What is Sustainable development? There are a number of ways in which sustainable development has been defined and redefined in span of time. Nevertheless, the core concept behind remained intact. Sustainable development is use of resources in a pattern that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for future generations read more.

Easter Island, it’s well known across the globe as a world heritage site for its renowned enormous stone statues called moai, once build by the inhabitants of the island. And not to mention its one of the world’s most famous yet least visited archaeological sites read more.

Hello believers

I would like to apologize to my dear and beloved readers who have been supporting me! I was not in a condition to blog, but here I am and I will be blogging for you again! Thankyou all!

Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui); (Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile annexed in 1888, Easter Island is widely famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai (pronounced /ˈmoʊ.аɪ/), created by the early Rapanui people. It is a World Heritage Site with much of the island protected within the Rapa Nui National Park. Historically the island has experienced a collapse of its ecosystem, with extinction of many of its prehistoric species; these events were associated with over-exploitation of the island’s resources. The underlying island geology is one of extinct volcanoes.

The name “Easter Island” was given by the island’s first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722, while searching for Davis or David’s island and named it Paasch-Eyland (18th century Dutch for “Easter Island”).^[4] The island’s official Spanish name, Isla de Pascua, also means “Easter Island”.

The current Polynesian name of the island, “Rapa Nui” or “Big Rapa“, was coined by labor immigrants from Rapa in the Bass Islands, who likened it to their home island in the aftermath of the Peruvian slave deportations in the 1870s.^[5] However, Thor Heyerdahl has claimed that the naming would have been the opposite, Rapa being the original name of Easter Island, and Rapa Iti was named by its refugees.^[6]

There are several hypotheses about the “original” Polynesian name for Easter Island, including Te pito o te henua, or “The Navel of the World” because of its isolation. Legends claim that the island was first named as Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka, or the “Little piece of land of Hau Maka”.^[7] Another name, Mata-ki-Te-rangi, means “Eyes that talk to the sky.”^[8]

Easter Island is one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands. It has a latitude close to that of Caldera, Chile; lies 3,510 km (2,180 mi) west of continental Chile at its nearest point (between Lota and Lebu) and 2,075 km (1,289 mi) east of Pitcairn. (Isla Salas y Gómez, 415 kilometres to the east, is closer but uninhabited).

The island is approx 24.6 km (15.3 mi) long by 12.3 km (7.6 mi) at its widest point — its overall shape has been described as a perfect triangle. It has an area of 163.6 km² (63 sq mi), and a maximum altitude of 507 metres. There are three Rano (freshwater crater lakes), at Rano Kau, Rano Raraku and Rano Aroi, near the summit of Terevaka, but no permanent streams or rivers.

Thanks for sharing!

“Where they Went,” published in the Boston Globe on Aug. 9, 2009

Girls on a parade float during the annual Tapati Rapa Nui festival on Easter Island

WHO: Vicki Maxant, 67, and her husband, Stanley Murphy 62, of Harvard, Mass., with Elenita Brodie, 66, of Casselberry, Fla., and Paula Laholt, 66, of Schwenksville, Pa.

WHERE: Easter Island and Santiago, Chile.

WHEN: Two weeks in February.

WHY: “Elenita has traveled with Buz a number of times and she told me we had to do Easter Island,” Maxant said, referring to Buz Donahoo, owner of Condor Adventures, the tour operator.

While Vicki Maxant and her husband, Stanley Murphy, had their faces painted, they chose not to don the local dress

PERFECT TIMING: The foursome went on city and vineyard tours in and around Santiago before and after Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. But the trip to the island, five hours by plane, was the highlight. The 14-member Condor tour coincided with the annual Tapati Rapa Nui festival, a two-week celebration of Rapa Nuian culture and history. About 4,000 people live on the Polynesian island.

REAL DEAL: “What impressed us most was the festival’s totally native character,” Maxant said. “The people there were perfectly happy to share it with tourists, but it is their festival. It could easily become commercialized, but it’s not. I’m sure there were other tourists there, but it didn’t feel that way.” The group stayed at Hotel Manavai in the island’s one village, Hanga Roa.

Paula Laholt (left), Elenita Brodie, and Vicki display their Easter Island colors

TURNING RED: Every day they watched a different festival activity, which the entire community usually participated in. One day locals “bathed” in vats of a red clay-like substance that covered their bodies. The men wore slight coverings over their painted bodies, and the women donned skirts of flowers. “Some people in our group did the bath,” Maxant said. “I only got my face painted.” Later, islanders gathered for a parade. “We went to the hotel and drank pisco sours and watched the floats go by.”

