2010 is done.

I invited you into my world around this time last year, when I was heartbroken but not downtrodden, about to embark on (yet another) adventure of a lifetime. So, how did it go?

Shopping in Dubai.

2010 has been a year of two halves. It began with me at my brightest and shiniest, clutching my passport, capsule wardrobe organised, as I stepped out into the south east asian yonder. I was living my dream, no borders, no routine, no major budgetary restraints, a pack full of fab yet practical outfits, sunshine, sand, food, drinks, shopping, and boys! I never wanted it to end.

But it did. I skidded, scowling back into the UK on 1 April, yes April Fool’s Day, I think this should have been a sign, no biggie, I had a plan. Before my return, I had already begun applying for all kinds of far flung jobs that I thought would satisfy my desire to be anything but ordinary, Emirates and Celebrity Cruises among my hoped for employers. Back in Birmingham, I waited by the phone, checked my email, repeatedly, attempted to believe one of these jobs was mine. Despite my best efforts, it wasn’t to be. 

Sunset on Ko Lipe.

By now I could already feel the sun setting on my “life” as my trip became a bunch of photos, some fairly distributed gifts and a set of entertaining pub stories. I clung to every lunch, dinner, drinks date as if my life depended on it, something had to be done.

Statue at the MoD in Bs As.

“If the work won’t come to me, I’ll go to it!” I proclaimed as I returned to yet another city of my broken dreams, Madrid. My heart said no but my sensible, grown up mind, said a job in Spain is better than no job in Birmingham. Only I continued to fail to secure gainful employment and as my bank account dwindled, I began to panic.

Drinking mate in Bs As.

Slipping into total darkness was not an option, there had to be some shiny to be had somewhere! I know, I’ll do what I always do, which is, to do one. Where? WHERE?! South America, the plan was hatched, my bags were packed, the Universe worked it’s magic. I’m saved! I thought as I grabbed my passport and boarded the dilapidated TAM Boeing 777. All the same, I didn’t feel shiny on the inside, “it’ll come”, I told my self, "once I’m settled in and organised". Only it never did, so I came back.

So here I am, XX years old, unemployed, single and living with my parents. On the plus side, I have my family and friends nearby and my many boxes of crap at my disposal. I can’t think of a better place to scrub, buffer and polish myself to restore my shine ready to tackle a whole new year.

Merry Christmas one and all, may your dreams come true in 2011.

Been there, done that.

When I left for Buenos Aires, I didn’t know what to expect, I wasn’t chasing some (South) American dream. Like everywhere else I have been I wanted to see what it was like and it seemed as good an idea as any.

As I already had the job sorted, I left 2 weeks before my start date to give myself time to get a feel for the place and find somewhere to live. I had been told I would arrive just as spring had sprung, the best time to be in Bs As. When I got there, it was minus too much, blowing a gale and raining. It continued to do so as I walked the pot-holed streets, dodged the traffic, tried to find charm in riding the antiquated, fire hazard subway was complemented on my Spanish accent, saw some tango, visited some sights and found that all I would ever be able to eat was pizza.

Work began as a breeze, I was the golden girl. I seduced the students with the smile, the laugh, the songs the jokes, they couldn’t get enough and neither could I. By now I had moved to an apartment in the ritzy barrio of Recoleta. I had landed on my feet, no? No. In fact, it was the beginning of the end. From then on I was beset by a series of dirty, dishonest, disorganised, disrespectful, depressing events and behaviours.

Before each trip my family and friends wax lyrical of my courage, confidence and strength to set off all alone to a place where I know no one and nothing. Here’s the thing, there you are all alone, you have to make every decision on your own, fight every battle on your own.Thus one Saturday morning , after two months of battling, struggling, scams and disappointments, I was spent, I had no fight left. So just like that, I used the little energy and funding I had left to get on a plane and came back. 

Despite the trauma it wasn’t all bad in Bs As, I met some lovely people among them, a student daring to follow her dream of romance across the globe, work mates who reminded me to keep smiling, and a Colombian chef who made sure I ate properly and gave me a shoulder to lean on when I was too drunk to stand! and the anchovy pizza at Pizza Guerrin, will always be my favourite along with the gallon or so of malbec I drank with it.

One day I might like to return to Argentina to do a wine tour of Mendoza and pretend like I’m good in the cold whilst oohing and aahing at the ice fields and glaciers of Tierra del Fuego, but not anytime soon.

Thanks to Alice, Luke, Julia, Flor, Jose, Fiorella, Angie, Bruno, Mariangeles, Pedro and not forgetting... Mario.