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Published: August 5th 2007
A big HELLO to all of you!!
Well finally found some time and a cheap computer to write a brief update of our adventures for you!
***EXCITING NEWS***
First things first, I must let you all in on the gosip!........
Five days after I met Luke in Italy, he proposed to me, overlooking the Tuscan Hills! So YAY...we are now engaged....and the ring he chose from Turin even fits perfectly!
***MUM and TOM IN AFRICA***
Since my final African entry, lots has happened. My parents came and experienced a snippet of African life for a week....
*watched Lukes football competition
*saw me and Juliet in action in the health clinic,
*met Geofry and his family (Mum even made a beautiful quilt for him)
*Made a fuel-saving stove in a very remote community and got really dirty!
*ate some goat!
*saw some traditional dancing and a mock circumcision performance
*stayed in my hut for THREE NIGHTS!!!!
*met all the amazing people i came to know over the 3 months
*were at my farewell gigs, with FDNC and also the village of Natondome, where the ladies got the people together to perform singing and dancing, some beautiful speaches, a feast, and even a gift of traditional African art!
I was sad to say goodbye to everybody, and what had become my home over the past 3 months. But with my parents there to distract me, and looking forward to meeting up with Luke and our adventures together in Europe, there were no tears shed!
***DUBAI***
So a good time had by all! The 3 of us then met my Auntie Evy in Dubai for a few days of indulgance and laughs. The weather was a pleasent 48 degrees for us! But it was just what the doctor ordered after 3 months of village life! A 5* hotel overlooking the beach, a pool, fantastic resturaunts and wine......this is something that truely lacks in Uganda! So a HUGE thankyou to my generous Auntie who organised these amazing few days of paradise!
***LUKE IN ITALY****
Meanwhile Luke had been in Italy doing a lot of research for his cycling business. For those of you who dont know...he will be taking Australian cyclists over to Italy to watch the big races over there (like the Tour de France...but in Italy), and do some sightseeing also! So he was going to all the different regions in the country where the tours will be going to, and finding the right accomodation, looking at bus companies, and suussing out the actual events. All in all, his time there was a great success, with the first tour of about 18 clients to depart in late May for 2 weeks. And better still.....I will be attending also to 'entertain' the non-cyclists of the tour group, who will be involved in Tuscan cooking classes, sightseeing hilltop villages and the like while the cycling members of the group get on their bikes and ride for a few hours around the countryside!
***ME and LUKE IN ITALY!!***
So after 7 long weeks, we met up at the airport in Milan! We spent a couple of weeks in Italy staying in Florence (for Chinese Visa purposes, which of course is a story in itself!), a small town on the coast called Puntone where camp sites set you back $50 and there are a lot of fat, aging men walking around all day in speedos! Yuk! We also spent a week on a tiny islad, Gilio, 45min ferry ride off the coast of Italy. Amazing...
We spent a night in Rome and walked for about 5hrs straight checking out all the sights until 11pm! A few hours sleep and we head to the airport early to find our flight to Paris has been completely cancelled due to a bomb scare in UK the night before! So 13hours in an airport later, a rough flight where some of the passangers were in the 'brace' position, and we arrive in Paris at midnight. But i must say, that the Eiffel tower is at its best in the dark, with all the sparkling lights!
***LUKE and ME IN FRANCE***
A gorgeous hotel in Paris was just what we were in need of after 14 nights straight in our 'reasonably tiny' tent! (Thanks Mum....we love you!) A lot more walking to be had! These 2 days were great, checking out all the Parisian things...of course an art museum....but alas went too quickly. And i was disappointed that a Fromagier could not be found after walking most of the streets in this city!!
We caught a train west to Brittany to attend our good friends, Ana and Chas', wedding blessings in a small village, St Just. What a wonderfully induldgent week this turned out to be! The company was delightful, dont get me wrong.....but the food, drinkies, and peace of this part of the world! A big thank you to Ana and Chas for many many good times over the week, doing day trips in our European hire car (i caught Luke putting his foot down, rally driving style a couple of times!) to old castles, art exhibitions in La gallacie, playing many a round of cards sipping on a glass of Bordeaux Red (as one does when in France!), a game or 2 of badmington and boule outdoors in the sunshine, a lake swim, and more eating and drinking! Seriously, we are still trying to loose our pot bellies! And another big thank you to Chas' mum Leigh who made this great week possible. A very generous lady! YAY!!
AND THEN..... Ana and Chas came with us to the French Alps to watch the 9th stage of the Tour de France! So Exciting! We drove for 13 hours from west to south east France in one day, and our little Peugeot did amazing things! Despite Ana's car sickness, our vibe was great. Camping on the side of the road, sharing wine and chocolate in the comfort of their tent to escape the icy winds coming straight off the snow capped mountains, snow ball fights, collecting the freebies from the race sponsors before the lycra comes through, and doing the aussie aussie aussie thing as Cadel rode past in 4th position! A very heart pumping experience!!
We were sad to say goodbye to this lovely couple as we went our seperate ways in the apartment overflowing town of Grenoble! If you are keen to check out some great photos of our time with Ana and Chas, check out their blog site 'chasanski' on this same program!
***ME and LUKE HEAD EAST***
We have spent a few days in Slovenia, Ljubljana....which is a pretty city and everything is so green in this country!! Now in Zagreb in Croatia, and heading south to Bosnia in a couple of days. Travelling is treating us well, but are looking forward to September also!
***AFRICA UPDATE***
Some very exciting news was delivered to me yesturday via mum in regards to the Adelaide Mbale Children's Health Fund (AMCHF). This is what actually inspired me to write this blog! So I left Juliet and Sandra in charge when i departed in early June. (Sandra is the new programs manager that FDNC hired a week before i left, which will be fantastic for the management of our fund). This is the information that i received from mum....
We received your letter from FDNC. A letter from Richard and from Juliet with receipts of treatment for the June child - WAKUYU ALI - 10years old - who had an infected leg passing pus on both sides since 2003. He was taken to Kumi hospital, xrayed and assessed that it was infected muscle only, not bone infection. He was prescribed antibiotics - chloramphenical - with daily dressings in health clinic. Wakuyu is from a poor family - fa looks after someones cattle and mo is a housewife. So family could not support this child and that’s why they chose him. A photo is enclosed of Wakuyu Ali!!!
So I hope that you are all as excited as me about this! The money that we fundraised before we left for Africa in February, will be able to support this program until Jan next year. So if anyone has any fundraising ideas for the future, post me an email! But more importantly, both Luke and I are so grateful for your generosity and support!
Well i think thats enough for now hey!!
Much love to all, Celeste and Luke xxxx
***Sorry for the lack of photos
**We are planning to keep this blog site going when we return, for updates on the AMCHF and hoping to scan each photo of the children who benefit from our fund! Yay for technology!!
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Chas and Ana
non-member comment
It was great for us too!
But if you are going to look up our blog site to see photos, search 'chasanaski' not 'chasanski'. Hey, how crazy is the tour de france?! 5 out of the top 10 dropping out for drug doping! Crazy. Hard to say if decimating one of the biggest cycling races in the world is worth cleaning up the sport