Goodbye Australia... it's been fun.

A beautiful poverty

casey_hamilton — Thu, 7 May 2009 08:20:00 GMT

Entering Malawi, all i knew was that it was one of the poorest countries yet hosted some of Africa's friendliest people. It only takes an hour in Malawai before you realise the latter is true.

Walking across the border into another country is always fun because you dont know whats waiting on the other side. Especially when the border we were going through was in the middle of no where. We got the passports stamped and a little money exchanged and hitched a ride with a local guy to the nearest town of distinction, Karonga. The journey there was quite eventful and started off with us hitting a huge dog only ten minutes in. It snapped a huge chunk of the drivers bumper which was unfortunate but when your driving at 120kph down a road scattered with people and animals maybe you should take a little more care. Then, 10 minutes after, we were driving along when another guy in the car flagged down an amubulance driving past. He ran over and started talking to them then jumped in the ambo and took off. I asked what just happened and found out that the man was on his way to see his son in the Karonga hospital but the ambulance driver informed him his son just died. Very positive beginning to the start of our time in Malawi.

In Karongs, we were dropped off at the mini bus stand to take local transport to Nkhata Bay, the town we were staying that night. Not a very exciting thing, but i thought i should take the time to describe local transport so you can appreciate it a little more. All throughout Africa, the main form of local transport is mini buses. In Kenya they are called Matatus, Tanzania calls them Dalla Dallals, Malawi Matolas and Mozambique Chapas. They are basically a mini bus which has enough tiny little seats for 15 people. Sounds squishy huh? Well 15 people is extremely comfortable. There were times when we had almost 30 people inside, not to mention all the bags, boxes, chickens, screaming babies and whatever else they squeeze in. They drive like maniacs, passing through villages with children on the side of the road and all they do is fly through holding down the horn expecting everyone to jump out of the way. It is extremely dangerous, but also very cheap and most of the time the only option.

Let me TRY and describe the countryside to you. Malawi runs alongside Lake Nyassa (Lake Malawi). On one side of the lake is Tanzania, which hosts a shoreline less inhabited due to its mountainous range stretching for hundreds of kilometres. To a lesser extent, the Malawi side of the lake consists of hills and mountains which hosts some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. To one direction, you have a view over the lush valleys filled with forests only interrupted by banana, coffee and tea plantations. To the other direction, you have the bright blue Lake malawi sitting below the Tanzanian mountains in the background. The road passes up and along these hills and provides a beautiful, scenic drive through mountain top villages with thatched hutts and waving children. I would love to go back and travel along these roads in my own car stopping at every view point to admire the unspoilt land scape.

After passing through Mzuzu, and changing Matolas, we were coming to the end of our 6 hour butt torturing drive across pot hole ridden roads in suspensionless vehicles. But you soon forget about the butt pain (and the chicken we ran over) as you begin to descend in to Nkhata Bay. The area consists 3 small bays with outstretched points with the town nestled mainly around the middle bay. Nkhata Bay is a hot spot for Malawi tourism, but it is not nearly as touristy as i thought, thankfully. We stayed at a spectacular backpackers, the best i have ever stayed at, called Mayoka Village. Depsite the alcoholic owner, this place is absolutely fantastic and innovative with cool features like compost toilets, wood fire heated hot water and a shower with a view over the lake. Even the toilet provides a beautiful view for you to enjoy as you... do your thing.

The Nkhata Bay township, to me, seemed like a great set up for both locals and tourists. The hotels and hostels are all a 5-10 minute walk from the town, which gives the locals the space to live their day to day lives and gives the tourists easy access to a great local fishing village.

All the books have said Malawi is one of the poorest countries, but you would not think that in this town, or in any of the towns we had passed through that day. There are a lot more roads and villages with structure and layout. The housing is a lot better with less clay hutts and more stone houses with maintained yards. Maybe they are a poor nation, but they take a lot more pride in the appearance of their country. And all the local 'beach boys' as they are called, dress well in tight fitting t-shirts accompanied by beach shorts and rasta dreads. Oh the boys love their rasta. But beware, they are all selling something and are very good at persuading you to spend money. And if you get friendly enough, one of them may even ask you to marry him so he can move back to your country and live a better life. It is a sad thing seeing a local boy explain to a white girl that she is his ticket to freedom and without her he will never be able to leave a life of poverty. Im sure they have convinced a few girls too, which is a scary thought as 1 in 6 Malawians have HIV.

We got to Nkhata Bay in time for the Captain Davey's 'Full Moon Party'. He picked us up from the hostel in his boat and promised us a great night which got me pumped for some good times. First though, he had to pick up 15 other people from another hostel. Sweet i thought, that will make a good party. Turns out the 15 other people were an extremely annoying Indian family, plus one very cool Portugese guy, Paulo. Ah well, there was 3 of us and a bunch of local guys, thats enough. After a little cliff jumping and bongo playing in the boat, Davey dropped us off at Chizi Beach and whipped us up a little fruit punch before taking off. The fruit punch was a mix of coke, fanta, sprite (mmm, tasty mix) with what they call 'spirit'. Not vodka, not whiskey, not rum, just 'spirit'. It comes in a oil drum and tastes like death. And when the coke fanta and sprite ran out, they mixed it with beer. Thankfully, Davey returned a couple hours later with about 20 more backpackers just in time to get dragged to a local village by about 30 of the cutest kids i have ever seen. They all took us to their village to meet their parents and see their house before taking us back to the beach. This is where the poverty was really noticeable. The village relied on fishing to survive. But unfortunately, there had been a storm recently and no fish were being caught. Which means they had no food to eat and no fish to sell to make money. It was becoming a desperate situation. Yet despite this, they were so happy, and extremely friendly. They didnt ask us for money, they didnt try to get our sympathy. They just wanted to shake our hands and stutter out the few english words they knew to find out our names and where we were from. It was a beautiful place, with beautiful people.

After the full moon had risen, the bongo drumming session had ended and the booze ran out, Davey dropped us off at a hostel where we chatted with the locals and had a beer before heading back to our hostel. This was the funniest memory i had from Nkhata Bay. We were heading back with 3 local boys and their dog Yuka. Yuka is a MASSIVE muscly dog, but extremely friendly... to us. But on the walk back to town he attacked 3 people. One guy tried to roll under a car to get away and came out bleeding. It was scary, but not. He was a happy playful dog with us, but as soon as he saw someone walking past in a dark place he would pounce and attack until the boys managed to calm him down. Then, we finally got to town and the boys were going to a bar whilst Hana and I had a 5 minute walk to go so Yuka's owner said "Take Yuka. He will guide you. But DO NOT let him into the hostel" "Ah no no, thats fine, Im pretty sure Yuka will attack us or someone else and we wont know what to do" "Dont worry my friends. Yuka likes you. He knows your smell. It is fine" "Ahhh... ok" i replied with a quivering date. Thankfully, he happily strolled by our side problem free. Phew.

