am i really here??

It's still a little surreal :)
Hello! Well at the moment I'm at my uncle's house, he's been generous to agree for me to use the internet when I wish! He lives upstairs from my grandparents' house, where we are staying. Lovely little duplex! I just met their two pet turtles, Ingeniere (engineer) and Geometra (geometrist)!

So getting here was a long but manageable journey, we stopped for a night in Dubai which was great cos we not only got some sleep, but visited around the gold markets (cheap and very noticeable!). The place is really impressive but I had mixed reactions as you got the impression that a small bunch of people were governing a huge amount of cement- I mean development which had all only recently happened. The rest of the population seemed like some SouthEast Asian populations, poor and trying to sell you anything they posess. The temperature was 45 degrees which was incredible, coming from a chilli Busselton.

So on thursday the 24th we left for Italy, along a large amount of very loud Italians, including a big group who had travelled to Sydney for WYD. It was so strange to hear so many (young) people speak Italian! Funny though :) around six hours later we landed in Venice, where our family picked us up from. Again, a few differences in the local road rules (what road rules?) which could give some laid-back Busselton drivers a bit of a heart attack ;)

So now I am home. Or my grandma's home anyway..? The weather here is really pleasant at the moment, we will go to the markets tomorrow in the centre of town- I'm assured by my gran that she has been busy preparing food for us just in case a sudden famine decides to hit the planet!

Must go now, my gran made sure half of the town knows we are here so.. places to be.. people to meet... :)
ciao.