FISH FOR ALL: “There was music and dancing every night, with an outdoor stage by the water,” Maxant said. “One night all the men in the village went out fishing and had a huge fish fry. Anyone who showed up with a plate or a banana leaf could have a piece.”

Moai, the island's famed statues

MAGICAL MOAI: Guided tours took them around the island, including the quarry where the famed moai, monolithic human figures, were carved from rock. “Standing in front of the moai was just awesome,” Maxant said. They picnicked on various beaches, and boated to uninhabited islands. “The water was the bluest I’ve seen, like melted sapphires.”

LASTING IMPRESSION: Maxant passed on the group’s top choice of a souvenir – tattoos. “Buz had told us, by the time the week ends, you’ll want to get a tattoo. Many of us did, including Stan and Elenita. He got a very stylized turtle on his shoulder and she got a seahorse on her ankle. They’re very, very artistic.”

O pôr do sol me fascina e até uma tag para isto eu tenho aqui no blog. É um momento especial do dia, que faz com que muitas vezes a gente fique ali paradinho só observando sem se preocupar com mais nada. Praticamente um momento de hipnose.

Claro que não é só o sol a “estrela da festa”. O céu que muda de cor, o lugar onde tu está ou onde ele vai se esconder também são pontos fundamentais.

Sempre tive muita vontade de ver o sol se pondo no mar e sempre vinha o Pacífico na minha cabeça. A primeira vez sabe onde foi? Ilha de Páscoa! Achei aquele o mais lindo do mundo!

Gosto desta foto por mostrar 3 altares bem pertinho

O tempo passa, a gente viaja um pouco mais e se depara com outros que passam a ser os mais bonitos… sim, eu já senti isso várias vezes. Claro que o estado de espírito e as companhias fazem diferença. Este ano tive quase uma overdose de pôr do sol na viagem a Bali, mas em nenhum momento deixei de curtir cada momento.

Acho que qualquer pessoa que goste de tirar fotos tem um milhão delas de pôr do sol em diversos lugares. Brincando com algumas fotos essa semana, não podia deixar de lado uma de pôr do sol… a escolhida foi essa aí embaixo, em Gili.

Dá pra ver na minha cara a felicidade, né?

Moro numa cidade quem tem o pôr do sol como cartão postal. Porto Alegre adora exaltar a beleza do seu pôr do sol no Guaíba que conforme a época do ano deixa o céu com cores bem diferentes. Olhando as fotos abaixo tem como negar que realmente ele é um show? (essas fotos não foram editadas)

Tá pegando fogo

Na terra dos gremistas e colorados, o céu mistura azul e vermelho

Agora clica aqui e vai ver os outros que já assisti (espetáculo a gente assiste, não?).

Ubicada en el extremo opuesto Hanga Roa, el centro poblado de la isla (aún cuando esto no signifique más de 18 km de distancia), y sin mayor presencia humana que algunos puestos de comida y artesanías, pero que no son visibles desde la playa, Anakena es un pequeño paraíso, resguardado por los moai del Ahu Nau Nau, el conjunto en mejor estado de conservación de la isla.

Todo llama al descanso, aún cuando algunos sólo tengamos una hora para hacerlo.

Pero ya volveremos por más.

Shibuya Crossing

Shibuya is one of the most iconic places in Japan.  It was predominantly popularized by the movie “Lost in Translation” and “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”.  Both of these movies showed sections of what some people call, the busiest intersection of the world.  Unfortunately, neither of these movies truly tells of the real character, or life of Shibuya.  The modern reality is that a lot of people hate Shibuya because it is mainly a high school and college hang out.  However, Shibuya is definitely one of the places that tourists should visit in order to understand the various subcultures of Tokyo itself.

The first thing that must be done in Shibuya is to find an exit, or to find a meeting spot.  The Hachiko Exit and the Hachiko statue is the most famous meeting spot in Shibuya.  In October 2009, the movie Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, staring Richard Gere will be released, retelling the story of Hachiko.

Statue of Hachiko

In 1924, Hachiko was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner’s life Hachiko saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return on the usual train one evening. The professor had suffered a stroke at the university that day. He died and never returned to the train station where his friend was waiting.

Hachiko was given away after his master’s death, but he routinely escaped, showing up again and again at his old home. Eventually, Hachiko apparently realized that Professor Ueno no longer lived at the house. So he went to look for his master at the train station where he had accompanied him so many times before. Each day, Hachiko waited for Professor Ueno to return. And each day he did not see his friend among the commuters at the station.

