DAY THREE
Five AM wake-up, breakfast in bed (we ate in the back of the car, which was technically my bed), and tracking cheetahs through the bush was not a bad way to start the morning! I was pretty tired by this point, but my enthusiasm for seeing the boys was not diminished and I FINALLY could identify them pretty well. Anakin is the one with the really dark spots, Omadillo has the fluffiest face, and Obi-Wan has smaller spots. Really, that is pretty much how you ID cheetahs; they are practically IDENTICAL!
The boys were still pretty lazy and I finished my book while we were sitting with them. They moved only once to find some shade when the sun came out for a bit. It was sprinkling by the time we walked the 2 kilometers back to our camp site. The rain came on VERY suddenly actually and we ate lunch huddled in the back of the car again.
When Rachel arrived to give Ryan his supplies for the day, she came bearing CHESTER! We were going to release him with the boys! So another volunteer and I hopped on the back of the truck with Chester’s crate and we tracked the boys as close as we could get from the road (Rachel’s car has 4-wheel drive). Since we were in the truck that they used to be fed from when they were in captivity, they came running when called. Once they were about 30 meters down the road, we opened Chester’s box. He came right out and went up to the other three and they all started purring and licking each other. They were so cute!
The only other exciting thing about the day (besides the fact that we arrived back at CCF at 7:30, aka over 4 hours later than expected) was that we almost got stuck in a giant mud puddle. Really stuck. Jess and I (the volunteer that was with me in the back) gamely hopped out and pushed the car from the front while Rachel reversed. We were knee deep in mud and water; but joking about it brightly when we eventually got un-stuck. Getting stuck is a huge fear out here in the rainy season since the tractor takes about 5 hours to get out to Bellebino farm to get you unstuck. I was COVERED in mud, but it was okay because my clothes and shoes were already FILTHY from tracking anyways.
We got to CCF in time for dinner and I was very happy to shower after our mud adventures. Really, I have no IDEA how Ryan does it day after day. It is EXHAUSTING tracking those boys!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Cheetah Tracking Adventures, Part B
DAY TWO
Waking up at 5am is not high on my favorite list (it’s not on the list at all!), but the fact that I was waking up to track cheetahs made it SO much better! It had rained all night, so we couldn’t get the car out of the lot, so we tracked them on foot. They weren’t so far away and when we found them, they were hunting again! We heard an oryx death cry and Ryan took off at a run! I was VERY hard pressed to keep up and I pretty much failed. I mean, from when we first saw them trot off to the kill spot, it was over 300 meters! Luckily, Ryan was wearing a bright red beanie that was easy to follow.
When we got there, the boys were already on their kill: an oryx calf. I was so proud of them! Omadillo was holding it down while Anakin went for the throat bite (classic cheetah kill which strangles prey pretty quickly) and Obi-Wan protected them from… well us. He was very weary of Ryan for a bit. But then it started getting very sad… and gory. Since these boys are still learning, they couldn’t quite get the neck bite right and kept getting startled by the oryx’s little horns… so they eventually gave up on the neck bite and Omadillo started eating the hindquarters… while it was still alive. It took the poor thing 35 minutes to die. Ryan and I were so angry at them when Obi-Wan and Anakin just laid in the grass instead of helping with the kill, but they are LEARNING and apparently Chester usually does the neck bite. It was pretty horrific and so sad because the little oryx was fighting the whole time. When it finally died, Obi-Wan and Anakin started eating, too. Moral of the story is that it was hard to watch and very sad, but I am glad the boys are hunting and getting their own food successfully. They will learn to kill properly with time.
The rest of the day they were pretty lazy. They were so full of food that they looked pregnant! Ryan and I actually sat down and did data entry/ read a book respectively. They were just flopped on the ground, so we didn’t have to record much. It was VERY surreal to be sitting 10 meters from 3 technically WILD cheetahs reading a book about dragons… but there you have it. It didn’t rain ALL DAY so we got a fire when we got back to camp! Dinner of leftover mystery meat (possibly goat we decided), garlic bread, and pasta was awesome! (BUSH FOOD TOUR!)
Waking up at 5am is not high on my favorite list (it’s not on the list at all!), but the fact that I was waking up to track cheetahs made it SO much better! It had rained all night, so we couldn’t get the car out of the lot, so we tracked them on foot. They weren’t so far away and when we found them, they were hunting again! We heard an oryx death cry and Ryan took off at a run! I was VERY hard pressed to keep up and I pretty much failed. I mean, from when we first saw them trot off to the kill spot, it was over 300 meters! Luckily, Ryan was wearing a bright red beanie that was easy to follow.
When we got there, the boys were already on their kill: an oryx calf. I was so proud of them! Omadillo was holding it down while Anakin went for the throat bite (classic cheetah kill which strangles prey pretty quickly) and Obi-Wan protected them from… well us. He was very weary of Ryan for a bit. But then it started getting very sad… and gory. Since these boys are still learning, they couldn’t quite get the neck bite right and kept getting startled by the oryx’s little horns… so they eventually gave up on the neck bite and Omadillo started eating the hindquarters… while it was still alive. It took the poor thing 35 minutes to die. Ryan and I were so angry at them when Obi-Wan and Anakin just laid in the grass instead of helping with the kill, but they are LEARNING and apparently Chester usually does the neck bite. It was pretty horrific and so sad because the little oryx was fighting the whole time. When it finally died, Obi-Wan and Anakin started eating, too. Moral of the story is that it was hard to watch and very sad, but I am glad the boys are hunting and getting their own food successfully. They will learn to kill properly with time.
The rest of the day they were pretty lazy. They were so full of food that they looked pregnant! Ryan and I actually sat down and did data entry/ read a book respectively. They were just flopped on the ground, so we didn’t have to record much. It was VERY surreal to be sitting 10 meters from 3 technically WILD cheetahs reading a book about dragons… but there you have it. It didn’t rain ALL DAY so we got a fire when we got back to camp! Dinner of leftover mystery meat (possibly goat we decided), garlic bread, and pasta was awesome! (BUSH FOOD TOUR!)
Cheetah Tracking Adventures, Part the First
DAY ONE
The morning was pretty hectic as there was a little bit of a miscommunication in the time we were leaving and who was ALLOWED to go to Bellebino to track the cheetahs, but it went okay in the end and I arrived at the Bellebino camp around 1pm. I re-met Ryan, who pretty much lives at the camp and tracks cheetahs every day. I had been introduced to him once before when he was at CCF to catch up on data entry and have his first day in 16 days not trekking through the bush. He is a VERY enthusiastic guy who is willing to do pretty much anything for the release cheetahs.
How the tracking works is that we WALK twice a day (we go back to camp for lunch) to find the cheetahs and using a radio collar system. Once we find Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Omadillo (the three boys we were tracking), we follow them and take GPS points and notes about any significant events (such as marking, kills, movement from one resting spot to the other, etc). There is actually a fourth cheetah in the group called Chester, but he got into a fight with Omadillo a week or so back and had to be recaptured and fixed up. They were probably fighting for dominance of the group. Anyways, it is important that we track their progress and ability to hunt because the Bellabino farm is only the first step (the “soft release”) of their release. Their end goal is actually India!
The first afternoon of tracking was very interesting. We used the car to drive half-way (it does not have 4-wheel drive, so it can’t go very far with all the large puddles on the roads) and found the cats closer than we thought they would be and they were hunting! This was VERY exciting even though I had to run after them more than I would have liked. They didn’t catch anything though because they haven’t QUITE got being sneaky yet and so the adult oryx kept running them off with their horns. They eventually gave up and wandered off, but it WAS very exciting. We had to leave the boys a few hours early because there was a HUGE storm rolling in. We pretty much RAN the kilometer back to camp, and it started raining buckets and thundering shortly after we got back. Thus, Ryan and I huddled in the back of our car and ate cold lasagna and fries from last night’s dinner at CCF. It was so rainy that I didn’t even WANT to try to set up the tent that Rachel had brought to replace the flooded one that was supposed to be mine. So I set up a pad and sleeping bag in the back of the van and slept there! Great first day!
The morning was pretty hectic as there was a little bit of a miscommunication in the time we were leaving and who was ALLOWED to go to Bellebino to track the cheetahs, but it went okay in the end and I arrived at the Bellebino camp around 1pm. I re-met Ryan, who pretty much lives at the camp and tracks cheetahs every day. I had been introduced to him once before when he was at CCF to catch up on data entry and have his first day in 16 days not trekking through the bush. He is a VERY enthusiastic guy who is willing to do pretty much anything for the release cheetahs.
How the tracking works is that we WALK twice a day (we go back to camp for lunch) to find the cheetahs and using a radio collar system. Once we find Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Omadillo (the three boys we were tracking), we follow them and take GPS points and notes about any significant events (such as marking, kills, movement from one resting spot to the other, etc). There is actually a fourth cheetah in the group called Chester, but he got into a fight with Omadillo a week or so back and had to be recaptured and fixed up. They were probably fighting for dominance of the group. Anyways, it is important that we track their progress and ability to hunt because the Bellabino farm is only the first step (the “soft release”) of their release. Their end goal is actually India!
The first afternoon of tracking was very interesting. We used the car to drive half-way (it does not have 4-wheel drive, so it can’t go very far with all the large puddles on the roads) and found the cats closer than we thought they would be and they were hunting! This was VERY exciting even though I had to run after them more than I would have liked. They didn’t catch anything though because they haven’t QUITE got being sneaky yet and so the adult oryx kept running them off with their horns. They eventually gave up and wandered off, but it WAS very exciting. We had to leave the boys a few hours early because there was a HUGE storm rolling in. We pretty much RAN the kilometer back to camp, and it started raining buckets and thundering shortly after we got back. Thus, Ryan and I huddled in the back of our car and ate cold lasagna and fries from last night’s dinner at CCF. It was so rainy that I didn’t even WANT to try to set up the tent that Rachel had brought to replace the flooded one that was supposed to be mine. So I set up a pad and sleeping bag in the back of the van and slept there! Great first day!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Baby Time!
It is quite cool and rainy here right now. Pretty much I spent the first two days here doing tedious data entry (I am happy to do it, but would obviously rather be doing something else.) But yesterday and today have been spent bottle feeding goats and feeding 3 week old puppies! They’re SO cute. There are 14 goats, all a few months old. Paige (another volunteer) and I feed four at a time because we do not have 7 hands each! They are bad goats, though, and like to jump on us and try to eat my hair. The amount of dirt and goat slobber on my shirt is amazing. They also like to randomly jump up and hit me with their front hooves. It doesn’t really hurt, but it can knock you off balance a bit. I also learned how to properly pick up a goat yesterday as we were trying to wrangle them back into their pen.
The puppies are SO cute. We had to weigh them and clip their claws yesterday so I got to hold them A LOT. They don’t quite know how to bark yet, so they kept making this grunting and squeaking noises that were really adorable. I got to pet them a lot and then watch them stumble around in the puppy paste we give them to eat. (It’s a combo of dry puppy food, water, and goats’ milk). They are ADORABLE but their mama looks so tired. By the end of yesterday, I was covered in goat milk, dirt, puppy paste, and probably a bit of pee from sitting on the ground of the puppy pen. Ew. But it was okay; I had a lot of fun helping out around the corral. The animals seem to be warming up to me nicely! Though… that might be because I keep giving them food. Haha.
The puppies are SO cute. We had to weigh them and clip their claws yesterday so I got to hold them A LOT. They don’t quite know how to bark yet, so they kept making this grunting and squeaking noises that were really adorable. I got to pet them a lot and then watch them stumble around in the puppy paste we give them to eat. (It’s a combo of dry puppy food, water, and goats’ milk). They are ADORABLE but their mama looks so tired. By the end of yesterday, I was covered in goat milk, dirt, puppy paste, and probably a bit of pee from sitting on the ground of the puppy pen. Ew. But it was okay; I had a lot of fun helping out around the corral. The animals seem to be warming up to me nicely! Though… that might be because I keep giving them food. Haha.
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Sketchy Taxis of DOOOOOOM
SO I am at CCF now!!! WOOOO!!!
It was fun timez getting here since I REALLY didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving ALONE in Windhoek. However, the shuttle to Otji I wanted to take left about a half hour after my flight landed and it takes about an hour to get TO the shuttle from the airport… anywho, here is the FULL story…
The day before I left was a mad rush of TRYING to figure out where the HECK to store my stuff and returning my bedding, checking out of my room, packing the last bits of my stuff all while trying to study for a test I had to write at 5pm. And seriously, I have NO idea what I studied. I STILL don’t know what half those readings were about seeing as I was thinking about all the stuff I had to do before I left. Turns out it didn’t really matter since the teacher just COPIED questions from our last test… I didn’t even NEED to study all that stuff! GAH! Well, at least I know I’ll ace this class seeing as she wanted to keep the TWO things I wrote for that class for future generations to see examples of “good” writing… seriously.
ANYWAYS! Moral of the story is that it was hectic and I spent the last night at UB with no power in my room, sleeping on a bare mattress with no bedding at all, in a dress because it was the comfiest thing I had that could be dirty when I arrived at CCF. Sheesh.
Then I got up at 4:30 to make it down to my cab at 5am because my flight was at about 7:30 and arriving two to three hours before an international flight is sort of a knee jerk reaction… Yeah, the airport was still empty. Not even the STAFF had arrived yet when I got there shortly before 6am. But I sat at a café and waited it out. The coffee was pretty good.
The plane rides and immigration were relatively painless (for once), the REAL adventure started when I landed and needed to actually GET somewhere. I had TRIED to book a shuttle called TownHoppers the night before, but I couldn’t see anyone with that uniform, so when a man in a Spirit Shuttles polo shirt walked up to me and said “shuttle?”, I took him up on it. It took an hour and N$300 to get to the taxi rank in Windhoek, but I made it. There, my shuttle driver helped me to get a shared taxi to Otjiwarongo. (A shared taxi meaning that there were two other girls I didn’t know in there with me.) The shared taxi driver was a hip-hop loving guy with bleach blond hair, but he got me to Otji safely enough. I even dozed off once or twice on the four hour ride. Once I arrived at Otji, I once again had NO IDEA how I was going to make the last leg of my trip to CCF. So I asked my taxi driver. Again. He called some people and drove to a place where there seemed to be a lot of idling taxi men. (This is a common occurrence in Africa and they are ALWAYS eager to get people in their cars). After a bit of negotiation, one man agreed to take me the 45 minutes to CCF. Basically, the entire trip was me placing my trust in sketchy taxi drivers. But sketchy taxi drivers are something that I am becoming alarmingly used to in Africa and they’re really not all that bad.
When I arrived at CCF, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do… Santa was gone for a few days (the one I had been talking to) and I didn’t REALLY know if anyone else knew I was coming. After some confusion and introducing myself to one of the new interns and figuring out that they DID know, we hauled my stuff to my room, which I am sharing for the moment with Rachel (One of the BEST people I knew last time) and Suzie (a new girl in the ecology department).
Moral of the story is, the trip was an adventure, but I was NOT alone for Thanksgiving dinner.
Which was delicious, by the way, and included PIE.
SO THAT’S TH EPIC TALE!!!! One day poets will make it rhyme and sing it for kings and queens and all that rot. Go me.
It was fun timez getting here since I REALLY didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving ALONE in Windhoek. However, the shuttle to Otji I wanted to take left about a half hour after my flight landed and it takes about an hour to get TO the shuttle from the airport… anywho, here is the FULL story…
The day before I left was a mad rush of TRYING to figure out where the HECK to store my stuff and returning my bedding, checking out of my room, packing the last bits of my stuff all while trying to study for a test I had to write at 5pm. And seriously, I have NO idea what I studied. I STILL don’t know what half those readings were about seeing as I was thinking about all the stuff I had to do before I left. Turns out it didn’t really matter since the teacher just COPIED questions from our last test… I didn’t even NEED to study all that stuff! GAH! Well, at least I know I’ll ace this class seeing as she wanted to keep the TWO things I wrote for that class for future generations to see examples of “good” writing… seriously.
ANYWAYS! Moral of the story is that it was hectic and I spent the last night at UB with no power in my room, sleeping on a bare mattress with no bedding at all, in a dress because it was the comfiest thing I had that could be dirty when I arrived at CCF. Sheesh.
Then I got up at 4:30 to make it down to my cab at 5am because my flight was at about 7:30 and arriving two to three hours before an international flight is sort of a knee jerk reaction… Yeah, the airport was still empty. Not even the STAFF had arrived yet when I got there shortly before 6am. But I sat at a café and waited it out. The coffee was pretty good.
The plane rides and immigration were relatively painless (for once), the REAL adventure started when I landed and needed to actually GET somewhere. I had TRIED to book a shuttle called TownHoppers the night before, but I couldn’t see anyone with that uniform, so when a man in a Spirit Shuttles polo shirt walked up to me and said “shuttle?”, I took him up on it. It took an hour and N$300 to get to the taxi rank in Windhoek, but I made it. There, my shuttle driver helped me to get a shared taxi to Otjiwarongo. (A shared taxi meaning that there were two other girls I didn’t know in there with me.) The shared taxi driver was a hip-hop loving guy with bleach blond hair, but he got me to Otji safely enough. I even dozed off once or twice on the four hour ride. Once I arrived at Otji, I once again had NO IDEA how I was going to make the last leg of my trip to CCF. So I asked my taxi driver. Again. He called some people and drove to a place where there seemed to be a lot of idling taxi men. (This is a common occurrence in Africa and they are ALWAYS eager to get people in their cars). After a bit of negotiation, one man agreed to take me the 45 minutes to CCF. Basically, the entire trip was me placing my trust in sketchy taxi drivers. But sketchy taxi drivers are something that I am becoming alarmingly used to in Africa and they’re really not all that bad.
When I arrived at CCF, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do… Santa was gone for a few days (the one I had been talking to) and I didn’t REALLY know if anyone else knew I was coming. After some confusion and introducing myself to one of the new interns and figuring out that they DID know, we hauled my stuff to my room, which I am sharing for the moment with Rachel (One of the BEST people I knew last time) and Suzie (a new girl in the ecology department).
Moral of the story is, the trip was an adventure, but I was NOT alone for Thanksgiving dinner.
Which was delicious, by the way, and included PIE.
SO THAT’S TH EPIC TALE!!!! One day poets will make it rhyme and sing it for kings and queens and all that rot. Go me.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Leina Lame Ke Setunya
I am very sorry for not getting around to Blogging about the Delta trip since I explained everything to lots of people on Skype… If you want to know more about that, just ask! For now, ON WITH THE PLOT!