The rest of our time in Nkhata Bay consisted of relaxing and also hanging out with the locals, and non locals we knew at a party at Kayapapaya Restaurant. This is where, at the same time, Hana got proposed to and i got hit on by a prostitute. Despite this, it was a great night and awesome hanging out with the locals who are absolutely amazing, funny and friendly. I had 5 of the best days of my life here, and i will neber forget it.

Sitting in the back of the pick up of the owner of the hostel we stayed at, we headed next to Kande Beach to meet some of Hana's friends. We stayed 3 nights here which was far too long. It is a popular stop for overland safaris, and great if you want to isolate yourself away from the local people. It is a huge gated compound which makes you forget there is a world outside. the only thing i did here was my laundry... which was well over due. But we did meet a bunch of friendly people on safari (the name of the company will remain secret to protect the jobs of the staff) who we hitch a ride with to the next destination, Selima Bay. We felt like intruders sitting up in their fancy safari truck invading their holiday, but they were more than happy to have some fresh faces on the trip and even lent us one of their tents that night. They were such great people we even caught a ride with them to Lilongwe the next day where we stayed for 2 nights with them eating dinner and as if we were part of their group. Despite the awkward feeling of being an intruder, I had a lot of fun with these guys and they almost coaxed us to join them on safari for the next 2 weeks.

Lilongwe is situated off the lake in the southern part of Malawi. it is the capital city but doesnt have much more to offer other than a couple markets and a chance to treat yourself on things like hair cuts, fancy food and big supermarkets. Although not the xleanest of cities, Lilongwe is nice enough and the people are friendly. There is the rich and the poor and not a lot in between, like Nairobi. I still find it hard to believe that Malawi is poorer than countries like Kenya and Tanzania who all seemed to be worse off than Malawians. I think it has something to do with the pride of the Malawi people. Less litter, yards are well kept, clothes are nicer, people are friendlier and more active. But maybe the real desperate areas are hidden away from the tourist circuit.

The next destination was still unknown. We desperately wanted Mozambique, but you need to organise your visas in advance and as it was a saturday, it means we would not get to Malawi until Wednesday at the earliest. Or, we could jump on the safari for the next 2 weeks. As tempting as it was, backpacking is more fun then a pre-organised trip with no freedom of choice as to where you go. So after chatting with the hosetl owner, we decided to risk it and head 80km south to the Malawi/Mozambique border and hope we can get visas there.

So off we went in another matola jam packed with people heading south to the 'boda boda'. We got to the closest stop to the border around 12pm and asked for further directions from a police officer. He was a kind man and walked with us for a km to the road from where we got picked up by a drunk driver (who, instead of dodging it, ran over a dead dog) and sped us at a crazy speed to the border which is where we hit our first problem. Visas need to be paid for with US $. we had none. Not even a quarter. And we needed $30 each. We asked the Malawi customs officer if there was anywhere we coul exchange cash and he rang his friend, a black market money exchanger, to come help us out. Dodgy. And to make it dodgier, the customs guy let us sit in his office, at his desk, while we did the illegal black market cash swap. Which brings us to problem number 2. The US$100 he gave us was a fake. But, beggars cant be choosers. It was our only hope. So we gave it a go, and after an hour of waiting for the Mozambique customs officers try and figure out how to issue a visa, the countefeit note got us into the beautiful Portugese country of Mozambique.

Paradisiacal Heaven

casey_hamilton — Thu, 7 May 2009 06:32:00 GMT

After a sad farewell to Maasailand and my amazing host family, i jumped on a plane headed to Zanzibar. The plane ride was more like a bus trip. The plane begins in Kisumu, in northern Kenya, and flies to Nairobi where it drops off a few people, picks up some more, then to Mombasa dropping off and picking up a few more before finally ending its route in Zanzibar. Because Zanzibar is in Tanzania, i figured i would have to pay money for a visa, but i had no idea how much. Probably should have looked into that. It turned out to be US$50. I had US$16. So he confiscated my passport and told me to go get the money and come back. The nearest ATM was an hour return trip. So i scrounged through my bags, and dug up all the Kenyan money i had left to exchange at the airport. I gave 3000ksh and got US$34 back. Perfect amount. So i paid my $50, got the stamp and on i went to Stone Town.

Words cannot explain the beauty of Stone Town. It is an old swahili trading port and recently listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Winding alleys, bustling bazaars, countless mosques and stunning Arab houses. It is a culture lovers dream, with Arab, Persian, Indian, European and African influneces all mixed together to form the hub of Zanzibar.

The first thing you notice is the grand architecture. A lot of the buildings were once homes owned by extremely wealthy Arab traders, and have since been turned into hotels, apartments, restaurants etc... The wealth of each owner was displayed by the door to their house. You could spend hours wandering the labrynth of alleys admiring the craftsmanship of the beautiful brass studded wooden doors.

The next thing you notice is the Muslim influence. There are over 1000 mosques on the tiny island. The women walk around covered head to toe in the finest fabrics which are available to purchase at almost ever bazaar. I am not very familiar with Muslim culture, but after Zanzibar I am extremely captivated by it. At first, the loud speaker singing echoing across town during the 5 daily prayer times annoyed me (especially at 5am). But after time it just adds to the uniqueness of Stone Town.

The 3rd thing you notice (if you didnt feel it the second you get off the plane) is the humidity. This place is hot! Maybe it was just the time of year i was there, but you would step outside and within a minute you would be sweating profusely. It was close to unbearable at times.

You could spend weeks in Stone Tone and not run out of things to do. There are dhow captains eager to take you on sunset cruises, prion island snorkel trips, fishing trips and so on. Then thers the spice tours which take you around to local restaurants tasting the flavoursome foods of Zanzibar. And if that don't interest you, there are a million shops and restaurants to visit and spend all your hard earned cash.

For me, the first task was to find and surprise Hana. I told a few white lies about being on a Safari in Serengeti and that a friend of mine was in Stone Town and wanted to meet her. So she told me the cafe she was at and i strolled down there to say hi. She almost fell off her chair when i walked around the corner.

We spent the first few days exploring Stone Town and getting lost walking through the labrynth of alleys and sampling some local foods, which were an explosion of flavour in your mouth. They don't call it the Spice Island for nothing!!

