KEEP IT IN THE PHAMLY

I went to Germany to visit my birth town and see where my parents lived for a decade before they moved to Australia. Little did I know I'd be meeting the origin of my chilli trees there too. Maybe don’t tell border patrol that. My German Uncle’s chillies are all over Brisbane and who knows where else it has migrated. German Uncle is the coolest as you can see from the photo. He rules.

When I was little, I avoided chilli like the plague. I was the wuss at the dinner table who needed to have my own spice and fun free dipping sauce, while the siblings had a medium hot sauce and Dad Pham had eyebrow singing chilli sauce. My, how the tables have turned.

Dad can no longer stomach hot chilli - he can have it mild. Siblings are still in the middle ground but these days I chomp through hot chilli like I don't need my stomach lining in tact. I'll each chilli with nearly every savoury meal in different forms - fresh, minced, paste, pickled, and sometimes combined with sriracha or other hot sauces 'cause I like to feel the burn. It's a combination of the flavour and the spiciness that I love. The trouble is, the more I eat the less I feel the burn so I up the quantity. When it starts upsetting my belly, I take a little break so my body can reset then I start out with a little spice and build back up again. It's a happy cycle.

When we first moved into the house Dad Pham said I'd be rubbish at keeping chilli trees and make a mess of the yard. But I think he got tired of me stripping his chilli trees bare every time I visited on the weekend, so when his old plant started to die, he split its seedlings into 5 smaller trees - one went to B at work, two stayed with Dad and two came home with me. After nearly a year they're finally growing a handful of chillies and boy-o am I excited for when they're in full bloom. Right now, I have to pace myself and have been scavenging chillies from Dad, B, and Uncle T. Crazy to think, these babies originated in Germany like me!

Finally, I am a cat lady again by way of aunty and roommate to an adorable kitten. Still too irresponsible to be a cat mum. Nolan Pham. This little nugget of joy came into our lives in November last year. His origin story isn't a great one.

A piece of human garbage went and put him in a plastic bag, and threw him in a bin. It makes me livid to think of how many animals die abandoned in horrible ways like being thrown in the bin, rivers, left on the side of a road - it's not much more effort and way less cruel to surrender them to an animal shelter.


Little Sissy Pham drove to Toowoomba to meet another kitten named Ava, who was adorable in pictures but didn't like Little Sis when they met. So Little Sis had a play with the other kittens the foster mum was caring for. Ava was there with a few others from her litter, and none of them clicked with Little Sis. Instead, it was the lone wolf of the pack - Nolan, who chose her as his human. He was separated from his litter.

Poor Nolan was found alone sadly, but in a way he was lucky to be alone because his independent streak is what Little Sis wanted. A kitty who can handle being home alone during work days. Nolan is definitely an independent cat, but also affectionate and likes to be around his humans when they’re home - or wander off to play his own games if we’re being too boring. He pretty much owns every room and surface in the apartment and courtyard now, so while he may not have had the brightest of beginnings, he's in for a great life being adored by his Phamly.

I’ve missed having a kitty in The Phamly. And now we have two! I’ll tell you about Sprite, Big Brother Pham’s cat, another time. Her origin story is a little sad too.

Mondays used to be a struggle because there is the weekend comedown, and getting back into the work routine with general tiredness and not enough sleep. Mondays were the pits until Groove Therapy came along, and with it the spirited, positive vibes of Wanida Serce.

I've been going to Groove Therapy every week since it launched in Brisbane earlier this year (except for my Europe holiday). Each week Wanida, without fail, brings bright and bubbly energy to class even when she's nursing an injury or cold. Her teaching style lifts my mood, and gives me something to look forward to on Mondays (I know, unheard of). Not only that, my dance floor moves have improved - I even had a somewhat drunk colleague tell me "I want to dance like Jade!" repeatedly at this year's Office Xmas party. If you want to dance like Jade, come to Groove Therapy. GT makes dancing fun!

I wanted to give Wanida an end-of-year thank you, Xmas gift that would show her how much I appreciate her - something that she could use. She's always wearing rad sneakers to class so I got her a pair of pink New Balance 247 kicks because dancers always need good shoes, and pink because she runs the empowering Pink Matter girl gang. See? So many positive vibes. I insta-stalked her pics to make sure she didn't have sneakers similar to this already, and then got her shoe size from a stylist at work but it seemed wrong 'cause we're meant to be the same shoes size but I swear her feet look smaller. Cue me standing awkwardly next to her after class to compare our feet, and they were definitely a bit smaller. So then I insta-stalked her boyfriend, found his email, and asked him to confirm her size. She's a half size smaller than me, but can wear 7s when there aren't 6.5s. Huzzah!

