guess who's back
Mood:  hug me

My trip to Canada was good; I had a nice time, even though I was with my family! Toronto and Niagara Falls are both nice places, although admittedly the town of Niagara Falls is extremely tacky, full of amusements and shops and about 4 waxwork museums in the space of two streets (none of them v good from what i gathered from the posters). In saying that it was tacky-fun -- if it was on my doorstep I would hate it, but if you're only spending a few days there then its quite cool.

I came back on Satuday, and on Sunday night was out at Milk with Gemz, Paul, Jenny and Christine. It was an okay night, only got 4 hours sleep though which meant on Monday I was extremely tired from jetlag and lack of sleep!

Now I'm back home i have to try and settle back into 'normal life' after being away for almost a month. I've already started back to work, bleh. Also have to pick up on my 'projects' I was working on before I left, writing etc. Trying to keep myself busy, or else I'll keep dreaming about going back to Russia!

From Russia with... cliche
Mood:  rushed
well i'm back safe and sound from russia, and am rushing about trying to get everything done in the three days i have at home before i jet off to canada on saturday morning.

the trip was brilliant, hard work but extremely enjoyable as well. was helping to run a 10 day summer camp for underpriveleged kids in a small village 70 miles west of moscow. the days were long hot and tiring, from 7am-11pm, but it was great fun playing with the kids and getting to know them; we were all very emotional when camp ended. everyone in our team got on well, there were no arguments or falling outs, which i would imagine is quite rare in such a situation. i think i've made quite a few new friends because of the experience.

after the camp we spent a few days in moscow, and we saw round red square and the kremlin which was cool, you can see some pics of it here. like most cities, the nice parts are very nice, but there is a lot of poverty and the big towerblocks where most moscovites live are not in very good condition. in saying that, i liked the city, or what i saw of it. but all in all it was a good laugh. hooray!

I'm going to Russia, bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I went out to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gemz, her friend Jenny, and my friends Paul and Christine. It was CLASS!! I wanted to see it again immediately, but we had to go to a bar instead. Another one of Gemz' friends, Tracey arrived and, to be fair, frightened the hell of me with comments like "If I was single I'd pounce on your sexy ass" and worse. luckily gemz and jenny were sitting between her and i, otherwise i may not have made it out alive. lol.

after midnight we went to bar mocha where tracey grabbed me and took me to the dancefloor and - shock horror - i actually did dance (or tried) for the first time EVER! i was really getting into it, getting my groove on, lol. when i came back from dancing i found that two straws had mysteriously appeared in my pint, and Paul was chuckling mischeivously, but i drank my pint through the straws because i am a man and i can take it.

Next thing i can recall was being out in the street and looking for Laura who had been in Caf? Ceol. I found her eventually, and walked part of the way home with her (she was staying at a friends). We stood for ages talking but I haven't a clue what about. But she texted me today saying "did you mean all the tings you said last nite?" so it must have been good, lol. Probably such poetry as "Ayye reaallly liike yooo" and "bleeeaaggghhh" (the sound of me throwing up). Don't remember walking home, but i got here cuz i remember falling down the stairs at three in the morning.

My phone had broke last night, the screen won't work, i can't remember dropping it but its still probably the most likely explanation, so this morning when i got up i transferred my SIM card into my old phone. It hasn't been used since christmas so it needed charged, and in my dizzy state i managed to snap the end off the charger. Great. Charged it a wee bit but that wont last long. So now i've no mobile for going to Russia so basically i'll be hundreds of miles away and have no way of contacting anyone! Not that anyone will notice.

sunday funday
Mood:  a-ok
went out this afternoon with christine, and we went to the funfair! yeeo! lol. we went on two rides - the first i don't know the name of but it goes round and round and spins you round and then twirls you round at the same time just for good measure. then we went on the 'magic carpet' ride, which basically goes up and around. ok so its not theme-park material, but i don't like heights (or speed or danger) so it was still a bit scary. also, on the magic carpet ride, when the man came round to check if everybody's safety harness was locked in place - by yanking it up to see how far it moved - he whacked me up the nose with it! flip sake! and then after that we bought some sweets, including jelly handcuffs! That's right, JELLY HANDCUFFS!! No, it wasn't that sort of afternoon, in case your wondering, but it was fun none the less. And the handcuffs were half okay, but the red side was cherry-flavoured and i hate cherries. bleh.