I have finally made it to the leg of my trip that I have been so excited about. I cannot tell you how long I have wanted to backpack across Europe. While London and Paris are the two lest that I am most excited about Amsterdam is pretty cool.
The arrival at the airport was a bit overwhelming. I did not speak the language, need to mail thins to the states, find my hostel and not kill anyone with my huge backpack. Luckily all was achieved with little problem, I only got seriously lost once.
On my only full day in the city I did some serious sightseeing. I went early to the Anne Frank house in order to avoid the long live. It was really sad but a must see. To know that 8 people hid in three small rooms for so long was odd. The most moving part of the house was the very end. I did not realize that Anne's father survived the war, he was the only on in the family. After his release form the concentration camps he knew his wife had died but he searched for months for his kids. He put ad's in the paper, went person to person asking, ect. She died 1 week before the liberation of the Jewish people, at a time when she thought all of ther other family members were dead. Her father died in 1980 after he had published her diary and set up the Anne Frank Foundation.
"We cannot move to the future, without learning from the past" Otto Frank, 1977.
After leaving the house I took a canal cruise. It was neat to see all of the houses, including the smallest house in Amsterdam that is only 1 meter wide! It is 5 storied tall though. Can you imagine how narrow and steep the stairs are in that place/
After the canal cruiseI bought my ticket to Paris. I am so excited. The price was three times what I had planned to pay, but how many times do you really get to do something like this? I asked the women why it was 120 euro and she said it was becuase I was traveling over the weekend. Apparently if I had stayed in Amsterdam until Monday my train ticket would have been 43 euro. I am too excited to get to Paris though.
Next, I did some light shoppig. Light becuase I kew I just paid a small fortune for my train ticket. I did see some awesome necklaces that i think my mom could make and I bought this cool wax braclet.
My iAmsterdam card gained me free access to the Amsterdam history museum, so I wandered around there a bit. My timing was peferct as it had just started to rain when I arrived.
And then I did it.....took a walk through the red light district. It was ummmmmm interesting. Maybe sad is the better word for it. Several people asked me to try to get a picture of the pot menu at the coffee shops. Well doing that almost made me loss my camera. Only after I deleted the picture did the bartenders / barista leave me alone. LOL. But I did get some other photos that are interesting, and no they are not of prostitutes. Is it shocking to anyone that this area of Amsterdam is where the best restaurants are?
Yesterday I went to the Van Gough Museum it was amazing. Made me think that mom should start painting again, The two most famous can gough paintings "starry night" and "the bedroom" were either not there or undergoing restoration. It was neat to see his lesser known works though, and to hear more about his crazy life. I bought a couple of postcards of his lesser known works.
Did I mentation the length of day here? It was something I should have thought of but really did not. I am typing this at 10pm and it is still completely bright outside. The sun is setting somewhere around midnight.
PARIS TOMORROW. Hope Parisians are nice like Jessica said. Everyone here at the hostel seems to disagree with her.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Company
It was reaffirmed to me at the KLM checkin counter the need to mail things back to the states. I was 2 kg over the baggage weight limit. Guess the hornbill and giraffe get to travel to the Netherlands in the cabin of the plane.
Next post from Europe!
Next post from Europe!
Back in Joberg
Sitting in the Joberg airport, or madhouse as I call it. Super tired but have another 12+ hour flight to go. Did I mention that I hate flying???
Gaberone
Back in Gabs. Staying at this odd but seemingly appropriate bed and breakfast. But when I say breakfast I mean odd looking sausage on a plate with cold bread and instant coffee. There so called American Breakfast. LOL.
Jessica got her hair braided just like many of the girls here. I am 99.99% sure that she is the only white girl to ever step foot into that salon. The salon was painted pink, both inside and out, and when Jessica took a picture of it the owner came over and accused her of trying to steal her idea. Sorry to tell you lady but your "idea' is a neon pink bulding named: Hair Salon. Not the most coveted of ideas.
Overall there was not much work left to do. I finished entering all of the training sample data, and emailed it to Cerian, we went on a wild goose chase for data, and we found a way to mail the surveys back to the states. This lack of work left us with a lot of down time and a complete lack of transportation.
The public transporation in Botswana consists of these terriflying VW buses called combis. I refused to ride in them. Yes it was only 2 pula, but there was no map as to where they travel. No actual stop signs. And it was 99% male. The way to hale a combi you ask? Well....that is still unclea. I do know that the passengers of the combi are always yelling number, as in how many seats they have left. If one does pull over to pick you up they ask where you are going then decide if they want to take you. I chose cabs instead, and boy did we pay for it.
We did see a movie though. It had been to long since i had seen a film. It was Marmaduke.
Thats about all we did those 5 days. I did watch a lot of world cup.
Jessica got her hair braided just like many of the girls here. I am 99.99% sure that she is the only white girl to ever step foot into that salon. The salon was painted pink, both inside and out, and when Jessica took a picture of it the owner came over and accused her of trying to steal her idea. Sorry to tell you lady but your "idea' is a neon pink bulding named: Hair Salon. Not the most coveted of ideas.
Overall there was not much work left to do. I finished entering all of the training sample data, and emailed it to Cerian, we went on a wild goose chase for data, and we found a way to mail the surveys back to the states. This lack of work left us with a lot of down time and a complete lack of transportation.
The public transporation in Botswana consists of these terriflying VW buses called combis. I refused to ride in them. Yes it was only 2 pula, but there was no map as to where they travel. No actual stop signs. And it was 99% male. The way to hale a combi you ask? Well....that is still unclea. I do know that the passengers of the combi are always yelling number, as in how many seats they have left. If one does pull over to pick you up they ask where you are going then decide if they want to take you. I chose cabs instead, and boy did we pay for it.
We did see a movie though. It had been to long since i had seen a film. It was Marmaduke.
Thats about all we did those 5 days. I did watch a lot of world cup.
World Cup
I have really gotten into the world cup these last few weeks. The announcers here are partucularly funny. My favorite annoucner commented the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast match. My favorite quote from him "it was an orgy of aggression."
Air Botswana
I have been on multiple airlines in the states and abroad, but I have to say air botswana tops the list. On a short 2 hour flight we were fed very well, given full cans of soda (shockingly no little cups!), and given enough leg room. The plane was prop, but it was the smoothest prop flight I have ever been on. At one people Jessica and I were laughing when the captain came on and said to expect turbulance....yeah we did not feel a bump at all. Adding to the hilarity was that the captain came out after the flight was over and apoligized for the rough flight. LOL.
There were a few odd things about air botswana. (1) They don''t turn the plane on until just before takeoff, making it a hot box. (2) You cannot go to the bathroo prior to takeoff on board the plane, much to Jessica's dismay. (3) The plane held 30 people and there was a grand total of 10 on it, but the women would not let me move to an empty row.
There were a few odd things about air botswana. (1) They don''t turn the plane on until just before takeoff, making it a hot box. (2) You cannot go to the bathroo prior to takeoff on board the plane, much to Jessica's dismay. (3) The plane held 30 people and there was a grand total of 10 on it, but the women would not let me move to an empty row.
Gabs!!!
Our final 6 days in Africa. Wow the time has gone fast, but I am super excited to start the next leg of my journey. We are flying to Gabs today. In the original plan we were driving, but all of the cars are broken down. 2 hours in a prop plane = unhappy Erin
Weird Things about Africa
- Hair Mayo
- Herbal Blood Supplement
- The Coutry of Zimbabwe
- Peoples names (Including: Starr, Timex, Laugh, So Many Micheal Jackson's, Pumpkin, Rolex, and Innocance)
- Jessica (she told me to add her to the list!)
- Botswana Currency (7.5 pula = 1 US dollar, the coins thebe are worth less than a penny each)
- Text messages from the government to our cell phones warning us about hippo and croc attacks
- The prices of basics (A bottle of conditioner was 8 US dollars)
- Gangsta Rap
- Techno Power Ballads
- People holding hands (Not really something I can describe well in the blog, but an interesting sight none the less)
- Wart hogs as lawn mowers
- Jessica yelling at her boyfriend in the middle of the Kasane Chinese Market
- The fact that all of my clothes have not seen a washing machine in 6 weeks. Hand washing in the sink does not cut it.
- Victoria Falls!
- The look on the owner of the hair salon when Jessica told her she wanted weave / braids. I amd pretty sure she is the first white girl to ever go into the salon
- The lack of personal space
- Cutting in line
- Rehoboth Guest House in Gaberone Botswana. They thought we were odd, we thought they were odd. First time a lodge that they tried to get me to go to church
- Restaurants in Botswana. Or shall I say the lack of them. Really Gabs??? Only fast food??
- People staring at us everywhere we go
- The fact that kids yell "white person, white person" when we would drive past (TaTa only later translated what they were saying to us)
TO BE CONTINUED.
The Incident
Jessica and I were robbed. There is not a simple way to start a post like this.
While in Zim, at our hostel, there is a salon. All of us have said multiple times that we would kill for a pedicure. So when we were appraoced by the manager of the salon for a mani, pedi, and massage if seemed ideal. Well turns out they are good at their jobs, we had a very relaxing time, but they pilfered through out walled while we were there. We shoul have seen it coming. Their boss came up after our massage and they asked us not to tell her that we had gotten massages. They said she had not paid them in 2 months so they were taking some money on the side. Upon relfection this is a major cluse as to how the rest of our "relaxation" was going to go.
Anyways, when we got to the Botswana / Zim border we pulled out our wallets to pay Starr. But I have no US dollars left, and Jessica was 50 short. They got a total of 90 from us. Which annoyed me a bit. But I am trying to look at it like they are desperate and did what they had to do. Jessica was just mad. It was only $40 from me. Thank goodness, I had been paying cash for most things.
While in Zim, at our hostel, there is a salon. All of us have said multiple times that we would kill for a pedicure. So when we were appraoced by the manager of the salon for a mani, pedi, and massage if seemed ideal. Well turns out they are good at their jobs, we had a very relaxing time, but they pilfered through out walled while we were there. We shoul have seen it coming. Their boss came up after our massage and they asked us not to tell her that we had gotten massages. They said she had not paid them in 2 months so they were taking some money on the side. Upon relfection this is a major cluse as to how the rest of our "relaxation" was going to go.
Anyways, when we got to the Botswana / Zim border we pulled out our wallets to pay Starr. But I have no US dollars left, and Jessica was 50 short. They got a total of 90 from us. Which annoyed me a bit. But I am trying to look at it like they are desperate and did what they had to do. Jessica was just mad. It was only $40 from me. Thank goodness, I had been paying cash for most things.
The Language Barrier
During our elephant ride today Jessica's guide gave her specific details on how the elephants are trained. According to him the elephants are trained in English becuase that is the language they understand. Who knew elephants understood English better than the 6 other national languages of Zim??
Best Day Ever
I had heard talk of how amazing the falls are, but NOTHING compares to seeing them.
Honestly, those 36 hours in Zim were the most amazing in terms of the beauty but the most depressing in terms of the people.
We were staying at Shoestring Backpackers, and while not the nicest place I have ever stayed I did have a roof over my head. So who can complain?
I intended to do the Vic. Falls bungee jump. It is the highest bungee jump in the world at 211m (i think). Before I bought the jump pass I wanted to see someone do it. Thank god I watched, becuase the second that person jumped I looked over at Jessica and said there is NO FREAKING way you are getting me off this bridge on a cord.
Instead we opted for the helicopter ride over the falls, the boat ride at the base, a hike through vic falls national park, and the elephant back safari. Not a bad day right? How many people can say in one day they rode a helicopter and an elephant?
VICTORIA FALLS ARE AMAZING. I can see why it is one of the wonders of the world. There are no words that can do it justice. You just have to to and see it. If any of you get hte opportunity to go DO IT. It cost a lot of money but it is so worth it. The hike through the falls was awesome, and we got soaking wet. No pictures from that obviously.
What sucks about Zim you ask? Easy answer but a mean one none the less.....the people. Everyone is out to rip you off in this tourist town. It is one of those places where you need to negotiate the price of EVERYTHING.....something I am not good at. When you walk out the hostel inot the shopping district people swarm you asking for money, you shoes, if you need anything, if you will buy something, if you are lost. It just gets so exhausting. Originally I was sad that we could only stay 2 days, after bealing with that I realize the timeframe was perfect.
Don't get me wrong though, as you may be guessed from the title we had the most amazing day. Regardless of the fact that we were robbed. Oh, did I not mention that? See a later post for the story.
Honestly, those 36 hours in Zim were the most amazing in terms of the beauty but the most depressing in terms of the people.
We were staying at Shoestring Backpackers, and while not the nicest place I have ever stayed I did have a roof over my head. So who can complain?
I intended to do the Vic. Falls bungee jump. It is the highest bungee jump in the world at 211m (i think). Before I bought the jump pass I wanted to see someone do it. Thank god I watched, becuase the second that person jumped I looked over at Jessica and said there is NO FREAKING way you are getting me off this bridge on a cord.
Instead we opted for the helicopter ride over the falls, the boat ride at the base, a hike through vic falls national park, and the elephant back safari. Not a bad day right? How many people can say in one day they rode a helicopter and an elephant?
VICTORIA FALLS ARE AMAZING. I can see why it is one of the wonders of the world. There are no words that can do it justice. You just have to to and see it. If any of you get hte opportunity to go DO IT. It cost a lot of money but it is so worth it. The hike through the falls was awesome, and we got soaking wet. No pictures from that obviously.