Spice Town is one of those places where you dont need to do anything to avoid boredom. The simplest things like watching the fishing boats coming in with the daily catch, or watching the locals play football on the beach, or gazing at the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen kept me content every day. At night there is plenty of bars to go and enjoy a drink (Kilimanjaro or Tusker is the beer of choice here). We went to an RnB club, Bwawanis, a couple times which is where i discovered white men can NOT dance! I used to think that working the 2 step with the occasionally fist pump and a hip shake was all you needed to blend in on a dance floor. Not here. Dancing is intimidating. But it is fun as long as you dont take yourself seriously. The locals can move their bodies in a way i thought impossible. Parties here are the best.

After a few nights we decided to head east, where the girls are free to swim without aggrevating the locals from the displays of bare skin. We jumped in a van which passed by towering mango trees with swinging monkeys and the famous Jozani forest on the way to Paje. Our hotel (or should i say resort) was stunning. Wooden beachside chalets sheltered by coconut trees next to a beautiful bar with the friendliest staff. The beach was the most beautiful I have ever set fot on. Beautiful calm turquoise waters which stretch as far as they eye can see interrupted only by the scatter of local fishing boats. This is paradise. This is heaven.

Our days in Paje were spent, well, doing nothing. Some swimming, some hammock lazing, some beach lazing, and a little more lazing in between the above activities. We met a couple local buys, who were fishing 'Captains' as they love to call themselves, who told us they have a local restaurant called Big Fire. They described it as a bonfire on the beach with a smorgasboard of seafood they caught fresh that day. Yes please. I bumped into Captain Haje later and told him we were in but because of the late notice, he said we would have to have it in his back yard. It was one of the funniest nights. There was 8 of us all sitting around a candle lit table, drinking warm beers and eating delicious octopus, squid and fish listening to Captain Haje telling stories of himself in a third person about his dog, his life and most of all, his ....ahem.... plantations. We loved him so much we decided to go snorkelling with him the next day. He took us out on his boat which he moves forward with a long stick he dips into the water and pushes off the ocean floor. He dropped us off in beautiful water no deeper than 3 metres where we swam around for a couple hours enjoying the stunning un discovered paradise which has not yet been destroyed by tourism. I dont think i will ever forget that day, especially the comical stylings of Captain Haje.

We didnt do too much in Paje besides relax, swim, snorkel. One day we rented some motorbikes and cruised along the beach for a couple hours during which we saw some of the most exotic hotels and houses i have ever seen, and passed by some beautiful secluded beaches. We also walked around the local village in Paje aswell. The people, as with most Africans i have met so far, are extremely friendly and hospitable. Always smiling, happy to wave and say hi and help point you in the direction of the fruit stand with the tastiest passion fruit in the world.

After 3 nights in heaven, we headed back to Stone Town to plan the next adventure. Whilst here, Hana took me to a nightly food market I had not yet seen. It instantly became my favourite food experience so far. Every night the locals line up tables along the ocean front and each set up their own stnd selling all types of food from fries to fish kebabs to full squid to local pizzas to seafood soup. You walk around and pick what you want and wash it all down with a refreshing cup of sugar cane juice. This is a great place to come and watch the sunset and enjoy some great local cuisine.

After almost 2 weeks in Zanzibar, we decided it's time to end the dream and set off inland to experience a different part of Africa. We boarded the ferry to Dar Es Salaam, spent the night before jumping on a 15 hour bus ride (the promised us it would only be 9 hours... africa time) to Mbeya on the west side of Tanzania. Beautiful bus ride passing through rolling hills and lush forests with wildlife sightings and cheap somsa stands along the way. Mbeya is not really a destination of choice, but more of a useful trasport hub for getting into Zambia and Malawi. We were heading to Malawi, and after almost punching a bus ticket scammer in the face for trying to rip us off, we boarded a dangerously quick local bus to the border around 6am the next day. This driver was insane. We are lucky we didn't drive off a cliff or hit every single pedestrian. But we got there safe, and after being mobbed by black market currency exchange guys, we trekked the last 2km to the border and left behind the last 2 weeks of paradise in exchange for the unknown ahead in what is described as one of Africa's poroest countries, Malawi.

You never leave

casey_hamilton — Thu, 7 May 2009 06:04:00 GMT

Maasailand is behind me. But it is not a thing of the past. It will NEVER be a thing of the past. Because while all these problems still exist, i will not just 'remember' my time there. No matter where I am in the world, there is always something i can do to help. Same goes for you. You can donate clothes. You can donate money. All you have to do is contact me and I can help you help them.

Every time you do your little thing to contribute to the global warming crisis, just think about the peaceful Maasai people who are starving and dying because of global warming.

Every time you wake up hungover and realise the riiculous amount of money you blew on booze, remember that that money could have put a child through school for a year.

Every time you buy a new t-shirt because your other clothes are 'so last month', i hope you plan on donating your old ones.

It's foolish to expect that every one will donate old clothes, or put a few dollars aside to help a starving family. What i do hope, however, is that you realise your own fortune, and atleast consider the thought of helping. After all, the money you get in one pay check is more than some will get their entire life. The 3 meals a day you eat is more than some people eat in a week. The water you use in one shower could quench the thirst of 10 de hydrated children. A small, insignificant sacrifice from you, is an enormous help to others.

If every person in Canada donated $1, you could pay for 1,000,000 childrens school fees for a year.

If every person in Canada donated $1, you could build 90 bore holes, abolishing the water shortage problems for the majority of rural kenya.

I hope you have a good excuse not to help.

You can't change the world in a month

casey_hamilton — Sun, 5 Apr 2009 22:00:00 GMT

There are too few words to use to describe the beauty of our home. Yes it was ridiculously hot. Yes it was dry. Yes people were poor. Yes it was remote. No there was no electricity, running water or paved roads. But everything it was missing was what made it beautiful. Simple beauty. No city skylines. No constant flow of traffic. No hussle and bussle. No rich to make the poor look poor. No crowded living. Just simplicity.

My home was nestled 15km west of Kajiado, Kenya. It is not a town, rather just one of many maasai homes placed sporadically across the countryside. The traditional Maasai live in Manyattas (clay hutts), but our father was not so traditional. He is more of a modern Maasai. Educated, fluent in English, well travelled and a popular man in the community. We lived in a rustic stone house, with very basic facilities. A small solar panel to light the one light (night time use only), a couple coal fire pots to cook food in, 3 small but cosy bedrooms, some very hard, but welcoming couch chairs and an amazing father.

Sammy Rampei. Remember that name. If you ever visit Kenya, Sammy is one man you need to meet. His hospitality, generosity and kindness is overwhelming. So overwhelming that at first i thought it was fake. His wife Janet (Nashumu) is an amazing cook, with a love for practical jokes. Their 16 year old son Saitoti is the hardest worker, and the sweetest boy i have ever met.

I would love to say that the month went smoothly with no hiccups, and no culture shock. The first week, Kirsty, Ellie (the 2 other volunteers) and I were ready to leave. Culture shock hit us hard, and we weren't ready for the Maasai lifestyle. But we adjusted, and before too long felt more than comfortable in our new environment. We just needed something to focus on, and a daily routine.

