Catching up

I know, I know, it’s been a while since my last blog. So sue me:) I’m still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing.

So, my trip to Croatia was wonderful. Dubrovnik is one of the most stunning cities I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it was because it was the first Mediterranean style city I’ve ever seen, but I thought it was pretty amazing. I loved the orange tiled roofs dotting the mountainside, the massive city walls, the way the light reflected off the white stones of the streets in a hundred different ways. I took millions of pictures (yes, they’re coming soon!).

I was in Croatia with my friend Davorka, who I worked with at my last job. She was born in Dubrovnik but spent much of her time on an island off the coast called Sipan (pronounced Ship-an). We spent three nights there…it was a charming little seaside town. We stayed at her uncle’s house, which is built a bit like a hotel because they rent rooms out in the summer when there are lots of tourists. A lot of Davorka’s family was there, aunts, uncles, cousins, her mother, sister, and daughter. It was such a neat experience, being in this multi-generational household. Meals were communal and the kitchen was the busiest place in the house. Not many of her family spoke much English, but it didn’t matter. They were so kind and welcoming and generous to me…plying me with food and wine constantly!

The weather didn’t cooperate while we were there – though we had nice afternoons. But it was quite windy and we only swam once – even then it was pretty “refreshing.” We did go kayaking and hiked up the small mountain behind the house. We went for lots of walks and generally relaxed. The night before I left to go back to Dubrovnik there was a huge storm and I laid in bed and worried that none of the boats were going to be able to run the next day and I would be stranded on the island! Three of the four boats were cancelled, so I got out by the skin of my teeth. I spent one last afternoon in the old city, and flew back to London the next day.

Burcak and her family picked me up at the airport and we proceeded on to Legoland for the afternoon, which, I have to say, was SO COOL. The models they built there are amazing – a real feat of engineering! Took lots of pics there too:)

Anyway, I’m in Dublin now – at last…it feels really good to be here after all these months of talking about it, planning, thinking, etc. It’s funny for me to think that I started talking about this as something I wanted to do at Christmas, and now, here I am. I feel so very fortunate that I have the ability to make that kind of change in my life and come from a culture that makes it possible.

ps London pics are up:)