Safari Part 4.8

Our last evening in Kenya. We saw lots and lots of animals, mostly because of Valerie's eagle-eye performance. Our guide was amazed that she spotted a pride of lions hanging out on a ridge. As we bumbled around in our van we heard that another cheetah had been spotted on the other side of the ravine. Joshua took us to a crossing point with a very steep incline. In the top picture you can see a van approaching the crossing but it doesn't really show you how steep it was. As we sat and watched three trucks go down we marveled at how each vehicle drove at a nearly verticle angle down the track. When it was our turn Emily balked, she didn't want to do it. Valerie backed her up and told Joshua to find another way. So we didn't see the second cheetah but with Valerie's crazy eagle-eye we saw spotted mongoose (mongeese?) and the timid bat-eared fox.

Safari Part 4.5

During the middle of the day most animals sleep so we went to explore a Masai village. As we pulled up to the village Joshua told us that two Masai were attacked the night before by a lion, they killed it but one of them had to be taken to the hospital. Imagine for a moment living in a place where lions roam free, and that on an every day walk in your neighborhood at anytime you could be attacked by a 400 pound carnivore. We would see Masai people walking freely about the inside of the Masai Mara reserve, and lions aren't really even the worst case scenario there.

Our visit to the Masai village was interesting. We didn't take many pictures of the Masai out of the villages because we were trying to be respectful of their wishes. So in order to take some pictures of them we paid $20USD to enter a special village, witness traditional dances, and take as many pictures as we wanted. The thing is, it felt a little bit like Disney-Masai town to me. I think they built the area to keep tourists out of their space, this way they could control the images that people capture. Which is fine. It just didn't feel very real, and I know authenticity of any kind is a construct but I just felt silly wandering around the fake village. They made us all wear the giant lion-mane hat and then they danced around us singing and I'm not good in situations like that. I'm not a joiner, I'm a watch and mock-er! The dances were cool, and the songs were beautiful. As we were being included people kept asking us our names and introducing themselves, which we learned later is a part of the hard sell. After the tour we were taken outside to the market, where people were shouting out our names and trying to get us to buy things. The money from the market, and the admissions to the village go to the maintenance of schools, and clinics.
Its funny, I like traveling, I just don't like being a tourist. I think there is a difference, tourists pay lots of money for strange experiences like visiting fake villages and paying money to have a lion mane hat plunked on their head. Travelers go to places and try to get a sense of the place, learn the language, meet people and form friendships. Perhaps the distinction is as phony as the village, who knows...

Safari Part Four

On our third day in Africa we had an amazing day. We got up early in the morning to go for a game drive because most animals are most active at early morning or late afternoon. We saw so many wonderful things. The best part of the day for me was seeing an ancient bull elephant coming over the horizon. He was magnificent. We came across another strange tour at the same time we saw the aged elephant, four people in a little hatchback driving across the Savannah. Not only was it strange that they were in a little city commuter car but they weren't even sticking to the trails they were off-roading it. As we starred in puzzlement at the little grey car a whole other group of elephants appeared, and they had a tiny baby elephant with them. The baby was so small the grass came up past it's shoulders. Joshua guessed the baby was about a week old. We left the elephants to the people in the grey car and drove off in search of leopards by the riverside. I couldn't believe it when the cheetah wandered down the hillside in front of us, it just walked softly by and disappeared into the scrub.

Safari Part 3.5

Everyone meet Bernard.
Bernard is amazing and Emily wants him to be her husband. I on the other hand think he should be my husband. We met Bernard at the Lodge when he and several other Masai men performed their tribal dances. They also sang Jambo Bwana (a much nicer version than the one I have linked). After the performance he stayed behind to answer any questions his audience might have. From this encounter we learned there are several reasons why the Masai wear their red blankets.
1. They believe the red scares away animals
2. It identifies them as the Masai tribe.
3. It hides blood in battle so their enemy can't tell when they are wounded.
Battle happens frequently because Masai believe all cattle belong to them so when they take cattle from another tribe they are just reclaiming what was once theirs. You can see how some might find this logic disagreeable.