After a few discussions with Sammy's local NGO, we decided that working at Paranae Primary School would be our focus for the month. We wanted to achieve big things, and change peoples lives. We were full of ambition after seeing the efforts of other volunteers in Nairobi. They were inspiring, motivated, creative and most of all, effective. They weren't there just to paint a class room and pretend like that really makes a difference. They were improving the quality of life for the children in the orphanages. They were ensuring the kitchen staff at kibera olympic school no longer had to work in a kitchen so smokey you could not last any longer than 5 minutes in. They were role models. They were teachers. They were effective. But they also had financial backing, one thing i did not.

Our daily schedule was very flexible, and very disorganised. Nothing was ever set in concrete. But roughly, here is how it went.

8am rise (if the calves mooing outside your window hadn't already got you up earlier), cup of chai (first of many for the day), light breakfast (usually mandazi, chipati or local pancakes), head to school for the day, come home, quick nap, cup of chai, another cup of chai, dinner, cup of chai, conversation, bed. Evenings were often filled with dancing, jokes, card tricks, listening to music, helping to bring in the goats & cattle, helping Saitoti with his homework and so on. The solar light usually only lasted 4-5 hours so once it went out we would hit the hay.

The lifestyle of the maasai is very hard, but also very simple. The more goats you own, the richer you are (even though they may not have any money). They walk with the animals every day, taking them to the water bore (3km walk from our house, but up to 10km for others). We were there during a bad drought. Animals had no food. Some were so weak they could not stand. Some were dying. Families were hungry, poor and desperate. Some would go days without food. The drought had refused them the ability to grow their own crops and achieve self-sustainability. How is a Maasai man, who has neevr had a use for money, supposed to now go and buy food for his family? Where is he supposed to get the money from? A desperate situation becoming more and more desperate. Global warming has struck Maasailand. These people have bought no trouble to the world. They keep to themselves. They are peaceful, kind, and of no threat to anybody in the world. But thanks to current times, we, yes WE are destroying their quality of life. We are killing their livestock. We are denying them water. We are starving them. You, me, everyone.

Despite this, they remain the happiest people. Strangers, friends, everyone you see is more than happy to smile, shake your hand and laugh at our feeble attempts to stutter out a Maasai greeting. They may barely have enough food to feed their family, but they are more than happy to invite you into their home and give you a cup of chai. You almost feel as though you are a part of everybody's family, not just one.

In saying that, there are still some messed up Maasai traditions, which are slowly being abolished. The worst, female genital mutilation (FGM). Although illegal in Kenya, it is still practiced in many Maasai communities. There are huge efforts in place to put an end to this. One lady in Kajiado has started a school for girls she has saved from FGM. Her school is amazing, but an absolutle tear jerker. Child marriages is also another, and sickens me to think about.

So, what did i achieve volunteering? Did i change the world as i expected? No, not even close. That was the hardest part. I had huge ambitions. I thought i would leave kajiado and look back thinking i improved the quality of life for so many. After meeting with the head teacher at Paranae school, i knew this wouldnt be the case. Changing lives not always, but more than often has a very big dollar sign in front of it. We all realised there was nothing we could do but accept this but still give it our all.

The school is extremely basic. Roughly 150 students, 10 teachers (one of which is only 16 years old), run down classroms and very used text books. Thats it. No sporting equipment, no extra curricular activities. We decided to change that, especially with a zonal sporting competition just around the corner. Putting together the little money we could afford to donate, we whipped into Kajiado and stocked up on supplies. Then, back at school we rolled up our sleeves and managed to build a volleyball court and a netball court. The kids loved it. And even though to us it seemed a small improvement, for the children it was huge. Sport is a of their lives. But unfortunately, they have never had the facilities to actually play and practice sport. They were out there every day practicing hard for the zonals. We tried to coach, but with a language barrier it was hard. After time though, i noticed that just being there and watching and clapping was more than enough. They love to impress the Mzungu (white person). So with us around they were giveing 110%. They played hard at zonals and managed to win about 80% of the sports, which apparantly never happens. The school morale noticeably lifted after zonals, and we actually started to believe that what we were doing was worthwhile.

One of the sad things about Paranae is the quality of education. I would love to say the teachers work hard and do everything they can to ensure the children get the highest grades possible, but that would be a lie. But I cant. They are lazy. They sleep in the staff room. They show up to classes late. Sometimes they dont come to school for days which leaves a class unattended for days. But it would be unfair to pass judgement so easily. They are doing a job i could not, for a wage i would laugh at. They are unmotivated and for fair reason. But unfortunately, their lack of motivationr eflects the childrens grades. I spent days marking work. the average mark was about 30%. It was absolutely shocking. But apparantly, these marks are echoed throughout rural schools. The teachers blame the students. The students blame the teachers. The community shrugs its shoulders and ignores the fact that their children are being denied a decent education. Why does a Maasai child need an education when his life will consist of herding goats? This is the frame of mind shared by traditional Maasai people.

The last week at school, we stumbled around the school doing anything we could before leaving. We put windows on classrooms so they no longer had to pick up their books off the ground when the wind picked up. We paid the whopping school fees ($32) for a girl who's mother could not afford to keep her in nursery.

We did not change the world, but we did bring happiness to the few people we met. I'm content with that.

The road to Maasailand

casey_hamilton — Sun, 5 Apr 2009 20:02:00 GMT

I dont know why, but the night before I left to go to my placement, I thought i would sleep like a baby, dreaming of all the ways i would be a star volunteer. I think i slept for 45 minutes.

9am, time to hit the road. Our transport: 9 seater mini van. Our cargo: 12 people, 9 BIG backpacks, countless shopping bags and over 100 litres of water. It was... cozy, to put it in a positive term. Our first stop was a small Maasai home, just outside of Kimuka. The lady living here, Virginia, is the director of another NGO, MEAC. She was extremely hospitible and served us a delicious chicken soup. I was fortunate enough to get the chickens spine in my bowl. Tasty.

We trundled on, driving along dusty, bumpy dirt roads winding through the dry, red valley below Ngong Hills until we reached Saikeri, where we dropped off 4 volunteers and continued our journey. Shortly after leaving Sairkeri, we ran over a goat. Not a stray dog, or a kangaroo. A goat. Tears welled instantly in the girls eyes. For the NGO staff, however, fear was the only emotion shown on their faces. Goats are extremely valuable to the Maasai, and beacause we had just killed one, it would most likely result in a fiery conflict if we were to stop. We sped away before the spears were thrown. Putting the goat incident behind us, we moved on and 4 hours later (2 of which were spent on the side of the road trying to fix the broken down van), we arrived.

