http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa en-us Sun, 08 Nov 09 14:52:08 +0000 Sun, 08 Nov 09 14:52:08 +0000 Only an hour or so after Irsquod arrived I was scribbling delightedly in my diary ldquoOh I love Bujumburardquo Mind you as I rapidly admitted to myself it doesnrsquot take much. Irsquod found myself in the most charming centrallylocated and funky hotel the Saga Residence with an imaginativelydesigned semisunken room you descend a couple of steps from the far end of the li http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-451686.html My mom has informed me that my blog entries are overly negative or always end on a bad note so I've resolved that this one will be only good...which is easy because I can't think of anything bad that has happened in the last week. In Kampala I stayed with a young Rwandan man who grew up in Uganda and had strangely worked on the film crew of Last King of Scotland and so had pictures with all the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-451684.html Hello people hope everyone is well So two months have passed again. Dar is now hot hot hot itrsquos pretty unbearable even for someone who loves the heat because it is so humid. Even the 10 minute walk from the house to the office leaves me drenched taking a shower or rather bucket bath almost seems a pointless activity because within 2 minutes you feel dirty again. On the plus side ha http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-451654.html This past Friday we put together a girl's football match between the preform girls the class I teach the most and the form 1 girls. Well what a showdown it was. The competitive side of me came out in full force although I know absolutely nothing about coaching soccer but unfortunately the preform girls lost in a sudden death shootout. It was overwhelming to see how the girls responded to the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/blog-451593.html Hello allJust got an email from Helen Holly Hoff this morning instructing me to write more often for you ... so strap on the safety harness cause here we go.Quick note I was up until 130 in the morning last night going through wedding photos so I may or may not make much sense ... and go on irrevelant tangents ... or just pass in and out of consciousness. I guess I should be the one getting the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Mpumalanga-/blog-451556.html This is not an entry about how Morocco changed my life. Just to get that out of the way. Though it was awesome.Itrsquos more of an entry about real culture versus perceived notions of culture tourism and the vastness of the desert all in the context of my experience in Morocco. Not blatantly but yoursquoll probably catch it. Because the sentiment I felt above all others these past few days http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/blog-451479.html The middle of October 2009 brought the end of my first term of this school year 2 teacherinservice days and Denia My sister came to visit me for a quick but wonderful 10 days during my week off from school and together we terrorized read photographed and sang to the Northern circuit National Parks of Tanzania. Denia arrived on a Thursday evening and we had a quiet night in together http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Serengeti-National-Park/blog-451431.html So here is the news though I guess most of you know this by now Sara is pregnant and going to have a baby We are both delighted as we were led to believe it was not medically possible.For many years we had hauled ourselves through the NHS infertility system not much fun lovely nurses less lovely consultants without success.After years of poking prodding samples scans http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Benishangul-Gumuz-Region/Asosa/blog-451360.html Who would have thought there could be so much to write about and we haven't even arrived yetAm writing this sitting in the bar at Nairobi airport all flights onwards are either cancelled or delayed so we are 3 hours into a 6 hour wait for our flight to Kigali. The good news is that we have caught up with the advance party Scott aka Ding Dong Jeremy nickname as yet undecided watch this http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/blog-451325.html I leave today on my adventure to Ghana. Cant wait to get there http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/Greater-Accra/Accra/blog-451322.html Ok so I know Ugandans are polite. So much so that I usually feel like a badly dressed potato around them. But the amount of messages I got after arriving me to Kabale asking if I was alright seemed kind of extreme even for Ugandan standards. But then my colleague Paul told that people weren't just polite they were asking quite literally if I had survived the trip. Looking at Ugandan road stat http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Western-Region/Kabale/blog-451126.html Actually it should be the week with all the party meaning last week.Now I know I'm not the biggest party animal in the world there are people going out a lot more and longer than I do especially with a little help from their chemical friends. But I think Ugandans could give even them a run for their money. Take my friend Lulu I met her last week just when I was despairing of ever discoverin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Uganda/Central-Region/Kampala/blog-451112.html Thursday 5th NovemberGot up and looked out the window athelliphelliphellip.. RAIN Just what wersquod come here to avoid. Luckily it started to clear later in the morning so we headed off towards False Bay on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. Conveniently the motorway out of Cape Town begins close to our hotel the downside being that the traffic noise can be a bit loud in the mornin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Boulders-Beach/blog-451104.html Hi AllWersquove just returned from an awesome trip around Egypt. Chilled is the wordThis place really blew our minds. People were so friendly and easy going. The scenery was beautiful as well. Check out some of our photos as this will give you a better idea of what Irsquom talking about.We landed in Sharm el sheikh and travel up to Dahab on the first night. Dahab is really cool with loads of http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/blog-450998.html Saturday there I was sitting in a loud smokey pub surrounded by farmers clad in shorts and safari shirts straight out of the movies really enjoy that though sitting there with Neil he is already drunk I think from the brandy he had been drinking all day. he has been out sick from workwhich just means he gets to drink more brandy the rugby match has started and everyone is yelling http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/KwaZulu-Natal/blog-450900.html Hey famWell before I get into my day here let me tell you about the awful shower I just had. There was a gecko on the window in the shower I freaked and didnt want to shower with it didnt want to touch it. so then i got toilet paper and caught it and threw it in the toilet. well i think geckos swim cause this thing was not giving up. so then i stood shrieking as i tried to flush it awa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/blog-450795.html Was wondering when the best time to go to Tanzania is Thanks http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-450781.html In final preparation for the trip. Hard to believe that after months of planning and organizing it is finally here. I am going to miss my family very much and it is hard to leave them for two weeks. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Kenya/Nairobi-Province/blog-450736.html In the center of Moshi there are many volunteers and tourists so seeing them on the street is very common. However when you go into the residential areas there is sometimes great excitement from the children on seeing a mzungu white foreigner. Most will automatically assume that you are a teacher and many wazungu the plural form of mzungu are called mwalimu teacher. Many of the ch http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-450701.html Well So I've been here for 3 weeks now... Feels like forever actually In a good way and kinda in a not so good way....I've been really homesick for the past 2 weeks. First week I had the usual homesick jitters but as I had to focus on learning the ropes it passed but it came back and has been pretty bad. Kinda made a week or so not so good to the point where I wanted to go home last week but I'm http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Limpopo/Tzaneen/blog-450243.html