Feb. 18, 2010
Around 4am finally got to Max Chinai’s house. At 8:30am I got up to have tea with Max and his son. The tea was a lot stronger then the others I have had in India. I was asked to introduce myself and say what my expectations were. To be true I really don’t have many. Not that I don’t expect anything just I want to try and not worry about getting things done. Live day by day as if the Lord is coming that day. Although it is really hard and I still am kicking myself for not having my Bible or remembering verses. I remember a few but never a reference. I have been having praise songs come into my head, Thank you AWANA!
I worked on a few things. I fixed one of the guys shirt. It was nice to but my skills to use. I then napped for here and there. I then wanted to go eat but didn’t want to go by myself so Anh was kind enough to come with me and we headed to subway that is super close to the house. How much have I been craving a sandwich that I even had turkey on it! I am so proud of myself for being adventurous this trip.
I finished hand washing few things I didn’t give to the washman before working on different stuff. Then I headed to the area looking down on the beach. I was able to watch a beautiful Indian Sunset over the shore. It was interesting to see the beach full of people. Its as if the live revolves around the beach at sunrise and sunset. People were playing soccer, cricket and other games. Some were just walking along the shore and some sitting on and around rocks. Twice I saw people riding horses on the shore in the surf zone, not something seen in the U.S. that’s for sure. Some people were walking their dogs. One had a German Sheppard which is the first I have seen since getting out of the U.S. I hung out on the lawn for awhile and then Sigrid let us go to her room and make phone calls home.
It was really hard not to start crying over the phone as I called mom and dad for the first time since Hawaii. It was like 6am for them but they seemed happy that I called them. I was limited to 5 minutes and went about 6 minutes. I really wish I had more time and I wish I asked Mom to pray with me but I ran out of time. I think tomorrow I am going to ask if I can call and ask right away to have mom pray with me. After that I headed back to the room and got some dinner at subway again.
Feb. 19, 2010
Having Just called my parents I am feeling much better. I have felt a hunger for the Lord and been feeling very down and having a hard time with being in a area that is against God and around people who openly defy and make fun of my Lord and Savior.
So today at 7am we had tea with Max and his son. It was nice and they talked about some of their Hiram experience. We then headed out for downtown sight seeing.
Downtown
-Gopi’s washing clothes. It was an area that all the clothes come and are washed. Some people were waving to us. Once again we were badgered by people to get us to buy things.
-University but couldn’t get into the library because the guards said no even though everyone else told us we could. It was just them pushing their weight around on us.
-Saw the Mercy and Justice statues: Justice as a one eyed monkey messing with the scales.
-Victoria Terminal. It was really crowded to get to but it was a pretty station and looked better then all the other stations. It’s a huge station and also a world heritage site.
-Gate of India. It was a gate made for one of the kings to come into Mumbai. Its right next to the water. Right across form it is the Taj Mahal Hotel were a terrorist attack happened where guests were shot in there rooms and the place was lighted on fire. A gruesome attack on foreigners.
-Taj Mahal Hotel: We went inside and had to go through a ton of security and got into the new building. Its really an upclass hotel and expensive. We went to the staircase and Denny told us a little about what happened. Some people felt uncomfortable being there and I don’t blame them.
-We then headed Leopold for lunch but couldn’t get lunch but some did. Oh well. I then got some scarves for people and didn’t haggle very well. I also got some Indian garb for myself. They need some tailoring because they are cheap. I think when I get home I am going to go to the fabric district and find some scarves material that matches the embroidery on them. The pants will need some work as well but I didn’t mind getting them and it give me something to work on when I get home. Maybe Nee-san will come with me.
We then headed back to the taxis and went to the shore drive area before heading to the hanging gardens. The gardens are very well kept for India and I think its due to Mumbai having a lot of richer people and it is a richer city altogether.
I got back and had coffee with Max. David, Sigrid and Denny. It was could to visit even if I didn’t really say anything. I was then able to make a phone call home and had mom and dad pray with me.
-Got ready for the wedding
I went to eat with the group. Maybe I have been skimping on the meals but at the same time I look at the price before my stomach and don’t splurge on things, if it looks too pricy I will go somewhere else. Here I am fine with subway but people keep thinking I am not eating enough. I am its just I try not to spend too much to save. Also that means in the end of each place I can eat better ; )
Got back and went on the balcony until the bride showed up. She was wearing red with the dress just covered in jewels and glitter. She has henna on hands and feet and bangles, some that tangle down like bells and look really heavy. The groom is in a ivory with glitter stuff on it. Max son introduced us and the Bride spoke in English to me. This wedding is the reception part. Basically everyone just comes and eats and greets the bride and groom. They have been standing since 10pm and its past midnight. Supposedly they don’t eat until most of the other people have eaten and when they eat people are watching them and they have to eat slow so that people can take pictures.