Rolling red plains, scattered evenly with thorny acacias and Maasai manyattas, all nestled naturally under the hot african sun. Baron, isolated, dry, simple. Beautiful.

This was my new home.

First Impressions...

casey_hamilton — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 19:59:00 GMT

Preparing for this "trip", I began to think of certain luxuries, and everyday decisions we are faced with, and began to wonder if they exist where I was going. Not because I hoped they existed, but more so a curiosity of the unknown. Simple things, really. Subway or sushi? Walk or taxi? Family Guy or 2 and a half men?

The curiosity lingered, however, before i would find out, before i would experience Africa, i had a 3 day stop over in Amsterdam. Quite ironic really. 3 days in a city of extreme indulgence, before settling in a country lacking even the most basic of needs - food. I almost resented the thought of the mischief that took place in Amsterdam, the taking for granted of food, drink, drugs. But upon arriving to Schipol Airport (and almost being toppled over by Brookes run and jump hug) i thought, "When in Rome...".

Amsterdam was... well... everything i thought it would be. Drugs. Prostitution. Anne Franks. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex Shows. Drugs. Museums. Art. Music. Drugs. All neatly tucked away into cute little European Architecture. It was the cleanest dirty place I have ever been to.

So Brooke and I ran a muck, enjoyed and experienced all we wanted to Day 1: Walk, admire, catch up on 2 years, cafes, vodka, and a night viewing of... well lets just say a night viewing. Day 2: Anne Franks, Sex Museum, more walking and admiring the beautiful city, bagels, more cafes, dodging bicycles, avoiding vending machine burgers, vodka. Day 3: Relax, a little walking and a train ride before going our own ways. Her to England. Me to Kenya.

Arrival: 35 Celsius. That is 35 degrees warmer than Amsterdam. That is 50 degrees warmer than Calgary. That is torture. Why did i not plan ahead and decide on shorts, tshirt and a hoody? Oh no, it was jeans, t shirt and jacket for me. And the air conditioning in Nairobi's airport was not cutting it.

After 2 hours waiting through customs (Kenyans are never in a rush), and being hassled by 20 "taxi" drivers saying they are all friends with the owners of the hotel i am staying, I finally gave in to one lady and headed to Wildebeest Camp. The drive was an eye opener to say the least. What would be a 3 lane road to Canadian standards, was a cluster of cars 5 wide, swerving in, out, off the road, squeezing tightly between trucks. No rules. And here is Margot, my driver, calm as can be, singing away to a gospel song on the radio. Relax Case, just be thankful its not peak hour.

Wildebeest Camp is a slice of heaven only a stones throw from Africa's largest slum - Kibera. It was pure bliss. A large colonial style main building, a lush yard, towering trees, pet turtles, amazing food and a great place to drink in the evening. I spent 3 nights here. I could have spent 300.

My first few days in Nairobi were spent adjusting and climatising and getting over culture shock. Do they not have garbage bins here? Is there any road rules? Do matatu drivers actually have licences? Why do i pay more than locals? I'm sorry, Mango's are how much?? 10 cents?? I'll take 10 thank you.

It definately took me a couple days to adjust. I soon realised just how un travelled and un cultured I really am. I associate poor and crime. Most of us do. But some, likem yself, are guilty of never associating poor with happiness. Kenya is a poor country. There is a big gap between the rich and the poor. A very small middle class, so small I did not see it. I just hoped it was there. But despite the desperation of so many people, they seemed remarkably un desperate. And before long, you begin to realise that Kenyan's are amazingly happy. Everyone wants to meet yo and shake your hand and ask "How are you?" (to which you have to reply "Fine" or risk a blank look). I was oevrwhelmed. From day 3, i loved Kenya.

Day 4 was meeting day. The local NGO that International Volunteer HQ has partnered with wants us to meet and do a quick orientation before heading to our placements. Despite the lack of organisation (which is Kenya wide and not specific to the NGO), i was picked up and taken to the orientation on time and met the 11 other volunteers all looking as confused/excited/nervous/unknowing as me. All we knew was 1. we were volunteers. 2. we were in Kenya. 3. it was hot. The slow release of information from the NGO staff gradually eased everyone's minds, and answered all our questions. We each recieved a little package describing what to expect, where you will be, important rules to remember and a few Swahili & Maasai sayings to help us get by. Once done, the air felt lighter, but the anxiety was present. Everyone was very anxious to get cracking. But unfortunately, we would have to spend another night in Nairobi.

The rest of the day was taken up with driving all over Nairobi visiting other people's placements. We saw 4 slums. My heart sank 4 times. We had "How are you?" and "Mzungu" (white person) yelled at us 100 times from 1000 children. We drove through a slum rife with prostitution which has people who have been found to be immune to HIV. We stopped and waited for goats to cross the road countless times. We stared like rich tourists at the endless line of people, sitting in the dirt, begging for food. We sat shocked/amazed, disgusted at our own wealth, yet filled with a desire to help. Help anyway possible.

The Plan...

casey_hamilton — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:01:00 GMT

As long as i can remember, I have wanted to go to Africa.

Actually, i remember the exact moment i decided i would one day embark on a trip to the worlds second largest continent. It was whilst watching the opening scene to The Lion King. But what child didn't fantasize over pet lions, and warthog riding meer cats after watching that movie.

However, as time goes on, these fairytale African fantasies are drowned out by news stories and tv shows portraying the real Africa. The fantasies of safaris and baobab tree houses are soon replaced by a desire to help. Help learn. Help build. Help play. Help farm. Help feed.

Help live.

At least, thats how it went for me.

So after going from website to website, listening to speech after speech from organisations trying to justify the $10,000 fee to volunteer for a few weeks (most of the money goes directly into their fat bank account), i stumbled across the perfect company, hosting the perfect program. A completely transparent organisation, who are more than happy to tell you where every penny you spend goes. International Volunteer Headquarters.

On February 27th, i land in Nairobi, Kenya. There, i will spend a few days sightseeing and adjusting, before i head out to a small Maasai community where i will live and work for one month. Exactly where and what i will be doing, I am still unsure of.

The details are murky, but the aim is clear. Help.

"The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it"

casey_hamilton — Thu, 5 Feb 2009 06:04:00 GMT

From national parks to clustered slums. From pristine coastlines to baron desert plains. From western hotels to maasai clay hutts. From one baobab to the other... Africa here i come.

"The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience.

The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes 'site seeing'."

