A typical day for a UniBreaker in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak - Kathmandu
PROJECT: Teaching, Health and Health Promotion
WRITTEN BY: Tessa Rawolle

We have finally arrived in Nepal! We're two girls at the end of our degrees in physiotherapy, ready to volunteer abroad and immerse ourselves in the incredible culture. After a few days in Thamel sightseeing, and two nights in the program house with the rest of the group, we are now staying with our host family in Dhapasi. Here's a typical day for us:

6.30am – We wake up to the sounds of dogs barking, roosters crowing, bells ringing, and these are just some of the many sounds. The light shining through the window signals the start of the Nepalese day. After a very quick and refreshing shower under cold water, we sit down to a breakfast of fried rice on toast.

7.30am – Our walk to placement is through brisk morning air, but with the sun shining down it is a beautiful way to start the day. We quickly warm up as the walk leads us up and down many hills, as we greet people with ‘Namaste’, and wave hello to many adorable children along the way.

8am – Arriving at our placement, the rehabilitation hospital, we begin our day of volunteering, helping and assisting the local physiotherapists. We treat in-patients and out-patients, with conditions such as stroke, fractures, brain injuries, back and pain, chronic pain conditions, and other musculoskeletal conditions. Every day we're learning a little more of the language; the locals talk about us without us understanding a word they say, but hopefully soon we'll be able to join in!

12pm – As the morning session of patients draws to a close, and the in-patients have completed their morning sessions, the physiotherapists head out to lunch. We make our way up the hill to the local Sahara hospital to have our lunch at the canteen. Initially, trying to converse with the man at the counter about what we wanted proved difficult to say the least! After some time, and with the help of another person acting as our translator over the phone, we were able to order from the non-existent written menu. A typical meal would consist of fried rice, dahl bhaat made of rice, dahl, curried vegetables, saag, and radish pickle arrived, with more rice than we could possibly handle! Nevertheless, it was ramroo (delicious).

1pm – We head back to placement for the afternoon block of patients. Treatments are similar to the morning, however our supervisors have recently been giving us more independence in our choice of exercises. In Nepal they value electrotherapy, such as ultrasound and electrical stimulation, quite highly- especially for pain relief. However, manual therapy and exercises are still used. We all shared our ideas as to what physiotherapy treatment is best to give the respective patients. As the patient flow slowed down, we chat more, learn about the sights and sounds of the surrounding area, and get handy tips that help us travelling around.

3pm – Leaving the hospital, we often purchase fresh mandarins from the roadside stall before wandering through the some of the backstreets. As soon as the sun begins to set we can feel the chilled air again, but more hills never fail to warm us straight back up again! The roads are very confusing, they twist and turn and curve in a very disorientating manner. Needless to say we've got lost one or two times on the way back to the family's house. Although walking through the streets like this gives us an experience of the Nepalese culture.

4pm – We relax at home, bring in any washing from the roof and sit down to chat with our Nepalese mother or play cards with our brother.

7pm – We sit down as a family, including Aunty, to a meal of rice, potato and bean curry and spinach. Eating with our hands as the Nepalese do! Questions are directed back and forth as we find out more about each other and our respective backgrounds, cultures and values. We've only been here a short time but are learning so much every single day.

8pm – We organise our room before doing our own things and heading off to bed. A new country, with so many new and different experiences, takes its toll. Our eyes and bodies are tired, but excited at what the next day in Nepal will bring.

Until next time,

Tessa

Conquering Kilimanjaro!

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin

Jambo Rafikis,

I write this blog from a completely unique environment (and new country) to where our group has become so accustomed to living in in the past 2.5 months. Tsavo has been home to us for the past couple of weeks and we will be here until returning home or traveling onwards in only a few days time. Our conversations this week have centered around our best memories at camp and the things we are most looking forward to coming home to. Most popular include munching on tacos and slurping chocolate milkshakes, seeing if our dogs remember us and not having to sleep tangled in a fly net.

First and foremost though- Mount Kilimanjaro. Literally the biggest achievement of my life: 5895m of achievement- to be exact! On the Monday, Lauren, Rozi, Beardo, Ella, Rory and myself said a gut-wrenching goodbye to our Mwambani family. We knew it would be hard to bid farewell to the local boys, the Indian Ocean and the amazing staff at the camp but it was almost incomprehensible to the seven of us exactly how hard it would be to not return in the foreseeable future. I am 100% positive that myself and the others in the group plan to return to Mwambani village at the next given opportunity.

I don't have enough time to give a break down of the seven-day trek to the summit, but I can say in short that we all made it. (Hurrah for no awkward side note!)

Summit night was without a doubt the toughest challenge. Trying to hold our cold, underprepared bodies together, we each mustered the strength we had to keep team moral high. I have to admit I spent 75% of the 12km hike alternating between silent and bursting tears. We each had a very different experience that night. 2 hours into the trek Lauren began throwing up. Determined to reach the top, she took a much slower pace and was accompanied by our angel of a guide Robinson who stayed beside her through all 8 vomits to the peak and back. 3 hours into the trek Ella was vomiting, Beardo's fingers had reached a piercing level of cold and Rozi's mental breakdown had her more than ready to accompany anyone back to base camp.

We were told by one of our guides before leaving that night that long breaks would be our demise, and by this rest stop I could well and truly feel myself coming undone. Our third guide Nestory- the cheeriest, funny and cold-resistant guide- stayed with me as I fell behind due to my low level of energy and the intense cramps I felt all over my body. Nestory carried me part of the way up and I know if it weren't for him I would not have made it all 5895 meters. At 5.30am, Annabelle, Rory, Ella, Rozi and Beardo had reached the summit. Due to the cold the group only spent enough time for a couple photos at the summit. At 6.10am (perfectly timed without even knowing) I reached the summit in tears and watched the sun rise above the clouds by myself- the most spectacular and well-worthy view of my existence. 10 minutes later Lauren and I crossed paths and instantly all our emotions welled out into a heartfelt embrace. I could not be more proud of my fellow mountaineers (its official) for getting to the top and for being the most amazing bunch of people to do something so difficult and life changing with.

