You're here in Athens with me! (12/04/07)
Dear Family and Friends,
Yesterday we arrived here in Athens, Greece. We've only been here for a day but I think it's my favorite country so far. Beeeautiful! Old, New, Warm people, Great fresh food! Dogs! : )
I am already getting a bit nostalgic about this experience. Less than a month to go, only one more country and Peter Pan will be retired forever. I don't like the thought of the day when all of us have to fly away on different planes mostly early in the morning. I wonder if it will feel like one big, lovely dream.
But for now we're here in GREECE! (more on Greece after we've been here a while).
Before Greece we were in Budapest, Hungary for a week and Kosice, Slovakia for a week. Budapest was not what I was expecting. As far as beauty, the architecture was wonderful. I particularly liked Heroes Square. Many of the Budapestians, though, were not very outgoing especially compared to Istanbul. I think we needed more time in that city. We had a little time for sight seeing and meeting people but not enough to get a true feel for the city.
I felt at home in Kosice. It has more of a town feel than a city. Kosice is the 2nd largest city in Slovakia. The air smells nice and crisp and we had our first snow there. It had a quaint feel. The tree in the city center was going up and the windows were decorated for Christmas. Also the promoter was the best yet! His name is Slavo and he owns a sauna, cafe, restaurant and hotel. He reserved his whole sauna (swimming pool, hot tub, dry sauna, wet sauna, herbal sauna, infrared sauna, foot bath...) for our use one day. Wow. I've never been to a place so devoted to luxurious rest and rejuvenation before.
Some of you have been asking for more pics of me/us in show costume... I'm trying to get more. The funny thing is, I think when you guys think of me on tour you think of the skating part a lot, but being on tour we perform the same number again and again and although each time it is slightly different every time it's more the sight-seeing and different countries that keep us excited and spark motivation to take pictures.
With the nostalga and facebook I'm sure I'll be able to get more pics of all of us in costume though. Hope to send those soon, plus Budapest and Kosice pics!
Also back in Istanbul we hit that point in group togetherness where we all feel really comfortable with each other and it's like a big family. Of course we have fights, selfishness and hurt feelings sometimes but overall this is such a great tour and I'm happy to be with these fun people. I think this type of profession attracts people who are kidults (kids and adults mixed into one).
One big reason why I came on this tour was because I felt I was becoming too stagnant. I came to refind my sense of adventure, self-confidence and independence. I've found it!
Happy December!
We have off till the weekend here in Greece. Then 3 shows on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.
XOXO,
Kim
Istanbul TWO! (11/15/07) Pictures >>
Hello Friends,
Here are more pictures from Istanbul! As we go along in the tour it's
more and more about just having fun with my tour mates and enjoying the
countries we're in. One friend emailed and asked if this doesn't even
feel like work. Yes it doesn't feel like work. It's more like a big
vacation! We're all getting along really well and looking forward to
Hungary. Istanbul in a tourist nutshell: cats, mosques, lively
colors, dogs, kebabs and everyone asking "Where are you from?"
I booked my flight home and will be returning on Christmas Day.
Thinking of all of you! Kim
Halloween party in the Taslik Hotel Lobby (11/04/07) Pictures >>
This was ultra fun! I really enjoyed making the Sponge Bob costume.
Istanbul so far! (11/04/07) Pictures >>
This is a huge city! It's great fun to experience the people, sites,
food and weather! The only not so great thing is the pollution (I'm rather itchy). We ate fresh fish sandwiches right before our boat trip. They were the best thing culinary-wise so far! So simple but so tastey!
Hotel Schiphol A4 (11/04/07) Pictures >>
This was the best hotel we stayed at. There was a fireplace in the
lobby!
Amsterdam! (11/04/07) Pictures >>
Amsterdam was such fun!
Almere, Holland (11/04/07) Pictures >>
Not many pics from Almere. The biggest thing that happened here was
meeting a new friend named Lyon who is from Botswana (just like Swelo for BH friends). Almere was only 15 min to Amsterdam by train (see Amsterdam Pics). Have a good day!
Happy Halloween! (10/31/07)
Hi Friends!
Happy Halloween!
We took Turkish airlines about 4 hours from Amsterdam and we had to buy visas to get past the passport check. Then a little blond girl met us and arranged our bus to the hotel. It took about 1.5 hours from airport to hotel. We have about 10 days off here before our first show. It's called a layoff. We get paid vacation pay for this week.
The shows are going well. It's really funny to see the backstage goings on. We're all really relaxed before numbers and reading or playing suduko up to a minute before we walk the black hallway to take off our guards (the things we protect our blades with) and step out from behind the curtain. THe total effect of the show is from each of our contributions and the audience gets a good show. For me, I know when to go on but I don't know the total effect bc I've only heard the show in Dutch. Now we'll be hearing it in TUrkish. I borrowed the english version from our performance director so I'll know it better now.
We don't have much interaction with the kids but when we all wave at the end then skate around the edge and highfive them that's the best.
We're staying at the Taslik Hotel in the city of Istanbul. We had an interesting breakfast with options of cheese, meat, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, spice bread, cay tea, kafe, yogurt and honey and fresh squeezed oranges. There's a message in the bathroom not to drink the water so we all bought big jugs of water from the grocery store right across the street.
There's a Halloween party in the lobby tonight. I'm going to try to be sponge bob square pants in honor of my sister and niece who love that cartoon. Have to find a box and crayons or markers to make it.
Have a good day! I'm going to venture through the city now. It's huge! Some of the main things I want to see are the Grand Bizarre, Blue Mosque and experience the Turkish Bath.
With you,
Kim
Almere/Amsterdam (10/24/07)
My friends,
I'm here in Almere, Holland. (We're staying at the Bastion Hotel with lots of steps for stair workouts.)
It's morning and we have been exploring Almere (a small town) and Amsterdam (15 min by train).
Yesterday I visited the Van Gogh museum which I found very moving. The audio tour provided a lot of life background to the paintings. I never used the audio tours before but they're great! For ex, Blossoming Almond Tree looked like the most vibrant painting in the collection, almost like it was painted by another artist, and I found out that VG painted it for his nephew to whom he probably wished a bright future and happiness.
Today I'm going to try to see the Anne Frank House and Hortus Botanicus here in Amsterdam (I'm hope it's as wonderful as Leiden's HB).
Amsterdam in general seems like Holland's New York City. I suppose that's fitting since NYC is New Amsterdam, ha!
I'm beginning to have those feelings of realization that I'm REALLY here on tour in Europe! We have 8 shows in Almere then off to Istanbul for Halloween!
To me this part of life is just so much proof of God and that if you want something enough anything really is possible. I wouldn't have thought 6 months ago that I'd be here on a pro-skating tour, emailing my friends from Almere, Holland. Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm!
Kim
Pictures from Kimberly (10/15/07) Pictures >>
Enjoy this second round of pics! I'm thinking of all of you : )
