Books, travel, other stuff...

A backlog of blog posts

2011-10-23T13:38:00.001+08:00

I have so many things I could blog about but actually sitting down and taking the time to write them doesn't seem to be happening. I'm going to make a to-write list of titles/subjects post and hope that it inspires me to tackle some of them.

My Journey to Work: Keri-Lee tagged me in her post and I've been meaning to post my own. I've taken the photos but that's as far as I've gotten.
Sport Carnival: some of our students represented St. Jude's at an international school track and field day in early October and I went along to help out. I copied photos from the day from server to my desktop at work but haven't managed to get them on to my laptop.
Food Water Shelter: I visited FWS on a Sunday afternoon at the beginning of October and I was very impressed with what they are doing. I didn't take a camera but a colleague has graciously passed on photos she took.
Cultural Night at the Moivaro Boarding Houses: our grade 4, 5 and 6 students board during the school terms from Sunday evening until Friday after school. These are the students I work with so when I found out they would be having a cultural evening and presenting various acts they had put together I was keen to attend. I took some photos but the lighting in the dining hall was not ideal. Like the sports day photos, I have some that were shared around but they are on my work computer.
Mount Kilimanjaro: The week of October 10 was our mid-term break and I joined 3 colleagues on a climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was incredible!

I think that covers the big events but each day things happen that make me think, "Hmm. Maybe I should blog about this so my friends around the world can see what my life is like." But then that life gets busy and I get distracted and I don't get the posts written. We'll see if this list helps rectify this at least a little.

Field Trip to the Kenyan Border

2011-10-02T17:22:00.003+08:00

I have posted a write-up of a field trip I went on last week on my other blog. It can be found here.

The African Clean

2011-09-09T01:01:00.001+08:00

Let me begin by coming “clean” that I have myown shower with hot water 24/7 and that I have access to a washing machine inthe evenings and most of the weekend. This isn’t a post about cold bucketshowers and hand-washing my clothes but rather about dust.

I have been walking for 45 minutes or so first thing in themorning. The first day I wore my running shoes. By the time we returned, myfairly white runners were the colour of the dust on the road. No biggie. I tookthem off and discovered the toes of what had been white socks were also thatcolour. Again no big deal - it’s not like I brought any new or special sockswith me. I then peeled off my socks to reveal toes that looked as though I hadwalked down the dusty road barefoot! Since then I have been wearing my hikingboats and dark socks on the daily walks. My toes still manage to get grubby bythe end of the day and there is no going to bed without washing my feet (if notmy whole self). I’m glad I brought a nailbrush.

As a teacher, I have long been in the habit of washing myhands at frequent intervals whether or not they appeared to need it. Here Iwash them at least as frequently and the colour of the water that comes offthem each time matches my grubby toes! The books in the library seem to have afine coating of dust and after shelving for even a short period of time myhands are filthy.

The cleanliness of my clothes is a different issue. In Singaporeif I wore something for more than an hour or two, it needed to be washed beforeit was worn again. By the time I walked home from school, my clothes and mewere so sweaty we both needed washing ASAP. Here it’s so much cooler and lesshumid that I have to relearn how to tell when clothes are in need of a wash.Pants (trousers for the British) are easy - the hems show the dirt – but thenagain the hems get dirty about as quickly as my toes so should I just wear themthat way? The washing machine isn’t the most effective one I’ve ever used sothe line between freshly washed and not is a bit blurry on some items whichcompounds my issue. I’m hoping I can trust a colleague or two to say somethingif I start to push the boundaries of cleanliness too much. Then again, the yogamats we use each week have a coating of dust and the instructor confessed thatat first she washed them weekly but then she gave up.

The next rains are scheduled to come in October and I’vealready been given a head’s up that I will need to acquire some rubber boots towear into town and even on my two minute commute on some days! I suspect I’lllook back on the dust with longing when we are surrounded by mud and damplaundry that never fully dries.

A New Adventure Begins

2011-09-04T21:57:00.000+08:00

I arrived in Arusha, Tanzania on August 17, 2011 and joinedthe staff of The School of St. Judeas a teacher-librarian in the Upper Primary Library at the Moshono Campus. I amhere as a volunteer but in the upper primary library there are two localteachers who have been working as teacher-librarians at the school for a whileand a full-time guard who shelves, repairs books and seems willing to doanything else he is asked. The majority of the staff at the school is Tanzanian(plus a few from neighbouring East African countries) but there are somevolunteer teacher mentors and quite a few volunteers working in various rolesin the business office. The majority of the volunteers are Australian.

I visited the school for a few days in June 2010 so I knewthe drill of flying into Nairobi, spending the night in a hotel and taking ashuttle bus to Arusha the following morning. I have my own room with an ensuitebathroom (with hot water) and I’m sharing a kitchen with some of the othervolunteers. Although there are frequent power outages in Arusha, the school hasbackup generators so we are rarely without power for more than a few seconds.We also have wifi across campus so I can use my laptop most anywhere. Thesignal isn’t strong enough for my iPhone to pick it up from inside my room (andI’ve put my SIM card in my Nokia) so I have mainly been using it to listen topodcasts.