So last weekend I went on a weekend camping trip with the choir… well… camping in that we drove an hour away and slept on the floor of a class room. I figured it would be a painful and grueling experience as I don’t really have friends that were going… but it wasn’t AS horrible as I thought it would be. I mean, I started out with feeling sorry for myself and trying to ignore the fact that I couldn’t understand a darn word anyone was saying around me because no one was speaking English to me, but it seems that they made a pact or SOMETHING to ensure that I didn’t feel left out or get lonely.. so LOTS of people made efforts to make me feel included whenever I sat by myself... they also offered to share bedding (I was told to bring bedding in Setswana... NOT helpful) and gave me a Setswana nickname! (it's Setunya, btw, which means rose/flower) There was NO transition to the name and I was confused for a bit because suddenly everyone was saying Setunya all the time and I kept forgetting that was supposed to be me... but they all seemed more comfortable around me after giving me a name they could pronounce correctly. Haha! The actual singing part was kinda arduous as we sang from 8am to 11pm with only about 4 hours break in between, though I was very excited when we learned a song in Italian that had NORMAL sheet music... Basically, I was glad to not be the ONLY one who didn’t understand the lyrics for once. After the singing, we played Setswana games outside... at first I hung back, mostly out of fatigue and confusion, but by the third game, I was in it (someone was all like "Setunya! COME JOIN!" and I felt so warm and fuzzy at the nickname that I hopped right in). It was really cool when we played the Setswana version of telephone and they added the rule "No Setswana" in there because I was in the circle... actually, during those games they were REALLY making sure that I understood everything. :D The only REAL complaint I have about the weekend (besides eating bread with butter and polony 3 times, YUCK) was the sleeping. While I was physically pretty comfortable because a girl offered to share her air mattress with me, the games went on until 5 IN THE MORNING with the florescent lights on and everyone yelling in Setswana... and Setswana is VERY loud... thus when I tried to go to bed at 1:30 after having only 3 hours of sleep the night before due to the SAME lights and loudness, let’s just say it wasn't very RESTFUL and I woke up on Sunday with a migraine. All and all though, it was nicer than I expected.
ps- Title translates to "My name is Flower"
So last weekend I went on a weekend camping trip with the choir… well… camping in that we drove an hour away and slept on the floor of a class room. I figured it would be a painful and grueling experience as I don’t really have friends that were going… but it wasn’t AS horrible as I thought it would be. I mean, I started out with feeling sorry for myself and trying to ignore the fact that I couldn’t understand a darn word anyone was saying around me because no one was speaking English to me, but it seems that they made a pact or SOMETHING to ensure that I didn’t feel left out or get lonely.. so LOTS of people made efforts to make me feel included whenever I sat by myself... they also offered to share bedding (I was told to bring bedding in Setswana... NOT helpful) and gave me a Setswana nickname! (it's Setunya, btw, which means rose/flower) There was NO transition to the name and I was confused for a bit because suddenly everyone was saying Setunya all the time and I kept forgetting that was supposed to be me... but they all seemed more comfortable around me after giving me a name they could pronounce correctly. Haha! The actual singing part was kinda arduous as we sang from 8am to 11pm with only about 4 hours break in between, though I was very excited when we learned a song in Italian that had NORMAL sheet music... Basically, I was glad to not be the ONLY one who didn’t understand the lyrics for once. After the singing, we played Setswana games outside... at first I hung back, mostly out of fatigue and confusion, but by the third game, I was in it (someone was all like "Setunya! COME JOIN!" and I felt so warm and fuzzy at the nickname that I hopped right in). It was really cool when we played the Setswana version of telephone and they added the rule "No Setswana" in there because I was in the circle... actually, during those games they were REALLY making sure that I understood everything. :D The only REAL complaint I have about the weekend (besides eating bread with butter and polony 3 times, YUCK) was the sleeping. While I was physically pretty comfortable because a girl offered to share her air mattress with me, the games went on until 5 IN THE MORNING with the florescent lights on and everyone yelling in Setswana... and Setswana is VERY loud... thus when I tried to go to bed at 1:30 after having only 3 hours of sleep the night before due to the SAME lights and loudness, let’s just say it wasn't very RESTFUL and I woke up on Sunday with a migraine. All and all though, it was nicer than I expected.
ps- Title translates to "My name is Flower"
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
My First Choir Concert Was a Zoo! (Or Maybe a Circus?)
Okay, so my choir concert was both the most hilarious and most traumatic thing I have EVER done. First off, it started an HOUR LATE, and it was held in the cafeteria during dinner hour. That’s one way to draw a crowd I guess, but it was very loud. However, there was a wooden, impromptu stage-ish thing (VERY unstable, I think it cracked at the end), and we set up audience style seating, so it was legit. So, most traumatically, I was FRONT and CENTER of the choir. Like, my terrible dancing right in the middle. Then the director starts the opening remarks and is all like “you can see we have some NEW people”… and points to the token white girl standing front and center. Yeah, I was all like “hello audience type nod”. Yeah, there is another international girl in the choir (her name is Martha!) but she stands in the back off to the side. So yeah, that bit of awkwardness. Then we sang our songs and I did my best to not look TOO much like a fool doing the step dancing thing. (I even sang a solo-ish thing in a group of eight!) but then… we were done with the songs we had rehearsed… and then kept on singing songs. ONES I HAD NEVER HEARD BEFORE. So I got to learn songs IN SETSWANA on stage! D: And one of them, the conductor was all like “hey, if you don’t know the dance, please move to the back” but no one behind me would switch with me! ;_; so I spent the whole song desperately trying to mouth the words and watching a girl out of the corner of my eye trying to copy the dance moves… IT WAS SO HARD AND I DEFINITELY MADE A FOOL OUT OF MYSELF! But… surprisingly it was somehow really fun. One of the songs I didn’t know was like a mad choir jam session where this guy would call out words and we’d sing after him and copy crazy dance moves. I was having a tough time singing because I was laughing so hard! It was one of those WEIRD moments where I lost all self-consciousness and just HAD FUN with it. LOL!
The other thing that was weird was the amount of SCREAMING coming from the girls in the audience. Half the time, you could barely hear the choir apparently.
OTHER COOL THING THAT HAPPENED RECENTLY! I went to a circus! There was a South African circus that came to Gaborone for the VERY first time. If I am not mistaken, this is the first South African circus in Bots ever. It was… surprisingly normal, and since it was pretty small ALL the seats were good ones. There was really NORMAL circus stuff. For example, there were jugglers, clowns, trapeze artists, horse and miniature pony tricks, tigers, ELEPHANTS, etc. The clowns were actually REALLY funny. In one of their “in-between acts” acts, they got four audience members to stand in a square and strung caution tape stuff around them until they were a make-shift boxing ring and then proceeded to have a slow-motion boxing match to Chariots of Fire (think Olympics theme song, I think). The acts were all small scale, but VERY impressive. One thing I appreciated was whenever the other acts were doing something high up; they wore safety wires just in case. This seems like it would make it less daring, but I USUALLY spend circuses stressed about the performer’s safety, so it helped. (My GOD I really am a mother hen/ Sam Eagle from the Muppets type) My only complaint was that the tigers… didn’t look so good. They were OBVIOUSLY afraid of their handlers and really over-weight which implies lack of proper exercise. Also, the handler was using this stick with a freakin NAIL in it to get the tigers to do simple tricks. It was very sad. The other animals weren’t as bad, but what are they doing with FIVE tigers when they OBVIOUSLY can’t afford to care for them properly? Sheesh! But I had TONS of fun and hey! It’s a freakin CIRCUS in AFRICA! What!?
Next week I’m off to the Delta! Wish me luck and await the next post with anticipation!
The other thing that was weird was the amount of SCREAMING coming from the girls in the audience. Half the time, you could barely hear the choir apparently.
OTHER COOL THING THAT HAPPENED RECENTLY! I went to a circus! There was a South African circus that came to Gaborone for the VERY first time. If I am not mistaken, this is the first South African circus in Bots ever. It was… surprisingly normal, and since it was pretty small ALL the seats were good ones. There was really NORMAL circus stuff. For example, there were jugglers, clowns, trapeze artists, horse and miniature pony tricks, tigers, ELEPHANTS, etc. The clowns were actually REALLY funny. In one of their “in-between acts” acts, they got four audience members to stand in a square and strung caution tape stuff around them until they were a make-shift boxing ring and then proceeded to have a slow-motion boxing match to Chariots of Fire (think Olympics theme song, I think). The acts were all small scale, but VERY impressive. One thing I appreciated was whenever the other acts were doing something high up; they wore safety wires just in case. This seems like it would make it less daring, but I USUALLY spend circuses stressed about the performer’s safety, so it helped. (My GOD I really am a mother hen/ Sam Eagle from the Muppets type) My only complaint was that the tigers… didn’t look so good. They were OBVIOUSLY afraid of their handlers and really over-weight which implies lack of proper exercise. Also, the handler was using this stick with a freakin NAIL in it to get the tigers to do simple tricks. It was very sad. The other animals weren’t as bad, but what are they doing with FIVE tigers when they OBVIOUSLY can’t afford to care for them properly? Sheesh! But I had TONS of fun and hey! It’s a freakin CIRCUS in AFRICA! What!?
Next week I’m off to the Delta! Wish me luck and await the next post with anticipation!
Monday, September 12, 2011
DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DOOOO!!!!
So let’s talk about choir. I am having A LOT of fun with it when I’m not sick (I went when I was feverish because if you miss too many, you get kicked out… they’re REALLY strict!) We sing in Setswana all the time which is really hard but is actually helping me in Setswana class a bit! :D And the conductor’s assistant is going to start writing out the songs for me and Martha (the other international student in the choir) that don’t include music), so that will make things a lot easier!
On the other hand, choir here is MUCH more intense than in the states! At least once a week, we spend the entire time doing intense workouts and running because they believe being fit makes you a better chorister. It actually may be true for things like breath support and stamina, but that doesn’t actually MEAN that I WANT to do intense work outs! LOL! I even had to go buy work out pants at this little Asian store (cheapest place to buy clothes!) because I didn’t have any proper clothes for choir… work outs. They say “Chelsea Football Club” down the side, but they were only 30 Pula and they fit well enough. Though I think they are guys’ pants. However, during the workout the coach let the girls do “girly” push-ups… which was interesting and nothing I have ever been allowed to do in practice due to all girls’ schools not believing in “girly” exercises. The others were very amused by my partial indignation at the slight to my… well… womanliness?
Also, choir is OFFICIALLY Tues, Thurs, Sun from 6-7 (5-7 on Sundays)… however, last week we had choir Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday! Apparently choir is practically every day instead of just three times a week. ALTHOUGH, that may be due more to the fact that we have a CONCERT coming up on Friday! Wish me luck! I will try to put up a video of it this weekend. :D
On the other hand, choir here is MUCH more intense than in the states! At least once a week, we spend the entire time doing intense workouts and running because they believe being fit makes you a better chorister. It actually may be true for things like breath support and stamina, but that doesn’t actually MEAN that I WANT to do intense work outs! LOL! I even had to go buy work out pants at this little Asian store (cheapest place to buy clothes!) because I didn’t have any proper clothes for choir… work outs. They say “Chelsea Football Club” down the side, but they were only 30 Pula and they fit well enough. Though I think they are guys’ pants. However, during the workout the coach let the girls do “girly” push-ups… which was interesting and nothing I have ever been allowed to do in practice due to all girls’ schools not believing in “girly” exercises. The others were very amused by my partial indignation at the slight to my… well… womanliness?
Also, choir is OFFICIALLY Tues, Thurs, Sun from 6-7 (5-7 on Sundays)… however, last week we had choir Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, AND Thursday! Apparently choir is practically every day instead of just three times a week. ALTHOUGH, that may be due more to the fact that we have a CONCERT coming up on Friday! Wish me luck! I will try to put up a video of it this weekend. :D
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
My Not-So-Awesome Joburg Adventure
So… my trip to Johannesburg, South Africa did not go exactly as I envisioned it. In fact, it was a bi tof a disaster all round.
So on Friday after classes, four friends and I hopped onto a combie looking forward to our great adventure. By the way, a combie is like a minibus/ van and they don’t leave until they are all the way full. Basically, I spent the six hours to Joburg sitting on the edge of my seat as the two ladies next to m managed to take up 2 ½ seats instead of their allotted one. And the girls and I kinda got lost for ten mins at the South African boarder, but besides that the ride wasn’t too bad.
The trouble started when we arrived.
Our combie driver was very sweet and found us a taxi to take us to our hostel right away. He even took down the guy’s license number and warned him that we were American girls and that he expected the taxi driver to take really good care of us. And he did take care of us, but it took us over half an hour to find the hostel since NO ONE knew where it was. I mean we had the address (which turned out to be wrong) but no one the taxi driver asked had even heard of the place. We eventually found it (we were worried for a bit that the place was a fake) and ran into our next big road bump.
The manager had booked us rooms but then given them to other people…
So we were in the middle of Joburg at ten at night with no place to stay. Our taxi driver sat with us for an entire HOUR while we waited for the lady to either give us rooms or get us another place to stay. While this was nice of him, his original fare of R250 went up to R430 (around 60USD). Eventually the manager got us a dorm style room at another hostel called the Rosebed Backpackers (or something like that) We were so tired, we went to bed right away.
The next morning we got up and went to the Diamond Diggers Backpackers. It was MUCH better than the one the night before. It was quiet (unlike the last one), had a GREAT view of the Joburg city, and had a pool. (Though we didn’t make use of it) We spent the first half of the day settling in and going to a mall for lunch. Seriously, a mall. In the afternoon, we went to the Apartheid Museum, which is what one of the girls wanted to do most while in Joburg. It cost another R80 each to get there and R40 to get in, but the museum WAS fascinating. I really didn’t know much about what had happened before I went, but the museum was really nice.
After the museum closed, it was dark and so we headed back to our backpackers to eat and chill. (Joburg is not really a safe city for a group of girls to hang around in at night)
The next morning, we had wanted to go see the caves at the Cradle of Humankind Heritage Site, but the other girls decided it was too expensive and so we didn’t go. Instead, we headed to another mall and went to a sushi buffet (who ever said there was no sushi in Africa!) That was pretty much the highlight of the trip: the all you can eat sushi… which is kind of sad if you ask me!
Then we took the combie back to Gabarone… At least I was MUCH more comfortable this time as this combie had bigger seats and I sat with my friends instead of two old ladies. Basically, all we did this trip was go to a museum and I spent over P1000 (about 200USD) on transportation and lodging…sigh.
Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Better luck next time, ne?
So on Friday after classes, four friends and I hopped onto a combie looking forward to our great adventure. By the way, a combie is like a minibus/ van and they don’t leave until they are all the way full. Basically, I spent the six hours to Joburg sitting on the edge of my seat as the two ladies next to m managed to take up 2 ½ seats instead of their allotted one. And the girls and I kinda got lost for ten mins at the South African boarder, but besides that the ride wasn’t too bad.
The trouble started when we arrived.
Our combie driver was very sweet and found us a taxi to take us to our hostel right away. He even took down the guy’s license number and warned him that we were American girls and that he expected the taxi driver to take really good care of us. And he did take care of us, but it took us over half an hour to find the hostel since NO ONE knew where it was. I mean we had the address (which turned out to be wrong) but no one the taxi driver asked had even heard of the place. We eventually found it (we were worried for a bit that the place was a fake) and ran into our next big road bump.
The manager had booked us rooms but then given them to other people…
So we were in the middle of Joburg at ten at night with no place to stay. Our taxi driver sat with us for an entire HOUR while we waited for the lady to either give us rooms or get us another place to stay. While this was nice of him, his original fare of R250 went up to R430 (around 60USD). Eventually the manager got us a dorm style room at another hostel called the Rosebed Backpackers (or something like that) We were so tired, we went to bed right away.
The next morning we got up and went to the Diamond Diggers Backpackers. It was MUCH better than the one the night before. It was quiet (unlike the last one), had a GREAT view of the Joburg city, and had a pool. (Though we didn’t make use of it) We spent the first half of the day settling in and going to a mall for lunch. Seriously, a mall. In the afternoon, we went to the Apartheid Museum, which is what one of the girls wanted to do most while in Joburg. It cost another R80 each to get there and R40 to get in, but the museum WAS fascinating. I really didn’t know much about what had happened before I went, but the museum was really nice.
After the museum closed, it was dark and so we headed back to our backpackers to eat and chill. (Joburg is not really a safe city for a group of girls to hang around in at night)
The next morning, we had wanted to go see the caves at the Cradle of Humankind Heritage Site, but the other girls decided it was too expensive and so we didn’t go. Instead, we headed to another mall and went to a sushi buffet (who ever said there was no sushi in Africa!) That was pretty much the highlight of the trip: the all you can eat sushi… which is kind of sad if you ask me!
Then we took the combie back to Gabarone… At least I was MUCH more comfortable this time as this combie had bigger seats and I sat with my friends instead of two old ladies. Basically, all we did this trip was go to a museum and I spent over P1000 (about 200USD) on transportation and lodging…sigh.
Ah well, you win some, you lose some. Better luck next time, ne?
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Belated Blog Posts Are Like Belated Birthday Cards: Appreciated But Late
Sorry I have not blogged in a while. It would just skip my mind and then I would remember I had to blog at really inconvenient times: like at night when I was trying to sleep or during class. Anyways, so here is a VERY belated blog about the trips I have taken in the last few weeks! This weekend was quite boring and I mostly just stayed in. So how about hearing about the trips I’ve taken so far!
Trips I have taken so far! We went on a cultural excursion weekend to Mokolodie game reserve, which is only a couple hours from Gabarone. We ate three different “cultural” meals in different villages. When I say village, I really mean tourist type lodges and villages. It was pretty much the same meal over and over again, which I suppose goes to show that it WAS really traditional. It was also the same TYPES of food as in the cafeteria, however it ACTAULLY TASTED GOOD! AMAZING! Apparently, the cafeteria just cooks horrible food that could be good but isn’t. That’s disappointing, right? Anyways, the meals were delicious! We also stayed overnight in a traditional cultural village called… I forget. It was a Setswanan name. But they had a baboon as a totem and told us that we were all officially baboon totem people for the night! They did traditional dances for us and then made us get up and taught us a few dances. One was just a celebration dance, but the other was a “coming of age presentation dance”… which basically consists of us hopping around and then presenting our chests and butts to the watching guys by thrusting them out… yeah. They also taught us some “traditional” women’s work like grinding sorgum for dinner. Yeah, women’s traditional work in Africa is all chores. We stayed in a cabin on the floor, which wasn’t all bad. However, out of all the tents and cabins that we stayed in (our group had, like, 50 people in it), ours was the only one with REALLY warm fleece blankets. Everyone else FROZE… so I can’t complain too much. The next day, we actually went to the Mokolodie reserve and did a GAME DRIVE! Now, I was excited, but not as excited as my compatriots because I have been on LOTS of game drive type things at CCF. (Though we were counting the animals, not just looking) I SHOULD have been more excited because I saw a TON of new animals! I saw wildebeest, impala, kudu, ostrich, giraffe, and… get this… A WHITE RHINO WITH HER BABY. O.O I SAW A BABY RHINO AND IT WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER! It was just standing there about 10 meters from the road! It was so amazing! That was the ONLY thing I really wanted to see on the trip to Mokolodie and I saw it! Our safari car driver was a tad worried at first that the mother would be aggressive and charge the car, but she was really unworried and just kept grazing. Her baby was really curious, though and kept wandering towards the car before getting scared and running back to mom… but he kept doing it over and over! It was so cute! After the drive was over, we ate a barbeque (brai) out in the bush by a huge lake and saw hippos! (From very far away…) They served the best apple crumble with custard for dessert! SO GOOD!