- Daniel J Boorstin

a new adventure will soon begin...

casey_hamilton — Tue, 3 Feb 2009 14:46:00 GMT

hey yo! so i am off to africa to volunteer. which means i best start using a journal for those few people who care to read about my travels. this site is quick and easy to use, so i will be updating this as often as possible. for a while though, i got rid of this page, and started using this one...

http://caseyhamilton.spaces.live.com/

but it was crap. so im back here now. but on the other one there is some more pics, and stories. feel free to have a look.

hope everyone is well.

casey

Photos

casey_hamilton — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 07:32:00 GMT

hey everyone. havent written a journal for a while i know, and today is not the day for me to write another sorry. But i did just upload a crapload of photos. None from snowboarding yet cos i broke my camera so im waiting to get a new one. Anyway, ill update with a journal soon. Hope everyone had a safe and happy christmas and new years!

Catchya

Gallery: Canada

casey_hamilton — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 08:16:00 GMT

Vancouver & Banff

More Photos

casey_hamilton — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:41:00 GMT

I added some more photos tonight. I also added a few videos to myspace if anyone wants to check them out. You have to sign up before you can view them, but its worth it anyway. So go to myspace.com/casey_hamilton and have a look. Funny shizer!

Gallery: Post Camp Pics

casey_hamilton — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:37:00 GMT

Oot and aboot

casey_hamilton — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:06:00 GMT

Yo yo yooooooooooooooo!!!!

Whats goin on errrrrrbody? Man its been a while since ive written one of these suckers hey! Well, good new for you all, i have nothin to say. Hope everyone is healthy and happy.

Catchya!

Ahhh, whatever! Man there is so much to tell, and so many photos to share. where do i begin....... I know, how about where i left off. Yeah, good idea case!

So camp is all over, no more crying kids, no more disobediant shits during lessons, and no more slave labour. And to be honest, it sux!! Camp was frickin awesome, loved every second of it, even when i caught pink eye. When the kids left, it was like someone was steling your own children. You live in the same bunk as these kids, and share almost every minute of the day with them for 7 weeks, and then BAM! - they're gone. Ah well, ill see them next year. I was asked to stay around for father son weekend, which ofcourse i said yes cos you get paid a couple hundred extra. So i put on my ass kissing lips, and practiced my smooth talking charm thinking that i would have to act like a perfect role model in front of about 40 dads for a weekend. Well wasnt i wrong! Basically the dads come in and get blind for 3 days. Not all participate in the binge drinking, but those that do were funny as. The boss got in a few kegs, and we all sat around drinking. there were some responsibilities invloved, but they were few and far between and not very comlpicated.

So once father son was over, i made my way down to Boston - arrr to be sure, to be sure, to meet up with about 8 others from camp already there. We stayed for 3 nights and pretty well just relaxed, went out, relaxed when out. Little did we know that was to be the pattern for the next 3 weeks!

From Boston, Me and 8 others (7 aussies, and one Dutchman) caught the bus down to New York where we were staying at this awesome 3 bedroom apartment 5 minutes from Times Square. The bus trip was funny as, we played cards the whole time and if you lost you had to do something embarrasing. We had people doing sit ups in the isle making the sound of a sheep, and once i had to wear a toilet paper headband, and bust out of the toilet singing "Pretty Woman" into the toilet brush in front of all the other passengers. Anyway, NY: Man, things got crazy there. We drank every day while we were there, and had so much fun. Each night we went out and met cool people and invited them back to our apartment and played kings (the ultimate drinking game) until the wee hours of the morning. One night, Bryce and SYmon (who are under 21 so couldn't go out with us) decided it would be funny to do some pranks on us so they stacked up about 20 boxes of beer and 50 empty cans right behind the door so when i came home and opened the door, crap went flying everywhere! i freaked out. Then, they told me they met a homeless guy named jeff and invited him back to our apartment. I looked on our couch and sure enough, there was this black dude fast asleep on the couch wearing my brand new shoes!! I went nuts! As it turns out, it was a fake body but it looked so real. So when Sam came home i played along with it and he was freakin out. He gathered all his belongings and locked them in another room. Such a funny night, and that was just the start of the pranks. Later i went to bed and locked the door, and they somehow unscrewed the door handle, broke in, stole all my clothes (i was sleeping naked...as you do) switched the door handles around, and locked me in there naked with no clothes!! Shit it was funny! They did some other funny pranks, but none that i should mention in a public journal.

Anyway, that basically sums up NY. Oh yeah, there was also this chick that lived in an apartment across the street from us and every night at 5pm she would strut around her place butt naked. So that was our evening entertainment. You can imagine 8 aussies going crazy fighting over a spot at the window each night. good times. NY was one of the funniest time sof my life, i miss it so much!

So post NY, whats happened? me and my mate Sam bought a 30 day train pass and made our way down to Philadelphia, walked around for a couple hours seeing the sights, then jumped back on the train and went to Washington DC for the night. we checked out the shights like White House, Reflection Pond (you know the place in forest Gump where jenny goes running through the lake when Forest is making the speach at the war riot thingy), Lincoln Memorial, US Capitol blah blah blah. There is some amazing architecture there, haven't seen any buildings like that in rendelshack! But i reckon DC is a boring city if your young cos it seems only business men and pollies live there. Cool place to visit though.

So from DC we were gonna go down to Miami but there was a Hurricane on its way so hostels wouldnt let us book in anywhere which sucked. So our last minute plans found us on a 25hour train ride to Chicago. But to pass the time away, we bought a couple botlles of vodka, and drank them both on the train. Made the trip intersting. Man chicago is absolutely beautiful. They have so much pride for their city, it is so clean and so relaxed. Even the homeless people are clean (well as clean as they can be!). The city is on lake michigan so we went down to the lake front (they call it the beach) and it was tripy as. they have bought in sand and set the lake front up just like a beach. its really weird cos it looks just like a beach because you cant see the other side, yet you know its a lake cos its fresh water (and its about 3000km from the ocean!). I recommend checkin out chicago if you get a chance.

After 2 nights in chicago, we caught a train across to Denver, Colorado which is in the rocky mountains. yes, we bought more vodka and drank on the train again, which was funny as. we hung out all night with a lady, Janice, and her 6 year old daughter Sammy. They were really nice people, but i felt so sorry for Sammy. She doesnt have a dad, and it was so sad to see how easily she connected with me and Sam just out of desperation to have male figure in her life. Ah well, such is life i guess.I heard a lot of cool stories about the place, but i was pretty disappointed. Firstly we got stuffed around by our Hostel who said they were the best hostel intown, turns out we have built better hutts up the scrub which were safer and more structurally sound. We cruised around and checked out a few things, but i was seriously scared a few times in that town. the homeless people are crazy as!! drugs and alcohol have torn through the place and left a pretty sad effect on the people. And those that aren't homeless or on drugs are just retards anyway. Its like everyone is socially retarded, yet they are overly social! Not a good mix! And i also thnk its law to have a moustache if your a male (even a few chicks had them). I think im being a bit harsh on the place, maybe we just stayed in a dodgy area. One positive though was me and Sam bought skateboards. Thats right, we're skater punks now!! Its so much easier to get around though, we would walk for like 15km a day and see 2 things, now we can skate 20km and see 3!! haha, nah it is a cool mode of transport.