What sucks about Zim you ask? Easy answer but a mean one none the less.....the people. Everyone is out to rip you off in this tourist town. It is one of those places where you need to negotiate the price of EVERYTHING.....something I am not good at. When you walk out the hostel inot the shopping district people swarm you asking for money, you shoes, if you need anything, if you will buy something, if you are lost. It just gets so exhausting. Originally I was sad that we could only stay 2 days, after bealing with that I realize the timeframe was perfect.
Don't get me wrong though, as you may be guessed from the title we had the most amazing day. Regardless of the fact that we were robbed. Oh, did I not mention that? See a later post for the story.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Sound of Music
What is up with the music in Botswana? All we hear is techno power ballad via our translator. Gangster Rap via our car hire to Zim, and Gospel music from our cabbie to the boat ride.
There are two songs that all of us will forever remember. Drunkin Lovin and Carve you like a cantaloupe. Lovely right?
There are two songs that all of us will forever remember. Drunkin Lovin and Carve you like a cantaloupe. Lovely right?
Travels in Zim
For the second time on this trip I thought my chances of seeing one of the coolest places in the world was in jeopardy thanks to broken down cars.
How could I make it within 16km of Victoria Falls and not actually see the falls? The answer, I could not. The solution, I paid a lot for a private car hire.
The Botswana Tourism Board has never led me astray and they were awesome in getting us to Zimbabwe as well. I think my folks back in the states were a bit freaked out about my travelling to Zim, but all is well.
Starr, our driver / person who gets us through customs quicker, was late but showed up none the less.
How could I make it within 16km of Victoria Falls and not actually see the falls? The answer, I could not. The solution, I paid a lot for a private car hire.
The Botswana Tourism Board has never led me astray and they were awesome in getting us to Zimbabwe as well. I think my folks back in the states were a bit freaked out about my travelling to Zim, but all is well.
Starr, our driver / person who gets us through customs quicker, was late but showed up none the less.
Travels with the Dutch
Johan you rock! I could not believe I was going to spend 2 weeks in Kasane and not actually make it into the National Park. It is supposed to be one of the most amazing parts of this region and I was going to miss it because of broken vehicles and a lack of money?
This is the scene where the lovely next door neighbor comes to the rescue. I guess after Jessica professed her love for him Johan felt he had to get us into the park. So Jessica, Kalanie, and Myself loaded into his beat up old 4x4 and went to see the animals.
It was breathtaking and sad at the same moment. I cannot even begin to list all of the animals that we saw, but the elephants dominated the landscape. Hence the sadness, the elephants have destroyed all of the trees in the park. Honestly there was nothing over 3 tree in height. People in our department have talked / studied this but to see it in person is pretty amazing. I never thought I would support hunting, but they really need to get the elephant population under control.
We saw a collared elephant. Can you imagine being the people who study elephants and have to collar that bad boy? Guess it would be worse to have to collar a hippo.
Did you all know that hippos are the deadliest of African creatures? These vegetarians are very territorial and will kill ya just becuase. At one point we witnessed an interesting encounter between and elephant and a hippo, oddly to me the hippo won. Also odd, he slept through the whole encounter. The elephant walked up to the hippo. The hippo slept. The elephant made a bunch of noise at the hippo. The hippo slept. The elephant threw dirt in the air, and shook it head before storming off. And stil the hippo slept. Never seen someone (yes, I say someone in reference to the hippo) win an argument in slumber.
Day turned out to be pretty amazing.
This is the scene where the lovely next door neighbor comes to the rescue. I guess after Jessica professed her love for him Johan felt he had to get us into the park. So Jessica, Kalanie, and Myself loaded into his beat up old 4x4 and went to see the animals.
It was breathtaking and sad at the same moment. I cannot even begin to list all of the animals that we saw, but the elephants dominated the landscape. Hence the sadness, the elephants have destroyed all of the trees in the park. Honestly there was nothing over 3 tree in height. People in our department have talked / studied this but to see it in person is pretty amazing. I never thought I would support hunting, but they really need to get the elephant population under control.
We saw a collared elephant. Can you imagine being the people who study elephants and have to collar that bad boy? Guess it would be worse to have to collar a hippo.
Did you all know that hippos are the deadliest of African creatures? These vegetarians are very territorial and will kill ya just becuase. At one point we witnessed an interesting encounter between and elephant and a hippo, oddly to me the hippo won. Also odd, he slept through the whole encounter. The elephant walked up to the hippo. The hippo slept. The elephant made a bunch of noise at the hippo. The hippo slept. The elephant threw dirt in the air, and shook it head before storming off. And stil the hippo slept. Never seen someone (yes, I say someone in reference to the hippo) win an argument in slumber.
Day turned out to be pretty amazing.
Jessica
Jessica told our camping neighbor that she loved him. Girl had way to much white wine. It was a riot. Plus, she was trying to force feed him pizza. Johan is pretty cool, but i would not declate my love to him. HAHAH. Jessica is awesome. So glad that she is here. It would not be the same without her!
Cars
If Brian blames the girls again for gilling the 2 cars I will kick him.
TaTa said he would punch him in the fave for 700 pula (90 US) or kick him in the groin for 1500 pula. LOL. Just joking, it's another professor that I would spend the money to hurt.
TaTa said he would punch him in the fave for 700 pula (90 US) or kick him in the groin for 1500 pula. LOL. Just joking, it's another professor that I would spend the money to hurt.
Score Recap
Baboon, 4. UF, 2.
Rice and Pasta Sauce bit the dust today.
Is it worth jail time to kill the bloody thing?
Rice and Pasta Sauce bit the dust today.
Is it worth jail time to kill the bloody thing?
Stupid Thing
Oh. I chased the baboon away again. This time my weapon of choice was a folding chair. LOL
Elephant
Driving through Chobe national park was amazing today. We have driven this road several times, but today we had our closest encounter with an elephant. Brian was driving toards Kasane when a herd of 6 elephants started to cross the road. In true Brian fashion he wanted to get as close as possible. The feamle leader of the head was no more than 3 feet from the front of our car. She did not seem to mind that were were there, we stayed still and she stared us down. I have it all on video. Did I mention that Brian has achieved rock star status in my book?
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Coolness
Sitting by the Chobe river watching the world cup and drinking a coke. Might have to subdue Jessica if the game gets any more exciting. US vs. Slovenia. Need I mention that i know nothing aobut soccer....or football as it is called here. How cool is it that I am in Africa watching the world cup when it is held in Africa for the first time ever. Not a bad way to spend the day. Even though the cars are all broken down.
Africa is a twisted SOB
Recap of the week's events.
We were all very excited that we could begin working again. After almost a week with no cars and therefore no working we were going a bit stir crazy. I gave my climate change presentation to the Chobe Enclave Trust Board and they granted us permission to work in the village. It was great to have Brian back with us, he really made a difference at this meeting.
So we packed up our camp in Kasane and decided to camp in the bush for 2-3 days while we worked. Eric, of course, was too good to camp behind the trust office and he therefore stayed in the lodge 2 hours away from us. Any clue how much he participated in the research? We camped in a town called Kavimba which was not the greatest place to camp but hey we were working.
When we went to pick up the survey from some of our assistants on 6-18-2010 Shylock noticed an odd streak on the side of the CAM. The CAM which had just gotten out of the shop 2 days prior. So he pops the hood and oil is gushing everywhere. We all knew it was bad. There was a crack in the engine. We could see it. The CAM is DOA.
Next problem, we are an hours drive from camp on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. And our 2 most naive / skitish group members, Kalanie and Jing, are back in Kavimba. So guess what, I had another first. We hitchhiked back to camp. What choice did we have really. The driver was nice enough to stop at the bottle shop on the way back so that Jessica and TaTa could buy a bottle of vodka. Becuase by this point we all really needed it. I wish he had a picture of us in the back of that truck. Me holding all my stuff that was in the CAM, including all of the training sample data. Jessica holding her vodka and box of surveys. TaTa grinning from ear to ear because all of this is normal to him. And Shylock wearing my powder blue sun hat to keep the dust out of his eyes. But we made it back to camp.
Next problem, all cars are broken again. We have people depending on us to work. We only have supplies for 3 days in the bush. Oh, and Jing needs to be in Kasane in 48 hours to catch a plane. Problems aplently.
Tim and TaTas uncle became our saviors. Tim Fullman sacrificed a day of field for to drive hours out of his way to pick up Kalanie, Shylock, and Jing. He has only a small car so we could not all be rescues. Several hours later TaTas uncle shows up with a 2 seater truck with a lid on the back. We can all do the math but that left 4 people to ride in a 2 seater truck. TaTa owns the car, he gets on seat. Jessica gets car sick, she should get a seat. The uncle in question drove far to get us, he deserves a seat. Me?!? I'm SOL. I knew my fate quick into the loading of the gear. The back of the pick up for me.
To add to the complexity of this drive. TaTa decides to tow the CAM back into town with us. So we to Mabele where the car died and chain the two cars together. FYI, I voted to push the CAM into the river. So imagine. TaTa and Jessica in the truck driving. Said uncle and myself in the CAM that is being towed. Uncle is "driving" the CAM. I am praying for a quick death. About every ummm......4-10 km the chain / rope breaks and the CAM just starts to drift into nowhere. Uncle would curse, I would close my eyes, Jessica was sitting in the truck with her fingers crossed, but TaTa would just say Jesus Christ and rehook the cars.
After about the 5th time the rope / chain breaks I get a text message. At the time the phone beeps to symbolize the incoming message TaTa and Uncle a using 2 rocks to cut a piece of rope, in the middle of Chobe National Park, barefoot, cursing, and sweating. All the message said was "How r things?" I could not reply to Eric at that point because things we were all in a pretty dark place at that moment.
Just outside of Kasane, about 2 km from the mechanic everyone start to relax a bit. It seemed we were in the clear. Uncle (whose name I cannot remember at the moment) and I are talking and we spot a heard of elephants on the right side of the road. Unknown to us as we stare at the elephants the chain breaks again. When did we notice the chain broke, oh yeah, when we drove right along side the truck while rolling down a large hill. Seems that they had not noticed the break either. S0 we just kept rolling down that hill and took a left at the base right into the mechanics shop. When he walks out and asks what is wrong with the car and we reply its dead he had an extremely odd look on his face. Yes its dead but it still rolls. About the only thing good about that piece of crap car are the cupholders.
We were all very excited that we could begin working again. After almost a week with no cars and therefore no working we were going a bit stir crazy. I gave my climate change presentation to the Chobe Enclave Trust Board and they granted us permission to work in the village. It was great to have Brian back with us, he really made a difference at this meeting.
So we packed up our camp in Kasane and decided to camp in the bush for 2-3 days while we worked. Eric, of course, was too good to camp behind the trust office and he therefore stayed in the lodge 2 hours away from us. Any clue how much he participated in the research? We camped in a town called Kavimba which was not the greatest place to camp but hey we were working.
When we went to pick up the survey from some of our assistants on 6-18-2010 Shylock noticed an odd streak on the side of the CAM. The CAM which had just gotten out of the shop 2 days prior. So he pops the hood and oil is gushing everywhere. We all knew it was bad. There was a crack in the engine. We could see it. The CAM is DOA.
Next problem, we are an hours drive from camp on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. And our 2 most naive / skitish group members, Kalanie and Jing, are back in Kavimba. So guess what, I had another first. We hitchhiked back to camp. What choice did we have really. The driver was nice enough to stop at the bottle shop on the way back so that Jessica and TaTa could buy a bottle of vodka. Becuase by this point we all really needed it. I wish he had a picture of us in the back of that truck. Me holding all my stuff that was in the CAM, including all of the training sample data. Jessica holding her vodka and box of surveys. TaTa grinning from ear to ear because all of this is normal to him. And Shylock wearing my powder blue sun hat to keep the dust out of his eyes. But we made it back to camp.
Next problem, all cars are broken again. We have people depending on us to work. We only have supplies for 3 days in the bush. Oh, and Jing needs to be in Kasane in 48 hours to catch a plane. Problems aplently.
Tim and TaTas uncle became our saviors. Tim Fullman sacrificed a day of field for to drive hours out of his way to pick up Kalanie, Shylock, and Jing. He has only a small car so we could not all be rescues. Several hours later TaTas uncle shows up with a 2 seater truck with a lid on the back. We can all do the math but that left 4 people to ride in a 2 seater truck. TaTa owns the car, he gets on seat. Jessica gets car sick, she should get a seat. The uncle in question drove far to get us, he deserves a seat. Me?!? I'm SOL. I knew my fate quick into the loading of the gear. The back of the pick up for me.
To add to the complexity of this drive. TaTa decides to tow the CAM back into town with us. So we to Mabele where the car died and chain the two cars together. FYI, I voted to push the CAM into the river. So imagine. TaTa and Jessica in the truck driving. Said uncle and myself in the CAM that is being towed. Uncle is "driving" the CAM. I am praying for a quick death. About every ummm......4-10 km the chain / rope breaks and the CAM just starts to drift into nowhere. Uncle would curse, I would close my eyes, Jessica was sitting in the truck with her fingers crossed, but TaTa would just say Jesus Christ and rehook the cars.
After about the 5th time the rope / chain breaks I get a text message. At the time the phone beeps to symbolize the incoming message TaTa and Uncle a using 2 rocks to cut a piece of rope, in the middle of Chobe National Park, barefoot, cursing, and sweating. All the message said was "How r things?" I could not reply to Eric at that point because things we were all in a pretty dark place at that moment.