Tuesday morning was similarly emotional and relieving as we were the first group of the day to get to the bottom. Showering was magical, heat was wonderful and sleeping in a real bed was too good to be true. In the late afternoon the rest of the group (Sarah, Hannah, Matt, Calvin, Elles, Toby and Laura) and leader Eliphas met us at our hotel where we shared our stories of what had happened on the mountain and at our old home. We went out for dinner that night, where I had two main meals and fell asleep at the table.

The next morning we all got in our much-loved bus and crossed the boarder into Kenya where we are to spend the remainder of our trip. We are the first official group to stay in this new camp- erected in March of this year. The camp in many ways is similar to the one in Tanzania, with the two main differences being the spectacular change of landscape (Indian Ocean to vast flat plains) and our two-man mattress on floor tents.

Our itinerary here is very different from the continuous work on the house in Mwambani village, Tanzania (which I failed to mention earlier was completed by half the group while we were climbing Kili). In the short time we have participated in a variety of activities based mostly around construction and animal conservation. We have finished building a long drop toilet for the local primary school, made elephant determent fences with oil and chili, dug a trench in a wildlife sanctuary, made 'elephant dung' paper and spent time with local women's group making bracelets and leaning about what they do in the community.

Leaving Africa is going to be a very bittersweet experience, and we won't forget the incredible memories we've had here anytime soon.

Xo Sybilla

Fun with kids, fantastic food, and a trip to Florianopolis

COUNTRY: Brazil
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Wildlife Conservation & Youth Work
WRITTEN BY: Laura Watts

Another two weeks have gone by, and they have been so full on- yet again! In fact, as I write this post I keep thinking that we must have been here for longer; how can all that we've done have happened in just a month and a half?

We have completed our Portuguese lessons and equipped ourselves with dictionaries and language books as we plan to study at the wildlife centre. We concluded the lessons in true Brazilian style, at an absolutely delightful churrascaria where we all ate more than you'd think was humanly possible. We're getting rather good at that.

We have spent some time figuring out our donations for the children's centre. Jackson has already donated a ping pong table which has been a massive hit (no pun intended), and between Kirsten and I we have donated a veggie garden (all the supplies for it and setting it up), canvases for the kids to paint with, and meat for lunches. Plans are also well on the way for our Australia Day farewell party. We have practiced making scrolls, lamingtons and sausage rolls with varying amounts of frustration and success, and are very eagerly awaiting our packages of tim tams, caramello koalas and vegemite to compliment our baking. Not at all for our own cravings...

Tracking down Blinky Bill episodes to translate, Australian animal templates for colouring in, and searching for traditional games to play have also been on the agenda. We spent a couple of days implementing our donations, which was a really rewarding feeling. We planted the vegetable garden straight away, and have slowly been adding to it and happily noting the gradual growth of the seedlings.

About a week was dedicated to painting the canvases, which was a rather calm exercise for a change, and gave our Portuguese some well needed practice as 'devagar' (slowly) became our mantra in assisting the kids. It was kind of funny though, because almost all of them ended up choosing Adventure Time characters, superheroes or the minions from Despicable Me to paint - and thank goodness, because it was mostly up to us three to actually draw the designs on the canvases and that was a challenge in itself. Nevertheless, all of the kids enjoyed themselves and it was really good to see how excited they were to be able to create something like that.

We have all had to take at least one sick day, and have accepted that as a sign to take it easy for a few days. At the same time that this was happening, we had the opportunity to assist Tati and Jeoline on some of their house visits. They seem to do these fortnightly, dropping off excess donations of grains, pasta, nappies, etc to the families of the kids. It's a truly heart warming experience and although we all wish our Portuguese was perfect so we could have offered something else to these families, we still managed to get by and were humbled by how dedicated the staff at the centre are to bettering the lives of these families in whatever way they can - whether it be sitting down to have a chat, or praying with them to put their minds at ease.

The kids now greet us very enthusiastically with hugs, running up to meet us. We play a lot of games with them, like tips, gathering all the rules we can as we run from the determined tipper. Some of their other pastimes include tackling Jackson, tickling the three of us and laughing at our attempts to communicate with them in Portuguese. Despite their cheekiness (or maybe because of it) we have ridiculous amounts of fun.

Last weekend we made a trip to Florianopolis, which is an island in Santa Catarina state where previous volunteers of this program have lived. It meant another bus ride, though not nearly as bad as the previous one - only four and a half hours this time.

The next morning we went to the beach, which was just 15 minutes from where we were staying, and spent about two hours walking along the beach, enjoying the sight of the windswept waves and the feeling of refreshing water lapping at our ankles. When we reached the end of the beach there was a welcoming site: a Brazilian set up! There were red and yellow chairs near tables with striped beach umbrellas, and two or three juice stands on the sand itself, with a couple of restaurants and a small market set up closer to the road. There were still heaps of people out and about, playing beach volleyball and swimming in tiny swim wear and lazing around.

After our walk we were all very hungry, so we decided to share some fish and chips at one of the restaurants before going for a swim. With the help of a kind garçom (waiter) we got exactly what we wanted. And then to top it off, one of the churro sellers walked by and, sensing our indecision, doubled back and convinced us to get what we would discover to be the best churros of our lives. It was even filled with caramel sauce!
We separated shortly after that, so that Jackson could look for some presents at the markets and Kirsten and I could get some juice and açai bowls which were also well worth it.

Jackson and I then braved the constant waves for a swim, although when the current got a bit strong we both bailed and all headed back to the hostel. There we relaxed in hammocks before enjoying a super delicious dinner of pizza (I have to say the food is very good here, if you haven't been able to tell from my food-centred blog updates).

The journey home went quickly as usual, and before we knew it we were back in Curitiba, and already planning our next weekend trip, which will be to Rio de Janeiro!