Alas, Wanida had rehearsals the night of our the last Groove Therapy class so I had to pass on her gift to her fill-in teacher and friend. Wanida messaged me soon as she opened her gift, and she was super stoked so YAY to Other People's Happiness! Couldn't think of anyone more deserving. She has honestly perked me up this year, helped me feel empowered and gotten my mind off some personal issues because I'm not moping about at home at the start of each week.

The aptly named Groove Therapy classes start up this Monday 8th January, 2018 in Brisbane & the Gold Coast (her boy Benny Garcia teaches GC), Tuesdays in Sydney, and Wednesdays in Melbourne. See y'all in class!

I sometimes wonder what our lives would be like if Mum Pham and Dad Pham had stayed in Germany.

Our Sunday Phamly dinners wouldn't be just it - it'd be with my Aunties & Uncles. I would grow up close to and mentored by Aunty 9's daughter - she's a kindred spirit, I can tell. Big Brother Pham would grow up close to Aunty 9's son, and our Long Lost German Cousin would have guided him along an easier life path than the one he took. I'm not sure who Little Sissy Pham would be close to - she'd be the darling of both sides of the Pham being the youngest, and also adorable. We'd all speak fluent German and OK Vietnamese and bad English if any.

My career path would be different. I'd probably still be a writer, I was always a quiet, pondering introvert even as a kid - but maybe with my creative cousin, I'd have pursued writing and design instead of math & science, which left me in the middle ground once I realised I wanted to work in a creative field, and had no skills to hone. Or perhaps, I would have been more social growing up, and not living in my own world in my head so wouldn't have developed my writing skills - instead, I could be building fast cars or aeroplanes, which was my other interest as a teen. Or it could be totally different again - who knows what opportunities Europe has that Australia doesn't.

It's strange to think that instead of moving to Melbourne for work, I would have moved to Berlin or Barcelona or Amsterdam instead. I doubt I'd have stayed in the small town some of our relatives still live in. A lot are still in Germany in different parts of the country though.

Ah well, what if... but things didn't happen that way, and if they did I wouldn't have my gorgeous nieces or all the people in my life that I love. It's just fun to ponder sometimes.

Prague was our last stop in Europe before the long flight home. By this time, I was missing Dad Pham and The Phamly a lot, but not much else in Brisbane. Little Sissy Pham mainly missed her own bed. We were all worn down by week 4 of our trip, but I'm a little more stubborn than my companions so I stomped around the tourist spots while they opted to go shopping at the many, many retail spots in Prague. Such a shame because the city is one of the more beautiful places we visited.

The castle and gardens on the westside of the river is stunning - highly recommend that if you have to pick one spot in the city to wander around in. Though, if you have a few days then check out the old town area - we stayed right near the town square and it's beautiful. The outer 'burbs reminded me a lot of Melbourne outer west - we got suckered into a tourist shopping trip at a mall on our last day, we were too tired to tourist anymore so had a chill day of shopping for Phamly gifts instead.

Ideal.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Sep 7, 2017 at 1:02am PDT

The people in Prague are much more cold and abrupt than what I'm used to. Little Sissy panicked a couple of times when retail and wait staff demanded she do things. It was hilarious, and intimidating. I suddenly understand my Czech friend better though - I used to think maybe under her cold exterior there was a softer side if only I could win her trust, but no - she really is just that unapologetic and blunt.

And there ends my Europe travel series. I'm so happy I finally got back to Europe after all this time. I do wonder sometimes about what life would have been like if Mum & Dad had opted to stay in Germany. Where would we be? What would we do? Who would we be closest to? Would we even speak English?

Heaven.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Sep 7, 2017 at 1:04am PDT

After Phamly reunions galore in our hometown, we went to Berlin and did what everyone should do - went grocery shopping at Lidl. It has anything and everything, and all of it is so good. We went a bit nuts though so had a lot food stuffed in our bags on the last train ride out to Prague at the end of our stay.

Berlin is a mix of modern and historic buildings. We went to the museum island, but by this time I was over seeing so many museums so we just went walkabouts around outside. We indulged in tourism life and took a tour boat along the river, then had late lunch on the needle (rotating tower) and enjoyed panoramic views of the city and a bit of motion sickness too. There was a massive rainbow the day we went so that made it even prettier.

