What I'm listening to...

Absolutely loving listening to The Jezabels at the moment. Their album Prisoner is incredible, but their EP Easy to Love never gets old. 

Also have to express my love for The Naked and Famous. Every one of their songs is catchy, Summery and extraordinary. This one's my favourite though.

What are you listening to at the moment?

Amazing Marketing Campaigns of 2011

Since I started my new job my interest in  marketing and more specifically in amazing experiential campaigns has been piqued.

I recently looked at the top 10 campaigns of 2011, put together by Marketing Mag: http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/top10-experiential-campaigns-of-2011-8329/. Let me assure you, it makes for compulsive viewing! I spent a good hour reading this post, amazed by how creative people can be and just how much potential there is to create innovative, exciting and remarkable campaigns.

One of my favourite campaigns from the list is this campaign by Carlsberg. I think it's cheeky and makes you laugh. Importantly though, I'm not sure I come away from it resoundingly confident that it is a Carlsberg ad. It's more entertaining than pushing brand awareness.

I also really liked the way Corona moved away from advertising their product and closer toward environmental responsibility. The fit between the brand (which is renowned as being part of summer and beach culture) and the environment is extremely tight, and I think that is why this campaign works so well. In knowing that Corona has an environmental responsibility and is investing in the well-being of the planet makes me like the brand so much more. Here's the Corona Save the Beach campaign.

And lastly, I really loved the Coca-Cola Happiness campaign. It is fun, unusual and it keeps you guessing. Videos of Coca-Cola being handed out in surprising ways, for example via the vending machine in the video below, or being given out using a bespoke Coca-Cola truck is absolutely brilliant. After all, who doesn't like free Coke? This campaign makes me smile and its talkability is huge. Love it!

Have you seen any great campaigns lately that have made you smile, or even better, have made you desperate to buy something?

Interior Decorating

Photo from Absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com

As you get older, the desire to create your own home or sanctuary, filled with your own pieces and decorated in your own personal taste becomes stronger and stronger.

I really enjoy the idea of being a home-maker. It's not to say that I would choose to be a stay-at-home Mum, but there is certainly a satisfaction in coming home to somewhere that feels safe, comfortable and completely 'you'.

So with my interest in interior decoration developing and my crazy passion for cookery books and Vogue Living style magazines, I guess you could say it's quite lucky I'm going to be moving out of home soon. My friend and I are aiming to move in together in January. We hope to live close to the Harbour Bridge - somewhere near Kirribilli or MacMahons Point. Sure we've both lived away from home before. In fact, we've both lived together before; we were Boarding Residents at the same school - so we know we'll have no problems getting along. But what we haven't done before is to create our own home to our own tastes with our own furniture.

And at this point I would like to introduce some of the blogs that I have recently discovered which are feeding my hunger for incredible interior decorating of our prospective home.

The first blog is called The Interiors Addict. It is amass with interviews by interior designers and decorators with incredible style and design flair. The photos are beautiful and while the furniture is probably well beyond my current first-home budget, I definitely take away lots of ideas from the blog.

The second blog is called Absolutely Beautiful Things and it's blogger, Anna Spiro, selects the most gorgeous, pretty and vibrant photos. It is totally inspiring.

A Stuart Membery sofa, decorated by Anna Spiro,
photo from her blog absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com

The only concern I have about home-decorating is my fear of colour. If you commit to one colour scheme for a room, how long until you tire of it and need a change? Is it not better to add a splash of colour through pillows and throws, paintings and vases, and to stick to a neutral palate base? Clearly these kinds of worries are first world problems. I should be satisfied by the fact that I have a roof over my head and the ability to choose the colours of my walls. I totally get that and I am definitely wary that  this obsession with home decorating is superficial, but it sure is fun.

What colour could you never live with in your house?

Freshly Baked Bread

L-R: Blueberry bread and Olive, Rock Salt and Oregano Bread

Bread is one of those evil but delicious things that you shouldn't really eat too much of, but every time you're presented with a slice of beautiful artisan made loaf, you really can't resist. My favourite is a freshly baked olive bread with a bit of real butter. Yummo!

Today I was lucky enough to visit the Masterchef Live show as I had been given complimentary tickets. I didn't really know what to expect, but as Masterchef fans, I decided to bring my Mum along with me to check it out.