On Friday we are heading off to the wildlife centre for three weeks, and as much as we love the children's centre I think we are looking forward to the change in routine. We are all enjoying our time here, and will keep you posted on the next few weeks.

Till next time,

Laura

UniBreak mixed health team set foot in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Nursing and Paramedics
WRITTEN BY:  Amelia Walsh & Lachie Graham

Nepal is an amazing, fresh and vibrant country with strong history, culture and traditions. We started off not knowing what to expect and slightly nervous about staying here for over a month.

On arrival in Kathmandu, we were greeted by Rajesh and Prima. That night we stayed in their granny flat/hut out the back of their house with walls made of clay and wine bottles! We had to climb up very steep ladders to get to our rooms in the attic… which made getting our 26kg bags up there quite a challenge! Rajesh showed us his office, where one wall is covered in over 300 photos of all the previous volunteers. They went through the basic cultural norms with us, from greetings to use of squat toilets (this was even demonstrated). Apparently we’re not supposed to use toilet paper in the squat toilets because it clogs up the ‘sewerage’ pipes. We have to use bins instead.

The day we left Kathmandu for Chitwan was a very early start. Driving through the main street, the bus actually swerved an elephant just casually standing outside a shop in the middle of the road. Two minutes after embarking on the bus ride, we had to stop for fuel. Between the ‘bus-ride naps’, we saw monks teaching little kids how to clean their teeth on the side of the road. The bus trip was 150km and took over 6 hours! Lesson learnt to take Kwells before leaving next time.

When we got off the bus at Chitwan, we were met by a small taxi which we were somehow all meant to fit in. Being the structural engineers that we are, four of us not-so-small-adults crammed into the tiny back seat. Not the most comfortable drive. When we arrived at Rishi’s, we were all given freshly picked bunches of flowers and cups of milk chia. Then we were given our Nepali names. Ellen became Etka, Amelia became Ambika, Chloe became Kamala, and Lachlan became Laxman. After a couple hours of being taught how to act respectful around our new Nepali families, we were at our new host houses!

We three girls stayed together and ‘Dr Laxman’s’ home was a few houses down the road. Living here is very different to living at home from the harder mattresses to the squat toilets. The hardest part to get used to was definitely not being allowed to throw toilet paper in the toilets. The food is good though! Lots of rice (‘baht’ in Nepali) with every meal, we’re learning the consequences of eating bulk rice all the time- something our digestive systems are definitely not used to.

Nepali people usually don’t eat breakfast like Australians, but eat brunch instead. We get breakfast made just for us, which is usually a rice form of porridge with milk and banana or freshly made roti which we dip in chia – our favourite! Our families also took us to make out traditional Nepali dresses called Gouttars, where we picked out the fabric and had tailor-made for just over $5. Everything is so cheap here!

At Rishi’s house there are three levels. On the second level are the children, or "God's gift to me" as Rishi calls them. On the second night, the children put on a dancing and singing performance to welcome us again. Rishi is very appreciative of us and calls us “not guests, but family” and it is always his pleasure to have us and see us happy. He has been fundamental in the coordination of our time at the hospital and has given us a brilliant insight into the Nepali way of life.

The hospital where we are based is considered modern, new and clean. It is located on a road that houses approximately 60 other hospitals (both public and private). Without a doubt the health system here is different. It is hard to watch some treatment, especially since it is considered offensive to recommend something. C-spine injuries and orthopaedic injuries are often ignored and the patient can be left without any stabilisation and immobilisation for hours. On a positive note, the patient flow within the hospital is very fast; patients are treated and discharged often within the hour. In Australia, patients usually stay within the Emergency Department for a minimum of 3 hours. Here patients leave quicker and often self-discharge.

Overall, week one has been a very steep learning curve and has demanded rapid adaptation. Nonetheless, it has been successful and truly a great experience. I know there's much more to come, so stay tuned for week two!

Ticking off the bucket list before saying "Adios, Argentina!"

COUNTRY: Argentina
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Clem Rocks

I have tried to start this blog about 5 times now and every time I have chickened out because I don't want to face the fact that we are leaving Buenos Aires. To sound as cliché as ever 3 months has just flown by. The fact that we are packing is incomprehensible and the thought of leaving the Reina Madre tomorrow is constantly being forced to the back of my mind, though despite that I will try to wrap up the last 3 months as best I can.

On the weekend Tarun and Andreas went to Patagonia, to which I will hand you over to Tarun… "Patagonia was an amazing experience, definitely a highlight of the trip. In El Calafate we walked on a Glacier and in El Chalten we scaled a mountain, two adventures that I certainly will not forget any time soon."

A couple of weekends ago we attended 'La Ventana', one of the best tango shows in Buenos Aires, and it certainly lived up to its name. Beginning with a (very successful) Tango class, then dinner and a show it was definitely a highlight of our time in BA.

We have spent our final few weeks in BA ticking touristy things off our bucket list as well as revisiting our favourite places. A spontaneous trip to Tigre for a grand total of 15 cents, a graffiti tour, a trip to the Japanese gardens and a Halloween party were some of the highlights. We bid farewell to our token American Zyanya, thus making the 8 amigos a group of 7 again. We have dedicated our final week to eating our body weight in food from our favourite restaurants and plan on spending our last day in Buenos Aires at the final tourist attraction on our list, Floralis Generica.

Saying goodbye to Buenos Aires will be tough, but not as tough as it was to say goodbye to the children in the villas. Our last volunteering day was a weird cocktail of reminisce, sadness and a pinch of happiness that the kids exude everyday. As we drove out of Villa Luango for the final time I hoped that we did- however small- make a difference to the lives of those we met volunteering along the way.

We have a crazy week ahead of us as we part our separate ways. Georgia is the first to leave, home to the Gold Coast on Sunday night. Tarun and Andreas leave with a lovely 3am taxi to the airport on Monday bound for Sydney and Brisbane respectively. Which leaves Joe, Jaci, Annabelle and Clem to galavant around South America for another month or so!