Democracy.

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The Reichstag building tour is an interesting insight into the modernisation of an old, historic building. Worth the visit if you're into, you know, knowledge and whatnot. For those of you who don't like to think much, then I recommend walking through the neighbouring massive park and gardens by the Reichstag building. We wandered around for hours just chilling, and climbed the tower at the round-about at the centre of it all to get a beautiful view over the park and city.

Berlin is a very liveable, I can see why so many Aussies move here. Berlin is also where I had a Tinder win. My last and only fun online date I've had in a long time. I've since quit online dating altogether. Berlin date was a funny, intelligent, interesting, well-rounded human being. He and all the other European matches I chatted to showed me it's not the dating app I don't like, it's the people on the app that make or break it. Sorry, Brisbane men, I'm not that into you.

Reach for the sky.

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Mum Pham and Dad Pham were the human manifestations of 'opposites attract.' When we visited both sides of our Phamly in Europe it was interesting to see that their opposing traits run on their respective bloodlines.

Dad has always been physically fit and active and capable. Mum was never into sports or fitness and her activity was gardening. I am a combo of the two. I try to be active like Dad, but I have the 'Mum gene' as we call it - making me quite uncoordinated and dopey at all physical activity. I can see why Mum wasn't into physical activities, the mum gene makes everything a potential health hazard. Little Sissy Pham is the opposite combo to me. She has Dad's physique and was good at sports as a kid, though now prefers to sit on the couch with her cat and laptop - like Mum used to do.

When we met with Mum's side of The Phamly, it was a lot of sitting down for meals and talking - Mum's favourite things. Then when Dad's side caught up with us, there was lots of outdoor activity and walking around tourist sites - Dad's favourite things.

Dad's side are all physically fit, and conversation got heated when they talked politics. I don't know about the German side, but back home there a family feuds and little spats that Dad tells me about every now and then. Mum's side were are placid and soft spoken, and conflict isn't thing - everyone gets along with everyone else.

It makes me wonder what other family traits run through bloodlines and upbringing without people realising. It's so strange! And cool!

Keep it in The Phamly.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 30, 2017 at 11:36am PDT

The train ride through north Italy into Switzerland was absolutely stunning. We went from Milan to Geneva via a town called Stresa. It went from grassy green fields to rich, green mountains and lakes during the trip. I wish the ride was longer than it was so I could feel that relaxed for longer watching the scenery go by.

All the photos I've seen don't do this picturesque country justice. There were waterfalls along the way, and I saw people hang-gliding off mountain tops. I adore this experience, and recall the memory fondly - if you're planning a trip to Europe, Switzerland is worth a stop-by or ride through it's honestly that beautiful. We were there at the end of summer, but some mountains were still snow capped because they were so high. Switzerland had crispy blue skies the whole time we were there - I loved it.

Hello Geneva.

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We had two days to explore Geneva before we moved onto Germany for our Phamly Reunion. The lake at the city centre and the giant mountainous backdrop makes it idyllic. I can't believe a place like this exists. The first day we went for a walk along the lake to the far side and saw the flower clock then backtracked for cheap food near the hotel.

We randomly saw a police dog show in the park near the flower clock because why not? Geneva I found really relaxing, probably our second most chilled spot to visit besides Barcelona but for different reasons. It's a quieter town with not much hustle and bustle - going for strolls by the lake was the thing to do, and on the weekend locals set up little charcoal BBQs all over the park. It was perfect for my audiobook + walking habit. I think I'd get bored if I lived there but visiting was a fun time.

Swan lake.

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Aunty Van is Dad Pham’s late sister. I wish we’d had the chance to reunite because she loved us dearly when we were tiny tots. I think she'd be happy to see us all grown up. She used to play tug-of-war with Mum Pham and Aunty 9 back in the day. Aunty Van happened to live in the same building as Aunty 9 but a few levels higher. So Mum Pham would come to visit her sister on the lower level, then Dad Pham would visit his sister on the upper level. Mum would go up and get us from Aunty Van's house, then a little while later Aunty Van would send her daughters down to retrieve us, then Mum would go back up and get us.