The other trip I took was just last weekend. We went to a horse safari place about a half hour outside Gabarone for… camping… yeah, not really. We stayed in this house/ cabin thing, so it wasn’t REALLY camping. But we did have a GREAT view from the cabin and we had a REALLY good barbeque and fire. (Though we did have some mishaps with getting the charcoal to ACTUALLY light) We even made bread by wrapping dough around a stick and roasting it over the fire! A definite first for me! Although it came out a little doughy. Also, marshmallows were a given. :D Sunday morning, I took a half hour horse ride! (It wasn’t REALLY a safari, since this was a really small operation out in the bush, but I had fun anyways!) My horse was black and white… actually; its coat looked like cow print! But he was very good. I thought that since he was used to this route with tourists, he would just follow the horse in front of me and ignore commands… but he actually paid attention to what I was doing with the reigns and such so I avoided the akasha trees that the horse in front of me dragged my friend through! He was awesome! Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of me riding a horse in AFRICA because I forgot my camera that weekend! I am such a fail!
Anyways, we are planning a trip to South Africa next weekend. We plan to visit the Apartheid museum and (hopefully) Krueger National Park. It’s still in the works, but wish me luck!
Trips I have taken so far! We went on a cultural excursion weekend to Mokolodie game reserve, which is only a couple hours from Gabarone. We ate three different “cultural” meals in different villages. When I say village, I really mean tourist type lodges and villages. It was pretty much the same meal over and over again, which I suppose goes to show that it WAS really traditional. It was also the same TYPES of food as in the cafeteria, however it ACTAULLY TASTED GOOD! AMAZING! Apparently, the cafeteria just cooks horrible food that could be good but isn’t. That’s disappointing, right? Anyways, the meals were delicious! We also stayed overnight in a traditional cultural village called… I forget. It was a Setswanan name. But they had a baboon as a totem and told us that we were all officially baboon totem people for the night! They did traditional dances for us and then made us get up and taught us a few dances. One was just a celebration dance, but the other was a “coming of age presentation dance”… which basically consists of us hopping around and then presenting our chests and butts to the watching guys by thrusting them out… yeah. They also taught us some “traditional” women’s work like grinding sorgum for dinner. Yeah, women’s traditional work in Africa is all chores. We stayed in a cabin on the floor, which wasn’t all bad. However, out of all the tents and cabins that we stayed in (our group had, like, 50 people in it), ours was the only one with REALLY warm fleece blankets. Everyone else FROZE… so I can’t complain too much. The next day, we actually went to the Mokolodie reserve and did a GAME DRIVE! Now, I was excited, but not as excited as my compatriots because I have been on LOTS of game drive type things at CCF. (Though we were counting the animals, not just looking) I SHOULD have been more excited because I saw a TON of new animals! I saw wildebeest, impala, kudu, ostrich, giraffe, and… get this… A WHITE RHINO WITH HER BABY. O.O I SAW A BABY RHINO AND IT WAS THE CUTEST THING EVER! It was just standing there about 10 meters from the road! It was so amazing! That was the ONLY thing I really wanted to see on the trip to Mokolodie and I saw it! Our safari car driver was a tad worried at first that the mother would be aggressive and charge the car, but she was really unworried and just kept grazing. Her baby was really curious, though and kept wandering towards the car before getting scared and running back to mom… but he kept doing it over and over! It was so cute! After the drive was over, we ate a barbeque (brai) out in the bush by a huge lake and saw hippos! (From very far away…) They served the best apple crumble with custard for dessert! SO GOOD!
The other trip I took was just last weekend. We went to a horse safari place about a half hour outside Gabarone for… camping… yeah, not really. We stayed in this house/ cabin thing, so it wasn’t REALLY camping. But we did have a GREAT view from the cabin and we had a REALLY good barbeque and fire. (Though we did have some mishaps with getting the charcoal to ACTUALLY light) We even made bread by wrapping dough around a stick and roasting it over the fire! A definite first for me! Although it came out a little doughy. Also, marshmallows were a given. :D Sunday morning, I took a half hour horse ride! (It wasn’t REALLY a safari, since this was a really small operation out in the bush, but I had fun anyways!) My horse was black and white… actually; its coat looked like cow print! But he was very good. I thought that since he was used to this route with tourists, he would just follow the horse in front of me and ignore commands… but he actually paid attention to what I was doing with the reigns and such so I avoided the akasha trees that the horse in front of me dragged my friend through! He was awesome! Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of me riding a horse in AFRICA because I forgot my camera that weekend! I am such a fail!
Anyways, we are planning a trip to South Africa next weekend. We plan to visit the Apartheid museum and (hopefully) Krueger National Park. It’s still in the works, but wish me luck!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Dumela Bomma le Borra!
So… classes. They are so far pretty interesting, ESPECIALLY Setswana class (I love languages!), the only problem is that the professors keep CANCELING THEM. Seriously, except for the Setswana class, I have only had one of each other class. And one keeps cutting them short and the professors are ALWAYS a few minutes late to class… oh Africa time! And hey, usually a canceled class wouldn’t bother me much except that this is RECURRING and I really want something to learn or DO here on campus! I think it’s just how years start out here, but hey, hopefully it’ll pick up soon. Oh! But here are some phrases that I can say in Setswana now!
Dumela mma/rra- hello madam/sir
Bomma/Borra- plural sirs/madames
Leina la gago ke mang?- what is your name ?
Leina lame ke Heather- my name is heather
O tswa kae?- Where are you from?
Ke tswa kwa Oregon- I am from Oregon
Ke itumela la gogo itse- it was nice to meet you
Go siame- goodbye
This is a VERY difficult language to pronounce! The “G”s are like “H” in the back of the throat, and the “K”s are VERY hard. Also, I am having SO MUCH trouble with the sound that “tlh” and some “th”s make. However, there is no verb conjugation and no masculine/feminine articles! YAY! There goes my least favorite parts of learning languages! SO happy! The problem with learning the language is that EVERYONE here speaks English along with Setswana! Thus, it’s hard to practice. However, my roommate seems to really like that I’m trying to learn, so she has helped me with pronunciation and asked her friends to speak simple Setswana to me whenever possible! She’s REALLY nice. And she has good taste in music.
Another interesting thing that I have learned since being here is that the campus is pretty quiet at night (my roomie goes to bed around 10pm normally) and everyone wakes up REALLY early. There is music blasting on my floor at 7am or earlier and sometimes my roommate’s friends even come over at 7:30 AM. I don’t have class until 11am each day SO I AM STILL SLEEPING. It is very annoying and anyone who has tried to wake me up will tell you that I HATE being woken up! (Unless you are holding a cup of coffee and it’s like non-instant coffee doesn’t EXIST on this campus!) SO I usually just grumble and turn over and try to ignore the early morning ruckus. Jeez! But at least it’s relatively quiet at night.
On a happy note, my favorite kind of cheese— Gouda— and my favorite tea— rooibos— are really common and cheap here! It’s so exciting! XD
That’s all for now folks! PS- If you wanna skype I would love to! The time difference is 6 hours for the East Coast and 9 hours for the West Coast! Set up a time with me on Facebook and I’ll be there!
Dumela mma/rra- hello madam/sir
Bomma/Borra- plural sirs/madames
Leina la gago ke mang?- what is your name ?
Leina lame ke Heather- my name is heather
O tswa kae?- Where are you from?
Ke tswa kwa Oregon- I am from Oregon
Ke itumela la gogo itse- it was nice to meet you
Go siame- goodbye
This is a VERY difficult language to pronounce! The “G”s are like “H” in the back of the throat, and the “K”s are VERY hard. Also, I am having SO MUCH trouble with the sound that “tlh” and some “th”s make. However, there is no verb conjugation and no masculine/feminine articles! YAY! There goes my least favorite parts of learning languages! SO happy! The problem with learning the language is that EVERYONE here speaks English along with Setswana! Thus, it’s hard to practice. However, my roommate seems to really like that I’m trying to learn, so she has helped me with pronunciation and asked her friends to speak simple Setswana to me whenever possible! She’s REALLY nice. And she has good taste in music.
Another interesting thing that I have learned since being here is that the campus is pretty quiet at night (my roomie goes to bed around 10pm normally) and everyone wakes up REALLY early. There is music blasting on my floor at 7am or earlier and sometimes my roommate’s friends even come over at 7:30 AM. I don’t have class until 11am each day SO I AM STILL SLEEPING. It is very annoying and anyone who has tried to wake me up will tell you that I HATE being woken up! (Unless you are holding a cup of coffee and it’s like non-instant coffee doesn’t EXIST on this campus!) SO I usually just grumble and turn over and try to ignore the early morning ruckus. Jeez! But at least it’s relatively quiet at night.
On a happy note, my favorite kind of cheese— Gouda— and my favorite tea— rooibos— are really common and cheap here! It’s so exciting! XD
That’s all for now folks! PS- If you wanna skype I would love to! The time difference is 6 hours for the East Coast and 9 hours for the West Coast! Set up a time with me on Facebook and I’ll be there!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Back at University... in BOTSWANA!
I AM NOW IN GABARONE! AT UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA!
Gabarone... doesn't really feel like Africa in the same way that Otjiwarongo and Windhoek did. Those had definite signifiers since you could see people hitching rides, they were small enough that you could see how... far from anything else the cities were. Gabarone feels like any city in mid-america just without so many sky scrapers. There ARE people selling things in booths on the road sides and combies (bus type things) that are very typical, but Gabarone has FOUR MALLS. Seriously. four of them. And Riverwalk is within walking distance. (Though it's recommended not to walk there alone because of the high rates of mugging in Gabarone) And there is construction EVERYWHERE. Seriosuly, the whole city is under construction. It is a VERY developed city for africa.
On the subject of mugging, apparently it happens frequently here and it is not recommended to walk anywhere outside the hostel compound that I live in by myself at night. Outside the Uni limits, it’s a bad idea to walk even while a GROUP and thus they recommend taxis or cabs after dark. Which is fine. I have become VERY accustomed to taxis here in Africa. It's dangerous to walk places by myself, so I have taken more taxis here than ever before in my life. (By here I mean Windhoek as well as Gabarone.) Sadly, I am also becoming accustomed to being ripped off by taxi drivers. They see white skin and immediately up the price. But there's not much I can do about it because I have few other options.
The campus here is MUCH bigger than Wheaton. And very confusing., I tried to find my classes today so I wouldn't be lost tomorrow and I UTTERLY FAILED. Well, I found two of them which were in the same central building, which is good because they are the two I have in the morning. But I COULDN'T FIND the other two. I looked and looked and couldn't find classrooms where they should have been! All I found were blocks upon blocks of residential blocks and faculty offices. This place is like a frickin MAZE! D: But I suppose I'll figure it out eventually. I better, otherwise I'll never figure out where my classes are!
Also, two things I REALLY miss about Wheaton already (apart from friends of course) is the laundry facility and Chase/Emerson dining halls. Seriously. There is only one laundry facility and it is NOT in the hostel. It is about three blocks away in the laundry facilities. There are two LONG lines of washers and dryers. They may or may not work and you have to have a token for each washer and dryer you use. The tokens you have to buy at the admin building for 2 pula each. VERY annoying. Also, you can't really leave your stuff and do something else while your laundry's going because petty theft is so common here. So I have to waste a lot of time sitting and waiting. And the machines don't have timers so you don't actually know how much time they take. You just wait till it's done. But I managed to do my laundry and at least I HAVE access to a dryer now, ne? Also, I know while at Wheaton we all complain about Chase/Emerson, but BELIEVE ME. They are heaven. They are five star. They are like the god of food. There are SO MANY choices. And they are open ALL THE TIME. The cafeterias here... are like their antithesis. They serve ONE MEAL at each meal time (which are two hours for each meal) so no options at all. And lunch and dinner are ALWAYS the same exact meal. And it is... disgusting. They serve a choice of beef or chicken (the beef is so greasy as to be inedible (though the chicken can be stomached), a choice of plain pasta or rice with some sort of orange sauce (the rice is dry and gross and the sauce is vaguely spicy), and a choice of soggy, fried carrot shavings or fried, soggy cabbage mix...( they strangely both taste relatively the same... ). So I suppose TECHNICALLY there are two choices, but seeing as everything generally tastes the same, not really. It is LITERALLY inedible. And the portions are HUGE. I have not finished a meal here thus far. This month I have to put up with it because they gave me coupons to use in the cafeteria, but after that I think the meal plan just gives me money and I am DEFINITELY not eating in the cafeteria after that. (They actually do this because MOST international students can't stand the stuff they serve.) I am going to look into renting a mini fridge and buying my own food from Spar. Unfortunately cooking in the dorm is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN so if I want hot food, I'll have to order pizza or brave the cafeteria or something. ugh. For a foodie, this is a freakin disaster. D:
But they school actually looks pretty good overall. I have a roommate, but it's not that bad. There's this huge divider thing in the middle, so I HAVE a roommate, but we can't even see each other's halves of the room. It's pretty cool. Like having a roommate but also your own room. In the room, I have an overhead light, a desk and two shelves built into the wall, a bed and a HUGE cabinet/ closet thing. However, all of my actual STUFF is locked in the big cabinet because it's not safe to leave stuff out that can get stolen. Apparently, people here will befriend you with the intention of eventually robbing you. It's kinda depressing but not everyone will be like that, so it’s okay.
Oh! Another funny thing. There is no toilet paper/ soap/ hand towel or hand dryer in the bathroom. We are allocated a roll of toilet paper a week and I have a bottle of hand soap and hand towel in my room that I bought myself. Basically, I have a bag of toilet stuff under my desk that I grab every time I use the bathroom. Also, there is one shower for the 10 girls in this area and it only has a thin shower curtain, no lock, no door, nothing. And since our actual building doesn't lock, ANYONE can come wandering in while you shower... it's kinda a creepy thought, but I haven't had much troubles with it yet, so I guess it’s alright. Weird, ne?
For all that I complain, the University is quite good. The buildings for class are all shiny and nice; they even have some of the same projectors we have at Wheaton. The library is also lovely and contains A LOT of books. I have internet in my room (though some of the restrictions are annoying). I already bought a hot water kettle for tea. Rooibos tea (my favorite) only cost 12 pula for 80 bags (that's about 2 USD). The international students are all VERY nice and there are about 30 other Americans! I am taking 3 SOC classes and a language class. (ideal schedule FTW!) I only have one class on Wednesday and Friday and no classes before 11AM. Pizza delivers DIRECTLY to my room (the dining hall was closed when we arrived the first night). It’s GREAT!
I also have a phone! Basically here in Africa, you get a phone (they are pretty cheap if you don't need a ton of functions) and then get a sim card for whatever country you’re in. (cost me 10 pula. CHEAP) and then you buy air time. Basically, they are ALL pay as you go phones, but all I did was buy my phone in Namibia, a sim card here, and 100 pula of minutes and it works! No plan, no contract, nothing. And yet I have already texted and called my mum! (well... the call was just once for two minutes... and cost me 12 pula. International calling is EXPENSIVE!)
That’s all for now! Tune in next time to see how my first classes went!
Gabarone... doesn't really feel like Africa in the same way that Otjiwarongo and Windhoek did. Those had definite signifiers since you could see people hitching rides, they were small enough that you could see how... far from anything else the cities were. Gabarone feels like any city in mid-america just without so many sky scrapers. There ARE people selling things in booths on the road sides and combies (bus type things) that are very typical, but Gabarone has FOUR MALLS. Seriously. four of them. And Riverwalk is within walking distance. (Though it's recommended not to walk there alone because of the high rates of mugging in Gabarone) And there is construction EVERYWHERE. Seriosuly, the whole city is under construction. It is a VERY developed city for africa.
On the subject of mugging, apparently it happens frequently here and it is not recommended to walk anywhere outside the hostel compound that I live in by myself at night. Outside the Uni limits, it’s a bad idea to walk even while a GROUP and thus they recommend taxis or cabs after dark. Which is fine. I have become VERY accustomed to taxis here in Africa. It's dangerous to walk places by myself, so I have taken more taxis here than ever before in my life. (By here I mean Windhoek as well as Gabarone.) Sadly, I am also becoming accustomed to being ripped off by taxi drivers. They see white skin and immediately up the price. But there's not much I can do about it because I have few other options.
The campus here is MUCH bigger than Wheaton. And very confusing., I tried to find my classes today so I wouldn't be lost tomorrow and I UTTERLY FAILED. Well, I found two of them which were in the same central building, which is good because they are the two I have in the morning. But I COULDN'T FIND the other two. I looked and looked and couldn't find classrooms where they should have been! All I found were blocks upon blocks of residential blocks and faculty offices. This place is like a frickin MAZE! D: But I suppose I'll figure it out eventually. I better, otherwise I'll never figure out where my classes are!
Also, two things I REALLY miss about Wheaton already (apart from friends of course) is the laundry facility and Chase/Emerson dining halls. Seriously. There is only one laundry facility and it is NOT in the hostel. It is about three blocks away in the laundry facilities. There are two LONG lines of washers and dryers. They may or may not work and you have to have a token for each washer and dryer you use. The tokens you have to buy at the admin building for 2 pula each. VERY annoying. Also, you can't really leave your stuff and do something else while your laundry's going because petty theft is so common here. So I have to waste a lot of time sitting and waiting. And the machines don't have timers so you don't actually know how much time they take. You just wait till it's done. But I managed to do my laundry and at least I HAVE access to a dryer now, ne? Also, I know while at Wheaton we all complain about Chase/Emerson, but BELIEVE ME. They are heaven. They are five star. They are like the god of food. There are SO MANY choices. And they are open ALL THE TIME. The cafeterias here... are like their antithesis. They serve ONE MEAL at each meal time (which are two hours for each meal) so no options at all. And lunch and dinner are ALWAYS the same exact meal. And it is... disgusting. They serve a choice of beef or chicken (the beef is so greasy as to be inedible (though the chicken can be stomached), a choice of plain pasta or rice with some sort of orange sauce (the rice is dry and gross and the sauce is vaguely spicy), and a choice of soggy, fried carrot shavings or fried, soggy cabbage mix...( they strangely both taste relatively the same... ). So I suppose TECHNICALLY there are two choices, but seeing as everything generally tastes the same, not really. It is LITERALLY inedible. And the portions are HUGE. I have not finished a meal here thus far. This month I have to put up with it because they gave me coupons to use in the cafeteria, but after that I think the meal plan just gives me money and I am DEFINITELY not eating in the cafeteria after that. (They actually do this because MOST international students can't stand the stuff they serve.) I am going to look into renting a mini fridge and buying my own food from Spar. Unfortunately cooking in the dorm is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN so if I want hot food, I'll have to order pizza or brave the cafeteria or something. ugh. For a foodie, this is a freakin disaster. D:
But they school actually looks pretty good overall. I have a roommate, but it's not that bad. There's this huge divider thing in the middle, so I HAVE a roommate, but we can't even see each other's halves of the room. It's pretty cool. Like having a roommate but also your own room. In the room, I have an overhead light, a desk and two shelves built into the wall, a bed and a HUGE cabinet/ closet thing. However, all of my actual STUFF is locked in the big cabinet because it's not safe to leave stuff out that can get stolen. Apparently, people here will befriend you with the intention of eventually robbing you. It's kinda depressing but not everyone will be like that, so it’s okay.
