Pub Nite

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End.

Unfortunately for this blog, as it is a travel blog, my not traveling precludes it from being continued.

Look forward to my forays in Canada and Botswana, coming soon enough.

So until next time, Adios!

Siba Bulungi!

I am standing condiments

Everyone thank Jane for this blog post title. She misread the name of my blog... Gosh... WTF?

Anywho, this blog post is dedicated to reporting on Ling Ling, the Chinese restaurant in Jinja.

So Aashish and I were supposed to meet coworkers at Ling Ling last night for dinner. They didn't exactly come, so Aashish and I were the only two people in the restaurant the majority of the time. If you are curious as to what Ugandan Chinese is, I guarantee we were curious too. We started with an egg roll apiece. Essentially it was cabbage lightly sauteed with a pinch of salt, then rolled into egg rolls and fried. Tasty. I then had spicy shredded beef, and Aashish had veggie fried noodles. At this point we were still the only people in the restaurant. As we paid and left, two people wandered in. Awkward, but good enough Chinese...

The weekend was nice and relaxing, with hanging with people, meeting people for lunch, etc. Sunday we were invited to my host sister Irene's house for lunch. She made a whole spread, including different types of rice. It was delicious, as we expected. The kids were VERY energetic, and we played for a while before I dispensed with giving some gifts (markers and scissors), and it became evident how long it has been since I was a little kid. With two sets, I left one at Mama's house because the kids are there every day, and giving out the other set, Joseph and Blessing began to fight and cry and scream and I had to take them back until I added the other set and then gifted them together.

CUtting this short, I have to go now.

Whatevs.

See you back in the states!

Ecclesiastes/ The Byrds

Unlike past blog posts, this one will not be whimsical in nature, and the sarcasm will be significantly toned down.

It is with regret that I blog on the death of one of the community members in Naminya, reducing the number of people involved in my bakery project from 25 to 24. Margret was also part of the community the FSD team at St. Francis worked with on their demonstration farm project. A TASO client and then a St. Francis client since the mid 1990s, Margret was the community organizer for the group. Late Monday night she was taken to St. Francis for tetanus, and the next day she was moved to the regional referral hospital in Jinja. She passed on Wednesday afternoon. She was 58 years old with 2 children.

Most of this unknown to my coworkers and I, we went to Naminya from TASO on Wednesday around 11 to have a community meeting. Upon arrival we discovered all that had transpired and left to return to the hospital (TASO is on the hospital grounds) to visit Margret and her family. She was in what appeared to me to be a dying room, set aside from the other patients in the ward in her own room. She was sprawled on a bed, struggling to take in air. Shortly after we left she passed on.

The next day we were informed that the funeral was in Bujawali (near Naminya), so Aashish and I joined Norah, our baking trainer, as she had also expressed interest in going to the funeral. Upon arrival the funeral was bursting with people. We found the other community members we worked with and together observed as the funeral passed from phase to phase. People were sitting everywhere in every square inch of shade, hundreds of people spread out over a vast area. Then the pall bearers carried the wooden coffin to the grave site, accompanied by a call and response prayer and song led by a woman in the community. The pastor led prayers and the coffin was lowered, and then men began filling in dirt. They then laid iron sheet and cemented over the grave. The ceremony then continued with prayers for the heir, traditionally the daughter of the deceased's brother. Then the service ended and after a few moments Aashish, Norah, and I bade farewell to the community members and made our way back to the main road in order to arrange transport home.

The entire experience was somewhat unusual. As one of the only Mzungus (white folk/foreigners) in attendance, I got a lot of stares. But Margret was a member of our community, and I felt it was more than appropriate that I attend the funeral.

Hopefully the allusion in the title isn't lost on anyone. If it is, youtube the song Turn Turn Turn, or just open the book of Ecclesiastes.

Hopefully my next installment will be on a happier note.

Tell the men that their accoutrements are out of order

Hi! Did you miss me? Too bad, I am STILL blogging. It has been a while, yes, but now I am back, and better than ever. And if you don't believe me, okay, whatevs.

Let's create the table of contents on the last week and a half or so:

1. Nile Friday and Burna's Birthday

2. Chill Day and Sunday

3. Last Week

4. Sipi

Starting with #1:

I didn't get to go to the development speaker because we had a rather annoying meeting that lasted way too long and covered way too little to be worth missing my speaker, but I did. So forget that, but I did get to go on the Nile Breweries tour. A bunch of us GESI folk met at the factory gates and were led around by Herbert (Don't ask who Herbert is, I don't exactly know. He knows my host sister's husband, Frank, who is the assistant technical manager at the plant). The tour of the manufacturing process kind of sucked, but then we got a tour of the bottling plant, and mechanization is just really cool to watch. After the tour ended, we hung out in this pavilion-type area where they gave us a ton of beer and we chilled for a few hours. Best tour ending ever, even if the beer was kind of crappy.

Which brings me to Bruna's Birthday. We went to Leoz for Indian food, then Bruna and Kenny from KORD in Kakira met us to go to a club called Spot 6, a fun bar. So we partied there for a while, dancing our hearts out (we were the only white people dancing, and the only white people, and the only people dancing), and having a grand old time. I am not sure why exactly, but I got a free hat. Neat, right? Kenny wound up sleeping over at Mama Robinah's house, and we chilled most of the day on Saturday at home and in town, and then Sunday happened rather uneventfully, with only a few gastrointestinal bumps along the way.

And now we discuss last week. We FINALLY brought the oven to Naminya and had oven training! They learned to make cake, cookies, and bread (the bread was legit good). We bought the community's first cake, which said "First Cake," and shared it with TASO for Maddie's (another FSD intern working at TASO, she is doing soap making, today was her last day) birthday that was that Monday. Also, for the Wednesday staff meeting our community supplied 300 half cakes, which was a great opportunity to showcase our products to all of TASO.

And now, this past weekend: FSD had a retreat to Sipi Falls, which northeast of Mbale (if anyone cares), at Mt. Elgon national park. We hiked the falls, had AMAZING local lunch and coffee (best. avocados. ever.), and had lots of time to ourselves. I was inducted into the world of bananagrams (for better or for worse. Peel!), and it was really chill. We stopped in Mbale on the way back for lunch, and at the restaurant some Bollywood film that Aashish recognized was on TV. I totally called that in one song number people on motorcycles would start riding behind the main character and his girl friend and dance, and then it happened, and it was awesome. The movie was set in Switzerland? Whatevs, who cares really.

And now I am back in Jinja, chilling after a long day working on our community's business plan, wondering how things will go once we leave Jinja and come back to the States.

I also discovered that Maddie is planning on bringing a machete back in her luggage. I think I might want to be afraid of her.

More later, when there is more to say.

Adios!

Also, Aashish, if you read this, Sezi's wedding.

Nile Special

Right, since my last post I have had a number of fun experiences. Starting with Thursday Afternoon, I went to the national Agricultural Show, held in Jinja, and it was kind of like a big county or state fair, or so I am told as I really don't frequent fairs as such in the States. Maybe I should start... There were lots of booths and whatnot, and somewhat ironically, the booth that was most comfortable to sit in, and with good shade, was Britania American Tobacco... And tobacco companies claim to be innocent... It was really good, although at one point I got caught in a flood of running school children in the opposite direction... That was uncomfortable. The rest of the week was largely uneventful.