We've frozen in the snow in the Andes and cycled in 34 degree heat through Misiones. We've eaten our weight in $2 pizzas from Fabricas and spent a day in Uruguay. We've met some interesting people, from loud Germans to sassy Argentines and everything in between. We've played puzzles, read (very poorly) to children in Spanish and woken up with sore muscles from piggybacks in the villas. We've laughed, we've cried and we've spent a bizarre day in Paraguay. It's safe to say that we've had fun as the Seven Michael Bevans (the only thing that rhymes with 7) and I couldn't have asked for a better group to share this insane experience with.

Bidding farewell to Peru

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Stephanie Rainbow

Hola,

Today marks the end of our adventures in Peru. This last week has flown by as we have experienced the end of our time teaching and finally completed the concrete paths around the school, which will serve to keep it from being washed away in the coming rainy season. Yesterday we spent a final lunch out as a group and visited the chocolate museum in the city centre.

It will be very strange to leave the homes and families we have grown used to, catching the bus everyday to Enako and taking the taxi ride to the school of Pumamarca. Some of the distinct features we've encountered have been the bizarre weather, the constant soundtrack of fighting dogs, the lovely planes that pass over our house at 6am every morning and the awesome hill that we have to climb to get home each day.

This week we returned to the families whose houses we visited a couple of weeks before and gave them much needed supplies. The house I visited belonged to Francisco, one of the boys at the school and his younger sister Maria, who's mother ran off and left them in the care of their uncle and aunt. The family previously had no proper table and ate off the place where the food was cooked, so we used the money fundraised in Australia to buy them a table, chairs, some new pots and pans and new blankets for their beds. It was great to be able to really make a difference in the lives of people who have never experienced the prosperous lifestyle that we do, and I pray that Francisco and Maria will be able to finish school so they can have a better future.

Our last day at Pumamarca began with the almost ritual preparation of the fruit salad, before we joined the kids in a series of games such as sack races, tug-of-war and this weird game where the kids ran back and forth filling a small bottle with water and then tipping it into a smaller bucket in the hopes to win by filling it to the top. The kids had lots of fun and it was very enjoyable to beat the boys repeatedly at tug-of-war. The kids were constantly taking my camera off my hands, so I'm sure I have many interesting pictures and videos now!

After the games the kids proceeded to soak each other and the girls in our group where given new hairdos. The day then proceeded into the sad but heart-warming farewells where we were each given flowers and a card by the kids as well as some speeches (which I didn't fully understand but were still very cute!). We were then given more hugs than I quite honestly think I've had in my lifetime with every kid in the school, plus the teachers and the principal. It is hard to think that we may never see these awesome kids again and I hope that one day I can return here to visit.

Tomorrow we will all part ways and head off to different parts of the country, which is sad but everyone is very much looking forward to coming back to the comforts of home. It's been a truly incredible experience, and one I will cherish forever.

Adios, see you soon Australia!

Stephanie Rainbow

GapBreak update: France Language Immersion

COUNTRY: France
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Language Immersion
WRITTEN BY: Allie Boyd

It's been another great few weeks here in France. After spending time settling in and getting to know our families, Holly and I finally met up in Le Mans and got to know each other’s families. This was after I moved to Christine's house, who is our in country partner and who is good friends with Muriel, Holly’s host mother. Holly had been very busy going to Muriel’s school to help with English lessons.

When the students learn English, they can learn business vocabulary and English useful for working in retail. Holly also got to participate in the lesson by pretending to be a customer and had to ask questions about the products at the school store. Muriel and Eric’s two children, Romane and Lucas were absolutely adorable (and a bit shy) and Holly would ask them simple questions about their days and what they did at school to increase their vocabulary. The kids would also ask what some words were in English.

“Muriel works in a vocational (agricultural) school in Brettes-les-Pins. Students go there to learn either nursing, selling food products or selling garden products. The classes had prepared questionnaires for me about life in Sydney and were very interested in driving licenses & school, especially the school uniform! “- Holly

We were both so happy we had finally met up so we could talk about what was going well, how we were doing, any concerns we had (there weren’t many really) and shared ideas about lessons or games for our English tutoring.
Because of our families’ busy schedules we had a lot of time to ourselves and met up a lot during the following weeks. We were also lucky that we had the same days off from school so we could go out and explore. We went to some fun places! One of my favourite memories was going to L’Arche de la Nature, which, like the name suggests, was a nature park not far out of Le Mans. It was so pretty and we walked a lot. It was absolutely beautiful and it gave us a chance to actually get to know each other. It was so calming and peaceful and we got some amazing photos.

We also had some interesting experiences here… I touched an electric fence and got electrocuted. Holly got zapped too. It was quite shocking! We learned all about bee keeping and were proud that we could read the information in French. We wandered through a forest and got attacked by a swarm of flies.
Holly faced her fears and climbed this giant ropes course all the way to the top! She was much braver than me. I only made it to the first level and got too scared.

Le Mans is such an incredible place and everything is so close and easily accessible. Getting to the city centre walking along the Roman wall was also enchanting because it’s so old and it still holds strong. The old town was amazing to walk through and was like being in a different century. The Saint Julian’s Cathedral (top picture) was so impressive and no matter how long you looked it didn’t even look real but at the same time looked perfectly in place.

Some of my favourite parts of this experience have been meeting new and amazing people and one Saturday we got to meet other exchange students. Christine organised for every student to make a speciality from their country for the party. Holly made ANZAC biscuits, I made a meat pie and together we made lamingtons (picture second from top). We were very proud of our creations as we didn’t have the regular ingredients like self-raising flour and had to use substitutes. The party was at one of Alain’s factories and we helped decorate the party room with balloons and flags from all over the world. When everyone arrived we had the fun of greeting them at the door and tried to speak some French as we knew everyone would be speaking it. We got to mingle with the other families and spoke, what we liked to call 'Franglais', which was not quite French but not quite English.

