Finally!
(Photos taken at Thanksgiving Point)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
I lied. This post isn't even close to being about Africa. Does anyone even still want to see stuff about that anymore?
I photographed this beautiful little girl, Holly, along with her dad and sister this evening. They were so fun and made me laugh the entire time. Especially this one, she was a complete ham for the camera. I'll post the rest of the photos from this session shortly (...maybe. I have a habit of not following through on my blog promises).
I've been making some changes lately, the biggest and most exciting being that I got a new job. I am now a Public Relations Rep for a physical therapy company. After almost five years of working at the credit union I've finally started to move forward
into something related to my degree. And so far I'm really loving it. Ah change is good.
I've got a whole load of film going to the developers tomorrow and we're hiking this next weekend. So maybe I'll start paying more attention to this little piece of personal cyberspace I have here. But I've said that before, haven't I.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The long journey home
Two hour flight from Kilimanjaro to Addis Ababa, 26 hour layover in Ethiopia, 18 hour flight to Washington D.C., 10 hour layover in Washington D.C., 5 hour flight to SLC. By the time we got home we had been traveling for 3 full days straight. I was very dirty and tired and sick of airplane food. But, we're home safe and sound! We're glad to be back in our own place and getting back into the routine of the fast-paced, stressful American lifestyle.
My next several post will probably still be Africa related, but they'll all include photos. I'm sure that won't disappoint most of you.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Afrishare Solutions
The countdown has begun. In four days we'll leave Tanzania and this trip we have been looking forward to for so long will be over. It has been such a great experience, and one that I'm especially grateful to have been able to experience with Mark. Not many people get a two-month long honeymoon.
People are always asking me how I'm so lucky to have done the traveling that I have up to this point in my life. Usually, my answer is that it's not about luck, it's about just making it happen. True, I have been blessed with a great job that lets me take extended periods of time off and with a great family (and now great in-laws) who are very supportive and helpful in many more ways than just financially. But where I'm from, those things aren't very unique. Most of the people that ask me that question have everything that I have. The only difference between me and them is that I've made traveling a priority in my life thus far. Mark and I didn't just happen upon a bunch of money one day and decide that we would use it to spend a couple months in Africa. He has been planning and saving for this trip for a few years now and since we are now husband and wife, his plans have become my plans.
So we planned, we saved and we researched. We looked into a few different living arrangements for our stay here and finally decided on going with an organization called Afrishare Solutions. It's headed by a local named Ibrah who had a few years' experience with housing volunteers through Cross Cultural Solutions before he decided to start his own organization. We have loved our stay here. We feel safe and comfortable and have been very well taken care of. The food is great (too great in fact...I'm going to need to hit the gym when we get home), our room is comfortable, and Ibrah has been very ready and willing to talk to us about cultural differences, show us around town, and help us organize our little vacations. We've been made to feel welcome and at home. That makes a huge difference when staying in a foreign country for an extended period of time and we're glad this is the place we chose.
So to any of you who are interested in doing some traveling or volunteering, stop dreaming about it and start planning for it! There are plenty of companies and organizations out there to choose from. And if Tanzania just happens to be the place where you decide to go, check out Afrishare Solutions.
We've loved our stay here, but we're excited to be going back home and starting the next stage in our life. We don't know what the immediate future will hold, but I can say that we've already started planning a trip to Europe in the (hopefully not so) distant future. What can I say, we're addicted. See you all in less than a week!
People are always asking me how I'm so lucky to have done the traveling that I have up to this point in my life. Usually, my answer is that it's not about luck, it's about just making it happen. True, I have been blessed with a great job that lets me take extended periods of time off and with a great family (and now great in-laws) who are very supportive and helpful in many more ways than just financially. But where I'm from, those things aren't very unique. Most of the people that ask me that question have everything that I have. The only difference between me and them is that I've made traveling a priority in my life thus far. Mark and I didn't just happen upon a bunch of money one day and decide that we would use it to spend a couple months in Africa. He has been planning and saving for this trip for a few years now and since we are now husband and wife, his plans have become my plans.
So we planned, we saved and we researched. We looked into a few different living arrangements for our stay here and finally decided on going with an organization called Afrishare Solutions. It's headed by a local named Ibrah who had a few years' experience with housing volunteers through Cross Cultural Solutions before he decided to start his own organization. We have loved our stay here. We feel safe and comfortable and have been very well taken care of. The food is great (too great in fact...I'm going to need to hit the gym when we get home), our room is comfortable, and Ibrah has been very ready and willing to talk to us about cultural differences, show us around town, and help us organize our little vacations. We've been made to feel welcome and at home. That makes a huge difference when staying in a foreign country for an extended period of time and we're glad this is the place we chose.
So to any of you who are interested in doing some traveling or volunteering, stop dreaming about it and start planning for it! There are plenty of companies and organizations out there to choose from. And if Tanzania just happens to be the place where you decide to go, check out Afrishare Solutions.