Which brings me to Saturday. Really, it brings me to Saturday afternoon, because I slept in and was kind of lazy, along with Aashish. Margaret and my host brother Dennis left for Margaret's farm, but on the way we stopped to get citrus fruits (mixed variety) from this lady with a huge compound. Apparently land just isn't sold that large anymore in Jinja. That was a lot of fun, and then I bummed around in town before going to Adrift with a bunch of people who wanted to go bungee jumping again. I am not suicidal, so I remained firmly on land, but it is a fun and beautiful place to just hang out for an afternoon. From there I went to NRE, a camp site on the nile, where we spent the night before rafting on Sunday. NRE is kind of like a chill party in some respects, and the night was a lot of fun, even if the food was way slow in coming out of the kitchen.

Which brings us to Sunday. On Sunday I, along with six other guys from GESI (it was the guys boat, Kenny got stuck elsewhere), and our rafting guide Peter hit the river. We went balls to the wall on class 4 and 5 rapids, and in the morning we got flipped every time except one. In the afternoon we rafted down a waterfall, which was awesome, and didn't fall out, save Aashish (it was like he and the raft were both positively charged ions... Unable to stand each other in close proximity). Flipping was really intense in the morning because you weren't always sure which way was up, and you couldn't really see what was coming once you were no longer in the raft. We all drank a lot of the Nile that day. The joke is that there is a crappy beer in Uganda called Nile Special, and that it tastes surprisingly like the Nile... any difference? jk.

Well, this week at TASO has been kind of a disaster, and our plans totally fell apart. Our community removed the shelter we were using from the space they have, so we couldn't bring the oven there. It became clear comm. channels were kind of crappy, so we have been working on that, while at the same time rebuilding the shelter. Yesterday I carried logs for the new shelter. Logs are heavy. Especially going over 1 kilometer up and down hills. And the old ladies carry them on their heads... Way jealous.

In any event, tomorrow we have a lecture on development in Africa, and then a tour of Nile Breweries. We get to see first hand the difference between nile water and Nile Special :)

Yea, that's about all for now.

A Friend Named Sharon / Robinson Mocks Irene

Hello and welcome once again to my blog, the best blog in the world. I regret to inform you all that I am alive and well, and potentially kicking and screaming if the circumstances warrant such behavior. Jinja is sufficiently distant from Kampala that any latent flying debris will not reach me, although the far more interesting question is how such debris managed to defy gravity in their perpetually hovering state. Just thought you all might want to know.

Anywho, it has been an interesting number of days since I last posted, and a few things have happened. But first, the requisite explanation of my blog post. This post's title is shared between two things as both are entertaining experiences I have had since I last plagued you all with my blarney. The first half of the title refers to a time last week when Aashish and I were walking home, and a high school girl asked if she could be our friend because she had once met and befriended a few mzungus (foreigners), and enjoyed the experience. The friendship lasted for approximately two and a half blocks, when she turned for her home and we continued to walk straight to our home. She left a lasting impression, and I will greatly miss my dear friend Sharon for eternity. The other half of my title refers to an occurrence on Monday at TASO when Irene asked a question of our boss, Robinson, and his response to Irene was to repeat the question back in a mocking tone while he signed papers. He then answered her question. We all thought it rather funny, and appreciate that Robinson and the TASO staff have gotten used to us egg-headed Americans around.

So, getting on with it. Much has happened since I last posted, as I have mentioned. The thursday after we met Nora, we put together a preliminary budget that got torn to pieces, and then on Friday we made a much better budget that remained intact through multiple, rigorous rounds of scrutiny. We got ourselves an oven maker named Ben, and he is building us a local oven. He actually began today after we were able to pay him an initial installment on his work. It will be done this Friday. But back to last week-

Friday after work Aashish and I hung out at home because we were very tired, and then I made a huge mistake in lifting one of my host nephews in an awkward position and kind of hurt my back a bit, so I called it a day, and by Saturday it was feeling a lot better. Saturday Aashish and I spent at Flavours, a mzungu cafe with free wifi, and then at a bar watching the 3rd place match. The place we went to had a projector and screen set up outside, so they moved chairs to the sidewalk, and it was really nice and chill. Sunday a bunch of people from the other villages came to town to go bungee jumping, and we all hung out for the afternoon at this place called Adrift, which is located along the Nile. That evening we went for Indian food at Leoz, and watched the final match at 2 Friends, a mzungu restaurant near my house, but with a really big screen, and it was packed to the gills with people watching. Unfortunately it wasn't the year of the Dutch...

This is the part when bombs go off in Kampala, which is NOT near me. I did not discover that anything had happened until the next morning, and at that point internet was down for Eastern Uganda if UTL was your provider, which I think all of Eastern Uganda uses UTL, or almost all of it... not important.

Moving on with my thoughts:
Monday we spent most of the day waiting for money to arrive from our grant from FSD so that we could go shopping as training for the bakery began yesterday, and we needed ingredients and a few supplies.
Tuesday Sue and I went to Naminya with Nora and we had a 5.5 hour session, where we taught how to make donuts, cow pea samosas, and daddies (they are small, tasty, and deep fried, and I can't come up with what they are in English, or if they have a name in the States...). Then last night the community sold the goods we baked. It was a lot of fun, but the internet where I am is about to be shut off, so I feel a need to hurry right now, so no more description.

Today I have simply done accounting for our project, which is boring.

Later! Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to type more.

****Right, so I couldn't post this yesterday, so now it is tomorrow. I only have a moment, but I want to discribe my host aunt who is staying with my family right now because she is AWESOME. She currently runs a farm, two businesses, and a second hand sale business with items she collects in the US. She used to live in Manhattan and work for the UN, and she has been all over the world. I took tea with her yesterday, and spent hours talking to her. It was a wonderful evening, and I hope she is still there when I get back because I want to know more about her life.

Things still going well.

TTFN

NATUPLWAS Community Bakery. Mind your Business!

Good morning! And a wonderful morning it is. Why, might you ask? Because this morning it was raining, now it is cloudy, and overall it is cool, not hot humid and gross! I didn't sweat my ass off this morning walking to TASO! Anyway, this excites me...

So, since Saturday... Much has happened.

Starting with Sunday, FSD took all of us Jinja GESI folk to Kampala to watch a show of traditional dance and music. It was a fairly good show, even though the MC talked far too much. Also, he made an awkward joke about the North aht the Acholi... But aside from that it was fascinating to see the traditional dances of Uganda. Around the country, all of the dances involve an amazing motor, with their hips moving side to side for minutes on end. All of us were highly impressed at the core strength required to maintain such a dance for as long as the women did.
Of course, Sunday was the Fourth of July, and at the end of the show the MC asked for birthdays. One girl in the audience shouted out that it was America's birthday, and all of the Americans proceeded down to the stage where we sang Happy Birthday to America, and also one other girl who was in the audience. All in all it was a very good day.

