Posted by Elizabeth on 10:57 PM
All,Well I made it home in one piece, as you may know! :)I have over a thousand photos to go through, but I decided to start off by adding the pictures of Sylvie and Ian and the kids they teach.Click here to find more photos of their class, and stay tuned for more photos, videos and thoughts :)...
Posted by Elizabeth on 9:21 AM
Leaving Zanzibar by boat, waiting for the flight... this will take hours. Longer than before. First Amsterdam, then Seattle. I wonder who will I be next to now.. on the ship I already sat next this cute little boy who just wanted to sing.. he asked if I sang.. and told him I would hurt his ears.. so he just sung for the both of us. he was a kind spirit..Leaving Sylvie and Ian was hard. I will miss them both terribly. they are good souls.I woke today to rain.. I mean RAIN. like heavy drops that flood city type of rain. so what do we do.. we play in it. we walk around in flip flops and rolled up pants..armored with rain coats.. I feel like...
Posted by Elizabeth on 2:24 AM
The dictionary word of the day: ineffable. It's definition is basically the inability to express something in words.. i found this word in middle school and fell in love with it for obvious reasons.ineffable.. yup.. my trip for sure.we arrived in Zanzibar on Thursday morning... via a taxi from bagamoyo and a ferry from Dar. the adventure over to the island .. a bit uneventful.. the taxi driver talked a bit to me...he is studying engineering.. more specifically ..auto mechanic... the ferry to Zanzibar.. was hot, long .. and tiring.we get off the boat.. and walk around looking for a budget hotel.. with three beds.. we went in a few before settling...
Posted by Elizabeth on 8:28 AM
My time here has been magical.. we are leaving bagamoyo in the morning.. and heading to zanzibar. i am so excited to get off the main continent and play on an island. Sylvie and Ian have a holiday tomorrow and friday.. so we get a 4 day weekend!! I am so excited. I am unsure of what the weekend adventures will be.. maybe seeing the dolphins on my bday (saturday). heck yeah.. sounds like fun. It is always funny for me to think of getting older.. you know ..does it mean getting wiser? i am unsure of that. In some people's opinion.. you could say i was a bit of a kid... you know taking my laundry over to my parents, never cooking at my place, etc etc..maturity for me though.. is real simple. the definition for me = to take care of what you have. maturity. I think this trip has been so...
Posted by Elizabeth on 5:19 AM
well hello :) I love you first off. I have tried to upload photos.. but most of the time there is a problem with the upload. so sorry.. i guess you will just have to wait :) and maybe even i will make you come party with me while i show you.. you know.. a benefit..like $5 charge to support PSA.. and then you can see all of the photos..hmm.. maybe ;) i know ..just ideas ideas..okay.. so what have i been up tooo... well also please let me know what you have been up to.. seems a little self centered of me when i write these things.. so i write them with my mum mostly in mind.. and then i figure if anyone else reads it .. its a bonus.so i arrived in TZ on friday.. hung out at the hotel.. met the ocean.. and was reunited with Sylvie and Ian. We had a great time, even though both were sick....
Posted by Elizabeth on 9:36 AM
one of my viewsLove you,Lizzieps.. mum.. you would be so proud.. i actually went to church this morning with Sylvie.. to the church you talked about. but dont get any wild ideas.. i just wanted to go to one service while here.. ohh and i did go to one for a second in rwanda.. cause the music was just too good to walk by and not stop ...
Posted by Elizabeth on 6:03 AM
the ocean... enchanting always.I left rwanda..the land of a thousand hill...around 3am on friday morning.. i was tired. the plane was mostly empty. but i was assigned the seat next to this young woman from rwanda...this was her first flight ever. she was suppose to leave a week earlier, but something got complicated.. and she had to wait till this flight...she was about 24 years old. by 24 i had lost count of times in the air. She was nervous. the engines started to roar.. and she started to freak out. she grabbed my hand.. and i guess i was her personal flight technician for the rest of the flight, answering questions.. like "what was that" "is this normal"...things i was aware of on that flight usually just fad in the back ground to me now.. and no attention is given. I tried to distract...
Posted by Elizabeth on 3:55 PM
i have experienced soo much.. i know that a lot of this has not even sunk in all the way yet..some of the highlights:-being surrounded by singing kids in the village in the east.-drinking apple juice with claude-being on a bus full of pygmies signing-being in the middle dancing with the people of bwiza-tilling the land in bwiza getting ready to plant seeds-eating ice cream with karl late at night-walking back from the market with bags of shoes with bob-making protein supplements-my first moto ride-the village in the north..shaking the hands with beautiful souls-hearing peoples excitement about the process-meeting martin and hearing him sing-meeting the kids at the high school-the random little girl today that ran up to me and hugged me so lovingly and was so excited to speak to me in english....
