Indianapolis

I went to Indianapolis for four days to visit my friend Tessa. Denise also flew up from the Bahamas.
We caught a baseball game which was fun. We aslo did a wine and canvas class. I'll upload a photo when my painting arrives here.  On our last day we drove down to Brown County.

You can check out all the photos here: Indianapolis Photo Album

Home Sweet Home

I know this is pretty late but here is a video of our place in Bellevue.
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Northwest Folk Festival

Paul and I went to the Northwest Folk Festival last weekend. It's like the multicultural festival back home except bigger.  They also had lots of live music and really good busker's.

Cuba!

Day 1

The flight from Nassau to Cuba took about 40 minutes. From the International airport we took a taxi to Varadero which is about two hours by car from the airport. The lady at the information desk was really frustrating to speak with. She didn't speak fluent English and she didn't understand us when tried asking about a bus to Varadero. She kept saying that they weren't any. Urgh. In fact there is a bus station when you drive from the airport to Havana but she didn't know or didn't want to tell us. In the end we had to take a taxi.

We finally got to Varadero in the afternoon. in Cuba there aren't any backpapers/hostels.  Your only options are Hotels which are all inclusive, or Casa de Particulars. They way I understand it is that because Cuba is communist there are hardly any entrepreneurial businesses here. Particulars are one of the few that are allowed to operate by the government. Basically Cuban's can rent out spare rooms in their houses to travellers. They do have to pass rigourous inspections and submit paperwork to the government but it is really cheap.   I only paid $15 CUC a night which amounts to the same in Australian dollars.

The Particular we stayed at (picture above) in Varadero was nice but didn't have the best location.  After dumping off our stuff we went out to get something to eat. One of the nice things about Cuba is that the food is cheap, meals averaged around $4CUC.  However, some things were outrageously expensive, like sunscreen for example.

We managed with what little Spanish we know to the amusement of the locals.  I'm pretty sure we look ridiculous but luckily the people here are friendly and don't mind.


Day 2

It was very hot in Varadero, the daily temperature averaged around 33C.  I didn't sleep very well due to these annoying roosters who started cock-a-doodling at 3 in the morning and on other nights they were constructing a room just outside ours. To my frustration Denise didn't hear a thing.   We got up and had breakfast and then went to the beach. The water was so clear and beautiful and unlike the Bahamas there were no rocks or seaweed in the water. After the beach we hit the stalls and did some shopping. All the stalls were pretty similar and everything started to blur after awhile.

One thing I love about Cuba is the cars, they are so many classic 1950's Cadillac's on the road and some have been kept in pristine condition. I've posted a few of my favourites below.

There isn't much to do in Varadero except go to the beach which is what we did again in the afternoon, Denise being the competitive gal that she is challenged me to a coconut throwing contest. It was a tie. :P We also booked a bus to Havna. As it was really hot today we rested often and had cool drinks. In my case it was often a Mojitio which cost around 1.30 CUC, alcohol is really cheap here.

Before we left for Cuba Denise and I had polite disagreement about who was the better photographer (as I'm writing this Denise  states that she is - ignore  her she cheats) . Today I took some awesome photos and she is in BIG trouble

Day 3

Today we took a Jeep safari tour out and around Varadero. Our tour guy was called Pedro, after hearing his name I really wanted to watch Napoleon Dynamite.  We ended up sharing a jeep with a Canadian couple. Pretty much all the tourists in Cuba are from Canada. American's can not travel to Cuba without special permission. Safe to say we were the only Aussies on the trip. We took a ferry up river which was fairly uninteresting. We then drove to Playa Coral which was a reef at the northern tip of Cuba in the Mantanzas province where Varadero is. The reef was fantastic but we didn't spend as much time snorkeling as I would have liked. After that  we had lunch and then went swimming in this giant cave. It was cold  but the water was crystal clear and even without snorkels you could see fish. It was incredibly deep.

We learnt some interesting things about Cuba from Pedro. Apparently in Cuba women do not drive. It's not against the law but instead it's a social norm that they depend on the men for transportation. In Cuba there is no car insurance so instead you carry cash on you. There is no house insurance either as all the houses are owned by the government. It is illegal in Cuba to buy or sell a house. If you want to move you have to exchange with someone. Houses are allocated on a priority basis. Families are at the top of the list with single men at the bottom. Apparently a lot of men still live at home for this reason. However, the welfare system is free, education, doctors, dental etc. Pedro did say that apparently next month the government will be trying to pass a bill to change housing regulations.

Tomorrow it is off to Havana!

Day four

The bus to Havana took two hours and then a short taxi to the Casa we were staying at. Enrique was the owner and very friendly. It helped that he spoked English and warned us about certain scams.

Havana is more densely populated than Varadero. As a result there are more people trying to get money out of you. They often call out "hola" (hello) and when you reply and keep walking they get up and follow you. They then ask you where you are from, when we say Australia they go " is very nice" and after this they start asking for money. The other creepy way is that they blow kisses and call you beautiful lady.  The homeless also ask for strange things like soap or toothbrushes, weird.  Havana is not what I expected. There isn't much to do there. Aside from a few beautiful buildings it is very hot and the streets are fairly dirty and the hustlers really wore me down. We did stop at a few places for drinks along the way and they were nice as they often had people playing live Cuban music. We walked around and saw most of what there was to see so we booked a tour to Vinales for our last day I'm Cuba.  This way we get to see a bit more of Cuba before we leave.

