one of the hardest things ever) it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

that being said, nothing wrong with shyness. It’s okay to keep it to yourself, sometimes it’s a private thing. Maybe tease us with a few snippets and when we all go insane and beg you for more, maybe then you’ll be encouraged ;)

4) OML I looooove that you link the other chapters in your series. It's awesome. Keep up the great work! I love your stories ❤️

Dude, thank you!!!! It’s super annoying to do but i always do it because i wish other users did it because it’s so hard scrolling through their whole blog to find a part 2 so thank you so much for appreciating it hahaha it honestly made my day.

5) Holy FUCK that mafia boss with sugar baby peter is my absolute favorite thing I have ever read in my existence. Thank you so much for writing it and blessing everyone who reads it 💕💕

Yeah you’re just the best and sweetest thing ever. You just are. End of.

6) I just spent the last several hours going through the starker tag on your blog and hot diggity damn are you good at writing these two.

that is one of the best ways to spend the day and I'm am so honoured you picked mine like ahhhhh i could dance and blush forever, thank you so much.

7) your mafia tonypetersteve was so good i just!!! I DONT HAVE WORDS it made me so emotional and it was perfect and just uGHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you for writing it so muchhhhh - { holographic-starker }

dude- dude- dude, you are so lovely. THANK YOU FOR READING IT

8) Oh wow, your Mafia Boss Tony x Sugar Baby Peter x Bodyguard Steve fic is sooo amazing! 😱❤ The atmosphere, the tension, I can't even say what's my favourite part, everything is just so damn perfect and sexy! ❤❤

oh my god this is a tirade of compliments and I'm honest to god sobbing, seriously dude the fact that you read it and liked it is- it’s the best feeling ever i can’t even describe it to you.

9) Ummmmmmm excuse me while I die in a corner because of your mafia au 🤤

have i mentioned that i don’t deserve you guys? I honestly don’t.

10) [this is on the secretary au] THAT TOOK A TURN REAL FAST ((it was so good))

thank you so fucking much honestly i am awed, this was so worth putting off essays to do

11) @biscuitsonofa NEED MORE SECRETARY PETER BOSS TONY PLEASE IM D Y I N G OVER HERE I LOVE YOU

oh my god you are so amazing i can’t even just wow. If i ever came up with an idea i’d love to continue it for you, gorgeous.

12) your a/b/o au with tony/harley/peter was so great!! i would love a part 2❣️

same as above honey in 11, if i ever develop a decent imagination, i definitely will. thank you so much for taking the time to make my whole day.

13) @pretty-well-funded I binged through Super Size Me at 2am and I am fucking in love with it

Well I’m in love with you, so there. And please don’t hate me over how slack i’ve been with that fic, i started it before i made this side blog and now this sideblog has taken over my whole life but i promise i will get back to it because you guys are so supportive and brilliant and wow

14) @hoe4parker You're literally one of my favorite writers and I'm currently writing a trans!Peter fic and if you're cool with writing one, you could write one too? I love trans!Peter and new content is always fabulous and I really really love your writing

You are beyond the sweetest thing in the whole world. Just wow. Just thank you. Actually because of this ask i did a bunch of research into how to write trans characters and asked a lot of other users for advice, but i just don’t think i can do it justice at this stage :(( i’ve never done it before and i don’t feel i know quite enough about it. I love reading trans peter fics and i can’t wait for yours, but as for me, i think i need to build up my talent in that area. Who knows, maybe one day? ;)

15) @starkersbitch Heyyy there! Uh I somehow wanted to tell you that on here rather than on ao3, but I am OBSESSED with your fic "Super Size Me". The characterisation? AMAZING. The smut? I'm living. Your general writing style? Love it. Keep up your good work, love!

yeah i remember getting this, it put the biggest smile on my face ever like just wow thank you so goddamn much. like i said in 13, don’t hate me. I will get back to it gorgeous, i promise!!!! be patient with me, like timberlake says in bad teacher “i think I'm worth the wait” snort goddamn, I'm totally not but you’re a darling and i love you seriously, this encouragement is what makes this fandom the best one ever.

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artificialqueens · 7 years

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Something Near Perfect - Part 2 (Shalaska) - Lost Imp

A/N Thank you so much for all the love on part one! I’ve never written anything before, so I’m glad you liked it! xx Lost Imp

Alaska was woken by the light coming through the small window in the sitting room. Turning her head up slightly, she saw Sharon, still sleeping, breathing softly with her arm wrapped tightly around her girlfriend’s waist. Turning ever so slightly to stretch out her legs, she realised she still had her cheer uniform on. They must have fallen asleep at some point during whatever scary film she had let Sharon put on, she thought. She would have to shower before going to the café where she worked, which meant waking Sharon. Alaska quickly resolved that if she would have to wake her girlfriend to move, she might as well do it in the nicest way possible.

Lifting herself up gently so that she was face to face with Sharon, she began peppering little kisses on her forehead, softly moving her way down the bridge of her nose. Sharon stirred and hummed before opening her dark eyes to meet Alaska’s sparkling blue ones.

“Hi” Alaska whispered, before leaning in and kissing her lovers’ soft lips. After a moment they broke apart.

“Hi” Sharon smiled.

“I have to go to work soon” pouted Alaska, “But I do have time for a shower, and I was wondering maybe if you possibly just wanted to come too?”

“Mmm, sorry doll, I don’t think so, I’m not really into taking showers with tall hot blonde girls” Sharon said, failing miserably at hiding the smirk that crossed her face.