That night Bernard was wearing a traditional outfit with a lion mane garter on his leg. One of the Italian women asked why he wore this garter. It turns out that last year as he was walking home, Bernard was attacked by a lion (he showed us his scars). He killed the lion by himself with only a spear. Bernard probably weighs 160 pounds soaking wet, a male lion can weigh over 400 pounds. The garter was to signify his kill. At this point in the evening I would have to say nearly every woman in the room was in love with Bernard, he totally could have got some.

Safari Part Three

So we headed off on our first safari in Masai Mara. Right away we spotted more Thompson's gazelles, they were everywhere. Then we spotted buzzards in a tree, hyenas, hippos, wart hogs, topis, and more. Then over the radio came an excited voice crying "SIMBA!" So we raced across the Savannah to the place where the lions had been spotted (Simba is swahili for Lion). As we neared the area where the lions had been spotted I saw something large and white in the grass, at first I thought it was a carcass because it was so still. As we got closer I realized it was the tummy of a satisfied and very sleepy female lion. There were four of them just lounging in the tall grass, several vehicles showed up while we were there and they barely stirred at all. We returned back to the lodge full of glee our first outing had been so exciting! That evening after dinner we were treated to a performance by several of the local masai.

Safari Part Two

Baboon roadside, giraffe welcoming committee, rift valley, Kelly negotiating, and Valerie with the shop proprietors.






I'm not doing a very good job of uploading these images in any kind of order.

Anyhoo...

We began our second day in Nairobi, in our hotel with the crazy security. We had four security guards at the front and for each floor there were three different locked doors that you had to go through to get to your room. There were cameras everywhere.

The night before we had met with the safari line representative who had come to give us our itineraries and to ask us for our input on the safari (we were given feedback forms to fill out later). She also told us that since there were only four of us they were upgrading us to a leisure camp at Masai Mara (we were supposed to be camping). We would be staying at the Mara Leisure Camp.

To get to Masai Mara we had a loong bus ride, but it was fantastic. We saw so many cool things. On our way out of the city we saw our first Masai people, wearing their distinctive red blankets. Joshua warned us against taking pictures. An American took pictures of a Masai woman and her children bathing nude at a water hole and turned them into postcards, since then a photograph equals a rock being chucked at you or worse. Understandable really but sad. I was really frustrated because the Masai are beautiful, I have never seen a more photogenic group of people in my life. It was like being a diabetic fat kid in a room of sweets. Stupid Americans.

We drove through several towns and watched as the landscape gradually changed from urban to rural to the Savannah. We amused ourselves at rest stops by buying new kinds of treats that we had never tried before. I bought a candy bar called U & Me, only to discover it was a twix in different clothing! I also rediscovered the Jamaica bar, which we don't have in Canada but we used to get in the Solomons... mmm chocolate and rum flavored raisins. Toilet breaks were very similar to those in Egypt, holes in the ground and you needed to supply your own tp. We stopped at a scenic spot to take pictures of the rift valley. I chose this moment to play with my new camera and erase all pictures taken thus far...oops. Thank-god for travel mates and their knowledge of all things camera, they taught me how to use the panorama setting. There was also a shop there roadside and we went in with the intention of buying little to nothing. Bloody hell. Between the four of us, two large wooden chairs, one small wooden chair, 25 postcards, three fabric wall hangings, spoons, t-shirts, book marks, and more. We also discovered to our delight that Kelly is a master bargainer, he got the price down to half of the initial offer from the seller. In fact the shop guy gave up his bargaining duties and had the owner come over to debate with Kelly, I was very impressed. In future I plan to take lessons from him, he didn't yell, he didn't freak out he just planted his feet stayed calm and pleasant and got his asking price. I think Joshua was a bit taken aback when we loaded the van up.

