No kangaroos in Austria

Firstly, my apologies if the blog updates aren't that frequent. I have a lot of writing to do here in Vienna so there's not much free time. Start paying me and I promise to devote some more time to blogging.

Anyway, I met some wonderful people here on Tuesday. I spent most of the day with a local baker who's bakery is located about 120 km from Vienna. It employs three people and everything they do is organic and made by hand (you can read more about this in an upcoming issue of Finnair's Blue Wings magazine). Later in the evening I also met a couple who own a vineyard and produce organic wines. I'm really in awe of people's ability to make products that people enjoy. I respect those kinds of skills immensely because I don't have them. Even in crafts class in fourth grade all the other girls made mittens. I managed to knit a woollen bracelet. One piece.

Earlier I promised to post some photos of the people I've met during my one month on the road. Like the "Shoes, bags, Rolex" guy. I took the photo on my last day in HK, just in case he'd get the wrong idea of me wanting to take his picture. And he was quite the poser, as you can see.

"Shoes, bags, Rolex" guy.

Shopping for New Year's fruit. Orange colour brings good fortune.

My first ever dragonfruit shopping.

And from random salespeople to the ones who really made an impact. One of the most memorable moments of the trip so far was the New Year's Eve dinner with my friend Margot and her family. Her uncle was the chef, the 81-year-old grandfather made goose with his own special recipe and cousins from Australia came to visit. The grandfather lives in Toronto, Canada and knows just a few words of English. But he said them all to me: "take care", "you too", and his English name "Jack. J-A-C-K. Jack."

The Kwan family & New Year's Eve dinner.

This Wednesday I spent most of the day writing my next articles and I have to admit I'm feeling a bit of a writer's block now. I sort of wrote this as a training piece for my work ahead. Hope to get my thoughts together - and even on paper, which would be a plus. Those are the only kinds of thoughts I get paid for.
Oh yeah and yesterday when I was leaving the café where I'd been writing I yanked my MacBook's power chord off the wall - and the whole damn socket came out too! So I had a power chord in my hand that had a plastic socket and about 30 cm of electrical chord coming out of the wall hanging from it! The customers around me were just staring, nobody even smiled. I was hysterical. I tried hard not to laugh out loud when I stuffed the electrical chord back inside the hole in the wall and shoved the socket back in it's place.

Now I'm heading out in sunny Vienna and I'll try and find a place I won't be able to demolish.