“Is that so?” Alaska said, standing up and turning her back to Sharon, “Suit yourself then” as she swayed her hips dramatically in her short cheer skirt walking towards the bathroom, knowing full well that Sharon would follow immediately behind her.

In the bathroom, Alaska turned on the shower and pulled off her top, and then removed her bra. She reached behind her to undo the zip at the back of her skirt but it was stuck. She pulled sharply on the zip but it wouldn’t budge. Suddenly she felt a soft pair of hands on hers, moving them away from the zip. Carefully and patiently Sharon slid the zip open, letting the skirt fall to the floor.

Without turning around Alaska slid her underwear from her hips, letting them join her cheer skirt on the ground. She silently stepped into the shower letting the warm water flow down her back. Sharon pulled off her t-shirt and tight jeans and stepped in under the water behind her.

Alaska began rubbing shampoo through her long messy hair. Again, placing her hand’s on top of her girlfriends, Sharon moved them away, replacing them with her own, gently massaging her girlfriends head and hair. Alaska closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy one of the many intimate moments with Sharon that she loved so much..

Turning around to face Sharon as she let the water rinse out her hair, Alaska wrapped her long arms around her girlfriends’ shoulders, pulling her in gently to a slow, soft, passionate kiss. The kiss quickly escalated into a heated mess of hands everywhere, messy kisses scattered across lips and faces, necks and shoulders.

Sharon slid her hand down Alaska’s chest and stomach, slowly reaching lower and lower. This elicited a soft moan from her flustered girlfriend.

“Please Shar, more” she drawled.

The slightly shorter girl was more than happy to oblige, inserting one finger inside the taller girl. Her actions were graciously awarded with another moan, this time longer and deeper. Alaska craved Sharon’s touch, it was more intoxicating than any drug or drink she had ever had.

Although Sharon could have stayed there all day, she knew Alaska had work, and so did she, so she sped up her actions a little bit, inserting a second finger. Alaska threw her head back, exposing her neck, which Sharon eagerly covered in kisses and little nips, which only caused Alaska to writhe more under her girlfriend. Knowing she was close, Sharon twisted her fingers quickly, knowing exactly what to do the give Alaska the most pleasure. Twisting her fingers once more Alaska let out a whine.

“Ah…Shar…I” she moaned, unable to form coherent words.

Pushing her fingers up once more, Sharon sent Alaska over the edge. She held her girlfriend upright as she shook under her. Once she steadied herself Alaska kissed Sharon passionately, over and over.

Both girls were shaken from the trance they were in abruptly as the water turned freezing cold. Leaping out of the shower, they laughed, grabbing warm towels to wrap around each other. Alaska checked her phone.

Eyes widening she ran out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

“I’m going to be late! I’m going to be late, it’s 9 Sharon, I have to be in at 9:30” Alaska yelled, pulling her clothes on quickly, yanking miss matched socks onto her feet.

“It’s ok doll, I’ll drop you off on my way to work, we’ll be there in 20 minutes calm down” Sharon said throwing clothes on herself too, following Alaska out to the kitchen and grabbing her leather jacket from where she threw it yesterday. Alaska was standing at the mirror, tying half of her wet hair into a messy bun on top of her head.

“It’s 9:05 babe, we’re ok” Sharon assured her girlfriend.

Alaska let herself exhale for the first time in five minutes. She looked over at Sharon, “How do you manage to look so cool and hot in literally five seconds flat?” she asked incredulously.

“Just a gift, I guess” Sharon winked, “Grab a banana for the road babe” she said as she grabbed herself an apple and headed out the door.

Alaska stared at the fruit bowl, knowing she should take something with her to make up for the lack of breakfast, but she didn’t. Her head said no, and she didn’t have time to argue this morning. She grabbed the second motor bike helmet and ran out the door.

“I’ll swing by and get you at four babe, ok? I’m finished after three.” Sharon said, lifting her helmet of her head as Alaska hopped of the back of the bike. She reached forward and pulled Alaska in by her waist to kiss her.

“I’ll miss you” Alaska whispered, against Sharon’s lips.

“I love you. Don’t forget to have a decent lunch to make up for the small breakfast baby”

“I won’t. And I love you too. Bieeee” Alaska said, as she jogged towards the back entrance of the little café.

Alaska enjoyed her work, she liked the people that she worked with, she liked the atmosphere of the cosy little café. She even liked her boss who was a fifty-something year old gay man, who let them organise their own hours and paid them well. It all suited Alaska to a tee, to be able to come to work and have friends and enjoy making the drinks and talking to new people. It was somewhere she felt like she fit in, which didn’t happen too often.

It had been a relatively busy morning by the time Alaska got to have her lunch break at one. She liked to sit out back where they had a small outdoor smoking area, that she and her co-workers had collectively decorated over time, with small paintings on the wall, and little pots of flowers beside the couple of chairs. Usually, it calmed her down to be able to have her own space to sit quietly and eat on her own. Usually. But today that didn’t really work in her favour. Having skipped breakfast, mainly because she was in a rush, Alaska had given her head a bit of power, a little bit of the old control it loved so much, and as she sat staring at the sandwich in her lap, she couldn’t quite bring herself to eat it. She had let her head have access to her actions, and today was just one of those days where it did not want to let go.

She sat like this for a while, staring at her food, knowing her lunch break had to be over soon. Suddenly, one of the guys that worked with her, Jamie, opened the door behind her which made Alaska jump.

“Hahaha sorry Laska, didn’t mean to scare you” Jamie laughed.

Alaska smiled up at him “Sure you didn’t James” she said, sticking out her tongue.

