New Job, New Ankle

Ankle

I've neglected this blog yet again but this time I have a fantastic excuse: I was recuperating from a pretty terrible ankle injury!

I finished my English Assistanceship job at the end of April and on my way back to Toronto, I decided to stop in Ireland and spend some time with Gemma, one of the friends and travel partners I made in Perigueux. She is from N.Ireland and was going back home after our contract ended.

We were really looking forward to having a proper night out in Belfast, unlike ones we had had in Perigueux. We got all glammed up, which not something I do very often. But you know, when in Rome... The night started out great but as we were waiting for a Taxi, I tripped and shattered my ankle in the process. There was blood everywhere. I might have passed out and vomited from a mixture of pain, shock, and a couple of drinks I had on me. I went directly to the hospital.

It turns out I had an open bimalleolar ankle fracture, which basically means that I broke both my tibia and fibula and that somehow the bone broke in such a way that it stuck out through the skin. I had surgery in the morning to clean my wound and screw my bones back together. My x-ray looks a bit like the one below except I have four more screws on my tibia. I also got a cast. I had to stay at the hospital for three days but honestly it wasn't so bad. I was in a lot of pain but I had painkillers and the staff were incredibly nice there! the NHS rules. Also my friend and her family were absolutely lovely. They came to visit me and supported me throughout the ordeal. I am forever greatful to them.

(Left) X-ray of bimalleolar ankle fracture.
(Right)Surgical repair bimalleolar ankle fracture

Luckily, I didn't have to delay my flight back to Toronto; missing out on Belfast and Dublin fun was the least of my worries. I am definitely doing better and the scars are not looking too bad.

This injury has delayed my deployement to Haiti though, which I was very excited to do. I was hired by World Vision to do an Internship there and I was supposed to leave at the end of May. Now I'm going to have to leave at around the end of July. So far I have been compensating me not being there by working really hard to do all the "theoretic" work from home. For example, litterature reviews, article summaries, online trainings. I will post more about what my internship entails in the next few days.

Warsaw and the Big Brown Bear

Warsaw

By the time we got to Warsaw, Joshua had left us for greener and warmer pastures. So had our energy and vitality. Thankfully, Gemma and I had booked a semi-private room which gave us the rest we needed. Most of our daytime schedule consisted on cuddling with a giant stuffed bear (which we later found out got peed on and thrown our #SadTimes #RIP) or idling in the common room. We did do cool stuff though, despite the awful weather. We went out to a jazz bar, a free walking tour, and we ate out loads. Maybe it was the weather but Warsaw did not seem as pretty and nice as Krakow, so if you need to make a choice I would pick the latter. That being said, I really really liked Warsaw and want to go there again in the summertime. The city was almost completely destroyed after WWII so it was interesting to see how it managed to rebuild itself, including monuments and landmarks from pre-war times.

I recommend you...

• Eat some incredibly cheap and delicious food at "Bar Mleczny Familijny", a polish milk bar. The staff does not speak english but they keep an english menu near the cash register. All you need to do is write down what you want and hand it over. Don't be discouraged by this, it's definitely worth a try! More about this place here.
• Have a drink at Barometr klub & drink bar, click here for their website. 

Photos

Familijny 

Familijny

Snoooow

Old town

Old town, most of which has been rebuilt. Photo credit: GPD

Warsaw Uprising Monument

Metro

Our friend the big brown bear

Brussels and Losing One's Beer Virginity

Ah, the beautiful capital of Belgium and the seat of many European Union institutions. My friend Gemma and I chose it as the start of our March holidays and Joshua, a fellow english assistant and partner in crime and travels met us there. Like me, he was very excited about having some Belgian brews and it's hard to remember if we even drank water while we were there. Don't judge, in France, we've been subject to impossibly shitty beer since October. I'd like to think that our enthusiasm persuaded Gemma to try her very first beer! Granted, it was a fruity one but I see it as a milestone in the girl's life. The trip only lasted two nights and a day but we managed to walk around quite a bit and squeeze in a visit to the Magritte museum, the Grand Place, the European Parliament, and Delirium Cafe. We couch-surfed in a cozy student house and our host showed us her neighbourhood so we also managed to see a bit of Brussels through a local's eye.