Which brings us to Monday. We went wit hRobinson, our boss at TASO, and his trusty sidekick Martin to Naminya, the community that we will be working with. We had a meeting with NATUPLWAS (the HIV positive group formed by TASO in Naminya) to gauge the community's interest in different projects. They were very interested in forming a bakery, and after much deliberation internally, my fellow group mates and I decided to move forward with the Bakery project. On tuesday we had an FSD meeting to discuss the bakery project, and tried to do some market research for the bakery, though Sunrise Bakery in Jinja wasn't working.

Which brings us to yesterday, a breakthrough day. Robinson put us in contact with a woman named Nora, who is a client of TASO and bakes, and she joined Martin and us when we went to Naminya to discuss the bakery further. We then did some budget research by checking prices on materials and a whole bunch of misc. stuff. Nora cut us sugar cane to chew on while we discussed the technicalities of creating the bakery.

In other news, Netherlands won (YAY) , and Germany lost (Boooooooo), and the world cup continues. Aashish and I found a place in town where they project the game on a big sheet, so we can watch games on a big screen. Jorum now has Malaria, and while Joseph is getting better slowly, he apparently also has sickle cell, which sucks. Blessing is still totally fine. All three now like me becuase I can bribe them with candy and pick them up. Things are going well, and I have more or less run out of news.

Oh, one more thing! We met Menonites! They live across from where NATUPLWAS meets, and they have been there for just short of three years on a mission. They were very nice.

Now that's all.

Lehit!

God is a goat?

Before anything else is said, I feel that I need to clarify something from my last blog post: NOT ALL UGANDAN FOOD IS BAD. My host mom, Mama Robinah (or just Mama), is an amazing cook and I truly enjoy eating meals at home.

Now that this has been established...

This week has been an interesting one. Orientation went until Wednesday at mid day, when we went for lunch to Mama's house. She hosted all of GESI because she has a large compound close to the Zamo hotel, where we were staying. It is a big, old house, and I will take pictures of it for the future, as well as some of her amazing plants and trees. After all, she is in the plant business, one would hope lots of green might be present...

Mama is 56, with 5 children. Her husband died in 1984. Her oldest daugher, Irene, is a primary school teacher, is 36, recently married, and with 3 children. Joseph is 7, Blessing is 5, and Jorum is 1.5. All are very cute. Jorum is afraid of Aashish and I, Blessing is busy extorting candy and being picked up out of me, and Joseph has Malaria, but this morning I did manage to have a short conversation with him.

The next two sons live at home, and they are Dennis (34), and Daniel (30). Dennis went to institution for Information Technology. He is currently unemployed and helps Mama with chores and the flower business. Daniel just finished exams for business school. He has one more year.

The last two brothers are abroad. David just finished studying law in London, and Duncan is studying law in India.

Mama is Pentecostal, and very devout. She has been to the States for a Christian conference, and is very active in church life at her congregation. At some point this summer I will go to church with her. She also loves gospel music, and most nights she takes her dinner in her room to watch gospel tv before bed.

Thursday was my first day at TASO (The Aids Support Organisation), the NGO I will be working with. They are kind of in a mess right now because a colleague is in trouble and our boss has to deal with it, but we were able to get a good sense of how the organization worked, and we were informed of what we will be doing this summer. We will be working with a community called Naminya, not far from Jinja, in implementing an Income Generating Activity to help widows affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. We will meet them on monday and begin to identify the project that we will eventually implement.

In terms of leisure, on Tuesday we visited Bujagali falls, a beautiful section of the Nile that will soon no longer exist as a hydro dam is being built upstream. We were very happy to see the falls, especially since their fate is doomed.

*I just tried to upload images, but it takes more time than I have to wait... Maybe later*

Continuing on, Thursday after work we met a woman named Judith who works at TASO for drinks. We also met Sue's (one of my GESI coworkers) friend from William and Mary who is traveling through Africa. And then last night. We went to Backpackers, a hostel near our home stay, to watch the World Cup games. the St. Francis GESI group came, as well as Luna and Bruna from KORD. Bruna, being a Paulistana, was crushed when Brazil lost to the Netherlands. Personally, I liked KLM as an airline, good for the Dutch. It was a great game. BUT all of Jinja seemed to favor Brazil, and things only got worse for Pan-Africanism when Ghana lost as well...

That's about all for now. This morning I slept in, read some of my book, Aashish and I had lunch with our host sister Irene before coming to Indulge, the cafe in which I now sit, because it has the best internet according to an FSD intern named Maddie.

TTFN!

If anyone ever asks to take you out for Ugandan food, politely but firmly refuse immediately

So I am now in Uganda, in Jinja, in an internet cafe, having just eaten lunch, getting oriented to my new surroundings. To be clear about the title of this post, Ugandan food is edible, there is just not a single damn thing unique or special about it...

In other news though (and I am sure my mom is wondering why the hell I bothered mention the food as my intro to this post, so this part must come as a welcome change in topic), the weather is great, it is sunny but not too hot, and Uganda is a beautiful country. we arrived last night shortly after sunset in Entebbe, and from the get go the process of getting used to Uganda was jump started in getting our visas. The immigration people decided to collect our passports (23 of us) together, go through them one at a time, and then they tried to send us to baggage claim, saying they would bring us our documents in a little bit. Needless to say, that didn't fly, and we took turns standing there and pulling our luggage off the baggage claim because they took so long. But we got out, got our luggage in order, all have our passports, and drove to Jinja. We got here around midnight, and there were some hotel issues involving space, so 12 of us had to go to a different hotel (myself included), which is now going to house the rest of us as they are moving there this afternoon, and... Everything is kind of organized chaos.

My host mom, Mama Robinah, is hosting the entire group for lunch on Wednesday, and I am excited to meet her. She apparently lives very close to our current hotel.

Not to be abrupt, but I am out of time.

Later!

Coming soon to an internet browser near you:

Next week begins my adventures to Uganda, which will be listed on this here very blog, assuming I find an internet connection nearby.

Just an FYI

Hello from the comfort of my home in Lincolnwood, IL. I have been home for a little under a week, and I am finally getting around to doing this.

Here is the photo montage I made for IHP during the retreat.

Enjoy!

Massively revised game plan!!! YAY for Brazil!

New game plan, final revision. Ask me in person about Vietnam, I am going to talk about Brazil now.

Whatevs, I am lazy.

Brazil:

Brazil is a wonderful country full of color, life, and sunlight (stark contrast to Hanoi b/c of the pollution). Sao Paulo is no different. I will admit, it is an odd city with crappy sidewalks, and it is HUGE, but it is also really beautiful in an unexpected, hodge-podge kind of way...

My host parents are interesting people. My host mom is an IT journalist and French-Portugese translator. My host dad is a retired high school philosophy teacher and avid astrologist for the past 25 years; he still studies as well as teaches astrology. The two of them are eccentric, but nice. They just moved apartments, and apart from periodic spats with the cable company over the TV, internet, and phone line, they are moved in. She is a wonderful cook with an affinity for schnitzel...? Whatever, it tastes good.