One of the girls got surrounded by the kids while others by university students. One little girl asked me my religion, which was very interesting. I answered Baptist because that is the closest to what I am. How interesting because I just had mom and dad pray for me today. Have some irritation to the group and I think its because I am so tired and my mind and body are under stress.
So tea tomorrow at 9am and then hopefully brunch/breakfast and then group agreed that we have to finish the blog after breakfast and then start on the second blog after lunch. I hope to caught up on journals, blogs, letters and my essay.
Feb. 20, 2010
Tea at 9am this time due to the late night last night. The lawn is just a mess with trash everywhere. I feel sorry for the people who have to pick it up.
I’m not feeling good and just emotions are all jacked up right now. I was able to call home and talk to mom, Paula, Nee-san and Mrs. Smith. It was good but mom fell and hurt herself at work. I shouldn’t worry but I am. It will all work out in the end.
. The group got together and it went blah and I am frustrated so I took it to David for a review. In the end I ended up blowing up at my group and slammed the door and walked out. I really shouldn’t have done that.
Got in dress for pictures and Swami G. I was still upset and must have looked like a spoiled kid. Swami G came and I listen but started to fall asleep. Fell a little bit, oops! Some of the kids were interested and some weren’t but for the different reasons then the one I was making it hard for me to talk about it.
Mood was much better when heading out with some of the group to dinner. and was able to have a good conversation with one of the girls about movies and one of the guys gave me a small bag of Gummi bears!
Dinner was dumplings and noodles. So much food that I couldn’t finish.
Walked back and took a shower and packed up and found my brush which I couldn’t find most of the day..
Feb. 21, 2010
I woke up very refreshed and ready for tea. We then found out that it wasn’t until 9am and not 8am. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was back asleep. My body and mind were more tired then I thought. We then had tea and Max and his shared more about their time at Hiram.
Walked with one of the girls and headed to ATM. Pin wasn’t working so I couldn’t withdraw but my card still works because I found that out a lunch.
I then worked on essay and finished it and turned it in. That’s one less thing for me to worry about. Worked on more stuff before heading to lunch. That was getting to be bad because I had to pay with my card due to using some of the cash Denny had given to me. Finally Swaffy and Tim came with me to the Winery and ate there. There was a later dinner at 10pm so lunch was at like 3pm
Slept for at least 2 hours before getting up and finishing the blog to put it up.
Went to get blog up loaded. That was just disaster. I finally got the page up and the pictures didn’t show up. So I tried to upload them and it didn’t seem to be working. I did it 3 times and then stopped. Well they did upload they just weren’t showing me that it was finished until I refreshed the whole page. Then the pictures were to big and wouldn’t work on the page. Needless to say I had been working on it for an hour. So I was pissed and had a blow up again. I yelled at the others and sulked. Well the others are working on it now but how hard was it for them to help the first time? They kept saying I don’t care, so finally if they don’t care then we can all get F’s.
Went up for dinner, which was curry. It reminded me of the curry my mom first made when she started making curry, just no chicken in it. Nate talked to me and calmed me down. Then Denny came out with a cake and we started singing. I was looking at Max and said his name when I heard Swaffy and my name said. They had 3 cakes! And our names were on one. Nate brought mine out and I was able to blow out the candles. It was a mocha cake, chocolate truffle cake and pineapple cake. I was just so shocked that it made me super happy. Now I feel really bad about acting so bad earlier.
Harish and Max talked and then his son started talking about his mother and how he wished she could be here. He then opened a box and had each of us take a necklace or pair of earrings his mother had made. I started to tear up but due to the mad tears I didn’t have much left. It was just so wonderful to be here even if the rawr parts came out, but those were due to reasons not of this place.
Now heading to bed.
Feb. 22, 2010
Woke up at 2 and headed to the airport.
Airport. I had no problem getting through immigration but others did due that stamp again. I had some coffee and food and then plane.
Fell asleep and had some very weird dreams and then was woken up to food. We then landed in Ethiopia for a short layover. Ethiopia then plane to Tanzania. We stopped in Kenya for refueling and stayed on the plane.
We got to Tanzania and when I got out of the plane and it was raining and cloudy outside with some humidity.
Immigration was a hassle because you had to show that you had been vaccinated for yellow fever and such.
Got on the bus and got to the compound around 3pm. it’s a catholic compound and has a high school at it. I napped for a little bit.
Dinner at Pepes. We had pizza, pasta and fish.
Now going to bed in a mosquito net.
Feb. 23,2010
Woke up for breakfast around 7am. I then consolidated what I needed for 2 night in the bush and then locked my big bag and had it stored with everyone else’s bags.
