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by Mad-Greek, order by Date newest first.

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Steve is a twenty-something Kenyan acrobat, a Rastafarian world-traveller with a wife and 7-month old baby. Just off the highway between Mombasa and Malindi, in the growing sub-urban settlement of Shanzu, Steve has set-up an amazing home-made gym. We met each other in my first week in Kenya, and we really saw eye to eye on this whole fitness thing. Since then we've been training, teaching, and learning from one another. Saturday was my last chance to workout there, so I figured I'd take some pictures and tell you all the story. The Quest for Fitness I've been a fitness nut [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
956 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 19 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 11th 2007 | 2249 Views | [diary=136984]

Narrow bench
Lazy me, I even struggle with pullups these days
This rooster just wants to get burly

By Mad Greek
March 7th 2007

3/7/2007

 Africa » Kenya » Coast Province » Mombasa
Go past the alleyway filled with metalsmiths; their hand-tools clinking like a percussionist orchestra, wall-less bays of them sprawl out on either side. Follow deep into where the wooden shelters and workshops turn into mud huts and homes. Get into the dark part, where the ground is black from waste-water and the shadows of the taller buildings cover the street. You start to smell the aura of open-air latrines and unwashed drunks. I'm standing there, shouting about language with a drunken dwarf (we don't share one). The place is strange and textural and, as I look around, I think it's ju [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1928 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 8th 2007 | 320 Views | [diary=135908]

Me and Ali
My Angel
Not Terror or Error

Sometimes it seems like we're living in a fairy tale--or at least on a lovely, long vacation. Then the pendulum of reality comes swinging back and knocks us off our unicorns... K-1 Fiance Visas Dealing with the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was a nightmare. A NIGHTMARE. Truly some of the most painful, frustrating shit I've ever had to go through. On our last trip there, I caught a really bad head-cold and even had to leave the house in the early-morning chill with snot dripping from my nose, aching ears, and nothing but a thin shirt from India to cover me. [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1829 Words | 9 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 8th 2007 | 361 Views | [diary=135272]

Feeling Stressed
Out with a cold in Nairobi
See that smile?  That

Today is Chelly's 24th birthday, and it also marks the end of our first full month in Kenya. It's hard to believe that we arrived all the way back on January 24th, with a little money in our pockets and a lot of hope. The place looked beautiful then, but a little scary for me. Now I feel like I've been here forever--and the family is really helping me to belong--but most of our hopes have been dashed and we're dead broke. It's still beautiful here, and the future's still scary. Birthdays I suppose that everyone on Earth will someday have [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
2722 Words | 14 Comment(s) | 62 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 24th 2007 | 695 Views | [diary=132366]

The Taita homeland, seen from Zighe
A view past the house in Mshomoroni
His and Hers engagement rings

We have a friend here named Steve, who is a Rastafarian acrobat with a home-made gym in his backyard. Steve has been friends with Chelly for years and for a while they were both working at zoos in Thailand. I only met the guy a couple weeks ago, but we really have a lot of similar passions and beliefs, so I'm sure he'll be a friend for life. After working-out at his gym last night, I started thinking quite a bit about some other friends-for-life, about two of my best friends back home: Ole Johnson and Neil Devlin. I was riding [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1346 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 3 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 16th 2007 | 259 Views | [diary=129673]

She knows you: when you
Outside that door is the rest of your life

Wow. I have a birthday this month, so does Chelly. After weeks of scraping by on borrowed money, chasing after visa info on slow computers and crackling phone lines, banging heads with awful embassy personnel, and riding busted buses on broken roads, we might actually get to enjoy them stress-free. It has really been fantastic, though--most of the time. We've balanced the unparrallelled headache of of the visa process with lots of quality family-and-friends time. Chelly has relatives scattered all across the Coast Province. We have a room at Dad's house in Mombasa's Mshomoroni ne [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
314 Words | 4 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: February 9th 2007 | 351 Views | [diary=127250]

Chelly with Mom and Dad
Me with Mom and Dad
Me and teh Somali Refugee Swim Team

By Mad Greek
January 23rd 2007

India Was Great!

 Asia » India » Rajasthan » Jodhpur
I've now spent more time outside of India than I spent in the place. The thing about that is I still remember all the places and characters and major events, but I've forgot most of the details and especially all those little emotions. Anyway, I can still write about it. Looking back, I can even say conclusively that India is the perfect place for someone in search of that shocking cultural immersion and diversity of experiences that I was after when I went to Thailand. I guess that's a tip for other travellers like me--and an indication that I'll have to [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
689 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 37 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 12th 2007 | 206 Views | [diary=119567]

The Sun Temple at Konark
Fields and Paddies along the sides of the track
The Gateway of India

By Mad Greek
January 22nd 2007

House of Cards

 Asia » India » Maharashtra » Mumbai
Chelly and I are still adventuring, and doing alright. I know it's been a long time since you've had an update from us, but don't worry. I can assure you that even though we are in a big mess, we will survive it and be happy to tell the tale. I called this post "House of Cards" because our plans have totally collapsed around us. Oh well, you know what they say about Mice and Men. Sad thing is, our plans weren't even well-laid. Actually, a house of cards is a totally innacurate analogy, it would be better to say, "House [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
567 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 4 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 22nd 2007 | 455 Views | [diary=121621]

Chelly looks out at all the boats that wouldn
I
All this confusion is making me sleepy

By Mad Greek
January 16th 2007

Hoover Ball at Rangers

 Asia » India » Orissa » Puri
Rangers We left Calcutta in the back of a madman's tour-bus. It was cold, it was night, it was the impoverished upper-east corner of India. We didn't expect it, but we got it: ten hours of the worst discomfort either Chelly or I had ever imagined. The road was barley-paved and full of holes. Our driver bombed across pits and jumped the speed-bumps, weaving between both lanes of traffic and tearing off blindly to pass. I swear the bus got up on two wheels every time we took a corner. At the end of it, we were sore and tired and [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1118 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 12 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: March 11th 2007 | 185 Views | [diary=119568]

Ah!  It
Hooverball, before play
Sanjay loses another point to the unstoppable Nic-ness

It's a good thing we started our Indian Immersion in Kolkata. 1. Kolkata is simply the craziest thing I have ever seen. A family friend, upon hearing that I was flying to this city, said that I was in for a heavy dose of humanity. He was dead-on. Kolkata is people--people everywhere jostling and shouting, and sounding like they're shouting even when they aren't because most of the city is at least partially deaf from all the noise (fact). The smells are impossible to ignore: underneath the waves of spice, incense, and perfume are strong currents of human feces and urine [View Full Entry]

Mad Greek - Nicholas John Nakis | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
643 Words | 6 Comment(s) | 25 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: January 17th 2007 | 418 Views | [diary=119579]

Icons on the walls
Street Cricket 1
So, this is India?



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