Oh! Another funny thing. There is no toilet paper/ soap/ hand towel or hand dryer in the bathroom. We are allocated a roll of toilet paper a week and I have a bottle of hand soap and hand towel in my room that I bought myself. Basically, I have a bag of toilet stuff under my desk that I grab every time I use the bathroom. Also, there is one shower for the 10 girls in this area and it only has a thin shower curtain, no lock, no door, nothing. And since our actual building doesn't lock, ANYONE can come wandering in while you shower... it's kinda a creepy thought, but I haven't had much troubles with it yet, so I guess it’s alright. Weird, ne?
For all that I complain, the University is quite good. The buildings for class are all shiny and nice; they even have some of the same projectors we have at Wheaton. The library is also lovely and contains A LOT of books. I have internet in my room (though some of the restrictions are annoying). I already bought a hot water kettle for tea. Rooibos tea (my favorite) only cost 12 pula for 80 bags (that's about 2 USD). The international students are all VERY nice and there are about 30 other Americans! I am taking 3 SOC classes and a language class. (ideal schedule FTW!) I only have one class on Wednesday and Friday and no classes before 11AM. Pizza delivers DIRECTLY to my room (the dining hall was closed when we arrived the first night). It’s GREAT!
I also have a phone! Basically here in Africa, you get a phone (they are pretty cheap if you don't need a ton of functions) and then get a sim card for whatever country you’re in. (cost me 10 pula. CHEAP) and then you buy air time. Basically, they are ALL pay as you go phones, but all I did was buy my phone in Namibia, a sim card here, and 100 pula of minutes and it works! No plan, no contract, nothing. And yet I have already texted and called my mum! (well... the call was just once for two minutes... and cost me 12 pula. International calling is EXPENSIVE!)
That’s all for now! Tune in next time to see how my first classes went!
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Gala (Of Doom)
Now, I don’t WANT to blog about the gala. I don’t want to think about the gala. I don’t even want to HEAR the word gala for the rest of my life. However, as you are my adoring audience, I will tell you.
It actually wasn’t that bad.
We drove down to Windhoek the day of the gala (last Friday, July 15th) at 6am. It started out pretty badly with too-sweet, gross coffee, car sickness, aches, pains, etc. Luckily, this bit of bad luck was counteracted by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for accommodations as Juan was once more putting me up in his house for the night along with Jess and Rachel. (Well, Cat too, but since they’re a couple it doesn’t really count). So we dropped our stuff off and headed over to the Windhoek Country Club. (VERY posh)
When we arrived… I felt like I was FINALLY doing what I love: directing people and being in charge. Seriously, I felt like I do during a light hang in the theater at school when I’m the master electrician. There were tons of people at my beck and call and I got to delegate and set things up how I WANTED THEM because this silent auction was MY BABY practically. (except that I would never loath a baby with quite that vehement passion). Besides the fact that I had to re-do a billion bid sheets, it was okay. After we finished setting up, we went back to Juan’s place to change.
My dress actually looked quite good with the BRIGHT RED shoes because I was also wearing my bright red watch. It was very interesting to see all the CCF staff dressed to the nines because I usually see them all just rolled out of bed in baggy work clothes often covered in dust or donkey blood. It was fascinating.
When we got back to the auction (and everyone had been to the casino bar to fortify themselves for the evening, lol) our job was your standard meet and greet. I stood at the door, offered to show them to their table, stopped by Juan for their complementary welcome drink, and then led them to their tables… and then I was done. Seriously, that’s it. I didn’t have to watch over the auction, I didn’t have to shmooz, I didn’t have to retrieve auction items (at the end, it was all very TRUSTING how auction winners were allowed to grab their items and go pay), and I didn’t have to clean up tables/chairs/auction tables/ etc at the end. We just gathered up items that didn’t get bid on and table centerpieces and left. It was WEIRD.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the AMAZING breakfast that Juan prepared for us the next morning. We had these REALLY juicy steak things, fried tomatoes, chocolate croissants, passion fruit, cheese, eggs, mamosas, and coffee. It was… HEAVENLY. Like, the best breakfast I have EVER had and that INCLUDES breakfast from restaurants. It was DIVINE.
Then we packed up and headed uneventfully back to CCF. It’s weird… I have NO IDEA what the heck my job is going to be now that we do not have the gala to work on!
It actually wasn’t that bad.
We drove down to Windhoek the day of the gala (last Friday, July 15th) at 6am. It started out pretty badly with too-sweet, gross coffee, car sickness, aches, pains, etc. Luckily, this bit of bad luck was counteracted by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for accommodations as Juan was once more putting me up in his house for the night along with Jess and Rachel. (Well, Cat too, but since they’re a couple it doesn’t really count). So we dropped our stuff off and headed over to the Windhoek Country Club. (VERY posh)
When we arrived… I felt like I was FINALLY doing what I love: directing people and being in charge. Seriously, I felt like I do during a light hang in the theater at school when I’m the master electrician. There were tons of people at my beck and call and I got to delegate and set things up how I WANTED THEM because this silent auction was MY BABY practically. (except that I would never loath a baby with quite that vehement passion). Besides the fact that I had to re-do a billion bid sheets, it was okay. After we finished setting up, we went back to Juan’s place to change.
My dress actually looked quite good with the BRIGHT RED shoes because I was also wearing my bright red watch. It was very interesting to see all the CCF staff dressed to the nines because I usually see them all just rolled out of bed in baggy work clothes often covered in dust or donkey blood. It was fascinating.
When we got back to the auction (and everyone had been to the casino bar to fortify themselves for the evening, lol) our job was your standard meet and greet. I stood at the door, offered to show them to their table, stopped by Juan for their complementary welcome drink, and then led them to their tables… and then I was done. Seriously, that’s it. I didn’t have to watch over the auction, I didn’t have to shmooz, I didn’t have to retrieve auction items (at the end, it was all very TRUSTING how auction winners were allowed to grab their items and go pay), and I didn’t have to clean up tables/chairs/auction tables/ etc at the end. We just gathered up items that didn’t get bid on and table centerpieces and left. It was WEIRD.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the AMAZING breakfast that Juan prepared for us the next morning. We had these REALLY juicy steak things, fried tomatoes, chocolate croissants, passion fruit, cheese, eggs, mamosas, and coffee. It was… HEAVENLY. Like, the best breakfast I have EVER had and that INCLUDES breakfast from restaurants. It was DIVINE.
Then we packed up and headed uneventfully back to CCF. It’s weird… I have NO IDEA what the heck my job is going to be now that we do not have the gala to work on!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
MY EPIC SWAKOPMUND ADVENTURE (part two)
SO the next morning was sort of a lazy one. We didn’t set alarms and didn’t wake up particularly early, but eventually the prospect of coffee was too strong and Brittany, Steph, and I got up and went in search of a place to eat since most shops were closed Sunday (unfortunately, this included the Village Café). We eventually found a book shop/ coffee shop called Muschel Books… or something like that. There we leisurely sipped coffee in the sunshine and relaxed while we waited for Margaret and Jess to join us.
After that, we went over to this restaurant called 22 degrees south. It’s an Italian restaurant that had DELICIOUS flat bread pizza and an honest to god LIGHTHOUSE as it’s centerpiece. We ate outside in the sunshine at the foot of the lighthouse. Oh, fun fact from here, Namibian “lemonade” is clear, carbonated and tastes mostly like sprite. Next, we went to the craft market… and my god was that stressful.
These guys REALLY want to sell you something. They will come over and say “hello sister” or something along those lines and then tell you that they will give you a “very good price”. They had all sorts of jewelry, carved animals, bowls, salad spoons, etc. all made by hand in the Caprivi area of Namibia… supposedly. I STILL don’t know if I believe them since they all seemed to have the same stuff. The interesting thing about the market is that all of the guys try to RIP YOU OFF. Seriously. You’ll ask how much for ONE little carved animal and they’ll tell you N$120… that’s twenty American dollars which is definitely WAY too much for the little figures. (we saw them in shops for about N$30). The trick is to haggle them down in price without ripping them or yourself off. It’s difficult. And it was HILARIOUS to watch Brittany haggle. She called them out on their tricks and even told them to back off laughingly enough that they brought out a stool for her to sit on in order to be comfortable while looking. It was HILARIOUS. But beware, if you don’t want to get sucked in, DO NOT STOP. Just walk past. Also, they tried to rip us off less when we said we lived in Otjiwarongo rather than the states.
We decided to de-stress at the beach. It was only a block or two away after all! Basically, we all put our toes in the water and crowed over being in the atlantic IN AFRICA and then the others proceeded to look for cool rocks and sticks to put in the bowls they bought at the market and I stayed in the water some more. As expected, the bottom of my jeans were soon soaking, but what else is new?
After that bit of de-stressification, we dropped our purchases off (mum, expect a souvenir from the market!), and then we… decided we needed more coffee… and went to Café Anton. I was NOT kidding when I said this was a food tour. THEY HAD THE MOST DELICIOUS PASTRY THINGY EVER. The end.
THEN we went to dinner… after having coffee. I am amazed we were even HUNGRY. We ate at this place called The Lighthouse which LOOKED like a bit of a shabby-ish pub from the outside but was actually pretty fancy inside. I had this burger melt THING that had normal burger stuff, but also a FRIED PINEAPPLE in it. DELICIOUS! The waitress was a bit rude, but besides that we were fine. Then we went back to the Gruner Kranz.
Luckily, the club was closed, but the bar was open! So we went and played pool. It was HILARIOUS. When we arrived, there was this drunk Australian guy who ordered us and the bar tender all tequila shots and then bought us our “first round”. I grabbed a savanna light and we went to play pool while trying to sneakily avoid him. It was great! And then the manager guy that Margaret had made friends with came over and bought us three more rounds of pool and gave us these shots called Springboks which had so little alcohol that you couldn’t even taste it. Delicious!
The next day the shops were open again, so we went around begging for donations and shopping and ate a GINORMOUS breakfast at the Village Café. We had scones, toasted sandwiches, and mochas. DELICIOUS. Just before leaving, we drove down the highway a ways and found a spot on the HUGE NAMIB DESERT SAND DUNES that we could legally climb. We found one and climbed to the top. It was… amazing. On one side was the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see, on the other was an honest to god sand dune DESERT. It was breathtaking.
We then headed back to CCF. It was great to go to Swakopmund, and I would DEFINITELY recommend a visit to ANYONE who comes to Namibia.
After that, we went over to this restaurant called 22 degrees south. It’s an Italian restaurant that had DELICIOUS flat bread pizza and an honest to god LIGHTHOUSE as it’s centerpiece. We ate outside in the sunshine at the foot of the lighthouse. Oh, fun fact from here, Namibian “lemonade” is clear, carbonated and tastes mostly like sprite. Next, we went to the craft market… and my god was that stressful.
These guys REALLY want to sell you something. They will come over and say “hello sister” or something along those lines and then tell you that they will give you a “very good price”. They had all sorts of jewelry, carved animals, bowls, salad spoons, etc. all made by hand in the Caprivi area of Namibia… supposedly. I STILL don’t know if I believe them since they all seemed to have the same stuff. The interesting thing about the market is that all of the guys try to RIP YOU OFF. Seriously. You’ll ask how much for ONE little carved animal and they’ll tell you N$120… that’s twenty American dollars which is definitely WAY too much for the little figures. (we saw them in shops for about N$30). The trick is to haggle them down in price without ripping them or yourself off. It’s difficult. And it was HILARIOUS to watch Brittany haggle. She called them out on their tricks and even told them to back off laughingly enough that they brought out a stool for her to sit on in order to be comfortable while looking. It was HILARIOUS. But beware, if you don’t want to get sucked in, DO NOT STOP. Just walk past. Also, they tried to rip us off less when we said we lived in Otjiwarongo rather than the states.
We decided to de-stress at the beach. It was only a block or two away after all! Basically, we all put our toes in the water and crowed over being in the atlantic IN AFRICA and then the others proceeded to look for cool rocks and sticks to put in the bowls they bought at the market and I stayed in the water some more. As expected, the bottom of my jeans were soon soaking, but what else is new?
After that bit of de-stressification, we dropped our purchases off (mum, expect a souvenir from the market!), and then we… decided we needed more coffee… and went to Café Anton. I was NOT kidding when I said this was a food tour. THEY HAD THE MOST DELICIOUS PASTRY THINGY EVER. The end.
THEN we went to dinner… after having coffee. I am amazed we were even HUNGRY. We ate at this place called The Lighthouse which LOOKED like a bit of a shabby-ish pub from the outside but was actually pretty fancy inside. I had this burger melt THING that had normal burger stuff, but also a FRIED PINEAPPLE in it. DELICIOUS! The waitress was a bit rude, but besides that we were fine. Then we went back to the Gruner Kranz.
Luckily, the club was closed, but the bar was open! So we went and played pool. It was HILARIOUS. When we arrived, there was this drunk Australian guy who ordered us and the bar tender all tequila shots and then bought us our “first round”. I grabbed a savanna light and we went to play pool while trying to sneakily avoid him. It was great! And then the manager guy that Margaret had made friends with came over and bought us three more rounds of pool and gave us these shots called Springboks which had so little alcohol that you couldn’t even taste it. Delicious!
The next day the shops were open again, so we went around begging for donations and shopping and ate a GINORMOUS breakfast at the Village Café. We had scones, toasted sandwiches, and mochas. DELICIOUS. Just before leaving, we drove down the highway a ways and found a spot on the HUGE NAMIB DESERT SAND DUNES that we could legally climb. We found one and climbed to the top. It was… amazing. On one side was the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see, on the other was an honest to god sand dune DESERT. It was breathtaking.
We then headed back to CCF. It was great to go to Swakopmund, and I would DEFINITELY recommend a visit to ANYONE who comes to Namibia.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
MY EPIC SWAKOPMUND ADVENTURE (part one)
Okay, so this trip was OFFICIALLY to pick up items for the gala, WHICH we did. Unofficially, it was a vacation/ food tour. Which in my opinion is the best combination there is!
We woke up at 4am to leave for Swakop on Saturday morning. It was dark, our electricity was out, and it was rather cold. Surprisingly, I was wide awake! Which I’ve noticed is the norm if I wake up before the sun rises here. Fortunately, I have no idea (well some idea) how to drive stick, so I ended up squashed in the back of a tiny car with three other girls, but I had the option of sleep. Of course, I was so excited by the beach trip that I didn’t sleep AT ALL. Well, that and I was petrified that we’d hit an animal in the dark. There is a REASON that it is advised NOT to drive at night in Namibia.
Anyways, it was a 5 ½ hour car ride to Swakop and we only stopped for coffee and bathroom once. It actually was surprisingly good. The view was interesting as the sun was coming up and as we approached Swakop, there was this… WALL of fog starting at the mountains. Also accompanying the fog was a change in scenery: from scrubby, Idaho-esk scenery to BARREN DESERT OF DOOM. Seriously. So we drove into this fog and kept expecting one of us to vanish into thin air, stolen by the fog like some kind of horror movie. Basically, we all had the hysterical giggles for half an hour.
Before we went into town, we stopped by at Laurie’s friend Susan’s house to pick up some prints. She had this adorable house in the middle of a plot that used to be a riverbed that seemed REALLY DESOLATE. Like, seriously, I was getting depressed driving through her neighborhood. (which consisted on four or five houses in the sand) She had these three ADORABLE dogs who were SO excited to see us. She invited us in for coffee and we sat down and talked about which places in Swakop may give us donations. She was… a bit of a miser. Every place we mentioned we were going (which had had STUNNING reviews from people back at CCF) was met with a frown and weariness. Basically, she told us the best restaurant in town was a rip-off and that the beach bar we were going to was… not a nice place to go… Yeah, we didn’t take a lot of her reviews seriously. But we left in high spirits after fending off her over-enthusiastic dogs.
When we rolled into town 20 mins later, the fog was still there and everything was a bit cloudy and dreary… this did NOT bode well for our trip, but we put on a smile and found our hotel. Well, backpackers lodge called the Gruner Krantz. Yeah, I TOTALLY didn’t realize that this place was a lodge, bar, and NIGHT CLUB. TOOOOOOOTALLY missed that. But it was cheap (40 USD for to nights!) and we got a LOCKED dorm room to ourselves, so we figured we could get over the noise.
Anyways, we settled into our hotel and then went to the Village Café to meet with Laurie’s OTHER friend Leen. This one was MUCH nicer and reminded me of some sort of cool grandma. The village café was ALSO awesome and barely had room to fit us! Their coffee was delicious and the whole place was a hodge-podge of decorations and witty quotes. I had a M’offee (some sort of malt and coffee drink) and a bacon and egg brotchen. (BAAAAASSICALLY a sandwich-roll thing…) it was delicious! Then we wandered around town to the shops that Leen mentioned. It was a right shame though, because all of the shops apparently close at noonish on Saturdays! So we didn’t do much shopping, but that was okay. After that, we headed towards the Tiger Reef pub that sat on the beach overlooking the ocean. By this time the sun had come out! So I grabbed a Savanna Light (cider thingy) from the bar and relaxed on the deck. I was SLIGHTLY jealous when the other girls got chips (eg French fries) that were FANTASTIC. But I wasn’t hungry, so I abstained. It was all VERY relaxing. And Swakop is VERY gorgeous in the sunshine.
After that, we headed back to the room to change for dinner. (We were eating at a fancy restaurant) It was a tad chilly but nothing we couldn’t handle. I wore that mostly-pink outfit that makes me look adorable. (rolls eyes) and my hair was wavy and lovely from when I had it up in braids the day before. It felt nice to wear non-work clothes. We went over to the pier and took pictures from there for a while while the sun was starting to set. Then we went below deck to the SUSHI BAR at the end of the pier! Unfortunately, one of the girls didn’t like fish, so we weren’t actually EATING there, but we bought drinks at the bar so that we could sit out of the wind (it WAS rather gusty) and watch the sun go down. African sunsets are AMAZING no matter where you are. I got a champagne/ cherry concoction that was OK but which I ended up sharing with the other girls. But it was nice and fancy.
After that we went over to a restaurant called The Tug which was ALSO right on the beach. We spent the whole meal practicing table manners and giggling a lot. This was MOSTLY because when the waiter brought Margo and Jess their wine, he held out the bottle for Margo’s scrutiny and she GRABBED IT OUT OF HIS HANDS…. LOL! She’s never been to fancy restaurants before and so she didn’t KNOW that she was supposed to just nod at it like she knew it was a good vintage or something. LOL! And so Brittany and Jess spent the meal periodically dropping tidbits from their manners classes. (Apparently those exist in COLLEGE…)
After dinner, we went back to the Gruner Krantz and found, to our dismay and amusement, that the Gruner Krantz is the loudest place in all of Swakop on Saturday nights. Wow. Loud. But we gamely joined in on the party and danced for a VERY long time. Margo made friends with A LOT of people, but most notably the DJ/ MANAGER. And that was a very good idea. She got some free drinks and he let us dance behind the DJ booth. Which was good because it stopped people from spilling their drinks on my skirt. I MUCH prefer dances in which alcohol is not an integral part of the dance floor. Lols.