If this trip has taught me anything so far its that sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of bravery and sometimes, insane courage to get something done. Whether its meeting someone for the first time and being scared of what to say, or having to speak another language when ordering something to eat or even admitting you’re lost and need help, they are the times you remember because it was a personal triumph were you pushed past the fear of embarrassment and just had a leap of faith that it would all work out.

How three months in India will change me forever

COUNTRY: India
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Phoebe Laing

On the 19th of August 2014 I arrived at Udaipur, India, together with four other gap year girls I'd never met before. We would spend the next three months living in the same house (together with other volunteers from Austria, Switzerland, England, Wales and Germany), teaching English to first and second grade school children from a tribal village in the morning and to slightly older boys at a nearby boys home in the afternoon. Reflecting on the following months in the days before we left, most of us agreed it had been the best three months of our lives thus far. Not only had we gained incredible friends in each other, we had found friends all over the world and had acquired a new perspective about our own lives.

India is overwhelming at first - there are cows and dogs everywhere, wandering across the path of weaving motorbikes and tractors, many of which are calmly driving in the wrong lane. Horns, mooing, loud conversations and singing fill the streets; the smells alternate between delicious cooking and whiffs of rubbish and cow poo. It is a culture and environment so different from our own and yet we all grew to love and identify with it; the sense of community and family duty within Indian culture is something we've lost to a certain extent back home.

Our time away from our families and friends allowed us to step out of our normal selves and discover who we were outside of our normal environment. We were trusted with creating our own lessons and caring for our students, and the sense of responsibility and trust was relished by each one of us, allowing us to develop confidence and independence. We learnt how to connect with people from countries across the world, and this never meant more than the connections we made with the children we taught.

Our school children were from a very poor village- many had shirts held together by safety pins and were very obviously underweight. Yet it was their smiles and laughter that brightened our mornings; their parents also smiled whenever they saw us and each other, which left a deep impression on us about how happiness can be completely unrelated to material wealth. Despite their limited English, we made each other laugh and celebrated their progress together, and never felt as though language was truly a barrier. At the boys home I taught slightly older boys, 11-13, many of whom had quite good conversational English. I have never laughed so much as I have while with them; many of the boys are orphans or from incredibly poor families, and yet despite many traumatic stories they were accepting, friendly and always ready to laugh.

On my last day at the orphanage my boys took me by the hands and led me on a tour of the orphanage to show me how they lived. All they had in life was their bed and a small locker full of clothes and books. When I began crying at the end they told me, "No sad, Didi (big sister), happy happy", and made me smile even though I really didn't want to leave. My experience with those boys in particular will enrich my life forever - they have shown me what it is to be brave, and also how incredibly lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place and have so many opportunities. I plan to work hard to save up and visit them again next year, but in the meantime I know that I will be a more grateful person, and have so many stories to share with my new beautiful friends both here in Australia and throughout the world.

Reminiscing a life-changing trip and some advice to future travellers

COUNTRY: Borneo & Cambodia
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building & Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Clare O'Brien

I literally feel like I've left my family behind. It's been two days since I left Borneo and all I want is for those people to be back in my life. We were the motliest crew ever but we worked.

The last few weeks went by so fast. Our three months of non-stop cementing has also caught up to us and we caught ourselves several times almost falling asleep at work. But all we had to do was remind ourselves of the massive difference this makes to the lives of these children, and we were motivated to keep going. We dug and lifted, carrying massive buckets of heavy soil through the school to build the floor of a shelter for the kids.

Just when we thought we couldn't lift anything more, couldn't smash another rock or mix another pile of cement it was suddenly our second last day of project work, and I'll be damned if we didn't finish on a high, despite the sweltering heat.

We had some of the best fun chilling in the long house making the spare room our home, turning the spare mattresses into a jumping puke and making the camp our playground. The last night though was honestly one of the best. We decided to have a night time game of hide and seak sprinting around camp. When we got too tired to play we all pretty much fell asleep next to each other before we eventually headed to bed.

As we trundled off back to Siem Reap, I couldn't help but reminisce. I know it's corny as hell- but I did it. Sitting in the back of the bus looking at how different our surroundings were to when they first started. I honestly can't even begin to sum up my personal highlights of this incredible journey, but I do know that they all involved the fantastically sassy Zoe, the energetic and gorgeous Brea and the ever-chilled and majestic Stevie.

I am now sitting in a backpackers lodge in Vietnam and I honestly feel like my life has been changed. I would recommend this experience to anyone. If you need a break from normal life, if you want to make a difference somewhere else in the world, whatever the reason- this is definitely something everyone should experience.

As a teenager leaving high school with no real drive or destination, I did feel a bit lost. Now, after finishing three months in an impoverished country I feel like I've gained more than I thought I could. This trip helped to solidify my values and opened my eyes to the world. My trip to volunteer in Borneo and Cambodia with Antipodeans Abroad has been the best decision of my life.

To those that do decide to embark on an expedition such as this, I have this advice: enjoy every moment, don't worry about missing people at home because they'll always be there. This may be your only chance to meet these people, to build a kindergarten for a village, be taught a different language by kids, and travel with people that will soon become like family. I now have so many friends around the world that I can't wait to get back out and see them all.

If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that my lifetime of travelling has only just begun.

Clare O'Brien

Edith Cowan students begin eye-opening nursing placement

 COUNTRY: Cambodia
PROGRAM: UniBreak Groups
PROJECT: Edith Cowan University Nursing Placement
WRITTEN BY: Megan Stoney

Our first impression of Siem Reap, Cambodia was that it's HOT! The first morning consisted of an introduction to the country and the Khmer language, given by the translators and our in-country partners. That day we visited one of the villages where we saw a temple and spoke to an elder. In the evening a welcome dinner was provided, and we got to see some traditional Khmer dancing.

On Monday we attended a talk about child protection in Cambodia, it was very interesting and opened all our eyes. Night time in Siem Reap has been called the Las Vegas of Cambodia. During our first week of training and learning here we taught health education lessons about hand hygiene, brushing teeth and first aid. The other groups of nursing students were at the health clinics.

