Poscht ausm Wilden Weschtn

I'm thrilled to announce that my trip to Algeria (something that seemed nothing but a crazy idea a few months ago) is not only becoming reality, but is already in its final planning stages and about to start very soon. Since the tickets are already paid, the visa is finally issued, and my backpack's in the corner ready to be stuffed, i think that my mother (who was convinced from the beginning that I would get hijacked) really has to be worried now. For those of you who don't know where Algeria is, you can find out on the little map below. It is located in Central Northern Africa, sandwiched between Morocco and Tunisia, and although it is actually the 2nd biggest country in Africa (and N° 11 in the world!), not too many people know a lot about it. This is, in part, due to political and social difficulties the country had to go through ever since it seperated from its former colonial emperor France in 1962, making it unattractive to the average tourist (for the adventurous,

I had many reasons to celebrate my 33rd birthday on July 1, 2009 - the most obvious was the anniversary itself (especially since i hadn't done anything on my 30th), but another reason was the completion of the Bikram Yoga 30-day challenge the day before. So I decided to throw a party under the "33 years, 30 hot days" moniker. As it turned out, exactly 30 people showed up - so looking back, the party should have been labelled "33 years, 30 hot days, and 30 cool people"! Thanks again to everybody who came to celebrate, or wanted to come but couldn't make it. There were a few more reasons to celebrate this year. One of them is a new job contract which I signed the day after my birthday - I will start working as a freelance physiotherapist in a nice practice in the 9th disctrict, close to Votivkirche. A friend of mine, who embarks on his Master Studies to Adelaide/Australia very soon, suggested me as his replacement, and this came as the right opportunity at ju