Just outside of Kasane, about 2 km from the mechanic everyone start to relax a bit. It seemed we were in the clear. Uncle (whose name I cannot remember at the moment) and I are talking and we spot a heard of elephants on the right side of the road. Unknown to us as we stare at the elephants the chain breaks again. When did we notice the chain broke, oh yeah, when we drove right along side the truck while rolling down a large hill. Seems that they had not noticed the break either. S0 we just kept rolling down that hill and took a left at the base right into the mechanics shop. When he walks out and asks what is wrong with the car and we reply its dead he had an extremely odd look on his face. Yes its dead but it still rolls. About the only thing good about that piece of crap car are the cupholders.
Training Samples
Guess I am the only one who is worried that we have not done enough. Hey I did my share and helped with the surveys. Certain people better not question what I did here this summer.
Beetsha
The chief of a village we worked at during this trip has died. Our thoughts to his family. He did not speak English, but he was excited we where there. At one point he asked our translator where Jings chopsticks were, guess you had to be there to think it was funny. Thank god he did not die while we were there, they would have chased us out really quick.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Dinner
Jessica and I have cooked all of the meals this week. So tonight was Jing's turn. Dude is pathetic. Does he honestly believe that we think he cannot cook rice. Thats what he kept saying tonight. That he did not know how to cook rice. You are from CHINA!!!!!
I could not take it anymore and I finished cooking dinner. All the while he is telling Brian that if the end of the world came he would be far better off than the three girls because he can fend for himself. Dude cried when he got stung by a bee last week, had not stepped into a grocery store since we got to AFRICA, has not washed a dish in this country, and has complained non stop about dirt (he is up to 3 showers a day here). Yeah, you would be the most resilent of the group, HA!
I could not take it anymore and I finished cooking dinner. All the while he is telling Brian that if the end of the world came he would be far better off than the three girls because he can fend for himself. Dude cried when he got stung by a bee last week, had not stepped into a grocery store since we got to AFRICA, has not washed a dish in this country, and has complained non stop about dirt (he is up to 3 showers a day here). Yeah, you would be the most resilent of the group, HA!
Gilligan's Island
After our three hour boat cruise Jessica and I have the Gilligan's Island theme song stuck in our heads. She asked me which character I though she was. I don't know the show well enough to give her an answer. Which character would I be?
UPDATE: Well all of the characters except the old lady have been selected. Guess that leaves me to be Mrs. Howell. LOL. At least I am rich.
UPDATE: Well all of the characters except the old lady have been selected. Guess that leaves me to be Mrs. Howell. LOL. At least I am rich.
Movie
Who should play me in the screen version of National Lampoons Dead Doneky? Any suggestions?
Jessica and I are planning a moved based on true events, but there will be one major change. We sat around the pool yesterday afternoon playing cards and talking about our movie. It was deiced that someone had to die at the end. Jing and Eric were the ideal choices. Don't want to spoil the death but we did spend 30 minutes discussing how the death would occur. I think the people behind us thought we were plotting a hit.
Should I give a hint..........Sorry dude the villain always dies so ours had to be different. If you have been keeping up with the blog tht probably does not help you much.
Jessica and I are planning a moved based on true events, but there will be one major change. We sat around the pool yesterday afternoon playing cards and talking about our movie. It was deiced that someone had to die at the end. Jing and Eric were the ideal choices. Don't want to spoil the death but we did spend 30 minutes discussing how the death would occur. I think the people behind us thought we were plotting a hit.
Should I give a hint..........Sorry dude the villain always dies so ours had to be different. If you have been keeping up with the blog tht probably does not help you much.
Baboon Wars
First they were cute, now it is war. Baboons vs. UF
It started with stealing the candy, now the devils are opening the coolers and stealing items.
Yesterday, Jessica scared them away with a flaming stick form the fire. Today I went after one with an ax. We thought it was UF, 2. Baboon, 0. But the stupid little bastard got us back while we were at a meeting. Our bag of sugar, which was in a zipped weighted down bag was stolen as was Jessica's cell phone.
Thats right the freakin baboon stole her cell phone. I have been calling it all afternoon. Wonder if the thing is just watching it everytime it rings. She is bummed of course. I feel bad for her.
Ok, in this round I will give it to them. Baboons, 3. UF, 2. But it is not over!
It started with stealing the candy, now the devils are opening the coolers and stealing items.
Yesterday, Jessica scared them away with a flaming stick form the fire. Today I went after one with an ax. We thought it was UF, 2. Baboon, 0. But the stupid little bastard got us back while we were at a meeting. Our bag of sugar, which was in a zipped weighted down bag was stolen as was Jessica's cell phone.
Thats right the freakin baboon stole her cell phone. I have been calling it all afternoon. Wonder if the thing is just watching it everytime it rings. She is bummed of course. I feel bad for her.
Ok, in this round I will give it to them. Baboons, 3. UF, 2. But it is not over!
Recap
Don't know why I had not written any posts for a while. Honestly, with both cars broken and no leadership things were pretty slow. There are a couple of cool things to recap though:
- We took a most awesome boat ride down the Chobe River. I think it made this last awful week wort it. We went in the evening and all of the animals were coming down to the river's edge to drink for the night. My favorite was the baby elephant. HHe could not yet use his trunk so he just swung it aroud like crazy. It was funny. The guide said that he thought it was only a month old. There were tons of animals including: cape buffalo, impala, crocs, kudu, water monitors, elephants, and cool birds. Oh, also we saw the elephant herds swimming across the river. So strange I never even thought about elephants swimming.
- Shopping, think I have gifts for almost everyone now
- We found the best coffee place. It had been so long since I had anything besides instant.
- Baboon wars (but more on that in a moment)
- One thing that I have not gotten used to is the human / wildlife interactions. Warthogs, elephants, and baboons just walk down the middle of the road and no one seems to notice them. Even in our lodge there are no lawn mowers just warthogs eating the grass. Maybe I should take one home so there is no need to ever mow again.
- Mongoose!
- Meerkat!
- Warthhog with a broken leg was a bit sad. People just ignored it walking down the road gues they have more important things to worry about
- Jing.....where do I begin. Dude want to eat all of the animals. Everytime we see a baboon or lion he says he wants to cook it. Additionally he wants to wrestle it to the ground and kill it with his bare hands. It is so strange. There are eleborate stories for how he is going to kill and cook them. My favoraite involves a taxi cab, Jing, a lion, and lo mien noodles.
- Poor Jessica. This has not been her week to exercise. Yesterday (6-13-10) she went for a power walk up the large hill towards the Kasane airport. Halfway up a car waves here down, she later said she almost did not stop becuase she was alone, but turns out there was a pack of lions on the side of the road at the top of the hill. Then today she wanted to go for a run. I have veen going with her but today I got lazy. She left camp and started off. 2 seconds after she leaves the guard comes over and says that we cannot leave campe because they just spotted a leopard near the lodge. Well Jessica was gone, so we all (including the guard) ran after her because she was running right for the area where the animal was. Poor girl, don;t think she will exercise much more here.
- Caroline and Tim arrived!
- Saw a baby giraffe in Chobe National Park
- Jessica, Jing, Kalanie, and myself are no longer speaking to Eric. Great way to get work done.
I am sure there are more cool things I just cannot think now. It is getting late.
Peace Everyone.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Recap
So I did not write for a while. Honestly, when both cars were broken and there as not leadership things were pretty slow. There are a couple of cool things though to recap:
Monday, June 28, 2010
Recap
Don't know why I have not written any recently. Honestly, with both cars broken and no leadership to things have been pretty slow. THere are a couple of cool things though to recap:
- Took a most awesome boat ride down the Chobe river. Honestly, I think it made this last aweful week worth it.
New Day
Today is a new day! Which means I am not thinking about the events of the past 48 hours.
I was awakened at 5:30 this morning by a strange noise right outside my tent. I could hear wrappers and I was thinking, who in our group would be eating candy at 5;30 in the morning? So I unzipped my tent and ........ a baboon was eating our hard candy. I watched as he unwrapped it, popped it in his mouth then unwrapped another. It was amazing. When I went to scare him away he grabbed the cand bag and bolted. It was good candy, I cannot blame him from taking it.
I was awakened at 5:30 this morning by a strange noise right outside my tent. I could hear wrappers and I was thinking, who in our group would be eating candy at 5;30 in the morning? So I unzipped my tent and ........ a baboon was eating our hard candy. I watched as he unwrapped it, popped it in his mouth then unwrapped another. It was amazing. When I went to scare him away he grabbed the cand bag and bolted. It was good candy, I cannot blame him from taking it.
Good Thing
At first I was annoyed that I could not post these blog entries instantly. Now I realize it is a good thing. I wrote a rather mean entry about a certain Dr. yesterday that I am glad never got posted. I am a very patient person, but rudeness and incompetence pushes me beyond my limits.
Chobe
Made it back to Botswana. It was a minor ordeal. Drove the car through this weird wash to help prevent the spread of hoof and mouth. Not in the greatest of moods.
Eric Sucks.
Saw no animals on our drive though Chobe National Park. BUt once we made it into town we say baboon, elephants, and warthogs. Yep, right in town. There was one baboon that was especially cool to watch, she was carrying two babies. One was hanging on her back the other on her stomach.
Eric is a Jerk.
We finally found a campsite right as it was getting dark. I am tempted to write to lonely planet and tell them they suck. I bought this cool Namibia / Botswana tour guide and we were going to stay at one of recommended campsites, Thebe Lodge. Problem was it was a pit. The state prison was within 30 feet of the entrance. It was half closed because they were buring fallen trees. And it was an elephant corridor. The rate was great, the place sucked. So we ended at Chobe Safari Lodge, which is $10 US a night. I seem to be constantly worrying about moeny, but I have been reassured multiple times that my finances are in order. Odd that 10 a night seem like a fortune to me. My bill in Namibia was 302 US dollars for 12 nights, you would have thought I was paying that a night with my crazy reaction to the bill.
Eric leaves in 9 days.
Jing and Kalanie are sick. Neight are taking Malaria mesicine for some unknown reason, but we don't think that is what this is. They seem to have the stomach flu. Malaria does not make you yak your guts up right?
Eric is an arrogant jerk, who should never be in charge of groups.
Jing, Jessica, and I went to find dinner in Kasane around 7. You would think that would be simple in a populat tourist town. WRONG. Everywhere closes at 7. It was recommended that we try a chicken place called Albacks. The second I turned into the parking lot I knew that it was not where I was going to eat. Sketchy does not even bein to describe it. Then we tried to get dinner at a Shell station. All they had though was chips, cookies, water, and beef jerky. Yummy. As a last resort we tried this pizze place around the corner from the gas statation. It tasted ok. I did not tell Jessica or Jing that I saw a mouse as we were walking out.
Eric = Rage = Ignornace = Stupidity = Annoyance
Jessica and I closed the night out by sitting around the nonexistent campfire and talking. It seemed to help us relax a bit more. I wish that we had done that before I spoke with my mother. I think she is a bit freaked out by my everyone suck phone call from earlier.
Oh, I forgot to tell the most interesting story from the day. Jessica, Pat, and myself set ff in the CAM to Katima because we needed to cross the borsder into Botswana. The car sounds like crap. It is making this terribe noise. So we pull into the gas station where the other car is waiting, and they give us this terrible look. When we get out of the car I ask Jessica if we have a flat tire, I thought that was the odd noise. Nope tires look dine, upon first inspection. After getting gas Eric is messing around with the car trying to figure out the noise when he looks at the back left tire. There are only 2 of the 6 bolts on the tire. The day before Jessica took the CAM into Katima to het the flat tire fixed. So the guys at BP put the car up on a jack and the tire was incredibly loose. Not only were we missing 4 bolts, but the 2 there had been broken by the mechanic. We stole bolts form the other three tires. Were told that we could not get replacement bolts in Namibia. So we crept across the border. Me driving. Thinking that a tire would fall off at any moment. I never went more than 30 km per hr. So a 2 hour trip from Katima to Kasane actually took close to 7 hours. Well at least the CAM is still rolling.
Thank god Eric picked a campsite on the complete other side from us. He knows we are pissed.
Sorry for the grumbles. Tired of the lack of organization, and Eric's inability to grow a pair.
Sleep is what is needed. Why is it that a long car ride make you so tired? I mean all you are doing is sitting in the freaking car!!
Eric Sucks.
Saw no animals on our drive though Chobe National Park. BUt once we made it into town we say baboon, elephants, and warthogs. Yep, right in town. There was one baboon that was especially cool to watch, she was carrying two babies. One was hanging on her back the other on her stomach.
Eric is a Jerk.
We finally found a campsite right as it was getting dark. I am tempted to write to lonely planet and tell them they suck. I bought this cool Namibia / Botswana tour guide and we were going to stay at one of recommended campsites, Thebe Lodge. Problem was it was a pit. The state prison was within 30 feet of the entrance. It was half closed because they were buring fallen trees. And it was an elephant corridor. The rate was great, the place sucked. So we ended at Chobe Safari Lodge, which is $10 US a night. I seem to be constantly worrying about moeny, but I have been reassured multiple times that my finances are in order. Odd that 10 a night seem like a fortune to me. My bill in Namibia was 302 US dollars for 12 nights, you would have thought I was paying that a night with my crazy reaction to the bill.
Eric leaves in 9 days.
Jing and Kalanie are sick. Neight are taking Malaria mesicine for some unknown reason, but we don't think that is what this is. They seem to have the stomach flu. Malaria does not make you yak your guts up right?
