The group in which I have been placed for the last ten days has been great. All friendly people enjoying their various travels and maximising their life experiences. However, with my usual gossip network removed, I have become increasingly in need of a forum to gossip on. So I have decided to tell you about three things and people that have really driven me to distraction over the past ten days. I hope you find them as amusing as I have found them infuriating:
1) Firstly, my sometime roomate, let's call him C (his name is Craig, but C sounds more mysterious). C is a man of incredibly nervous dispoistion. Coming from someone who panics at the smallest incident, this may seem hypocritical, but you'll have to trust me - C is a nervous man. C doesn't like to be late. Therefore he will wake up two hours before the time that is strictly necessary, in order to ensure punctuality. Even when we had to start trekking at 2.45, he was alive and kicking by 1.30. Which some people might find annoying. Additionally, C has a fascination with making sure everything is contained within plastic bags. Incessantly rustling plastic bags and unnecessarily early mornings make for a frustrating combination.
However, the thing that I find most disconcerting is C's lack of discretion in the bedroom. One might expect a nervous man to have certain issues with flaunting his (unattractive, it must be said) body. But not C. C will happily walk around completely naked, even after a bout of particularly loud diarrhoea. My gaze has been, and will continue to be, averted.
2) Swedish honeymooners. There was nothing wrong with the Swedish honeymooners in our group. They were lovely people with a dry, typically Scandinavian sense of humour. They took part in all the activities willingly and kept their clothes on at appropriate moments (take note, C). However, my issue is that they were honeymooning on a GAP adventure. With me. Would you want to honeymoon with me (calm down ladies, this is not a proposal via blog)? Me and 12 other mainly twentysomethings. I can understand the desire to step away from a beach if this does not excite, but I struggle to comprehend the desire to re-create a GAP year feel when enjoying wedded bliss for the first time. Each to their own, I guess.
3) Failings in the Australian educational system. For some of you, the phrase 'Australian educational system' might in itself come as a shock. However, I'm reliably informed that it does exist, although it appearantly has fatal flaws. The four Aussies in my group were all great people, typifying the Australian fun mentality. However, there was one specific comment that I found hard to comprehend. We were at a war memorial commemorating the death marches that the Japanese forced upon POWs during WW2. Only 6 survived in one of the most infamous and horrendous cases of torture that I have ever heard of. As we were leaving, an Aussie (she will remain nameless, for the sake of her entire nation) piped up "My grandpa escaped from a POW / Concentration camp, but I can't think which one". We then proceed to name the most famous camps. None of these ring a bell. She then exclaimed: "oh yes, that's it.. it was called the Holocaust". Which left me as bewildered and dumbfounded as you are now.
Apart from blog writing and hoping that no-one from my group reads this, I have today been snorkeling and lazing on a tropical paradise island. As far away from Finchley as one could imagine.
However, the thing that I find most disconcerting is C's lack of discretion in the bedroom. One might expect a nervous man to have certain issues with flaunting his (unattractive, it must be said) body. But not C. C will happily walk around completely naked, even after a bout of particularly loud diarrhoea. My gaze has been, and will continue to be, averted.
2) Swedish honeymooners. There was nothing wrong with the Swedish honeymooners in our group. They were lovely people with a dry, typically Scandinavian sense of humour. They took part in all the activities willingly and kept their clothes on at appropriate moments (take note, C). However, my issue is that they were honeymooning on a GAP adventure. With me. Would you want to honeymoon with me (calm down ladies, this is not a proposal via blog)? Me and 12 other mainly twentysomethings. I can understand the desire to step away from a beach if this does not excite, but I struggle to comprehend the desire to re-create a GAP year feel when enjoying wedded bliss for the first time. Each to their own, I guess.
3) Failings in the Australian educational system. For some of you, the phrase 'Australian educational system' might in itself come as a shock. However, I'm reliably informed that it does exist, although it appearantly has fatal flaws. The four Aussies in my group were all great people, typifying the Australian fun mentality. However, there was one specific comment that I found hard to comprehend. We were at a war memorial commemorating the death marches that the Japanese forced upon POWs during WW2. Only 6 survived in one of the most infamous and horrendous cases of torture that I have ever heard of. As we were leaving, an Aussie (she will remain nameless, for the sake of her entire nation) piped up "My grandpa escaped from a POW / Concentration camp, but I can't think which one". We then proceed to name the most famous camps. None of these ring a bell. She then exclaimed: "oh yes, that's it.. it was called the Holocaust". Which left me as bewildered and dumbfounded as you are now.
Apart from blog writing and hoping that no-one from my group reads this, I have today been snorkeling and lazing on a tropical paradise island. As far away from Finchley as one could imagine.
1 comment:
Rafi that was so smeggin funny!! I'm not sure if you're aware, but 'C' also seemed to practice conversation with himself...either that or he had an imaginary friend. Either way, it disturbed me!! As for the Aussie bash, all i have to say is that I stayed in Sepilok that day... :)
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