From Here to There

November finally arrived. But before that end of October happened. On the last Wednesday of October I went to "trim" my hair. It is now half the length it was. (It is still long though!)

On Thursday it was a tough day at uni. But after that I had a nice lunch with a couple of my friends. Then later, in the evening, I was visiting my brother for his birthday dinner. It was great to see my niece again. She is growing rapidly. We stayed there till late and were home a bit after midnight. It ended up being a long night with packing, shower, doing laundry, and tiding up the mess I had produced in the last few months. I got to bed at six in the morning. My alarm was set for 7:30. I woke up 5 minutes before it went off.

Now it was Friday, the very day that I was patiently waiting for. That's the day when, what should be the greatest trip if my life so far, was about to begin. I flew to Lisbon to see my boyfriend. He was waiting for me at the arrivals, with a flower! :) We seized the last bit of the day we had by going a bit out in the city. Again, arriving after midnight home, we started packing, this time Pedro's things. It went a bit hectic, but by four in the morning we were fast asleep.

With most things packed we let ourselves sleep so we would be somewhat rested for our first flight together. With everything ready to go, bags and bikes packed, Pedro went to get his father and then we drove to the airport. At the check in we had a bit of a scare, the lady at the Emirates desk said that I could only get a 15 day visa for our final destination, so she could not. Check us in because we had our return flights only in 5 weeks. But luckily we had purchased another flight for us for while on the trip, so we had theoretical proof that we'll be leaving Thailand before the 15 days expire. With all that settled we now had to pass our bikes through the oversized luggage scanner, and help the woman working there bring the bike boxes to the other side. :D  We then bought some wine and headed for our gate. The flight was long, more than seven hours. And at Dubai we were not able to land because the airport was busy, so we took an extra minutes just circulating above Dubai. We landed passed two at night local time. Luckily our CS host Jihad was still waiting for us at the airport to take us to his place. With him was another surfer, Vaidas. This guy is from Lithuania, but has also lived in Norway, and in Canada for several years. Now he was on his journey to see every country in the world!! At our host's place we had a quick chat but soon went to sleep. It had been a long day!

We all slept in even though that was not the plan. We planned to leave the apartment by 10, but Jihad had to be in work. He had called work that he would be late, but because he sounded ill, his colleague said to stay home for the day. So now he was our awesome "sick" driver and tour guide. He really turned out to be one of the best hosts ever! Impressive!
We got to see some of Dubai. Before our flight we met an old colleague of Pedro's, had a nice quick dinner. And then our host drove us to the airport. We found our terminal, our boarding gate, and we were ready to take off for Bangkok!

And that is where we are right now. :)

One-Way Track

I've been on this trip for almost a month now. I'm sad that it will be over. This time has allowed me to think, think so far out of the box, so far from what I had been used to..
Often I think about the choices we make in life. We make them every second of every day, even in our dreams we still make choices. Then we see the outcome. We buy a new shirt, and we see that it looks good on us, and people like it. We say something controversial and someone in the crowd reassures that that is a great way of thinking. We decide to speak to a stranger, and he turns out to be a wonderful person. We take no umbrella when the weather-man said it will rain, and it turns out to be sunny all day. We decide to cross the street on a red light because we see no cars around. .. But what is the choices we make bring bad consequences? WHAT IF the shirt we got will look bad on you? What if no one back up your opinion? What if the stranger turns out to be a psychopath? What if it starts raining cats and dogs on a day when you don't take the umbrella? What if a car comes from around the corner and doesn't see you when you cross on that red signal?

Life is so trivial, so fragile, the smallest things can change who you are and what you will do. But how can you know if you make the right choices in life? By trying of course, you should always try new things, take the risk. You will either succeed or you will gain experience and some sort of perspective. You will then try again, try something different, or try a different approach. But what if it is too late? What if the choice we made is there for good, can't be undone, or altered? What if we make the wrong choice and see it when it's already too late? We go down a one way track and there is no way back.