Eric is an arrogant jerk, who should never be in charge of groups.
Jing, Jessica, and I went to find dinner in Kasane around 7. You would think that would be simple in a populat tourist town. WRONG. Everywhere closes at 7. It was recommended that we try a chicken place called Albacks. The second I turned into the parking lot I knew that it was not where I was going to eat. Sketchy does not even bein to describe it. Then we tried to get dinner at a Shell station. All they had though was chips, cookies, water, and beef jerky. Yummy. As a last resort we tried this pizze place around the corner from the gas statation. It tasted ok. I did not tell Jessica or Jing that I saw a mouse as we were walking out.
Eric = Rage = Ignornace = Stupidity = Annoyance
Jessica and I closed the night out by sitting around the nonexistent campfire and talking. It seemed to help us relax a bit more. I wish that we had done that before I spoke with my mother. I think she is a bit freaked out by my everyone suck phone call from earlier.
Oh, I forgot to tell the most interesting story from the day. Jessica, Pat, and myself set ff in the CAM to Katima because we needed to cross the borsder into Botswana. The car sounds like crap. It is making this terribe noise. So we pull into the gas station where the other car is waiting, and they give us this terrible look. When we get out of the car I ask Jessica if we have a flat tire, I thought that was the odd noise. Nope tires look dine, upon first inspection. After getting gas Eric is messing around with the car trying to figure out the noise when he looks at the back left tire. There are only 2 of the 6 bolts on the tire. The day before Jessica took the CAM into Katima to het the flat tire fixed. So the guys at BP put the car up on a jack and the tire was incredibly loose. Not only were we missing 4 bolts, but the 2 there had been broken by the mechanic. We stole bolts form the other three tires. Were told that we could not get replacement bolts in Namibia. So we crept across the border. Me driving. Thinking that a tire would fall off at any moment. I never went more than 30 km per hr. So a 2 hour trip from Katima to Kasane actually took close to 7 hours. Well at least the CAM is still rolling.
Thank god Eric picked a campsite on the complete other side from us. He knows we are pissed.
Sorry for the grumbles. Tired of the lack of organization, and Eric's inability to grow a pair.
Sleep is what is needed. Why is it that a long car ride make you so tired? I mean all you are doing is sitting in the freaking car!!
Feedi the Fish
So Laurence, the bartender here at Namushasha just came down to feed the fish. I went over to watch as these bream went crazy. I thought it was cutre, he said he feds the fish every Tuesday. Then at the end he looks at me and says "and after 6 Tuesdays of feeding there are big enough to eat." Yep, Africa bit me in the rump again. Cute feeding the fish......yeah right.
Generator
The generator for the lodge just went out, which for us basically means bedtime. Its only 10, and all of us are ready for bed.
Generator
The generator for the lodge just went out, which for us basically means bedtime. Its only 10, and all of us are ready for bed.
No title
Think there is a hippo on or near our back porch. The clapping does not seem to be working.
Laughing
Long series of hysteria on this day!
Today was our last work day in Wuparo Conservancy. This last day comprised of two events, a results presnetation and an environmental history focus group. Well we had no survey results, because the surveys were not entered. So I was left to give a climate change presentation.
As usual things in Africa move a bit slow. So our meetingi nthe village that was supposed to start at 9 actually stated at 11:30. While we waited a group of us read through Eric's health in Africa book that is put out by lonely planet. Basicall it scared the crap out of us with talk of Creeping Eruption, Leishmaniasis, and Plites. The funniest part of reading the book was Jing's reaction to the section on genital warts. After reading the symptoms he announces to the group "I'm depressed. I have all of these." We probably should not have cracked up, but we did. Jessica, in the straightest face ever mentions that he needs to see a doctor. Eric told him to stop sleeping with skanky Chinese women, and I basically fell out of the car laughing. Turns out the first three symptoms were: body aches, restlessness, and something else that is common. All of which Jing has since Africa does not seem to agree with him. It was hilarious.
Additionally, while reading the health book TaTa and Jing come across the word Hemorrhoids. Through laughs and embarrassed paused I explained to them both what it was. They and I were ready to die.
Once we all got organized our work actually started. My presentation lasted about 20-30 minutes. Where I got to be the reaper of doom. Basically telling them that the rain is seriously going to decline......oh and there there is nothing they can really do about it except for adapt. In all of these presentation that I have given in the last couple of weeks people ask "how can we stop this from happening?" At first I tried not to flat out say there was nothing they could do to stop it. I hemmed and hawed about peoples impacts on the landscape. Eric clarified quite nicely in Kwando when he said there is jack that you can do to stop this, basically adapt. So I took that same approach today. The your SOL approach as I now call it. The focus group was really interesting, too much detail to write aout though.
After we arrived back at the lodge all of us started to break down came, thinking that things were acutally going according to plan and we were leaving for Kasane. Well turns out Africa came to bit us in the butt again. One of the tires of our car literally fell off while Shylock and TaTa were driving. Everyone is safe, but now we need to find a mechanic, which will probably take hours.
Oh no, the laughs of the day do not end there! After I broke down my tent ans packed the car with my stuff (not in my pack, which was in the chalet). I drove the car towards the lodge. About halfway there I see this gate that leads right to our chalet. I parked the car on the side of the road, jumped out, grabbed my camping supplies and headed for the gate. When I got there it was locked, but I had all this crap in my hands. So I proceed to throw it over the gate, and run back to the car. Which I quickly drive back to the campground. When I arrive back at the campsite I grab my last few thing (dirty clothes, a carved hornbill statue, etc) and take off running so that people don't steal the stuff I threw over the fence. About 2/3 of the way back a freaking fruit tree comes along. And you know those cartoons where people slip on a banana peel? Yeah, you guessed it. Erin took a nosedive, into the dirt. But I was still worried about my camp stuff so I shake it off and collected the rest of my belongings.
I was too embarrassed to tell this to anyone until later on when all us grils went to bed. We were laying there craking up about the days events. And I was like, well.....there is one things you don't know about. More laughing. As Jssica says, "I should have started drinking a breakfast." She did not start that early but several of them laid one on pretty early in the day.
Peace Everyone. No trips to Chobe tomorrow. More Namushasha. Oh darn.
Today was our last work day in Wuparo Conservancy. This last day comprised of two events, a results presnetation and an environmental history focus group. Well we had no survey results, because the surveys were not entered. So I was left to give a climate change presentation.
As usual things in Africa move a bit slow. So our meetingi nthe village that was supposed to start at 9 actually stated at 11:30. While we waited a group of us read through Eric's health in Africa book that is put out by lonely planet. Basicall it scared the crap out of us with talk of Creeping Eruption, Leishmaniasis, and Plites. The funniest part of reading the book was Jing's reaction to the section on genital warts. After reading the symptoms he announces to the group "I'm depressed. I have all of these." We probably should not have cracked up, but we did. Jessica, in the straightest face ever mentions that he needs to see a doctor. Eric told him to stop sleeping with skanky Chinese women, and I basically fell out of the car laughing. Turns out the first three symptoms were: body aches, restlessness, and something else that is common. All of which Jing has since Africa does not seem to agree with him. It was hilarious.
Additionally, while reading the health book TaTa and Jing come across the word Hemorrhoids. Through laughs and embarrassed paused I explained to them both what it was. They and I were ready to die.
Once we all got organized our work actually started. My presentation lasted about 20-30 minutes. Where I got to be the reaper of doom. Basically telling them that the rain is seriously going to decline......oh and there there is nothing they can really do about it except for adapt. In all of these presentation that I have given in the last couple of weeks people ask "how can we stop this from happening?" At first I tried not to flat out say there was nothing they could do to stop it. I hemmed and hawed about peoples impacts on the landscape. Eric clarified quite nicely in Kwando when he said there is jack that you can do to stop this, basically adapt. So I took that same approach today. The your SOL approach as I now call it. The focus group was really interesting, too much detail to write aout though.
After we arrived back at the lodge all of us started to break down came, thinking that things were acutally going according to plan and we were leaving for Kasane. Well turns out Africa came to bit us in the butt again. One of the tires of our car literally fell off while Shylock and TaTa were driving. Everyone is safe, but now we need to find a mechanic, which will probably take hours.
Oh no, the laughs of the day do not end there! After I broke down my tent ans packed the car with my stuff (not in my pack, which was in the chalet). I drove the car towards the lodge. About halfway there I see this gate that leads right to our chalet. I parked the car on the side of the road, jumped out, grabbed my camping supplies and headed for the gate. When I got there it was locked, but I had all this crap in my hands. So I proceed to throw it over the gate, and run back to the car. Which I quickly drive back to the campground. When I arrive back at the campsite I grab my last few thing (dirty clothes, a carved hornbill statue, etc) and take off running so that people don't steal the stuff I threw over the fence. About 2/3 of the way back a freaking fruit tree comes along. And you know those cartoons where people slip on a banana peel? Yeah, you guessed it. Erin took a nosedive, into the dirt. But I was still worried about my camp stuff so I shake it off and collected the rest of my belongings.
I was too embarrassed to tell this to anyone until later on when all us grils went to bed. We were laying there craking up about the days events. And I was like, well.....there is one things you don't know about. More laughing. As Jssica says, "I should have started drinking a breakfast." She did not start that early but several of them laid one on pretty early in the day.
Peace Everyone. No trips to Chobe tomorrow. More Namushasha. Oh darn.
The Shakowee Wowee Hypothesis
All of us have been a bit confused as to how people are sustaining themselves in these villages. In several places people are getting no help from the government, they have no jobs, and they grow no food, but they spend tons of money on cell phones and go to town a lot. So Jessica nad I talked about how they could be making money, and the answer literally walked right past us at the gas stations. A guy was smoking pot in broad daylight while pumping gas. We believe Jane should go to NASA and tell them that we have completely figured out how people are adapting to climate change in Southern Africa. They are growing and / or smoking pot. A hypothesis we have dubbed Shakowee Wowee.
Thanks for the million NASA. It was well spent!
FYI: Jing and I later confirmed our hypothesis while doing training samples. Let's just say traipsing through the bush becomes totally different when you stumble across a grow house. Also, so people don't think we are unsafe. We were given permission to work in the region where the pot was located!
Thanks for the million NASA. It was well spent!
FYI: Jing and I later confirmed our hypothesis while doing training samples. Let's just say traipsing through the bush becomes totally different when you stumble across a grow house. Also, so people don't think we are unsafe. We were given permission to work in the region where the pot was located!
Today (6-6-10)
Most people stayed in camp today to enter data, but I decided to go out to collect training samples. It was a hot but interesting day. Several days ago Jessica and I came to an interesting hypothesis about how people make their income in theseareas, a hypothesis we call Shakowee Wowee. That hypothesis was confirmed during a training sample today, but if you want the full story you will have to ask me back in the states. It is to good, I want to see peoples faces when I tell it.
We had a Braai in camp tonight for Shylocks birthday. FYI: Braai is a BBQ. It was nice but Patricia insisted on taking over. I had everything planned nicely. Jessica and I picked everything up at the grocery store. Pat goes to the kitchen to pick up the food then proceeds to tell me that I did not buy enough for 8 people. Here is what I bought, you decide. 24 hot dogs, 3 steaks, 9 sausages, enough vegs for 20 kebabs, chips, soda, beer, and 2 loaves of bread. Sounds like enough right? Well, she proceeds to order a large bowl of salad, pop, and stew from the kitchen (which I flat out refuse to chip in for). Guess what, none of her crap gets eaten and there is a bit of leftovers of my food. TOLD. YOU. SO. Even Eric was confused about why she was butting in and usually he thinks she walks on water. HAHAHA
Made up a word today. Holy Monkaturd. Yep thats right. Thats what I yell when I am laying in bed and a HUGE spider is in the mosquito net. You would yell something similar.
Headed back to Wuparo (the bush) one last time. Giving one more presnetation and then focus groups.
The lodges generator will go out soon (9-10) so we go to bed rather early. Last time I was reading at 10 when the lights just went out. I was like, oh well time for bed, and I closed my book and went to sleep. It was a bit like when you are young and your parents say lights outs.
NEVER. EVER. take Malaria medicaiton on an empty stomach. Felt like a lead weight was resting in my stomach. That will teach me!
We had a Braai in camp tonight for Shylocks birthday. FYI: Braai is a BBQ. It was nice but Patricia insisted on taking over. I had everything planned nicely. Jessica and I picked everything up at the grocery store. Pat goes to the kitchen to pick up the food then proceeds to tell me that I did not buy enough for 8 people. Here is what I bought, you decide. 24 hot dogs, 3 steaks, 9 sausages, enough vegs for 20 kebabs, chips, soda, beer, and 2 loaves of bread. Sounds like enough right? Well, she proceeds to order a large bowl of salad, pop, and stew from the kitchen (which I flat out refuse to chip in for). Guess what, none of her crap gets eaten and there is a bit of leftovers of my food. TOLD. YOU. SO. Even Eric was confused about why she was butting in and usually he thinks she walks on water. HAHAHA
Made up a word today. Holy Monkaturd. Yep thats right. Thats what I yell when I am laying in bed and a HUGE spider is in the mosquito net. You would yell something similar.
Headed back to Wuparo (the bush) one last time. Giving one more presnetation and then focus groups.
The lodges generator will go out soon (9-10) so we go to bed rather early. Last time I was reading at 10 when the lights just went out. I was like, oh well time for bed, and I closed my book and went to sleep. It was a bit like when you are young and your parents say lights outs.