The permanent fixture at the train station that was Hachiko attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachiko and Professor Ueno together each day. They brought Hachiko treats and food to nourish him during his wait.

This continued for 10 years, with Hachiko appearing only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station.

Commemorating this real story, there is a statue of Hachiko just outside the train station.  If you want to see Hachiko himself, you can go to the National Science Museum of Japan in Ueno where his body was stuffed and put on display.  The other major meeting spot is at the West Bus Loop where there is a statue of the “Moyai”.  It is a gift from the island of Nijima that resembles the Moai of Easter Island.  This is generally an easier place to meet people, but it isn’t as convenient.

Tsutaya at Shibuya Crossin (Credit to a friend for the picture)

The Hachiko exit not only provides a quick look at the statue of Hachiko himself, but you can also board an old style train car, and see one of the most famous spots in Japan, Shibuya Crossing.  This is a typical scramble crossing, but what you don’t realize is how busy it is.  During the day, it is busy, but manageable.  At night, once the bars start opening up, the crossing becomes a chaotic sprint to get from A to B.  Many tourists will head through taking video of this crossing.  It’s not something people enjoy doing everyday.  One of the best vantage points of the crossing is at Starbucks, situated in the Tsutaya building on the North West corner of the intersection.  Do beware that this Starbucks is extremely popular and always crowded.  Finding a window seat can be a challenge in itself.  The good thing about this building is that it provides a great way to start exploring Shibuya.  Whichever way you go from here, you’ll see different sides of the city, and different cultures.

This is Part I of a III part series.  Tune in next week for Part II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachikō

このblogは英語のblog。もし私の英語は難しい、日本語のquestionは大丈夫。

Por Roberto Falcão

Cheguei na Ilha da Páscoa vindo do Tahiti, já quase no final de minha viagem de volta ao Mundo.

Conheci dois caras no vôo, um tcheco e um americano.
Resolvemos ficar na mesma pousada e fazer os passeios juntos.

Essa ilha é incrível. Imaginem um local no meio do Pacífico a 4 mil km do Chile e 4 mil km do Tahiti ? É isso mesmo, os suprimentos chegam de avião do Chile e os ilhéus têm uma forte conexão com o Tahiti, pois eles são de origem polinésia.

Fomos parar na Pousada de Dona Elvira, que nos cobrou apenas US$ 10 por pessoa, incluindo café da manhã.

Os passeios, fizemos quase todos a pé, combinando com um táxi para nos deixar nos destinos mais distantes – cruzamos toda a ilha em seis dias. Subimos vulcões e visitamos todos os Moai (grandes estátuas de pedra).

Dedique pelo menos quatro dias para visitar a ilha, vale a pena!

Con  desfase de una semana, aquí un álbum de momentos destacados de un viaje -laboral y demasiado corto- a Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua, Te Pito O Te Henua, en Chile insular. Hoy Rano Raraku, la fábrica de los moai.

]]> http://replicahenge.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/takino-stonehenge-with-a-buddha-japan/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:04:02 +0000 nancy wisser http://replicahenge.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/takino-stonehenge-with-a-buddha-japan/

photos by kamome, used according to Creative Commons License A-NC 2.0

below–the center of the photo above, enhanced to show the shrine

Yokoso! (Welcome!) On Japan’s northern island, Hokkaido, the Makomanai Takino Cemetery Park hosts, among other impressive stone sculptures, a full sized Stonehenge replica. A striking element of this replica is that the ditch and bank that make Stonehenge a henge have been included. See the bottom photo at this link. Nicely done!

Of course, the authentic feel ends in the middle, at the Buddhist shrine. There’s also a giant Buddha nearby, and a row or two of Easter Island moai.

See them there? They and Stonehenge often seem to end up hanging out together. We can think of five replicas we’ve posted or linked to that had moai, too. ( Texas Stonehenge II, Raven Hill Discovery Center in Michigan, Harry Rossett’s in Indiana, Kennewick in Washington State, and someone’s  Obama Gardens of Hope. There may be others.) Weird, considering the originals are on opposite sides of the world, but okay, we’ll go along with it for now.

Do you think it looks like a pretty gaudy cemetery? But not everyone wants to rest in piece, right? Some are hoping to rock on!

