Blackout in the Countryside

So at 3AM today (Wednesday 25, 2012) there was a blackout in the town that I'm in. I noticed because my room was really quiet when I usually have the fan on and going WHooooooooooooo. The first scary part was trying to turn on the light without success.

When there is no light here- black is the fact that you can't even see the movement of your hand in front of your face.

I got lucky though. My aunt had to go pick up my younger cousin (15) from a birthday party in a neighboring town. So she was awake and told me to sit tight- it wasn't just us, it was the whole town- and the electricity would be back on in a few. I followed her outside towards the car to catch some air; contrary to inside the house where it was so dark due to the shutters, outside was pretty light out. You'd never guess why.

Look up.

I saw the night sky uninterrupted by street lights, or by clouds. Coming from the city, the chance to see the night sky is null-impossible.

I went back to my bedroom, opened the shutters, wrapped myself in my chouka (my beautiful fabric from tanzania) and looked at the sky.

It was fabulous.

My Little Glimpse of Spain

So my stay in France with family was interrupted with a short 2 night/3day trip to Spain. 


The convenience of living in the south of France (if you have time) is that the border of Spain is about 2 hours away by car. So that's exactly what we (my aunt, uncle, cousin and her friend) did. The trip for me was a different type of traveling. Normally, with my family we go and visit the "tourist" things first. But because Spain is so close to them and the nearest amusement park is in Paris (8-9 hours away) we went to the amusement park in Salou-PortAventura Park. We spent 2 days there. By the morning of the second day I started complaining (partially in my head). 


By 4PM we we're back in the car (much disappointment to the two other teenagers) heading for Barcelona. Excitment didn't even describe properly what I was feeling. 


See, I had been to barcelona before at around 8 years old. Only one problem about that. I don't remember any of it. So I was determined to see and remember this time. 


We arrived at around 7PM, pretty tired. We stayed at a hostel in the Gothic part of Barcelona. Being not too far for Las Ramblas (the famous street with a bunch of shops and restaurants) we had dinner there and called it a night. 


Being determined I made a decision. Instead of waiting for the others to wake up and go see things, I left my room at 8:30AM with my wallet, my phone and a map. 


1st stop: The information desk at Placa de Sant Jaume. 


2nd stop: Money exchange. 


3rd stop: Cafe #1 in one of the tiny gothic corner streets. 


4th stop: Metro (I bought a ten stop card)


5th stop: Sagrada Familia which is one of the famous Gaudi "creations. Its a church. 


6th stop: A HUGE bottle of water in the park facing the Sagrada Familia. I sat next to an anciant old man and watch people go by (including a man playing with bubbles) I also "hitched" a ride with a group of english tourist to listen to some facts about the Sagrada Familia. 


7th stop: Got off at Vallcara stop (green line) and walked to Park Guell (Gaudi's nature park). It was on the steepest hill. It wasn't so bad in some places there were escalators so I would turn around and look back. I could see all of Barcelona. It was beautiful. Spain was just waking up. 


I stuck around in Park Guell for about 2 and half hours. I had a light lunch there sitting in a shady bit looking at the view. I also went to the house built inside the park for a quick look. Everything was sooo pretty and thought out. 

I left differently then I got in and walk all the way to Lesseps (it's a square serving as the border between the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Gràcia district) 

Lesseps

8th Stop: I got off a BUNCH of times at a BUNCH of different stops to see the less visisted parts of Barcelona (mainly the residential streets in which I found Cafe #2-4) 


9th stop: I wanted to go see the Picasso Museum back in the Gothic part of town, but it was already 3:30 and when I got there the line to get in was too long. Not to mention when I first got there 20 mins earlier I went through the wrong entrance and did actually see some of the art work :P To be a blaze NYer I realized it was basically the same type of senario that we have at our own but private Picasso gallery (I believe its still there- I went when I was part of a pre-college program at FIT- we saw early work and later work and it was fabulous). 


10th stop: Meeting back up with family to head back to france. We left for France at 4:30PM tired and worn out but I was so PLEASED. For the first time in my life I traveled through a foreign city on my own. Barcelona was/is a easy to manuver city, that is beautiful and exciting and has so much mixed up history. Its buildings are intergrated with old and new (sometimes not so pretty but fits into the feel of the city). I'm so happy I could do it on my own, but I hope next time I travel (which I will...I'm still young :P) I can do it with friends. 

