Saturday, October 29, 2011

Routine and Neighbors

October 29, 2011

Wow I can’t believe it is the end of October already. Maybe because it is like summer here and not fall. We are entering spring so the trees are starting to get buds on them.

We have had 6 weeks of language learning. It is nice to be able to go into town and do our shopping in Swahili as well here and understand words from other conversations. I thought I would share what our daily routine is for us.
Dining Hall

We don’t cook any meals so we go to the dining hall for every meal. We go to breakfast around 7:30. We have the options of oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, and beans. We were starting to get tired of these options so we bought corn flakes. They were some of the best corn flakes we ever had. Not because they were extra good but because we were missing cereal. Who would have thought we would miss cereal.

Our school banda
Swahili class starts at 8:30 and the kids start school. We have a half hour break at 10:30 for Chia, tea and a snack. We have another break at 12:30 for half an hour and then we end at 1:30 and eat lunch right away. The afternoons are spent taking showers, playing with the kids and doing homework. Supper is at 6:30. We usually watch part of a movie with the kids or 1-2 episodes of the Cosby Show.

The food is mostly American types of food. We have lots of rice, mashed potatoes, chicken, beef, veggies and fruit. The veggies are fruit are so fresh and good.

Tenting on top of the truck

 
It is fun to be in the cabin we are because we get to see lots of campers. There are a lot of people that stop here for a night or two as they are traveling across Africa or Tanzania. It has been fun to see their camping gear. They usual camp in the open grassy area beside our cabin. The coolest is the tent on top of the truck. There seem to be companies that rent out these trucks. Some of the trucks are all compartments; in the back with all the tools you need for camping like a fold down gas stove, sealed containers to store stuff. The containers are heavy duty and seal real well because it is so dusty and dust gets into everything.
 
Bikers that were biking from Germany to S. Africa

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Crashing a Wedding - well sort of

Sat. Oct 15
Saturday afternoon we were sitting on the porch of our banda when we heard lots of cars and people. Laura peeked around the corner and realized it was a wedding. We got very excited and curious. We wanted to watch but wasn’t sure we should. Keith grabbed the camera and went around to see what was going on. After he left one of the camp workers came to apologize for the noise and commotion. He told us we were welcome to go watch and take pictures. Laura and I looked at each other and weren’t sure we should because we were dressed in sweats and
t-shirts. So we decided there wasn’t time to change we needed to go check it out. As we rounded the corner of the banda we saw Keith getting his picture taking with several men that were talking to him.



As Laura and I walked up they turned their attention to us and wanted their picture taken with us! The first guy stood between us for the picture. When the next guy came up and stood between us he put his arms around us so we did the same to him. Very quickly the other two gentlemen join the picture.




All 3 guys jumping in for the picture.
Once the photo session was over, Laura and I stood behind our truck to watch the bride and groom get pictures taken of them. Nikki came and stood on the running board of the truck so she could see. The next thing we knew one of the guys that took pictures with us, picked Nikki up and held her for a picture. Hopefully the bride and groom didn’t know we were there. But the guests sure had fun waving at us and getting their picture taken with us.

We have gotten used to all the little kids wanting to wave at us as we go by but were not expecting all this attention. The wedding party had stopped in to take pictures and then went on to the reception. They were only here for about a half hour but it was a crazy and fun half hour.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Safari Trip


Wow what an amazing weekend. We left Rivervalley Campsite around 9 am on Saturday for Ruaha National park. We stopped at a museum on the way that showcased a local warrior that fought against the Germans in the 1800’s. They even allowed us to hold the shields and spears and sit on the seats that were used when people became chiefs. It was strange being able to touch the exhibits.

We got to the park mid-afternoon. It took around two and a half hours to get there. It was very warm and sunny. We saw elephants and Giraffes on the way into the park. Once inside the park we saw lots of impala, zebra, elephants and 6 lions lying under bushes. My favorite was when we were taking pictures of 6 lions lying under a bush. Keith and Laura were standing up taking pictures through the sun roofs and Luke had his window rolled down taking pictures. All of a sudden Luke turns around to me and says “I think it wants us to leave”. One of the lions just did a low growl. We were about 10 – 15 feet away from them. We did move on shortly after that! J

We also got to see elephants really close to us as well. We saw an elephant right beside the road eating branches from a tree. Soon there were others coming up. We were able to watch them walk across the road in front of us.
The lion growling at us

Later in the day we watched about 30 elephants eating and walking around. A family of elephants started crossing the road in front of us when an elephant on the other side got upset and chased them back. They walked passed us and crossed the road behind our truck.

On Sunday we were able to see a lion eating a giraffe that was killed the day before. As we watched another lion approached. We were prepared to see a fight but once the lion eating saw who was approaching he allowed her to eat with him. She must have been ‘family’. J

One of the last things we did on Sunday before leaving the park was stopping by a dry riverbed. There was a cluster of trees with park benches. We were able to get out and stretch our legs. We could sit on the benches and see giraffes on one side and elephants on the other. It was amazing and strange to be sitting on park benches watching these wild animals.
Luke and Nikki at the base of a baobab tree.

One of the funniest things we saw was the warthogs. They look soo funny as they are running away from you.


 Nikki wished we could have seen cheetahs but loved seeing the animals. Luke loved seeing 25 lions. Laura loved seeing all the zebras, especially some baby zebras (her favorite animal). Chris loved the giraffes and elephants. Keith had fun taking lots of video and pictures of all the animals.

We saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, storks, pied kingfisher birds, guineas , water buffalo, impalas, jackals, dik diks (very small deer), baboons, monkeys, and many kinds birds.

Oh I almost forgot, while traveling to and from the park we had to slow down for cows crossing the road. Oh and the funny thing was we also saw chickens crossing the road.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Update and Saturday morning fun!

 
We have been at language school now for 2 weeks. We have learned a lot but have a lot yet to learn. We are now able to go to town and shop using only Swahili. That was a good feeling. The kids are doing well with school and are now into the swing of it. Having school with Laura is no longer fun, the novelty has worn off. This past week the kids and Laura had 2 hours of Swahili lessons each day. Nikki could say things correctly the first day when it took Keith and I 2-3 days to say it correctly. Oh to be a kid. I think the close quarters is starting to wear on everyone adn we are also together most of the day. The kids seem to be getting irrated with each other a little quicker today.

Yesterday morning we walked with the rest of the group to a zipline that goes over the river. The kids loved it, and even Laura liked it.
The weather is still the same. Cool mornings and evening, windy and sunny. We are looking forward to the safari trip we are taking next weekend. We leave Riverside Campsite (where we are staying) on Saturday morning and will return Sunday evening. We will be staying in Bandhas (cabins) inside the park. There was a group that went a couple weeks ago and they saw lots of animals. So we are hoping for that as well. We will drive through the park Saturday early evening and Sunday morning, which is when the animals are most active so we are excited about that. We will not be driving but will have a guide driving the vehicle.
Watch for pictures!