So now I've known for a couple days where my dad is going. It took me about that long to stop saying "seriously? HAITI?!?" in extreme italics. I don't know much about it, except for the 2010 earthquake. SOOO I turned to the always-true-never-been-wrong Wikipedia for some info on Port-au-Prince. Here ya go.
-Largest city in Haiti (population 897,859 in 2009)
-Spanish settlers decimated the population (why does that not surprise me, Mr. Columbus?)
-languages are French, Haitian Creole (guess who gets to learn those? ME!)
-relies on tourists (really? who'd have thought?)
there wasn't really a whole lot I could find. I am potentially moving to one of the poorest countries in the world, if not THE poorest. Nervous? Yeah. Excited? Not yet but it's coming.
Okay moving on from Haiti (kind of but not really). Here's the dealio with me. I love travel a LOT. Living overseas in 2001 kind of started that, I guess. I've been to various places around the world including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, and Lichtenstein (yeah, that's right- it's like one metre wide and two metres long, it's that small). Am I well traveled? That's up to you to decide. I don't think so, but hey, it's a lot more than most people get in a lifetime.
Australia was where I used to live. Ferny Creek, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. We moved there for a teacher exchange- before my dad got this cool job as a diplomat, he was a social studies teacher- so we switched houses and jobs with another family. During that time we visited New Zealand. I'll go more into thaat another time,
Last March, my high school Wind Ensemble (top band, yeah yeah!) did a European tour of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. Oh my gosh, that was the most fun I've ever had on a trip. Here's the scuttlebutt on that trip-
Austria was first. We were in Salzburg-beautiful city. Coolest thing- we were at the fountain where Maria and the von Trapp family children sing Do Re Mi in the Sound of Music. Don't know it? Look it up. While in Austria, we saw Mozart's birthplace and other cool things, including a building built in the year 803. (WHAT?!?) Also in Austria, a random guy came up behind me and grabbed onto a piece of my hair and said in German-speak, "ach, you haf ze gut haar, miss." I pretty much peed with fright. It's funny now, though.
Germany was not quite as awesome. We were in Munchen, and the hotel we stayed at was about the size of a dinner plate, i.e. very small. It smelled like cigarettes, too. However, there were some good times in that hotel- my roomates and I discovered several things about our room:
1) the emergency exit map was stuck to the wall upside down. Stuck being actually stuck, too.
2) the window liked to open on its own.
3) the bathroom had disconnected pipes that would randomly make really loud scary noises.
4) you couldn't walk between any of the three beds due to the suitcases, so we basically did parkour in our hotel room. wheee!
5) we saw lederhosen. AAAHHH!
Switzerland was by far the best. Lucern was a beautiful little town, and we were given a ton of free time. It was so picturesque and cute. The food there was way better, too. Good memories of Swiss country include this little Asian lady grabbing my friends and I and taking our picture. It was our last night, we had a dinner cruise, so we were all dressed up. She and her son (or some random guy) took our pictures- and he was waving his wallet at us. Not sure if he thought we were hookers or what. What a memory.
I'll go more into my trips later. Because I'm sure you really care a lot.
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