France

Since leaving Africa (June 29 '12) I've been chilling with my moms' side of the family. It's been so long since I've seen them; I can just simply say "Its good to be back."

Thanks to my aunt and grand-parents "Mami et Papi" I was able to take a 5 day intense crash course in wheel throwing since that's one of my classes this coming fall. I wanted to walk in knowing a little. It was hard work but so completely worth it. Having one on one teaching beats all especially with this type of thing. I have perfected the art of centering the clay and making it stable enough to work with (step 1)

Tomorrow, my aunt and I will have some aunt-to-niece bonding at a crafts workshop in town. I'm pretty excited we have a lot in common.

Soon (Sunday I believe) I will be going to Spain for two nights and three days. That is the greatest thing about where my family lives, we are about 3 hours from the border so it makes voyaging rather pleasant. I'll tell all about it!

Needless to say, I'm getting ready (mentally) to go back home, July 24th or 27th...I don't remember. Going to college is something I'm so excited for. I signed the lease to my apt with my three other roommates and I'm so thrilled I'm going to be living with such a cool group of people. So as much as I want vacation to never end, I can't wait to start my life and do what I'm actually good at rather then trying to score a 100 in math. I'm hoping to be able to really learn how to express myself in the coming few years.

TRIP OVERLOAD

I haven't been eaten by lions.

This Africa trip turned out to have so many incredible moments and for those who don't know me: when and where there is an overload of information I shut down.

I've procrastinated writing this post. I told myself I'd blog and well there was just to much to blog. :'(

But no matter, I will sum up my adventures. . . in list form?

Places Gone: 

Arusha
Tarangire Park
Lake Manyara
Serengeti
Ngorogoro Crater

Animals Seen:


Elephant
Giraffe- Twiga
Wild Dog (rare)- last seen by tour guide 8 years ago- 14 of 1000 in the park
Hippos
Ostrich
Dick-Dicks
Water Bucks
Impala
Cape Buffalo
Birds- Tons of Birds
Bats
Termites
Black faced monkey
Guinea Fowl
Zebra
Blue MOnkey
Baboons
Gannet
Cheetah
Wildebeest
Gazelle
Porcupine
Egrets
Night Char
Superb Starling
Yellow Weaver
Plovers
Bush Baby
Rock Hyraxes
Leopard (male/female)
Topi
Hyena
Jackal
Fish Eagle
Secretary Bird
Grants/Thomsons Gazelles
Hardabeasts
Crocodile
Monitor Lizard
Egyptian Geese
Vervit Monkey
Baby Lions
Lions
Pregnant Leopard
Pregnant Cheetah
Flamingos
Rhinos (2 of 45)
Cerval Cat

People traveled with: My grand-pa, my sister, and in the jeep with us was a Buddhist couple (Jeremy and Meg) with an 11 year old (Elizabeth) and the husdands mother (Jone?) Levi- yes Jewish.

Highlights: Over all the absolute beauty of everything.

Arusha: The market with EVERYTHING.

Tarangire: The Elephants and wild dogs

Lake Manyara: Night game drive

Serengeti: The Cheetahs (pregnant) the leopards and the lions chillin in the trees.

Ngorogoro Crater: watching a lone female attempt to hunt (failed but cool), the last seven minutes of our last game driver -after getting an extension to look for rhinos- we see in the distance a female and her baby AMAZING.

Stressful moments: Worrying about grandpa and his health (hes not young ya know) and having to go by myself into Arusha's market to go by some last minute things before leaving.

Lake Manyara

I can't right much since I have to go eat now.

We're at Lake Manyara.....and I just can't believe it but the lodges are becoming more and more amazing. We are on the edge of a cliff overlooking the reservation.

We have our game drives today, but the high light will definetly be our night game drive tonight at 8:30-11:00.

Animals seen so far: Elephant
Giraffe- Twiga
Wild Dog (rare)- last seen by tour guide 8 years ago.
Hippo
Ostrich
Dick-Dicks
Water Bucks
Impala
Cape Buffalo
Birds- Tons of Birds
Bats
Termites
Black faced monkey
Guinea Fowl
Zebra
Blue MOnkey

Tarangire- SOPA lodge June 21- 23

Phew, don't know if I can finish this post without coffee #2, but I must. This is a nicer more detailed version of the past few days

There is a surprise at the end.

