TIA stands for This Is Africa. I first heard the term used in S. Africa. Since that time I’ve used and heard it used many times. When I hear it used by westerners or travelers it doesn’t bother me. It is usually used as a way to remind ourselves that we aren’t home. Western rules don’t apply. However, I have heard it used by locals at times. This generally bothered me and would sometimes cause me to go off on said person. To here it from a local it always came across to me as a way of making excuses when [View Full Entry]

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Well my time of traveling Ethiopia has finished. It has been a really amazing 3 weeks with lots seen and done. I spent my entire time in the north, in the Ethiopian Highlands. This is a very mountainous area, similar to Lesotho (I know that doesn’t help). The people even where blankets like in Lesotho. I found this very reassuring for some reason. It has an average altitude of above 2000 meters. Simien Mountains The plan for the Simiens was an eight day trek starting and ending in Debark and making it to the top of Ras Dashen, the highest peak [View Full Entry]

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Well I've been in Ethiopia for just over a week or so. I have yet to leave Addis Abba... but we will get to that story later. I have to say I like what I've seen in Ethiopia so far. It is so laid back it seems. I had heard that is was really in your face and such. But I don't recall anyone yelling "faranji" (Ethiopian equivalent of Muzungo) to me yet. People just seem to mostly let me go about my business, maybe I just look... who knows. And hardly any traffic, and the traffic stops for people in [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday was the start of my journey home. I had a flight on Tuesday morning to London where I planned to spend a few days visiting some friends before heading on home. I have to comment on this flight because I got to fly first class. It turns out that the pilot happened to be sponsoring some children at Ray of Hope where I worked in Kampala. We had met several times. He was able to use some clout and get me bumped up to first class. It was pretty nice. The best part was that the seats reclined almost all [View Full Entry]

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What is it Lassie? You say, Timmy is in the well? No, you say we are all in the well? Oh my, thank you Lassie Cat, you saved us. Ok, that isn't really how it happened. I was awakened 4:30AM by the sound of wailing cat. This was the 2nd time that it had gotten into my room tonight. The first time I figured it just ran in when my roommate came in, this time I was sure it jumped in the window. But now I had to get up to get it out. As I stood up, I noticed that [View Full Entry]

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One of the last things JR (The son of the lady I rented from) said to me as I was backing was, "All this time in Africa and you never caught the African fever. You are lucky...." So.... I want to apologize that my last blog was slightly arrogant and gloating about Zanzibar. I was cruelly reminded this week that those are good qualities. Yes, Life up and Smacked me down mightly. It decided that I needed Africa Fever... yes I got Malaria. I am all better now and safely in Zanzibar so it is alright. My response to JR was [View Full Entry]

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Well I have about 24 hours left in Uganda. I'm excited to be going, especially since in like 48 hours I will be on Zanzibar island. Forget it, if you don't know it. If you do know it, I know you are jealous. Oh but don't be too jealous. I do have 30 hours on a bus first... but it is a nice bus, so I hear. As far as leaving Uganda. It feels good and strange. The teachers are having a going away party for me this evening. That will be nice. Actually I spent the better part of last [View Full Entry]

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That was a piece of advice I once received for betting at Dog races. My method for betting the dogs has always been to bet on the dog with the cutest handler. In any case neither method works for betting on GOATS. Yes, I said Goats. I recently found myself at the Ascot Goat Races. This is THE Muzungo event of the year in Kampala. Everyone turns out. Oh yeah, since it is Ascot Goat Races off of the English Ascot Horse Race, Hats are a big deal. I was going to this event with Hennie and Anne from Red Chili. [View Full Entry]

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The bartender says "I'm sorry, we don't serve food here?" (that was just for you Brown) Sorry I don't have any good jokes for that line. I can tell you that "These hips do lie." Everyone will vouch that I can't dance and if I never hear Chakira again, it will be too son. I also had an interesting conversation with the Ethiopian. He was telling me about their Millenium coming up on Sept 11. Anyway he made the comment that Ethiopian was younger than the rest of the world (jokingly). To which I asked him... "That is strange. Isn't it [View Full Entry]

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Well, I'm sure you all think I've just been busy typing away to my little hearts content. But you are wrong. Today I came to the internet to tell you all about my good times on the White Nile.... but, what I found was that travelblog's server had crashed and they had lost the last 3 months of my blogs. I seem to have managed to recover them, thanks to help from travelblog. Some of the most recent ones are missing their in-blog pictures. The links to the pictures that used to be on Yahoo are all broken, but that is [View Full Entry]

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