I had ceased to pay attention as we drove, choosing instead to focus my attention on an Eve Ensler book I had bought when Emily shouted "Look at that!" It was our first African wildlife spotting, a Thompson's gazelle just hanging out by the roadside. Shortly after we came across some baboons, and then giraffes meandered across the road in front of us. Fuckin awesome.

When we arrived at the lodge it was quite something. There was a massive thorn wall around the place, and the inside was beautiful. From our rooms you could see a watering hole where Masai people brought their cattle and washing up. We had lunch out on a patio surrounded by tropical flowers, you would have had to slap the grins off of our faces. After we had unpacked and had a chance to look around Joshua took us on our first game drive...

Safari Part One

We were so excited. Everything had been packed for days, extra batteries had been bought, flashlights found, etc etc. After months of planning, we were more than ready. Our flight was due to leave at 11:45pm, around 9pm our friends arrived in a taxi to pick us up. Our traveling companions were Emily and Kelly two residents of a tiny northern Ontario town called Wawa. They have known each other since the age of four, been through school together and then University. When they graduated they decided to go into international work together so they headed to Egypt, which is where Valerie and I met them. They work at the same school as Valerie and I.

Anyway we arrived at the airport and checked our bags, everything was going well, no long line ups. Our flight is through Kenya Air, which is fun because I have never been on their airline before. We even bumped into some of the other teachers from the school who were also on our flight they were doing a safari through Uganda to see the Mountain Gorillas. So we board our plane and wait. About an hour after we had boarded the plane there is an announcement that some part of the plane is faulty and needed to be replaced, and that we would be sitting and waiting for the part to be fixed before leaving. Which would be fine except we were all sitting in a closed airplane with no real ventilation and it began to get very uncomfortable. It was hot and the air was very dry, and they wouldn't let us get off or open the doors. The man next to me kept asking for water and I was worried he was going to pass out. Finally after 3 hours they let us back into the airport where we discovered what was going on. The Egyptians had decided that the part the Kenyans wanted wasn't necessary so instead of finding it they told the Kenyans to take off. The Kenyans said no, they wouldn't go without the piece. Anyway they argued about it until 5:45 am, when finally the part was replaced and we took off. The flight to Kenya was about 6 hours from Cairo with a quick stopover in Khartoum. We arrived in Kenya a bit nervous, we weren't sure if we were going to be met in Nairobi or not. And Emily couldn't remember where she had put the contact info for our safari. Also during out wait we had time to sit down and read our lonely planets which made us a little bit more uneasy. According to the Lonely planet, Nairobi is now the most dangerous city in Africa even beating out Johannesburg, it is commonly referred to as Nai-robbery.

We were met by our guide-to-be Joshua, and he was great. He taught us the swahili word for welcome: karibu! As we walked out of the Nairobi airport we saw our first glimpse of our safari van, it was super, a mini-van with a customized roof that pops up and allows for picture taking. Joshua worked for a company called Safari Line who would be taking care of our Kenya stay. We had about an hours drive from the airport into Nairobi proper where we stayed at a hotel. It was an interesting drive, Kenya is much cleaner and orderly looking than Egypt. The people do not look as poor, and there appears to be a solid infrastructure. Even so as we stopped in traffic people started to appear trying to sell us things (see picture). Joshua warned us to keep our windows closed because the sellers would try to grab things within reach. The variety of things for sale was amazing, you could buy Milhouse dolls on sticks, hats, shirts, fruit, perfume, and freshly roasted peanuts. Valerie leaned out and bought some peanuts from a young man with a big smile. We saw lots of brightly coloured buses and several with theme paint jobs, we saw a David Beckham bus, and several Obama buses (his father was Kenyan).

Our experience in Nairobi was strange. We saw so much fear and so much security but we didn't feel threatened or scared. Everyone we met was helpful and kind. We even went out at night to a restaurant and walked back to our hotel (something both the guide book and our tour operator told us not to do). Perhaps we were naive, I don't think so. We went to sleep that night, excited and exhausted. We were in Africa!!!