It’s a great replica: made of real stone, cut unevenly (leave it to the Japanese to get it that cutting the stones in perfect rectangular prisms detracts from the monument!), bluestones included, ditch and bank included. It is true that they may have added things here and there. There probably wasn’t a buddha in the center 5000 years ago, but there may have been a shrine. Who knows?

Score: 8 druids. We would give it more if it weren’t rubbing shoulders with the moai and the huge Buddha. Good ambience requires space.

What a replica! Maybe we should have saved it for Clonehenge’s one year birthday, which is coming up soon. We’ll end with a sentence we like from  a Google Translate page of a blog post about a trip to this cemetery. (Google Translate makes us lol!) “Why the road to heaven is like this?” A koan to ponder . . .

Photographed by iko

After traveling for 6 months, when of the most common question people ask me is : what was my prefered place. And I think it was this place, easter island.

– License

Ilmuwan Inggris mengatakan berhasil memecahkan misteri kuno yang mengelilingi patung batu di pulau Easter. Sekitar 70 patung raksasa dengan topi merah besar di pulau itu sangat dikagumi dan ilmuwan tahu di mana topi itu dibuat.

Lebih dari 1.000 patung yang dikenal dengan nama “moai” ditemukan di kepulauan pasifik yang terpencil 2.500 mil sebelah barat dari Chile.

Colin Richard dari universitas Manchester dan Sue Hamilton dari universitas College London mengatakan topi merah besar tersebut berasal dari batuan vulkanik yang tersembunyi di “Lubang Suci”. Topi itu digulingkan lewat jurang di sebuah gunung tua tempat patung itu berada.

Para ilmuwan ini mengatakan mereka telah merekonstruksi pola para pekerja dari pertambangan Puna Pau. “Kami tahu jika topi-topi itu dibuat dari semen dan debu berwarna merah, dan digulingkan sepanjang perjalanannya,” kata Richard.

Sebuah kapak untuk upacara ditemukan dekat topi-topi tersebut. Para ilmuwan memperkirakan jika kapak itu merupakan persembahan kuno. “Sangat jelas jika pertambangan itu memiliki konteks yang sama dengan sebuah industri,” ujar Richard.

“Orang Polynesia melihat patung sebagai benda yang bernyawa dan setelah memahatnya, jiwa mereka bersatu dengan patung itu.”

Mereka memperkirakan topi tersebut muncul sekitar tahun 1200 dan 1300an, di masa para penghuni pulau mulai membuat moai yang lebih besar lagi untuk mengenang para leluhur.

Sekarang ilmuwan telah mengetahui asal usul topi pada Moai, namun masih ada pertanyaan selanjutnya kenapa warnanya merah?

Topi bercorak merah tersebut merupakan simbol dari kelahiran, kata para ilmuwan. Hamilton mengatakan tutup kepala yang berwarna tersebut merupakan representasi dari sebuah hubungan atau pakaian adat yang dipakai oleh kepala suku.

Ia mengatakan, topi tersebut kemungkinan ditambahkan cirri khusus untuk membedakan status leluhur mereka dengan para “tetangganya”. “Perkumpulan kepala suku sangatlah kompetitif dan mereka berkompetisi dengan giat sehingga mereka mendahului kemampuan mereka sendiri,” kata Hamilton.

Sumber : inilah.com

And apparently, that’s sarcasm.

Hat’s are the oxygen of the brain.

They’re the blood of the body.

They’re the mouth of the talk.

Where am I getting with this, I don’t know…

Anywhoo… Here’s the hats…that the RF staff was too lazy to do. XD

Moai:

This is basically a tiki sold for 60 R$. Doesn’t seem worth it. Kinda boring. Just sittin’ there. Kthxbai.

Bad Bunny:

I can just imagine Raymond Raving Rabbit re-textures of this… This is just a bunny with 2 ears, buck teeth, and X’s as eyes.  If sold under 250 R$, BUY ITZ FEWL.

Mischief Horns:

So many Halloween hats under the past week. *shivvers* If sold under 75 r$, BUY IT PL0X?

Celestial Helm:

This is basically an old greek roman whateva helmet used in st00f. Lewks liek feathers. .  It is not on sale yet, but when it is, if it’s sold under 500 R$, BUY IT NAO. OR LATER. WHENEVER. WHATEVER. CAPS FTL.

Thunder God Headdress:

Doesn’t really look like thunder. Moar like ice… Anyways… This is an epik hat with many designs and texture, but concidering the price, 5,000 R$, I SAI NO WAI, JOSE!