AWAIT PART TWO!!!!
We woke up at 4am to leave for Swakop on Saturday morning. It was dark, our electricity was out, and it was rather cold. Surprisingly, I was wide awake! Which I’ve noticed is the norm if I wake up before the sun rises here. Fortunately, I have no idea (well some idea) how to drive stick, so I ended up squashed in the back of a tiny car with three other girls, but I had the option of sleep. Of course, I was so excited by the beach trip that I didn’t sleep AT ALL. Well, that and I was petrified that we’d hit an animal in the dark. There is a REASON that it is advised NOT to drive at night in Namibia.
Anyways, it was a 5 ½ hour car ride to Swakop and we only stopped for coffee and bathroom once. It actually was surprisingly good. The view was interesting as the sun was coming up and as we approached Swakop, there was this… WALL of fog starting at the mountains. Also accompanying the fog was a change in scenery: from scrubby, Idaho-esk scenery to BARREN DESERT OF DOOM. Seriously. So we drove into this fog and kept expecting one of us to vanish into thin air, stolen by the fog like some kind of horror movie. Basically, we all had the hysterical giggles for half an hour.
Before we went into town, we stopped by at Laurie’s friend Susan’s house to pick up some prints. She had this adorable house in the middle of a plot that used to be a riverbed that seemed REALLY DESOLATE. Like, seriously, I was getting depressed driving through her neighborhood. (which consisted on four or five houses in the sand) She had these three ADORABLE dogs who were SO excited to see us. She invited us in for coffee and we sat down and talked about which places in Swakop may give us donations. She was… a bit of a miser. Every place we mentioned we were going (which had had STUNNING reviews from people back at CCF) was met with a frown and weariness. Basically, she told us the best restaurant in town was a rip-off and that the beach bar we were going to was… not a nice place to go… Yeah, we didn’t take a lot of her reviews seriously. But we left in high spirits after fending off her over-enthusiastic dogs.
When we rolled into town 20 mins later, the fog was still there and everything was a bit cloudy and dreary… this did NOT bode well for our trip, but we put on a smile and found our hotel. Well, backpackers lodge called the Gruner Krantz. Yeah, I TOTALLY didn’t realize that this place was a lodge, bar, and NIGHT CLUB. TOOOOOOOTALLY missed that. But it was cheap (40 USD for to nights!) and we got a LOCKED dorm room to ourselves, so we figured we could get over the noise.
Anyways, we settled into our hotel and then went to the Village Café to meet with Laurie’s OTHER friend Leen. This one was MUCH nicer and reminded me of some sort of cool grandma. The village café was ALSO awesome and barely had room to fit us! Their coffee was delicious and the whole place was a hodge-podge of decorations and witty quotes. I had a M’offee (some sort of malt and coffee drink) and a bacon and egg brotchen. (BAAAAASSICALLY a sandwich-roll thing…) it was delicious! Then we wandered around town to the shops that Leen mentioned. It was a right shame though, because all of the shops apparently close at noonish on Saturdays! So we didn’t do much shopping, but that was okay. After that, we headed towards the Tiger Reef pub that sat on the beach overlooking the ocean. By this time the sun had come out! So I grabbed a Savanna Light (cider thingy) from the bar and relaxed on the deck. I was SLIGHTLY jealous when the other girls got chips (eg French fries) that were FANTASTIC. But I wasn’t hungry, so I abstained. It was all VERY relaxing. And Swakop is VERY gorgeous in the sunshine.
After that, we headed back to the room to change for dinner. (We were eating at a fancy restaurant) It was a tad chilly but nothing we couldn’t handle. I wore that mostly-pink outfit that makes me look adorable. (rolls eyes) and my hair was wavy and lovely from when I had it up in braids the day before. It felt nice to wear non-work clothes. We went over to the pier and took pictures from there for a while while the sun was starting to set. Then we went below deck to the SUSHI BAR at the end of the pier! Unfortunately, one of the girls didn’t like fish, so we weren’t actually EATING there, but we bought drinks at the bar so that we could sit out of the wind (it WAS rather gusty) and watch the sun go down. African sunsets are AMAZING no matter where you are. I got a champagne/ cherry concoction that was OK but which I ended up sharing with the other girls. But it was nice and fancy.
After that we went over to a restaurant called The Tug which was ALSO right on the beach. We spent the whole meal practicing table manners and giggling a lot. This was MOSTLY because when the waiter brought Margo and Jess their wine, he held out the bottle for Margo’s scrutiny and she GRABBED IT OUT OF HIS HANDS…. LOL! She’s never been to fancy restaurants before and so she didn’t KNOW that she was supposed to just nod at it like she knew it was a good vintage or something. LOL! And so Brittany and Jess spent the meal periodically dropping tidbits from their manners classes. (Apparently those exist in COLLEGE…)
After dinner, we went back to the Gruner Krantz and found, to our dismay and amusement, that the Gruner Krantz is the loudest place in all of Swakop on Saturday nights. Wow. Loud. But we gamely joined in on the party and danced for a VERY long time. Margo made friends with A LOT of people, but most notably the DJ/ MANAGER. And that was a very good idea. She got some free drinks and he let us dance behind the DJ booth. Which was good because it stopped people from spilling their drinks on my skirt. I MUCH prefer dances in which alcohol is not an integral part of the dance floor. Lols.
AWAIT PART TWO!!!!
Friday, June 24, 2011
They're Coming to Take Me Away, Haha, Hoho, Heehee!
So… I am slowly going insane.
I have been calling for the gala all day everyday ALL WEEK. Here is how today went, for example.
6:30- got up and took shower. Water was actually warm, surprisingly.
7:20- Ate breakfast of porridge with cinnamon and instant coffee in it… don’t ask me, that’s how I like to flavor it.
8:00- Begged off of raking/ scoffling center pens so that I could go shoot footage of some of the interns at the goat pens… got wrangled into helping hold the goat down while they put meds on her injured foot. I have now progressed from petting-zoo experience only to goat care.
8:30- went back to the center pens and filled an ENTIRE TRASH CAN with yard debris and pointy sticks, then went to rake the last pen in penance for ditching.
9:00- went to the genetics lab to start phoning people for the gala until 12pm… that’s three hours straight of phoning people. Luckily, there were a few others helping me today (rare). Jessica, Casey, and Claire were all assigned to gala, so I made Claire and Jess do some calls while I tried to organize the new contacts excel sheet to Laurie’s specifications. (I already spent ALL DAY YESTERDAY as well working on that.) They got sick of it and started expounding on how much they hate calling people and how rude some people were on the phone within an hour. I tried not to mention TOO MANY TIMES just how many days I spent up to 7 hours phoning people BY MYSELF with no one to talk to. Yeah, when I say that I am getting sick of talking to people over bad phone lines who vaguely speak English and hate getting phoned for donations, I REALLY mean it.
11:30- Got to be part of the cub walk team! A BREAK! AT LAST! Steph and Jess, who do the schedule, have made it a habit to try and schedule me with the cubs AT LEAST every other day because they know phoning for the gala sucks. It means I get to work with them more than the other non-cub-care-specific interns which makes me happy. Also, Casey is USUALLY willing to let me hang in the cubs pen with her on occasion. They feel sorry for me. Anyways, we walked Peter and Senay out to meet some German tourists who were very nice. I could understand what they were saying in German, but I couldn’t formulate answers! Luckily, they had a sort of spokeswoman who spoke English for them who asked questions. But this was the first time that I got to actually answer questions instead of standing around wishing I had a black suit jacket and a discreet earpiece. Cub bodyguard Heather FTW!! This time, their tour guide introduced me (I usually don’t get much of an intro beyond “This is Heather, she’s an intern. Moving on”) and I lead the group over to the cubs at the predator playground, so they asked me lots of questions. I could actually answer all of them!
12:30- back to the gala
1:00- LUNCH TIME!!!! Pasta with meaty, mushroomy, bacony gravy! And bread! It was delicious!
2:00- ..... gala. Had Lauren to help enter data into the sheet while I called people. This one guy hung up on me. It was depressing. But not the first time. Others refused to donate because they had not been “thanked in a timely enough manner” last year. *rolls eyes*
4:30- stopped calling, finished sorting the contacts on the excel sheet. I swear I was becoming dyslexic by the end as I struggled. Ugh.
5:00- finished up the spreadsheet (Casey came in to remind me to stop working at 5, as she always has to, but I was almost done, so she let me finish) and then wrote this blog. My brain feels slightly like it did on paper number 4 of 5 in finals week: like mush soaked lead. Ugh. But hey, I get to look forward to dinner and tomorrow is a half day… hopefully. You never know. It’s a half day unless someone finds something for you to do. Same with our “day off” on Sunday.
Well, for all my complaints, I’m still having fun. Everyone’s really nice in the intern house and some of the girls I was more wary of a week ago are fantastic now. Also, the video I promised my mother has become… more epic. I told one of the girls about it and now it’s more of a tour of CCF/ epic intro to all of the interns that will eventually go up on youtube… so yeah. It may take another week or so… and I feel like a stalker going around recording people constantly… yeah. Wish me luck!
TSCHUSS!
I have been calling for the gala all day everyday ALL WEEK. Here is how today went, for example.
6:30- got up and took shower. Water was actually warm, surprisingly.
7:20- Ate breakfast of porridge with cinnamon and instant coffee in it… don’t ask me, that’s how I like to flavor it.
8:00- Begged off of raking/ scoffling center pens so that I could go shoot footage of some of the interns at the goat pens… got wrangled into helping hold the goat down while they put meds on her injured foot. I have now progressed from petting-zoo experience only to goat care.
8:30- went back to the center pens and filled an ENTIRE TRASH CAN with yard debris and pointy sticks, then went to rake the last pen in penance for ditching.
9:00- went to the genetics lab to start phoning people for the gala until 12pm… that’s three hours straight of phoning people. Luckily, there were a few others helping me today (rare). Jessica, Casey, and Claire were all assigned to gala, so I made Claire and Jess do some calls while I tried to organize the new contacts excel sheet to Laurie’s specifications. (I already spent ALL DAY YESTERDAY as well working on that.) They got sick of it and started expounding on how much they hate calling people and how rude some people were on the phone within an hour. I tried not to mention TOO MANY TIMES just how many days I spent up to 7 hours phoning people BY MYSELF with no one to talk to. Yeah, when I say that I am getting sick of talking to people over bad phone lines who vaguely speak English and hate getting phoned for donations, I REALLY mean it.
11:30- Got to be part of the cub walk team! A BREAK! AT LAST! Steph and Jess, who do the schedule, have made it a habit to try and schedule me with the cubs AT LEAST every other day because they know phoning for the gala sucks. It means I get to work with them more than the other non-cub-care-specific interns which makes me happy. Also, Casey is USUALLY willing to let me hang in the cubs pen with her on occasion. They feel sorry for me. Anyways, we walked Peter and Senay out to meet some German tourists who were very nice. I could understand what they were saying in German, but I couldn’t formulate answers! Luckily, they had a sort of spokeswoman who spoke English for them who asked questions. But this was the first time that I got to actually answer questions instead of standing around wishing I had a black suit jacket and a discreet earpiece. Cub bodyguard Heather FTW!! This time, their tour guide introduced me (I usually don’t get much of an intro beyond “This is Heather, she’s an intern. Moving on”) and I lead the group over to the cubs at the predator playground, so they asked me lots of questions. I could actually answer all of them!
12:30- back to the gala
1:00- LUNCH TIME!!!! Pasta with meaty, mushroomy, bacony gravy! And bread! It was delicious!
2:00- ..... gala. Had Lauren to help enter data into the sheet while I called people. This one guy hung up on me. It was depressing. But not the first time. Others refused to donate because they had not been “thanked in a timely enough manner” last year. *rolls eyes*
4:30- stopped calling, finished sorting the contacts on the excel sheet. I swear I was becoming dyslexic by the end as I struggled. Ugh.
5:00- finished up the spreadsheet (Casey came in to remind me to stop working at 5, as she always has to, but I was almost done, so she let me finish) and then wrote this blog. My brain feels slightly like it did on paper number 4 of 5 in finals week: like mush soaked lead. Ugh. But hey, I get to look forward to dinner and tomorrow is a half day… hopefully. You never know. It’s a half day unless someone finds something for you to do. Same with our “day off” on Sunday.
Well, for all my complaints, I’m still having fun. Everyone’s really nice in the intern house and some of the girls I was more wary of a week ago are fantastic now. Also, the video I promised my mother has become… more epic. I told one of the girls about it and now it’s more of a tour of CCF/ epic intro to all of the interns that will eventually go up on youtube… so yeah. It may take another week or so… and I feel like a stalker going around recording people constantly… yeah. Wish me luck!
TSCHUSS!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Obligatory Food Tour
Hey guys. Something awesome is currently in the works, so you're gonna have to put up with this post while I make it :)
SO! let’s talk about some awesome food I’ve had while here.
•Cheese burgers with goat chedder cheese. They are amazing and lovingly made by Juan with our own (CCF) cows and cheese. The buns are also delicious and hand made. MANY vegetarians fall off the veggie wagon for a night JUST to taste these. They are that good.
•I have discovered a type of cookie called chockits… or something. They are biscuit and cream and coconut and they are ADDICTIVE. D: I have ordered them twice on Tuesday town runs. They are amazing and I WILL find them when I come back to the states. Somehow.
•Hard boiled eggs covered in curry. Sounds gross, right? But we had them this morning and they were BRILLIANT. One of the guys on the international course from India made them. I will miss him now whereas I didn’t even really care this morning.
•Game pie. It’s like chicken pot pie or shepherds pie but with wild game instead. (steenbok or oryx, etc) It is SO delicious. The crust is just so flaky and the meat is so fresh and tender. In fact, ALL of the meat here is delicious. We had beef steaks last night that I practically drooled all over. We also had spit roasted warthog that was DELICIOUS. I swear, Juan should be the CCF CHEF not the tourism guy. Everything he cooks is DELICIOUS.
•MEAT
•There was this Pizza in Windhoek that was more like European (eg French) pizza than American. Thin crust, fresh ingredients, etc. DELICIOUS.
•The bread here is delicious, handmade, with bits of corn, and will make me SO fat. I cannot get enough of it! There was also this bread that Juan made in a pot of soup somehow that SHOULD have been soggy but somehow wasn't! I want the recipe SO bad, but he is notorious for being secretive. All the food here is so good!
•Mac and Cheese. Fresh made. From scratch. It was the best thing ever and I convinced the server (we get served portions because there are so many ppl here right now) to give me seconds AND THEN I begged thirds from the kitchen a couple hours later. IT. WAS. HEAVEN.
•Currently drinking scrumptious guava juice that I nicked from the kitchens. LOVE IT!
Okay guys. One more thing. I was on cub care yesterday with the four ambassador cubs and they were SO CUTE! When eating, THEY ignore everything around them so you can pet them all you want! You can even play with their tails or ruffle their ears and they don't care. It was awesome!
MISS YOU ALL! TCHUSS!
SO! let’s talk about some awesome food I’ve had while here.
•Cheese burgers with goat chedder cheese. They are amazing and lovingly made by Juan with our own (CCF) cows and cheese. The buns are also delicious and hand made. MANY vegetarians fall off the veggie wagon for a night JUST to taste these. They are that good.
•I have discovered a type of cookie called chockits… or something. They are biscuit and cream and coconut and they are ADDICTIVE. D: I have ordered them twice on Tuesday town runs. They are amazing and I WILL find them when I come back to the states. Somehow.
•Hard boiled eggs covered in curry. Sounds gross, right? But we had them this morning and they were BRILLIANT. One of the guys on the international course from India made them. I will miss him now whereas I didn’t even really care this morning.
•Game pie. It’s like chicken pot pie or shepherds pie but with wild game instead. (steenbok or oryx, etc) It is SO delicious. The crust is just so flaky and the meat is so fresh and tender. In fact, ALL of the meat here is delicious. We had beef steaks last night that I practically drooled all over. We also had spit roasted warthog that was DELICIOUS. I swear, Juan should be the CCF CHEF not the tourism guy. Everything he cooks is DELICIOUS.
•MEAT
•There was this Pizza in Windhoek that was more like European (eg French) pizza than American. Thin crust, fresh ingredients, etc. DELICIOUS.
•The bread here is delicious, handmade, with bits of corn, and will make me SO fat. I cannot get enough of it! There was also this bread that Juan made in a pot of soup somehow that SHOULD have been soggy but somehow wasn't! I want the recipe SO bad, but he is notorious for being secretive. All the food here is so good!
•Mac and Cheese. Fresh made. From scratch. It was the best thing ever and I convinced the server (we get served portions because there are so many ppl here right now) to give me seconds AND THEN I begged thirds from the kitchen a couple hours later. IT. WAS. HEAVEN.
•Currently drinking scrumptious guava juice that I nicked from the kitchens. LOVE IT!
Okay guys. One more thing. I was on cub care yesterday with the four ambassador cubs and they were SO CUTE! When eating, THEY ignore everything around them so you can pet them all you want! You can even play with their tails or ruffle their ears and they don't care. It was awesome!
MISS YOU ALL! TCHUSS!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Starry Night is Not Just a Painting
Dear World,
My life has been very boring as of late… I have been making phone calls for pretty much three work days straight… and while it is gratifying to be the one in charge of the whole silent auction shebang, I am getting a little tired of over-enunciating to people who speak English as a vague second language over a bad connection.
But I don’t want to either talk or think about the gala at the moment.
Instead, I want to talk about the night sky. This seems random, yes? Well, it REALLY isn’t.
You can see SO many stars here out in the bush. Sometimes when going back to our rooms after dinner, we all turn out our torches and just look at them. (That is of course until we realize that a leopard MAY be stalking us in the dark) The stars are GORGEOUS. And apparently we can’t even see as many as we would in summer. Apparently you can see the ENTIRE Milky Way in stunning, starry detail then. Some interesting things: Orion’s Belt is in an interesting place and the big dipper is upside-down. It’s interesting. Our Australian friend (who is no longer at CCF) called it the Frying Pan.
But the really exciting thing lately has been the moon. It is LOVELY to watch the moon rise from the top of the water tower. It rises before the sky is dark, so at first you see the moon against every color of the light spectrum. African sunsets are AMAZING. However, in recent days there has been a full moon. Now, I know that people often claim that they can kinda sorta see by moonlight at night, but here you REALLY can. It’s like, never really dark here when the moon is up. I haven’t even been using my torch when walking to Lightfoot for a bonfire or home from dinner at night. It’s amazing how bright it is. It’s like, reverse light pollution or something. Also, there was a lunar eclipse last night! RANDOMLY! I mean, we were sitting inside, minding our own business, and Brittany comes in hollering about an eclipse! I have seen one before (I think… or was it solar???) but never randomly. Usually mom lets me know DAYS in advance about anything interesting in the sky, so this was just weird!