At around 11am the safari vehicles came. They are land cruisers and can hold 7 in the back and then the driver and another person in front. Our driver is Simbo. When we got in he said Simbo or Simba worked as well. All the way he talked and pointed out stuff for us along the way.
It was then about a 2 hour drive to the first safari area. Along the way when I was in the nodding off stage of sleep I heard an terrible noise come from the back on the car. The tire had blown out and we were going over 50. Simbo did good and got us to the side of the road safely and we all got out. The tire had stripped and the inside had torn in an area. It looks like one of the smog pipes got damaged as well. It was scary because he could have ended up worst. The Lord was there protecting us that was for sure, even if the others in the car didn’t realize it. All the cars stopped and quickly worked on getting the spare on. They are full tires and each vehicle has 2. Some Masai Warriors stopped and inspected the vehicle as well. As they were fixing the tire a few people stopped to see if everything was ok and it was.
We then headed to Lake Manyara. Along the way we stopped and people came to the car and tried to sell us stuff. They wanted to then trade but they wanted my watch for other things. I cant part with that because I need it and it would have been worth 5 of those necklaces. We then left.
We got to Lake Manyara for the first Safari. The top of the vehicle goes up and we stood and saw the view around us. There was so much wildlife to see. The excitement just kept growing.
The first things I saw was gazelles and they had a young with them. It was clear they knew we were there and they just kept looking strait at the vehicle. We then moved on toward the hippo pool. At the Hippo pool was a whole bunch of hippos in the water. Some were out and about. At times there was grunts that came from them that is a type of communication. Also at the pool was stork all around the water. I just kept thinking of my Caitlin how she likes hippos and how she would have liked to see these creatures. Never in my life did I think I would see one in the wild. After that the driver heard that there was some tree lions out and about so we went off to find them.
Along the way I saw giraffes! They are so adorable! Also we found an elephant right on the road grazing. We got all excited and took lots of pictures as if it was the only one we would see. We then moved along and ran into about 2 herds of elephants or it might have all been one. There was male and females along with some baby elephants. Simbo said that the female was the leader of this group it seemed. So more of a matriarchal community. There was also zebras and giraffes with baby giraffes! On the soda lake was what looked like a band of pink. It was a band of flamingos! They were hard to get a good picture of but it was such a sight to see. I never would have thought to see this in my life. I can hardly believe that it is real.
In the end we never found the lions but another group did. Simbo was sad but it was ok and we headed out of the park towards camp.
Got to camp. Had beds in the tents! I thought I was going to be roughing it but I guess not. It doesn’t feel like I am camping. These two nights should be fun. We had dinner around 7pm and while we were eating we lost power. Lol go figure. So we pulled out flashlights but all the bugs swarmed the lights and the food as well. By that time I was mostly done with dinner so it didn’t matter too much. The bathrooms are new and we are the first to use them and they are still building some as well.
There is another American group that is here. They don’t have a professor and are in Tanzania and then Kenya. It would be cool to talk to them but I don’t know if there will be much time.
Feb. 24,2010
Breakfast at 7am because it was a full day of safari. At around 8am to vehicles for Ngorongoro Crater. We had to go up the outer edge of the crater and stopped to take pictures looking down into the crater.
Ngorongoro Crater from like 10am to about 4pm. We headed down from the more forest into a savannah. Right at the beginning we saw elephants. They were eating the bark off of the trees. One elephant practically broke the branch off one of the trees and it was a big branch. We then kept going and got to a part were it had stripped trees from elephant activity. No giraffes are in the crater due to there being no trees for them to eat. We saw a lot of zebra and wildebeests together. They are together because the zebra has good eyes so the wildebeest follow them. According to Simbo its because the wildebeest are dumb. The zebras were also with the Buffalo.
The buffalo are much different from the ones in the US. That’s because the ones in the US are Bison not buffalo. These are black and have horns that come from the top of the head like a shield. There was also ostriches in the crater. They are very cool up close. I felt like I was at the Wild animal park in San Diego.
We saw some warthogs running along and we yelled PUMBA! So after that Simbo called them pumpas for us every time we saw some. At the end we saw a pumpa family with a momma, papa, and babies. I saw a ton of birds along with some more hippos and baboons.
The best part was when I saw the lions. Saw just 2 and got excited and then saw a whole pride. After that when heading to the lunch area I saw more and the male with a full mane stood up for us and moved. It was so awesome to see these amazing creatures in their natural habitat. The other great thing was the Black Rhinos. We saw 2 with babies from far away and then 2 closer. We had to turn around and got stuck in the mud. So my group had to get out of the car. We were able to get out almost in front of the Rhinos! It was awesome and I got some good pictures. There was so much to see that the pictures speak better then I can.