Our country coordinator Glenda is Ballin! She is a translator professionally and has gotten great stuff lined up for us. She is married with a small daughter who is sooooo cute and never seems to run out of energy. Her assistant is Sylvia, a linguistics student about to graduate, and she is so helpful and young and energetic and willing to show us stuff to do. The two of them are a fantastic duo that have logistics down pat. They are also no-nonsense, which is soooo0 nice as IHP students are so rediculous some times (as students are wont to be... I admit it...).

Our first full day in Sao Paulo we went to a churascaria, sooo much fun. There were endless skewers of meat in rotation, and although some of it was actually legit raw (or as close to raw as possible while stil not entirely raw), the rest of it was delicious. I also discovered a dessert beer, Brahma Malzbier. It is so sweet and delicious and dark (I missed dark beer sooooo much in Vietnam, land of the Pilsner)! There are a number of good beers in Vietnam, and I will get there in a moment.

Actually, I will get there now... The first weekend we were in SP (Sao Paulo) I met like half the group at this bar in Vila Madalena (fun place to hang at night and on weekends) and we went to this great bar that only serves beer if it is a domestic micro brew. With one or two other people we would share 600 ml bottles of various brews so that we could try as many as possible. I split a REALLY good dark (don´t remember what kind) called Cheers. We also tried a Thank God, which was really bad and tasted kind of like bananas and beans. The last one we shared, I forgot the name, wasn´t bad either. Fun, early night for a bunch of exhausted travelers.

That Wednesday night the Med School we are having our classes at, Santa Casa, threw a party at a bar and club, and we all got invited. Fun night, lots of dancing and all. They had a live band that kind of sucked, but they had a good dj and things picked up. Odd students, we left at like 2 or 3 because we had class the next morning... not the culture in SP, here it is party till 7, don´t go to bed, and go straight to class... Students here are insane. But in a good way. And they throw good parties. There is another one in May, but we won´t be here. Too bad.

There have been other fun times around Sao Paulo after class and on weekends, last vignette on the matter is what I have come to consider my after class hang out spot. So I live in Oscar Friere st, two blocks from a street called Teodoro. A number of students are in homestay off of Teodoro street, and it is fun times. With Joel, my home stay room mate, I go and meet Alex, a girl from the program who lives near us, and we meet at this bar attached to a Japanese restaurant on Teodoro. Two days ago I discovered the Xingu, another dark beer that is tasty and less sweet than the Brahma Malzbier. Anywho, every so often we (Joel, Alex, and I) meet up after class for drinks there and just hang. It might be huge, but Sao Paulo is a very accessible city.

Speaking of managing a city, The Metro is wonderful. It is R$2.65 per entry, and it runs all over the place. That is how Joel and I get to class every day and back, and how I get around. We live off of the Clinicas train stop on the green line. Class is at Santa Cecilia on the red line. Everything is on the red line, the green line, or the blue line that connects them plus extending further in each direction. Also, they are fast and efficient trains, even if at rush hour they are like cattle cars... So much better than the bus as far as I am concerned.

Last week IHP took a trip to Ituverava, a town in Sao Paulo state five hours out of SP city, home of the owning class of the local farms and sugar cane processing factories as well as the population that has grown about that faction. We were special guests of Mayor Matsubara, which was awesome because they were having a Rodeo and Festival and we got full access to the events for free as well as space in his box at the Rodeo for concerts and for the Rodeo itself. I had never been to a rodeo before, and it was a lot of fun. Nobody was hurt. The cutest is when the 4 year olds ride the sheep, it is so funny... There were also concerts, but no artists I had ever heard of (to no surprise). They were fun anyway. Things went way early into the morning. I was hosted by a lovely family. The mom was an administrator for the hospital (and actually gave a presentation), the sister was 24 and worked at the hospital, the son was 17, and the dad a truck driver. They had a huge family, and one night we had a bbq at a cousin´s house, who as it turned out was hosting IHP students too. Was it necessary for the Brazil leg of IHP? No. Was it worth it anyway? Most definitely. Ituverava was a ton of fun.

I am out of stuff to say for now, I am going to go back to working on a project for my methods class on the social marketing of condoms in Brazil...

Adios,

ME!

Okay, new game plan

So my blog post a day to catch up failed in epic proportions. So here's the new idea: fold old stories into new posts.

So first, here's Yen Tu. Then I'll post on my weekend.

Yen Tu was the first sunday I was in homestay. With Francis and Yoshi from a different homestay family, my host brother, and Trang from the ceramics village, we went by van to a place called Yen Tu. It's a big place to go for Buddhists, and we had a nifty time. There is a gondola part way up the mountain, and after that it's all on foot. We climbed to the top very slowly as there were tons of people surging uphill, including old ladies with walking sticks and little children. There is a shrine on top, and that is the place to go. The top of the mountain is cloudy, so you couldn't see how far up till the top, how far down to the bottom, or where people were. It was very windy. Francis and I accidentally walked almost all the way down the mountain instead of taking the gondola. If you are reading this, mom, I know... good exercise.

Now, this past weekend: HALONG BAY!

So IHP took a weekend trip to Halong Bay, this amazing spot where 250 million years ago enormous rocks and mountains were formed sticking out of the water by glacial erosions (I think). We had a boat that took us around, served us meals, we slept on the boat, and there was Karaoke. It was a lot of fun and a great break from class, especially since this past week had been really busy.

*NOW, SPECIAL DISCLAIMER FOR MY LOVING MOTHER: slow internet connection=pain in the ass to upload photos=I'll show you when I get home.

TTFN.

Tea party and chop sticks

The first Saturday we were in home stays (two saturdays ago) my host mom sent me to the ceramics village outside Hanoi (possibly part of Hanoi? Recently the city expanded area-wise five-fold, so I think the village is now actually part of the city...) with a family friend, Trang. Trang's friend came too. Trang and her friend are both in their early thirties and studied Translation and Interpretation for English at Hanoi University, making them excellent conversationalists compared to many here as far as I am concerned. They both work for different NGOs.

At the pottery village was a lot of exquisite work. Mind you, most of it I found gaudy and ugly, but even the gross stuff clearly took time and effort. And there was a lot of pretty stuff too, don't get me wrong. As some people on my program might say, it was a hot mess. It was also the type of thing where it looked like everyone was selling similar stuff, but when you looked closely it was clear how different items were in terms of quality. I bought a tea set for myself, and something nice for my mom (shout out to Sherry!).

Upon returning my host mom sought to stuff me like a thanksgiving turkey for lunch, in which her success was incomplete. Then I met Eddie and Joel and we wandered the old district. This is where chop sticks come in. You see, I had this odd idea that I wanted to buy a set of chopsticks in Vietnam. Sounds pretty simple, right? I mean, chop sticks are everywhere. But it is actually harder than you think as you need to find a design that is aesthetically pleasing, and there are many designs for chop sticks. Finding the perfect fit took a little while. But I managed it. I also got a "Good Morning Vietnam" t-shirt for $1.50 USD (yay purchasing power). We wandered the old city for a while, and while sitting at a street corner bar drinking domestic brews we saw other IHPeople. We then met up with more IHPeople at the nearby lake. Then my story abruptly ends as I had to return for family dinner. But all in all it was a good saturday.