NEVER. EVER. take Malaria medicaiton on an empty stomach. Felt like a lead weight was resting in my stomach. That will teach me!
The Greatest Gift Ever!
If anyone is ever in the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, look up the Namushasha Country Lodge. This place rocks!! The manager, Brenda, gave the girls an awesome present several days ago. A free chalet!!! 1 week in an awesome room that usually goes for several hundred US dollars a night. Sorry guys, hope you enjoy camping. THe girls have moved out of the campground and the boys have renamed it Camp Testosterone. First time we have had a roof over our heads in 5 weeks!
TBC
- As I have mentioned before hitchhiking is very popular in Africa. But there are a few things I would life to tell people who want to be picked up on the side of the road. (1) Do not carry an ax and / or rifle. We have all at least seen the previews for those type of horror movies. (2) If you are picked up do not immediately turn to the driver and ask for TB pills. I can officially hold my breat for 3+ minutes now. (3) Sometimes we do not want to pick you up. So do not run into the middle of the road. That is not incentrive for me to stop and pick you up.
- Took one step in Babwata National Park. Yep, just one step
- Was told how to keep hippos away. Simply clap your hands three times in rapid succession and they will back off. Jessica and I have tried it multiple times. Honestly, I think the staff at the lodge are joshing us. Probably recording the hilarity and playing it back saying "look at what we got the stupid american girls to do"
- Killed a lilac breasted roller on the CAMs windshield. RIP friend. It brings the animal death total via the CAM to 3: Chicken, Hornbill, Roller. Near miss with a donkey early in the trip, but if you have been reading the blog you are aware of that.
- I let someone back in the state bother me way to much. I am working hard here, and its tough to listne to people complain about things not going exactly the way they expected it. Well get off your @$$ and get back tot he field yourself. I am not just here to do training samples I am also working in the communities doing surveys and presentation on climate change.
- Jing, poor guy, you are way over your head and you need to learn when to shut your mouth. He told Eric that to him women getting a PhD are a species in there own. Gotta tell ya boy, this girl is getting a PhD and it will be on a much more pertinent employable topic than you. So suck it!!!!
- Got my revenge on Jing today (6-6-10), went to do training samples and I made hime do all the hiking while I filled i nthe forms and kept people from bothering us. He did not put his tennis shoes on, because I am sure he thought he would be sitting in the car like normal, so he got his first taste of the briars and thorns this country has to offer. HAHA. Ohm and made him enter the data when we got back to the lodge. Girls getting a PhD, 1. Jing and his cray views, 0.
Peace Everyone. Still getting caught up posting. At this point we only had 3-4 more days in Namibia!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Welcome Back
So I have not been writing recently. Don't know why really. The days have been going well. So I will catch you up on the activities of this past week. Warning there is one complaint to come, basically I was upset that I let someone upset me (but more details to come).
- Two Favorite Quotes of the Week:
- Jessica turns to me when entering a survey with a blatently wrong answer and asks "What would Jesus do?" as in do we put what was said or what we know to be correct. My answer "Jesus would ignore it."
- When Jing asks Jessica how she is doing she responds "I have two drinks"
- Watched an elephant for 30 minutes in the national park, it was absolutely amazing. Except that the male elephant was a bit excited the entire time.
- Tsebee heard on the side of the road was awesome. I have never heard of them but it was pretty cool.
- A rare river dear, that I cannot remember the name of. He hung out around our deck for almost an hour.
- Chinese Checker Tournament
- Shopping at the cool Mashi Craft Market. Everything is super cheap, but way too big to get back to the states. I did buy an awesome hornbill statue that I have no clue how to get back
- Free chalet at the Namushasha lodge. The girls lucked out on this one. Poor guys are still amping, but I really have no sympathy for them. It is the first time since Gabs that I have had a roof over my head.
- We found a cope center in town that sells US magazines. I know that this seems minor, but i ran out of books to read 2 weeks ago. I am savoring the pages of O, Elle, and Marie Claire every night before bed.
- One of the coolest things about this trip is that Jessica and I have become close. Thank god that she is here. We really did not know one another before heading out, and I later found out that she used to think I was uptight. But things are cool now and we are really depending on one another for sanity.
- Our leader, who is sitting next to me as I write this, has been getting trashed the last couple of nights. I think the stress and lack of help from Brian are really starting to get to him. At least he is hilarious when drunk, but he does ask a lot of questions. Bit odd.
- More to come!!!
Blerg!
Not really having a great day, but Namibia is gorgeous. Tired of petty bickering. Tired of being with a large group of people. Thank god Jessica is here. She and I are trying to stay sane.
Eric is not dealing with the stress well. He got annoyingly drunk and was loud at dinner. Jessica and i left early so that we could chill away from the group. Such petty arguments that all stem from a freaking car wash. People need to get over themselves. Think about where you are and what you are doing this for. If you take that into perspective you wil realize how stupid today's crap has been.
Going to bed in a bad mood. Sorry all for the complaints. It is my resolution to not complain anymore after this post........lets hope there is no need for more.
Eric is not dealing with the stress well. He got annoyingly drunk and was loud at dinner. Jessica and i left early so that we could chill away from the group. Such petty arguments that all stem from a freaking car wash. People need to get over themselves. Think about where you are and what you are doing this for. If you take that into perspective you wil realize how stupid today's crap has been.
Going to bed in a bad mood. Sorry all for the complaints. It is my resolution to not complain anymore after this post........lets hope there is no need for more.
Pictures
Have to figure out a way to post pictures. My tent is on a hill overlooking the river. I can hear hippos and elephants. Pictures to come hopefully.
Pictures
Have to figure out a way to post pictures. My tent is on a hill overlooking the river. I can hear hippos and elephants. Pictures to come hopefully.
Craft Market
Kongola has a cool craft mart. We only stopped for 2 seconds because no one has changed any money yet, but I will be shopping there within the next 2 weeks. The requested beads have been founnd finally!
Craft Market
Kongola has a cool craft mart. We only stopped for 2 seconds because no one has changed any money yet, but I will be shopping there within the next 2 weeks. The requested beads have been founnd finally!
Evening
Pretty damn sweet sitting beside the Kwando watching the sunset. Its been a busy and at times rough couple of weeks. But this has all been pretty darn amazing.
Evening
Pretty damn sweet sitting beside the Kwando watching the sunset. Its been a busy and at times rough couple of weeks. But this has all been pretty darn amazing.
Great Lodge
We finally arrived to Namushasha around 5 tonight. It is amazing here. The grounds are great and they are so friendly. This could be a great 12 days. I am going to take a boat ride down the Kwando! Oh yeah, work also.
Namibian Border
Traveling into another country has taken on a whole new meaning. The Namibian border patrol were the most invasive people we have ever met. First it took foreever to get through immigration because there were asking us all so many questions. Then they wanted to go throguh our bags at customs. They proceeded to separate the boys and girls, and go though all our stuff. FYI: Jing went in with the girls for some unknown reason. I was second in line, and had just seen them go though Patricia's bag very completely. So when she unpacks my backpack I told her that she can look through it all, but she would also be repacking it. I had spent an hour this morning getting everything into my backpack. She took out two things, my drink mix and my bath stuff. She was not interested in repacking my bag apparently, but she did take 3 of my drink mixes and my conditioned. Apparently I look like I could be smuggling cocaine into there country and she needed to inspect my drink mix. It was so messed up. She took Jessica's tissues also. We are carrying around expensive clothes, cameras, jewelry, and computers but they want conditioner and tissues. Smart.
Did I mention they kept asking us if we are bringing any diamonds into the country?? Um......Poor Student......No
Did I mention they kept asking us if we are bringing any diamonds into the country?? Um......Poor Student......No
The Suicidal Chicken
Today we are headed to Namibia (5-28-10). Everyone is pretty excited to head to a new area. We all awoke well before 6 to pack and head out. We started early with the bickering. Our translator / fix it / resident moron cleaned only one of the cars, and them complained when he did not get to ride in it. Heres the thing, you are an employee of this group. Who do you think you are throwing a hissy fit? I though Eric was going to burst a blood vessel.
So we finally got on the road about 8, and Jessica was driving. About an hour into the drive we heard this thump. Turns out a chicken ran across the road and into the path of the car. Jessica swerved to miss it but this chicken apparently wanted to die and it swerved as well. Feathers were flying, and some chicken bits were stuck in the car when we got to the ferry a half hour later.
So we finally got on the road about 8, and Jessica was driving. About an hour into the drive we heard this thump. Turns out a chicken ran across the road and into the path of the car. Jessica swerved to miss it but this chicken apparently wanted to die and it swerved as well. Feathers were flying, and some chicken bits were stuck in the car when we got to the ferry a half hour later.
Text Message
Got a cool text message from Heather today! Maybe it came a while ago, not sure how reliable the hetwork is here. If she is reading this. You make me smile to BFF!
(Wow feel like a high school student again after writing BFF. LOL)
(Wow feel like a high school student again after writing BFF. LOL)
Text Message
Got a cool text message from Heather today! Maybe it came a while ago, not sure how reliable the hetwork is here. If she is reading this. You make me smile to BFF!
Internet
After two weeks plus without internet Eric discovered that our campground in Seronga has a dial up network. After 10 minutes of loading gmail, we all decided that we could wait until Namibia for wifi. Boy are we spoiled. It was not that long ago that all of us used dial up.
Internet
After two weeks plus without internet Eric discovered that our campground in Seronga has a dial up network. After 10 minutes of loading gmail, we all decided that we could wait until Namibia for wifi. Boy are we spoiled. It was not that long ago that all of us used dial up.
Cinnamon Beef
The second night of beef cooking was supposed to be me in the kitchen. The women at the lodge offered to grind the leftovers and I was going to make burgers and fries. When I started to make dinner tonight Jing decided he was sick of all the food that we had been making and that we are lousy cooks. There fore it was his turn in the kitch (ie campfire). The results were terrible. What a waste of good foos. Beef with carrots and onions seasoned with cinnamon and what was labeled rice seasoning. Gross. Plus he used all of the rice and pasta we had left. Who knows what we are going to make for lunch tomorrow night. Canned fruit, bread, and water are about the only things left (I am being a bit sarcastic!) Maybe we can have some sort of iron chef contest with those ingredients!
Beef, its whats for dinner
Our work in Beetsha went very well. The people we hired were so good that we let them go on their own and we toured the village. This place has the perfect setting for a horror movie, a hospital that is completely empty. We talked to the burse of the clinic / hospital, fyi she is the only employee, she gave us a great but deprssing tour of the facility. All of the medicine is provided by the Bill Clinton Foundtation and she said that most of that gets pilfered even before arriving in Beetsha.
Our beed is waiting for us in the car. Woo Hoo. I will enjoy it after no protein or meat for 5 days. Carbs are making us cranky and sleepy.
Overall a pretty great day. The nurse gave us a bag of roundbuts which taste just like boiled peanuts.
Peace Everyone!
Our beed is waiting for us in the car. Woo Hoo. I will enjoy it after no protein or meat for 5 days. Carbs are making us cranky and sleepy.
Overall a pretty great day. The nurse gave us a bag of roundbuts which taste just like boiled peanuts.
Peace Everyone!
You never know
Heard and interesting story about Rodgers and Andrea last night. Writing this so that I remember to give Andrea crap about it back in the states. Ms. Okvango huh ?!?
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
And the cow goes moo.....until you kill it
Usually I don't like steak, but it is on the menu for tonight. I am ready for it! Regarless of the fact that the cow is still alive in the village as I write this.
And the cow goes moo.....until you kill it
Usually I don't like steak, but it is on the menu for tonight. I am ready for it! Regarless of the fact that the cow is still alive in the village as I write this.
The match is set
We are going to have a rumble at our camp soon and all of us are a bit excited. After days of jabs and snarky comments the wrestling match is coming. Jing vs. Shylock. Both are in training. I have bet my 2 bottles of still water on Shylock. Carrying my camera everywhere so that it is handy if a match suddenly breaks out.
The match is set
We are going to have a rumble at our camp soon and all of us are a bit excited. After days of jabs and snarky comments the wrestling match is coming. Jing vs. Shylock. Both are in training. I have bet my 2 bottles of still water on Shylock. Carrying my camera everywhere so that it is handy if a match suddenly breaks out.
Kids
Hitchhiking is the most common form of transportation within Africa. It is pretty safe and traveling within such a large group gives us confidence that we are safe in picking people up. Yesterday (5-24-10) on our way home from Beetsha a group of children flagged down our car. I was driving and TaTa translated for me. We thought that they wanted a ride to Seronga (about 35 km from where we were), so they got in the back of the pickup and we took off. About 2 km later they pounded on the top of the truck and asked me to stop. They all jumped out, there were about 6 in all, and proceeded to run back towards where we picked them up. Turns out they had not ridden in a car for several weeks and just wanted to do it. They had no need for a ride but for the fun of it. It was pretty hilarous. TaTa said that we were through picking people up, but yet we picked on 2 the next morning.
These were pretty young kids too. The age range was 6-10 I would guess. Tells you a bit on how safe it is here that people let their kids hitchhike for the fun. Can you imagine something like that in the states? Before coming here people asked me if I was concerned for my safetly, and I was a bit hesitant to answer. Turns out people are perfectly lovely, and the wildlife is what to be concerned with. Case in point, we got to listen to the lion roar like crazy last night. At least it was fairly distant.