I was just tired and my face windblown. We had an early dinner and then had class before heading off to bed.
Feb. 25, 2010
Breakfast at 7:30am, was very refreshed when stepping out of tent. Drizzled last night so Anh and I had to put the flaps down. We loaded up the vehicles and headed out for the last day of safari. We went to Tarangire. At the beginning all there was birds and then some giraffes. We saw the river and other features.
I saw ostriches and there was these flies that got into the vehicle and started biting me and some of the others. They even bit through the clothing. So I pulled out my bug spray and started spraying. We also saw some water buck and a lizard in a termite mound. We then head to lunch.
Lunch was interesting. The food was good and I had most of it done but for a little. Then a monkey was walking out side the fence. It got up and we were like oh its going to beg for food. Nope it jumped so fast and grabbed my lunch bag that only had trash and little bit of veggies left. The Monkey and me got in a tug a war over my lunch bag and that guy would not let go. He got it as Simbo came up to throw rocks at it. The guy barred its teach and tore a hole out of the bag and ran off with the veggies that I had left over. It was a bad monkey. Simbo that started telling us how it sees us coming with the lunches and thinks it is feeding time, a very bad monkey. The other were warned and another group watched it happened and were warned. The monkey went for their food and the lady and the monkey started swinging back and forth. She ended up hitting it with the lunch box and some food fell out. It left and then came back for the spilled food. I felt bad at first for throwing rocks but it should be eating and learning things like that. When we got back in the car Simbo asked how was the monkey and we said it was a very bad monkey.
For the rest of the safari was saw elephants far away and up close. When they were close my camera battery died. We saw some Rock myarax, which look like ferrets. Also we saw a water monitor lizard come out of the water! I was tired by the end again and fell asleep on the way back.
Headed back to Arusha. We got back and boy was I tired. I thanked Simbo and the group in the vehicle took a picture with him. If anyone wants to go on a safari go on the Aardvark Safaris and get Simbo.
I then showered and packed a little. Dinner at Pepes again but it is really good food and the price isn’t bad because we share everything. After that we got ice cream to treat ourselves. Now its time for bed because I am super tired. Those safaris wear me out. My pictures are better then my words.
Feb. 26, 2010
Card still not working with pin number. Finally got internet but it was so slow I couldn’t send anything. Caitlin was going to let me use her phone but it wasn’t working but she was able to send an email thank goodness. After that people offered to let me borrow but I hate borrowing money. Well might have to and just write a receipt for them. I got some teary eyed and that needs to stop now.
Breakfast and then class which was literature and biomes class. After that 2 girls are gone to Kenya and are coming back before we leave.
The rest of the group then headed to Arusha for lunch. We had buffet style food and it wasn’t too bad. We then headed to market. The atm wasn’t working for me still. People are worse here then India. They follow you everywhere! The one guy wouldn’t leave us around and we got surrounded at one point. No harm was done but its not comfortable to be in having all these people following you and trying to talk in order to get you to buy something. They just follow you non stop until you go into something.
I met back up with Denny and got some postcards and sent 2 and now have one more to send. I then walked back with Denny and Caitlin and was planning to work on homework. I came back and was able to do laundry and get some work done but not as much as I would like. My body is just exhausted and wants to sleep.
I got super slow internet that frustrated me. But after that we headed to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. It was chicken, lamb and other stuff. You took bread that was kinda sour and placed what you wanted inside it. It was no a silverware style meal but I used it once in awhile. It was really good. We then walked back and I worked on some stuff but not as much as I would have liked. I cant let myself get this far behind again.
Oh and my toenail is now fully gone. Lol it doesn’t feel like it but when I look it is. I hope it will grow back before I get to Germany but who knows.
Feb. 27, 2010
Today was mostly rest. I didn’t eat breakfast and slept in as much as I could. Got internet and the lady over charged me so no I owe one of the girls money. I was able to work on some stuff and then went for lunch.
I had udon at a Japanese restaurant. It was very good. After that I packed up and worked on my blog and prompt. The blog is roughly done but needs much more work. The prompt isn’t due yet but I have a basic outline done. I am really glade that I have the travel writing done.
Dinner was at Pepes again. There was thunder rumbling in and as soon as we sat down the rain just started to downpour. It wasn’t bad because we were covered but man it rained like crazy. I was able to get a beer and am able to hold them down better and am adjusting to the taste and becoming picky about them.
Walked back and have been working on things. Its still raining hard again.
Feb. 28, 2010
Thank you mom so much! And Caitlin as well for letting use the internet on her phone! The card is working now! YAY! Thank you Lord! I need to remember not to freak out and trust that the Lord will work it all out.
Now at the airport waiting for the flight to Egypt.
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