Posted by Elizabeth on 3:18 PM
everyone asks.. what does africa smell like.. i have refrained from answering that. i think tanzania has that typical african smell.. rwanda smells like hot heat, then wet..like wet big rain drops.. then it smells like red dust. like human bodies sweating in a bus. it smells like eucalyptus. it smells like cows. it smells like goats. it smells like fresh clean clothes that have been hung dry in the sun. it smells like shards of glass hitting the pavement. it smells like coal fires. it smells like fried food cooking. it smells like beans. it smells like the perfect small bananas. it smells like coffee. like really really fresh coffee. it smells like red. it smells like something hiding and deeper then you can smell. the smell has no direction. The smell just hits you. it is this...
Posted by Elizabeth on 9:20 PM
hmn..i am gonna miss this place a lot. i leave for tanzania at 3am tomorrow morning. so essentially i am leaving tonight.
I arrived a little past midnight on Monday Sept 20th.. and now leaving by the same night's sky. seems fitting in a way.
so from sept 20th to oct 8.. what have i really accomplished.. probably honestly very little to nothing. at this place. but what have i internally accomplished.. wow.. well tons... hmm..
like..... getting a glimps how aid works in foreign countries..on the government level and on non profit level... i say glimps because i am still a bit confused on the whole system (gov level primarily). it works...
Posted by Elizabeth on 12:38 PM
actually let's just leave the music making to the experts.. . and i mean that ;)Okay my last few days.. world wind for sure...let me explain...i got to that party on friday night.. irony amounting..saturday i go to dinner at the US vp ambassador's house for dinner.. gold rimmed plates, fancy furniture, projector for movie screen, hmm with alcohol imported from the us.. still though i drank coke-cola...and umm.. whatelse.. oh yeah. the house big enough to put all the pygmies in. did you know that if you are not the VP or higher in the US embassy then all your furniture has to be the same, all your plates, all your items in your house etc. also once you are at the US embassy level, you are not allowed to do "dangerous stuff" like take public transportation.. ie the bus, or take motos. (the...
Posted by Elizabeth on 1:24 PM
sometimes i just miss you..sometimes i just want my regular clothes on..sometimes i just want to walk down a road i have walked down before a million times..sometimes i just want to run into someone i know..sometimes i just want pho or mac and cheese..sometimes i just want to sleep in my own bed....sometimes i forget that seeing the big picture is not a common movie....sometimes i get frustrated by ego points........ sometimes i get mad at myself for not getting money on my phone so i can call home to talk to my mum....sometimes i wish i felt truly clean........sometimes i just want to play chess with my dad.... sometimes.. i am extremely grateful and extremely exhausted all at the same timeGoodnight + Sweet dream...
Posted by Elizabeth on 4:08 AM
karl and coffee rwanda made the news... the american medical news :)click here for the storyDoctor sells coffee to help Rwanda's poor...
Posted by Elizabeth on 1:09 AM
thrown in the beverly hills of rwanda....by a drag queen from the UK that has lived in Rwanda for a few years. I guess this party is the party of the year for everyone. Armed guards as security. Catered food, Kegs in the garden, Wine inside. DJ's and dancing. and you look around and the crowd is so worldly mixed. I only had one drink.. i thought tonight might be one of those nights you need your senses about you.I danced some, but really just was so interested in talking to people. People worked all over the place, for fancy agencies, some for the government, some for the UN, shoot.. the NGO's were representing. I even met a guy who was an architect for some country, here to make sure that the buildings are earth quake proof and up to standards. I guess there is a problem with people...
Posted by Elizabeth on 11:14 AM
yup i think that sums it up. rwanda is this small little country. first off. the people are amazing. i love them. i love rwanda.. in that way you know .. where you see someone you know.. and run up behind them jump on their back.. and say hello i love you. :) well i want to do that to all of rwanda. it is small like me.. so i think i can.well then rwanda also had 3ish months of hell on earth aka the genocide of 1994. going to the genocide memorial (which was very tasteful i thought and rad that they talked about all the genocides in the world)..said that before the 1890 (the dates are lose.. give or take 20 years)..before they were colonized and christianized they claimed that rwanda was one people. then the settlers came and declared that their were three main groups of people. they found...
Posted by Elizabeth on 3:09 AM
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092201&id=1257799378&l=1b637b3cc6or click herelove you,Liz...
