Scary truths

I walked through the gates, hugged my sister and burst into tears. Yes, I'm back in the UK. (Angela, I swear that I don't normally cry as much as this). Finally arriving in London really meant the end of JET for me. The last two years are over and it's time to move on. sabishii ne?

Saying goodbye to Seth was hard. It seems so weird that I won't be seeing him any time I want and that it's going to cost me loads of money to hear his voice. At Syracuse airport, I was grateful that he was such a lanky boy as I turned back to wave at him all the way down to the gate. Seeing him at home and with his family was so different and showed me a lot more about him. It seems weird that he's not here for me to bother when I'm restless now.

I found one thing really weird about America. The way people always talk to you when you go into a shop. The first time someone asked me 'hi, how are you doing?' I had no idea what to say and just looked around to see if she was talking to me.

But, the weirdest thing is that I actually really liked the US. Shock-horror.
'

Relaxing

I spent a few days at a lake near Seth's house. No running water and electricity from a generator. It was cool to get away from everything and be able to relax after all the business of leaving Japan and doing the trans-sib. Slept in a tent, went fishing, read "Brave New World", ate way too much, and played boardgames. Was so cool.

Came back to civilisation today and went to the NY State Fair. Saw so much food that I've only seen on TV before and found out after 20 something years what a twinky is.

Oh, had the biggest "small" ice cream in my life. Hint to all non-Americans visiting the US - go for the baby size!

Sorry I haven't been replying to comments etc. but I appreciate that you are reading this and am thinking of you all! Big kisses to you...mwah mwah...

Syracuse

Arrived in Syracuse yesterday and the first thing I did was to run and vomit in the toilets. No, Syracuse did not render me ill, but the turbulence made my belly go wah wah.

Syracuse is very rural and the houses and especially the mailboxes are just like in the TV programmes. I was so surprised. Also learnt that the mailman comes and picks up your post to be posted, too. Whitney, Seth's sister told me that she used to sellotape the money to the letter and the postman would put a stamp on it for her.

Seth's family are really nice and they have a beautiful house. I'm so happy to be in a really comfy double bed. ii n janai?

Right, off to try the infamous Cracker Barrel and then a mall and Taco Bell for lunch. Forget about turning Japanese..

St. Petersburg is

BUGGERING WINDY!

Ramblings

I have had two days in Moscow and it is a thoroughly cool-ass city. It's dead pretty and St Basil's Cathedral is the porverbial dog's bollocks. I leave tonight for St Petersburg which is supposed to be even cooler than Moscow so I can't wait.

It feels really weird to be in Europe. I'm so close to home but feel so foreign because a) all the whiteys here speak Russian and I can't read cyrillic b) everybody is white!

Went to the ballet last night and watched the Nutcracker and went to the Kremlin today.

My crazy friend showed us all his 'meatballs' well, his veg if you catch my drift. Very odd talking to a lad when hids nads are nestled in his lap when you're just having a chat.

Moscow

So, I did three nights on a train. After travelling across a whole map with the last leg being nearly 80 hours long, I reckon I can do anything now. It wasn't too bad, although we did miss the train. Seth had to CLING to the door as it was gathering speed and the conductor waited about 15 seconds before reluctantly pulling the emergency cord. Thank goodness or else we'd have been stuck in the arse end of nowhere for two days.

Will blog again. Hope everyone is well.

Siberia

The border crossing between Mongolia and Russia took forever and we didn't move for 12 hours. Pure craziness. We randomly saw a school fete in a tiny Russian border town with some school children singing some R-pop. Strange.

It's amazing how quickly it turned from Asia to Europe. I am in Irkutsk now and it already feels really European. After Japan, I want to go up to every whitey I see and ask them what they are doing here. Of course, they'd probably have no idea what I was saying to them.

I swam in Lake Baikal yesterday and had a Russian banyan for the first time. Tomorrow, am on the train for three nights. We have met two other people who we're travelling with and the random thing is that all four of us are in different compartments on the train tomorrow. Weird!

Mongolia is the most random country I have ever been to. The culture is a mix of asian / Russian and it's own, there are random people who walk around with phones you'd get in someone's home who are human roaming telephone boxes, the women are immaculately turned out like the J-folk whereas the men don't seem to care, and they have random traditional throat singing which sounds like they're gargling.

On the train tonight for 2 nights. Random provisions include baby food, pop tarts, mash potato for 1 in a pot a BLT sandwich.

Mongolian randomness is infectious.

Mongolia

Am at the central square in Ulanbaatar. We spent about 30 hours on a train and ate some minging food which was just all beef gristle and onions.

Last night we stayed in a ger which was interesting as the insects were dead noisy.

I rode a horse for a first time today. When I say rode I mean sat on top of whilst a man led me around by the reins as I freaked out every time the horse remotely moved. My arse is sore now.

Monkey-ing

Today has been a rollercoaster of a day emotionally. Cried about 50 times it seems and once was in the middle of town where I was literally wailing like a baby. Yokunai ne.

Went to see the "monkey" today about the trans-siberian. It's weird. We board at 7.40am tomorrow and it's all going to happen. Feels dead strange and real. I can still remember when I was going crazy trying to fill in the form. Now I have a "monkey" T-shirt for my troubles and a million pot noodles.

Happiest point of today: getting my metal cup with lid and magnetic spoon. So ready to tranzip now, baby!