Anyways, stargazing is AMAZING here and I can’t wait to see them in the summer. (In Botswana)
Tschuss!
My life has been very boring as of late… I have been making phone calls for pretty much three work days straight… and while it is gratifying to be the one in charge of the whole silent auction shebang, I am getting a little tired of over-enunciating to people who speak English as a vague second language over a bad connection.
But I don’t want to either talk or think about the gala at the moment.
Instead, I want to talk about the night sky. This seems random, yes? Well, it REALLY isn’t.
You can see SO many stars here out in the bush. Sometimes when going back to our rooms after dinner, we all turn out our torches and just look at them. (That is of course until we realize that a leopard MAY be stalking us in the dark) The stars are GORGEOUS. And apparently we can’t even see as many as we would in summer. Apparently you can see the ENTIRE Milky Way in stunning, starry detail then. Some interesting things: Orion’s Belt is in an interesting place and the big dipper is upside-down. It’s interesting. Our Australian friend (who is no longer at CCF) called it the Frying Pan.
But the really exciting thing lately has been the moon. It is LOVELY to watch the moon rise from the top of the water tower. It rises before the sky is dark, so at first you see the moon against every color of the light spectrum. African sunsets are AMAZING. However, in recent days there has been a full moon. Now, I know that people often claim that they can kinda sorta see by moonlight at night, but here you REALLY can. It’s like, never really dark here when the moon is up. I haven’t even been using my torch when walking to Lightfoot for a bonfire or home from dinner at night. It’s amazing how bright it is. It’s like, reverse light pollution or something. Also, there was a lunar eclipse last night! RANDOMLY! I mean, we were sitting inside, minding our own business, and Brittany comes in hollering about an eclipse! I have seen one before (I think… or was it solar???) but never randomly. Usually mom lets me know DAYS in advance about anything interesting in the sky, so this was just weird!
Anyways, stargazing is AMAZING here and I can’t wait to see them in the summer. (In Botswana)
Tschuss!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tourism Expo or Secret Wine Tasting Party? The World Will Never Know
Hey guys!
Sorry I haven’t been in contact for a while. First, the internet was out for a few days and then… wait for it…
I WAS SENT TO WINDHOEK TO A TOURISM EXPO!!!!!
So, okay. It’s a little exciting because I got to go to Windhoek, which is both civilization and means that they trust me at least a little to get things done. So, here’s how this came about. My overall project here is the Fundraising Gala Dinner thing that CCF is holding at the Windhoek Country Club in July. It is a HUGE event. The interns’ (well… mostly Claire and I) is to find donations for the silent auction portion of the evening. Thus, I have been phoning potential sponsors for days.
Anyways, Laurie asked Claire and I to go with Juan (the head tourism guy at CCF) to garner interest for the gallery at the Namibian Tourism Expo. So, we gamely got up at 3:30 AM to take a 3 hour drive to Windhoek… and upon our arrival found out it didn’t start until 3pm and we didn’t need to set up… ugh. I was SO TIRED. But it was still fun. It was a HUGE event. There were SEVEN halls filled to the bursting with vendors. There were loads of resort houses, lodges, wineries, organic fooderies, supply shops, crafty places, and conservancies on display. Claire and I talk to about ¾ of EVERY hall. We had mixed results: some people were really interested and some wanted nothing to do with us. But we tried our best.
The other interesting thing about this expo was… the wine tasting. It was EVERYWHERE. The expo went from 3pm to 10pm and everyone was AT LEAST tipsy by 8pm… yeah, Claire and I were the most sober people at the whole expo INCLUDING the vendors. (Though we did have to taste this beer that Juan wanted info from around 6pm… it actually wasn’t bad… I guess… for beer.)
It was also funny to see everyone’s faces when we got back and told them that we ate at restaurants, but that is neither here nor there.
We also stayed at Juan’s house in Windhoek, which I thought would be weird, but it oddly wasn’t. It was a gorgeous house and FREE! (best price!)
Besides the gala, I’ve mostly been filling the position of “Laurie’s private secretary” as she tries to figure out things upon her return from a two month trip… I think she drafted me since I was the one to organize her office… eh. Anywho, I hope to do some fun, interesting things soon. I’ll keep you posted!
And how did I get drafted to working on ANOTHER silent auction?!? I SWEAR I will be an expert at these things by the time I die without ever having an OFFICIAL silent suction setup position or career. Lol.
Tschuss!
Sorry I haven’t been in contact for a while. First, the internet was out for a few days and then… wait for it…
I WAS SENT TO WINDHOEK TO A TOURISM EXPO!!!!!
So, okay. It’s a little exciting because I got to go to Windhoek, which is both civilization and means that they trust me at least a little to get things done. So, here’s how this came about. My overall project here is the Fundraising Gala Dinner thing that CCF is holding at the Windhoek Country Club in July. It is a HUGE event. The interns’ (well… mostly Claire and I) is to find donations for the silent auction portion of the evening. Thus, I have been phoning potential sponsors for days.
Anyways, Laurie asked Claire and I to go with Juan (the head tourism guy at CCF) to garner interest for the gallery at the Namibian Tourism Expo. So, we gamely got up at 3:30 AM to take a 3 hour drive to Windhoek… and upon our arrival found out it didn’t start until 3pm and we didn’t need to set up… ugh. I was SO TIRED. But it was still fun. It was a HUGE event. There were SEVEN halls filled to the bursting with vendors. There were loads of resort houses, lodges, wineries, organic fooderies, supply shops, crafty places, and conservancies on display. Claire and I talk to about ¾ of EVERY hall. We had mixed results: some people were really interested and some wanted nothing to do with us. But we tried our best.
The other interesting thing about this expo was… the wine tasting. It was EVERYWHERE. The expo went from 3pm to 10pm and everyone was AT LEAST tipsy by 8pm… yeah, Claire and I were the most sober people at the whole expo INCLUDING the vendors. (Though we did have to taste this beer that Juan wanted info from around 6pm… it actually wasn’t bad… I guess… for beer.)
It was also funny to see everyone’s faces when we got back and told them that we ate at restaurants, but that is neither here nor there.
We also stayed at Juan’s house in Windhoek, which I thought would be weird, but it oddly wasn’t. It was a gorgeous house and FREE! (best price!)
Besides the gala, I’ve mostly been filling the position of “Laurie’s private secretary” as she tries to figure out things upon her return from a two month trip… I think she drafted me since I was the one to organize her office… eh. Anywho, I hope to do some fun, interesting things soon. I’ll keep you posted!
And how did I get drafted to working on ANOTHER silent auction?!? I SWEAR I will be an expert at these things by the time I die without ever having an OFFICIAL silent suction setup position or career. Lol.
Tschuss!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Zebra and Giraffe and Oryx, OH MY
So, Tuesday was a VERY exciting day!
Well… actually…. It was really boring quite a bit of the time… but I guess you can form your own opinion.
On Tuesday, we had our first TWELVE HOUR waterhole count! YAY! They happen once on the 31st of every month. During this waterhole count, eight people divide into pairs of two and sit in a “hide” for twelve hours straight and count each animal that comes in and out of their specific site. We include approximate age (calf, adolescent, adult) and sex and species.
So. We all got up at 4:30 AM in order to get to our site by 6 AM (the count goes from 6-6). We’ve usually been getting up at 6:30 each morning, so two hours early was REALLY early. I ended up forgetting my camera in the rush! (Don’t worry though! My hide-mate, Jill, had a spiffy camera that I ended up commandeering!) It was FREEZING at 4:30 AM, frost on the ground and all. But we were troopers and we trooped down to the hotspot for breakfast (starbucks VIA FTW!) and then got into the cars. We still really didn’t know what to expect…
My site was called Hog’s Haven. It consisted of a large open space and man-made watering hole (the watering holes are at Bellabino farm and are enclosed. There are no natural ones). About 20-30 meters from the water stood our hide! It was an (about) 5-7ft brick room with a tin roof and a foot wide slit in the side to observe. And we had to stay in there… for 12 hours straight. Mind you, Jill is an Earthwatch volunteer, not an intern, and MUCH older than me… and I had met her for the first time the night before… and I had never spoken to her before…. Yeah, so I really didn’t know what to expect.
But it turned out to be really cool! The first three hours went REALLY fast and an Oryx showed up within the first half hour. We saw a lot of really cool animals and animal behavior throughout the day! (I’m pretty sure we recorded the most out of all the groups). There were a TON of warthogs, obviously. (Warthogs are no longer exciting for us. We see them every morning. But they do this really cute thing where they touch snouts in a little kiss motion). Also, there were ten Oryx that hung out PRACTICALLY ALL DAY! They were just hanging out by the salt lick and being really territorial over it. (They would back off for giraffe, but would chase off any other would-be salt lickers). I kept imagining that they were talking like the two moose in Brother Bear. They’re so funny. We also saw three giraffe. And let me tell you. Giraffe are HILARIOUS when they’re trying to drink from the water hole. They have to kind of contortion themselves down and then drink. One just bypassed the pool and went for the giant green water tank that feeds water into the waterhole, lol! We also saw several Jackal and one red hartebeest! (Which we were told NOT to expect to see). We also saw a bunch of Eland which are HUGE! Also, if you ever see a group of eland, it’s REALLY amusing to watch their ears and tails twitch constantly. I had never really seen them that close because they are REALLY car-shy. There were also THREE separate heard of Zebra. It’s really hard to count zebra, actually. They all stand in a group and then just look like one of those mind bender posters. (Like Liz had in the room). But the babies were ADORABLE!
Well, the hide was freezing all day and we were very cramped and I REALLY didn’t want to have to pee in the bushes again, but we made it. And the car was very warm on the way home. Oh, and we saw a leopard on the way as well. XD I’ll put pics up on Facebook as soon as I can get them from Jill.
On a totally separate note; Laurie finally got back Tuesday evening! XD We were all really excited to meet her (re-meet her in my case), and it was amusing to hear Brittany call her “Dr. Marker” when I always just call her Laurie. Today we had a meeting with her and she could only consistently remember Casey and my names because she had known both of us for a very long time. (Casey is an intern that has been here two months already. She is from Oregon. Goes to SOU, actually!) We were talking about overarching responsibilities here, projects, ideas, and our general skills. She seemed very interested in my ability to “be handy” due to theater. (I already built a frame to stand a cabinet on in her office… yeah. Go me… couldn’t really figure out a centimeter measuring tape though…)
Anyways, I had a great couple of days! Miss you all already
Well… actually…. It was really boring quite a bit of the time… but I guess you can form your own opinion.
On Tuesday, we had our first TWELVE HOUR waterhole count! YAY! They happen once on the 31st of every month. During this waterhole count, eight people divide into pairs of two and sit in a “hide” for twelve hours straight and count each animal that comes in and out of their specific site. We include approximate age (calf, adolescent, adult) and sex and species.
So. We all got up at 4:30 AM in order to get to our site by 6 AM (the count goes from 6-6). We’ve usually been getting up at 6:30 each morning, so two hours early was REALLY early. I ended up forgetting my camera in the rush! (Don’t worry though! My hide-mate, Jill, had a spiffy camera that I ended up commandeering!) It was FREEZING at 4:30 AM, frost on the ground and all. But we were troopers and we trooped down to the hotspot for breakfast (starbucks VIA FTW!) and then got into the cars. We still really didn’t know what to expect…
My site was called Hog’s Haven. It consisted of a large open space and man-made watering hole (the watering holes are at Bellabino farm and are enclosed. There are no natural ones). About 20-30 meters from the water stood our hide! It was an (about) 5-7ft brick room with a tin roof and a foot wide slit in the side to observe. And we had to stay in there… for 12 hours straight. Mind you, Jill is an Earthwatch volunteer, not an intern, and MUCH older than me… and I had met her for the first time the night before… and I had never spoken to her before…. Yeah, so I really didn’t know what to expect.
But it turned out to be really cool! The first three hours went REALLY fast and an Oryx showed up within the first half hour. We saw a lot of really cool animals and animal behavior throughout the day! (I’m pretty sure we recorded the most out of all the groups). There were a TON of warthogs, obviously. (Warthogs are no longer exciting for us. We see them every morning. But they do this really cute thing where they touch snouts in a little kiss motion). Also, there were ten Oryx that hung out PRACTICALLY ALL DAY! They were just hanging out by the salt lick and being really territorial over it. (They would back off for giraffe, but would chase off any other would-be salt lickers). I kept imagining that they were talking like the two moose in Brother Bear. They’re so funny. We also saw three giraffe. And let me tell you. Giraffe are HILARIOUS when they’re trying to drink from the water hole. They have to kind of contortion themselves down and then drink. One just bypassed the pool and went for the giant green water tank that feeds water into the waterhole, lol! We also saw several Jackal and one red hartebeest! (Which we were told NOT to expect to see). We also saw a bunch of Eland which are HUGE! Also, if you ever see a group of eland, it’s REALLY amusing to watch their ears and tails twitch constantly. I had never really seen them that close because they are REALLY car-shy. There were also THREE separate heard of Zebra. It’s really hard to count zebra, actually. They all stand in a group and then just look like one of those mind bender posters. (Like Liz had in the room). But the babies were ADORABLE!
Well, the hide was freezing all day and we were very cramped and I REALLY didn’t want to have to pee in the bushes again, but we made it. And the car was very warm on the way home. Oh, and we saw a leopard on the way as well. XD I’ll put pics up on Facebook as soon as I can get them from Jill.
On a totally separate note; Laurie finally got back Tuesday evening! XD We were all really excited to meet her (re-meet her in my case), and it was amusing to hear Brittany call her “Dr. Marker” when I always just call her Laurie. Today we had a meeting with her and she could only consistently remember Casey and my names because she had known both of us for a very long time. (Casey is an intern that has been here two months already. She is from Oregon. Goes to SOU, actually!) We were talking about overarching responsibilities here, projects, ideas, and our general skills. She seemed very interested in my ability to “be handy” due to theater. (I already built a frame to stand a cabinet on in her office… yeah. Go me… couldn’t really figure out a centimeter measuring tape though…)
Anyways, I had a great couple of days! Miss you all already
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tips for Namibian Travellers. Abridged.
All I did today was clean Laurie's office. Which was quite an adventure in mouse droppings, dust, dead moths, live and dead spiders, cobwebs, etc; but not very interesting. So! For today's blog, you get tips I have for Namibian travelers that I have learned ALREADY! :D
Useful Tips for Namibia:
1.Bugspray is your BEST friend
I know people will tell you this, but there really ARE mozzies everywhere, even in the dry season. Cover ANYWHERE that is exposed or covered only by light fabric. Even at night. I had NO bug bites at all until one night I wore shorts to bed without thinking that bugs would really be a problem while I slept (there didn’t seem to be any in my room…)… I didn’t put bug stuff on my upper legs… and woke up with bug bites everywhere. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW! Just, anytime any skin is exposed to the air, it is mozzie food, so cover it with bug spray.
2.Sunblock is your other best friend. It throws picnics with the bugspray.
It is sunny. Very sunny. Like, hole in the ozone layer above Namibia sunny. Wear sunblock even if you never burn. The intern from AUSTRALIA got a sun burn. Do not skimp on it. Any showing skin should get a slathering. And some not showing skin too if you think you might take off a layer.
3.Long hair with pony-tail capabilities is a plus
Long hair in a pony-tail keeps the sun off the back of your neck. It is also good for swishing at flies or mozzies who are flying around your ears when your hands are full. (Like a real horse!)
4.Long pants and sleeves are like force fields.
Okay, so not quite that cool. But seriously: every plant in Namibia has thorns except for the grass. (And sometimes that’s touch and go.) Some of the thorns are bright white and two inches long. Some of them look deceptively soft (they’re not!). So if you plan to do ANYTHING outside, wear long pants and at least BRING something long-sleeved along. You will thank me later.
5.Don’t go cheap on sunglasses. The sun can spot penny pinchers.
Cheap sunglasses, as I am finding out, don’t block the sun as well as you’d like. The sun still hurts and you still squint. So spend the money to get good ones so that you’re not squinting 99% of the day. That being said, don’t go out buying Prada sunglasses just cuz they’re expensive. They just make you look like a rich target in the cities. Go to REI. Get a pair that WORKS but is not flashy.
6.NEVER approach animals. Even cute ones.
Keep at a distance. In the case of leopards, snakes, baboons, etc stay at a VERY safe distance. Do not approach an animal even if you think it may be struggling to live or dead. It may be okay or it may still savage you. They are WILD. If you are concerned, call a local wildlife authority. They have people trained not to get mauled.
7.Termite mounds look good in photos but could be full of snakes.
Well, usually just the one snake, actually. Snakes like the Spitting Zebra Cobra and the Black Mamba like to make homes in termite mounds. They are deadly. So no photo ops next to termite mounds unless you feel like washing out your eyes with water for twenty minutes to wash out zebra cobra poison.
8.The Audubon Society African Mammals book is not good enough
Sure, it IS good, to an extent. But it really doesn’t include all the various BIRDS you see in Namibia. And they are many and varied, indeed. However, finding a wildlife guidebook to NAMIBIA in your local bookstore is like trying to get water out of a rock: it only works if you’re Jesus. Get a guide book for Southern Africa. You should do better.
9.Make sure you like your traveling buddy
Namibia goes city, lots of bush, city, lots of bush, city, etc. The time to get from one place to the next is very long. There are animals and pretty views, yes, but not all the time. It can get pretty monotonous. So if you hate your travel buddy, know that you will be stuck with them in the car for a very long time. That being said, try to stay awake. I apparently missed a herd of giraffe on the way from Windhoek to CCF.
Today is Brittany’s 21st birthday. We’re celebrating with champagne and s’mores. Well… we might… we kinda got into the s’mores last night when there was a fire. Basically, there was a fire in the fire pit and Rachel and Kristi told us that they had NEVER had a s’more before! I know right!? I couldn’t believe it either. And then Rosie (she works in the clinic) came over and I taught her how to make one too, because she hadn’t had one either! Apparently s’mores are an American thing… I was actually surprised that they would have all the ingredients here… well… we had to use digestive biscuit type things for graham crackers, but they tasted BASICALLY the same. Ah, gotta love Africa.
ps- Australians call mosquitoes "mozzies"
Useful Tips for Namibia:
1.Bugspray is your BEST friend
I know people will tell you this, but there really ARE mozzies everywhere, even in the dry season. Cover ANYWHERE that is exposed or covered only by light fabric. Even at night. I had NO bug bites at all until one night I wore shorts to bed without thinking that bugs would really be a problem while I slept (there didn’t seem to be any in my room…)… I didn’t put bug stuff on my upper legs… and woke up with bug bites everywhere. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW! Just, anytime any skin is exposed to the air, it is mozzie food, so cover it with bug spray.
2.Sunblock is your other best friend. It throws picnics with the bugspray.
It is sunny. Very sunny. Like, hole in the ozone layer above Namibia sunny. Wear sunblock even if you never burn. The intern from AUSTRALIA got a sun burn. Do not skimp on it. Any showing skin should get a slathering. And some not showing skin too if you think you might take off a layer.