Held at the Horden Pavilion, the exhibition was enormous and covered two huge halls. There were demonstrations, cooking classes, exhibitors with stalls and pop-up cafes. Mum and I have never turned our hands at bread baking before, so we couldn't go past the Brasserie Bread bread-making course. I've made about a million cupcakes, slices and cakes, but bread has always been something I'm a bit scared of making - it seems fiddly and volatile. Under the amazing guidance of our baker Matt Brock, we spent an hour developing our bakery skills. The queues at the exhibition were ridiculous and we had to wait for an hour and a bit in order to get into this hands-on cooking demo, but it was definitely worth it!

The result of our bread-making course is the above photo, which took us an hour of kneading and 'throwing' the bread onto the table. It actually doesn't need any complicated ingredients, it just takes a while to work the bread and then let it rest. You're supposed to work the bread for two minutes, then let it rest for two minutes and continue that process for a total of 24 minutes. It's a really good way to let some aggression out, as the more ever the air you put into the bread, the more light and fluffy the bread will be. 

Apart from the cooking course we also watched a show; a cook-off between George Colombaris' sous-chef, called Josh, and Season Three Masterchef contestant Hayden Quinn. Hosted by George himself, the two competitors went head-to-head in a 'Mystery Box Challenge', with their key ingredients being a tomato, an avocado, a piece of sashimi-grade Tuna, some quail eggs and some asparagus. Both chefs managed to produce a really delicious looking starter in under seven minutes. That's pretty impressive - it usually takes me about seven minutes just to decide what I want to cook. Hayden put together a carpaccio with a spicy mayonnaise and an asian-style vinaigrette. Josh created an avocado puree with cubes of tuna and poached quail eggs. The son of Giovanni Pilu - owner of Pilu in Freshwater - was the judge and he chose Hayden as the clear winner. The show was actually being recorded to then be aired on TV, so there were production and camera crews everywhere. The Masterchef Katy Perry theme song played and it was just as if you were watching the show at home... although I guess that's probably why they decided to name the event Masterchef Live.


It was a great event - although there were possibly too many people - and to see some of my cooking idols, such as Kylie Kwong, Gary Mehigan and Giovanni Pilu in the flesh was very cool.

Nailing It.

Shellac nail polish

At the risk of sounding really vacuous, I think I'd like to write about nail polish. There's a lot of meaning attached to the whole nail-painting process. In my house it has always been associated with being overly indulgent. Something reserved for ladies of leisure. You see, whenever any chore or task hadn't been done, for example if dinner hadn't been cooked, my Mum would say "Geez it's not like I've been swanning around painting my nails!" Because of that, I now associate having my nails painted as being a bit of a guilty act - something I can't admit to doing or enjoying for fear of being labelled as lazy. Another gem is that if your nail polish lasts a long time then you're probably not doing enough chores around the house. For if you were doing lots of washing-up and sweeping, vacuuming, washing etc, your nail polish would chip within a few days. And at school we were always told that if you had chipped nail polish it meant you weren't looking after your appearance. "Chipped nails are for tramps," we learnt. Who would have thought a tiny little bottle full of colourful paint could bring with it so many negative connotations?

So today, when I decided to go to my local nail bar to try out the latest fad in nail laquer, Shellac, I was feeling a little bit naughty. All my friends have been raving about how 'you really just have to try Shellac - it's like you've got fake nails - the polish just won't chip.' Well all that sounds pretty good, but then it's also about double the price of a regular manicure. My curiosity got the better of me so I was happy to pay the $35 to give it a go.

The process took about half an hour and I had four coats of Shellac - a base coat, two coats of my colour of choice, and then a top coat - applied. In between each coat of paint I had to place my hand under a special UV light which dried the polish instantly.

My Shellac-coated nails

What makes Shellac so special is that takes no time to dry and you get no chips or nicks in it. It takes about 10 minutes to remove, but it will last for two weeks. The only problem with it is that they don't have a massive selection of different colours to choose from yet. I opted for a pink neutral colour and my nail technician told me that the colour I had chosen was their most popular. If you were going to an event and you wanted your nails a certain colour, you'd potentially be stuck with the shade for two weeks. Woah, now there's a first world problem if ever you heard one.