These were pretty young kids too. The age range was 6-10 I would guess. Tells you a bit on how safe it is here that people let their kids hitchhike for the fun. Can you imagine something like that in the states? Before coming here people asked me if I was concerned for my safetly, and I was a bit hesitant to answer. Turns out people are perfectly lovely, and the wildlife is what to be concerned with. Case in point, we got to listen to the lion roar like crazy last night. At least it was fairly distant.
Back at it
Work begins again tomorrow (5-25-10) in Beetsha. Hope I am prepared. Hope I can avoid the sun a bit.
Wow
Drunken Chinese man is exercising outside of my tent at 11:30 at night. Yeah, whiskey doues not affect you.
Closing Night
The night is coming to a close and we are sitting by the fire. It is the 24th of May, meaning that I have officially been in Africa for 3 weeks. The time is flying by.
Closing Night
The night is coming to a close and we are sitting by the fire. It is the 24th of May, meaning that I have officially been in Africa for 3 weeks. The time is flying by.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
National Lampoons
Need to write a book or something about the hilarity that ensues during field work. National Lampoons Dead Donkey.
National Lampoons
Need to write a book or something about the hilarity that ensues during field work. National Lampoons Dead Donkey.
World Bank
Started training in two villages in OCT, Seronga and Beetsha. I headed to Beetsha ith TaTa, Shylock, and Jing. It was interesting. I wrapped up and meet the chief, who spoke no English. Then we meet a large group from World Bank that are working in the area as well. They were getting ready to hold a community meeting so we attended as well. The whole point of this meeting was for the world bank to let pople know that they are working at ways to combat elephants. The two proposed ideas seem a bit farfetched if you ask us but hey they are the supposed experts. First they want people to start to grow chili's in order to make chili bombs which they will light at night to keep the animals away. This seems like a cool idea until you realize the inverstment it will take to make chili production work. Then add to that the idea of asking people to grind chili's into powder and mix it with dung and petrol. Oh yeah, then light it on fire. Hmmm.....seems a bit wrong. Secondly, they want to train German Shepards to guard the crops at night. Yeah. Really. You should see the condition of most dogs here, there is not one change that this will work.
Anyways, several of us made good contacts for the future. Shylock says that he will angle for a job in the future with them. Even if we think there program is rubbish we still want to work with them or get money from them. LOL.
During the translator training in the village school let out, and all of the students were starting intently. That seems to happen here a lot. White folks stick out like a sore thumb. It has made surveys a bit hard. In our last village we did not have enough women volunteers to help, so Jessica nad i worked with two men. Everywhere we went people would say comments, and while I never asked exactly what we being said it was pretty obvious. Hanging out with a white girl huh. Snicker. Snicker. No need to have that translated. It fits in to the universal language of mockery.
Anyways, several of us made good contacts for the future. Shylock says that he will angle for a job in the future with them. Even if we think there program is rubbish we still want to work with them or get money from them. LOL.
During the translator training in the village school let out, and all of the students were starting intently. That seems to happen here a lot. White folks stick out like a sore thumb. It has made surveys a bit hard. In our last village we did not have enough women volunteers to help, so Jessica nad i worked with two men. Everywhere we went people would say comments, and while I never asked exactly what we being said it was pretty obvious. Hanging out with a white girl huh. Snicker. Snicker. No need to have that translated. It fits in to the universal language of mockery.
World Bank
Started training in two villages in OCT, Seronga and Beetsha. I headed to Beetsha ith TaTa, Shylock, and Jing. It was interesting. I wrapped up and meet the chief, who spoke no English. Then we meet a large group from World Bank that are working in the area as well. They were getting ready to hold a community meeting so we attended as well. The whole point of this meeting was for the world bank to let pople know that they are working at ways to combat elephants. The two proposed ideas seem a bit farfetched if you ask us but hey they are the supposed experts. First they want people to start to grow chili's in order to make chili bombs which they will light at night to keep the animals away. This seems like a cool idea until you realize the inverstment it will take to make chili production work. Then add to that the idea of asking people to grind chili's into powder and mix it with dung and petrol. Oh yeah, then light it on fire. Hmmm.....seems a bit wrong. Secondly, they want to train German Shepards to guard the crops at night. Yeah. Really. You should see the condition of most dogs here, there is not one change that this will work.
Anyways, several of us made good contacts for the future. Shylock says that he will angle for a job in the future with them. Even if we think there program is rubbish we still want to work with them or get money from them. LOL.
Plan B
The waters are rising. All of our villages are flooding. The Okavango river is a bit out of control right now. We are trying to come up with plan B. Might have to head for Namibia early. Otherwise we will need a boat to do surveys. That would be pretty cool though.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Bar is Open
So on our first Friday night n Seronga a couple of my coworkers decided to have a few alcoholic beverages. Problem was we have nothing in camp. So Eric and TaTa decided to hunt down a tux shop (bar) to get beer and wine. Problem was all of the shops in town close at 8, but they were told of one place in town that is open until 11 that sells COLD beer and wine. The police station
Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) It tells you a bit about the efficiency of the police force in Botswana that they are the main bar in town
(2) The police stations are only open until 11. Guess crime does not occur at night in Botswana. LOL
FYI: Eric said it was the scariest bar that he has ever been to in his life (and the dude is pretty well traveled)
The Bar is Open
So on our first Friday night n Seronga a couple of my coworkers decided to have a few alcoholic beverages. Problem was we have nothing in camp. So Eric and TaTa decided to hunt down a tux shop (bar) to get beer and wine. Problem was all of the shops in town close at 8, but they were told of one place in town that is open until 11 that sells COLD beer and wine. The police station
Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) It tells you a bit about the efficiency of the police force in Botswana that they are the main bar in town
(2) The police stations are only open until 11. Guess crime does not occur at night in Botswana. LOL
FYI: Eric said it was the scariest bar that he has ever been to in his life (and the dude is pretty well traveled)
Two thoughts come to mind:
(1) It tells you a bit about the efficiency of the police force in Botswana that they are the main bar in town
(2) The police stations are only open until 11. Guess crime does not occur at night in Botswana. LOL
FYI: Eric said it was the scariest bar that he has ever been to in his life (and the dude is pretty well traveled)
Monday, May 31, 2010
The Dutch Have Arrived
So we had our first guests in our OCT campsite. A large group of overlanders arrived late at night and made quite an impression. While brushing our teeth the older gentleman of the group came out of his tent in his underwear (hanes for those who are curious) and proceeded to fix his tent. Nudity does not appear to be an issue with this group because the next morning a mostly nude women came out of the shower and crossed to her tent.
Neck Deep In Water
The village we have been working in recently is called Eretsha. It means neck deep in water in Satswana.
Very fitting considering 70% of the area is flooded.
Very fitting considering 70% of the area is flooded.
The Chicken Dance
I need to write a screenplay about our adventures in the bush, because honestly no one will believe this crap. LOL
So our translator brings the aforementioned chicken to camp. He proceeds to dance with the chicken while sinigns to it. The song went something like "please don't be mad at me chicken, but I plan to chop your head off real soon." He was making a show of killing that freakin chicken for our sake. It was hilarious. Wish I have it on video.
Did I mention that he had had several black label beers before the beheading????
So our translator brings the aforementioned chicken to camp. He proceeds to dance with the chicken while sinigns to it. The song went something like "please don't be mad at me chicken, but I plan to chop your head off real soon." He was making a show of killing that freakin chicken for our sake. It was hilarious. Wish I have it on video.
Did I mention that he had had several black label beers before the beheading????
Chicken Run
How many grad students does it take to catch a village chicken? 3
How long does it take 3 grad students to catch a village chicken? 45 minutes
Pictures of the chicken run.........priceless
How long does it take 3 grad students to catch a village chicken? 45 minutes
Pictures of the chicken run.........priceless
Chicken Run
How many grad students does it take to catch a village chicken? 3
How long does it take 3 grad students to catch a village chicken? 45 minutes
Pictures of the chicken run.........priceless
Becoming Vegetarian
We were all very excited to hear that we would have chicken for dinner. My excitement quickly faded when I saw the chicken......it was still alive. I had to leave camp while they killed and feathered the thing, but then I had to do my part. So Shylock and I proceeded to gut and chop the chicken. Yes, I will eat the chicken. But meat looks completely different to me now. No more meat for me in the states. Don't care if this makes me a hypocrite.
Protein
It has been awhile since we had any good protein. Saw a live cow today and my mouth started to water. That cannot be a good sign.
OCT
We have been working in OCT. The first village we worked at was called Eretsha, which I am sure 99.99% of the world has never heard of. I thought our first community was poor but that was nothing compared to what we have seen. People that make 0 a year, live purely off their crops and if those fail they don't eat. Period. Makes our petty arguments at camp about food and water seem pathetic. Speaking of those arguments.....food is at a minimum around our camp. We have had no protein in 2 days and it is making us a bit cranky. Not to mention we have a lazy SOB guide / translator. But no complaining allowed on the blog so.....
Our campsite while rural, meaning no warm water or electricity, is steps away form the okavango river. How many people get to say they camped or took a ferry across the delta? Pretty amazing. Its also amazing that people in our group can see this and yet complain the entire time. No names listed but the name rhymes with ring. LOL. Guess that gives the answer away.
We have had great research assistants in Eretsha. It is always hard to guage the first day who will work well with out situation. I can just imagine if someone came to our house and asked me to take a 1 hour survey on my livelihood. I would probably tell them to scram.
We can hear the hippo everyday but he has yet to make an appearance. No croc sightings as well. I hear that hippos are the most aggressive of all the wildlife we will see, so I am pretty good with the fact that we have not seen any.
Remember all these are old postings that I have had stored on my computer until I got internet access. Sorry bout that!
Our campsite while rural, meaning no warm water or electricity, is steps away form the okavango river. How many people get to say they camped or took a ferry across the delta? Pretty amazing. Its also amazing that people in our group can see this and yet complain the entire time. No names listed but the name rhymes with ring. LOL. Guess that gives the answer away.
We have had great research assistants in Eretsha. It is always hard to guage the first day who will work well with out situation. I can just imagine if someone came to our house and asked me to take a 1 hour survey on my livelihood. I would probably tell them to scram.
We can hear the hippo everyday but he has yet to make an appearance. No croc sightings as well. I hear that hippos are the most aggressive of all the wildlife we will see, so I am pretty good with the fact that we have not seen any.
Remember all these are old postings that I have had stored on my computer until I got internet access. Sorry bout that!
We are back after these commercial messages
Well it has been a while since the last entry and it is for two reasons. (1) We have been busy wroking and (2) there has been no internet. So be prepared for a bunch of odd postings from the last 11 days!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Well.......
We are delayed. Jings stuff did not arrive in Maun so we are staying another night at least. It is not cheap to stay here and Jessica and I are worried about money. $25 a day per diem is not much. I have some money saved but it was to be used for Europe.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Last Night in Maun
Our team will be complete tomorrow and we will head out for OCT. It will be a while until we have internet again.
Sorry to post so many entries tonight. I knew that it would be my last chance for a while.
Might try to post pictures. But it is getting late and I am sleepy.
Sorry to post so many entries tonight. I knew that it would be my last chance for a while.
Might try to post pictures. But it is getting late and I am sleepy.
One last note on Sankoyo
I forgot to tell one of the better stories about Sankoyo.
One our last night sleeping in the village the dogs started to go crazy at about 3 in the morning. All of us were in our tents sound asleep. We are not 100% sure what went down just behind our fence, but a dog totally bit the dust. Elephants (probably not), lions?, hyennas ?, who knows.
Dog = Bait in Africa
What did I do? Honestly, I was not overly worried about the poor dog. I layed in my sleeping back calculating 2 things.
(1) How tall was the fence protecting us?
(2) How high can lions jump?
One our last night sleeping in the village the dogs started to go crazy at about 3 in the morning. All of us were in our tents sound asleep. We are not 100% sure what went down just behind our fence, but a dog totally bit the dust. Elephants (probably not), lions?, hyennas ?, who knows.
Dog = Bait in Africa
What did I do? Honestly, I was not overly worried about the poor dog. I layed in my sleeping back calculating 2 things.
(1) How tall was the fence protecting us?
(2) How high can lions jump?
Not what it seems
People who think that we are on this great trek through Africa are sorely mistaken.
Here is what it is like. Really. Keep in mind I am not complaining, just correcting peoples viewpoints.
Hot. Sandy. Dusty. Wildlife are great yes, but laying in bed listening to a lion kill a dog ummm not so much. People constantly asking you for money. Just a few of the perks.
Is it amazing yes! Is it a great safari vacation....not even close.
Here is what it is like. Really. Keep in mind I am not complaining, just correcting peoples viewpoints.
Hot. Sandy. Dusty. Wildlife are great yes, but laying in bed listening to a lion kill a dog ummm not so much. People constantly asking you for money. Just a few of the perks.
Is it amazing yes! Is it a great safari vacation....not even close.
Back in Maun
Came back to Maun for 3 nights. The rest of our group is joining us soon and we are entering all our data.
Still have taken no training samples. They are coming though Cerian. Maybe tomorrow when Brian meets with the chief to return the results.
Still have taken no training samples. They are coming though Cerian. Maybe tomorrow when Brian meets with the chief to return the results.
No Comment
ATE ELEPHANT!
And it tasted darn good after several days of bread and peanut butter. Wonder if I will ever eat peanut butter again after this trip. Please let it be gone from the house when I arrive home.
And it tasted darn good after several days of bread and peanut butter. Wonder if I will ever eat peanut butter again after this trip. Please let it be gone from the house when I arrive home.
Whats in a name
American has had its influence in Africa there is no doubt.