3.Long hair with pony-tail capabilities is a plus
Long hair in a pony-tail keeps the sun off the back of your neck. It is also good for swishing at flies or mozzies who are flying around your ears when your hands are full. (Like a real horse!)
4.Long pants and sleeves are like force fields.
Okay, so not quite that cool. But seriously: every plant in Namibia has thorns except for the grass. (And sometimes that’s touch and go.) Some of the thorns are bright white and two inches long. Some of them look deceptively soft (they’re not!). So if you plan to do ANYTHING outside, wear long pants and at least BRING something long-sleeved along. You will thank me later.
5.Don’t go cheap on sunglasses. The sun can spot penny pinchers.
Cheap sunglasses, as I am finding out, don’t block the sun as well as you’d like. The sun still hurts and you still squint. So spend the money to get good ones so that you’re not squinting 99% of the day. That being said, don’t go out buying Prada sunglasses just cuz they’re expensive. They just make you look like a rich target in the cities. Go to REI. Get a pair that WORKS but is not flashy.
6.NEVER approach animals. Even cute ones.
Keep at a distance. In the case of leopards, snakes, baboons, etc stay at a VERY safe distance. Do not approach an animal even if you think it may be struggling to live or dead. It may be okay or it may still savage you. They are WILD. If you are concerned, call a local wildlife authority. They have people trained not to get mauled.
7.Termite mounds look good in photos but could be full of snakes.
Well, usually just the one snake, actually. Snakes like the Spitting Zebra Cobra and the Black Mamba like to make homes in termite mounds. They are deadly. So no photo ops next to termite mounds unless you feel like washing out your eyes with water for twenty minutes to wash out zebra cobra poison.
8.The Audubon Society African Mammals book is not good enough
Sure, it IS good, to an extent. But it really doesn’t include all the various BIRDS you see in Namibia. And they are many and varied, indeed. However, finding a wildlife guidebook to NAMIBIA in your local bookstore is like trying to get water out of a rock: it only works if you’re Jesus. Get a guide book for Southern Africa. You should do better.
9.Make sure you like your traveling buddy
Namibia goes city, lots of bush, city, lots of bush, city, etc. The time to get from one place to the next is very long. There are animals and pretty views, yes, but not all the time. It can get pretty monotonous. So if you hate your travel buddy, know that you will be stuck with them in the car for a very long time. That being said, try to stay awake. I apparently missed a herd of giraffe on the way from Windhoek to CCF.
Today is Brittany’s 21st birthday. We’re celebrating with champagne and s’mores. Well… we might… we kinda got into the s’mores last night when there was a fire. Basically, there was a fire in the fire pit and Rachel and Kristi told us that they had NEVER had a s’more before! I know right!? I couldn’t believe it either. And then Rosie (she works in the clinic) came over and I taught her how to make one too, because she hadn’t had one either! Apparently s’mores are an American thing… I was actually surprised that they would have all the ingredients here… well… we had to use digestive biscuit type things for graham crackers, but they tasted BASICALLY the same. Ah, gotta love Africa.
ps- Australians call mosquitoes "mozzies"
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Goats Are Funny and Other Tales from the Bush
Today started out on an interesting note. Since one of the goat herders is gone right now, I got to help feed the Anatolian shepherds! (aka the dogs that watch and guard the herd of goats here at the CCF farm. I met Joeh (one of the guys that works with the goats) at the big, quite industrial, barn. There he introduced me to… someone. I couldn’t really pronounce his name and now I can’t remember it. Anyways, after he mixed up the food (dog food, cooked donkey meat, and water… interestingly enough, the dog food was made out of rice and ostrich…); we went over to the goat pens to feed the dogs. They were VERY happy to see us, and they were adorable. On a side note for Liz, one of the dogs was named Leah. :D
Besides the dogs, the goats were VERY funny. On the second trip feeding the dogs (once at 8am, once at 3pm), there was this goat that REALLY wanted to eat the dog food. Like REALLY/ He would jump up like one of the dogs and try to steal some from the bowl in my hand. And when I wouldn’t give it to him, he tried to eat my pants instead! Lol! Also, once Shadow was done eating her food, she walked away from it and at least 15 goats went over to start eating the leftovers! I had to shoo them away just to grab the bowl! (On that note, shooing goats isn’t hard. You just kind walk through them and they get out of the way. It was REALLY amusing walking through a virtual SEA of goats, all of them bleating at you noisily).
Besides that, I was mostly in Laurie’s office for most of the day ORGANIZING IT. And let me tell you, it REALLY could use it. The papers are covered in dust and cobwebs and dead moths and spiders and a lot of the stuff has been chewed up by a mouse. In fact; when I started on Laurie’s office with Santa yesterday, we found the mouse IN IT’S NEST in one of the boxes! I almost grabbed it without knowing! But it jumped out and ran off, which wasn’t a huge deal but it did startle Santa and I a lot! Basically, I actually enjoyed organizing Laurie’s office in the same way I enjoyed the living room in my suite after I finish cleaning it. It just makes me feel better about life. However, there is A LOT of stuff and Laurie’s not here so I can’t ask her if we can throw anything away. Instead, I’m just organizing and labeling EVERYTHING.
I also went on a Circuit Count this evening, which is a lot like a game count but longer and through thicker bush. We actually have to keep our windows rolled up and the side-view mirrors turned in so that the thorns and branches that are creeping in don’t SMACK us! There’s this great nails-on-chalkboard sound almost THE WHOLE TIME. I went on one yesterday as well (in which we got stuck in an aardvark hole momentarily and had to push the truck out of it) and we barely saw any animals. This time, we were scrabbling for extra paper to record them because this route took us through the main field! I even saw eland for the first time. (Though from a far distance because they are car-shy and run away from EVERYTHING!!!!)
One last thing. Yesterday, I was weeding the OK cubs’ pen with Casey and we took a five minute break at one point… and she finally introduced me to the cubs! I mean, in their pen, petting them, talking to them, the works! It was midday and so they were really lazy and sleepy so they just came over to be petted and licked my hand a lot :D :D :D They were ADORABLE! Their names are Peter, Tigerlilly, Sene, and Kaije. Peter’s face is SO FLUFFY! XD Best five minute break EVER!!!!
Anyways, I love you all! Look forward to my next exciting adventure!!!
Besides the dogs, the goats were VERY funny. On the second trip feeding the dogs (once at 8am, once at 3pm), there was this goat that REALLY wanted to eat the dog food. Like REALLY/ He would jump up like one of the dogs and try to steal some from the bowl in my hand. And when I wouldn’t give it to him, he tried to eat my pants instead! Lol! Also, once Shadow was done eating her food, she walked away from it and at least 15 goats went over to start eating the leftovers! I had to shoo them away just to grab the bowl! (On that note, shooing goats isn’t hard. You just kind walk through them and they get out of the way. It was REALLY amusing walking through a virtual SEA of goats, all of them bleating at you noisily).
Besides that, I was mostly in Laurie’s office for most of the day ORGANIZING IT. And let me tell you, it REALLY could use it. The papers are covered in dust and cobwebs and dead moths and spiders and a lot of the stuff has been chewed up by a mouse. In fact; when I started on Laurie’s office with Santa yesterday, we found the mouse IN IT’S NEST in one of the boxes! I almost grabbed it without knowing! But it jumped out and ran off, which wasn’t a huge deal but it did startle Santa and I a lot! Basically, I actually enjoyed organizing Laurie’s office in the same way I enjoyed the living room in my suite after I finish cleaning it. It just makes me feel better about life. However, there is A LOT of stuff and Laurie’s not here so I can’t ask her if we can throw anything away. Instead, I’m just organizing and labeling EVERYTHING.
I also went on a Circuit Count this evening, which is a lot like a game count but longer and through thicker bush. We actually have to keep our windows rolled up and the side-view mirrors turned in so that the thorns and branches that are creeping in don’t SMACK us! There’s this great nails-on-chalkboard sound almost THE WHOLE TIME. I went on one yesterday as well (in which we got stuck in an aardvark hole momentarily and had to push the truck out of it) and we barely saw any animals. This time, we were scrabbling for extra paper to record them because this route took us through the main field! I even saw eland for the first time. (Though from a far distance because they are car-shy and run away from EVERYTHING!!!!)
One last thing. Yesterday, I was weeding the OK cubs’ pen with Casey and we took a five minute break at one point… and she finally introduced me to the cubs! I mean, in their pen, petting them, talking to them, the works! It was midday and so they were really lazy and sleepy so they just came over to be petted and licked my hand a lot :D :D :D They were ADORABLE! Their names are Peter, Tigerlilly, Sene, and Kaije. Peter’s face is SO FLUFFY! XD Best five minute break EVER!!!!
Anyways, I love you all! Look forward to my next exciting adventure!!!
Monday, May 23, 2011
"Cheetah Husbandry" is a Very Official Sounding Job
This morning, I FINALLY got to join in on cheetah husbandry: aka feeding all the captive cheetahs here at CCF. There are quite a lot of them.
But before I could feed cheetahs, we had to go get the meat. And as is the theme around here, it wasn’t ready. So we waited in the slaughter enclosure while they cut up big chunks. There were two fully grown dead donkeys hanging upside-down from hooks in the ceiling with all their skin cut off except for around their heads. You could see all the muscle and blood and such, but it actually didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Even when Kristi (another intern) and I were tasked with cutting up larger, still warm, chunks into bit sized ones for the older cats who couldn’t eat as well. I was fine; it was like cutting up strips of raw chicken after you’ve put it in the microwave for a minute.
We started off with some of the older cats in their enclosure. There is this one cheetah named Klein who has hepatitis on his legs and is missing a lot of teeth. We had to pay special attention to him and squirt antibiotics on his legs through the fence. He wasn’t too happy about it, but it will keep him from licking the infected areas. There were I believe four other cats at that enclosure. I think they keep all the ones who need special pills or powders hidden in their meat in that enclosure. In other words, the older cats.
The next group we fed was the newest cubs. I overheard that one boy is called Donner and one of the girls is Skeet, but I could be mistaken. That feeding actually took us the longest because those cubs are still really wild and they really don’t trust people. We had to be very quiet and pretty much just stay out of the way while Juliette fed them very cautiously. They were growling the entire time we were there!
The next set was the seven girls and five boys who live nearest the facility. We first ran the boys, but we didn’t use a lure. Oh no. Kristi, Juliette (the head cheetah keeper), and I hopped into the back of the truck and James (the cheetah keeper who’s leaving tomorrow) drove into the enclosure. He drove probably at highway speeds down the enclosure while the cheetahs chased us and we hung on for dear life. I’m actually not sure why I was in the back other than for the experience of watching a pack of cheetahs running after us. Which was rather exciting. Juliette threw the meat to them after a couple laps around the pen.
After that, it was a half an hour ride to Belabino farm (one of CCF’s farms) to feed these two ADORABLE cubs and then a bit further to feed another set of boys and girls (six girls, five boys, I think). We ran them both! The boys were all named after scientists. That was lots of fun. On the way to the enclosures, we took the middle road past a few watering holes and I saw zebra, giraffes, kudu, warthogs, cows, and lots of birds! It was really cool! However, we were working so I couldn’t stop and take pictures.
But cheetah husbandry wasn’t the only fun thing today! This morning, while we were raking and weeding pens while waiting for Juliette to start the cheetah feeding; they ran the OK cubs with a lure for the first time ever! They were SO funny. To run the cheetahs, Rachel, Ron, and Juliette (some more senior staff/ volunteers) hooked a rag onto a pulley system and attached it to a battery. When switched on, the rag can travel at 70k/hr on the line, and cheetahs instinctually run after fast moving objects. (Which is why we are not really allowed to run here that much) It’s not as fast as a cheetah can run, but fast enough to give the cubs some exercise. Despite the fact that their instincts told them to chase the red cloth, they weren’t very good at running yet. They could run, obviously, but they couldn’t manage the turns (the lure line is set up in a square shape), and so they just kept barreling right past on the corners. Also, when the lure wasn’t going as fast, they would run in this pouncy/ hoppy/ running sort of way that was ADORABLE. Also, they weren’t quite used to the lure yet, so they kept tripping over the line that the cloth was on. It was so hilarious to see them trip over their own paws. (They were fine, that’s why it was so funny.)
After lunch (in which Kristi thought it was weird that I ate plain pasta), I started the “Casey’s Slave” part of the day. Officially, it’s General Tasks with Casey or Santa supervising (yes, Santa is her real name), but it generally amounts to doing data entry or sticking labels on things. Something that I am now an expert at. It’s actually hard for Casey to find stuff for us to do since a lot of it is special stuff that would take either forever to explain or we don’t have enough CCF knowledge/ specifics to do… So we interns on data entry duty take it project by project and try to find things to do as they come.
Anyways! Today was an awesome day, though my hands still smell a bit like donkey blood despite washing them. But it doesn’t bother me too much. Tschuss!
(ps- that means “bye!” in German… actually, any website I visit is in german the first couple of tries… like… Blogspot.)
But before I could feed cheetahs, we had to go get the meat. And as is the theme around here, it wasn’t ready. So we waited in the slaughter enclosure while they cut up big chunks. There were two fully grown dead donkeys hanging upside-down from hooks in the ceiling with all their skin cut off except for around their heads. You could see all the muscle and blood and such, but it actually didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Even when Kristi (another intern) and I were tasked with cutting up larger, still warm, chunks into bit sized ones for the older cats who couldn’t eat as well. I was fine; it was like cutting up strips of raw chicken after you’ve put it in the microwave for a minute.
We started off with some of the older cats in their enclosure. There is this one cheetah named Klein who has hepatitis on his legs and is missing a lot of teeth. We had to pay special attention to him and squirt antibiotics on his legs through the fence. He wasn’t too happy about it, but it will keep him from licking the infected areas. There were I believe four other cats at that enclosure. I think they keep all the ones who need special pills or powders hidden in their meat in that enclosure. In other words, the older cats.
The next group we fed was the newest cubs. I overheard that one boy is called Donner and one of the girls is Skeet, but I could be mistaken. That feeding actually took us the longest because those cubs are still really wild and they really don’t trust people. We had to be very quiet and pretty much just stay out of the way while Juliette fed them very cautiously. They were growling the entire time we were there!
The next set was the seven girls and five boys who live nearest the facility. We first ran the boys, but we didn’t use a lure. Oh no. Kristi, Juliette (the head cheetah keeper), and I hopped into the back of the truck and James (the cheetah keeper who’s leaving tomorrow) drove into the enclosure. He drove probably at highway speeds down the enclosure while the cheetahs chased us and we hung on for dear life. I’m actually not sure why I was in the back other than for the experience of watching a pack of cheetahs running after us. Which was rather exciting. Juliette threw the meat to them after a couple laps around the pen.
After that, it was a half an hour ride to Belabino farm (one of CCF’s farms) to feed these two ADORABLE cubs and then a bit further to feed another set of boys and girls (six girls, five boys, I think). We ran them both! The boys were all named after scientists. That was lots of fun. On the way to the enclosures, we took the middle road past a few watering holes and I saw zebra, giraffes, kudu, warthogs, cows, and lots of birds! It was really cool! However, we were working so I couldn’t stop and take pictures.
But cheetah husbandry wasn’t the only fun thing today! This morning, while we were raking and weeding pens while waiting for Juliette to start the cheetah feeding; they ran the OK cubs with a lure for the first time ever! They were SO funny. To run the cheetahs, Rachel, Ron, and Juliette (some more senior staff/ volunteers) hooked a rag onto a pulley system and attached it to a battery. When switched on, the rag can travel at 70k/hr on the line, and cheetahs instinctually run after fast moving objects. (Which is why we are not really allowed to run here that much) It’s not as fast as a cheetah can run, but fast enough to give the cubs some exercise. Despite the fact that their instincts told them to chase the red cloth, they weren’t very good at running yet. They could run, obviously, but they couldn’t manage the turns (the lure line is set up in a square shape), and so they just kept barreling right past on the corners. Also, when the lure wasn’t going as fast, they would run in this pouncy/ hoppy/ running sort of way that was ADORABLE. Also, they weren’t quite used to the lure yet, so they kept tripping over the line that the cloth was on. It was so hilarious to see them trip over their own paws. (They were fine, that’s why it was so funny.)
After lunch (in which Kristi thought it was weird that I ate plain pasta), I started the “Casey’s Slave” part of the day. Officially, it’s General Tasks with Casey or Santa supervising (yes, Santa is her real name), but it generally amounts to doing data entry or sticking labels on things. Something that I am now an expert at. It’s actually hard for Casey to find stuff for us to do since a lot of it is special stuff that would take either forever to explain or we don’t have enough CCF knowledge/ specifics to do… So we interns on data entry duty take it project by project and try to find things to do as they come.
Anyways! Today was an awesome day, though my hands still smell a bit like donkey blood despite washing them. But it doesn’t bother me too much. Tschuss!
(ps- that means “bye!” in German… actually, any website I visit is in german the first couple of tries… like… Blogspot.)
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Grossness 101
I’ve noticed at CCF that nothing really goes as scheduled. On Friday, I was scheduled to clean the center pens, then help out Casey, and finish up with the Field Count as the highlight of my day. Yeah, that plan went to shit about half an hour in. Basically, I was finishing up Chewbakaa’s old pen when one of the CCF staff members walked up to the pen and told us all that they were going to need us to work over the male cheetah that they had brought in the night before. However, this time I wasn’t as eager to help simply because the cheetah had pooped all over its cage and all over itself during the night it was waiting in the box…
Yeah, that’s the reason it’s a bad idea to capture and cage a cheetah right after it’s gorged itself on Hartebeast. It was… disgusting. And let me tell you, cheetah poop smells rank! We got him out of the box and onto a tarp and tried to wash him off, but his temperature started dropping dramatically, so we had to take him inside and work on him WHILE he was covered in poop. The smell was almost overwhelming, but we had gloves on and I was on breathing duty again, so it was okay. Well, until his temp dropped severely and we had to cover him in blankets, hot water bottles, wrap up his feet, try to dry him off a bit, etc. I had to put my hand right on his poop covered chest.
I was grossed out until he stopped breathing. And didn’t start again. This time freaked me out even more than the last because he didn’t start breathing again for the entire check-up and Anna, the vet, had to keep breathing for him with something that looked like a BVM and a tube. When we got him back in the box, he STILL wasn’t breathing and his oxygen levels were dropping, so Anna kept having to breath for him. It was like a huge weight off my chest when I saw his chest finally rise; though it took him hours to rouse from the sedative.
It was really a shame that he was so dirty. According to all the cheetah experts here, he is a prime male. He’s big, his sperm is really active, he’s not underfed or dehydrated, they kept going on and on about it. They really hope he mates to pass on his good genes.
After that bit of excitement, I HAD to go shower. I wasn’t physically very dirty, but the smell was just clinging to me. Thankfully we had power in the room once more and I was able to shower in hot water. (The power went out mysteriously during the night and didn’t come back on at 6am like usual…When the power goes out, so does the hot water).
