Day 58
Monday 28Sept
2105
I’m staying with a new host, another young girl whose about to start studying medicine, I forgot to email her last week and she received another request so the couch was given away. This is no problem however and I’ll just have to sleep on the floor. The other couch surfer is a Turkish guy from Ancora who was here for a music entrance test at the uni. He said he failed the test but he is a fantastic Guitarist.
2300
We’ve just been to the fair that’s on here. I had a great time, even though I lost my wallet. I don’t know what happened to it. I was standing in a line and was juggling my camera before giving it to the Turkish bloke, and then all of a sudden it was gone, there’s a chance I was pick pocketed, there was a lot of people around but I could have just as easily dropped it. There’s nothing really important in there. A couple of bank cards and my drivers license but that’s it. There’s nothing that’s irreplaceable, the only downer is that I bought the actual wallet yesterday and I have to call my folks and get them to send me a card for the second time in a month. Oh well.
Today at work I did absolutely nothing. Well no work anyway. I spent the day writing in my diary replying to emails and couch surfing messages and planning future trips. If I do all the stuff I want to I’ll have done every country on mainland Europe. So the only ones I’ll have missed will be Crete, Malta and Iceland.
0944(29Sept)
I left work at 5 and went to my new hosts place. She lives at the bottom of Elizabethstrasse on Glacistrasse. I parked but couldn’t find the entrance so I just called her and she walked out the front of her building about 50 m away up the road.
I went inside and met the Turkish guy, I have no idea what his name is, it slipped away from my tongue far too easily. He seems nice enough though. Christina asked me what I wanted to do. I said “I don’t mind….. That doesn’t help you though in any way dooes it?” she just laughed and I said “Allright I’ll make a plan, how about we go somewhere near by for a beer and some reasonably priced food”
We walked around the corner from Christina’s to a pizza place not too far away. It was similar to the one I’d been to with Yvette and Lucas the week previously, in which we could choose the toppigs we wanted. I was again tempted to go with the snail, but I shyed away from it. I was pretty hungary and wanted something safe.
The Turkish guy was pretty funny, a little morbid I guess, but that just comes with living in a pretty average part of Ancora. We were talking about the states, and their ridiculous gun laws which led us to talking about weaponry in Turkey, he said that there aren’t too many guns, but every one has knives. He then went on to tell us about a time when some road rage out the front of his place climaxed with one of the participants attacking the other with a clever and then driving off. He said the rest of the victims family soon arrived, everyone from the oldest man to the youngest child, toting guns looking for someone to shoot.
We were also talking about how Christina was quite game hosting two strange men in her flat, and she said that her friends couldn’t believe it either. The Turk was a little bit too casual in his joking of how we actually know each other and that tonight we were going to kill her. I’m pretty sure it was just the arab flavored accent which took me aback a little, but Christina found it quite amusing so I just ran with it.
Later that night we went to the local Carnival. Mondays over here are equivallent to our tight ass Tuesdays and all the rides were only worth 2 Euros. We walked there as Christina knew the way, She did pretty well for a girl, she only had to stop and ask for directions in a small town she’d been living in for 3 years twice!!
We went on a couple of rides, they were good fun. And had a beer while we watched a 40 year old DJ pretending to be 25 up on stage spinning a heap of (admittedly) really cool electro tunes. The other funny thing was the crowd that was dancing. It was all the mum’s and dads while the kids were off on the rides, they were pretty funny, moving around having a great time. I was quite envious.
At one point there was a pause in the music, one girl walked up on stage and a heap of younger crew walked onto the dance floor clapping and laughing. They’d put their friend upto singing a couple of songs, she looked quite nervous and awkward at first, yet once she started singing she had a fantastic voice. She sung two songs, and by the end of it I was really quite peaved, I’m so jealous of anyone who can sing well. Selfish a******s.
We then went and queued up for one of the bigger rides, the turk wasn’t keen on it but I bullied Christina into coming with me. We grabbed our tickets and stood in line. Somewhere in the space of 5 m and 10 minutes my wallet went missing. I have no idea where too. There’s a cchance I was pick pocketed, it was pretty crowded and surely if I’d dropped it someone in the 2 meters behind me would have picked it up and returned it to me or the ticket box. But I’m pretty sure people just lose things all the time and put it down to being pick pocketed as the thought of them losing something is unfathomable. But really can u ever be sure you’ve been pick pocketed, unless you catch them in the act I guess. Which never happens.
The turk was also talking about a theme ride in Turkey. He said it was the most exciting theme park in the world because the never check the rides and any ride you go on could be your last!! Haha. He spoke of a ride where “the track went right and the car went straight” and how 2 people had died, yet he’d ridden the ride less then 2 weeks prior to this.