Do you drink beer? What's your favourite? I love strong dark brews with coffee or chocolate-y undertones

I recommend you....

• Drink plenty of beer everywhere but do stop by Delirium Cafe
• Eat plenty of waffles. We recommend the street… try to find the best one!
• Eat fries "Chez Antoine" – look for a little kiosk in Place Jourdan
• Stop by the Poechenellekelder bar for a dark beer while visiting the old town

Photos: 

Grand Place

Grand Place (Photo credit: GPD)

European Parliament

Magritte museum - downstairs

Bistrot À la mort subite - good atmosphere and cute but overpriced

Dark beer time at Poechenellekelder

Delirium Cafe

Delirium Cafe

Delirium Cafe (photo credit: GPD)

Gemma's first fruity beer at a random cafeteria

Manneken Pis

March adventures in Belgium, Poland, and Hungary

At the beginning of March, I embarked on a fantastic two-week holiday with my good friend Gemma. The ongoing deterioration of our bodies that ensued was well worth the amount of fun, food, culture, history and alcohol we consumed. We survived but mostly enjoyed Brussels, Krakow, Warsaw with tightly packed suitcases and even tighter budgets. Check out our recommendations below and click on the links for more photos and a juicier account of our adventures!

Brussels - Click here for more!

• Drink plenty of beer everywhere but do stop by Delirium Cafe
• Eat plenty of waffles. We recommend the street… try to find the best one!
• Eat fries "Chez Antoine" – look for a little kiosk in Place Jourdan

Krakow - Click here for more 

• Take the Krakow Free Walking tour! Our tourguide Ella was awesome, check out their website here
• Go out in Kazimierz, the old jewish district
• Go to Plaza Nowy in Kazimierz where you can check out the market on weekend mornings or go for a drink at a nearby bar. Definitely don’t forget to eat a Zapiekanka!
•  Try polish soup, our favourite was the mushroom soup served in a bread bowl
• Eat some 24hr Pierogis at Zapiecek (only 12 PLN)
• Hang out at Rynek Główny (Main Market Square)
• Go to the Wawel Castle
• Get drunk on Zubrowka Vodka with apple juice
• Visit St. Francis of Assisi's Church; it was Pope John Paul II’s favourite church

Warsaw 

• Eat some incredibly cheap and delicious food at "Bar Mleczny Familijny", a polish milk bar. The staff does not speak english but they keep an english menu near the cash register. All you need to do is write down what you want and hand it over. Don't be discouraged by this, it's definitely worth a try! More about this place here.

Budapest 

• Indulge yourself and spend an afternoon (or a few) at one Budapest's Turkish baths; I went to and had a great time
• Try to catch a show at the opera, tickets are mad cheap and the building is gorgeous 
• Grab a bite of delicious hungarian food at Menza 

Packing for March Adventures

If I had to choose one thing right now I love about my job, it would be the holidays. I'm serious, we get so many! I doubt I will ever have as much free time as I do now. Please note I wrote one thing right now and not the one thing. I enjoy teaching but my french kids have been particularly difficult this week... Yo, I would be too if I was 10 years old and had a 9-5 school schedule.

French educators take their holidays very seriously. A few weeks ago, it was proposed to cut down summer holidays. Most teachers at the schools I work at were opposed to these cuts and went on strike  (as did many teachers throughout France). I don't think it's such a bad idea to make the school year longer as long as that means shortening their ridiculously long schooldays, but that's just me.

I have time off until March 18th and I am embarking on my second mini-european tour. This time, I will be exploring Brussels, Krakow, Warsaw and Budapest. I am most excited about Belgian beer, Polish vodka, tram parties in Krakow, and Turkish baths in Budapest. I will definitely update via instagram @rearaniva and twitter @rearaniva as much as I can.

At a few hours away from my departure, I am trying to cram my suitcase with both warm and cool outfits. I've chosen a black, white and gold palette so that hopefully I will look at least half-decent throughout the trip. Since I am in a permanent state of semi-brokenness, the only choice was to fly Ryanair. The plus side? 8 euro flights to Budapest from Krakow. The downside? strict hand luggage regulations i.e. a microscopic suitcase where I might be able to fit a couple of t-shirts.

