47th Stop: the Gold Coast, Australia

Adam and CouchSurfers

The first days on (in? never know what to say) the Gold Coast weren’t too eventful. My hosts on Broad Beach, Adam, Jean-Michel, and Longy were busy working most of the two days I was there while I was at the library or mall food court (free wi-fi before I realized I could go to the library). What I couldn’t help noticing was the youth. Teenagers everywhere! This is normal, my hosts reassured me, it’s schoolies week.

Fantastic, shoolies week. Partying with underage high schoolers! Well not really. I did go out with some couchsurfers one night after dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, but I couldn’t get in anywhere; wearing shorts didn’t help, but it was mostly because I didn’t have my ID. I should have known better, I mean I could have fooled myself passing for a 17 year-old.

On Friday, I changed hosts. Michael, one of my new hosts, picked me up and we went to his place in Burleigh Heads to drop off my things. I met Tom, Michael’s roommate but we didn’t have much time to chat. Michael had an extra ticket to a Movember party in Brisby and we had to hit the road.

Before telling you more about Movember, I want to tell you about Michael. Michael’s attitude really impressed me. He had lost one of his best friend’s a year ago in a bicycling accident. Michael got a “no tomorrow” tattoo on his arm and is living life to its fullest, staying positive, and seizing the day. I hope you get a chance to meet him when he moves to Europe next year to explore, live the best days of his life, and smile.

Movember? Throughout the month of November, men in Australia get sponsored by their friends, family, or co-workers to grow a mustache. All the money they raise helps fund research for men’s health (prostate cancer, etc.). Sounds like a sexy party! After sporting a mustache for nearly 5 years, I must say I was disheartened by the untimeliness of this party.

Imagine a party with hundreds of mustachioed men dressed like the Village People. I’ll let the pictures do the rest:

Sleeziest looking pool guy

Joyce and John with makeshift mustache 

Michael and Beau

I met some nice people at the party, including Michael’s friends Beau, Daniel, and Tom as well as Joyce and Lisa. Afterwards, we went to an exclusive bar and Michael couldn’t believe they let us in. Him and Beau were dressed as professional Polish ping-pong players mind you.

Michael and Beau in chic bar drinking mojitos

Next stop, a night club to dance the night away with more friends... I stepped outside after 3:30 am to say goodbye to someone, standing right next to the door. Little did I know that after 3:30 it’s lock out in Queensland which means you can’t get back into bars or clubs once you leave. Rats!

If you ever take a drive from Brisby to the Gold Coast, or vice versa, be sure to stop at Yatala Pie Shop for the best mince pies ever, especially after a long night of partying.

Yatala Pie Shop, check out the line to the left

Saturday night, Michael and Tom’s friend Sam was celebrating her 23rd birthday up in Surfer’s Paradise. Nice, another fun house party with lots of nice people, glow sticks, goofy hats, and dancing. I was really happy to have met Sam’s roommate Sara and hope to have her come to France the next time we need a face painter for a street painting festival! Thanks for the great party Sam!

One more day in Australia, enough time to laze around, watch Super Troopers, eat party leftovers, and hang out at the beach with Joyce.

An enormous thanks to Adam and roommates for hosting me at the beginning of my stay and to Michael and Tom for the last two days (even though we never technically slept at your place:-)! That’s another 4 bednets and 4 more lives protected from malaria.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in Europe soon!!!

Next stop: Auckland, New Zealand!

46th Stop: West Pymble and Cottage Point

Art hosted me on Sunday night after our trip to the beach, and we enjoyed an excellent dinner in the company of a few other CSers. One of them, a Frenchman named Julien, showed us by accident a wicked finger trick. You’ve got to see the photo to believe it. Amazing!

A couple days of Wordfast training the following week (I’ll spare you the details, but it did go well. Thanks to NAATI and Gary H. for letting us use their rooms for the training!) and then I would meet up with Nicki, an Australian I had met in Nice. Before I say anymore, I want to tell you about Nicki’s mission.

Nicki will be swimming 2.5 km to help fund breast cancer research. She recently lost her mother to this disease and is doing what she can to help make a difference. If you want to help her reach her goal, you can make a donation on this site: https://www.cantoo.org.au/

Cottage Point

View from West Head

Nicki picked me up at the train station and we went to her dad Ian’s place at Cottage Point. I must be lucky because she is currently subletting her place and her dad’s is out of sight. Imagine a beautiful home on a river estuary in the middle of a national park with a handful of homes around it.