Last time I wrote I was in Arusha, with the market and everything. Since then, again many many life changing things have happened.

We left at around 8:00AM on  to go towards our second (first real) lodge. On the way we stopped in town for snacks and water, then a gift shop (didn't buy anything...not the real thing although some did) and then finally the beginning of Tarangire Park- Home to the largest amount of elephants. We had our first game drive on the way over.

I saw my first elephant. For those who don't know, elephants are my absolute favorite thing on this Earth. She/He was hiding. Some people got sick of seeing the same animals over and over again. But my god for me this will never get old. We saw huge families of elephants teeming will tiny little babies. We saw a female looking days away from having her baby. It was mind blowing. We saw Zebras by the dozens.

I was in the jeep with bird watchers so in our jeep birds were the focus when not looking the elephants (no one can resists they honey brown eyes). My shock came from when I saw an Ostrich. They were hilarious.

We got tucked into our rooms upon arrival and I quickly made a new friend named Robert (like our tour guides name) He so sweet and since he's learning french and I want to learn Swahili we've been exchanging knowledge. He's catching on faster then me.

There are black faced monkeys here on the roofs.

As for the surprise I would like to say that I saw a wild dog. 14 of them to be exact. There are only aprox. 1000 left of them. You know they're rare when your tour guide starts taking pictures. Our driver hadn't seen one in four years and our tour guide 6 years. They were beautiful quiet creature lounging on the road. All fourteen of them. (Ill post picture later. The Internet here isn't strong enough) And not to brag we also saw 2 of the 40 leopards in the park. All in one day!

Tarangire Day 1 June 21

Well its been hectic.

We left at 8:30ish in the morning out of Arusha to head towards our first destination for our first set of game drives.

The drive wasn't bad. My grand-father and sister went into one van and I into another. I went with bird watchers, the travel was interesting to say the least.

We made several pit stops. The first not far out, just a local commercial gift shop. I didn't buy anything. I did however look at the cute newborn kittens that were outside :)

The hotel we're staying at is positively fantastic. A bull (male elephant) decided to go past the guards and right up to the front doors last night. We're staying here on more night I think. We'll see whats in store then.

Anyway the day we arrived we went out for 4:30 game drive. We saw elephants ...like huge beautiful matriarchs and tiny tiny babies. This along with zebras and a bunch more that I can't think of right now.

Dinner was awesome- but the animals were def. the hightlight of my day. p:

Tomorrow we have 2 game drives in store for us. One in the morning and one at night.

Can't wait to see what happens. (too tired to continue...off to bed now)

Arusha

First things first: Vlogs of my grand-pop and me will be put up too. It's easier for my grandfather to keep his travels documented (and for my dad and his sis and everyone else to know how HIS travels are going)

For me, I've never vlogged before so I thought I'd try it with the "old fashion" typing method.

Since I left of in my last post SO much has happened. I have since left Amsterdam and have landed in Mount Kili Airport.

We left Amsterdam on a 10:00 AM flight- security frighteningly sparse- and landed at around 7-8:00 PM in Arusha, Tanzania, where customs consisted of a glance at our passports and scanning our fingerprints.

Outside for a quick moment we met Rob, our handsome tour guide- a Masai (Kenyan) before hoping into a taxi and zipping off to the hotel. At such high elevation bugs are nearly non-existent here (especially mosquitoes) so our windows were wide open (as well as our hotel room windows). We made good time at the front desk, asking them to not tell my sister that we arrived, no I was going to surprise her.

Mahala and I chatted for a bit before nearly keeling over in hunger (but not before she showed me her amazingness- she got the Nikon D3100 body- I lover her). The food here is great! A typical meal for the locals consists of: Ugali, which is a tasteless mix of water and flour, topped with a bit of meat (rarely port but mostly beef and mutton) and bunch of sauce. Of course at our hotel we have nicer options, I was glad and enjoyed the more authentic food we can't get on the streets (not unless you want to be violently sick). We had Mt. Kilimanjaro beer, wine and incredible ginger ale that is so spicy you smell it through your nose and it burns a bit. We went to bed around 12:00AM.