We got back to Christina’s appartment at about 11 and I asked the turk if I could have a play of his guitar, I tried to remember nothing else matters but I haven’t played it on Guitar in over 3 years so I was totally lost. He asked for the guitar and played the very song flawlessly, again another fantastic musician/selfish a******.
As I’d forgotton to message Christina last week she’d offered her couch upto the turk. However there was pleanty of space on the floor and I folded two blankets in half and slept on those. It was actually really confortable. And I surprisingly had one of the best sleeps I’ve had since coming to Graz.

Day 59
Tuesday 29Sept
2105
Yesterday I got to work early at about 8. I’d been up done some pushups and was feeling good. Although wheni got to work I ended up having to sit outside the office door reading my book for 15 minutes waiting for someone else to show up.
For a change I actually did some work at work yesterday. One of the guys is prepping a presentation for a conference in Malaysia, and unfortunately I’m not going but it’s in English so although not very technical I’m helping him with that. And I spent most of the afternoon acquiring some photography skills with a two stroke engine.
I did speak to my parents yesterday, they’re in Noosa and Hamish and his family are there too. All the kids wanted to talk to me, which was fun, I spoke to Tab, Harry and bell. I finished talking with Fraser, my two year old cousin. He just said “hello Lachy, hello Lachy, hello Lachy, hello Lachy,” and then hung up!! Haha, mum had to call me back.
I left work a bit early, as I was waiting for the computer geek to install a program on my computer in English, and went to grab my bike. The damn tyre was flat. again!! So I ended up walking back to Christina’s. this was ok though as I was feeling good, had my head phones in and was just loving everything in general. By the time I got home I either had to go running or dancing somewhere and it was way to early for the latter so I threw on the runners and headed 5k’s down the Mur and back.
After I got back I was really hot so I took my shirt off and was talking to Christina from the door way while she cooked dinner. Some of her neighbours walked past, some old ladies, and they exchanged some words in German. At one point they laughed, Christina sort of blushed and everyone looked at me like I was supposed to know what they were talking about. Turns out they were just curious about the half naked guy standing in the door way of one of there shy neighbours houses.
We ate some pasta dish that Christina had just made up out of everything in her fridge, It was great and we opened a bottle of wine, she was excited because it was decent wine that her dad had bought, but she didn’t feel she could drink the whole bottle by herself and didn’t want to leave it in the fridge.
We then did a bit of music swapping and decided to head to a bar for a drink. The Turkish guy who was staying there aswell had run into a couple of his friends from Ancora and was out with them, the plan was for them to meet us later. We went to Kult House, which is actually a club, but it was just around the corner and it was early so we were the only ones there, we just chatted at the bar and befor I knew it Christina was pretty drunk, I guess that happens being a small girl.
The place started to fill up and the Turkish guy joined us with a few of his friends. They were good value. They were a couple living here studying, a funny couple. We stayed there for a while and Ioanna, Kiki, Stella and her brother came to join us. I met them outside but they didn’t want to come straight into a club, so they went to a close bar with the plan to join us later.
Kult haus started to get average and there were a heap of really drunk dickheads around. One guy was being really obnoxious and even dropped his beer bottle which smashed on the ground at my feet. I asked him if he spoke English, he replied “yes a little” so I said “well F*** off” and he stalled and then said, “ahhhh this means you don’t like me and want me to leave ja?” I nodded and he goes “oh ok, ahhh you’re welcome”. I was really angry but this cracked me up and I couldn’t help laughing.
We left and went to meet the girls. We met them half way between kult haus and the bar where they were. Christina had met a guy and he knew a bar near by so we went there. I had so much fun there. Ioanna and I had a good laugh about nothing in particular while Kiki spoke to the Turk and this new guy tried to work some ’magic’ on Christina, I think he soon realized how drunk she was and ended up just moping around.
Before I knew it, it was 2 oclock. Christina looked really tired so I decided we should call it a night. We went home via a pizza place. They were selling slices by the piece, one wasn’t enough so I had Christina ask how much for the whole pizza, they gave the whole thing to me for 4 Euros and we ate that while this other guy had a magnum, at 2 in the morning.
We left there and went back To christina’s. where she heated some more pasta up for me and this other guy (no wonder I wasn’t very hungry this morning). Soon after the Turk went to bed, I told him I’d be joining him soon. He took this a little to litterally and a slightly concerned look came over his face, I explained that I didn’t mean literally but that it meant I’d be going to bed soon too.
When I finally did go to bed, or to my blankets on the ground, I was out like a light, This morning they told me that the Turk had got back up as he’d left some notebooks at the bar, with a heap of music he’d written in it and they went back to grab them, I have no memory of this, again I had a great, although short, sleep.