“Do I need to go back in now?”

“No, you have another five minutes before Adore needs to take her break. You’re good. Could I interest you in some fruit salad my dear? It’s got the most amazing strawberries you’ve ever had in your life, I swear” he said, offering her the box.

Fighting very hard with her head, she reached forward, grabbing a small handful of fruit from the box, knowing that she needed to eat at least something small. If not for her own sake, then for Sharon’s, she told herself.

“Thanks Jamie” she said, eating the pieces of fruit slowly, trying to distract herself by listening to the latest story of one of Jamie’s late-night escapades, before making her way back inside to finish the last couple of hours of her shift.

At four o’clock, Alaska was just making her last coffee when she heard Sharon pull up outside. She smiled gratefully, because she had been starting to feel a bit ill over the last hour. Handing over the latte she had made, she grabbed her jacket from behind the counter and headed through the kitchen and out the back.

“See you tomorrow, Adore” she said, kissing her friend on the cheek as she hurried out the door.

“Bye Lasky” Adore called behind her.

Sharon was outside leaning up against her bike, a lit cigarette between her lips. Before she met Sharon, Alaska wouldn’t have generally liked the idea of anyone smoking, but with Sharon she somehow found it incredibly sexy. As her girlfriend walked up to her, Sharon threw her cigarette on the ground and kissed Alaska sweetly on her forehead before pulling back and looking straight into Alaska’s eyes.

Alaska knew exactly what she was doing. She could tell immediately if something was up with Alaska and given how she felt at that moment, Alaska imagined she wasn’t looking her best.

“Let’s get you home baby” Sharon said calmly, unable to mask the concern in her voice as she swung her leg over the bike. Her girlfriend followed, climbing on and wrapping her arms around Sharon, resting her sore head on her shoulder.

They walked silently up the stairs to their flat, only letting go when Sharon had to unlock the door. Alaska walked in behind her, knowing she needed to sit down on the couch, but before she could do so, her vision went blurry, then patchy and then completely dark.

The last thing she felt were her knees giving way to the floor.

#lost imp #shalaska #something near perfect #tw eating disorder #smut #sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #rpdr fanfiction #high school au #lesbian au

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kellyzeagman · 5 years

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Hello hello

In 2 days I will officially have 1 MONTH LEFT. 4 weeks sounds better, 30 days sounds even better. Two girls from my team leave tomorrow (the 5th). So happy for them to get to go home, but honestly it’s going to be really sad to see them go. We got really close. Sydney is from Halifax so perhaps our paths will cross again, but Vera lives all the way in Russia so who knows if we will ever meet again, I really hope we can. Two great girls gone at the same time. Also it’s a bit sad in the sense that them leaving makes everyone else want to leave as well. We are all jealous. Our team of 12 has stayed the same since October. No new people and no one has left. My boss and other co workers have said they have never had a group stay the same for so long, because on bigger ships and ships with different itineraries, teams change up all the time, even every 2 weeks. Some ships even have 30+ youth staff, whereas we just had a tight group of 12. So, this has been so great getting to know everyone for 4 months without changes. Two new girls from England will be coming on the 5th to replace them. It will be nice to meet new people and have a bit of change, but the two leaving will definitely be missed! I feel very lucky to have been a part of such a strong team that all gets along and works well together.

Anyways, I guess cruise ship life is filled with lots of quick hellos and goodbyes, only this time you don’t know if you’ll ever see them again. It’s going to be so weird when they leave, considering we all spend every waking minute together. Working, eating, going out, drinking, hanging out at ports, relaxing, etc.. you see them all day every day. I guess I’m just not used to people leaving yet whereas everyone else is. The 5th is our biggest turnaround day yet. 200 people signing off, and 200 people signing on. They also said it’s the biggest cruise so far in terms of provisions (loading on/off). Think of how much food and drink and other supplies will be needed for 2 weeks, crazy. When I say turnaround day, I’m referring to the day that all the people from the previous cruise leave, and a few hours hours later all the new people from the next cruise come one it’s QUITE the operation. I can’t believe people leave and come on all in a matter of hours. Last guests usually get off around 9:30, then people can start coming on around 10:30/11:30. Insane.

We have now completed our 3 day and 2 day cruises. Still seems like such a waste of man power/ resources/ fuel to have people on for this short of time. I thought it would have been a lot crazier, but it wasn’t too bad. The kids were definitely not the best behaved. Quick and cheap cruise= no cares. We now move onto our 2 week cruise. Thankfully, I think there’s only 300ish kids and half of them are teenagers. It should make for a more relaxing and less stressful time. However, the 2 week cruise is already starting off on a rough note and it doesn’t even start till tomorrow. Two of our ports (Lifou and Mare) are not letting any cruises stop for the time being because of the coronavirus. Purely just for their safety, if it ever reached these islands and spread, it would be so horrible because they have very little resources and medical care. So, it’s to protect them. For us though, we’ve had to change some things around.

Now because of the 2 cancelled ports, we had to add another port to the schedule and they’ve actually turned it into an overnight stay. Luganville, Vanuatu. It’s such a questionable place to have an overnight. Usually, overnights happen in European places where there’s a lot of stuff near the ship and great night life, where people can walk off and explore and party and then walk back on whenever. We have been to luganville one other time last minute because of a change in schedule and there’s really noooooothing there. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the “downtown” which is so incredibly poor and rundown. And not to be judgemental, but if anyone took that 15 minute walk at night during the overnight to go downtown for god knows what, I feel like it would be pretty dangerous. It will be interesting. There’s a lot of cool places/beaches to drive to during the day, but night time is gonna be a bit sketch. We shall see. I won’t be getting off at night. Guests probably aren’t going to be very happy, so hopefully they just decide to not come. ;) the kid count just got printed off and there will only be about 133 kids which is AMAZING. I’m sure they will still be just as loud and competitive as ever.