After being woken up by a crazy sister at around 7:00AM we went back downstairs and had breakfast (cereal with fresh goats milk and some pastries). We officially met Rob as well as one of the other families we are to be traveling with. My grand-father's impression so far is "Dull" but considering they were supposed to be on our flight but had to take another and arrive that very morning I won't post any judgements on them yet ;p

After meeting Rob and having lunch we went into town- not something you want to do without someone knowledgeable. It was definitely a culture shock, or maybe not shock but a exhilarating/exhausting experience.

Word of the day: Habana: No

We went to the market so it was no surprise everyone begins descending on top of you.

After my sister bought *haggled* an avocado, onions, garlic and a lemon (guess what she wants to make) we stopped by a little shop where we got Chai- a staple drink in everyone's diet. Its not the Chai you think of in the U.S. Its very different, stronger in terms of the milk taste. Its difficult to describe but delicious smooth, rich and sweet.

Afternoon was rather quiet. Spent packing for the adventure tomorrow. Dinner with passion fruit mouse and awesome curry chicken. We then tapped Grandpa's first vlog of the trip. And now bed. It is 1:03AM here and I have to be up by 6:30.


Kwaheri kwa kuonana- Until next time.

I have a confession to make...-

I am a homebody. Sorry, its true. Needless to say I love to travel; this trip, however, is going to test my every limit of patience.

I have the tendency of being a slow packer, the idea of leaving seems vague until I'm either about to go through security or boarding the plane. So it's no wonder that, well things are going to go a little crooked.

We (my mom, my dad and I) left our apt. at 8:00ish PM, rushed out the door a little but all seemingly well and everything in order. When we get to the airport, we run into our first blip of the trip. My grand-pa put both his bags in the plane (not having a carry-on). He's a diabetic, so there are certain meds that need to be taken, should anything happen to the bags we would be in a bit of a mess. We push that aside, not much you can do there. We go for a quick bite to eat.

While walking the winding isles towards security I finally figured out what I was missing. Well S*@#t I forgot the body Nikon D5100 camera at home (my 55-300 mm lens being in my bag). My palms start sweating there. Parents say "we'll figure it out, just get on the plane".

Besides the plane to Amsterdam being not surprisingly uncomfortable it goes without a hitch (my mind still reeling and completely in tears by the fact that I forgot the body of the camera -the one thing in my young naive teenage mind that reallllly counts). We get off the plane breeze through customs - side note: Dutch police men are very handsome. Here comes crisis #3. Our bags were shipped to Africa without us.

A problems for numerous reasons: 1) Change of clothes? 2) I also put my toiletries and meds in my suitcase- I was rushing. At least I hope they're in my suitcase. . . 3) Its just not fair. At this point, I'm having a hard time keeping it together. My grand-father tearing through the airport and train station (although no pictures just picture the main terminal in Paris).

We get to the hotel. The first thing I do when I get to my room is cry. What can I do? I'm frustrated and sad that nothing is going as planed. My parents get the full brunt of my unhappiness, I'm still having a hard time being rational. To me, my camera was everything to this trip. Still is. Trust me, I will what I can as a spoiled art child to obtain a rental Nikon D5100.

Grand-pa and I take a break from each other. Finally 2 1/2 hours after getting to the hotel, I get the balls to go out to the shopping area to buy some makeup. I quickly return, apply it and head back out slightly more confident then before (trying to push out all bad happenings).

I've never been to Amsterdam before, or anything like it. The scenery is beautiful and charming; from the canals to the crooked houses it really is nothing short of pretty and maybe a bit dainty. That is until you add the people and the smells. Depending on where you are you either get a whiff of the canal, restaurants or weed. The smell of weed waftes out from the small winding alleyways where young and old alike sit and smoke hookah. I'm still pretty wound up at this point so I got myself a ticket to a canal tour- I forgot to mention, I bought 2 disposable cameras along the way. As I wind down and listen to the history of Amsterdam and finish off disposable #1 the lack of sleep creeps in.

I basically crawl back to the hotel.

I wake up Grandpa at 7:15 for dinner. He walked around and had lunch... I was too busy being my stressed self at that point. So dinner was mainly for me. We went to a dutch restaurant called Humphreys. It was a strange combination of food; from Italian, to Asian to New Yorker styled steak but the melange was pretty good. It was a long dinner filled with debates (not unusual for us- I had three rules no talking about Homosexuality, Religion or Politics- we stuck with medicine).

