Archive for 2008

Hey everyone! Currently in an internet cafe in Nairobi. Had a great flight (minus the 12 over stop in the London airport..)  Must go, will write in two days when I’m back here. Miss everyone!

So we took off for our big adventure…with big plans.  We hopped on a bus to Cote D’Ivoire, and 14 hours later arrived in Abidjan.  It’s a big city with a skyline and all.  It was sort of surreal to be there — from afar it looks like a thriving city, but up close, it is very run down and poor.  We learned that in the 90s the president was spending money like crazy to make Abidjan appear like the “Paris of West Africa.”  But this was money poorly spent and created more anger in the citizens.  We didn’t stay [...]

Well, its Monday afternoon, and I was at the cafe trying to make some contacts and plan a few field trips for the kiddos.
The weekend was great. I went to the Carnivore restaurant on Friday…it’s about as touristy as you can get, but the food was good, and it was fun to be in a nice place. It’s similiar to Texas de Brazil in Dallas, but it’s just a little more African They come around with these huge skewers of meat…ostrich meatballs, alligator, beef, pork, ham, sausage, ribs, turkey, chicken…it was ALOT of meat. And you got baked [...]

I’m back in San Jose and I have finished my first turtle project!!!! and… i’m brown and it’s not just dust this time!! Julia can verfiy this for me!
So… firstly I hope you all had a wonderful christmas and everyone was treated well by santa!
I had the most amazing weekend last weekend – weekend off! I went to a national park called Manuel Antonio and walked around all day… saw lots of monkeys, sloths, toucans, weird jumping kangaroo|wallaby|rat|mouse things… not sure what… laura??? any ideas?? then did lots of swimming in the crystal clear waters basically had a lovely time by [...]

So I fly out tomorrow and am currently in the middle of getting everything together… like usual everything I own is spread across my room and I’m supposed to be heading up to boston in an hour or so but am no where near being ready. I’m starting to get a little nervous about travelling alone, mostly because I’m known for getting lost and also losing everything… so hopefully I won’t do either of those. So much to do… but just wanted to write a little thanks in here for everyone that’s helped me go on this trip. Through support, money donations, [...]

Ok, so I may be a few days late on the “Merry Christmas” front, but JC and I have had our work cutout for us this week. Between our cancelled Nelson flights, packing for Africa, catching up with friends, tying up loose ends (the cat, renting out the townhouse, cleaning out the fridge), spending a few days in Whistler and shovelling the driveway of the mammoth amounts of snow, we are finally on the home stretch and fly out to Kenya tomorrow. We are both looking forward to the 30deg temperature as my toes are still frostbitten from being assistant [...]

This is my first journal entry; I’m trying out the system. 
 
I am leaving for Peru this Friday. I’ll be traveling from Lima to Cuzco for 10 days prior to beginning my first program with the GVN. I’m very excited; so excited I don’t even know what to do with myself! The nerves have not set in yet, but I’m sure they will in due time. I can’t wait to meet the other volunteers, but most of all I am looking forward to experiencing Peruvian culture and life.
I am anticipating this journey through my own dimensions.

Hi everyone! Two volunteers found the fastest internet ever, so we were very excited
Christmas Day with the kids was amazing, as I expected. When we got there, they had already opened their presents and they were having so much fun just walking around with their gift bags. The boys got new shirts and looked so handsome. They knew it too The girls all got nail polish, so we did pedicures for them. They loved the lotion! We did the little foot scrub thing, and they just giggled and giggled. After that, we had a [...]

As requested, here is a picture of myself before Africa! I can’t wait for the experience to begin and you’ll be able to read about it all right here…:)

Merry Christmas everyone…it’s about 4:00 on Christmas Eve here. I was having a great day with the kids, but now everything is closing, people are going home to be with their families, and a little tear is creeping up It’s just hard being away at such a special time of the year. Of course, I knew this when I signed up On a brighter note, the kids had an amazing Christmas Eve and the celebrations will continue tommorow We can’t stay late, because we can not travel at all once it gets dark…so we [...]

Wow! I can´t believe I have been here almost 6 weeks! 1st of Jan is my halfway point and that is only next week. Must be really enjoying myself as time is shooting by!
Not a whole lot of new things have happened this week. It is getting hard to think of what to write and to keep it interesting! So I thought I would go through my typical day…
Each morning I get woken up around 7.45-8am for breakfast. A typical breakfast consists of warm milk and cornflakes with a glass of orange juice. The milk tastes a bit different as I [...]

So today has been by far, my favorite day. The kids went to the movies yesterday to see Madagascar 2 for the first time ever! (The movies, I mean!) We didn’t get to go, because they left before we got there yesterday, so I hadn’t seen them since Saturday morning. So when we got there this morning, their teacher said they had to wash their clothes. (She’s their full time teacher, but doesn’t do much during the holiday. She was gone all week, and today was her first day back with them). I was curious what them washing their clothes [...]

ok… so… i’d arrived after a very bumping road (not sealed) 1.5 hour bus ride and I already had a tan (lots of dust on my face!)
introduced myself, got shown my bed (dorm room with 20 people!! hmmm)
not many people around – either at the beach or at the hatchery (where the baby turtles are)
Quentin – the co-rodinator at the sight showed me around and we chatted then it was lunch – my first ‘rice and beans’ yes, kidney beans and rice! i met all the people but they all seemed very un-talkative and dis-heartened with the project… i soon [...]