Aussie kids are a different breed. The sound of 6-11 year old boys screaming “YOU’RE OUT” during ball games will truly echo in my head until the day I die. It sounds more like “uuurrrrr aaauuutt”. It’s the most annoying thing in the world and happens constantly for 9 hours of my day almost every day. I really do think that they are very different than Canadian kids that I’ve worked/volunteered/interacted with. It will be interesting coming home to see how different they really are and compare. Lots of my friends are saying the Australian kids we’ve had this contract are the toughest kids they’ve ever had to deal with. They definitely aren’t as chill or laid back as I thought they would be. There’s also endless amounts of kids considered “special attention” meaning ADHD, anxiety etc.. again, people say more than any other countries they have done. Now that I’m finishing this up, I feel I can do anything. My Russian friend was part of the nursery staff. We all rotate age groups, but there’s 2 girls who spend 95% of their time in the nursery. Now that she’s gone, I am the one taking her spot in the nursery, as I’ve been the one spending most of the time in the nursery when one of the two girls are off. I’m excited because babies and toddlers are super cute. It’s stressful In different ways compared to the 3-11 year olds. You can have up to 8 babies in the nursery.

On turnaround day after the 3 day cruise I had the entire day off. This was probably going to be my last full day to explore Sydney, so I decided to do the hop on hop off bus tour. Of course, it was pouring rain. But rain never killed nobody so I still went. I brought a rain jacket and sat alone at the top with my hood on, still great. I only got off at bondi beach, where I spent about 3 or 4 hours. When I got there it was so incredibly cloudy, but it’s still quite the sight to see. First thing first I went to the nearest vegan joint where I could stuff my face. I went to a savoury vegan pie place, absolutely amazing. Got mashed potatoes, gravy, two pies and an Oreo milk shake. ALSO the cafes dog sat beside me the entire time I ate, which was SO nice because before this, I had only interacted with one dog in the last 4 months, which was a stray on the beach. This one was nice and clean and friendly and was so nice to actually pet and hangout with a dog. 2 dogs in 4 months for a brief amount of time is sad. It was everything I didn’t know I needed. I will think about that meal until I get to come home. The food situation on the ship is still so unfortunate for me, so any food that isn’t what I eat every day at the mess is amazing to me. If you want a bit of an idea, this is it. The ship hardly has any vegetarian options, let alone vegan. Every day they have a vegetarian table with 4 options. 98% of the time it is a creamy soup and some sort of casserole with cheese or cream, so can’t have either of those. The other 2 are almost always steamed cauliflower, or ratatouille. I’m done with both, I’ve had it too many times. Aside from that vegetarian specialty table, there’s some other things throughout the mess. I pretty much switch up between pasta, rice, salad, peanut butter sandwiches, roast potatoes, cereal and cucumbers every day. I’m reallllllyyyy over it. So I try and go crazy on food every time I get off in Sydney.

ANYWAYS- After lunch at bondi I walked to length of the beach watching the surfers while walking through the incredibly cold water. There’s a reason they all wore wet suits. The sand was soooo nice and soft, probably the nicest I’ve ever walked on. I had so much time there that I debated booking a surfing lesson but had no bathing suit or towel. I will definitely come back to do it one day in my life!! The area of Bondi itself is so hip and laid back. Everyone is SO beautiful and I felt out of place as I was soaking wet like a drenched rat in my raincoat while they were all in their surf and beach attire. It was probably the coolest place I’ve ever been in the sense of atmosphere and vibes. I didn’t feel cool enough to be there, especially alone hahaha. Loads of backpackers and tourists. Tons of surf shops, souvenirs stores and cafes/restaurants. I imagine it is a very prestigious place to live and super expensive. The views/locations around bondi have to be some of the best/most expensive in the world. I would love to spend a few days there to truly soak in the atmosphere, though I did pretty much everything in under 4 hours. Love you Bondi!!

Hmm what else to say. That girl who I said was coming from China and gonna be confined for 2 weeks isn’t coming anymore because they aren’t sending Chinese people anymore. However, they did end up sending back the same captain that we had during the Asian season and he is from China. He is confined to his room for 2 weeks, but his room is enormous and has all the bells and whistles, so I don’t feel too bad. OH, I finally have a new roommate, I don’t remember if I said this last time. Solo living has officially come to an end. She’s from Indonesia and works for housekeeping. She’s very quiet but has worked on ships before, she looks to be around my age. We work opposite shifts most times. She usually works during the night while I’m sleeping, and she sleeps during the day while I work. It’s been good, but I definitely miss having my own room, though I still kind of feel like I do because we hardly see each other.

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crashpaddiaries · 7 years

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Dear Crashpad Diary #32

Yoooooo freakin beasts!!

