Oh, We're Halfway There

80s rock continues to articulate my every thought!

I am updating from Schiphol Amsterdam Airport where I have 30 glorious minutes of free wifi. My first 8 hour flight went smoothly- let's hope I am as lucky with the second! I have somehow managed to snag window seats for the entire trip, so it can't be too bad. I mean, I wouldn't have said no to another inch or two of leg room, but all in all, flight is pretty amazing.

Louis CK gets it: Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

"Everybody on every plane should constantly be going 'OH MY GOD! WOW!'"

I am so happy to be traveling again. In just 10 or so hours, I will be seeing one of my most favorite people in the world at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi.

How I do so very love a grand adventure!

I don't know what my internet access will be like, so I can't make a guarantee of consistent posting. The best I can do is promise to be writing constantly and make the best of whatever bouts of internet I get. Be well!

Here I Go Again On My Own

Thank you, Whitesnake, for saying it best. I am embarking on new travel adventures, and it is time to rouse this tired old blog and take it for a spin!

Since my last post, I have done some traveling. Spain and the Dominican Republic were wonderful, but in just a few days I am returning to my true love: East Africa.

Since January, I have started working for the Apostles of Jesus, the order whose missions I visited in Africa back in June/July, 2010. I am their brand-new "Coordinator of Development and Come & See Mission". That's right folks- I'm livin' the dream! "Come & See" is a mission initiative for people who are interested in visiting Africa. (Yes! That could be you!) I am excited to provide people the opportunity to fall in love with Africa the way that I have.

And I'm ready for ADVENTURE!

At the behest of family and friends, I am going to do my best to keep everyone up to date on my travels through this blog. I am going to be on the move a lot more than last time, so I don't know how often I'll have reliable internet, but I'll do my best to keep you all in the loop.

This trip will be about one month (February 19- March 22), and I'll be covering a few thousand kilometers on East African roads. I should probably go buy a camera.

Dinner at Carnivore (Vegetarians: be ye warned!)

While we saw many powerful and moving things during our time in Africa, we didn't completely eschew the tourist scene either.

One of the most unashamedly touristy things we did while in Kenya was eat out at a restaurant simply called Carnivore. It's basically like a Brazilian barbecue; everyone has a flag on top of their table-mountain of condiments and dipping sauces, and as long as that flag is standing, there will be an endless parade of meat to the table.

We had 13 different kinds of meat offered to us.*

Pork spare ribs.

Beef sausages.

Roasted chicken.

African sausages- matura.

Beef.

Ostrich.

Pork leg with cracklin's.

Chicken liver.

Turkey.

Ox balls.

Crocodile. Lamb.

Ostrich meatballs.

Each selection was carried to our table with great pomp and circumstance on a giant spit and carved directly onto our plates. Oh! Such decadent cuts of mouthwatering mammals and fowls! There was some other food, too. There was some cucumber soup, a baked potato, and I vaguely remember there being salad on the table, but it was largely ignored. When our flag finally went down, we were served some delectable desserts, but even those memories have faded in the light of the extraordinary carnage we beheld.

When we had finished our meal, we were approached by a server bearing a tray that hearkened back to cigarette peddlers of the 1920s. He was serving cocktails of Smirnoff, honey, and lime from a tray labeled "Dawa" in bold white letters. Fr. Kamanzi informed us that "Dawa" means "medicine" in kiswahili. Dave and I dutifully partook.

Of course, all of this decadence was tainted by the memories of what we had seen in Ongata Rongai and other places during the week. As I swallowed a succulent and savory bite of sausage, I couldn't help but remember the children at the center in Quarry who only get some porridge and a bit of lunch each day, or Margaret at St. Paul's, who never knows where the money will come from the feed the 58 children who live there. The system is complicated and complex, but ultimately unbalanced and unjust.

*Yes, I said "offered", for we did not partake in everything that came our way. I drew the line at chicken livers and decline the turkey, since I already knew I didn't like it. Other than that, I strictly adhered to the "always try a little bit of everything" philosophy of eating. Including the Ox balls.

Back and Ready for Action

Hello hello!

Sorry for the brief hiatus in posting. Dave and I traveled (and ate and drank) around Europe like crazy people for the rest of last week, and by the time I got home, I had a whole heckuva lot to process.