Helllloooooooo, i decided it was about time for an update!
it’s been an exciting, interesting and relaxing week!
I arrived in San Jose at 10:30 pm last saturday after 3 flights. SYD-LA-DALLAS-SAN JOSE. It was long – it felt alot longer than flying to London! Anyway, flights were good, there was a huge difference in flying from sydney and then within the states, the planes were louder well the people, (that american accent really carries) , the staff were ruder (go qantas) and the passengers were fatter! I actually had Santa Claus sitting infrom tof me to San Jose – no kidding, [...]

It’s kind of difficult to load pictures on this site, so I put them on facebook. Everyone can view the album, even if you don’t have facebook. Just go to this link I will try to eventually get photos on here. I promise I really do work with the kids, hahaha, it seems like all I do is blog on here!!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34765790&l=fe598&id=25409997

So, I didn’t realize how much actual teaching I would get to do with these sweet kiddos!! I am at a cyber cafe getting some things laminated for them, and my mind is racing with all of the ideas i have!
Today was my 3rd day…I left early to get some stuff taken care of; it’s very fluid here. You can come and go as you please, and it takes a lot of pressure off! We are spending about 3 hours teaching the kids each day, and they play the rest…partly because they are supposed to be on break, and partly [...]

I think I am officially the most frequent customer at the internet cafes
Alice and I just left Shade, our orphanage, and our on our way to get some lunch and buy some supplies for the kids. I couldn’t wait to share about my first day!! Alice and I got to the site around 10, and talked with the site director. He pretty much just told us to do what we wanted and keep them “quiet and busy.” The 2nd was easy…first not so much There’s about 26 kids and the oldest is 13, and the baby, [...]

So…apparently I am to mosquitoes what candy is to children, and what bacon is to my brother, Andy. They LOVE me. Last night I got sent to a different host home and I didn’t have a bed so I slept in the living room which was all open. I’m not sure if that’s why, but I actually hadn’t gotten bitten at all before last night. Well this morning, I went to the bathroom and said “hmm…what’s on my face.” And yes, there they were about 15 bites on my face alone, as well as what looked like a very serious [...]

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to read my on-line journal.  I know it is still 4 months away until I travel over to Vietnam to volunteer but I wanted to activate my on-line journal now so that others can read a bit about me and what I am doing.

So two weeks from today I will be on a plane to London, where my connecting flight to Nairobi will be. I’m very excited but nervous at the same time. I received my placement, which will be at Sidai children’s orphanage. There are 120 children there, ages 2-20. I’ll be staying with a host family which will be a nice experience since they will be able to show me the culture more. I hopefully will have internet access during my trip, so if this never gets updated then you’ll know I don’t hah. Back to studying for finals… can’t wait [...]

Well I have now been here about a month! It has gone so fast – 1/3 of the way already! Can’t believe it. Lots to report this week so I’ll get right into it…
My days at work are going along quite well. I am getting to know the kids better and better and its making things easier. I have just realised that it is going to be super hard to leave these kids at them end of this! Some of them are still a little hard to control but most of them are so cute it’s hard to get mad! [...]

I made it! Yeah!!
The shift key doesn’t work very well on this computer, so i am going to forego capital letters
so traveling was long! i got to dfw about an hour and a half early, and my dad and brothers waited for me while i went through security. it was really sweet and made me feel very special i got pretty sad at the airport, so i got some nachos and 2 amaretto sours to relax, hahaha…you do what you gotta do the flight to amsterdam was about 12 hours and it actually wasn’t [...]

Hi everyone!
10 days until Christmas and two weeks until I depart for Nairobi…I am both excited and quite nervous about this. I received my placement details on Friday and will be working at St. Mary’s Juniors Child Rescue Center in Nyeri, a rural area 115km from Nairobi. There are 200 boys living there aged 5-18 – check out their website.
Hopefully I will have the chance to write to you about the center and my experiences regularly but I’m not sure about internet access. You can’t comment on this journal but if you would like to get in touch then email [...]

Hi everyone,
JC and I are now in our final weeks before leaving for Kenya and it’s definitely been a little hectic given that it’s the silly season. I have spent the past 6 weeks working on a children’s Christmas movie, which, among other things, has kept me extremely busy until now. After spending the past two weeks in studio, we finally wrapped last night and I am excited that say that the lovely Set Dec gang have offered to donate some of the toys from “Santa’s Workshop” to our African orphanage. We found out this week that we have been [...]

Jambo!
Welcome to my Kenya blog!  As many of you already know, my friend Katelyn Selver and I will be heading to Kenya on December 31st for two weeks to volunteer through an organization called Global Volunteer Network which is based in New Zealand.  We will be working at the Carolyn Wambui Mungai Children’s Home in Wangige, an urban area located 40 km from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.  There are 43 children in this home–both male and female–and they range in age from 3 to 7 years old.  Our daily tasks will include teaching, childcare, Home’s operational duties, extracurricular activities [...]

So, after my fiasco, I am at my parents house and can not get to sleep. It would probably be better if I am able to sleep on the plane tomorrow, so I guess it’s okay if I’m tired but it’s mostly frustrating. I didn’t really sleep last night either. Stupid nap this afternoon…
Anyway, I just felt like expressing how I was feeling right now about my trip. I’m sure not everyone will want to read this, and you won’t gain any extra knowledge about Kenya from it but it’s definitely a huge part of this whole experience [...]

Hello All it’s nearly turtle time!
But first…
Packing!!!!!!!
I have too many things… but I can justify every item?? I think I need to blindly remove things and hope for the best!
Anyway… I think I’m nearly ready to go… I’ve ticked everything off my list and I’m really looking forward to getting on that plane tomorrow. I’m really ready for this adventure…
I’ll update soon
Zoe
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