What´s going on back home?? New sends??? Great fun?? Sweet life?? All the options right!!! =)

We´ve been running around and trying to hug the universe more and more down here hehehe

The trip has been fantastic and the good vibes ensure to make it happen the best way ever hehehe

with some funny facts that I´m about to tell yas… I mean… write yas!! haha Like: The crazy 4000 islands in a river / People of Laos / Storms everywhere / if only the storms alerts worked / Dumb and Dumber´s Loop / Loop fail / Restos with no food?? / try not to pay the waterfalls / the gay waterfall / Vang Vieng smelly cat / are we in China??? / Fast and furious / Sleeping at the laundry

haha … =) can’t start the post without a smile and laughs upfront heheheheheheh

Twas nice spending my bday at Phnom Penh… nothing too exciting there indeed… big city and not interesting… but… the party was awesome… we destroyed some ice-cream to commemorate life hahahaha and get some serious sugar rush hehehehe

The day after we got a bus to Laos… went up towards the border following the mekong river… that goes from Cambodia to Thailand, crossing pretty much entirely Laos… and we decided give a shot to a place called 4000 islands… in the middle of the river there are thousands of small, medium and big islands… one prettier than the other… what a place!! We spend few days at one of them called Dondet… a small one with loads of hut and bungalows… a hippie atmosphere and rich nature… It was Laos welcoming us greatly!!

Already in the first days we realised how different are the people from Laos… it seems they don’t give a shit about you… I mean… they care and treat you well… but different than Indians, Cambodians, Indonesians… they are not curious… they dont bother you asking “where you go?”, “Yes… weed??” hahahah Also… the english is barely spoken in many areas… which brings a whole new experience to the adventure! haha

Donder is quite popular among travellers and it´ll be easy communicating… fairly good internet too… the only problem is… don´t trust the weather forecast hahaha we were there in the middle of a huge… serious… fantastically intense storm… well… you have to consider that tropical rains are pretty common here… but there we were… walking fast under pissing rain… lightening going on pretty much everywhere… loads of thunders… trying to get to a safe place asap… my good old head torch helping us finding the way… so we got to our “muddy street”… “sweet… we will make it without being electrocuted!!” Just after few almost-jogging-steps, the mud took away my flip flops… I stopped and got it back.. running from guesthouse to guesthouse till getting to our place… what a sketchy adventure… =) As soon as we close the door, Luh´s phone connects to the internet and he receives the following message from Accuweather: Alert! Heavy storm in your area!!

Well… thanks!! hahahaha

From Dondet… and pretty energetic after the storm (haha I had to make the joke… sorry!)… we followed th plan of covering Laos from south to north… and the next stop was Paksé! The city is small and there is not much as well.. but what grabs one attention here is the trip you can do around the area… the called Bolaven Loop… which consists in renting a shitty bike and drive through the waterfally roads.. passing by coffee plantations (what a tasty coffee beasts!!), greeny scenery… hills… mountains… dirty roads… almost untouched communities and bridges above rivers. so glad we did it… twas great!! Hats down to Tad Lo… a small town with many waterfalls, great food, awesome people and fantastic atmosphere! =)

The whole thing was so funny!! Imagine that… 200km and we rented a bike for the both of us… an 100cc… it was defo like the Dumb and Dumber version of the Bolaven Loop! hahahaha

But even dumber was a guy that became a legend in the backpackers mythology! It´s all well set… When you rent the bike you get like a prep talk… explaining where you can go and all the tips… the start is in Pakse and the first day is pretty easy… you drive straight… for good 10k and then turn left… going north until you get to Tad Lo… easy right??

Well… not for a guy that for some reason turned right just after the city and drove all the way down to the 4000 islands…. hahahahah even more awkward was the fact that the guy drove like 4 hours until he gets to Dondet and realises that was sth wrong… haha where are the waterfalls?? Someone replaced´em with tons of islands! hahahahahah people are indeed awesome!! hahaha

Everyone has troubles when tripping like that… some go wrong… some get loads of flat tires… loads fall… have the bikes stolen… but we were fortunately good till the very last day… when the universe decided mess up with our food!! we don’t know why none of the restaurants in the last day´s piece, did not have any food… hahahaha serious?? A restaurant without food??? haha we prob went down some pounds that trip… the tiny bike appreciate the restos effort hehehehehe

After those days paying for the waterfalls entrance and parking pretty often, we got kinda cranky with that and decided not to pay anymore… going for only the ones for free… which so far were the nicest ones up there near to Tad Lo… so… the last stop was in a cascade called Tad Yuang.. getting to the gate the girl came with the tickets already… we decided not to pay once again and she got angry at us because we stopped and did not get the tickets she had already taken off… hahaha that was funny!! But the best was just after she started complaining in her language… Luh accelerate towards the waterfall pretending we would get in without paying… when we took off she started screaming and only stopped, quite ashamed, when she realized he was messing with her and got in to turn the bike and go away! hahahah

Another hilarious moment provided by the waterfalls was in Tad Hang… a nice place to hang with friends.. enjoy the small cascades and a big volume of water coming from everywhere… perfect spot to grab a beer and relax… exactly what the locals do! So there we were, getting there through the stairs when I see a weird woman coming towards us as a missile, passed by me and went straight to Luh saying hi and snuggling his arms hahahahah The lady boy locked the target as soon as he/she saw Luh and came attacking in full speed hahahahah twas so funny… Awkward moment hahahaha

With the loop done we got back to Pakse, spent the hottest day ever there… 38ºC with 50ºC real feeling… is it the real feeling of drying off?? hahaha And the day after we took off to Vang Vieng… passing by Vientiane… the days in Vang Vieng were sweet… such a beautiful place full of blue lagoons, caves, beautiful mountains and the Mekong river cutting it in half!