The school and clinics were minimal standard and had minimal supplies. The school did not have enough classrooms, supplies or sport toys. One clinic that delivers a lot of babies had no electricity at night and so pen torches were used to deliver the babies! Unbelievable.

Dinners were lovely and exploring Siem Reap at night was fun and interesting. We walked around a lot of the time, but used Tuk Tuk’s to get to places further away. Our first week was exciting, exhausting and a real eye-opener to what Cambodia is like. I am looking forward to the weekend exploring temples and shopping and next week’s learning experiences.

Gappers' Questionnaire!

COUNTRY: Argentina
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Clem Rocks

It is so hard to comprehend that fact that we only have two weeks left in Buenos Aires before we go our separate ways. As we begin to wrap up our time together with a series of 'lasts' we have begun reminiscing about the past three months in.

Highlight of the trip
Tarun: Peruti village, Mendoza
Andreas: Peruti village, high mountain tour, Iguazu
Jaci: Iguazu
Georgia: Zoo
Annabelle: Mendoza
Joe: Iguazu boat ride
Clem: Peruti Village

Most challenging aspect of volunteering?
Tarun: Saying goodbye
Andreas: Violent children
Jaci: Language barrier
Georgia: Language
Annabelle: Contrast between the city and the slums given their proximity
Joe: Trying to see the world through the children's eyes and trying to understand their daily reality
Clem: Feeling like we can't make a significant change to their lives long-term

Most rewarding aspect of volunteering?
Tarun: The kids
Andreas: Feeding kids in Peruti
Jaci: The rewarding feeling
Georgia: Seeing how happy and grateful they are we are when we get there
Annabelle: The look in the kids faces when you arrive in the van
Joe: The moments when you feel like you've made a small difference to their world
Clem: Making a difference to their day-to-day lives

Most noticeable difference between Australia and Argentina
Tarun, Andreas, Annabelle: The language and culture
Jaci: Price difference
Georgia: Their passion for anything and everything
Joe: No table water
Clem: Men's attitude towards women

Most quintessentially Argentine experience?
Everyone: The asado in San Ignacio

Favourite food
Tarun & Georgia: Pizza
Andreas: Steak (Argentine steak is the best in the world!)
Jaci & Annabelle: Alfajores
Joe: Chorizo
Clem: Empanadas

Are you ready to leave Buenos Aires?
Tarun: No, but I miss home
Andreas & Georgia: It's been incredible, but yes
Jaci & Annabelle: No
Joe: Yes, ready to see more of South America
Clem: Keen to travel but don't want to leave the group

If you could have something from home what would it be?
T: A cricket bat
Andreas: Bike
Jaci: Chicken sushi & a laptop
Georgia: My dog, and mum's chicken schnitzel of course
Annabelle: Table water, vegemite, Thai food, passion pop
Joe: Mi goreng
Clem: Thai food, dumplings

If you had more time and money what more would you like to do?
Tarun: Salt flats
Andreas: Bariloche and a football game
Jaci: Rio & Patagonia
Annabelle: Cordoba or Patagonia
Georgia: The rest of South America
Joe: Cordoba, Rosario & Patagonia
Clem: Cordoba

If you could do it all again what would you do differently?
Tarun, Georgia: I don't think I would do anything differently
Andreas: Stay in Palermo and bring more US dollars
Jaci: Save more money beforehand
Annabelle: Brought warmer clothes, brought an inflatable pool and a warmer jacket
Joe: Take more pictures
Clem: Learnt more Spanish beforehand

Hope you enjoyed our little questionnaire we made for ourselves! It's crazy to think that in our next post we will be farewelling Argentina... time has flown by so fast!

The Argentine Australians xxxx

Arequipa, Halloween and Day of the Dead

COUNTRY: Peru
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Construction
WRITTEN BY: Stephanie Rainbow

Hola,

Today marks less than two weeks until the end of the trip, and for me the time has flown by. Last week we travelled 9 hours by bus to the city of Arequipa for Jamie's birthday. Despite the bus being first class in terms of the actual bus, it's still a long time to be on a bus. When we arrived at 'The Wild Rover' I was relieved to find that the beds were super comfy.

On the way into the city, Arequipa quite honestly looked like a dump; dodgy neighbourhoods with sand and dirt billowing everywhere. Thankfully, however, the town centre itself was picturesque, despite the hundreds of pigeons that occupied it. The food at the hostel was delicious and cheap, and we spent the day lazing by the tiny pool that sat beside the day bar.

The next day was Jamie's birthday, and after a late start we took taxies to go go-carting, where everyone's competitive streaks came to light. I myself was as slow as an old lady and I just tried not to die as everyone overtook me! With no helmets, and little to no safety measures everyone was a little more cautious than they usually would be but despite this we had heaps of fun.

The girls then proceeded to go to a local salon to get manicures and pedicures; after Machu Picchu my feet definitely needed it and I felt very sorry for the lady who was scrubbing my feet!

The hostel we were staying at was in fact a 'party hostel' and so that night we celebrated Jamie's birthday by doing just that- it was a very fun night. The next morning marked the beginning of Halloween. We trekked through copious amounts of costume stalls, where I bought tigger ears and Nick bought a superman costume. Those of the group who did end up venturing outside reported that it was crazy and they even saw a tank. Go figure.

The morning brought with it a day bar full of drunken staff who were doing shots while they served me. Good service right? It then turned into a pool party and I retreated to the dorm to prevent my clothes from getting even more wet. That day marked the end of my trip to Arequipa as Liz, Bridget and I were leaving early in the hopes that we wouldn't be exhausted on Monday. So with a visit to a crepe shop which was incredibly delicious, it was back on the bus.

We have since begun replacing the roof of a greenhouse for one of the village ladies, and spent the day painting', which the kids were more than eager to get involved with.