At 10:00PM we split to retire to our rooms. I quickly began getting upset out the camera- not gonna hide that. . . once fixated its hard for me to un-fixate. Stress before bed is never good. Like I said at the beginning- I am a homebody- further meaning, I get violently "homesick". Literally, I get nauseated. I do well to keep my mind off of bed and I re-pack my stuff but honestly so tired at 11:00 I snuggle into bed. I thought I had fought off this childhood problem with junior year.

Which leaves me here writing this first disastrous entry at 1:50:07 AM. Stress creeped up to me while half-asleep. Shaking and sweating a shower is the only thing that calms the immediate stress- but the fear of falling back asleep is horrible. If this is all garble, Ill write a more coherent entry tomorrow.

Sometimes, life just doesn't work out the way you wanted it. I quote my friend Robert "Life isn't a bitch, it's a crack-whore." So now I will brave the fears of sleep and homesickness with that thought in mind and with the hopes that tomorrow will be better.

Last Work Day Before D-Day

I have worked a KinderKALENDAR for a few months now, my very first job.

KinderKal (for short) is a small business that publishes calendars for bilingual kids (or kids learning a second language)- french, chinese, spanish, korean, and italian so far.

http://www.kinderkal.com/

So, thank you Mrs. Morgan for hiring me, a newbie, and giving me a great first job experience! You're awesome boss! I will definitely keep in touch!

A cute product (ball) with an elephant on a ball in all different languages. 

Off to the land of minis

So.....what's the best part of actually traveling besides the traveling part? Going to the pharmacy and buying miniature EVERYTHING!

The checklist so far:

Shorts: OK
Pants: OK
T-Shirts: OK
Long-Sleeve:.....
Underwear: .....
Socks:.....
Hiking Shoes: OK
Sandles: OK

MINIS
Shampoo/conditioner:
Deoderant: OK
Shaving Razors: OK
Shaving Cream:
Toothpast/toothbrush:
Bug Spray:
Sun Block 30spf: OK

First Aid:
Medication (drop-off) Malaria, ect:
Neosporine:
Bandaids- regular/blister waterproof:
Gauze:
Gauze tap:
Ibuprofen:
Niquill/Dayquill:
Anti-Itch:


Do you think I need anything else in the first aid kit? I'm a crazy nut right. But I won't feel right without it....even if my sister has the same thing. Can't be too careful right??

Gotta go Shopping!

A Trip of a Life Time at the Tender Age of 18

Not many will be likely to see these posts that will arise in the next few given weeks, but considering the vast majority of the world I will be visiting it would be ludicrous not to share my tales.

First off, a bit about me for you (the occassional viewer). I am 18 years old from Brooklyn, NY. Not too shabby. Delt with the elementary school bullying, middle school awkwardness and high school eating disorder. At 18 a lot of things aren't perfect but seeing as this is an opportunity that will never arise again.. I sure as hell wont miss it.

My grandfather has dreamed of Africa for as long as he can remember. Started saving up since he's been the womb. Went all over the world with his wife but Africa never happened. The dream came and went. A few years back my sister became an African Studies major. AHA! Brilliant timing. So a plan began to form.

My sister now living in Kenya since January for her final semester, gave my grandfather a good standing. Not to get into the crazy planning process. This is the Itinerary.

We leave June 18th, 2012 for Tanzania. We are staying one day in Amsterday (a pit stop).We will stay in Tanzania for 10 days traveling to 4 different locations observing the wildlife and culture.
On the 29th, my grand-father and I will split ways with my sister who will return back to Kenya and into the arms of her ALL PRECIOUS ONE (corey). To then eventually go back to the States. We will re board the plan and off to France we go! I haven't seen my mothers mother in nearly 2 years. I can't wait to re bond with my roots. Once in France I will say goodbye to my grand-father after a good ole four days and begin my artist summer- taking pottery wheel throwing classes and working under a local artist name Michelle.

A trip to Barcelona might be had, since we're so close to the border. Gaudi will definitely be something to see..

If you're interested in seeing the world but ...well can't do not fret! I will do my absolute best to entertain you about my travels.

Stay Tuned.