The names of people here are amazing. The chief is Timex. Our translators are: France, Zume, Flora, Al, and BeBe.
Other names we have come across. Republican. Democrate. Computer. Democracy. Mirror.
Hmmm....Odd......
The names of people here are amazing. The chief is Timex. Our translators are: France, Zume, Flora, Al, and BeBe.
Other names we have come across. Republican. Democrate. Computer. Democracy. Mirror.
Hmmm....Odd......
The work actually begins (5-13-20)
There was a whole new light to the group today. After what was potentially a disasterous start to our community visits we all rebounded nicely. I had a new translator, who woker out much better than my first girl (Flora).
We completed 4 surveys together, and I felt like they were sound. I know people are laughing at us, but it seems that they are now interest in what we are doing. Many poeple were waiting for us to arrive, they would have chairs ready. It is somewhat depressing to me that an 80 year old women insists that i take the chair, and goes so far as to say she will not speak with me if I don't take her seat. The first house I talked with was a grandmother taking care of her 10 grandchildren, her 8 adult children are living in Maun and sending money for the kids. Almost 100% of her income was sent from the kids. It was amazing. My second interview was a women who wanted me to buy her baskets. They were great, and I almost did buy one but it was a lot of money to me (400 pula). The third interview was the poorest people in the community, they make less than 2000 pula a year (7 pula = 1 dollar). Could you live on a couple hundred a year in the states?????
We completed 4 surveys together, and I felt like they were sound. I know people are laughing at us, but it seems that they are now interest in what we are doing. Many poeple were waiting for us to arrive, they would have chairs ready. It is somewhat depressing to me that an 80 year old women insists that i take the chair, and goes so far as to say she will not speak with me if I don't take her seat. The first house I talked with was a grandmother taking care of her 10 grandchildren, her 8 adult children are living in Maun and sending money for the kids. Almost 100% of her income was sent from the kids. It was amazing. My second interview was a women who wanted me to buy her baskets. They were great, and I almost did buy one but it was a lot of money to me (400 pula). The third interview was the poorest people in the community, they make less than 2000 pula a year (7 pula = 1 dollar). Could you live on a couple hundred a year in the states?????
The Last Laugh (5-14-10)
It appears that the community of Sankoyo has had the last laugh. The shower has been locked in the village since we arriced. Brian talked me into talking a bucket shower from the stand pipie. It is in the back corner behind the trust building. I waited until it was dark, and the guard had turned in for the night. I went behind the short brick wall, stripped down and.........two cars pull into the trust office both filled with people. So I crounched behind the wall, lauging like crazy (and cursing Brian). Everyone else is around the campfire, about 25ft away, laughing like crazy knowing I was stuck nude behind a wall. I had to stay down there for 10 minutes before the people left. I quickly finished my scrub and put on my pjs.
When I walked back to the campfire everyone started laughing, including myself. So I sit down and Jessica leans towards me to say something to me.... then she says you smell like onions. Turns out the dishes had been done in my small wash basin and therefore I smelled like the dinned I had just cooked. I had to take another blasted bath. No people the second time though.
When I walked back to the campfire everyone started laughing, including myself. So I sit down and Jessica leans towards me to say something to me.... then she says you smell like onions. Turns out the dishes had been done in my small wash basin and therefore I smelled like the dinned I had just cooked. I had to take another blasted bath. No people the second time though.
Sense of Communoty
Community has taken on a whole new definition to me after our first day of work in the village. We say with our translator Ta Ta and 5 members of the community proceeded to tell us the surname of every member of the community. I don't even know my neighbors last name in the state.
Third world hmmmmm........makes you think. Who really has there priorities backwards.
Third world hmmmmm........makes you think. Who really has there priorities backwards.
Not wanted
Do you ever get that feeling when you are not wanted in an area and everyone is laughing at you behind your back or under their breath? We are definitely not wanted in this community. Our first round of surveys were a disaster in my opinion. To many researchers come through here and ask them questions. This is crazy. Can I please start doing my training samples now????
Not reporting on the events of the day. To depressing. When do we go back to Maun?
Maybe it is my translator. I have asked for a new one for tomorrow.
I think Jessica is really upset....and I don't blame her. We started collection for her dissertation today, and it was a joke. Don't think we can use any of it.
Not reporting on the events of the day. To depressing. When do we go back to Maun?
Maybe it is my translator. I have asked for a new one for tomorrow.
I think Jessica is really upset....and I don't blame her. We started collection for her dissertation today, and it was a joke. Don't think we can use any of it.
Maun (Day 3)
Our last day in Maun for now. We will be back. Time for the actual work to start. I headed to HOORC (an extension of the University of Botswana) before we left. I was basically beggin for data, and it seems to have paid off. We shall see when I get back to the states. However, I did manage to get my plug converter stuck in the plug in the lounge. So when no one was in the lounge i would try to pry it out, yell at it, ect. But when people would enter I would quickly retake my seat and act as if nothing was wrong. Tim free the adapted in the end.
The drive to the village was easy. I slept part of the way until the road became to bumpy.
We stated training our research assistants. The girls were a bit hard to train as they would not stop giggling. My girl speaks english rather well. Truth be told she was not the one i would have chosen from the group, but I did not do the choosing. After training it was getting late and we wanted to start early the next morning so we quickly set up camp. Jessica and I made dinner and we relaxed to talk about the work ahead. Since no one in the group will read this I am going to state an opinion I would never say to the group. THE SURVEY IS OVERLY HARD AND THE TABLES ARE A MESS. It needs to be simplified a lot, but I think I am in the minority with that opinion.
Dogs are not pets I have learned. There is no love shown to them. Which bothers me tremendously. They run free, and are underfed. Which given the fact that most people don't have enoguh food does not suprise me. As one persion called them yesterday, they are lion bait. People don't treat them like pets, they shove them out of the way, throw sticks at them to get them to move, and totally ignore their needs. I think of my two puppies at home, one of who has issues because she was mistreated prior to our adopting her, and honestily it is nothing compared to this. We are so lucky, and we take it for granted. The little babies (puppies) are running around free everywhere, I may take 1 or 200 home with me. I know this it is wrong to feel this way when people are hungry and poor but I have a soft spot for animals.
The drive to the village was easy. I slept part of the way until the road became to bumpy.
We stated training our research assistants. The girls were a bit hard to train as they would not stop giggling. My girl speaks english rather well. Truth be told she was not the one i would have chosen from the group, but I did not do the choosing. After training it was getting late and we wanted to start early the next morning so we quickly set up camp. Jessica and I made dinner and we relaxed to talk about the work ahead. Since no one in the group will read this I am going to state an opinion I would never say to the group. THE SURVEY IS OVERLY HARD AND THE TABLES ARE A MESS. It needs to be simplified a lot, but I think I am in the minority with that opinion.
Dogs are not pets I have learned. There is no love shown to them. Which bothers me tremendously. They run free, and are underfed. Which given the fact that most people don't have enoguh food does not suprise me. As one persion called them yesterday, they are lion bait. People don't treat them like pets, they shove them out of the way, throw sticks at them to get them to move, and totally ignore their needs. I think of my two puppies at home, one of who has issues because she was mistreated prior to our adopting her, and honestily it is nothing compared to this. We are so lucky, and we take it for granted. The little babies (puppies) are running around free everywhere, I may take 1 or 200 home with me. I know this it is wrong to feel this way when people are hungry and poor but I have a soft spot for animals.
Maun (Day 2)
Our time in Maun was used to figure out what vilalge we would visit first. It was our original goal to head to Khwai and quickly start to work. After meeting with the manager of the Trust it was apparent that Khwai is a bit unstable right now and probably not the best place for us to stay. The board members of the village are reballing and therefore being removed. That left us scrambling. Brain and Eric meet with the manager of Sankoyo, a village near Khwai. He was more than willing to let us enter the village but we had to have the chiefs approval. None of us really understand the governance behind the communities there is a trust, board, and chief. No one can tell us who does what though.
One cool thing of note: Khwai is on the move. Unprecedented floods are causing the village to relocate. Eric and I have been talking over going to look at the relocation and talk to those who make the decision to move. Maybe nexy year when things are more stable there, but it would be cool to het there now.
So it was decided that we would meet with the chief of Sankoyo. Chief Timex. Jessica and I had to go buy traditional wraps in order to meet with him. We will have to continue to wear these throughout our stay in the villages. I need to get a picture with us wearing them, they are really nice looking. Plus, there are comfortable!!! I might have a whole new wardrobe of wraps when I get home.
Meeting with the chied was a but uncomfortable at first. My first glimpse of the village we would temorarily call home was a bit scary. I just kept thinking, we are so lucky and we take that for granted. Brian and I spoke the majority of the time with the chief. Brian on what the project is about, and I talked about climate change in the region. I really have no clue what the chied understood. Several times Brian stopped me to say I was either talking to fast or using to techinical language. I had simplified the presentation but I did not want them to think I was talking down to them. It does not matter much, we got permission and planned to start the surveys the following day. When we were taken to the campsites at Sankoyo, I prayed that we would stay in Maun. It was only 1.5 hours away. But no luck, 2-3 nights behind a building with a tall fence (to protect us from Lions, wish I was joking). It does have a toilet though so I cannot complain too much.
One interesting item of note: They were cleaning an impala at our campsite when we arrived. I may loos a lot of weight in the field.
We headed back to Maun around dusk. I think Eric and Brian were nervous about leaving at that time. The road was dirt but very smooth and all went well. We did see 4 elephants (2 calves that were so cute), but they were far into the Mopane Forest.
One cool thing of note: Khwai is on the move. Unprecedented floods are causing the village to relocate. Eric and I have been talking over going to look at the relocation and talk to those who make the decision to move. Maybe nexy year when things are more stable there, but it would be cool to het there now.
So it was decided that we would meet with the chief of Sankoyo. Chief Timex. Jessica and I had to go buy traditional wraps in order to meet with him. We will have to continue to wear these throughout our stay in the villages. I need to get a picture with us wearing them, they are really nice looking. Plus, there are comfortable!!! I might have a whole new wardrobe of wraps when I get home.
Meeting with the chied was a but uncomfortable at first. My first glimpse of the village we would temorarily call home was a bit scary. I just kept thinking, we are so lucky and we take that for granted. Brian and I spoke the majority of the time with the chief. Brian on what the project is about, and I talked about climate change in the region. I really have no clue what the chied understood. Several times Brian stopped me to say I was either talking to fast or using to techinical language. I had simplified the presentation but I did not want them to think I was talking down to them. It does not matter much, we got permission and planned to start the surveys the following day. When we were taken to the campsites at Sankoyo, I prayed that we would stay in Maun. It was only 1.5 hours away. But no luck, 2-3 nights behind a building with a tall fence (to protect us from Lions, wish I was joking). It does have a toilet though so I cannot complain too much.
One interesting item of note: They were cleaning an impala at our campsite when we arrived. I may loos a lot of weight in the field.
We headed back to Maun around dusk. I think Eric and Brian were nervous about leaving at that time. The road was dirt but very smooth and all went well. We did see 4 elephants (2 calves that were so cute), but they were far into the Mopane Forest.
Forgotten Story
There is a very cute story form the Rhino Santuary that I wanted to add.
On the first game drive there was a springbok that was having a serious argument with a bush. I guess the bush had talked bad about its mother or something. The silly thing was halfway in the bush, trying to gore it with its antlers. I could not stop laughing.
On the first game drive there was a springbok that was having a serious argument with a bush. I guess the bush had talked bad about its mother or something. The silly thing was halfway in the bush, trying to gore it with its antlers. I could not stop laughing.
Maun (5-9-10)
Funally made it to Maun after a long and at times terrifying drive. After another great game drive this morning in the rhino sanctuary we took off for Maun. It was a 6 hour drive in a car that had no AC. I have learned one very important thing about being in Africa. IF YOU SEE A GAS STATION STOP AND FILL UP, CHECK THE WATER / OIL. NO MATTER WHAT. On our 6 hour trop we saw a grand total of 1 gas station. Luckily I am with experienced people who knew to stop.
On our trip to Maun we pasted these awesome salt flats. It used to be the delta thousands of years ago. Next we approached the Kalahari Game Reserve. We only drove by but it was an awesome sight. I drove a lot of the way. Caroline started for about 1.5 hours and I finished up.
I guess that I should mention why the drive was terrifying....I did mention it was terrifying right. LOL. Animals in this country, and possibly this continent, are free to wanderacross the landscape (including the road). Over the course of the drive more cows and goats than I can count ran across the road. But I have two great stories about animals and our drive. About 2 hours into my part of the drive we went through a small vilalge where there was a bunch of donkeys on the side of the road. Two of the more lovey dovey donkeys would not get out of the road and proceeded to play right where I was driving. Jessica thought we were going to die and kept saying "hit the donkey." Caroline and I were in the front seat laughing so hard it was impossible to breath, and Tim was gripping the seat for dear life. All in all it was hilarious. Secondly, about an hour after our donkey encounter two ostriches cross the road. We slowed down to watch, and all of the sudden 12 little babies cross behind the parents. It was so cute. One of the parents led in the fron and the other stayed in the road to make sure that all made it across.
When we finally made it to Audi Camp in Maun we were all exhausted and hot. A swim in the freezing cold water and beverages poolside cheered everyone up. During the ride to Maun I missed a phone call from my family and everyone knew i was disappoineted, luckily the cell service is great in Maun and they called back. It weas good to hear from them after a week. I got to say happy mothers day and here about my puppies. As much as I am enjoying the trip I miss everyone.
