Just Mel

Weekend in Graz

Considering the fact that I am leaving to Mauritius in less than a week and money was running low as the month comes to an end, I changed my original plan for the weekend and stayed in Graz, rather than Prague. It would be the first weekend for the past six weeks. After all, the town was quite happening and the IASTE Graz Summer guys hosted a weekend stay in our lovely town and trainees like me from other places were invited.

Lazily finished my work on Friday evening, I went to Asia to get some food and took a break prior to meeting the guys. We were going to have an evening picnic at the Stadtpark. Another reason to be there, was that the opening of La Strada, International Festival for Street and Figure Theatre.

La Strada's promotion cabin

Rogue Theatre on the move

Running away from me... No...

No... I am not gonna give you my kiddo... Keke...

Got my violin back, yeah~~

Arriving at the park, I could already saw the full cart of drinks, with 95% of them being alcohol *Weee~~ Don’t you just like alcohol~~*. While insisting my one-month-alcohol-free-policy, I decided to let my liver go on holidays and only had water during the event. The night was quite relaxing and full of excitements. Walking from one stage to another, one performance after another, the clowns, the nun, the producers, the hookers, ballerina, love petals, sailors… On another side, the audiences was sitting on a rug, a blanket, chatting and mingling around, munching some food, having some drinks, watching, cheering and clapping for the hilarious geeks. Also, kids running from one side to another, squeezing their way through the crowd to get a better view. The way how everything blended together, the constant interactions between the audiences and street artists were cool. Although most of the time I knew not a single word, I was laughing throughout the night. *Sometimes, you don’t need to understand to feel it, I guess this is one of those times*. After the ending of our warm out of the night, it was time to Philip place, he was having an end of study party.

Pushing the cart of alcohols and snacks passed the garden, along the main street, we reached Philip’s apartment. Boy! Great to know that more than 70 people packed in the puny apartment, just like the sardine in can. I could hardly move around and squeeze was the way out. Needing some clean fresh air badly, I moved to the balcony at the second floor, only to find it jam-packed. Luckily when I got back to the ground floor, there were some spaces. Soon when everyone got tipsy and the night came later, Philip gathered everyone. As it was the courtyard was quite small, some of us climbed up the wall and sat on the roof, waiting for the performance. He thanked everyone for coming, being such a great guests and ya da ya da ya da ya da… here comes to highlight of the night, splitting fire. FoooooOOoooO~~ FooOOooOOooooo~~ once, twice, third and forth time… he spitted the fire with the diesel in his mouth. *Boy… I am glad I did not need to do that…* then, more drinking more drinking…. *Yeah… my no-alcohol-for-one-month plan was screwed and I bottomed up two bottles, I think…* Feeling so sleepy, I got out of the apartment and walked back. Thinking that few hours later the will be a breakfast at the Schlossberg, shit! I was so tired…

Ti… Ti… Ti… Titi… Titi... Titititititititititititititi... Bang!!!!! I smashed my alarm... and I think I went back to sleep... When I finally gather some will to wake up it was already 2pm in the afternoon… Alright I miss the breakfast, but I ain’t gonna miss the lunch. *Eeeeyew…. My hair was still on wax and I smell like wine… I forgot to shower…* Quickly, I washed myself and headed for lunch. That afternoon was pretty much just wondering around the city, window shopping and a lazy visit to Asia, until I met Christian. We would be going to Johannes place to pick up some food and drinks up Reinerkogel. There, we would have a bonfire and barbie. The night was great till the rain came, and I was only wearing a T-shirt and short pant. Great! When I was feeling shit, Johannes the savior handed me a poncho. I really hate the feeling of being half wet. It is either you rain the hell and make me wet inside out or you don’t rain… Damn! While idling in the poncho, I turned to my watch… the last tram just left… At this point of time, I really didn’t feel like walking home. Soon, we decided to go to Johannes’s place for the night. Some people stayed and some people left, while for me, I stayed.

Parts of my cloth were still wet when we reached. I was feeling cold and a cup of hot tea and some instant noodle was great to keep me warm… *It has been long since I had instant noodle… I really hated them and it bring back bad memories* Other than the board games, it was great to chat with Micky about photography, it was quite an interesting conversation and I learnt some stuff. *I guess I got it right… and he is a guy… Mickey Mouse??*. It was a long conversation, and we only noticed when everyone was already out at the garden for more than an hour. We swiftly wrapped up the conversation and joined the rest. One thing I have to point out. I really like this house, very comfortable, very homy, very tribal, very intimate, relax, beautiful… On top of that, a great garden. This is one of the nicest houses I have been so far. If I have to criticize, it will only be the height of the ceiling… I need high ceiling…

Bee + flowers at Johannes's garden

More bee + flower

Same thing, no shower before I sleep again! It has been a while since then… By the time I reached home, I rushed to the bathroom for a nice shower. When I came out, there was a miss call from mum, and ya… yc was back in Malaysia… It has been a while since I called mum, I swiftly dialed the number. The first thing mum said was, “I cooked many special dishes today and we just finished…” Great…. Listening to my groaning stomach…. I complained “Why didn’t you cook the last time I went back…. ” However, it has been great to hear mum and dad sounded fantastic on the phone, oh yeah, Penny aunty as well… love you guys~~.

I have been propeller for many times, but I had never been their outdoor area before. Thanks to the rain and the cold weather before… This place was great, very relaxing… Especially after few nights of drinking, this is somewhere you would want to be… Promptly finished my brunch, I moved to the hammock and the sand bags, lie down and had a nap, with my hat on my face, covering my eyes, away from the sun, listening to the live music, singing to the lyrics, some old songs… this is an absolute place for a lazy afternoon… the buffet brunch wasn’t expensive and you can stay from 10am till 2 pm… What a bargain. After the lunch, we started a series of museum hopping and ended with La Strada events across the town and of course, more drinking for me...