http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/egipsey/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from egipsey en-us Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:51:28 +0000 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:51:28 +0000 Refugee camps that Irsquove been to donrsquot look like your Sally Struthersrsquo camps from TV. Irsquove never seen anyone starving and kids donrsquot sit in the dirt with flies all over their faces. They are dire places for obvious reasons hot dusty and above all crowded. People arrive on foot from bordering wartorn countries and are provided with just enough to survive food an http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-162911.html D http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/blog-125219.html The event was called A Village Christmas and in our determination to get into the holiday spirit despite the African heat my friend Jocelyn and I decided we would go where no white man has ever gone before downtown Nairobi after dark.Memorial park named for the 1998 Hilton bombing did not disappoint. The tasteful holiday decorations and free white coffee local favorite powdered cof http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/Nairobi/blog-111855.html This is my last entry from Banda Aceh Indonesia. I am at totally different extremes emotionally so happy to be starting a new position in East Africa...so sad to be leaving my friends here in Aceh. My heart is getting a workout these days. I haven't had time to reflect back on my time here this year...but I wanted to jot down some thoughts on things Irsquove learned about myself before hea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-96861.html If you come all the way to Banda and you should if you come to Sumatra don't just head directly to Sabang. See the major sites Grande Mosque beaches Pasar Atjeh etc.. but click on the photo's below to get information on other things to see and do in and around Banda. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-94974.html 4.25am I open my eyes stunned that I can have energy at this time of the morning. Geni my roommate is already in the kitchen eating her preprepared breakfast of rice and fried chicken. I am still full from the night before but I eat my usual yogurt oatmeal and fruit. We down a few glasses of water and soon the horn from the mosques start to sound the fast for the day has begun. She go http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-91640.html I spent the last week running a computer training workshop for staff in our Calang field office. I love this part of my job training our employees so they can do a better job of strengthening the communities. I got to attend one of our community PRA participatory rural appraisal sessions where fellow colleagues walked a community through identifying their most pressing needs and prioritizing http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/blog-82098.html It was 11am when my flight landed but it might as well have been night. The sky was dark the weather damp. And the humidity hung over the city the way smoke does in a bar just before closing. But that didnrsquot matter. It wouldnrsquot have mattered if the sewers had backedup and varmints had finally taken over. I loved this dirty town. I had taken a 2week vacation from my assignmen http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-70067.html It has been a stellar month for inventions here in Banda Aceh. It just goes to show that necessity promotes progress...and with that I present to you the top three most remarkable new inventions patents pending that will no doubt benefit thousands of people in Banda Aceh not to mention the inventor herself1. Hot Water this amazing improvement on plain old water will allow people to have http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-34183.html Head Shersquos making us all look ridiculous running around like a little schoolgirl telling everyone ldquomy boyfriend is coming for a visit this weekrdquo Heart Speak for yourself. I think itrsquos wonderful to see her so excited. Crsquomon itrsquos been 6 months since they last saw each other and Irsquove jammed her pack full of emotionshellipIrsquove been looking for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-48459.html Although my Dad would surely disagree I don't consider myself an idealist. I came to Banda Aceh because I felt my skills would be useful and I would get workpersonal experience that I couldn't get back in New York. I wanted to be in a motivating environment and part of something extraordinary and unique the rebuilding of a region after the greatest natural disaster in present history. The r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-46221.html The Mighty Mekong River one of the largest rivers in the world snakes it way through South Vietnam in the form of nine tributaries known as the Nine Dragons. Dena and I signed up for a 3day tour which would bring us from Saigon by bus 3 hours to the first big industrious city in the Delta. From there it was all boats of one kind or another getting into smaller and smaller channels until http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/blog-44193.html So good to be with my girls So much to catch up on Marriages crosscountry moves fertility boyfriends jobs spirituality Iraq...why does everything exciting happen after I leave the country We chitchat walk ride bikes and eat. Everything is so effortless with good friends and the trip is instantly an adventure. Of course we didn't always have the same idea of adventure and due t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-44092.html I'm on my first vacation since coming overseas and I've decided to spend it in Vietnam. Being American I've always been curious about this country...hell I feel like I know exactly what it looks like rice paddy fields flanked by overgrown palm trees slow winding rivers and peasant with those coneshaped hats. So you can imagine my surprise when I landed in Hanoi a bustling city teeming wi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-42528.html I need to followup on my last blog entry about the dance performance. It would be easy to say that it was a huge success. The pics look great and it even aired on local TV news. As a result the dancers were invited to perform in Quebec and the govt. has offered to expedite the passports. Sounds great Yes it is great. But blogs are funny things...you all wouldn't know any different if I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-42204.html Last night was such an amazing night for me that it will be a little hard to explain. Suffice to say I played a small part in inspiring a big event. I don't have much time to write because I leave for Vietnam in 2 hours and have to pack meeting friends Deb and Dena there for a little RR so I'll just writeup what I said last night to kick off the event.Sanggar Cut Nyak Dhien is a traditiona http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-41951.html ldquoWhere are you fromrdquo ldquoHow old are yourdquo ldquoAre you marriedrdquoThat is the exact order of questions when you meet an Acehnese person. The last question is the only one I have a slight problem with. Itrsquos not asked in a sleezy pickup kind of way just part of normal conversation. They probably assume most people my age 33 would answer ldquoYes I am married http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-39942.html I've been feeling the distance lately. Not only am I twelve time zones apart from home I am apparently living in a black hole. The phone network has become unbelievably more unreliable lately so much so that my work has installed CB radios in all our houses and cars for emergencies. In addition as I discovered when trying to book a flight to Vietnam it takes two days to get anywhere from http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-36388.html Yesterday I went to one of our rebuilding livelihoods projects to get a haircut. Before the tsunami the hairdresser Agus ran a busy hairdressing salon out of her home. When she lost her home she also lost her husband son parents and way of life. Now she is living in temporary shelter barracks and has just begun to cut hair again using a chair in a friend's salon. The organization I w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-35223.html So many have asked Erica what exactly is your job Ah good question. As you probably know I work for an International NGO NonGovernment Organization. My job title is Admin Systems Training Advisor and it actually describes quite well what I do but to most people it sounds complicated so I often say Operations. You see you can kind of break NGO work into two sectors 1. OPERATI http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sumatra/Banda-Aceh/blog-33263.html