Happy New Year!

Well I don't have enough time or a fast enough Internet connection to post about the trip right now. However I will say this: IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

Also it turns out none of the courses offered this summer at VIU are useful to me so I will be spending my summer in Cairo again from the end of April to mid July.

For the next few days I will be in the Sinai buying goats and taking lots of pictures.

I arrive back in Canada on January 6th, you probably won't hear anything from me until then.

And tonight...Nairobi!!

We leave from Cairo tonight!! I AM SO EXCITED!!

This is our itinerary, we aren't staying at any of the lodges listed, we will be camping. I started my anti-malarial meds yesterday morning. I wasn't going to bother but apparently there is some new super-duper strain of malaria which can kill you in 24 hours so pills it is.

Kind of a funny aside here but you can walk into a pharmacy in Cairo and buy any pill over the counter. Valerie didn't need a prescription to get her anti-malarial she just walked in and showed them my bottle. Imagine the possibilities...

After a 6 hour flight we arrive at Nairobi (which is apparently also know as Nai-robbery). From there the four of us, jet-lagged and probably confused looking white people, will attempt to navigate our way to the hotel.

I think it is safe to assume that once we are on our way I probably won't have access to the Internet.

I will be in the Serengeti for Christmas morning. :)

Anyway best of the holiday season to all my friends!

The whale has been edited...

The whale has been improved upon. I think the new artistic sensibility comes from the theme of the morning after as the whale is now sporting red blood-shot eyes, and a boner. Really it was just a matter of time. See if you can spot the changes, sort of a fun wheres Waldo kind of game.

My favorite.

This kid is awesome. He doesn't do anything half way. His passion for everything is astounding. I wish I had some of his verve. I took this picture when he was goalie in a footy game, look at that concentration!

I'm just like the beatles*

When my students from last year saw me they screamed! They all came running at me, hugging me, and saying "Miss Naomi! Miss Naomi! Will you do drama with us??? We thought you weren't coming back! Look we can still do your dances!" I was so touched, it was really nice to see them all again.


*Except for the money, adoration of millions, and musical genius.

Its getting cold in here so put on all your clothes...

This morning when we arrived at school there was frost on the ground. We could even see our breathe in the cold morning air! WTF? The sun is out but there is a very dry cold that settles on Cairo at this time of year. The worst is being out in the desert. Guess where we are going after Tanzania and Kenya? The desert. Last time we went out into the Sinai desert at X-mas time it was frigid. The nights were so cold we slept in all of the clothes we had brought with us. Brrrr

In other news I hear my Canadian friends have snow...ha ha!

Total Loss

There is a brand of candy made in Holland called Total Loss. How do I know this? I spent 7 hours in the Amsterdam airport wandering around peering at things through a jet lagged haze.

So lets see where to begin...

My Aunt, Cousin and Clara the German exchange student arrived in Nanaimo on Friday. We spent the day showing exploring Nanaimo. We returned home only to discover that Jimmy had taken over the living room with some of his buddies in order to play some kind of online game. We giggled amongst ourselves, at the follies of geeks killing Zombies, as we went upstairs. Ha ha ha nerds, we laughed as we sat there watching youtube videos of the muppets (Danny boy and mahna mahna). Clearly we were much cooler. Saturday we headed down Island through Chemainus and Duncan and onto Victoria. We checked into the swan hotel down near the harbour and had dinner at the reef (go there!! Best food ever!!). That night we made our way out to Butchart Gardens to see their annual X-mas light display. About ten years ago Valerie treated Heather, Kim, Cameron and myself to the same adventure and we had always planned to go back. It was a bitter sweet evening. The lights and displays were delightful but there was a certain sadness that comes with all things related to Cameron. We left the island Sunday morning.