We met the smelliest girl in Laos… she happened to stay in our room and destroyed the atmosphere in it… I know… sometimes travelling you get a bit smelly… but when that happens… you simply take a shower and wash your clothes… and sadly, for the three of us in that room, she did not learn that yet! hahahah I´m laughing but I cried when I opened the door that day… the air was even greener inside the room! hahahahahah Oh well… I used my earplugs as a nose plugs and twas a lovely night!! hahahaha

Vang Vieng is widely known because of the party scene and the famous tubing through the Mekong river´s rapids… which we did and…. man… was the most boring thing ever… there is no rapids… only 2 parts with a maybe 2 mins in total… for the rest of the time you have to paddle and burn in the sun like a doughnuts baking in an oven hahahahahaha was terrible! The only worth thing was a zipline in the very last bar… but other than that…. a big nope!

Anyways…it has been done in the past with people stopping in bars situated along side the river (they were closed because of the accidents and even worse… after some deaths)… nowadays there are only few bars…. which made me think… maybe it has always been boring… but when youre drunk everything gets funnier and people indeed enjoyed that!

Well… I would need loads of alcohol in my bloodstream to get some adrenaline off that boredom!! hahahaha

But the universe worked in our favour that night…and gave us part of the adrenaline we missed from the “doughnuting”! When traveling from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang… we took the first and only fast and furious bus… but, unfortunately, it wasn’t´t fast and all the neon and lights were inside it… and being a sleeping bus… that did not help at all with our sleep hahahahahah

In addition… we could not believe when they, around 1am, woke everyone up and asked to leave the bus… twas in the middle of nowhere… extremely misty or dusty (couldn’t quite understand)… they needed to get the bus lighter in order to get it uphill through that dirty road… ahahahaha something that only happens in Laos hahahahha

We got to Luang Prabang wrecked… at 4 am…. and the world is so cool and full of good vibes that we arrived to the hostel… asked if they had any place that we could crash and they gave us a bed in their laundry as they did not have any rooms available hahaha we got a really god “morning” of sleep among duvets… bedsheets and pillow hahahaha twas great and smelled fucking good!! hahahah in your face smelly girl from Vang Vieng!! hahahaha

And here we are right now… the probable last stop in Laos before getting to our beloved Thailand… enjoying the good food… the chill atmosphere and laid back way of Laotian life!

Hope you guys had some fun with the post and sorry for the lack of updates lately… I´m not writing often but I´m sending fantastic vibes towards each one of yas! =)

Oh… and after 4 months without climbing, I´m only one month away from my trains and the sweet seshs with the beasts back home!! can’t wait!

Great vibes and huge smiles from Laos!!

Cheers,

Evan

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thetravellingredhead · 8 years

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Cambodia

Yet another absolutely stunning country, holy frigging crap. My time spent in Cambodia was a little different than the others so far because I spent a good chunk of my time here volunteering, which was absolutely amazing (I’ll talk for ages about it below don’t you fret) but the trade off with that was that I didn’t have as much time to see this beautiful country. I did get to see the main highlights though and I am sure I will be back so there’s no reason to be upset on any account :)

NEW HOPE FOR CAMBODIAN CHILDREN

Words cannot describe what an absolutely phenomenal place this organization is. I spent 2 amazing weeks volunteering at New Hope for Cambodian Children. It is an orphanage/school complex about an hour outside of Phnom Penh for children who are suffering from HIV. The majority of them have already lost their parents to the disease, or were abandoned by family members who didn’t want them after finding out they were HIV+. All that aside they are honestly some of the most amazing children I have ever met. The first day I showed up the first thing I got was a giant hug and 3 high fives from the kids. The set up of this place is insane, they have everything. There is a giant playground area for the kids, classrooms on one side and a big auditorium where they have assemblies. There are cluster dorms for the kids where they all have “Nannys” who look after then when they aren’t in class. There is a medical centre with nurses and a doctor where they get their meds and go whenever they have any issues. There is a volunteer centre where volunteers stay while they’re there and there are houses for the teachers. It is such a great atmosphere and fun place, even though it’s so hot you literally spend your whole day sweating hahaha. When I was leaving Vietnam I decided that it would be good for me to be in one place for a couple weeks just so I could give my body a rest and a chance to actually heal up, so I thought volunteering would be perfect. I had always wanted to fit in volunteering at some point in my trip and I am so frigging lucky with the way things worked out. I honestly just found NHCC while googling different places, and holy hell am I glad I found it. I spent most of my days helping out the teachers in different classes. My first week I was in a grade 3 class, a frigging ADORABLE grade 2 class, and spent a little bit of time in a grade 5 class. My second week I spent the whole time in a different grade 2 class as one of the teachers is having some health issues and needed more help than the others. It was so great being able to meet so many of the kids and actually spend a decent amount of time with them. It is insane how far along some of them are in English or math, but they vary soooo much. I can’t imagine how much work the teachers put in to create these comprehensive lesson plans while accommodating language barriers and kids with completely different knowledge levels. It was also so nice being with children who were so keen to learn. They all had certain routines with the teachers, but one of the school wide ones was how they greeted and thanked teachers at the beginning and end of every class. It melted my heart (along with literally every other thing they did). When I wasn’t in class or helping out teachers I spent my time playing with the kids on the playground. After dinner every night all of the teachers and volunteers hangout with the kids until bedtime/the sun goes down. That was one of my favourite times of day. So many times I would just stand back and look around and appreciate what a beautiful place it is. Adults from all over the world and all of these beautiful children just playing and hanging out, watching a beautiful sunset over the Cambodian landscape. I’m a huge baby but writing this part of the post is honestly making me teary! On top of all of the wonderful children, the teachers and other volunteers I met are honestly some of the best people I’ve had the privilege to meet. The teachers have dedicated their entire lives to helping these children, it is basically a 24/7 job for 10 months out of the year. I have no idea how they do it but I have such an insane amount of respect for them. Obviously getting in my bike accident wasn’t planned or ideal, but I don’t think I would have found this place if things hasn’t worked out the way they did, and I really believe it was meant to be. Every day was absolutely exhausting but so rewarding and even though I was only there for a short period of time I know I’ll be back and those kids have definitely impacted me. If anyone is ever in that part of the world and would like to volunteer there I know they would be so happy to have any of you beautiful people, or donations are always welcomed. I need to cut myself off here because otherwise this part of the post would be 4 million words long because I can talk about it for DAYS but I’ll just say I am so so so so so happy I got to spend time at this amazing place.