While we were at Arequipa it was November 1st, 'The Day of the Dead' which is celebrated in Peru by making dolls and horses out of bread. Before we left we made these special loaves for the children of the school and spent the day in the kitchen/ wood fire oven making them; I quite honestly don't know how the children ate it all, as I was full after the first bite. Tonight we are planning to have dinner at Chillies, which is a restaurant that serves their deserts in mini fry pans.

I can't imagine what it will be like when we leave here and everyone is preparing for the various trips that they are doing afterwards. It will be weird going somewhere where I actually speak the language! Although I doubt it will be as exciting as it is here.

So until next time,

Adios.

A Zanzibari trip for Tanzania Gappers

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & construction
WRITTEN BY: Sybilla Galvin

Jambo Rafikis!

The past few weeks have been an absolute high for the whole group. Last Friday morning we embarked on our long journey to Zanzibar. The day began at 4:45am to get a taxi to the bus station. The bus trip to Dar took a mere 8 hours, which we followed up with yet another taxi ride and a quick 1-hour ferry trip. From the moment we arrived in Zanzibar we were in love. We finally got to have some of the things we had been really craving since leaving home including bacon, burgers and mojitos alike. We stayed one night in Stone Town then retreated north to Nungui beach where our bungalow was situated right on the water. We had plenty of time to relax in the sun, haggle for beautiful Masai paintings and have cocktails on rooftop bars as the sun set right before us.

On Monday 8 of us chose to go scuba diving. Before reaching our first dive site the captain of the boat spotted a pod of dolphins and everyone on board jumped in with fins and masks to swim around with them! It truly was a magnificent site to see them at an arms length in the wild. We dived with turtles, octopi, stingrays and huge variety of fish, not to mention the colourful coral. Rozi, Lauren, Rory and myself were the only ones who stayed on for a second dive, of which we loved every minute. For Sarah's birthday we returned to Stone Town in the evening to go to our favourite restaurant. The next day was extremely sad as we said goodbye to the Zanzibar sun and boarded our 12-person plane back to Tanga (with Rory in the co-pilot seat).

On Thursday we farewelled our beloved Paryz and on Friday Eliphas returned with 3 new additions to the group- Matt from Newcastle, Calvin from Canada and Elise from Holland. Our group is constantly changing but it's amazing how at home we all still manage to feel with everyone staying here. Friday (being Lauren's birthday) was a very different day from our norm. Instead of working on our mud house we spent the morning at the mamas' house cooking chapatti and vichetti (delicious little doughnut type things), and the afternoon weaving reads- used for bags, mats, hats and the like with the mammas and curious villagers. For Lauren, we organised to have a dance crew from a nearby village come and entertain us for the evening. Their performance varied from traditional Tanzanian dances, to hip-hop and an unusual Halloween style act at the end (too bizarre to explain…)

Work on the mud house is coming to a close for all of us planning to climb Kilimanjaro this Tuesday (eek!). The six staying behind will- fingers crossed- finish the house while we are on hiking, then meet us in Moshi before heading to Kenya for our last leg of the trip. As I am writing this it is starting to sink in that my stay here in Camp Tanzania is coming to a quick end. I am going to miss the local people and this place an unbelievable amount.

Next time you hear from us we will have conquered the tallest freestanding mountain in the world! Wish us luck!

Kwaheri!

Xo Sybilla

Getting stuck in to volunteering in Cambodia

COUNTRY: Borneo & Cambodia
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building & Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Clare O'Brien

Halfway through the last month and I'm not sure how I'm feeling. Both homesickness and feelings of never wanting to leave have begun to wash over me.

Our arrival in Cambodia was all a blur, we met our final addition to the group- India, another Australian girl- and headed straight from the airport to camp. We trundled along on the bus until we arrived at Beng Maelea where we were greeted by one of the most welcoming faces, our camp manager Han. There was never a moment when he was not smiling... or when he was silent. If we were walking to project work in silence he would bust out some song or just chirp a rhythm- it was fantastic.

The camp felt like it had grown out of the ground and was just a perfect part of the village. The dinning area had no floor as it was all hardened soil, the benches and tables were made of wood and looking to the surrounding long houses was like looking onto a little jungle village.

The thing that made this camp for me was the fact that it was part of the community, we had to walk through the local pagoda to get to work and would have kids running in and out of camp. Not only that but in the mornings our camp became the English classroom.

The school doesn't have enough classrooms for them in the mornings so the camp offers its facilities to the class. They get an added bonus though- us. Almost every single day for two weeks the morning and afternoon English classes would have one of our group teaching them. I remember the first time we found out there was teaching in camp. We had a nice peaceful breakfast in the communal area, brushed our teeth and came back from the bathrooms (which were a fair distances through the trees) and suddenly the communal area was over-run by children.

Just like in Bongkud I was so surprised by how much English they actually knew and we were able to have a few conversations. The afternoon lessons, however, were less like that; they were much younger and normally consisted of singing the alphabet, heads shoulders knees and toes and then playing an hour-long game of football. Even though it didn't feel like you were teaching much you knew it made a difference when they came over to help us work.

We were working on the teacher accommodation. Many of the teachers live in Siem Reap and many other places that are much too far to travel on a daily basis. They had previously been sleeping in a classroom until the school needed that space and sadly they lost a lot of teachers because of this. The accommodation we were building was a building split into 3 rooms, 1 room for two teachers, and was located in the school yard. That is where we saw our teaching come into play. As we pushed the trailer through the grounds the kids would always run to help, no matter what it was filled with, we had massive rocks, massive buckets of sand and even bags of cement. After helping with the scariest journey pushing it through mud and over rocks they would stay and help to move it into the rooms, always trying to strike up a conversation. A lot of these did end with just asking how we were but just having that tiny connection would put a smile on both the kids and our faces for the rest of the day.

