The rest of 2005

Another contract completed, another holiday deserved

Seoul - Korea 3 1/2 weeks (October)........look..SNOW!!!!!!!!

As you can see....LOTS of fun! Went to two theme parks, saw 'Odyssey' almost every night, ate good food, won a bowling game but then got slashed in the 2nd, had a bit of a history lesson by visiting the demiliterised zone between the north and the south, shopped till wee hours of the morning (3am) and celebrated Alonso winning F1!


Home for my brother's birthday and catching up with friends and family. A month that went far too quickly but.....'the show must go on' ......so off again to Singapore and England for Christmas. Not bad for only having 7 days to buy and decorate the christmas tree and all the lovely pressies under it.

2005

Had enough of the sound of Music...


New years in England, accompanied by loved ones. Then a few days into the new year.....Barcelona here i come!
What can i say? Lovely weather, lovely place, lovely food....loved it. Good shopping, good sites to look at and good streets to walk down.

then...


Februray 14th: Got on a flight from England to Atlanta, Atlanta to Nashville Tennassee! Country capitol, here I come!
Rehearsed for a month then flew to Fort Lauderdale where I embarked on my first ship....Celebrity Infinity!
Best contract I've done: great shows, great cast, great ship and great intinerary.
Places I visited:
Hawaii - Kailua Kona, Nawiliwili, Honolulu, Lahaina, Hilo
Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Acapulco, Huatulco, Punterenas (Costa Rica), Panama City, Jamaica, George Town (Grand Cayman), Aruba,
Canada - Victoria, Vancouver, Grays Harbour
Alaska - Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Point
Astoria, Oregon and of course, good times in San Fran!

Swam with stingrays, went zip-lining, whale-watching, relaxed on beachs/resorts, cheap drinks...hard life?

When you Read you begin with 'A B C'

Well yeah i guess the english are best to teach how to read, but that's not why i was there. Realising i'd done nothing except holiday, I finally did something useful with myself, making myself feel less guilty. Being asked to Assistant Choreograph a small contract, i accepted the job and it went very well. The contract didn't last as long as it should have but the experience of being involved in pre-production was nothing but exciting and rewarding.

Then in October 2004, rehearsals for Thursford started. Beginning in London then moving to Norfolk. My contract was spent avoiding the flu, knitting and drinking lots of tea with my 6 housemates. Sad but true, we'd spend nights after the show knitting away, trying to finish them off before Christmas rather than hanging out with the cast. (but bear in mind the only place to 'hang' was the pub)

Another successful contract was finished with a full house every show. Living with so many people was a first and working so closely together was unexpectedly fun. The main venue for parties were held at the band boys' house which was conveniently 2 doors down. No designated driver needed! Our main shopping destination was Norwich Shopping centre (apparently voted 3rd best for Christmas in England) and I'll never forget the popular town of Holt, the best place for breakfast.

Finishing on the 23rd Dec, I stayed in England and had my first winter Christmas, I felt like i was a kid again. The atomosphere was so much better than in Australia. Every1 wrapped up warm around the fire, a big feast and the best pudding in the world. As usual, every passes out by the arvo from overeating b4 going for more wine as the night goes on...

A very good place to start...

After 2 contracts back to back with minimal holidays, I decided to treat myself...
Starting in Singapore and Bangkok. Did lots of shopping, eating and the usual touristy stuff like seeing temples. Man! I wish I had this much Gold...



Finally arriving at the desired destination of England...managed to squeeze a little holiday to Paris b4 getting down to business...



(Sorry to all those arty farty people but i don't see what's so amazing about the Mona Lisa)

Let's start at the very Beginning...

This trip back home has been an emotional roller coaster more than anything else. Spent a lot of time with friends and family and am sad to be off again in just over a week. Have realised I've kind of been a bit 'out of contact' in the past 3 years and so have decided to set up this blog page and keep in touch more.
Rather than writing the same email over and over again, as I'm crap with group emails anyway (and so end up writing more individual ones than necessary) I've set up this blog so that hopefully, on those rare occasions where 'Lena' pops into mind, you'll instantly open this page and see where, what, why, who and how I'm going.

But b4, I start with now, let us go back in time and start with.....

The ending of Storm...

For those of you in Sydney who knew about my desire to travel...my initial reason for the transition to the Beautiful Gold Coast had finished after a year. 'Rhythm Of the Night' was a great experience and the cast taught me a lot about the 'real world'. But, because I loved it so much and could see no reason to leave, I re-auditioned for the next show and was accepted into 'Storm'

As the picture shows, closing night of 'Storm' was on 29th May 2004 celebrating a successful season and not knowing at the time, but a farewell to Australia

First Timer

So have set up a blog now FINALLY, after leaving home for 3 1/2 years. Sorry it's taken this long. I'm sloooooow!