No English? No sound at all? No Problem!

Another long day in the saddle. Let me think... gotta be at least 6 hours. Got half as much tips as the day before - only $5 from an Arab/Israelian couple whose wife half had never ridden and by the end of my ride, was keen as mustard for the water. He was so earnest when he gave me the money, too, I actually double-checked my pocket when I later took out the fiver. Really? That's all your wife's enjoyment is worth?

Haha... ahh, I make myself laugh sometimes. I was speaking with these guys about marriage and proposals and all that... I asked how he did it. "Well, it wasn't really one of those kind of situations... uhh, I guess we were just introduced and said, yeah he seems nice." Wow. What a way to live a life!! Nice enuf people, just have NO desire to ever have that happen to me! My husband is going to be head over heels, beyond comparatively, sublimely happy with me. Or so I will be told.

I had a difficult situation today. Two of my guests were deaf, and therefore I had to make sure I was always in their sight when we stopped to ensure they could read my lips. I spoke slowly and deliberately to make sure they understood my little quips (of which there were many, of course, I am hilarious). One of the girls was quite scared, but then I had a little boy to keep up front, and a lady "who had ridden much before" fighting to pull back her horse at the end. It wasn't the easiest ride I'd had. They tipped me at the end, and prompted the other family of 3 to grope at their pockets in embarrassment and tell me they'd "almost forgotten to give me this". Bah! Yeah right.

It was busy today. One of those days that never seemed to end. I was on a two-hour ride that ended at 4pm and I assumed that would be my last. Oh no, when I got back I had 21 guests waiting to find hats, be divided into groups and put on horses. Phew! All guides were on board for this one, no one spared.

I lucked out with a group of non-English speaking Germans - seriously, when do you EVER come across a group of Germans who can't speak English??? - so I had to get everything translated from the one woman who seemed to be their tour guide. One woman rode in bare feet, fisherman pants, a Bob Marley t-shirt and a rasta beanie in her hand. Why she didn't have rastas was beyond me. Wonder what she thought of me.

Wasn't expecting a tip, and didn't get anything until I clocked off and R gave me an envelope with a modest sum. Well, that was nice, and better than nothing! Sometimes they walk away and never get to say goodbye, other times we are hurried back up to sort the horses out or go on another ride, so if we're lucky we have envelopes of tips waiting for us at the end.

I didn't hang around much after work - the internet didn't work (lucky my boy isn't online for another 9 nine days so he's not missing my intermittent stops online) so I packed up and walked back home with Polly the dog (she's still following me) and guide R. I wonder what will happen with that dog when the bosses come back. Today she apparently chased some horses, but I think that was alright since the horses were in the wrong place. But we'll see... if I have to tie her up again tomorrow, maybe I'll think again about letting her come every day. Bless her, she even followed me to the supermarket last night. Although when I got there I don't know where she went, just turned up later at home. She is random.

At home, I was surrounded by animals. The cat was splaying itself out on the table to get a free rub, the dog sat by my feet, the boss' other dogs barked in their enclosure above me... I felt the right old crazy cat woman. One day.... one day.

L texted me to come see his new puppies - just 2 days old!! - so he came to get me and walk me to his place in the ghetto. Now I thought I lived in the ghetto, nah uh. He is in the ghet-to. I was feeling mighty secure playing Single White Female up in there, with dogs roaming about all looking related in some way (because they are), a random group of men playing dominos, some Spanish-speaking women drunk and consoling a crying friend from a party across the way... So much to take in, then there always is in the ghetto.

L's place was cool, you could really tell he'd lived there his whole life. I looked around his room, at his paintings on the wall, the books piled high and gathering dust on the bookshelf in the corner, the startling contrast of a new Playstation in the other corner, a comfy couch you could just sink into eternity on, a stick of incense stuck horizontally into a hole in the wood by the door, the pictures of his son by his bed... Made me think of how long it'd been since I'd had such a long-term dwelling in a room. Some place to call home. Really, home.

We just chilled for a bit, listening to Aretha Franklin, smoking a joint and drinking a beer. Almost fell asleep I was so tired from work! Thought I'd maybe have postponed it for the following night when I was off, then I thought it was better I had a legit excuse to leave early. I do like L but I don't trust him completely. He knows FULL WELL how much I love A, I talk about him non-stop it would be stupid to think anything else. I just know that, given the right circumstances, he would not stop me from doing something I might regret with him. He is male, after all. Ha!

No one likes the fact I am hanging out with him - not the guys from work, not A - maybe I should listen to them. But as if, I'm too stubborn! I can handle myself. I just have to keep it all at arm's length. And never stop thinking about my baby, waiting for me so patiently on the other side of the world.

Vienna w/e pt 3: embassy maze in thirsty haze

Unfortunately I forgot to turn my alarm off for this morning so I was greeted, at 6:10am, by the familiar shrill of my phone and stumbled across to find it in my jacket. That was after my first stumble to get some water - drunk before bed means PARCHED early morning - and then afterwards hearing F press snooze on her alarm for about an hour. So the morning was not so restful.

We had to get up at a reasonable hour so F could get her train back to Hoftgarten (the other side of the country) so we fumbled about laughing at ourselves for getting so randomly wasted the night before, and eventually got out the door not too long after we'd promised ourselves. Had a goodbye hug that lingered a little too long from I and, after F told me he'd been staring at me sleep in the morning - I started to wonder just what we'd spoken about the night before...

I had all the signs of a post-drinking body - minus the pounding head, thank god - and hence spent the day wandering in semi-stupor, parched no matter how much I drank, and fighting to keep my stomach behaving itself. This did not help my mission to find the Brazilian Embassy to pick up my passport.

I have already been to the embassy so I thought I'd remember how to get there, but with a stubborn refusal to catch the U-Bahn (metro) because I could sneak onto the tram without paying, I sent myself in spirals around the city, increasingly frustrated that I was following a series of dead ends. What I really needed was Google Maps.

Eventually, I asked a man (who I assume was deaf from his voice and requests to write down what I was asking) for directions and, bless him, he whipped out his phone and found that where I wanted to go was just 5 mins down the road. Hallelejuah! It had almost gotten to the point where I was crumbling from the stress of maybe missing the embassy opening hours and therefore trapping my passport inside forever.

But all was not lost - I strolled into the embassy and Edwardo was there, smiling and holding out my passport as soon as I walked in. My little Edwardo. Then, having also found Lush to buy some more shampoo soap (my hair STINKS of camel and I embarrassingly didn't realise it was so bad until the very public dance class - feel so sorry for the people next to me), I headed back to Westbahnof to get a train home.

Back home, I met a weary-looking L who told me tales of the camel-riding adventures they'd had over the w.e. While I'm sad to have missed THAT, I would surely have traded a sleep-in if given the option. Apparently she fell off Mustafa when he started to canter - that would've been funny to see, although I don't envy her poor bruised body. Maybe all is not lost and it'll be my turn next time. Eek.

So. One week and I am OUTTA here. It will be kinda sad to leave but I think when the time comes, I'll be ready. Already organising trips to Copacabana beach with my new CS friend that I'm staying with, and I gotta tell ya, just imagining the hot sun on my back makes my skin tingle.