We went out for dinner that night and Nicki told me more about her fund-raising project and work. In the morning, Ian and I went kayaking on the river and saw some beautiful jellyfish and aboriginal stone carvings.

Kayaking

It was great catching up with you Nicki and meeting your father. Thanks so much for hosting me and showing me some of the most beautiful places I have seen so far in Australia! Thanks again Art for the great camping trip and hosting me in West Pymble!

John and Nicki at Cottage Point

Next stop: the Gold Coast, Australia!

45th Stop - Sydney and Newcastle

Ken and Matt

I left Adam and Fran’s place after surfing one more morning and changed hosts. My new host, Matt, lives in Surrey Hills just outside of the downtown area. We met and almost immediately left to go on a walkabout of the city.

Every week, while the girlfriends and wives play trivia, Matt, his brother, and friends use the pretext of a man’s club to go walk around the city, try a couple of different pubs, and enjoy a meal in a new restaurant. Tonight, it would be just Matt, his brother Ken, and me. Thanks guys for the great tour of the city and excellent dinner!

Sydney by night

On Wednesday, I met up with Alexandr from Russia, a couchsurfer who was going to host me but the dates didn’t quite work out. So we went for lunch instead. Alexandr had just returned from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro and really appreciated the mission I was on to raise money and awareness for malaria, so much so that he went ahead and made a $100 donation. Thanks Alexandr for your donation and the inspiration; I look forward to seeing you again soon!

Bondi Beach

Surfing at Bondi Beach the next morning. It seems that the boards I was getting were progressively smaller and getting up was getting progressively harder! No worries though, practice makes perfect! Later that night, Matt’s roommates introduced me to a TV series called Trailer Park Boys which I would recommend.

I had been in touch with Art, another couchsurfer and American living in Australia for the past 20 years, while I was in Japan. Art was organizing a camping trip over the weekend and he invited me to come along. On Friday, we all met up and set off for the sand dunes at Stockton Beach just outside of Newcastle.

Art letting air out of tires before hitting the dunes

Wow, what a trip! About 20 people from all over the world, five 4x4’s, bonfires, guitars, surfboards, tents on the beach, tacos, eggs and bacon breakfast, beverages, and a lot of good laughs! A big thanks to Art for the excellent organization, Michael for bringing lots of gear, the Newcastle CS crew for the logistic support, David for letting me use one of his boards, Amanda for the girl scout-esque mint cookies, Julien for showing us his wicked hands, and all the people who made this such a memorable experience.

Lazy mornings around a burnt out campfire

Anyone want an egg and bacon muffin?

Julien's wicked hands

Next stop: West Pymble, Sydney, and Cottage Point!

44th Stop - Sydney, Australia

Have you ever had one of those dreams that make you do things unwittingly? I did, on the flight from Japan to Australia. At one point, I reached out to grab my neighbor’s hand. I was in a daze but I think he pulled away his hand. He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the flight. I think I made him feel uncomfortable.

I was originally supposed to stopover on the Gold Coast, but the pilot had a problem so they put everyone on the flight to Cairns. I had never heard of this place before, but it seems quite nice: great barrier reef, tropical rain forest, salt water crocodiles, and tiny jellyfish that sting like a bee with rabies. Nice, except for the jellyfish and crocs.

I arrived in Sydney and left almost immediately for Manly, a quiet beach town a short ferry ride across the bay. I met up with Adam and Fran, my hosts, and we got ready to go for a swim at the beach.

Sydney Opera House

Adam grew up in Tasmania and Fran in Detroit and they met up through the magic of couchsurfing! Adam is now a successful headhunter in Sydney with a couple of on-line ventures while Fran recently left the retail merchandising business to move to Australia. Interestingly, Fran lived in Chicago and after we became Facebook friends, I soon realized that she’s friends with people who are friends with one of mine, Molly E., from Minnesota. The world is contracting people.

We went for a nice swim that afternoon, then back to Adam and Fran’s for a BBQ and beers before Will's wife’s birthday party that evening. We were enjoying our drinks on the terrace when Fran scared the wits out of me by telling me to keep an eye out for the deadly red-backed spider that could kill me. Apparently, there are quite a few around the house.