Task List

Okay, I am behind in blogging. I have many things to tell. Here's what's up:

I'm gonna make a list. I hate lists, I'm not a list person, but I am making a list. Each item on the list will be a blog post, and that way I'll be able to catch up. Foreshadowing for all of you, helpful for me.

1. First Saturday

2. Yen Tu

3. Truong Theatre

4. Sapa

5. Hot Pot

Of course, as I never give anything bland names, the titles of the posts might appear differently to y'all. But in essence this is it.

Go team

Play Date and Hanoi Hipster Friday

I don't know when the last time I had a play date was (excluding today)... But now I can safely say that at age 21, a junior in college, I had a play date today. Mind you, it took a little while for that element to become clear, but mark my words, it was a play date.

Two other guys on IHP are living with a family in Ha Noi that knows my host family, and last night it was arranged that they would come over today after class. They were unaware, and it was phrased to me as an invitation rather than a directive. This morning, I clued them in on the invitation. They called home and realized that participation in the planned play date was not optional, and my host brother Long sent a few texts to me during the day reminding me that we were meeting him after class.

We wound up going for some fried street food (chips, and I don't quite know what the other stuff is, though it is some kind of pork) with two of Long's friends from high school. Then came the fun part: getting back to my host home. Keep in mind that Long and I ride bikes to school every day (Long's school is a block or two from the Ha Noi School of Public Health), but Francis and Yoshi live much farther away and take the bus. This meant having them ride on the back of our bikes, which was attempted on an empty street, and didn't work. Yoshi and Francis wound up using a motor bike taxi to my host home, arriving a few minutes before I did on bicycle.

We ate a delicious dinner, and Yoshi and Francis realized just what I mean when I say Dung is trying to fatten me up... sooooo much food. It starts out a reasonable amount of food, and then new dishes come from the kitchen, and at some point you realize there's more food coming. After dinner they gave us some kind of fruit that looks like a big avocado when sliced, but tastes and has a consistency completely different from that of most fruit I am used to. Unfortunately my host family doesn't know the name in English of many of the native fruits we don't get in the States...

After dinner we drank tea and played cards for a while (a game called Attack/Defend), until their host family called my host family and Tang declared the play date over. It was a lot of fun, and it was cute how the Vietnamese host families arranged a play date for us youngsters. It would have been nice to know what was going on, but I gave up on that expectation back in Bushbuckridge, and everything works itself out.

In other news, Today was Hanoi Hipster Friday! which means nothing really, except some people in the class got a cake for HHF (the cake came from a tasty bakery across the street and cost 140,000 VND, or around 7 USD). It looks better than it tasted, but it wasn't bad, and was totally worth more than it cost in flavor and in meaning... Also, we walked past those cakes every single day, and it was really cool to finally have been part of a purchase of one (I think I gave the US equivalent of 50 cents to bring our cake dream to life).

Good night and good luck.

"Why is it that everything I sit or lay down on is hard?" -Abby, IHP student

Amusing comment, but good point. Cushions are not at all common here. Chairs are either plastic or carved wood, other seats are stiff, when sleeping mattresses are only a few inches thick and are stiff... It is odd to me, but surprisingly comfortable, so who can complain?

In other matters, the IHP program in Ha Noi is amazing. I know I've already sung some praise for the coordinators, and I will continue to do so. They have arranged access to such wonderful and informative resources...

Yesterday we went to the Hospital of Traditional Medicine, the leading TM hospital in Vietnam and WHO partner for the region. We heard from some of their top staff and a received personal tour of the facilities. This morning we had a speaker on urbanization, and visited a waste management facility (which was neat, even if it smelled and was full of flies). Tomorrow we have a discussion on Agent Orange and the Vietnam (or Anti-American) war... I don't know that I've been this impressed all semester, and Jeremy did a spectacular job in DC as country coordinator, so that says something.

In other news, my host mom is back from Cambodia. Her name is Dung (pronounced Zun? I don't understand the connection between spelling and pronouncing names in Viet Nam...) and is very nice. She also speaks no English and cooks mad crazy amounts of food... My first experience with her cooking involved a 4-eggs scrambled and 4 pieces of toast breakfast, of which I ate a third (much to her dismay). Her idea of a snack is half a watermelon, and then some. She is a wonderful cook, and she is being a wonderful host according to custom, I just can't eat that much and I feel bad. Slowly she is making more reasonable requests of my stomach in terms of quantity, and I am much appreciative. Of course, if she makes too much food, I just give some more to my host brother and he eats it, so it works out. Also, too much food is always preferable to too little food, so who can complain? It all tastes good and is good so long as I cut the quantity in half.

That's really all for now. I am safe, healthy, well-fed, and going to go read a book. Adios.

Happy in Ha Noi

I'm really enjoying myself here. You can get a full meal for 12,000 VND (65 cents US-ish), probably for less if I spoke Vietnamese and could haggle lower. But 65 cents is as good a deal as any. You can walk just about anywhere, and there is always something to see. Oh, and the coffee is really good, VERY strong with sweetened condensed milk added (SO GOOD!), and of course there is tons of tea. This last thing makes me very happy... Tea is good... Oh, another fun bit, there is a 35000 VND store (a just-under-2-dollar-store) with all of the junk nobody would ever want, which is why I didn't buy anything (but it was cool to browse through).

So for a bit more information than on the smog (though it is really noticeable, especially at night when it catches the light from signs and street lamps):

My host family lives in the city near Lenin Park (which I have still not managed to explore, maybe tomorrow after class), a few kilometers from the Hanoi School of Public Health. Tang (my host father) is a math teacher and his wife (She is currently in Cambodia, I haven't met her yet and thus cannot remember her name for the life of me, I will meet her in a few days) works at a bank. They have two children, a 23 year old daughter who studies economics in Paris, and a 17 year old son named Long. Long and Tang both know English, which makes life so much more simple.

The Hanoi School of Public Health is in a different district, the Ba Dinh district, and it's just down the block from the Ministry of Health. Every morning I ride a bike my host family has lent me to class, which is rather refreshing. However, it is tricky given the rush hour traffic and the tons of motor bikes that define Ha Noi transit. Some other IHP students walk or take the bus, but I ride the bike because it is quicker than walking but nice and outside. Except if it rains, then I will take the bus. It has been cool lately, so I have needed a jacket, but the weather varies this time of year. I haven't explored any of the places to see really except for the old city, but I plan to see a lot this weekend.

So far IHP has been good here. The country coordinators are awesome, and had packets made for us, maps ready, they have power point presentations printed so we can have a copy, they got us all bus passes, they really thought of everything. Nguyen and Nyoc An are totally amazing. They also have insane connections. Today we heard from an expert on health insurance from the Ministry of Health, and from two of the leading economists in Vietnam, all on the topics of healthcare and economic development (respectively). The collective brain power of today's speakers is staggering, and unbelievably influential. If that is in the first week, I am really excited for what is yet to come.

For a city in a part of the world I've never been to that speaks a language I don't know and celebrates a culture in which I do not live, I find Ha Noi surprisingly accessible and open, and I am so happy to be in such a neat urban setting.