I only had my nails painted today, so I'll have to see how long it will last. What with all the housework and chores that I do... let's be honest, it's definitely going to last two weeks.

Fabulous Florence

In May 2011 I visited Florence with my Mum, spending four days in the glorious city. For those of you that are yet to travel to Florence, you have lots to look forward to; for those that have already visited it, prepare to reminisce. 

The view from our hotel roof

We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Scaletta, and were greeted by friendly staff and a stunning rooftop view over the city and the Boboli Gardens nearby.  The hotel was also conveniently located an easy five minute stroll from the glorious Ponte Vecchio, famous for its gold and silver jewellery shops.

The much-celebrated Ponte Vecchio

As soon as I dumped my suitcase I was well and truly ready to explore the city, so I left Mum (who has having some quiet time) and did a little reconnaissance, seeing some fantastic things along the way.

I happened to stumble across these guys, who were created amazing artworks using chalk, on the pavements outside the shops along one of the many walkways. The next day I saw another couple doing the same thing in another area of the city. 

After finding my way around I headed back to the hotel and Mum and I went off to find a nice place for dinner. We settled on a really traditional (and less touristy) looking place a few minutes from our hotel, with a great Maitre D' who you can see below with a tray of freshly picked 'funghi' (or mushrooms) which were the feature of their special, a Risotto Al Funghi. 

The lovely Maitre D' who served us on two nights

In true Italian style I opted for a delicious vegetable pizza while Mum chose the risotto. Both meals were great and the portions were huge. We were also served hot freshly-baked olive bread with olive oil and balsamic.

Freshly made olive bread

And why stop when you're onto a good thing? We liked this restaurant so much that on our last night in Florence we came back to enjoy the Caprese salad, which is a simple but delicious tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.

Enjoying our Italian meal

Once we'd finished our meal we decided to walk it off with a meander along the Ponte Vecchio and a stroll along the banks of the Arno river.

The view of the Ponte Vecchio at sunset

The Arno river

The next morning we made it our challenge to climb to the top of the Duomo for a spectacular view over the city. This is the outside of the Duomo - how impressive!

Duomo

 If you have claustrophobia I probably wouldn't recommend going to the top; I don't get claustrophobic too often but I felt a bit trapped walking up the narrow corridors that wind around the outside of the Duomo. But it was well worth it... And here is the view from the top.

The view of Florence from the Duomo

And after a big climb we were ready for some sustenance. We decided to visit the San Lorenzo markets where we found a huge selection of meats (lots of prosciutto), cheeses, pastas, biscotti, fruits and vegetables. We bought a mild cheese, some delicious straberries, some chocolate and almond biscotti and some prosciutto and found a nice area with some benches where we enjoyed our market produce.

Our wonderful deli-hand who gave us the best prosciutto

And then it was time to shop. Florence is renowned for its leather goods, so we couldn't pass up an opportunity to see the best leather in the world. After several hours we returned to the hotel with a handbag, a pair of shoes, a belt and two pairs of leather gloves, and a glint of concern about how we might fit everything into our suitcases.

The San Lorenzo markets

On our final day in Florence we visited the beautiful Boboli Gardens and the Porcelain museum.
These gardens are absolutely stunning, serene, and at the top of the gardens there is an amazing view into rural Tuscany.

The porcelain museum inside the Boboli Gardens

Included in our ticket to the gardens was entry to the Costume Gallery, which is located inside the Pitti Palace. The exhibition displayed garments from the 16th to the 20th century by well-known designers.

For me, Florence is one of those magical cities you don't expect to find in reality. It is charming, cultured and enchanting. Particularly given that I was able to experience this wonderful city with my beautiful Mum beside me, it will always be one of my favourite cities in Europe. 

Pizza: Naples style.

Pizza Margherita in Naples

In June 2011 I went to the Pizza Mecca of the world and, while I was there, I made it my duty to seek out the ultimate thinly-crusted tomato and cheese creation.

Naples, synonymous with pizza, is located in Southern Italy. It is home to the famous Pompeii and Herculaneum landmarks, and Mount Vesuvius. Not to mention the mafia.

It is a city full of rawness and grime and first impressions can leave much to be desired. But Naples gets into your bloodstream with its abundant character. You can't help but leave it being happily surprised.