PHNOM PENH

Phnom Penh is a pretty crazy city. It’s absolutely ginormous and there’s lots going on. It’s nice having the Mekong River nearby, and there are soooo many western fast food place it was crazy! First time I’ve seen a Krispy Kreme in Asia! I travelled there after leaving the orphanage with my friend Sara from California that I had met at NHCC and spent a lot of time with. We stayed at this super nice hostel that gives people from NHCC discounts on rooms. I was definitely really sad leaving all those beautiful children, but let me tell you it is soooo nice having a real shower/toilet after having one-armed bucket showers and bucket toilets for 2 weeks!!! At the time it seemed like the nicest bathroom I had ever seen hahaha I was in heaven!!!! The main thing Sara and I did in Phnom Penh was go to The Killing Fields and S21 Museum. It’s hard to describe them because there are no words to describe them, but it was an extremely enlightening day. It is so sad all of the atrocities that happened there and seeing how badly people can treat other people. Before I went to Cambodia I read the book “First They Killed My Father” ( at the suggestion of my beautiful half-sister Vicki) and I’m so glad I did. It was a real story of a family’s experience during the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia and I learned so much. I could not believe how everything was handled and the fact that the majority of the world knew so little. It is so sad but it does make you appreciate and respect the Cambodian people so much with how they have moved on and seem to be really enjoying life! They are such beautiful and lovely people, it is so sad that they had to experience horror the way they did. For the 1000th time on this trip I really understood how lucky I am to be where I’m from and to have access to the kind of life I do. I am so blessed it is ridiculous. After that emotionally draining day Sara and I took the nightbus to Siem Reap!

SIEM REAP

I had the best start in a city that I’ve had so far on my trip in this wonderful city. I left NHCC with my friend Sara who had been volunteering there for a couple weeks. We were still a little emotional about leaving NHCC when we got on our night bus to go to Siem Reap, but it was honestly the best night bus experience I’ve ever had! I’d taken soooo many buses in Vietnam so by this point I thought I was a pro, meaning I’m aware of the psycho drivers, the way they always show up early and just walk down the isles and hit you to wake you up. Not this time!!! We showed up at around 5:30am and were slowly woken up and actually informed BEFORE we showed up that we were almost in Siem Reap and that we had to get our stuff together. We were then given face towels as we got off the bus and were allowed to take our sweet ass time getting off (I’m used to being yelled at if I’m not off in .03 seconds). We had arranged a pick up through our hostel but had told them 6am, so we assumed that we would just be waiting in the bus station for a little while. I grabbed my bag and went to sit down, when I turned and saw a guy standing with the large queue of tuktuk drivers and he had a sign with my name on it, spelled CORRECTLY!!!!!!!! Guys I have never felt and will never again feel more like a celebrity than I did in that moment. We then spent the tuktuk drive to our hostel saying good morning to everyone we saw on the road along the way. I know I sound like a complete loser but it was just so fun and such a great way to start travelling again. Thankfully our tuktuk driver was a saint and enjoyed us being loopy from lack of sleep and yelling good morning at everyone. He actually was saying it with us! The only thing I regret from that morning is not keeping the sign with my name on it. Other than that amazing start I frigging loved my time in Siem Reap. Stayed in a great hostel and made some great friends, by the end of our stay we had a big misfit group of friends from America, Canada, Brazil, Holland and France. Went to Angkorr Wat to see the sunrise which was AMAZING and then spent the rest of the day and half of another one exploring the beautiful temples. It is insane how much time and effort has been put into creating all of those ginormous temples, I could not believe how big some of them were and how many are in that one area! Siem Reap is also such a fun place to walk around and hang out in. I honestly did not want to leave! I became really close with Sara (the other NHCC volunteer from California) so it was so nice spending time with her. Actually spent more time with her than originally planned due to a missed flight on her part after a wee bit too much alcohol one night hahaha but eventually she went back home and I went on my way to the beautiful islands of Cambodia - to Sihanoukville I went.

SIHANOUKVILLE

My time in Sihanoukville was verrrrrry short, mostly on the recommendation of everyone I spoke to before my travels. I’d heard it was a busy, scuzzy place with annoying tourists and from what I saw it seemed pretty accurate. I spent one night on Otres beach, which is the farthest one from the city. It was a beautiful beach and a nice relaxing place to have a night. The highlight of my stay there would have to be this BOMB salad I ate at the recommendation of my two British friends who were there a few weeks before me. It had roasted vegetables, cashews and other wonderful things and it was frigging HEAVENLY. You all know how I feel about salads so I get a lil emotional thinking about salads too much just because of the huge empty whole I have in my life without them. Needless to say it made the trip to Sihanoukville all worth it! After my one night there I was on a ferry to Koh Ta Kiev!