But I am back home and still have so much to share about this trip! As promised way back on day one, I journaled like a crazy person the entire time I was traveling, plus I took 1,764 pictures, so everything that I experienced has been quite well documented (at least I hope so!).

So! I will resume blogging, focusing mostly on Africa and our time with the Apostles of Jesus, and then tossing you a couple of juicy bits about Europe.

And just as a word of thanks, I have been touched and humbled by the number of people who have been following this journey. I'll try to keep it riveting for you all!

Out of Africa

Hello friends!

Dave and I are no longer in Africa. I wish I could give you a really stellar update, but I am under time restraints here at the hostel in Brussels. I have a lot more to share about Africa, so the plan is to continue to update even after the trip is complete.

Can't believe we left home three weeks ago tomorrow! It's been amazing!

But my heart is still at Mazzoldi House in Kenya.

Maasai-land

There are many tribes that have traditionally lived in East Africa. Mazzoldi House in Kenya is in Kikewyu land, and the place where we stayed in Tanzania is traditionally Merian Land (I think- I'll have to verify). But the tribe who has had the most expansive territory and who has clung most successfully to their traditional way of life is the Maasais.

It's hard to explain what the Maasai people represent to Africans; they are almost hailed as the mascots of East Africa. While most of the tribes still exist in regards to family structure and geographical location, they have largely embraced modern life. The best analogy I can think of is the Amish in Central Pennsylvania/Ohio. Even the people who see them everyday still marvel when they see a horse-drawn buggy. Fr. Kamanzi comments every time we see a traditionally-clad Maasai boy driving a herd of cattle across a dusty plain.

The Maasai live in Bomas, that is, enclosed clusters of huts made from wood, mud, and cow dung. They practice polygamy (we passed one Boma of a man who has 50 wives!) and observe ancient circumcision rituals, for both boys and girls. This is a major point of contention with the modern world, as female circumsision, or "Female Genital Mutilation" as it is officially called, has been illegalized in both Kenya and Tanzania.

It is beautiful, seeing the Maasai people in villages, swathed in their red-plaid cloths, their long earlobes heavy with beaded jewelry. Every souvenir shop seems to have an exhaustive supply of Maasai necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, spears, shields, shoes, blankets, figurines... They are a graceful and proud people, and the deservedly the pride of East Africa.

Tanzan-imals!

I'm alive! I've been in Tanzania since Monday and have only gotten to an internet cafe this morning. What a fantastic country! We are staying in Tengeru, right outside of Arusha, in the shadow of Mt. Meru. Oh! How I love mountains! Sometimes I'll forget it's there, and the clouds will suddenly lift, and there it will be, grand and stately. The other day we were driving on the Moshi-Nairobi Road, and suddenly we saw Kilimanjaro peaking out behind Mt. Meru. It was probably 80 kilometers away, but it was awesome awesome awesome.

But that's not the story I want to tell toay.

Yesterday, Dave, Fr. Kamanzi, Fr. Godfrey (aka- My Man Godfrey), and I went to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. (I have very limited time right now, otherwise I would link to it. You should google it because it is pretty fantastic). Basically, this crater formed from a collapsed volcano many millenia ago and, over the years, the various fauna of Tanzania found its way in and never bothered to find its way out. The crater is a huge, lush valley with every kind of terrain, from lakes to swamps to forests (think: The Great Valley from Land Before Time). We circled the entire crater in our (totally bad ass, semi-convertible, ideal-for-a-zombie-apocalypse) jeep, and then descended into the crater, switch-backing down an impossibly steep slope. We were immediately greeted by a herd of Zebras (which, for the record, are donkeys with stripes). As we drove through the crater, we saw everything! Full grown bull elephants eating in the woods; a lioness stretched out, resting next to a recently killed buffalo, and a hungry hyena circling in the distance; an enormous herd of wildebeests, milling around and grazing; a pile of hippos lazing by a lake; a group of young male lions lounging carelessly by the road (literally inches from our car!); zebras, zebras, and more zebras! It was such an incredible experience, to be so close to these creatures in their natural habitat. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't at a zoo!

I can't wait til I'm home and can post some pictures!