Time to celebrate at the hippest club on the beach, the Shore Club! When we got there, Adam and Fran went up to the private function and I stayed downstairs for a while. I got my first drink, but my credit card was refused. The man in line behind me blurted out, “Don’t worry about, I’ll get his drink. I’m really impatient.”
“Are you sure?” said the bartender and me simultaneously.
“Yeah, no worries mate.”

Manly 'n' Me

I thanked him and we started up a conversation that continued for a good hour or so. Ian was from London and in the debt collection family business ever since he was a wee lad. By debt collection, I think he meant loan sharking because it didn’t sound pretty some of the things he had done. In fact, he was looking for ways to atone for what he had done in the past. Now, he was working as an account manager for a major IT firm and was very successful. But that didn’t seem to make him all that happy. I told him about my work and what I’ve been doing in my community with JCI for the past few years and he was inspired. So inspired, he insisted on buying me drinks all night. Thanks Ian, I enjoyed our conversation and hope you find what you’re looking for.

Ian introduced me to an oilman from Northern Ireland and after chatting a while, he too wanted to buy me a drink. Were it not for the conversations and vague hints at Ian and this other guy's interest in women, I would have thought I was getting hit on by men all night!

I eventually went upstairs to the private party, met some of Adam and Fran’s friends and ate some pizza. Then we all went down to dance the night away.

We kicked it on a smaller beach in a cove on Sunday before heading to the Newtown music festival in the afternoon. Then I made a poulet aux morilles (sans morilles) for dinner.

Adam

Newtown Festival

Fran

Random Japanese who looked really cool

Finally, Monday and surf lessons! The weather wasn’t so nice but all the better. There were only 3 of us with the instructor. The waves were perfect for learning too. Needless to say, we were all getting up on the board after just a few attempts and surfing! What a thrill, feeling the power of the waves through your entire body.

Thanks again Adam and Fran for hosting me in Manly. I had a great time with you and look forward to seeing you both again soon!

You always get more with crazy John's tongue

Next stop: Sydney (this time for sure) and Stockton Beach, Newcastle!

43rd Stop - Hirakatashi, Japan

Before leaving Osaka, I had to run a Wordfast Classic training. I want to thank Haruko Masuda from JCI Osaka for helping me find a venue I could use to run the training; it was perfect! Haruko is a traditional Japanese tie-dyed professional artist. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see her work, though I did get some photos from Jacob who did!

Haruko preparing the fabric

Ironing the fabric

Washer and dryer instructions (I think, but am probably wrong)

Another friend of mine from high school and fellow soccer teammate, Mark Swanson, was also living in Japan, just outside of Osaka. I couldn’t pass up the chance to go see him now could I?

The last time I had seen Mark, he had recently returned from teaching English in Japan for a few years and was going to do a master’s degree in education. Once he completed that, he made his way back to Osaka and landed a sweet job at the Kansai Geidai University.

Lots of energy in Mark's class

Kansai Geidai Uni rocks!

It was nice catching up with Mark over the next few evening and hearing all about his experiences in Japan. During the day, I got to play mystery guest in Mark’s classes and give his students an opportunity to ask questions about who I was and what I was doing in Japan.

One more day of training in Osaka on Thursday. A word to the wise, even if you have a really good sense of orientation (like me ;-), you’re going to get lost in Japan. No road signs and everything in kanji makes things a little confusing. I must have gone into 4 buildings, showed people the address I was looking for and no one had any idea where the place was. If you drew lines connecting all of these buildings, the place I was looking for was right at the intersection of these lines. I guess I’m not the only one who has a hard time navigating in the land of the rising sun.

Mark and me

Thanks again Mark for hosting me few nights. It was great seeing you and catching up and I wish you the best of luck for your job and life in Japan! Thanks again to Haruko and hope to see you again soon!

Next stop: Sydney, Australia!

42nd Stop - Osaka, Japan

Finally! I’d been impatiently looking forward to being in Osaka for about a year, ever since attending my first JCI World Congress in Tunisia. A great occasion to meet up with old and new friends from around the world. I’d be seeing people I met during the previous 5 months in Madagascar, South Africa, Morocco, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, India, and Germany... plus my good friend Jacob from Nice and Deni from Albania.

