here's my head on a plate

hello there.

so mostar is hot. very very hot. yesterday was upwards of 38c, today not so hot but still in the 30s, i've actually been walking around topless most of the time, with my pale pale white as paper skin on show. that is up to my neck however, which is not a deep sort of purple colour. ouch. maybe finally, after years of being the whitest man alive, my time to tan is here. if i come out of this with a tan and a beard, it will be considered a total success. my plan to start jogging hasnt really come into fruition yet either, i blame the heat.

yesterday was really nice. the legendary mark hammill, my favourite lecturer in the history of university, decided thanks to my constant ramblings to bring his family on a holiday to bosnia for a few days, and yesterday they spent an afternoon in mostar. it was only brief, but it was very enjoyable. marks family were a delight, far more interested in culture and the area than i would ever expect kids to be. we climbed the minaret, watched a guy jump off of the bridge (it gets old pretty quickly. the novelty of watching a man jump off a bridge wears off) and then sat for a drink in the old town and a general chit chat. its through people like mark that i actually feel very glad to have gone to university, to have met certain people. despite not spending too much time over the years being taught by or even in marks company, in many ways he is the ashley morton of lecturers. he's exactly the type of teacher that i hoped i would encounter at university. so yes, gushing aside, cheers for actually coming out mr hammill sir, and cheers for the ice cream! orange! i hope medjugordje was as tatty as you hoped!

in other news, working in a hostel is possibly the best thing ever. in fact, to say you work in a hostel is a real misleading statement, as not a single part of this feels like work. over the last 2 days, i have mostly given people directions and advice on what to do and see in the town, which is something that i would be doing even if i was just travelling again. and people listen, which is constantly pleasing. and ben, casey and eric, believe it or not but that football stadium we went to is actually in use! theres a match there tomorrow, im hoping to take a few guys to watch! i've also spent a good amount of time drinking beer by the river, and you cant argue with that.

this will be of no interest to anyone except me, but my favourite austrian football team when i was little and mental about european football was wiener sportklub, because they had a cool orange kit. anyway, they were relegated many years ago because of financial issues, and now play in like, the 3rd division or something. anyway, there is an austrian guy in the hostel who supports them! i was in some sort of mental austrian football dreamland. so yeah, sorry for that boring paragraph. austrian people are really cool as well it seems, and belgians. and the dutch. and the germans. it turns out european people are awesome.

awesome.