Upon arrival at the main train station of Naples - with my heavy backpack on - I was greeted by a huge pile of rubbish on the road and a chaotic traffic system. There were beggars along the side of the bus station and people trying to hawk their goods. This definitely didn't feel like the Italy I had experienced in Florence or Rome.

But later on that first night in Naples I discovered another aspect to the city which was much, much more appealing and very unassuming.

A group of backpackers from my hostel all chose to dine at a well-known pizzeria called Di Matteo.

In true Naples style I opted for the Pizza Margherita named after Queen Margherita. A true pizza like this one was soft and thin with a chewy outer crust. The cheese and tomato melt together and the singular basil leaf on top just finishes off a heavenly, simplistic meal.

Although the pizzas are big, they are also thin and could easily be consumed by someone with a big appetite.

It's also tempting to opt for more toppings when browsing the menu just as one might do when in their local pizzeria back home.  The secret is to keeping it basic and pure! I did have the Pizza al funghi in Naples, and a pesto pizza back in Florence, but you really can't beat the Margherita (tomato and cheese) or the Marinara (tomato, oregano and garlic).

The piazza we drank in

I also loved the great night life that you can find in Naples. We stumbled upon a big group of university students drinking (with their dogs?) outside their accommodation in a piazza. There are plenty of off-license bottle shops around in the little alleys of Naples where you can buy your Peroni's, and the locals were happy to mix and mingle with us.

Here you can see the interesting mix of students, tourists and dogs. You can also see the politiclly-inspired graffiti/ street-art on the streets of Naples.

The students mingling in the piazza with their dogs

Napoli graffiti

It goes without saying that the coffee in Italy is supreme and my experience in Naples was wonderful. While waiting for the National Archaeological Museum to open on a Sunday I ventured over to a coffee shop and ordered a caffe latte from two lovely baristas who insisted I have my photo taken with them and then very kindly refused to take my euros in payment of my delicious drink. These are the two great guys who made my coffee.

Two baristas who made me lovely coffee (on the house) in Naples

And having mentioned Pompeii (which I can't recommend highly enough) I wanted to show you some of the pictures I took while there. I honestly didn't know what to expect before arriving at the site. I am ashamed to admit I don't have much knowledge about (or interest in) Ancient Greek history, yet I don't think that's necessarily a problem when visiting Pompeii. The richness of history captured as a result of the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD meant that everything has been amazingly preserved in its original state. In particular I found the Lupanar - ancient brothels which, translated from latin, mean "den of she-wolves"- fascinating to visit because the stone 'beds' are still there for you to see, as well as the bawdy paintings from that time.

Pompeii ruins

 A mosaic inside the brothel 

The group I visited Pompeii with

Preserved bodies at Pompeii

And at the end of a long day walking through the relics of our Roman predecessors, what more could you want than a sweet, creamy gelato? Fantasia Gelati was suggested to me by my hostel manager and her suggestion was wonderful! The ice-cream was rich and decadent and I'm not even entirely sure what I ended up ordering (as the names were in Italian) but it had chocolate and cherries in it. Yum!

The best gelato in Naples

Street Art

I've always liked street art and i've developed a pretty big interest in it over the past six months. I first realised that street art was different from simple graffiti when I came across prints of Banksy's work in Covent Garden markets a few years ago. I had always thought that graffiti was just vandalism and that its sole purpose was to maliciously damage the look of people's walls. To me it was criminal. However, in Banksy's work I found that I loved his humour and satire and so, when the film Exit Through The Gift Shop came out I jumped at the chance to watch it.

According to the film's website:

Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world's most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner
with wildly unexpected results. 

If you're interested, check out the trailer below.



Here are some examples of my favourite pieces of Banksy's work.

Courtesy of Smosh.com

Courtesy of blogdowntown.com

Courtesy of vostokzapad.files.wordpress.com

When I decided I was going to be visiting Berlin I went about researching some of the best street art to see while there. Berlin is famous for its graffiti and, if you know the right places to go, it's as though you're in a never ending art gallery.

My friend Sarah-Jane managed to find a wonderful free walking tour called the Alternative Berlin walking tour which we took, and this tour opened up the doors to this other world beneath bridges and in grubby side streets.