we got up at sparrows fart and got on another train to Salt Lake City which passes through the rockies on the way which has some amazing scenery! The funniest thing on the train trip is whenever we go past people canoeing, kayaking etc... on the river which runs next to the train line, everyone lines up and pulls browneyes at us. we seriously got about 80 browneyes in about 3 hours, it was hilarious! For those that dont know, SLC is the morman capital, so it was pretty cool to see such a religous city. We checked out the Morman temple, which was absolutely beautiful, then basically just skated around the city all day. We went to go out that night, but any pub that sells spirits, requires you to pay membership fees before you can drink in there. little weird, but we rolled with it and had a cool night. Think that was the day Steve Irwin died, because the yanks kept buying us shots in his memory. Pretty cool i thought. RIP Steve. and Peter Brock. and Colin Thiele. and Buzzy, a pet march fly i killed for no reason.

Our next stop was VEGAS BABY! We intended on staying for just one night, but we ended up there for 4 nights and went crazy, I didn't gamble once which i was proud of, but still managed to spend a vary large amount of cash. We hung out at the pool all day and got friends with the lifeguards who took us upstairs to the VIP tolpess pool! We strutted our stuff up there everyday and had a ball. We met another aussie, Whitetrash, and hung out with him heaps and had the funniest time and met some awesome people. Also went to the opening night for an aussie photographer Peter Lik (check his website out if you get a chance, he is awesome) and drank his free beer and ended up meeting him too which was pretty cool. he's a funny man.

So after spendinf X amount of $ in Vegas, we got the hell out of there before the temptations of drugs and prostitution overcame us. we went down to LA for one night, met up with a mate from camp for a day, then me and Sam went down to San Diego and stayed at my frind, Zack's house. He is the coolest guy ever, a typical chilled out, peaceful surfer (and a massive chick magnet). San Diego is my favourite city. its like an oversized Beachport during summer. everyone surfs, skates, rollerblades, drinks, parties and sleeps. It seems like they are the main activities achieved in SD. But we loved it (especially the fact that its legal to drink on the beaches). theres only so much i can say about SD, you have to check it out for yourself, such a cool friggin place! I think im gonna move there. I also got to catch up with holly (my ex neighbour from uni who i havnt seen in 3 years) which was really cool.

So once we had soaked up the lifestyle of San Diego i decided it was time i made my way up to Canadia to get a job, settle down, get married, have kids etc... you know, the regular thing everyone my age seems to be doing. pffft, screw that! ha, i got on a 46 hour long fu*$@ng train trip, sitting next to a mexican dude that just got out of jail for about the 10th time all the way to vancouver which is where i am now, sitting on this computer writing a journal. Im on the job hunt at the moment which sux, but i guess itll be cool once i get into the swing of things.

Well, that just about sums things up so far. Sorry its taken so long to write a journal, ill try to add some photos in the next day or so. Hope everyone is doin well, healthy, happy and so on. Fell free to drop me an email if you get a chance. Or if you want you should all join myspace. I have a myspace address which is myspace.com/casey_hamilton and i check it pretty regularly, so get on it ya'll!!

Alright, this rant is over. Peace

Photos

casey_hamilton — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 10:01:00 GMT

Just a quick note to let you know i have added a heap of photos to the photo gallery if anyone wants to check them out. Theres a few from the canoe trips, events at camp and some photos i tooklast night when we went out. Man it ws a crazy night! Then Dale, Cam, Richie and I decided we would go on an adcenture and walk back to camp once the pub shut. It's roughly 16km away and took 2 and a half hours! Man we were shagged after that, but it was a funny walk. It must have been a wild night cos i woke up with Pink Eye and i haveto go to the hospital tomorrow. Strange.....

Anyway, thats all. Peace

Gallery: Random Pics 2

casey_hamilton — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:40:00 GMT

Camp Life.

casey_hamilton — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:22:00 GMT

Hey hey everyone. It's been a while since the last journal and man things have been crazy! All 250 kids arrived at camp about 2 and a half weeks ago, twitching with excitement, and flowing with arrogance. Nah, they're not that bad, some of them are typical little rich kids with a mouth on them which makes you wanna throttle them sometimes. Thankfully i have a lot of patience, cos america is a sue happy place so we have to be so careful with how we discipline the kids. The majority of the kids are absolutely awesome, and crack you up all day. My bunk has 18 kids in there (the biggest bunk at camp) aged between 13-14. One kid in my bunk blows me away every day. He is 14, and swims 10,000 yards a day every day, 6 days a week. He is smarter than i am, and probably more mature too (not that thats hard). Every single kid is amazing, and some are so talented at sport it blows my mind. But as a group they can cause some truoble, so i bought a cow prodder and just zap them every time they step out of line. Not really, i just show them my guns (thunder and lightning) and that puts the fear of death in them.

The daily schedule is pretty exhausting. Get up at 7.30, breakfast 7.45, then go down to the waterfront around 9 and teach 3 one hour long lessons of either canoeing, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing or rowing to groups of around 10-25 (there are 5 of us staff in the boating department all helping so it's pretty easy), then have lunch at 12.30, rest hour from 1-2pm, then we host 3 one hour long elective periods where kids come down and do pretty much whatever they want. Sometimes we will run games for them, but normally we just let them stuff around. Every now and then, no kids come down, so we get time off which is bliss. Then we have dinner at 5.45, evening activities at 7 (can include an all camp swim, sporting tournaments, socials with girl camps etc...) then bed at 10pm. It's a crazy day, but it is usually pretty chilled and the kids are frickin hilarious.

The camp has a non stop weekly schedule to break things up too. The last 2 days we had the olympics, so they divide the kids and counsellors up into 8 different countries (i was on New Zealand) and play competitive sports for 2 days straight. We came in 5th which was pretty crap, but everyone got dressed up and painted their faces etc... so it looked pretty sweet. I have a few photos i put in the photos section too.

The best bit about camp, by a mile, is days off. We get every second night off from 9pm till 1am, then half of us get every wednesday off until 9pm, and the other half get every sunday off. It's absolute madness on tuesday nights cos we don't have to be back to camp until 9pm the next night so we go crazy. All the pubs offer us cheap drinks and one pub has even started private parties for our camp and Camp Matoka (a near by girls camp) every tuesday night with insane drinks prices which is awesome. It's funny as cos one of the guys in the office rings up Matoka each Tuesday to let the girls know where we're gonna go and they come meet us out. He's our pimp. Then on Wednesdays, we have a school bus which a guy drives and takes us to different spots each week. So far we've been to Portland, Freeport (an awesome shopping town with designer outlets to soothe my homosexual tendencies), Old Orchard Beach and a few other towns around the area. The only problem at the beaches is most of the people in Manie are fat and ugly, so the locals on the beaches in their sexy G Strings, and flattering speedos leave us traumatised and needing psychiatric help. Personal Hygeine is obviously not a popular practice here. Uuggggghhhhhh!!