We've loved our stay here, but we're excited to be going back home and starting the next stage in our life. We don't know what the immediate future will hold, but I can say that we've already started planning a trip to Europe in the (hopefully not so) distant future. What can I say, we're addicted. See you all in less than a week!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Kilimanjaro Marathon 2011
Alright, so the title for this post is a little deceiving.
We didn't actually run the full marathon, just the 5K. We found
out the other day that there was a "fun run" going on
with the marathon and on a whim, we decided to run it.
It was a crazy whim because neither of us can remember the last
time we went running, but our adrenaline kept us going until
the finish line. It was such a fun thing to be a part of, especially because of
the location (notice Kili in the background of the last picture) and we're so glad
we decided to do it. And we got shirts! Best part of entering
any event by far.
We leave for Zanzibar this weekend and we're pretty excited about it.
Scuba diving, laying on the beach, and taking some boat tours.
Should be good.
Oh, and these photos took forever to load so don't expect too many more
until we get home.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Kilimanjaro and Speed Bumps
It's Tuesday evening and we're sitting in the living room watching the news on Aljazeera. It has become a nightly ritual for us to watch the news after dinner (providing we have power), even though it's becoming more and more depressing. There is so much unrest in the world, especially over in these parts, and at times it gets scary to hear about it all. But I feel more connected and informed about what is going on over here than I ever did at home, so I guess it's a positive thing.
It's pretty windy tonight and we're hoping that means there's a rain storm coming in. We like it when it rains for two reasons: one, because the weather gets much cooler and there is less dust and two, because the roads go from bumpy beyond belief to muddy and slippery. I'm sure the muddy roads are more dangerous to drive on, but we have a lot more fun when we're sliding all over the place than when our brains are rattling out of our skulls due to the bumpy roads. Have I mentioned anything about the roads yet? They're insane. There are 12 inch pot holes everywhere you look. And on top of that they've put massive speed bumps every few meters on all the roads, as if anyone can go over 15 mph with all the pot holes anyway. They're very unnecessary and annoying. We had quite the run in with one last week. James was driving us home from the orphanage and we were on a bumpy dirt road heading out of Newland village. He was hauling toward this speed bump and simultaneously talking to some people out the window so he didn't see it coming. Mark and I were watching out the windshield and knew that we were going to hit it, seeing as how we were about ten feet away and still saw no signs of the car slowing down. Finally, James saw the bump and slammed on the breaks, but it was too late. We hit it going about 25 mph and flew into the air. We're pretty sure James' car has no shocks and we're also pretty sure all four tires were off the ground at one point after we hit the speed bump. We all flew up and smashed our heads on the ceiling and everything in the car went flying. When we landed Mark and I started laughing, but all we got out of James was a little chuckle while he said, "Goodness! So sorry, I did not see the bump." We're still laughing about that one.
We went on a walk to the market yesterday evening and the sunset was beautiful. The mountain looked incredible, covered in fresh snow and framed by fluffy white clouds. I still can't believe sometimes that I can walk right out my door and look up into the peaks of Mt Kilimanjaro. I'll miss that when we're back home. I'll also miss a few other things here, like riding to town in a dala dala, being fed delicious food three times a day (and not having to do our own dishes to boot), and having fun teaching all the adorable little students - one of which got excited beyond belief during a math lesson yesterday when he asked me if I like "the milk of goats" and I said yes.
Tanzania has been so great to us. I'm glad we still have a few more weeks to enjoy it here.
It's pretty windy tonight and we're hoping that means there's a rain storm coming in. We like it when it rains for two reasons: one, because the weather gets much cooler and there is less dust and two, because the roads go from bumpy beyond belief to muddy and slippery. I'm sure the muddy roads are more dangerous to drive on, but we have a lot more fun when we're sliding all over the place than when our brains are rattling out of our skulls due to the bumpy roads. Have I mentioned anything about the roads yet? They're insane. There are 12 inch pot holes everywhere you look. And on top of that they've put massive speed bumps every few meters on all the roads, as if anyone can go over 15 mph with all the pot holes anyway. They're very unnecessary and annoying. We had quite the run in with one last week. James was driving us home from the orphanage and we were on a bumpy dirt road heading out of Newland village. He was hauling toward this speed bump and simultaneously talking to some people out the window so he didn't see it coming. Mark and I were watching out the windshield and knew that we were going to hit it, seeing as how we were about ten feet away and still saw no signs of the car slowing down. Finally, James saw the bump and slammed on the breaks, but it was too late. We hit it going about 25 mph and flew into the air. We're pretty sure James' car has no shocks and we're also pretty sure all four tires were off the ground at one point after we hit the speed bump. We all flew up and smashed our heads on the ceiling and everything in the car went flying. When we landed Mark and I started laughing, but all we got out of James was a little chuckle while he said, "Goodness! So sorry, I did not see the bump." We're still laughing about that one.