Helm of the Ice Gods of Midgard:

Harbinger of Fimbulwinter:

Protest Sign: We’d Rather Have User GUIs Later…:

Protest Sign: We Want User GUIs Now!:

And also, the Save the Whales sign was dis-continued due to 2009 being sold.

And that’s it!

Imagen: Creative commons (permitida modificación o adaptación, no comercialización).

Científicos británicos han desvelado algunos de los  misterios más especiales de la Isla de Pascua, en concreto, los que se refieren a las coronas rojas de los moais o gigantescas estatuas de de la cantera “Puna Pau”.

Los profesores Sue Hamilton, del University College de Londres, y Colin Richards, de la Universidad de Manchester han afirmado que dichas coronas están formadas de materia volcánica procediente de un antiguo volcán de la época. Su realización, a mano de los antiguos pobladores polinesios, se data entre los años 1.250 y 1.500

Estas conclusiones son posibles gracias al hallazgo del camino por el cual se transportaban los sombreros de los moais. “«Ahora sabemos que las coronas llegaron rodando por una carretera que se construyó con un cemento de polvo de escoria roja comprimida, con una calzada elevada en uno de los lados» explica el profesor, y añade  «Ha quedado claro que la cantera tenía un contexto sagrado, pero también un contexto industrial». Según ambos profesores los antiguos pobladores de la zona creían que el paisaje era algo vivo y que después de tallar la roca, los espíritus se introducían en ella, de ahí las formas antropomórficas de los moais.

Mientras unos misterios se resuelven, otros continúan intactos. Los recientes datos aún no explican cómo los sombreros o coronas pudieron ser subidos a las cabezas de las estatuas.  Éste junto a otros enigmas seguirán investigándose durante por lo menos otros cinco años más en la isla, así que se esperan más noticias no muy lejanas acerca de la vida en la isla de hace 500 años.

Desktop Monuments (250/366 09-09-09)

Originally uploaded by CarusoPhoto

My wife gave me these replica Easter Island monuments. I arranged them on my computer monitor and just loved the way the afternoon sun streamed in on them. How could I resist making a photo?

note: if you’ve never seen the back of a portable toilet, this is what it looks like. I know what it looks like because this is where I usually do my business if there is a line up.

double note: You can’t see them, but I think there are a few people waiting in line at the front of them!

triple note: I guess I’m like this truck when I drive too … full of crap. hee hee!

quadruple note: if you put Moai facades on them, they would be Moai “heads”.

quintuple note: sometimes crap follows me around … and sometimes I follow it.

http://humor-blogs.com/

Dirk VH created this LEGO Moai Sculpture straight from Easter Island. It is pretty impressive, and he’s provided free instructions on how to build it your self.

This is my first stopmotion movie ever. Hope you like this timelapse brick per brick building video of a MOAI / EASTER ISLAND HEAD sculpture. Best of all, you can find the building instructions on my site : brickprojects.makes.it . Enjoy !!

Ever wondered how the Easter Island statues (moai) got those red hats? Me neither, but here goes. Evidently the several tonne red scoria rocks were quarried from inside a crater of an ancient volcano and then rolled by some unlucky Polynesians to ceremonial platforms along the coast. So how did they managed to lift them onto the heads of the carved stone figures? No one can answer that friggin question!

On an IMPORTANT MISSION to obtain important things at a shopping mall about an hour’s drive away, I armed myself with my camera and i-pod shuffle for the trip.
I guess I really “eyed” and “eared” myself with that equipment … and the shuffle was only half full … so it was really an i-pod “shuhalfull” … but I digress.

On the way I realized a few new things that I hadn’t realized before.
I’ve already prealized old things … so I can’t realize them anymore nowadays for some reason that I’m sure I will realize someday.

1. I don’t honk at bad or slow drivers: I just “boo” them a lot.

 2. My headphones slowly work themselves out of my ears when I eat food*, but not when I sing**.

*piggishly
**badly

3. I’d be a pretty good “disfigure skater” … if that was a real thing. I know I can do a “disfigure 8″ amazingly well!

4. If U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Names” started with “I want to hide, I want to seek“, it probably wouldn’t have been such a big hit.

5. It is impossible to sit completely still while listening to “Istanbul” by They Might Be Giants.

All important things were obtained and even one thing I didn’t know was important, until I obtained it, was obtained with money … which is very similar to purchasing or buying … but really quite different if there is an IMPORTANT MISSION involved.

The icecube tray was the  added bonus of the trip.