Day 5 Vinales

Vinales was beautiful. In the morning we stopped by a distillery and a Cuban cigar making factory.  In the afternoon we went into the Vinales valley and saw this giant mural on the wall. It was painted 50 years ago and is often the topic of heated debates in the art community. Apparently some people claim it's naive and others say it's true art. To me it did like look a 5 year old could have painted it but I don't understand art like that so maybe I'm wrong...






We then did a boat tour through an underwater cave and after went to a Cuban cigar farm. I tried a Cuban cigar here, not sure how to describe it but I didn't hack my lungs. I had only puff but Denise snapped a cool picture.













If you want to check out all photos for my Cuba trip you can do so here: https://picasaweb.google.com/zo.french/Cuba?authkey=Gv1sRgCJuV8t6wssH4bA#

I also uploaded the photo's onto Facebook.

The Bahamas

So, I'm currently visiting my friend Denise who lives in the Bahamas. She teaches at an IB school called St Andrew's.

The Bahamas feels like paradise after living in and around Seattle, however, it is hot and humid here and it was a bit of an adjustment after all that rain and cold weather in Bellevue. The trip wasn't to bad, I left home at around 5am and arrived here in the afternoon, it's a 10-12 hour flight including stops.  Unfortunately, I was delayed in Fort Lauderdale due to bad weather. At this point I was really tired. I had gotten up at 3am and I had not eaten a decent meal due to the short tue short connection times.  We were then further delayed because a guy passed out on the plane just as we were getting ready to take off. It turned out that he was a deep sleeper and the the flight attendants panicked when the couldn't wake him. Boy was he embarrassed when he finally woke up. :P

The Bahamas are just as nice as I remember. Beautiful weather, clear water, great beaches etc. There is a beautiful beach just down the the road from Denise's house. I've been catching up on some sunshine and I'm reading 'Catch 22' while relaxing on the beach. I went snorkeling today on this beautiful reef nearby today and even though the water was murky due to windy weather there were so many tropical fish. I even spotted a few starfish. We kept an eye out for stingray but did not see any. ;(

Tomorrow we are off to Cuba! We are staying in Varadero for two nights before travelling west to Habana for another two nights!

Shiny new digs!

Exciting news! Paul and I paid a deposit for a new place this weekend and it was not a moment too soon.  Our temporary housing runs out next week and we have to move this weekend.  Luckily the application process is fairly short.
It’s fairly different here, the majority of place we looked at were in apartment complexes.  Here, most of the complexes are owned by corporations and each building will have it’s own leasing office.  Properties that are rented by owners through third party agencies like real estate agencies are call condominiums.   Anyway the building is called Avalon Meydenbauer.   It’s located in downtown Bellevue.   Click here to see the location on Google maps.


I don’t have any photos to upload as we won’t pick up the keys til next week but I have included a floor plan below.  I know it is small but it was the only one I could find.  The amenities are good, there is a fitness centre located in our building as well as a business room and entertainment room.  Also, the ground floor level of our building is actually a shop level and right smack bang in the middle is a grocery store called Safeway. Funnily enough I do most of our shopping at Safeway here in Redmond. What a happy coincidence!  This could also be a very bad thing, I mean a grocery store in our building? Talk about late night snacking opportunities. :P  Also, I don’t know if you noticed on the map link but we live across the street from a take-out joint called ‘Fat Burger’.  Paul says we should try it but I’m holding out!

Brrr….it is very cold here

When we first arrived in Seattle it was cold.  Cold enough that the first thing I did was go out and buy a tri-lined winter jacket. However, it just got colder. The forecast for yesterday was a top of 3C to a min of –5 and instead of rain we got snow! I was pretty excited, if you are going to live in a freezing city there should be some perks right? :P

 

I took a video and uploaded it below.

Welcome to Seattle

So it has been almost two months since we have arrived here in Redmond.  It has taken me a bit of time to set up this blog because I waited for my digital camera to before I started blogging.  It didn’t feel right to blog and not included photo’s or videos.

So Paul and I are currently staying in an apartment in Redmond right next to Microsoft which makes Paul’s commute fairly short.  Redmond is called a city but to me it feels like we are living in a suburb.  Why? Well in Australia when you have finally left a city you know it. It’ s not that hard to figure out because suddenly there are no more houses, building or streets.  It’s not like that here in the states and many other countries I’ve visited. For example, we are right next to a city called Bellevue and I have no idea where Redmond ends or Bellevue begins.

There isn’t much here in Redmond except Microsoft. That shouldn’t surprise you because the main campus is here and there are over 30,000 people spread across the main campus and a few other buildings in Washington. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone told me that 90% of the people who lived in Redmond worked at Microsoft.

Aside from checking out downtown Seattle and Bellevue as possible places to live we haven’t done that much yet.  We are still getting settled and Paul is still adjusting to his new job.

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We did go see an ice hockey game.  Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Spokan Chiefs.  Seattle lost unfortunately but it wasn’t that expensive to go to and there was a fairly large crowd which always makes for a good experience. 

 

My friend Denise recently visited and we went and explored Seattle, which only took two days.  There isn’t much here in terms of tourism, however, it is a nice place to live.  Paul and I are considering living in Downtown Seattle if the rent is affordable.  My favourite place in Seattle would be Pike Place Markets.  While they aren’t as big as Brick Lane Markets or Camden Markets in London it’s still fun to visit. They are lots of food stores and tasty things to try! 

That’s it for now.  I’ll upload some photo’s of Redmond as soon as I have taken them. 

Paul and I are going to Boston in March and I’m making plans to go to Cuba in April….I’ll keep you posted!

Zoe