These are just some of our discoveries.

 As you can see, there's plenty of colour and vibrance to the walls of Berlin. I think we need special areas in Sydney just like this which allow more creativity and 'life' to be injected into our city!

The simple sandwich?

My little sister and I were in the kitchen this morning, just making our breakfast and chatting to each other.

"You know, my friends think my Dad is hilarious," Olivia said. 

"Really? Why is that Liv?" I asked. "Well it's because of his weird sandwich creations," she explained.

"Dad always gives me the weirdest things - really strange combinations. One day he gave me cucumber and cheese. Like together. In a sandwich. And another day he gave me peanut butter and banana. And also vegemite and lettuce." 

True, none of these combinations are exactly what you call traditional. I remember when I was a kid we used to put the strangest things together just to see whether they 'worked'. For a few weeks I was obsessed with berliner, tomato sauce and lettuce. "It's like a BLT, only better," I justified. Only it wasn't. It was actually pretty bad, but I wasn't prepared to admit I'd made a crucial sandwich-experimenting error. 

Another time we were crazy about peanut butter and tomato. I'd go as far as to say that this one is still a pretty good combo. And as for peanut butter and nutella, it's actually like Ferrero Rocher. 

Our little exchange got me thinking... Perhaps sandwiches actually say a lot more about a person than they'd first let on? For example, are you the kind of person that is satisfied and even comforted by a simple cheese sandwich, or is that level of plainness boring and lacklustre? Do you need sandwich stimulation? Are you willing to experiment with sandwich fillings, or stick to your regulars because you know they work? Would a boring sandwich put a dent in your day?

I'd go as far as to say that an experimental sandwich-eater would be the kind of person that lived life on the edge. Definitely the bungy-jumping type.

So what kind of sandwich-eater are you? And what's the strangest sandwich combo you've ever tried?

From Budapest to Vienna

Beautiful Budapest

Just an update to say that having spent four glorious days in Budapest, we are now on our way to Vienna.We have really enjoyed doing a few walking tours around the city including: a General Tour, the Communism Tour and the Jewish Quarter walking tour. We have also visited the traditional Hungarian baths, seen the House of Terror and the Heroes' Square.


Quite naiveley, I had always pictured Budapest to be a somewhat under-developed city. I thought that it might not be too safe and imagined it to be more like Albania than London. In fact it is really developed with Louis Vuitton shops next to Nespresso shops next to Costa Coffee. I felt safe at all times here and found it to be really clean also. It was a very pleasant surprise and a really lovely city to visit. The views from the Buda hills over the Danube to the Pest side are glorious, and the architecture is also spectacular.

Of course we have eaten the inherently Hungarian Goulash (pronounced Goulyash) soup. We had the beef one, which came with little dumplings. It was an interesting experience to try it and, although I am glad that I did, it is definitely not a Summer food. It was really heavy and hearty and I came away from the meal feeling a bit ill... just wayyyy too much meat. Still, in icy cold blizzardy Winter I can imagine it would be the perfect dish.

Szimpla Ruin Bar

We were introduced to the world of Ruin Bars - a bar that has been established in what used to be dilapidated old houses with run-down furniture and interiors. They have now been refurbished and all of the small rooms that remain make drinking in them a really unique experience. Each room is furnished differently - some with quirky features such as wallpaper made out of sheet music. Other ruin bars, like Szimpla, which we visited, sold shisha and cheap beers. I really liked Szimpla because it had walls covered in books that were available to read (despite the fact that they were in Hungarian and resembled the Bible), they added to that homely feel. Another unique touch to Szimpla were the waitresses that came around with bowls of carrots - yes, carrots- in the event that you wanted a snack. How very nutritious.

With only 11 more days left of our backpacking adventure we are now off on a 2.5 hour bus ride to find some Wiener Schnitzel and Apple Strudel in Vienna, and hoping to see a classical music concert also!

Postcard from Ios

We are now more than half way through our trip, having visited four countries thus far. Right now we are in Bol, an island off Split in Croatia. It is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful ere. In order to do justice to our experiences I shall start at the beginning and tell you about our first port of call: the lovely island of Ios in Greece.