I stayed in Vancouver until Tuesday night when I flew out to Cairo via Amsterdam. I really like being back in the Gypt. I arrived at 2:15 am Cairo time and Valerie and I stayed up chatting until nearly 6am. I am not quite back on schedule yet, this morning I think I was awake around 4am. yesterday we went to a giant craft fair that was held at a local sporting club. To say the least it was a little strange. To be in a Islamic country walking around booths with home made christian X-mas trinkets was surreal. Some of the items on display: Italian designer knitwear, homemade cookies, Kenyan crafts, alabaster crafts, dollar store style X-mas trinkets, Bedouin jewellery, aprons made of fabric covered in ancient Egyptian designs, etc, etc. Almost all of Valerie's co-workers were there, they all had this week off in celebration of Eid.

I don't know whether or not I will get paid for doing any work at the school. There is a slight possibility I will be working with a sixth grade class for a week. I will be doing drama with at least two of the classes, Valerie's current class and her class from last year. There are a lot of new teachers at the school and they all seem pretty cool.

I have been offered a position teaching summer school again this summer and I am mulling it over.

Valerie has her sites set on positions for next year. I think the most likely scenario is her moving to Syria and working in Damascus. The owners of CISE are opening a new school there and she is hopeful they will consider her for one of the initial positions.

Exit, Naomi, stage right

Tomorrow at 6:30pm I shall be leaving. My flight routes through Amsterdam, I have about 7 hours in the airport. Usually with these trips I have so many last minute things to do and so much running around to get done. This time I have almost everything covered. I need to find some first nations cards and a book to read in Amsterdam but aside from that everything is ready. I will be in Cairo until the 19th and then we fly from there to Kenya, and then onto Tanzania from there. After Tanzania I fly back to Cairo for a few days and then home again, home again jiggedy jog. I don't know if there will be any work lined up for me over the holidays but I will be doing a stomp workshop with Valerie's class.

Funny

I know he has caused quite the fuss in Britain for his hijinks on the radio but I get a kick out of Russel Brand.

Africa!

I'm going to Africa in 6 sleeps!!!!

The new and more absorbant model

I finally have my diagnosis, I know why I haven't been well. I have a disorder that amongst other things makes my insulin levels very high. Which means I am at risk for diabetes. So now I have to start on a low carb, low sugar, lame diet. Basically I can't eat any baked goods, salt, popcorn, pizza, potatoes, fried foods, ice cream, and any candy or anything that tastes good. Which considering my eating habits means some major changes. Changes that aren't happening over night. Tonight I bought myself some rice pudding, big no-no, and I ate it all! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was fine but today I had a bad moment.

There are some other aspects to my disease that aren't sitting well and I am trying to take it all in. It isn't easy. I have to make major changes in the way I live my life or I could get very sick. I don't want to wallow, but I have to take some time to let this all sink in. It is one thing to yo-yo diet because you want to lose weight, it is another thing entirely to be told you have to eat a certain way or you will get diabetes or worse.

Because it has been a billion years since i last did one of these...

Your fairy is called Berry Goblinfilter

She is a bringer of riches and wealth.

She lives in fruit orchards and vineyards.

She is only seen on midsummer's eve.

She wears red, cerise and purple berry colours. She has gentle green wings like a butterfly.

Get your free fairy name here!

Poopsy McGee and Poopsy McGoo

I believe this child may be half alien, her energy is astounding.

Never trust my judgement

I talked my roomie into wearing this, at the party, earlier in the afternoon.

The knee bones connected to the something bone...

I can't believe how much I am enjoying school. Anthropology was the right choice. I am fascinated by all the biological stuff I am learning, particularly the skeletal structure. What I found most interesting this morning, as I was going through a box of human bones, is the amount of variation that exists on the inside of the body. We are all as different on the inside as we are on the outside. How cool is that? Right yes, not at all really, I'm a giant nerd. :)

I don't really have anything interesting to post at the moment. Which is probably just as well, Terry Pratchett wrote in one of his books of an ancient curse "May you live in interesting times."
Which is funny and apt because of course interesting times are always times of change and often conflict.