This is what I'm hoping will fit in my suitcase:

I also got a lot of tiny toiletries; for once in my life I'm going to embrace cleanliness while travelling #Newlife.

Milan and how (not) to choose the perfect accomodation on Airbnb

View of Milan from Il Duomo 

A few friends and I went to Milan on the first weekend of February and despite a few obstacles we encountered on site, it turned out to be if not a fun weekend, a memorable one.

Everyone on Facebook and IRL assured me that Milan was Italy's ugly ducking city. A thriving industrial, fashion, and economic centre? Yes, but not nearly as quaint or as beautiful as say Rome or Florence. My friends and I decided to be posh and rent an apartment via Airbnb rather than stay at a hostel, like commoners... I guess. Gemma and I had done it a week earlier in Paris and we still remember it as the most comfortable stay we've had outside a hotel. Unfortunately, our Milan experience was quite the opposite. The apartment was absolutely beautiful but our host Andrea turned out to be a bit of a scammer who tried to collect a 540 € security deposit after we left.  

I got a bad feeling when our host's mother - not him - received us. We got settled in though and proceeded to explore the city. When we returned, and after multiple tries, we couldn't open the door, our host couldn't open the door, and his mother couldn't open the door. The key just would not turn, the lock was completely stucked. After about a pointless hour of mother and son trying to open the obviously jammed door, we were advised to wait at a nearby McDonalds while the locksmith arrived and did his job. Classy as always, my friend and I got really drunk on gin and tonic while we waited (read more about it here). 

After about 1h30, we were able to enter the apartment and even had a reckless night out. The rest of the trip went smoothly, although we were not able to lock the door during our stay. Andrea was very nice throughout the ordeal and even offered us a reimbursement for the first night - which we never got! Imagine the surprise when the girl who had booked everything on her card got an email from Airbnb saying that Andrea was claiming 540 € for the dammages. 

I called Andrea with the hopes that it was some communication problem. It was not. He claimed that the locksmith had charged him 540 € and that the jamming of the door had been our fault because they had allegedly found a piece of the key in the lock. As far as I can recall, the key looked intact before we handed over to them. He sounded very determined to get "his money back". I bet I sounded just as determined to keep it. He said he understood we were poor students and suggested we go 50-50 on the alleged cost of the locksmith and "solve the problem between us" without the help of Airbnb... He then sent us his bank information and assured us that he would withdraw the deposit claim when he received his 270 € payment. In my opinion, he shot himself in the foot by asking us to do a direct deposit. Thankfully we knew better than to do that -- we had no guarantee that he would in fact withdraw the 540 € claim. 

We wrote back to Airbnb, contesting his claim. We explained everything that happened including his failure to provide us with a reimbursement and his outrageous request of a 270 € direct deposit. Luckily, Airbnb agreed with us and they dropped the case. He was obviously just trying to make an extra buck. 

I have gone back to using Airbnb without any mishap since this unfortunate experience but I have developed some rules so that this never happens again. I have outlined them below. 

Things to look for when choosing Airbnb accomodations: 

1. Location - google map it!
2. The description - the longer the better! It's a good sign if a host has gone through the trouble of writing an extensive description of the room and the services they offer. Do take the time to read everything, otherwise don't act surprised if you get there and there's a cat or you have to share a bathroom or there's no breakfast.
3. Photos - the more the better! This is another sign of how much effort the host has put into. If you're renting a room, it's nice to have a look at what the rest apartment looks like.  
4. References - read them thoroughly and read between the lines. If there's more than a negative one and they both point out the same things, better not take the risk. It's not like it's free.
5. Type of accommodation - I prefer renting a room or rooms than a whole apartment because if anything goes wrong, your host will be there. It's also more likely that breakfast is included
6. Fees - make sure you read if there are any cleaning fees or damages deposit added to the price.

Have you had any negative experiences on Airbnb or have anything to add? Post in the comment section below.