What was the IMPORTANT MISSION? you ask while eating fish products with baited breath.

I’ll put that entry on next. 
I was going to call it “The Next Entry”, but then what would I do after that? … so it will be called something else.

note: if you haven’t read the first “Saturday At Stoplights“, no one is stopping you … with lights … or anything.

double note: it’s difficult to get people with funny hats riding bicycles and the police into one photo … naturally.
The first “Visor Man” is here … or just ask Tony  …he probably knows.

http://humor-blogs.com/

I have just read the Saturday Age, as I normally do every saturday morning

I learnt that:

1-Peter Garrett has no hair (actually already knew this- quite obvious)

2- at david jones you can save $200 on all washing machines and dryers from miele, wow, that’s cool!

3- Hamlet’s words to Ophelia-”God has given you one face, and you make yourself another”. I know Skakespeare was probably the ugliest genius of all time but I wan’t to give him a hug!

4- four aussie women that have waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy too much money and time spend like $20,000 annually on beauty! is this normal or am I just serverely misinformed on the spendings of the adult female from being raised by a father who thinks washing oneself is vain?

5- a slug has 4 noses

6- the life expectancy of a flamingo: 40 years

7- BPD- borderline personality disorder- sufferers included Diana, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe- “when they’re having a negative emotion, they can’t imagine a positive one exists”- great article ‘Candles in the Wind’ by Fenella Souter- check it out man

8- A palaeontologist called John Long, cool name, showed his 3 favourite things. These were a model of the ‘mother fish’, a suiseki stone- I want one, and funny boots that look like my grandma’s slippers

9- Apparently ‘Cadbury’-yes that company that trademarked the colour purple- ‘Old Gold’ Smooth, Rich, Dark Chocolate is worth its weight in gold- still tastes yuck though!

10-I learnt I like making lists!

11- those weird statues that I thought were some ancient civilisation that kinda look like my dad, turned out to be called ‘Moai’ and they are cool!

12- Leunig is so deep in the water I can’t breathe! In human- I think he is so far away from everyone else that no one understands him, and according to Mr Hoffman humans like the expected, they like the same formulas and routines and Leunig just throws them off track- yeah I totally just understood that…

13- Rove is back on Sunday- victory dance- I am currently hugging my computer I am the happiest person on Mercury!

13- I can’t count!

14- According to MyCareer (the boringest, randomishy, adult segment of the Age), I have just found the job of my dreams, and then in brackets (pity Sarah found it first)- how many Sarahs do you think there are in the world?

15- Matt Preston reminds me of a giant toad- a totally awesome, cravat wearing, everything eating toad!

16- I have learnt just now, by looking at my watch, that I am playing netball in like five minutes and I have managed to put off doing my homework until now as I have so many more important things to do… cough

17- just thought I might nominate myself for procrastinator of the century!

Have fun doing stuff my nerdy pals, smell you later

alice xx

Gisteravond zat er een zowel verrassende als leuke e-mail in mijn inbox afkomstig van mijn sinds kort in Spanje residerende nicht. Met haar verbleef ik vorig jaar in april gedurende twee weken in de Japanse provincie Honshu tijdens de bloesemperiode. Datzelfde jaar trok mijn nicht nog richting Novosibirsk waar een totale zonsverduistering plaatsvond. Dit jaar organiseerde diezelfde organisatie een nieuwe  zonsverduisteringstrip naar China en Shanghai. Heel even hebben we toen overwogen om mee te gaan.

Maar mijn nicht stond toen net op een cruciaal keerpunt i.v.m. de verhuis naar Spanje etc. Het zou allemaal te veel op één hoop komen waarna het weer veel te druk zou worden. Nu ze is gesetteld in het zuiden van Spanje (Orihuela Costa) dienen zich plots weer nieuwe mogelijkheden aan. Zoals bijvoorbeeld de eerstvolgende korte eclipsreis richting Paaseiland en omgeving. Op 11 juli 2010 is er nl. een totale zonsverduistering op het Paaseiland, het meest afgelegen eiland ter wereld. Ter plekke nemen we de eclips waar in de schaduw van de moai, de mysterieuze reuzenbeelden. Tijdens deze korte reis pikt men ook nog Santiago en omgeving mee. De voorbereiding voor deze unieke reis is in een vergevorderd stadium en het programma zal weldra bekend zijn. Uiteraard heb ik al laten weten dat ik zeer geïnteresseerd ben om mee te gaan. Ik hou jullie verder op de hoogte als ik meer details heb over de reis.