Our days off felt like they went past in a blur, the whole two weeks did. The two days we didn't work we visited the temples and went on an unsuccessful fishing trip. Visiting temples over here is so different to at home. There is no 'do not touch' or 'do not climb' signs. In Beng Maela we were literally climbing over temple ruins, it was very different for the temples in Siem Reap. They were spectacular. Lucky for us we got to see a sun rise over Angkor Wat, to see it all highlighted in pinks and purples was amazing. We spent the rest of the day with our tour guide Kim, doing a bit of temple run seeing Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and the Thome Raider temple before the day was over. It was a really spectacular day.

All our site-seeing is so fast-paced that our day fishing was a beautiful time to take a break. Even though we'd already been in Cambodia for two weeks, that second last day in camp is when I really began to appreciate the country. We rode around in a trailer attached to a moped, we drove past amazingly green rice fields, under a fantastically blue sky and got smiles and waves from anyone we drove past. The fact that the camp staff could talk to anyone from any village and get a smile, the fact that we could say "Susudi"(hello) and get the same smile was also fantastic. The people here are truly so happy and kind even though they have little to nothing compared to us. They work hard for everything they own and seem to put their all into everything they do, it's truly amazing.

Saying goodbye to the camps is getting harder and harder. As time has gone on I have slowly realised that when we leave each camp it is probably the last time we'll ever see these amazing people. And that's all I could think as we drove away from Han and the rest of the smiley Beng Maelea crew and began our seven hour journey to Phenom Penh. Being in the cities is always so different and I find it a lot more challenging to be here than I do in the villages. Thankfully we have only spent one full day here; tomorrow will be heading to our final camp, for the last two weeks of our trip. I can feel myself getting emotional already.

Macarons, chocolat, baguettes, camembert. Where else but Paris?

COUNTRY: France
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Language Immersion
WRITTEN BY: Allie Boyd

I was originally struggling to write this because the friends made, adventures had, and the discovery of new incredible places and experiences in my second week in Paris were equally, if not more amazing than the first. It was a bit scary for both Holly and I when we said goodbye at the Gare Montparnasse because we would both be on our own and be experiencing completely different things in the week to come. I think we both realised we would be on our own and would have to be brave! For me, one week was not enough in the fantastic city. There is so much you can and must do while you’re there. I wanted to get a taste of everything in Paris.

One of the greatest things about the experience in Paris was sharing it with amazing new friends from Paris Langue. Over the week it was awesome getting to know Mira, Eduardo and Mario. We were all living(except for Mario who was living with a host family outside of Paris), so it was really nice exploring the city and making memories together. We were also so supportive of each other in our morning classes. Although I always found it terrifying whenever our teacher would ask me questions because I didn’t feel that I knew enough to form a reply.

One of the funniest moments was when we snuck away from our group at the Louvre and discovered an entire floor. One of the teachers was explaining everything to the group in French and we did not understand a thing. We thought it would be easier to reflect and enjoy the museum by ourselves.
The Louvre is such an impressive building and we thought it was so funny that Louis XIV thought “this isn’t big enough” and built Versailles. The history of France is just so fascinating and my favourite area of the Louvre was the old furniture of Marie Antoinette: The bold colours, wood panelling, huge silver dining plates. The old fob watches were incredibly beautiful as well.

The architecture is truly stunning in France, and Versailles was just beautiful. Sometimes it was difficult to imagine that they were built hundreds of years ago. The audio guides were also very useful and they can come in several different languages. In Paris people working at tourist spots are bilingual so if you have any questions they are approachable and helpful.

It’s an obvious thing to say but the food in France is just divine. I have never tried so many new and amazing foods. Macarons and pain chocolat are my two favourites. One of my favourite memories was sitting in the gardens of Versailles, eating overly expensive (but worth it) macarons.

The week went so incredibly quickly and my time there was the best fun I’ve had in a long time. Mira, Eduardo and myself decided it was only fitting to end the weeks together at the icon of Paris: The Eiffel Tower. We ate baguettes and cheese, drank cheap red wine and watched the city lights light up the sky. When it got dark enough, the tower lit up and we were so excited to watch a proposal in front of the Eiffel tower! Can you believe it? Paris really is a magical city!

To be perfectly honest, the trip from Paris to Le Mans was too quick and I wish I had time to comprehend what I was actually about to do. I was proud I had spent two weeks in Paris by myself where I could be independent and free of any obligations (aside from the school of course). When I arrived, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t tough at first. I didn’t really know as much French as I thought I did and wasn’t brave enough to speak. But it was fun trying to follow conversations and Annabelle and Emma would act as my translators during most meal times. And everyday I had to tell Christophe and Christine what I did each day in French, which only involved a few sentences as I was slowly learning the past tense. Translating French when it was written was definitely easier than trying to understand it when it was spoken as they can speak very, very quickly. I actually found that watching game shows and Peppa Pig in French were incredibly helpful. Learning a new language can be tough but so rewarding! As the title says, life is all about courage and going into the unknown!

My first real English lesson started off as a French lesson as I showed the family what I had learned at Paris Langue and asked for a translation of what each tense would mean. I studied a lot in the first few weeks of Le Mans because I really wanted to make progress and Emma and Annabelle even gave me some homework! Constant and Fernando, another exchange student, were both a bit shy so the lessons weren’t really formal and I talked to them when they would play the X-Box. They usually played Minecraft, which looked like lots of fun, and would explain what they were doing and what their goals were while playing the game.

As I’m sure I’ve said before, food in France is really, really good and Christine really loved to cook, so it was fun helping out in the kitchen. I really loved how we ate lunches and dinners all together and spent time talking about the day. The meals were also quite big servings and would be followed by fruit, yogurt and/or cheese, which is when I discovered my love for Camembert.

The Chevalliers’ were also so good as to take me to the D-Day beach in Normandy, as a 'last weekend' treat and it was where the Western Allies came to get the Nazis out of France. After getting a bit lost, we all enjoyed a nice picnic on the beach and some beach volleyball (which I was quite bad at) and we all tried to count in different languages when passing the ball around. The D-Day beach itself was very beautiful and actually reminded me of beaches in Australia. It was a really nice day and I really enjoyed the history.