We went on a walk to the market yesterday evening and the sunset was beautiful. The mountain looked incredible, covered in fresh snow and framed by fluffy white clouds. I still can't believe sometimes that I can walk right out my door and look up into the peaks of Mt Kilimanjaro. I'll miss that when we're back home. I'll also miss a few other things here, like riding to town in a dala dala, being fed delicious food three times a day (and not having to do our own dishes to boot), and having fun teaching all the adorable little students - one of which got excited beyond belief during a math lesson yesterday when he asked me if I like "the milk of goats" and I said yes.
Tanzania has been so great to us. I'm glad we still have a few more weeks to enjoy it here.
Monday, February 14, 2011
An Interesting Job
Every day Mark and I wake up and ask each other, "What do you think we'll be doing today?" So far, the jobs James has been giving us have been completely random and today was no exception. Let me explain.
There is a student at the school here named Alex. He loves movies, especially ones with Arnold Schwarzenegger in them. About a year ago some volunteers from the U.S. based organization Mama Hope recorded his retelling of the movie "Commando" and put it on the Internet. It has received over 150,000 hits in just four days and has helped the organization raise a lot of money. Check it out here http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/10/tanzanian-boy-re-ena.html. So today we get to work and are told that our job is to go find Alex, show him the video of himself that has been floating around the Internet, and record his reaction so it can be posted as a sequal to the first video. He was very humble and shy when he saw the video so we didn't quite get the reaction we were hoping for. So tomorrow we are going to show the video to his classmates and see what they think. Hopefully we'll get some pretty fun reactions out of some of them. I'll keep everyone updated on whether or not the footage we get tomorrow is actually worthy to be posted as a sequal to the first awesome video.
In other news, we went on a safari over the weekend. Needless to say, it was amazing! Seeing these animals in the wild is a completely indescribable experience. We spent Friday in Tarangire National Park, Saturday in the Ngorongoro Crater, and Sunday at Lake Manyara. We saw everything in the "Big 5" except for a leapord. We did, however, see a cheetah very close up so we're counting that as completing our mission to see the Big 5. The Internet connection here is officially too slow to post any pictures so those are going to have to wait for a few more weeks.
We went to town the other day and bought the rest of the wood to finish the roof for the kitchen at the new school. The orphanage is coming along and now has ceiling boards and electricity in most of the rooms. We've been doing a little bit of teaching, but most of the time we do administrative things such as taking photos of the progress of the buildings to send to organizations that have helped with the funding, helping James with work in town, and recording the height and weight of the students. We've been having fun arriving to work each morning and being surprised at what our work will consist of that day.
It's still hot here, but it has started to rain a little so things are cooling off a bit. We've also been having some fun battles with cockroaches, and even a scorpion (which Mark claims "almost killed" him), in our room. We don't have any big trips planned until we go to Zanzibar the first week of March. I don't anticipate anything too exciting happening in the next couple weeks so don't be alarmed if we disappear for a bit.
There is a student at the school here named Alex. He loves movies, especially ones with Arnold Schwarzenegger in them. About a year ago some volunteers from the U.S. based organization Mama Hope recorded his retelling of the movie "Commando" and put it on the Internet. It has received over 150,000 hits in just four days and has helped the organization raise a lot of money. Check it out here http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/10/tanzanian-boy-re-ena.html. So today we get to work and are told that our job is to go find Alex, show him the video of himself that has been floating around the Internet, and record his reaction so it can be posted as a sequal to the first video. He was very humble and shy when he saw the video so we didn't quite get the reaction we were hoping for. So tomorrow we are going to show the video to his classmates and see what they think. Hopefully we'll get some pretty fun reactions out of some of them. I'll keep everyone updated on whether or not the footage we get tomorrow is actually worthy to be posted as a sequal to the first awesome video.
In other news, we went on a safari over the weekend. Needless to say, it was amazing! Seeing these animals in the wild is a completely indescribable experience. We spent Friday in Tarangire National Park, Saturday in the Ngorongoro Crater, and Sunday at Lake Manyara. We saw everything in the "Big 5" except for a leapord. We did, however, see a cheetah very close up so we're counting that as completing our mission to see the Big 5. The Internet connection here is officially too slow to post any pictures so those are going to have to wait for a few more weeks.
We went to town the other day and bought the rest of the wood to finish the roof for the kitchen at the new school. The orphanage is coming along and now has ceiling boards and electricity in most of the rooms. We've been doing a little bit of teaching, but most of the time we do administrative things such as taking photos of the progress of the buildings to send to organizations that have helped with the funding, helping James with work in town, and recording the height and weight of the students. We've been having fun arriving to work each morning and being surprised at what our work will consist of that day.
It's still hot here, but it has started to rain a little so things are cooling off a bit. We've also been having some fun battles with cockroaches, and even a scorpion (which Mark claims "almost killed" him), in our room. We don't have any big trips planned until we go to Zanzibar the first week of March. I don't anticipate anything too exciting happening in the next couple weeks so don't be alarmed if we disappear for a bit.
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