The most surprising thing so far has been the number of physicaland social activities going on. There are groups of people that walk in themornings before school and on weekends so I’ve walked nearly every day since Iarrived. One volunteer leads yoga sessions twice a week though she has goneback to Australia for a month or so in order to be there when her firstgrandchild is born so yoga is on hiatus. The lower primary PE teacher was apersonal trainer in Australia and she leads cardio and Pilates sessions once aweek. There have been several birthday celebrations since I arrived which haveinvolved dinner or lunch at various restaurants. There is a Sunday nighttradition of going out for dinner to a complex where there is a movie theatreand a very western style grocery store (most anything you could possibly want isavailable but at a price) as well as a variety of restaurants around acourtyard including a very yummy Indian one. We had last Monday off as a day inlieu for Eid and a large group of us ventured out to the ArushaCultural Heritage Centre followed by lunch at Shanga (a glass bead making workshop thatemploys disabled Tanzanians and has a fabulous restaurant). I’ve been into townnumerous times with various combinations of people to grocery shop, run errands,watch rugby matches and eat at a variety of restaurants and cafes. All of thishas left me with no chance of being bored and no real time to blog until now.(I’m not complaining but I know there are people who have been waiting forupdates.)

As well as working on finding my place in the upper primarylibrary, I have spent a bit of time in the lower primary library, visited thesecondary library at our Usa River campus and been involved in the studentselection process for next year’s grade one students. (I plan to write aboutthe latter on my other blog at somepoint).

I haven’t taken many photos as I am reluctant to wave mycamera about in public – both out of respect for locals and for fear of havingit snatched. I did take some around campus the first weekend I arrived and Iposted most of them in this Picasa web album.

Baby Angels

2010-12-11T09:18:00.001+08:00

Two days ago, on Facebook, a friend from high school posted that he and his wife had just had a baby daughter. Yesterday he posted that it looked like she had jaundice. Today he posted that the baby died.

My brother and sister-in-law work with children and reach out to people who live in poverty and the afflictions that go with it at their place in Manila, Gentle Hands. They see babies whose mothers live on the street or in squalor and who don't have enough to eat or money to pay for medical care. Many of the babies they take in they are able to rehabilitate but some are too weak or too sick or have congenital defects and those babies don't make it. The deaths of those babies sadden me but for the most part I understand why they have lost the struggle.

It seems that, until today's Facebook post, I had forgotten that babies die in developed countries too. Countries with healthcare, where mothers get enough to eat and have good housing.

Faith is very strong at Gentle Hands and everyone talks about the babies who die being held in Jesus's arms. My friend and his wife are both United Church ministers and I hope their faith and the support of their churches provides them with solace and strength.

God bless all the baby angels.

Books I Read While Driving from Nairobi to Capetown

2010-10-03T08:23:00.000+08:00

I traveled overland from Nairobi to Cape Town during my summer holidays this year. I saw amazing places, met amazing people and did most of the things you want to do. I also spent a lot of time on the road and luckily I was able to read. I brought two books with me and then I read other travelers' books and did a few book swaps at places I stayed along the way.

Here is the list of those I remember at the moment (in the order I remembered them):

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (my favourite by far)

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux (a good read and even better when you are traveling through many of the same places he does in the book)

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen (I haven't seen it but I think the movie is more interesting)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (I had started it for a book club once and gave up but this time it was the only book around)

World War Z by Max Brooks (a friend brought it along because it was the freshman all-read book at the college where she teaches)

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

a novel about a white woman who grows up in Sri Lanka, marries a Sri Lankan and they emigrate to England (I've tried google to see if I can find it but I haven't been successful yet)

another book Ingrid brought

another book Louise brought

and possibly more that I have forgotten!

Other than Let the Great World Spin and Dark Star Safari I wouldn't suggest you rush out to read any of them.

What did you read on holidays?

P.S. I haven't bothered with links to the books because next to no one reads this blog and I haven't had breakfast yet.

Upcoming Travels

2009-12-14T19:25:00.001+08:00

I leave for Morocco on Saturday but I have several other trips in various stages of planning as well.

MOROCCO:
Dec. 19, 2009 to Jan. 6, 2010 - mainly as part of an Intrepid tour: Colours of Morocco but I have a couple of extra days in Marrakech at the end.

BORNEO:
Feb. 13 to 16, 2010 - Climbing Mt. Kinabalu on Feb. 14 and 15.

NEPAL:
March 27 to April 4, 2010 - booked flights to Kathmandu and send an email off to book a trekking tour today

AFRICA:
June 11 to July 31 (and maybe into August), 2010 - I haven't booked flights yet and I may be adding a trip at the beginning of August but the plan so far is to start in Nairobi and do 4 Intrepid trips in a row ending up in Johannesburg. The trips are Kenya Adventure, Kenya to Vic Falls (which goes through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia), Okavango & Beyond (Botswana and South Africa) and Kruger Adventure. The trip I may add would be either from Durban to Capetown or vice versa. Intrepid isn't running their trips between those two cities but I have a couple other companies to check out.

Ah the life of an expatriate teacher.

The pile of books by my bed

2009-09-26T21:06:00.000+08:00

The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi (given to me as a gift, I started it but put it down and haven't picked it back up)

Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières (started but taking a break to read other stuff - very cool as I visited the town in Turkey on which the one in the novel is based this summer)

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, Book 2 in the His Dark Materials trilogy (picked it up from a friend who is leaving Singapore and purging her bookshelf)

A Kingsley Amis Omnibus (from the same friend as The Subtle Knife)

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (I read it in August and thoroughly enjoyed it)

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (I read it while on holiday in July and it was good)

The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Dìaz (I heard an interview with the author sometime in early 2009 and read the book in July or August - quite a good book)

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (on loan to me from the school library of a teacher-librarian friend - I haven't started it yet)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (checked out to me from our middle school library and the book I'm currently reading)

And so it begins.

2009-06-12T18:11:00.000+08:00

This isn't really for you but it's ok if you read it. I've decided it's time I start to blog but I haven't decided what to blog about or who my audience is to be. In the meantime, I'm going to play with my settings and layout and see what happens.