It’s hard to describe the magic of a World Congress while keeping it short and simple (sorry, trying to make these blogs less detailed). Imagine 10,000 young active citizens from around the world, an entire city with banners hanging from lamp posts to welcome you, the Dalai Lama and Prince of Japan meeting with members of your association, a privatized Universal Studios with no lines, great food and parties in sports stadiums, inspiring speakers, fascinating professional and personal development trainings... oh and a wee bit of sight-seeing.

I think the pictures speak for themselves:

Pre-conference sight-seeing with Jacob

Asia-Pacific Party with Jai from JCI India

Asia-Pacific Party with pretty Jaycees

JCI Morning Show with Alisa from JCI Newport Beach

Trade show with Maude from JCI Menton and Denisa

Osaka: thanks for the great weather!

Universal Studios with Jacob and Denisa

Japan Night at the Kyocera Dome

Karate kid

Osaka Castle

National President JCI France Nicolas Lefévère with Denisa and me

Kickin' it in the outfield

JCI Pays Niçois and special guests

JCI World President Rolan Kwemain with innocent bystanders

A big thanks to my local association, JCI Pays Niçois, for sponsoring my participation, along with Thea and Jacob, to promote the JCI Challenge next year. The dates have changed so make sure to check your calendars! The new dates are May 30 and 31.

I also want to thank the French delegation and in particular Kevin and Sonja for all the logistical planning before and during the congress. And congratulations to Nicolas Lefévère, JCI France’s 2010 National President for being named national president of the year by JCI World President Roland Kwemain. Finally, thanks to Jacob and Deni for making this time in Osaka so memorable.

Congratulations JCI Osaka and JCI Japan for hosting such a good congress.

Impatient once again to see you all again in Brussels for next year’s world congress!

Next stop: Hirakatashi, Japan!

41st Stop - Denver, Colorado, USA

Wordfast Sno Cones

Where am I? What time is it? It’s not easy traveling through 16 time zones in less than a week and crossing an international dateline somewhere in between... The hardest part was the 4-hour delay in Seattle. It turned a 36-hour trip into 40 hours! First things first, find the hotel and go to bed.

I have to thank Wordfast tech support guru David, my roommate from the Czech Republic, for inspiring me to get out of bed and go to the hotel gym in the morning. Nothing like a workout, swim, and rooftop hot tub in the chilly Denver morning air to kickstart your day.

David catching up on the latest news

Thursday and Friday I helped man the Wordfast booth at the ATA Conference trade show. Wordfast definitely has the coolest giveaways at these things: winter hats and icy blue sno-cones! We met up with Jamie, another Wordfast trainer, his wife and others from her company, German Language Services, for dinner that evening at the Wynkoop, a great brewery/eatery for unique beers the next time you’re in Denver.

Interestingly, Virginia from Spain was in Denver for a company meeting at the same time so she popped in and joined us for a couple drinks! Great to see you again Virginia!

Friday night, Wordfast hosted a party at the Rock Bottom Brewery for conference attendees. It doesn’t take much more than free drinks and food to convince more than 100 people to show up. During the evening, we collected donations for bednets and managed to raise $125. Thanks to everyone who helped buy bednets and thanks to Wordfast for matching that amount. That’s 25 bednets and more than 25 families protected from malaria over the next 5 years.

Wordfast is always full of surprises

The trade show ended on Saturday afternoon, but I left too hastily because I forgot my computer charger! I went back to get it but someone had given it to the electrician. This person didn’t have it and no one was much help so I had to go out and buy a new charger. The drawback of having a Mac is that not many stores carry products for it. I had to go out to a suburban shopping mall to the Mac store, pick up an $85 charger and get back to town before the buses stopped :-(

Two smart cookies

I got back late but met up with two Fulbright scholars from Russia and the Ukraine, Ekaterina and Victoria, for dinner. Nice meeting both of you and good luck with your studies!

Explaining the in's and out's of Wordfast 

Sno Kones as snowballs melt in your hands, not in your mouth

Jamie and John cracking Wordfast

You too can be a part of the Wordfast gang

Wordfast party time!

I want to thank Wordfast and Kristyna for inviting me to attend this conference, for helping to raise funds during the party, and for the good times! I also want to thank David, my roommate for buying 5 nets and for the morning workout motivation! Thanks to all of you and see you soon I hope!

Next stop: Osaka, Japan!