After our first night spent "sleeping" in Athens Airport - only to be woken by a very scary Greek woman yelling for us to get off her chairs- we caught a 4:30am bus to Piraeus Port and then a ferry to Ios. We were really lucky with the hostel we had booked- it had a spectacular pool area and we had a nice room with lots of air-con and an en-suite. We spent our first day visiting the Myloportas beach which was really pretty. For dinner a standout meal of the trip so far was devoured. It was a stuffed eggplant with cheese, zucchini and all sorts of yummy veggies. So good! I should mention that our dinner was also enjoyed by a tiny cat that wouldn't leave our table. He meowed persistently until we gave in and treated him to some bread (and tatziki).

The next day I woke up early and went for a run to explore the area a bit more. I found a gorgeous white church and further on a secluded beach. When I returned from my run we ate at was to become our signature breaky over the we trip: greek yoghurt with honey and banana. It's odd just how much better the honey and Greek yoghurt tastes in its homeland, but trust me, its amazing. After breaky we took a boat to a beautiful island which is called Manganari. The boat-trip was made all the more amusing by a group of girls that felt it would be a good idea to do a photo shoot of themselves as we were traveling. They pouted and swished their hair as everyone looked on quite bewildered.

When we arrived at the beach I was blown away by the turquoise water and the masses of beach umbrellas which were in hot demand (pardon the pun). We made a new friend who asked if he could share our umbrella. Not feeling like we could turn the pale young Canadian boy away from the shade, he proceeded to lie with us for the rest of the day. At 5pm when the boat cane to collect us and take us home we all jumped back on the boat only to be pleasantly surprised by a stop off for a touch of 'jumping off the side of the two story boat into deep crystal clear water'-ing. It was truly magical and I had an amazing time facing a few fears and finally jumping in with a splash. And when it was time to go the boat honked it's horn three times and everyone frantically paddled back to the boat, fearful of being left behind.

In the evening we had a gyros dinner (a Greek kebab) and then played cards while drinking €3 glasses of sangria until around midnight. We then realized we would have to hurry and luckily caught the last bus into town were we were to see what the nightlife of Ios had to offer. Too much it turned out for one night of partying. We hopped of the bus at the stop where everyone else got off and then looked around unsure of our next step. Where exactly would we find a place to drink? Everyone was drinking outside in a courtyard area so we - like lemmings- just followed everyone else. Only this was fortuitously a grand idea because who were we to bump into but a frien from the year above at school back home in Sydney, who happened to know all the bes places for us to bar-hop to. We had loads of fun getting free shots and dancing while drinking cocktails. It was also cool that each bar had differently themed music; one place had heavy metal, another had an acoustic singer taking requests (he played Little Lion Man for us!).

By 3.30am we were becoming somewhat aware of our pending 10am ferry and so sadly we called it a night. We could have happily enjoyed a few more nights in Ios though! Making our way through the cobbled streets back to our hostel we reflected on the fun (and sweaty) night we had had and on how excited we were for the continuation of our trip... Next stop: Santorini.

And our Eastern European adventure begins... with Greece!

Today is the beginning of an exciting six-week journey through Eastern Europe with my two wonderful Australian friends Sarah-Jane and Sarah B. We will be meeting in Athens Airport to begin our Greek island-hopping adventure.

After spending tonight in Athens Airport - we're only there for about seven hours so it doesn't make sense to get all the way to a hostel for a few hours' sleep- we will catch a ferry from the port in Athens to Ios for a few days, before taking another ferry from Ios to Santorini.

Santorini is quite special to me. Actually, I probably would not be alive without it. Why? you ask. Well, my parents met while backpacking in Santorini and my name is also Greek. If they had not met one evening on the cliffs of Santorini (think Mamma Mia) , who knows where or what I would be. Anyway, we are staying in Santorini for five days, and unfortunately during that time Sarah B will be returning back to Australia for university. Sarah-Jane and I will catch a flight from Santorini to Corfu, with another overnight stay in a Greek airport I can't pronounce.

I don't honestly know anything about Corfu, only that it is apparently a pretty big party island - hopefully that will be fun! After all of that island-hopping, Sarah-Jane and I are taking a Balkan roadtrip from Corfu to Dubrovnik. Here is the link in case you're interested.

Will keep the blog updated as we travel through Eastern Europe!