Until next time!

So, Bushbuckridge Homestay Pictures:

1. Peniel, my host cousin. He's 11 and in 7th grade.

2. Amu, she's in her final year of high school, and is my host cousin.
3. Lemlemu is my 10 year old host sister in 5th grade.
4. On the left is Phindile, my host cousin. Jasmine (IHP) is to her right, then Tintswalo, another cousin, then me. Lemlemu is next to Yoshi (IHP).
5. Phindile again.
6. Mama Merlyne, my host mom.

7. Lemlemu and Jasmine.
8. Yoshi and Viola, our four year old host cousin (so cute!).

Not all, but some of the family! Slightly late in posting, but better late than never.

Smog

It's really smoggy here.

I'm in Hanoi now, that took a while. We flew Joburg to Kuala Lampur, and then from there we changed planes to Hanoi. I sat next to a lady from Namibia who worked for the government on women and children issues, and was attending a conference in Malaysia on the empowerment of women through information and communication technology, or something like that. Pretty neat lady.

Hanoi is a fascinating city, I feel like I need more time to have something useful to say, so until then. Just saying hi from Hanoi!

The Edge of the World...

So, It's back to me, as in the person you expect rather than someone else being nice. Due to lack of access, I never got to finish Cape Town I Am Straddling Continents style, so here we go.

Where I last left off, I was in Cape Town. Two events are worthy of mention: the LSB bonfire and sand boarding. Let's go in order.

LSB Bonfire:
The owner of LSB, Steve, found this spot a number of years back, and every so often the staff of LSB and certain invited boarders at the hostel go out there for a bonfire. Sounds simple, right? No, it's not. It's freakin awesome and rather complicated. There is this town outside of Cape Town called Llandudno, one of the most expensive real estate areas in all of South Africa. We took a cab out there to the beach, where we met the LSB people. They had wood, a fire pit, speakers, and a number of other things they were schlepping. We then walked to a group of rocks and hiked out to a big cliff jutting out into the water. It was a sight everyone tried to capture on film, but none of us could... it just didn't work. I describe it as being on the edge of the world, someone else thought of it as a sci-fi moment with the moon rising over the mountains and the ocean swirling about the lower rocks. It was sheer beauty, and we were all stunned. We stayed on that rock with the fire, music, and company until 1 in the morning, and it was so special the LSB staff deigned us worthy of invitation.

Sand Boarding:
If you've never gone, you ought go. It was fun, despite being exhausting. Joel, Mija, and I used Downhill Adventures to book a half day trip sand boarding. They took us to a place called Atlantis, a five square kilometer sand dune area that is a natural filter for water in the local area. We would hike up the dunes, strap in, and board back down, like snowboarding only with many fewer turns, and at a slower speed. I will admit, I had one MASSIVE wipe out, where my board hit an edge and I flipped head over heals 540 degrees and landed completely winded, my face in the sand, my board over my head. It was special. Great morning, great fun...

That's really it for Cape Town. The group came back together and we flew to Vietnam (next post)! Farewell Cape Town, we'll always have Paris.

... thanks the stranger for his/her kindness

I'm also working on signing out at internet cafe's.
I left my facebook and blogger account signed in, lucky a stranger took pity and signed me out of both and left me this message to remind me.

cheers.

Cape Town!

For those of you who have been waiting forever for my next post, wait no more. For those of you who are not my die hard fans but appreciate hearing from me, this one is for you as well.

jk, hi.

So Cape Town is a wonderful place, and a real mix of stuff all in one city. I'm staying on Long Street, which is a fun and youthful area with bars, cafes, clubs, and shops, and a market a few blocks down and around the corner. It's loud and quiet, quaint and bold, it's a cool place in general. And that's just this one area. I think by now we've been to all of the places within a block of our hostel, and we're branching out.

Then there's the beach, a short cab ride away. Clifton 4 is this great little beach with nice rocks to lie on and read a book, and freezing cold water to dip in briefly. There's great little spots along the beach, and it's a great way to spend a morning.

Then there's Table Mountain. Everyone told us there was a hard way to climb it, and that we should take the easy way. So of course, thinking we were avoiding the hard way, we took it instead. It was exhausting. But also amazing and the view was spectacular. It was a clear and crisp day, and you could see soooooo far out. Being tired, we then took the gondola down. It rotates so that you can see the whole view no matter where in the car you are. Pretty snazzy, he?

It's also nice to walk around the waterfront, even if not to buy anything because it's all overpriced. But it's a nice half hour walk there, maybe 20 min., who's counting?

Places of note:
Mr Pickwick's- great food, R9 breakfast (eggs, toast, potatoes and onions, and tomato for $1.20). Also good burgers, and fun atmosphere.
Loafers- AMAZING sandwiches, and rather cheap. Great little spot, only been there a few months.
Zula- cool bar with great music and lots of people dancing and having fun.
Long Street Backpackers- our hostel. So good. The lady who owns the place, Chris, is a no-nonsense kind of woman who is really helpful, and the lot of them are wonderful. People staying there are nice and from all over, and the location is superb.

This break from IHP has been wonderful. With Deeba's birthday on the 26th, mine the next day, and Joel's the day after, it's been tons of fun with good company. And tonight it will continue with a beach bonfire, and then tomorrow with sand boarding (so excited!) with Mija and Joel.

I'm psyched for Vietnam, but who would ever want to leave Cape Town?

ORTIA and LSB

Greetings from Cape Town! It's really nice here, but getting here wasn't as jolly... I mean, it was fine and everything worked out just fine, it was just long.

So yesterday we left Bushbuckridge at 6 AM because people needed to catch a train to Durban from Joburg, and that meant that we got to O.R. Tambo International Airport at 1PM for a 6AM flight the next morning. YAY! Our Cape Town group split up, and Joel and I hung around the airport with Crystal, who was waiting to meet her boyfriend arriving from the States for the week. After she met up with him and they left, well, what is there to do at an airport forever? We went to a bar and chatted for a few hours. Then everything closed and we played cards for a few more hours. Then as a group we checked in, and a few hours later we checked our bags. For the record, it is now 4:20 AM or something like that.

Side note on weight maximums on Mango: My suitcase was underweight, but my backpack was overweight, and they made me add stuff to my suitcase or check my backpack. Only airlines ever to tell me to move stuff from my carry on into my checked baggage. Also, what does it matter where the extra kilo is? The plane is going to be weighed down regardless... whatever, it was odd. Also the lady at the desk was mean.

So after hours and hours, we finally got to Cape Town. At 8:30AM. I still haven't slept more than two hours since 6AM yesterday, and it's 2 in the afternoon now. Which brings us to Long Street Backpackers. This is where we are staying while in Cape Town. It's a cute little place with a courtyard and nice clean rooms, and the people running it seem very nice. We've been exploring a little bit since then, and I can definitely say Cape Town will be lots of fun. Especially since there are two people on IHP with me that have birthdays over break, one the day before me and one the day after me. So really it's a birthday weekend, and we're gonna have a kick-ass time.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I want to go take a nap.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

I'm leaving Bushbuckridge for Cape Town, which is way exciting, but it also means that my South Africa home stay experience has drawn to a close. That's right, last night was my last night in my home stay, which was kind of weird. It's kind of cool how quickly one can become accustomed to an entirely foreign environment, and I will definitely miss Mama Merlyne, Phindile, Tinswalo, Lemlemu, Peniel, Eulanda, Kurula, and everyone from the village. So this post is my farewell to Welverdind, my home away from home.