KOH TA KIEV

Because of my time spent at the orphanage I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked travelling the rest of Cambodia. I only really had enough time to see one of the beautiful Cambodian islands so picking was hard. The main two are Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samleon, which I had heard are both stunning. Koh Rong is the bigger one of them all so the most built up and pretty busy. After my time in Siem Reap and being on my own again made me really feel like I needed some alone time. Not in a bad way at all but I’ve definitely come to realize how tiring travelling can be (and now I sound like a huge asshole because I’m so lucky to be able to do this trip) and especially with all of my stupid health situations I was in a bit of a weird mindset. With all that being said I host Koh Ta Kiev, the smallest of island of them all that’s really quiet, secluded and basically a little paradise. It was actually suggested to me by my beautiful mama before I even came to Cambodia! I knew it was her and Dugalds favourite find and I’m so glad I picked it!!! There’s no internet on the island so it was nice to get away from technology and just hang out. The place was absolutely STUNNING. The boat dropped us off on the beautiful white private beach, with not a soul in sight. The place I stayed at had adorable little bamboo treehouse/bungalows all around with a main restaurant/hangout treehouse. It was honestly a little oasis! The people who worked there were so frigging lovely and same with the other guests. I spent 2 days just hanging out and eating the best food I’d eaten in soooo long. The sunsets were immaculate, I did not want to leave! One day some friends and I went on a hike across the island to see the floating fishing village on the other side. There had been quite a bit of rain before I got there so what was meant to be a leisurely hike turned into quite an adventurous trek! At that point I still had a wound on my foot that hadn’t healed from my accident, and I was on strict instructions from my future doctor best friend to keep it covered and to not put it in any water. With that in mind it put my friends and I in a little bit of a bind when we reached parts of the path that were swamps…… After unsuccessfully attempting to find a route around the swamps we said screw it and just went through, safely! I tied a plastic bag around my foot and ended up hopping onefooted for a large portion of the day, with some assistance in parts that were too deep. Definitely not expected but it was hilarious and made the day pretty fun. In the end we made it to the village and my foot was dry and intact!!!!! Mission frigging accomplished. After my two beautiful, quiet days on the island I was fresh, rejuvenated and READAYYYY for the next part of my trip. I actually had quite a few epiphanies about my trip and my life while on the island which I am so grateful for. After my lil emotional time I remembered how god damn lucky I am to be on this trip, experiencing all the things I am and to have the frigging phenomenal, supportive family I have. I literally have the best parents in the world. Like holy crap you two, even from across the frigging world you can make me feel better about everyone in one single conversation. I also realized that even though I’m having the most amazing time, I love Canada so FRIGGING MUCH and I am so proud to be from there. So yeah! Sorry for getting too deep there, I’ve calmed down now I promise. After all that a super fun guy I met on the island from Montreal (wahoo another Canadian!! Ps he’s gay so don’t get too carried away everyone) and I moved on to Kampot.

KAMPOT

The last stop on my Cambodia tour and it was a perfect place to finish. Kampot is a beautiful little river town, full of cute little shops, cafes and restaurants. I spent the first day just walking around the city and hanging out which was lovely. At night we went to this adorable little cinema just down the street from our hostel that shows certain films ever night in the cutest cinema you’ve ever seen. It has tiered lounges/beanbags/comfy chairs and we watched two episodes of the new Planet Earth 2 !!!!!!!!! Such a good night. Our last day we went on this action packed tour that showed pretty much everything there is to see around Kampot. The morning was spent up Bokor Mountain, which was absolutely stunning and full of all of these abandoned buildings, palace and church from the civil war in Cambodia. They were cool to see but definitely very eerie…. But on the bright side the views from the top were breathtaking. Is there anything better than standing on top of a mountain, looking down onto the ocean coastline???? The answer is probably not. I won’t say 100% but I’m pretty frigging sure. After that we had lunch at a beautiful waterfall and then dropped off the majority of the tour group and continued the rest just the two of us. The second half included us in our private tuktuk driving around the beautiful country side going to different sites. We went to the salt fields which were really cool! In dry season they take sea water and literally just dry it out and collect the salt. After that we went to Phnom Chhngok Cave, which I thought would be a short little look around but ended with us pretty much spelunking through the entire thing which was so fun. From there we drove by Secret Lake, which is a beautiful fresh water lake in the middle of the mountains. I felt so at home seeing that stunner. Then we went to my personal sanctuary, a pepper plantation!!!!!!!!!!! We toured around and got to see how it’s grown (which is on vines, mind blowing!!!!), harvested and then sampled the different types. As most of you probably know pepper is my SHIT and I put it on literally everything. It isn’t exactly a staple most places in Asia so I was in heaven seeing that place. From the plantation we went to Kep and saw the crab markets! After that whirlwind of a day we headed back into town. We were very, very tired after all of that but definitely satisfied with my last full day in Cambodia. That night we treated ourselves and went to a cute little cafe and ate such good western food. My friend had poutine and I had an amazing chicken burger. It was a frigging good day. The next day I took a bus to Phnom Penh, unfortunately had to say goodbye to my friend as he was staying in Cambodia and went to the airport to catch my flight to Bali!!! I was sad to leave Cambodia but I was so excited to go to Indonesia and be reunited with my two British friends I met in Thailand for Christmas!

I'm now in Indonesia and absolutely loving it. I definitely do not have enough time here to do all of the things I want to do here, but that's alright. Just another place I'll come back to! Another post with the updates from here will come shortly (hopefully)! I hope everyone had an absolutely amazing Christmas and New Years. It was so weird not being there, definitely missing home more and more! Excited for what's to come but also can't wait to see all of you beautiful people again. Love you more than I can say!

Your redhead

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