Aunty Van bathed us every week as kids. I always thought that a little strange but never questioned it. It wasn't until we went to our old house we learned that when our Phamly first moved in there was no heated water so mum used to have to boil water on the stove to bathe us. But it was difficult with three young kids so we bathed at our aunties house. Later heating and hot water were installed but Dad was tight with the moneys - he was still saving and sending money back home - so we all had coughs and colds when we were tiny tots. Brisbane would have been such a stark change from the German weather.

Aunty Van's kids include the Long Lost German Cousin (Anh D) who I connected with on Facebook a couple of years back. Yes! We finally got to meet him and hug him and learn about his time with The Phamly in Germany. Anh D and his sisters Chi N & Chi G all took time off work to come and meet us in our hometown because they are living legends. He brought his whole family along too so we got to see how his life turned out.

Our cousins took us back to our old apartment near the town centre. While we were hovering outside the main door, a lady entered the building and after our cousins explained that we were visiting from the other side of the world and used to live here, she kindly let us in to have a look around. I made Little Sissy Pham pose at the base of the stairs she tumbled down as a kid - Mum loved that story. She put Little Sissy down while she locked the door, next minute she turns around and her 2 year old is rolling down the stairs - Mum has a panic attack of course but Little Sissy just stands up like nothing has happened ‘cause she’s all rugged up in so many winter layers.

I wish Big Brother Pham could have come with us - maybe for the next trip over. He is four years older than me and old enough to remember Germany and our cousins. Anh D told us how hectic Big Bro used to be as a kid - always hyper and running around and jumping on sofas and beds. He used to drive Anh D's dad insane because his dad was super strict and children were to be seen, not heard. Whereas Mum & Dad Pham let us run amok our whole lives, only guiding us if we ever went food far but really it's their fault I have such an independent and stubborn streak - no rules for me! Hopefully Anh D comes to Australia once his kids are older and we can show him the same hospitality.

Rome
The train rides to, from and in Italy are beautiful. My favourite train rides of the whole trip. The rolling hills behind flat green fields and farms is so beautiful. I loved the views.

Though, Rome is where the whole group got different symptoms of the same sick. Fevers, runny noses, loss of appetite (I know, in Italy where all our favourite foods live - how horrendous!), fatigue - we were bedridden for two of the four nights here. So, Rome was fun but exhausting. We did all the tourist things - walked the inner city and visited lots of fountains, obelisks, and buildings so old like the Pantheon that our little minds were blown. Unfortunately for us, it was peak summer heatwave while we were there so our sick bodies did not cope so well. Watching the sunset over the city from different viewpoints was definitely a highlight. It's a stunning city.

Another day, another country. Hello Vatican City.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 22, 2017 at 11:30am PDT

Vatican City
Do not go to Vatican City without a tour booking. The lines looked godawful. We booked ahead, and it was a breeze getting in and around. We went with City Wonders who I highly recommend - it was a really friendly, professional and knowledgeable experience. I wouldn't have appreciated the city as much if we hadn't learned about its history and purpose as we ventured around.

Look back in time.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 22, 2017 at 11:34am PDT

The Colosseum & The Forum
As part of the Vatican City tour, we also booked a trip to the Colosseum & the Colosseum with the same tour promoters. It was bloody hot and everyone struggled in the sun, but I loved the historical elements. Still can't believe I walked where famous gladiators, emperors and philosophers walked in the past. Crazy.

Hello Venice.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 24, 2017 at 11:22am PDT

Venice
Venice is beautiful but one dimensional. There's not much to it. But it is very pretty.
the big saint Marc building had such a massive queue to get in we didn't want to waste our one day there waiting. So we walked around and to the other side of the island where we had lunch at a dockside restaurant overlooking the cemetery island. So pretty. I sacrificed a gondola ride (which is a must-do!) so the loved up couple I was with could have a romantic evening, and walked around the whole island instead. I could have done with a second day of exploring there but if you're short on time, one day is enough to get a feel for the city.

Hello Milan.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 25, 2017 at 6:57am PDT

Milan
I'm not huge on consumerism at the moment, mainly because I don't have money to burn and partially because needless consumerism is terrible for the planet. Do I really need another pair of sneakers? Well, no...but maybe yes. But no. If I was here to shop I'd be in retail heaven because the stores here are huge compared to Australia's small shopfronts.

The city itself though, was underwhelming compared to the other cities I'd just visited. There are beautiful big, old style stone buildings throughout the city centre, but they lacked personality because they were so pristine. I wouldn't visit here again unless it was for a massive spending spree I know I'll never do, because if I had that much money I'd be traveling the world hoarding experiences, not things.