Once a Sekome, always a Sekome.

Party in Islington!

So I think I've already mentioned that IHP students are spread across three villages, but if I haven't said so, we are. Islington is one of the other villages that IHP students are in, and it's the furthest from Welverdind, which is where I am. In Islington there is this guy named Hamilton, and he's the chief's brother I think. He is hosting two girls from our program, and they had a party on Saturday night. The lame people in Hluvukani didn't go, but us in the big W, we all wanted to go and have fun. So, like any resourceful group of students, we found someone with a car to take us. One of the other home stay families had access to a car, so three of my host cousins, their driver friend, my host sister, and all eight students staying in my village piled into one car. The driver, two of my host cousins, and my host sister all sat in the front, and the back was like a big, covered trunk, and we fit the remaining nine in there. We actually only fit seven in entirely, and the last two had their feet hanging out the back. It was a pretty funny sight to see... One person of the bunch threw out the term "Mexican Limo." Feel free to debate the PC of that.

So we clown car over to Islington, and we discover that not only are we going to a party, at that point almost nobody is there and we ARE the garage party. We stuck around for a while dancing and sipping jungle juice out of ceramic mugs. One of the small old ladies related to the home stay family showed up and danced like a crazed fiend. It was fairly outrageous. She was really drunk, and one of the girls staying with Hamilton pulled the plug on her when she got hot and took off her shirt. Luckily I wasn't there to see that. It was a blast.

So we've all piled back into the clown car, and we're just about to turn off the main road to return to our village, when a cop car pulls up behind us because of overload. The feet hanging out the back might have been a tip off. We followed the cops to the station, which was a rickety little building surrounded by a big chain link fence, and waited while the locals with us did the talking. Some other police officers unrelated to our predicament came over and started to chat, one trying to intimidate us with a large semi-automatic weapon hanging limply from his hand, pointed towards the ground. They thought we were there for an escort back to where we lived, so they were nice at first. Then when they realized we were pulled over my host cousin stepped in and told them off rather well. After maybe 20 minutes we left the police station, all crammed into the car, to return home. The damage wound up being a small fine that worked out to maybe 5 USD a person, no biggie. It makes a great story, and yeah... I'm now one of those people with the fun "Did I tell you how I almost got arrested in _______________?" stories, which is way exciting.

Someone was supposed to send me a picture of the car, but she never did, so no picture.

Happy Trails!

Valentine's Day (and all that it entails)

So Y'all know how Valentine's Day in the states is sooooo totally Hallmark, and it conveniently falls on the same day as singles awareness day every year? Not so in Bushbuckridge. Here, it is a big deal. Everyone gets a valentine, even if just for the day, and the entire day is festive. For the first time in a few years the day fell on Sunday, even more special...

So first my fellow IHPers living in the same homestay as me, my host cousin, and I went to Church, and many people were dressed in red, black, and white. There was even one woman in what looked like a red prom dress. Church was an experience worth describing. One of the larger structures in the village, the church was painted white, with benches of a dark brown color inside for everyone to sit. The congregation I was in valued singing as a means of praise, and multiple choirs performed. There was the youth choir, the teen choir, and the women's choir that performed throughout the service. Also there was the main choir of five. ALL of the choirs were really good. Then there was the sermon... They are in between pastors, and the retired school principal was preaching. He preached for over an hour. Not just that, it was one of those "back in the day..." sermons, lamenting the fall of religiosity and hoping for renewed faith of the masses... One of those sermons where everyone got to learn a very revisionist version of the past from an overzealous speaker. But church was nice nonetheless.

So after church there was this big gathering in front of a bottle shop (where they sell booze) that lasted for hours. Traditional dance troupes performed one after another and people schmoozed. That was also nice, but as the afternoon went on people started to get drunk, and we left as it was kinda sketch and some of the people on our program were getting a bit more attention than they wanted from drunk locals.

Which brings us to dinner. There is a white guy who lives in our village part time named Jim. He is from upstate NY and still is a US citizen who resides there and has a car wash business. He got a degree from Texas AM for Renewable Resource Management and works with water in the surrounding villages. He has a flush toilet, a shower, running water, a green and trimmed front lawn, and A POOL and HOT TUB. This is in a place where water scarcity is a huge issue and people drag drums to local taps to fill with water and carry back to their homes. He is like 70 or something and has a 1 year old son with a local woman, in addition to having grown up kids in the states. He's probably corrupt and as a group the people in my village and I that were there were kind of on edge. Another matter, he has employees that cook, clean, and care for his home. Let's just say he was generally offensive and somewhat repulsive, though interesting as a specimen. We all left early, befuddled by the encounter, and kind of pissed off at him.

So all in all I would say it was one of the most informative days I've had in Bushbuckridge so far. I really got a taste for what life was like and how people interacted, even if that interaction involves drunk conduct towards people I know. The day had its downsides, sure, but you work through whatever is thrown your way, move past it, and that's what is important.

So how did you all spend Valentine's day?

Sekome

So my name is now Alexander Sekome as my host family's surname is Sekome... That's right, I have a host family. They're really nice, btw. It's really amazing, my host mom built the house we live in entirely by hand, and she carried the materials all the way from Mozambique. It is definitely a lifestyle I have never seen and prob. never will again.

The other day, talking to my mom, she asked why I didn't just get a picture developed at a CVS equivalent to give to my host family. The answer is rather simple: where the hell is there a CVS equivalent? I'm living in a house off a dirt road with electricity but no running water, an outhouse, corn is growing around the house, and a fire is kept going on the side of the house to boil water before using it. Despite all of that, the community seems to be happy with what they have and how they live, and it's charming to live there.

I'm staying with another guy and a girl from my program at this house, and there are two other families in my village hosting other IHP students. We are in Welverdiend (SP? I will check the spelling for my next post), and the other two villages are 10 and 20 minutes away, respectively. The better part of an hour away is Acornhoek, where there is a doctor's office, a grocery store, other stuff... So, yea, we're somewhere that is nowhere in particular, and it's kind of neat if you ignore the extreme heat (which of course means I'm sweating a swimming pool), which I am learning to do slowly.

For classes we are using space at the South African Wildlife College, and that borders Kruger National Park essentially, so there have been some rather cool finds. We've seen elephants, zebras, giraffes, impala, other animals I am currently blanking on... We also went to a wildlife rehab center and got to feed vultures (ugly things) and pet a cheetah, as well as see some really neat elephants. Of course, being near Kruger also means there are snakes, scorpions, and spiders that would prefer never to see... So far so good on that front. Although about an hour ago they were removing a spitting cobra from the path at the Wildlife College...

So I'm enjoying myself in Bushbuckridge, even if it means sweating profusely and being slightly paranoid of creepy crawlies with a nasty bite. Signing off for now!

