Well, for the first time in my life, I’m not surrounded by friends or family. I just left Wally and company at the train station; they are returning to Amsterdam and I am off to Prague. I whole heartedly enjoyed my time in A’dam It is a city with so much history and heritage that myself, coming from a babe of a country, can only gape and marvel at it’s extensive heritage. The last two days have been very relaxing for me, as we stayed with Wally’s sister’s boyfriend’s (Moses) parents. We were thrown into a traditional Samoan party the minute we arrived; we were treated to traditional Samoan songs and dancing. Samoan dancing seems to be comprised of getting drunk, hoping around, hooting and slapping your chest while trying to put out a fire with your body. Strange traditions for a very friendly people.
The one thing that I will miss about this place was the food. It may have just Moses’ parents, but the absolute delicious nature of the food I was fed left me constantly moaning with delight. It seemed that his mother was always in the kitchen cooking up something new and delicious to munch on. While my stomach protested in the end, it was worth it to sample the delights of German cooking.
I am nervous about this chapter of my journey. For one, backpacking with a laptop is fairly nerve wracking, as you must constantly be protective. It’s a tempting target for thieves, and generally speaking, associating with people who are usually skinned for money can lead to some upsetting results. I know that last time I was travelling, I lost my wallet in a hostel (which had $600 AUS!) while I was in the shower. I don’t expect this to happen again, but once bitten, twice shy.
So from this moment on, it’s time to begin my book. I’m nervous about this as well because lately I haven’t been too enthusiastic about my writing style. For some reason, I can’t get into the style in which I started this blog. I don’t know if it’s because the focus seems to be, well, lacking focus, or if it’s because I’m not abusing the substances that I was when I started writing. Whatever the case, the words don’t seem to flow from my fingers as they did in the past. I can only hope that more writing will iron these fears out over time.
I have five and a half hours to kill until my train to Prague. I’ve just purchased a portable MP3 player, which is actually doing quite a number on my laptop. Who would have thought that this little trinket could hold so much power – it’s one of those USB powered ones, with 512 megs. I’m loading it up with some music purloined from Wally, as well as an interesting ebook by Daniel Robinson – great ideas of philosophy. If I’m to believe that I’m some kind of philosopher, then I should probably bone up on the history.