The game drive in the afternoon was very exciting once more. I was on center field like last time. This time we got a whole page of recorded sightings, INCLUDING two aardwolves and what we think was an aardvark. According to Rachel, aardvark sightings are VERY rare! She was super excited and even though we didn’t get a picture, we are convinced we saw one.
The burgers in the evening were grilled by Juan and they were delicious!
Yeah, that’s the reason it’s a bad idea to capture and cage a cheetah right after it’s gorged itself on Hartebeast. It was… disgusting. And let me tell you, cheetah poop smells rank! We got him out of the box and onto a tarp and tried to wash him off, but his temperature started dropping dramatically, so we had to take him inside and work on him WHILE he was covered in poop. The smell was almost overwhelming, but we had gloves on and I was on breathing duty again, so it was okay. Well, until his temp dropped severely and we had to cover him in blankets, hot water bottles, wrap up his feet, try to dry him off a bit, etc. I had to put my hand right on his poop covered chest.
I was grossed out until he stopped breathing. And didn’t start again. This time freaked me out even more than the last because he didn’t start breathing again for the entire check-up and Anna, the vet, had to keep breathing for him with something that looked like a BVM and a tube. When we got him back in the box, he STILL wasn’t breathing and his oxygen levels were dropping, so Anna kept having to breath for him. It was like a huge weight off my chest when I saw his chest finally rise; though it took him hours to rouse from the sedative.
It was really a shame that he was so dirty. According to all the cheetah experts here, he is a prime male. He’s big, his sperm is really active, he’s not underfed or dehydrated, they kept going on and on about it. They really hope he mates to pass on his good genes.
After that bit of excitement, I HAD to go shower. I wasn’t physically very dirty, but the smell was just clinging to me. Thankfully we had power in the room once more and I was able to shower in hot water. (The power went out mysteriously during the night and didn’t come back on at 6am like usual…When the power goes out, so does the hot water).
The game drive in the afternoon was very exciting once more. I was on center field like last time. This time we got a whole page of recorded sightings, INCLUDING two aardwolves and what we think was an aardvark. According to Rachel, aardvark sightings are VERY rare! She was super excited and even though we didn’t get a picture, we are convinced we saw one.
The burgers in the evening were grilled by Juan and they were delicious!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
HUIEW&#@YQGUI#EV!!!!!!! XDDD
OMG GUYS! GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAAAAAAAAAT!!!!
I PETTED A WILD CHEETAH!!!!
njelfhalhlsvlvszdbvaldfv YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAAAY!!!!!
ok, here's the story.
It was a dark and stormy night. No, really it was. Booming thunder, flashing lighting, rain, hail- full on African storm type stuff. serious business.
Anyways, they had just gotten three new cubs in from a farmer whose mom had died :( And by cubs, I mean probably about 7-8 months old, but already pretty big. They needed to knock them out and run check ups/ measure them/ take sample/ etc. We interns were told we could watch! (rather impromptu I might add, like A LOT of things here, actually) Anyways, we were watching from the sidelines in the clinic, VERY silently, when the vet and all the actual official people started asking us to help. First it was just to take the cheetahs' temperature, then monitoring breathing (which I did for all three cubs!), measuring it, rubbing its paws to keep it warm, etc. So there I was, watching my watch (lol), when the temperature of the first female started to drop pretty severely. So they piled on blankets and hot water bottles, but I couldn't exactly watch her breathing with all the blankets. THUS, Juliet (one of the staff members) put my hand under the blanket RIGHT ONTO THE CHEETAH'S SIDE and told me to keep track that way.... DWQIDHWLEFHLQWE!!! Then she was telling us to rub her to keep her warm and THAT is how I pet a WILD CHEETAH yesterday!!!!
IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!
Well, apart from this one terrifying moment wherein the male cub STOPPED BREATHING... worst thing ever. D: But he was okay in the end. I would have told you about this ADVENTURE earlier, but we finished with all three cubs at about 11pm and by that time the internet had been switched off.
Apart from that bit of excitement, i have been having an EXCELLENT couple of days. Officially, I have still been in the office. UNOFFICIALLY, I helped release the three cubs into there enclosure (a lot more work than it sounds, especially when they didn't want to get out of the box), feed two other cheetahs, and capture another who needed to be taken to the vet. (All of this done on a trip that I pretty much hopped on board with last minute which made me late for Game Count orientation, but no one really cared.)Also, I took an impromptu hike through the bush trying to track Hi-Fi, the local wild cheetah. It actually got really dark while we were out there WITHOUT a flashlight... adventurous, but we weren't actually in much danger and we never did find Hi-Fi. Pretty much, Cat (my primary supervisor at the moment) rushed into her office and was like "I'm going to go track Hi-Fi, we think he might have killed something. Want to come???" and I was all like "HECK YES!"
OFFICIALLY, I went on a Game Count trip. This is where we go into the field (the field is HUGE) in a van (again the very legit safari one) and count all the various animals we saw. VERY cool and ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It was AMAZING. I saw onyx, red hartabeast, an ardwolf, jackals, an ostrich, and even a LEOPARD. (Who was hiding in the grass so well, I couldn't get a good pic!)
And yes, I know I said I wouldn't blog for a bit, but this was just TOO exciting to handle. Tomorrow I will be going on a visit to the cheetah dentist and I will be working more outdoors, thank god. But you know, I REALLY like it here so far. And boy, does it feel like I've been here more than three days. I'm having so much fun! Check out Facebook for photos! Love you!
I PETTED A WILD CHEETAH!!!!
njelfhalhlsvlvszdbvaldfv YAYAYYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAAAAAY!!!!!
ok, here's the story.
It was a dark and stormy night. No, really it was. Booming thunder, flashing lighting, rain, hail- full on African storm type stuff. serious business.
Anyways, they had just gotten three new cubs in from a farmer whose mom had died :( And by cubs, I mean probably about 7-8 months old, but already pretty big. They needed to knock them out and run check ups/ measure them/ take sample/ etc. We interns were told we could watch! (rather impromptu I might add, like A LOT of things here, actually) Anyways, we were watching from the sidelines in the clinic, VERY silently, when the vet and all the actual official people started asking us to help. First it was just to take the cheetahs' temperature, then monitoring breathing (which I did for all three cubs!), measuring it, rubbing its paws to keep it warm, etc. So there I was, watching my watch (lol), when the temperature of the first female started to drop pretty severely. So they piled on blankets and hot water bottles, but I couldn't exactly watch her breathing with all the blankets. THUS, Juliet (one of the staff members) put my hand under the blanket RIGHT ONTO THE CHEETAH'S SIDE and told me to keep track that way.... DWQIDHWLEFHLQWE!!! Then she was telling us to rub her to keep her warm and THAT is how I pet a WILD CHEETAH yesterday!!!!
IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!
Well, apart from this one terrifying moment wherein the male cub STOPPED BREATHING... worst thing ever. D: But he was okay in the end. I would have told you about this ADVENTURE earlier, but we finished with all three cubs at about 11pm and by that time the internet had been switched off.
Apart from that bit of excitement, i have been having an EXCELLENT couple of days. Officially, I have still been in the office. UNOFFICIALLY, I helped release the three cubs into there enclosure (a lot more work than it sounds, especially when they didn't want to get out of the box), feed two other cheetahs, and capture another who needed to be taken to the vet. (All of this done on a trip that I pretty much hopped on board with last minute which made me late for Game Count orientation, but no one really cared.)Also, I took an impromptu hike through the bush trying to track Hi-Fi, the local wild cheetah. It actually got really dark while we were out there WITHOUT a flashlight... adventurous, but we weren't actually in much danger and we never did find Hi-Fi. Pretty much, Cat (my primary supervisor at the moment) rushed into her office and was like "I'm going to go track Hi-Fi, we think he might have killed something. Want to come???" and I was all like "HECK YES!"
OFFICIALLY, I went on a Game Count trip. This is where we go into the field (the field is HUGE) in a van (again the very legit safari one) and count all the various animals we saw. VERY cool and ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It was AMAZING. I saw onyx, red hartabeast, an ardwolf, jackals, an ostrich, and even a LEOPARD. (Who was hiding in the grass so well, I couldn't get a good pic!)
And yes, I know I said I wouldn't blog for a bit, but this was just TOO exciting to handle. Tomorrow I will be going on a visit to the cheetah dentist and I will be working more outdoors, thank god. But you know, I REALLY like it here so far. And boy, does it feel like I've been here more than three days. I'm having so much fun! Check out Facebook for photos! Love you!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
First Days Are Endlessly Amusing
Yesterday was a beautiful day.
Seriously. Sunny, warm but not beastly hot, green (seriously, the rainy season does wonders), and pretty much amazing. We started out with breakfast at the Hot Spot (the communal eating area) and then went on a tour of the facility. Very informative, I suppose. But the highlight came when we got in our very LEGIT safari truck and went on a drive to see 7 of the cheetahs
We saw SEVEN cheetahs. Count ‘em SEVEN! There was Bella, Padme, Samantha, Blondie, Dusty, Sandy, and Amani. Our tour guide, Charles, tried to teach us how to differentiate between the different girls. Bella has a “teddy bear face”, Padme “looks angry”, Samantha has white in her eyes, Blondie “looks like a lioness”, Dusty looks like Samantha but without the white and likes to come close to the car, Sandy has a very small head and “looks sleepy”, and Amani has a very large head… yeah, I still can’t really tell them apart unless they’re looking directly at me.
The second half of my day was… not as interesting. I did get to see them feed some of the ambassador cheetahs in a pen, though, which was interesting. They pretty much just CHARGE at the meat in the bowls, grab them and try to run; but seeing no exit, they run back to the bowls to keep it clean while they eat. Cheetahs are very picky. Besides that, I was doing… data entry! YAY! DDD: I was entering really frustrating survey data, too. Frustrating as in a lot of the answers weren’t complete and the survey kept changing slightly. MY RESEARCH METHODS PROF WOULD BE ASHAMED! Ah, well :/
On another note: everyone here speaks Afrikaans except for us interns. Thus, Britanny and Margaret are obsessed with learning it. They are video-taping our former tour guide Charles saying small phrases. They are also practicing the clicks from Charles’ native language so that they can say his real name. (His real name kinda sounds like Da!nome!nome!om!om… with clicks where the ! are) Here are a few of the words we’ve learned transcribed as best I can.
May nahm es- my name is
Ek es van- I am from
Oo handet?- how are you?
Hud- good
En medeo? – and you?
Ien- one
Deviet (very French)- two
Dree- three
Fee- four
Fihve-five
Seis-six
Sieven- seven
Acht- eight
Neeren-nine
Deen- ten
Ek es dohch- I am thirsty
Ek es Blehy- I am happy
Look forward to the next phase in my adventure! (Probably next week, lols)
ps- I did data entry all day today too. I am promised a more interesting schedule tomorrow :)
Seriously. Sunny, warm but not beastly hot, green (seriously, the rainy season does wonders), and pretty much amazing. We started out with breakfast at the Hot Spot (the communal eating area) and then went on a tour of the facility. Very informative, I suppose. But the highlight came when we got in our very LEGIT safari truck and went on a drive to see 7 of the cheetahs
We saw SEVEN cheetahs. Count ‘em SEVEN! There was Bella, Padme, Samantha, Blondie, Dusty, Sandy, and Amani. Our tour guide, Charles, tried to teach us how to differentiate between the different girls. Bella has a “teddy bear face”, Padme “looks angry”, Samantha has white in her eyes, Blondie “looks like a lioness”, Dusty looks like Samantha but without the white and likes to come close to the car, Sandy has a very small head and “looks sleepy”, and Amani has a very large head… yeah, I still can’t really tell them apart unless they’re looking directly at me.
The second half of my day was… not as interesting. I did get to see them feed some of the ambassador cheetahs in a pen, though, which was interesting. They pretty much just CHARGE at the meat in the bowls, grab them and try to run; but seeing no exit, they run back to the bowls to keep it clean while they eat. Cheetahs are very picky. Besides that, I was doing… data entry! YAY! DDD: I was entering really frustrating survey data, too. Frustrating as in a lot of the answers weren’t complete and the survey kept changing slightly. MY RESEARCH METHODS PROF WOULD BE ASHAMED! Ah, well :/
On another note: everyone here speaks Afrikaans except for us interns. Thus, Britanny and Margaret are obsessed with learning it. They are video-taping our former tour guide Charles saying small phrases. They are also practicing the clicks from Charles’ native language so that they can say his real name. (His real name kinda sounds like Da!nome!nome!om!om… with clicks where the ! are) Here are a few of the words we’ve learned transcribed as best I can.
May nahm es- my name is
Ek es van- I am from
Oo handet?- how are you?
Hud- good
En medeo? – and you?
Ien- one
Deviet (very French)- two
Dree- three
Fee- four
Fihve-five
Seis-six
Sieven- seven
Acht- eight
Neeren-nine
Deen- ten
Ek es dohch- I am thirsty
Ek es Blehy- I am happy
Look forward to the next phase in my adventure! (Probably next week, lols)
ps- I did data entry all day today too. I am promised a more interesting schedule tomorrow :)
Monday, May 16, 2011
Flights to Africa Are Very Long...
The only real difference between airports is the decorations, the things they’re selling, and the statues that you gawp at along the way. Besides that, all airports are a bustle of vaguely annoyed or excited people just trying to catch a flight on time. I’m no different than any other tourist here, really.
My flight started out okay, despite the fact that I hadn’t slept yet since I was trying to maximize my time with two of my best friends on campus before I left for a year. There were mixed feelings at that vigil and I actually think that everyone was a tad more emotional than they were letting on, but I digress.
JetBlue is like a godsend. The service is friendly, they do everything in their power to make your flight more convenient, they offer programming on the screens even for short flights, and their seat are both cushier and roomier than competing airlines. That being said, I cannot remember the flight from Logan to JFK, because I completely passed out. Literally, I cannot remember the take off or the landing. I just remember suddenly becoming aware of the pilot welcoming us to New York.
I got to my next gate just fine with time to spare. It was all hunky dory, really. Until the actual flight. A 14 and a half hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. It started out fabulously, actually. I originally had a dreaded middle seat but a girl whose friends would have been sitting on either side of me asked to switch, so I got an aisle seat. That was fortunate. And I have to report that South African Airlines is also a VERY excellent service. The people were friendly, accommodating, and helpful; the food was actually not too bad, if a tad bland; and the blanket they handed out was actually big enough and significant enough that I kept it. :) They also included a pillow, toothbrush and paste, socks, and sleeping mask. I felt well taken care of.
It was not the airlines’ fault at all that my flight was COMPLETELY HORRIBLE. Somewhere around hour eight, I began to develop a headache. But my Ibuprofen was stupidly in my overly-heavy bag in the overhead bins and it would have been a giant struggle to get it down. Also, I was immersed in reading my Namibian culture book, so I ignored it.
Worst. Mistake. Ever.
By hour 11, it had turned into a full blown migraine with nausea, headache, shakiness, etc. I literally thought I was going to throw up for about four hours. It sucked, but I didn’t ask the fight attendant for pain meds because I had done that on an American flight before and been refused, so I assumed it would be the same. However, the two girls next to me (both from Africa though I never learned which specific part) were concerned and asked why I hadn’t asked for pain meds. So I did, and the VERY NICE flight attendant quickly retrieved me some… unidentifiable pain meds. But seriously, at that point, I didn’t really care if the side effects killed me, I wanted the migraine to be over that badly.
So eventually the flight ended, much to my relief. I went through security for the third time this trip and got to my gate fairly quickly since I didn’t have to go through customs until I reached Windhoek. (The funny thing is that the signs to the gate all have estimated travel time to reach the gates, ranging from one to seven minutes.) The shops were SO tempting: fully of all sorts of African goods. And there were statues of animals everywhere, including a giant giraffe that I wanted to take a picture of but didn’t want to dig out the good camera to do it.
The flight to Windhoek was uneventful and customs took FOREVER, but besides that, everything went rather smoothly. Africa kinda looks like Idaho with a lot more diversity and bigger bushes. And oh yeah, cheetahs :)
Look forward to my FIRST DAY SAFARI ADVENTURE in my next blog post and… PICTURES OF THE CHEETAHS!!!!
Love you all and missing you already!
My flight started out okay, despite the fact that I hadn’t slept yet since I was trying to maximize my time with two of my best friends on campus before I left for a year. There were mixed feelings at that vigil and I actually think that everyone was a tad more emotional than they were letting on, but I digress.
JetBlue is like a godsend. The service is friendly, they do everything in their power to make your flight more convenient, they offer programming on the screens even for short flights, and their seat are both cushier and roomier than competing airlines. That being said, I cannot remember the flight from Logan to JFK, because I completely passed out. Literally, I cannot remember the take off or the landing. I just remember suddenly becoming aware of the pilot welcoming us to New York.
I got to my next gate just fine with time to spare. It was all hunky dory, really. Until the actual flight. A 14 and a half hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. It started out fabulously, actually. I originally had a dreaded middle seat but a girl whose friends would have been sitting on either side of me asked to switch, so I got an aisle seat. That was fortunate. And I have to report that South African Airlines is also a VERY excellent service. The people were friendly, accommodating, and helpful; the food was actually not too bad, if a tad bland; and the blanket they handed out was actually big enough and significant enough that I kept it. :) They also included a pillow, toothbrush and paste, socks, and sleeping mask. I felt well taken care of.
It was not the airlines’ fault at all that my flight was COMPLETELY HORRIBLE. Somewhere around hour eight, I began to develop a headache. But my Ibuprofen was stupidly in my overly-heavy bag in the overhead bins and it would have been a giant struggle to get it down. Also, I was immersed in reading my Namibian culture book, so I ignored it.
Worst. Mistake. Ever.
By hour 11, it had turned into a full blown migraine with nausea, headache, shakiness, etc. I literally thought I was going to throw up for about four hours. It sucked, but I didn’t ask the fight attendant for pain meds because I had done that on an American flight before and been refused, so I assumed it would be the same. However, the two girls next to me (both from Africa though I never learned which specific part) were concerned and asked why I hadn’t asked for pain meds. So I did, and the VERY NICE flight attendant quickly retrieved me some… unidentifiable pain meds. But seriously, at that point, I didn’t really care if the side effects killed me, I wanted the migraine to be over that badly.
So eventually the flight ended, much to my relief. I went through security for the third time this trip and got to my gate fairly quickly since I didn’t have to go through customs until I reached Windhoek. (The funny thing is that the signs to the gate all have estimated travel time to reach the gates, ranging from one to seven minutes.) The shops were SO tempting: fully of all sorts of African goods. And there were statues of animals everywhere, including a giant giraffe that I wanted to take a picture of but didn’t want to dig out the good camera to do it.
The flight to Windhoek was uneventful and customs took FOREVER, but besides that, everything went rather smoothly. Africa kinda looks like Idaho with a lot more diversity and bigger bushes. And oh yeah, cheetahs :)
Look forward to my FIRST DAY SAFARI ADVENTURE in my next blog post and… PICTURES OF THE CHEETAHS!!!!
Love you all and missing you already!
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