Wilgespruit

Don't bother with the name of the post, it's Afrikans and it's the name of the place we stayed in Joburg before driving on out to Bushbuckridge. It was a wonderful little spot on the hillside in a suburb of Joburg, and the staff were really nice and warm people. A Christian institution, it played a large role in the struggle for equality and enfranchisement in South Africa and has been touched by many important figures in South Africa's most recent history, since 1950.

Jan, our new country coordinator, lined up some great speakers. He even managed, through some contacts, to work with Wilgespruit and line up a former minister of Law and Order from the apartheid regime, even though as a speaker he wound up being a nutty blabbering missionary, in effect.

We went to two particularly memorable museums, the apartheid museum and one commemorating the student riots in the mid 1970s. Both of them reminded me of Holocaust museums in their presentation and style, which was interesting and unexpected. Fun fact: as in the States, the Jews of South Africa played a major role in struggling against apartheid.

Now I've been in South Africa for almost a week, and the broader arc of the trip is beginning to show itself in a very cool light. The towns around here are quaint to be generous, and hospital access, while present, is not necessarily close. Also, today we had a briefing that essentially listed all the animals and microbes that could kill us, and coupled with poverty this created an intriguing situation. My goal has changed from not getting sick to not being bitten...

But the drive to Bushbuckridge was beautiful and the area itself is amazing. Today, for instance, we saw an elephant just wandering on the side of the road. How pleasantly surprising... and totally not possible in Chicago.

The group is getting more close knit and the plethora of intellectual backgrounds represented on our program is beginning to show in the understandings people bring to the table. I'm still waiting for the South Africa aha! moment, but I know it's coming and in the mean time I'm enjoying the ride.

Adios.

belated post to conclude DC

Hey all, I kind of forgot to do this back in DC, and we didn't really have internet access until now, so there will be more current posts directly following this one.

Belated post:

So the country coordinator for DC was a really nice guy named Jeremy, and he did a FANTASTIC job pulling together all sorts of speakers and trips. As a result of his awesomeness I got to meet with Bob Moffit of the Heritage Foundation, Stan Dorn at the Urban Institute, Ruth Levine, Robert Hecht, and a host of other terrific speakers. Robert Hecht was one of the WDR93 coauthors at the World Bank, and that was an amazing perspective on global health and the challenges it faces.

Then Jeremy organized a lobbying day on the hill, and that was wonderful. We were advocating for S987/HR2103, legislation introduced by Durbin and Snowe/McCollum to improve USAID's efforts in curbing child marriage in the developing world. I found that to be lots of fun... maybe that's the debater in me.

Although I credit Jeremy with DC being terrific, he can't take all of the credit. It was really great to begin to get to know everyone on the trip with me, and we did some neat stuff like wander in vain to find a bowling alley, see Invictus (good timing for that, seeing I'm now in South Africa), and countless random little walks to wherever.

It was also nice to see Cy, Lucas, and Carlo at GWII... Screw you for not coming Jenny, if you're reading this. If you are not reading this, will someone that is following this blog that knows Jenny pass on the message? Thanks.

So, yea, DC ended well and now I'm in the early stages of the South Africa leg of the journey.

Demand for visual content

Following a demand for visual content, here are some nice pictures of people from Turkey during our day trip to Antalya.

Day of Service

So IHP has been really interesting the past few days. We're finally just about done with the various orientations, and we're starting to get down to business. Yesterday was a free day and it was really nice to be able to sleep in and take a chill day. I went to brunch on the corner with Joel, one of the other guys on the trip, and brunch was way cheap. I spent some time in a used book store and then went out for Chinese with Joel and two of the remaining three guys from the trip.

Today was MLK day, so we all did a morning of service and then had our first class. I went with some other people over to the Independent Living Program, a home for 16-18 year olds, and we cleaned some closets and organized shelves for them. It was nice to get out of William Penn House (the place we're staying) and do something productive.

So far the people are awesome and I'm having a lot of fun. Now we're beginning to hunker down and get going, and I am excited to see how things go.

Chris in 360

I don't know why, but I took this video of Chris in the Tiled Kiosk in Istanbul.... I think the video is special, and it really gives you a 360 look at him.

IHP Launch

So now I'm in full IHP swing. The program began yesterday and today was our first full day. We haven't done much outside of get to know each other, but that is a rather large task... I already have a rather decent introduction to many of the people on my trip, so that's really neat and helpful. So far we've had conversations and workshops on emotional intelligence, global warming and health, group norms and policies, and a really good keynote speaker on infant health and preventing infant mortality in accordance with the MDGs. It's definitely an interesting pace, and I am really excited to see how the various components of the program interact in order to create a better educational experience. Tomorrow is the introduction to the educational components of IHP, so I'll see what to expect.

Adios amigos.

Meandering back and forth

So a couple of days ago, for the first time this trip, I actually meandered back and forth across continental lines aboard the public ferry up the Bosporus. Yay for being in two continents in rapid fire, which is kind of in line with the title of the blog.

That aside, Turkey has been a fascinating experience. We saw the sights, and at some point when I am more technologically snazzy some visual indication that I was at some neat-o places might make it up onto this thread, but for now I am content will saying that stuff was there.

But what was more interesting than the individual places was the timelessness of the city itself. There was old and new right next to each other, and the flavor of the city itself cannot easily be matched. Of course it helped that Serra Kornfilt (honorable mention!!!) was willing and able to show us around a few times, and that brought into our travels new places as well as new tastes.

For the record, in turkey there is a dessert with pulverized chicken in it. There is a different dessert that includes water buffalo cream. Both were amazing.

I'm gonna do a much better job than this starting next week, but let me just say that traveling is defined by the place, but made by the company.

I know nobody is reading this...

I know nobody is reading this because I still haven't sent out the link yet... So nobody has pondered the pun of the title of my blog, and nobody has read anything in it, and it is all my fault. I know, I know, so shoot me.

But still this is fun, so why not post?

So right now is day 1 of WUDC out rounds. Even though nobody from Swarthmore broke and it appears we, along with the rest of the tournament, have been plagued with illness, so far this has been a wonderful experience.

Aside from debate, which I assure you is very tiring even for me (and I LOVE to talk), we've met some pretty neat people and been some cool places. Our journey began adopting a judge from Singapore and an Amherst debater into our fold on the flight out from the states, then befriending the St. John's delegation, maintaining contact with some rather nifty people we already knew, and then forging yet another institutional bond with Duke's wonderful debate team. Also, the Raelis are cool, but that is always to be expected.

Location-wise, the Maritim Pine Beach Resort leaves something to be desired as I would rather be exploring Turkey. That's why our team has wandered Belek (depressing little place, though a wonderful English-speaking shop-owner did have a nice cup of tea with us) and Antalya. Antalya was gorgeous, and there are pictures I cannot currently post because they are not yet on my computer, but we'll get there.

So I'm slowly getting used to this whole blogging thing, but my computer is not at all getting used to my network connection here (or, rather, the network is totally flaking out on everyone), so I bid thee farewell, my wonderful fan base that does not yet exist.

Adios.