http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/TrentGrad/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from TrentGrad en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:53:01 UTC Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:53:01 UTC Jambo Today was probably one of the most memorable days of our welcoming to Kenya and in particular to Emori Joi the school where would be teaching and working for the next three weeks. In preparation we had a two hour swahili lesson with our resident expert and Kenyan facilitator Santai.Kiswahili was introduced in Kenya so that people could have a common language. It is a combination of arab http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/blog-316564.html August 5th 2008Jambo Today we left Rosslyn and headed south from Nairobi toward the Great Rift Valley Narok and the Masai Mara. The paved busy roads of Nairobi soon became dirt roads. Everyone we passed on the side of the road souted out greetings of Jambo Some of the Maasai people we passed were in traditional dress with beautiful clothes and blankets as well as beaded jewellery and others we http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/Rift-Valley-Province/Masai-Mara-NP/blog-316103.html Jambo everyone. I am now home safe and sound from my incredible adventures in Kenya. I do however want to share my thoughts on my experiences so I am going to post my blog now because I did not have access to a computer while I was away. So these are my journalled thoughts... hope you will get a sense of how important and life changing this experience has been for me.love you allAugust 34 2008Ja http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-316023.html Jambo habari gani mzuri sana greetings from Nairobi. We travelled back here today from the Masai mara after 3 incredible weeks at Emori Joi. I have so many stories to tell and photos to share. Yesterday I climbed a volcano and walked around its crater at an altitude of 8100 ft. An incredible journey that I am very proud of We met some incredible rafikis who we will never ever forget We are s http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/blog-314972.html Jambo everyoneHabari gana Mzuriwe are fineWe finally arrived safely in Nairobi Kenya this morning after our two long flights from Toronto to London a 9 hour stopover in Heathrow and then 8.5 hours of flying on Kenyan Airways. The Air Canada flight was adequate but the Kenyan Airways flight was excellent. Very professional and kind staff good food and lots of great leg room. We are a grou http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-308233.html Jambo everyone Well the time has come for me to pack my bags one last time in this amazing year of travelling and head to the Masai Mara in Kenya. I will be going on a 3 week service trip with students teachers and a couple of parents to live in the Emroi Joi community help build a school house teach as part of a summer education camp and spend some time with the mamas children and community http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Kenya/Rift-Valley-Province/Masai-Mara-NP/blog-306986.html Guten Tag everyone from East Berlin where I am staying for the next 3 days.I arrived this afternoon from Budapest. Turns out there was an accident on the railway so I had to take a cab instead... so it goes... I made it on time. Met a couple from Washington State and we shared stories of our travels to pass the time. They were very helpful in helping me to navigate the rail system from Schoenfeld http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-285543.html J napot from Budapest HungaryWe arrived here yesterday morning after a 3 hour bus ride from Bratislava Slovakia. It is a beautiful ride through the countryside though most of us on our minibus were catching up on our sleep. Most of our time in Bratislava it was overcast and rainy but we did manage to get a chance to walk around the town as I described in the last blog. But to be clear the Co http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Hungary/Budapest/blog-285167.html Hi everyone Nosdrove is what you should say as Cheers in Slovakia but my friend Kathy always says Nice driving eh because she can't pronounce it... This is some of the fun we are having after being together on the tour for the past week and a half. We arrived here in Bratislava today in southern Slovakia after taking 3 trains one of which was a very local train that was standing room only. W http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Slovakia/Bratislava/blog-284483.html Dobry Den everyone. We are now in Slovakia in the High Tatras. We got here last night and have been enjoying the views of the peaks above us. We have been enjoying local slovak foods including pasta with nuts pierogis and something called the Robbers Purse. Today we took a cable car to the peak. We were up about 2634m. Beautiful views above the clouds and we even had a cup of tea at the peak. Too http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Slovakia/High-Tatras/Tatranska-Lomnica/blog-284077.html Hey everyone I just wanted to share a brief blog about Krakow. We arrived here last night after a very emotional trip to Auschwitz. This morning however my friends and I went on a tour about communism in Krakow. We rode about town in a russian Trabant and visited the amazingly interesting Nowa Huta community that was created during communism near the steel plant. We had a great tour guide as we http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-283330.html Djen dobre everyone I will preface this blog by saying first of all that I cannot fully describe how I felt at Auschwitz and if you don't want to read my comments on this blog I totally understand but as a teacher I still feel that it is important to share what I experienced here.1.5 million people died 3 million shoes of all sizes pots pans tons of hair baby clothes suitcases bearing the http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Poland/blog-283328.html Dobry Den everyone from PragueI have been here for three days now and it has been a great experience. The weather has been beautiful and we have been having our fair share of goulash and schnitzel as well as taking in the views from the St. Charles Bridge the Hradcany Castle and of course the beauty of all the cobble stone streets and plazas here. When we arrived here on Thursday we got a great http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Czech-Republic/North/Prague/blog-282207.html Dobriden everyone from Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. With its cobble stone streets little shops and of course a beautiful 13th century castle with frescoes and a river that runs all through town I am living a fairy tale existence.We arrived here in Cesky Krumlov yesterday afternoon after having taken 2 trams 3 trains and a bus from Vienna. We took an Austrian train to Grum No to the borde http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Czech-Republic/South/Cesky-Krumlov/blog-281121.html Guten Tag Just a quick message to say that I have met my tour group and they are great. Mostly from Western Canada and the US and a couple from Australia. My roommate is from Alberta her name is Jacklyn. Last night we had a great night over dinner at a brewery and I had a little bit of local beer. Tasted good. This morning we got a guided tour which was great. I have definitelz seen a lot but no http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-280392.html Guten Morgen I hope all of you are doing well. I am trying to escape some of the rain this morning and not sure when I will get a chance to update next as I am meeting my group this afternoon. Yesterday went to have lunch in the Naschmarkt downtown and had a bratwurst sausage with salads. I know how Gladys loves the food descriptions. It was your typical austrian dish with beet salad coleslaw a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-279929.html Guten Tag from Vienna I have just spent my second full day here and thought I would just send a little update to let you know that I have arrived and that things are going fine. I am quickly realizing how it might have been a good idea to have learned some German but I am getting by. The people at the hostel seem nice but as most of them are travelling with others i have not really met any one. http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-279452.html Guten TagHope you are all doing well. After being home for 4 months and doing a lifechanging volunteer position as a teacher outreach coordinator at Free the Children in Toronto I am heading off on my next adventure to Eastern Europe. I have never been in this part of Europe before and I don't really speak any of the languages in the countries where I will be travelling to. I will be doing a to http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-278524.html Enjoy these photos http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Netherlands-Antilles/Cura-ao/blog-245538.html Hello everyone I have actually been home for almost a week now but I thought I would tell you briefly about my final days in Curacao. I have to admit getting used to the incredible mounds of snow back here in Toronto after enjoying the sunshine in Curacaohowever I have had the best time this week celebrating my 30th birthdaymany of you in town came to my party hat party on Saturday and it was g http://www.travelblog.org//Central-America-Caribbean/Netherlands-Antilles/Cura-ao/blog-245349.html