At any rate I will be posting as often as possible when I am in Africa. I am so excited about this trip, I try to fit the word Africa into almost every conversation I have these days.

The end of an era

Juli the German intern leaves today on a jet-plane for Brussels. I took her over to Vancouver on Monday and we spent three days poking around in a wet and miserable city.

When I got back late Wednesday my new roommate has moved in, and there was a funny smell.
As it turns out Jimmy the new roommate had to move out of his last place in a bit of a hurry so he stashed his things all over the place. Rather unfortunetly for him one of the places he stashed his things (in particular his mattress) was inundated with fish guts. Yes, his mattress was marinated in fish guts. So he got it steam cleaned with some fancy chemicals resulting in the funny smell. So my house still smells a little bit weird. Jimmy doesn't drink, he seems very respectful, and he fixed my internet.

Ladies and Gentlemen...my new roommate

His name is Jimmy, and I stole this picture from facebook. He is a theatre student at VIU. Honest to god he is almost exactly like Ryan at 19 it is a little scary.

Motherfuck!

In order to get into Tanzania and Kenya you have to have the yellow fever vaccine. I got mine yesterday along with Hep A, Typhoid, and Polio. Good times. Then this morning I got an email from my mother. The clinic will not give her a vaccination for yellow fever because she is over 60. Apparently there is a 1 in 40 000 -50 000 chance, that when injected with the vaccine for yellow fever, people over 60 experience multiple organ failure. She has already paid for the tickets. I'm fairly certain there will be some way around this it is just a frustrating process.

A cunning plan

A few years ago I watched an episode of sex and the city where Carrie had to defend her lifestyle to a married woman with children. She wondered why in this day and age we only celebrate rituals for families. Seriously, all of my friends who get married have big parties for their weddings. When people have children there is the inevitable oohs and aaahs and baby showers. As a single woman who has no impending children or wedding in the near future, I ask you...wheres my party?? So when I turn (shudder) 30 next year, I am going to celebrate it like an anti-wedding. I will have a fabulous gown, a big party and there had better be presents and friends from afar!! I know that Amber wanted a party like this for her birthday so I invite her and any other ladies of a similar age to come and celebrate with me, we will get gourgous gowns, a ridiculous cake, and dance the night away on August 25th 2009!

creme de la creme

I'm going to miss Julie the German intern. We are having so much fun together. Tonight I was sitting here innocently doing my homework when I hear this funny little sputter from behind me.
Me: Why are you drinking whipped cream?
Her: Oooh no wonder the milk tastes so strange.

So she decides that her banana bread would taste nice with whipped cream, and enters into the kitchen. We have no electric mixer so she decides to whip the cream by hand. That was about 20 minutes ago. Right now she is seated in front of the tv still whipping away. I don't have the heart to tell her its just not going to happen :)

We spent the night at Jessica's earlier this week and Julie decided it would be ok to steal some of Jessica's fancy chocolate. She is such a funny girl. When we were at the turtle she would borrow people's toothbrushes and sneak into boys bedrooms and steal their covers.

Decisions, decisions

I met a potential roommate this morning.  I am a little uncertain.  He is a theatre student, young, and comes across as a little naive.  I need a roommate and I need one soon for financial reasons.  He really needs a place to live.  

Reasons I am hesitating:

He was evicted from the last place

He told me he wants to have a "porno party" he plans to screen the full length pirates porn film.  

He is young (read immature)

Reasons I think I might offer him the place:

I have references from three people

He is a theatre geek - kind of my people

He seems nice if a little less than brilliant

I am going to draw up an agreement between the two of us and get him to sign it outlining some rules.  I will also provide him a document outlining what I will provide for him (ie cable, internet, phone).  He is less than ideal but I think he might be ok for the next few months.