Thats it! Peace!
On our trip to Maun we pasted these awesome salt flats. It used to be the delta thousands of years ago. Next we approached the Kalahari Game Reserve. We only drove by but it was an awesome sight. I drove a lot of the way. Caroline started for about 1.5 hours and I finished up.
I guess that I should mention why the drive was terrifying....I did mention it was terrifying right. LOL. Animals in this country, and possibly this continent, are free to wanderacross the landscape (including the road). Over the course of the drive more cows and goats than I can count ran across the road. But I have two great stories about animals and our drive. About 2 hours into my part of the drive we went through a small vilalge where there was a bunch of donkeys on the side of the road. Two of the more lovey dovey donkeys would not get out of the road and proceeded to play right where I was driving. Jessica thought we were going to die and kept saying "hit the donkey." Caroline and I were in the front seat laughing so hard it was impossible to breath, and Tim was gripping the seat for dear life. All in all it was hilarious. Secondly, about an hour after our donkey encounter two ostriches cross the road. We slowed down to watch, and all of the sudden 12 little babies cross behind the parents. It was so cute. One of the parents led in the fron and the other stayed in the road to make sure that all made it across.
When we finally made it to Audi Camp in Maun we were all exhausted and hot. A swim in the freezing cold water and beverages poolside cheered everyone up. During the ride to Maun I missed a phone call from my family and everyone knew i was disappoineted, luckily the cell service is great in Maun and they called back. It weas good to hear from them after a week. I got to say happy mothers day and here about my puppies. As much as I am enjoying the trip I miss everyone.
Thats it! Peace!
Several Hours Later that Same Night
I decided to take a shower before heading to bed and something happened that forced me to pull my computer out again. Jessice and I were headed to the showere and there was a car parked outside the bathroom. Ok, not odd. We go in. She jumps in the shower. I used the restroom and brush my teeth. When an odd noise catches my ear. No it cannot be what I though....Really...in the nasty camp bathroom...yep.. a couple was shall we say enjoying there shower. Plus, they were to embarrased to leave when they realized we were there. I motioned to Jessice, and we proceeded to slowly finish getting ready for the night. LOL. Several times the girl peaked her head out of the stall to see if we were still there. When she saw us she would QUICKLY slam the door shut. Not 2 minutes after we left the bathroom they jetted to their car and headed out of the park.
Two things come to mind from this story:
(1) You are in freaking AFRICA and you choose a nasty campground bathroom to do it.....THATS ODD
(2) If you are so embarrased why not just jet out of the bathroom quickly and head for your car. We all knew what you were doing and why you were standing in that shower stall for 40 minutes. Suck it up. You are adults.
Trying to stop using words like yesterday or today. Because honestly, who knows when I will be able to post these entries. Sorry Guys for the confusion on dates.
Peace Everyone! News from Maun to come!
Two things come to mind from this story:
(1) You are in freaking AFRICA and you choose a nasty campground bathroom to do it.....THATS ODD
(2) If you are so embarrased why not just jet out of the bathroom quickly and head for your car. We all knew what you were doing and why you were standing in that shower stall for 40 minutes. Suck it up. You are adults.
Trying to stop using words like yesterday or today. Because honestly, who knows when I will be able to post these entries. Sorry Guys for the confusion on dates.
Peace Everyone! News from Maun to come!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Game Drive (5-8-10)
Our last night in Gaberone was an exciting one. Caroline has a friend in the city named Barney and we went to his house for dinner. He actually lives in a village just outside of town and the supposedly short drive took us more than 45 minutes. Caroline was directing, I was driving and we ended up at the game reserve. LOL. Yes we are geographers, but we have no since of direction. Barney lives in the best house. It has a lovely thatched roof and is huge. He has 7 dog for protection including the largest dog I have ever seen, a wolfhound (photos to come). After a lovely dinner of mutton curry, a first of mutton for me, we relaxed watched rugby and chilled.
We made it back to the lodge at nidnight. And the place was closed up for the night. My colleuges in the backseat were a bit on the drunk side and did not help matters much. LOL. We called the gatekeeper, dragged him out of bed, and 30 minutes later we made it into the lodge. I have some great pictures of Tim trying to open the electric fence. Maybe I will post later!
We started our trek to Maun, Botswana. Instead of completing the 8 hour drive in one day we made the excellent decision of stopping at Khama Rhino Sanctuary. After pitching our tents we set out on our first game drive. WIthin 10 minutes of leaving we spotted our first white rhino several impala, and a girafee. All things that I have seen in a zoo, but when you are 20 feet away from them in the back of a pickup it is amazing. The giraffe were probably the coolest of all the animals we saw. With their crazy tongue and odd ability to strip leaves from a tree with HUGE thorns. There were more animals on our trip that I can tell, but I did keep a full list. Several of note: Zebra, Ostrich, and Wildabeast.
Ok getting ready to call it a night. Wrote the original draft from my tent in the rhino sanctuary. Lets just hope the rhino don't know this part of the park. I have been reassured several times by Tim that he will run to my rescue if a lion decides to make an appearance.....Later All!
We made it back to the lodge at nidnight. And the place was closed up for the night. My colleuges in the backseat were a bit on the drunk side and did not help matters much. LOL. We called the gatekeeper, dragged him out of bed, and 30 minutes later we made it into the lodge. I have some great pictures of Tim trying to open the electric fence. Maybe I will post later!
We started our trek to Maun, Botswana. Instead of completing the 8 hour drive in one day we made the excellent decision of stopping at Khama Rhino Sanctuary. After pitching our tents we set out on our first game drive. WIthin 10 minutes of leaving we spotted our first white rhino several impala, and a girafee. All things that I have seen in a zoo, but when you are 20 feet away from them in the back of a pickup it is amazing. The giraffe were probably the coolest of all the animals we saw. With their crazy tongue and odd ability to strip leaves from a tree with HUGE thorns. There were more animals on our trip that I can tell, but I did keep a full list. Several of note: Zebra, Ostrich, and Wildabeast.
Ok getting ready to call it a night. Wrote the original draft from my tent in the rhino sanctuary. Lets just hope the rhino don't know this part of the park. I have been reassured several times by Tim that he will run to my rescue if a lion decides to make an appearance.....Later All!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Warning!
I am writing these on word at night then quickly posting when there is internet. Don't be suprised if the time frames / wording are a bit messed up.
Gabs Part 2
13 hours of sleep later we were all in much better spirits and we felt human again. Jet lag solved hopefully. Today (5/6/10) was interesting, but not to exciting. Started with a breakfast at our lodge, and then a trip to the internet cafe. We have internet at the hotel but all of us are afraid of viruses on their open network and therefore we made the trip across town to what I think was called game city. It was a very cool open air market, with a few bookstores (no titles more recent that 1990) and shops. More on the open market in a second. We paid 10 pula for 45 mintes of internal and all of us got to read emails from home. YOu would have thought we had been in the bush for weeks as excited as we were to read those emails. Something about the breakfast did not sit well with me, and i was sick as a dog in that hot stuffy internet cafe (which by the way was also a...........nope saving that story for later).
The open air market was so cool. Tons of local crafts that were awesome. I wanted to shop, but then i would have to shlep that stuff across 3 countries not to mention across Europe. I showed that I was raised in Florida when I saw these very cool large "alligator" carvings, as I called them. I was quickly informed that they were cros carvings. WHOOPS!!! Give me a break I have been in Africa for less than a week
Other highlights of the day (AKA I AM TO LAZY TO WRITE OUT THE NARRATIVE):
The open air market was so cool. Tons of local crafts that were awesome. I wanted to shop, but then i would have to shlep that stuff across 3 countries not to mention across Europe. I showed that I was raised in Florida when I saw these very cool large "alligator" carvings, as I called them. I was quickly informed that they were cros carvings. WHOOPS!!! Give me a break I have been in Africa for less than a week
Other highlights of the day (AKA I AM TO LAZY TO WRITE OUT THE NARRATIVE):
- Interesting meeting with the high ups in the Office of Environmental Affaris
- A trip to another mall called River Walk (two things of note (1) there is no river in the area, and (2) this place which is MUCH smaller than Gainesville has 3 malls and more car dealerships that I can count
- Cool billboard of a drunk old lady
- I am finally getting used to the money. 7 pula =1 dollar. At first I thought I was spending a ton of money on meals whn I would pay 21 pula. Now I realize that my entire dinner the first night cost $3, an it was at a nice(ish) place.
- We have not been able to get in contact with Brian Child (one of the UF profs here with us). To which Caroline, one of his students, said "he is doing a Child." We all knew what she meant, but I may always think of Brians differently now. LOL.
Peace Everyone! More the next time there is reliable internet. Don't be suprised if there are multiple postings in one day, as I am writing these at night on word then quickly posting when there is a hook up.
Gaberone
We landed Wednesday in Gaberone Botswana. After what was the quickest and most delightful flight I have ever experienced. We flew air Botswana and there were more flight attendants on the plane than there were passengers. The rather large aircraft was open seating, meaning I could have had 5 rows or so to myself. About 5 minutes after takeoff the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, it was that gentle of a flight. After flying no more than 10 minutes the pilot came on and said "we have now reached our cruising altitude of 26,000 feet." Less than 1 mintue later he came back on and said "we will now begin our descent into the Gabs airport." I cracked up, and I think that it is a running joke of air Botswana. Customs and passport control were quite simple for Jessica and I, Eric of course picked the witch and was given the good third degree for 5 minutes. Mine talked the entire time on her cell phone and never even looked me in the eye. Customs was a bit odd for two reasons, (1) they gave Eric a hard time and (2) because they made the mistkae of opening my poster tube then spent 15 minutes getting them back into the tube.
I officially took on a new title less than 3 hours into my stay in Botswana. Driver! Tim was asked to drive to the airport and pick up Caroline, problem was Tim cannot drive a stick. So I was the only person in the group that can, and therefore I earned my new title. Which after 2 days in Gabs appears to have stuck. The only problem with my new role in this field visit is that I have never driven on the wrong ide of the road before. I never driven internationally and therefore has NO IDEA what I was doing. My driving "coach" TaTa was cracking up. After running two red lights and turning 2 times into oncoming traffic, I was an expert in it (Kinda). All the other drivers seemed to take it in stride and gave me a sad "silly american" look (A look which I have now become highly accoustomed to). Looks which we all have notice we get EVERYWHERE, you would think that these people have never seem a white girl with a southern accent. LOL. Anyways, we got Caroline from the airport. The next challenge was the gas station. Honestly, I wish all gas stations in the US worked the way they do in Botswana. It is well known in my household that I don't like to pump gas, here that is not an issue as it is done for you. They also wash your windows, and add air to your tires while you wait. But one of the essentials of visiting the gas stations, not just here but globally, is knowing what type of gas the car takes. Three phone calls later it was suggested that we smell the gas to figure out what type it is, we left that lovely job to the attendants. Our tip was a whole 7 pule (1 US Dollar), and we debated if that was enough. Turns out that 60% of the workers here make less than 14 pula a day I was floored!
Nothing else terrible exciting about that day. We went to the mall and bought pre paid cell phones, ate dinner and went to bed. Jet Lag Baby!
I officially took on a new title less than 3 hours into my stay in Botswana. Driver! Tim was asked to drive to the airport and pick up Caroline, problem was Tim cannot drive a stick. So I was the only person in the group that can, and therefore I earned my new title. Which after 2 days in Gabs appears to have stuck. The only problem with my new role in this field visit is that I have never driven on the wrong ide of the road before. I never driven internationally and therefore has NO IDEA what I was doing. My driving "coach" TaTa was cracking up. After running two red lights and turning 2 times into oncoming traffic, I was an expert in it (Kinda). All the other drivers seemed to take it in stride and gave me a sad "silly american" look (A look which I have now become highly accoustomed to). Looks which we all have notice we get EVERYWHERE, you would think that these people have never seem a white girl with a southern accent. LOL. Anyways, we got Caroline from the airport. The next challenge was the gas station. Honestly, I wish all gas stations in the US worked the way they do in Botswana. It is well known in my household that I don't like to pump gas, here that is not an issue as it is done for you. They also wash your windows, and add air to your tires while you wait. But one of the essentials of visiting the gas stations, not just here but globally, is knowing what type of gas the car takes. Three phone calls later it was suggested that we smell the gas to figure out what type it is, we left that lovely job to the attendants. Our tip was a whole 7 pule (1 US Dollar), and we debated if that was enough. Turns out that 60% of the workers here make less than 14 pula a day I was floored!
Nothing else terrible exciting about that day. We went to the mall and bought pre paid cell phones, ate dinner and went to bed. Jet Lag Baby!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Gabs
We landed Wednesday in Gaberone Botswana. After what was the quickest and most delightful fligh I have ever experienced. We flew air Postwana and there were more flight attendents on the plane than there were passengers. The rather large aircr
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Truth Revealed
Many people know that I am a bit apprehensive about the long flight coming on Monday. To all who ask me "Are you afraid of flying?"
NO, I love flying. Its the crash that I am worried about.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Departing Monday!
Several people have asked if I plan to blog my upcoming field season. Until today I had said no, but given the limited ways to communicate and the constant movement of the group I decided to start one.
So tales of the wandering grad student begins!
First Stop.......South Africa on May 4th. After a 17 hour plane ride.
Best!
E
So tales of the wandering grad student begins!
First Stop.......South Africa on May 4th. After a 17 hour plane ride.
Best!
E
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