I like to think that there is a way out - through different doors. I believe it's important to not get stuck, there is always a way out. There is always new things to try, new journeys to be made. So it comes down to DOING things, to stay out of the comfort zone, to try new things, taking risks. It comes down to changing yourself by yet another gram. One day I will not know who I was, I will be a different person. This journey has changed me a lot, it has proved to me things I never knew possible, it has showed me how possible it is to do something when you actually get up and try. It has given me hope about people and myself. Most importantly, it has risen doubts about things I always was very certain of.

fotogrāfija vieno

Šodien biju augšā jau no kādiem pieciem. Nācās uz skolu braukt ar autobusu, jo riepa tukša, - t.i. kamera caura. Nu jā.
Skolā biju laicīgi, lai gan likās, ka būšu tieši pirms eksāmena sākuma. Nodevu grāmatu, dabūju lapiņu un gāju rakstīt eksāmenu vēl pirms ieiešanas klasē pajautāju pēdējo sekunžu jautājumus kolēģiem! :D
..un, lai cik dīvaini tas nebūtu, es atbildēju uz VISIEM jautājumiem un tajā brīdī domājot, ka ir pareizi. Vsp sajūta bija laba. Klasi atstāju pus vienpadsmitiem... bet mājās biju tik ap pusvieniem!!!
hihihi
Nolēmu iet kājām. Pa ceļam uzzīmēju vienu zīmējumu, bet tikai vienu. Un un.. gāju pa mazākām ieliņām, kur iepriekš biju bijusi tikai vienu vai pat nevienu reizi.. un man bija fočuks līdzi! :))
Fočēju visu, kas šķita īpaši pievilcīgs un ieintriģējošs, un neparasts. Biju iekritusi tādā kā azartā. Biju ielīdusi vienā spraugā starp divām dzīvokļu mājām, tad izlīdu atpakaļ uz ietves, un nākamajā caumurā redzu mani uzrunā viens cilvēks. Sākumā domāju, ko es, labāk iešu, bet ņemot vērā, ka biju labā noskaņojumā, nolēmu palūkot, kas šim sakāms. Piegāju klāt, viņš man norādīja uz vienām kāpnēm un sacīja, ka laba bilde sanākot. Un tad mēs netīšām sākām pļāpāt. Sākumā par fotogrāfēšanu. Tad viņš grasījās doties, bet uzzinājis manu vārdu viņš interesējās no kurienes esmu. Pateicu, ka Latvijas. :) Tad viņš teica, ka ir interesanti satikt kādu no lv. Mēs runājām par ES, par valodām, par citām tautām un starptautiskajām atiecībām, un par arhitektūru. Šis cilvēks pēc izglītības arihtekts, vecāki no grieķijas un pats kanādtietis. Vsp saruna ilga kādas 15 min. Mēs atvadījāmies un viņš pavaicāja, vai nevaru iedot savu e-pastu tā arī izdarīju. Mēs sarunājām, ka viņš man uzrakstīs un tad es viņam aizsūtīšu kādu fotogrāfiju. (Viņam ar interesē fotogrāfēšana, tā pat kā es, ir bijis uz kursiem SPAO (school of photographic art of ottawa)). Nu jā.
Es turpināju kaifot par pilsētas neizpētītajiem stūriem un tad garām gāja viens vīrietis ar papagaili uz pleca un sacīja: "You want an interesting picture? There is one here." Viņš pasmējās un aizgāja tālāk. Un tad es teicu: "Can I, please?" un es viņu nofočēju! :)
bija forša diena. Tad uzklīdu uz veloceliņa, tā, kas iet gar kanālu un garām brauca Tašpuks. Ilgi viņu nespīdzināju un drīz vien ļāvu viņam turpināt mājupbraucienu. :D
Uh. Pārnācu mājās sasūkusies tikko pļautas zāles miegaino smaku un saulainu nogurumu pēdās. Gribējās pēdu masāžu! :)
Tikai es nevaru jums bildes parādīt, jo dators mājās ir sviestā un ir baigi spītīgs un neparko negrasās lasīt atmiņas karti... grr.. man jau tik antīkas bildes uz tās kartes vēl ir. bet nu neko, gan kaut kad tas pārdomās dzīvi! :DD
Rīt matemātikā eksāmens. Griu būt gatava, tāpēc es nu iešu pamācīties..
bučas pa kreisi pa labi un visiem baltiem papagaiļiem! ;) :D



exams: Biology, Physics, Math

Prom.

Ardievu - dzied iekurinātie grēki
un sen atpakaļ veltās bēdas.

Es dodos prom, ne vairs bēgu.
Neesmu ne alīga līgava, ne pusbada vilks.

Dodos, ar izsniegtām atļaujām
un varasvīra aizmuguri.

Man ir viss, kas nodevējam vajadzīgs,
ja ne par daudz.

Bet nu ardievu- vēsta atskaite,
kas uz rakstāmmašīnas sēd.

piecas dienas!!!!!!!!!

piecas dienas.
five days.
cinco días.
cinque giorni.
fünf tage.
pět dní.
cinq jours.
πέντε ημέρες.
5日間.
penkias dienas.
п'ять днів.
пять дней.
пет дана.
пет дни.

Aha. Vēl tikai piecas dienas. Un tad. un tad... :)