Theres so much goin on here it's impossible to tell you everything. Oh the highlight of the week was yesterday when the arrogant american staff challenged all the international staff to a tug of war match. The entire camp was there watching, all cheering for the american staff and we got out there and shat all over them! Man it felt good!

Oh yeah, cos i'm the canoeing guy i get to go on overnight trips out of camp which is awesome. Last Sunday i went on a 3 day canoeing trip down the Penobscot River which was amazing. There was 16 kids aged 10-12, and 4 counselors. You have to supervise the kids intensely because they love to disappear down little side creeks, but it was a cool trip. It was the full camp experience too which was cool - we slept in tents, cooked dinner on a fire, didn't shower the whole time, and had to dig a hole to take a crap. The kids complained a bit but they had fun. One poor kid was homesick the whole time and would start crying every hour so i had to keep running over to him and cheer him up constantly and take him in my canoe, but when he wasn't upset he was funny as. He lives in Beverly Hills on the same street as Brad Pitt which i thought was pretty crazy. Then i got back to camp for a couple days, then went on a 2 day trip down the St Croix river which is the border between USA and Canada. That trip was a shitload more fun. The kids were aged 13-14 so we didn't have to nurture them too much and it was cruisy as. We would paddle for a half hour, fish for a while, paddle some more, then fish some more. We only camped one night, and it was on the american side of the river so the next day i made an excuse to pull up on the canadian side so i could get out and take my first steps in Canada. I was so pissed off though, cos when the kids got out they all started spitting on the ground and half of them started having a piss because they were in Canada. I went nuts! They all hate Canada for no reason at all (kinda like how we pay out Tasmanians, or New Zealanders). The St Croix river is awesome, saw heaps of Bald Eagles, went through heaps of rapids, but depsite all that, i couldn't help thinking how good an eski full of beer would be. Mmmmmmm.... beer...

Well i think i'm almost done. Theres a shitload more stuff thats happened, but it doesn't sound as cool when you write it down so i'll leave it at that. Camp is awesome though, we only have 5 weeks left but i'll definately come back next year. I'm gonna put some photos up when my camera stops being a dickhead and cooperates. Thanks everyone for your emails etc... sorry if i don't write back or call you back. I'm flat out all the time and never have enough time to call or email, but i'll do my best. Hope everyone is well and Hatherleigh is kickin ass (cos Geelong is doin shit right now). Add comments if you want, or just send me emails and let me know all the goss. Thanks mum for the vegemite, i gave a huge spoonful to a Spanish kid and told him it was nutella. Shit it was funny, the look in his face when he started eating it was priceless! Anyway, take care everyone. Sampai Nanti!!

Casey

Gallery: Random Pics

casey_hamilton — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:56:00 GMT

Yo!

casey_hamilton — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:21:00 GMT

G'day all. After a shitload of stuffin' around, i think i have this journal thing worked out. Hotmail is a pain in the ass cos i can't send a group email to everyone cos there's too many people on the list.

Anyway, I finally made it to camp and it's amazing. I stopped off in LA for a night and did the touristy things - checked out Hollywood Blvd, went down to Manhattan Beach etc... That place is constantly pumping with people, it's non stop. The airport is about the size of Adelaide i reckon (well not quite, but it's bloody huge). Then the next night i jumped on an overnight flight to Boston and hung out there for half a day before catching a bus up to camp. Boston is a pretty cool city too, looks so much different to LA, it's a lot older and more historic. Camp is the most beautiful place ever. We are situated on an enormous lake, which is surrounded by woods and all sorts of crazy wildlife. So far i've counted about 300 different types of spiders. And they have chipmunks running everywhere! One of the guys shot one with a bow and arrow the other day which was funny as cos apparantly they're rodents. Camp has just about every sport imagineable, except for topless jelly wrestling, but i'm trying to get it started. So far, all we do is get up and work all day like slaves painting shit, raking shit, building shit and talking shit. Oh yeah, we've been out a few times to our local pub and man o man, the local girls. Wow, they are amazing!! Ha, pigs ass!! They need to do some exercise bad! People are so fat here. And some are so fat, they give up on walking and get a wheelchair. It pisses you off so much!! Not everyone is that bad though, its just those that get fat, get really fat. The nightlife is pretty cool though. Our local pub (You Know Whose) love us and we even went back to the bar lady's house to party - which i don't remember cos i passed out in her spare room. Then they also have this cool little Blues Club which had a karaoke night lat night. So naturally i got up and bust out a few Michael Jackson numbers, well not really, i didn't wanna show them up.

Theres not much else goin on so far. THe kids don't arrive till next thursday, so there's only about 25 staff here right now gettin the place set up. Oh yeah, i went to a canoe instructor training course about 2 hours from here just on the border of New Hampshire. It was help at an all girls camp and holy shit it was the most amazing place i have ever seen (besides pigface gully in rendelsham). We spent 4 days paddling around their lake and checking out little islands, and chasing beavers - those little bastards are quick! So i'm now an Amreican Canoe Association certified Canoe Instructor! Wow, with a title like that, i'm bound to go places! Maine is an awesome state, there is woods and lakes everywhere, not quite what you'd expect in america. I imagined everything to be industrialised and all the trees cut down etc... We had a run in with the law on our last night there too. Apparantly, your not allowed to drink underage here! And your not allowed to drink in public either! Crazy bloody americans, but we sweet talked them and they let us go.

Well i'm gonna cruise. Think a few of us are gonna take the canoes out and go fishing. We cranked up the new Malibu speed boat for the first time last night, and 5 minutes later we were back in shore and had to take a pommy guy to hospital to get stitches in his chin. Came off a little hard on the ski biscuit. Stupid pom.

Anyway, hope evryone is well. A few people said this page didn't work, so sorry if you can't read it. What a stupid thing to write, cos they obviously won't be able to read my apology either. Duh! I added a few photos too.The first one is a picture of a couple guys - one of which has amazing musical talent, and a big hit with the ladies, and the other guy is some elvis impersonator. The second photo is pretty obvious. The next is of one of the many creeks at the camp where i did my canoe training. And the last one is a picture of the best and most famous star on Hollywood Blvd. I'll add some photos of camp when its all set up. Hope everyone is doin well, keep the emails coming. Catchya!

Casey

0 flags, dammit