Where in the World is ChicaChan?

Tanzania: Surf, Safaris, and Sex

chicachan — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:11:00 GMT

Tanzania is really tourist friendly, which makes sense because it’s a very popular travel destination. I was super excited to visit the country that is known for Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, and the beautiful islands of Zanzibar. My expectations were met and then, more than surpassed.

Our first stop was Dar es Salaam. Coming from Kigali, we felt like true country bumpkins, oohing and ahhing at nice taxi cabs that aren’t falling apart and in which you can actually open and close the door yourself. Wow! And then, oooh…tall buildings! And ice scream stores! One memorable event was seeing and jumping into the Indian Ocean for the first time. After visiting a few lakes, I realize that lakes do not nearly match the ocean’s beauty and vastness. The ocean is incredibly beautiful. I couldn’t count how many shades of turquoise and blue there were!

And then off on a ferry to Zanzibar! Stonetown is the receiving town. The architecture with Islamic influences is impressive. We saw the old palaces of sultans. We also learned about a Zanzibar princess who escaped to marry a German diplomat. She had a couple of sons but after 3 short years, her husband died. What a tragic, romantic tale!

The food in Zanzibar is incredible! The best cultural experience was the night market. The night market is located in an alley of sorts between the old fort and the House of Wonders. Vendors were lined side-by-side, offering a plethora of mouth-watering food and drinks. Some of it was delightful (e.g. chapatti, beef kabobs, the best African spiced tea) and some of it wasn’t so great (e.g. spicy lobster, falafil). Niya and I ate to our hearts content, spending only $10 total between the two of us. Excellent food for cheap – what can possibly beat that??

The annoying thing about Zanzibar and in Stonetown, in particular, is the annoying touts. EVERYONE in the town walks up to you and talks to you. They all ‘just want to talk and be your friends’. It gets really annoying after awhile in that we resorted to yelling at them to leave us alone. Men are all over the place, trying to talk to you and telling you about how they know someone that can get you a special deal.

We went off to a spice farm and learned all about different spices and their plants. At the end, a boy was pleading to me for money, saying he needed money to further his schooling. Sometimes it’s easy for me to tune the sob story out, knowing that it’s impossible for one to help everyone. Begging isn’t sustainable and handouts from tourists will not last. However, I was really upset that I couldn’t help this boy more. I felt helpless. He saw me as a rich tourist. In fact, I’m probably worth less than him, considering my debt. The difference is that because I am from the developed world, I can get credit. I tried to block this young man out afterwards but I did not rest easy after that occurrence. It really bothered me….and it still does.

The age-old profession runs strong here. We certainly got a few propositions. At a club in Dar es Salaam, Garden Bistro, a woman went up to my friend on the dance floor, asking her what her price was, as her ‘friend’ was interested. Then on the beach in Nungwi, a Masai man went up to us, telling us he had something we would be interested in. He would show us a ‘sneak peek’, which he said with a suggestive smile. Ewwww – no thanks.

We then met our friends by Kilimanjaro. There was a group who went to trek up Mount Kilimanjaro. My friend and I opted out, as the trek is quite expensive (about $1200); we weren’t physically fit; and we didn’t have any gear with us. So we met them after their trek to do safaris at the Ngorongoro Crater and Tangire National Park. The safaris were amazing. To see these creatures in the wild is a stunning thing. It is a must-see. We saw lions, zebras, flamingoes, impalas, giraffes, elephants, wildebeests, hyenas, ostriches, hippos, impalas, baboons, and various birds.

What an amazing experience! Too bad we had to go right into the office right when we landed =( Reality bites!

GORILLA ATTACK!!

chicachan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 22:42:00 GMT

We paid $500 whopping dollars for gorilla trekking permits. This is the price for non-residents. Rwandese residents pay merely $30! We wanted to make the most of the trip by trekking the largest, hardest to get to gorilla family, the Susa. There are 39 gorillas part of this group! However, other people we talked to said it was easy to find and they only trekked 2 hours to find them. We hinted for our guide that we wanted to trek more and to go a more round about way.

Besides the 4 of us, there was a British father and his daughter who were living in Tanzania, a French-Lebanese-Brazilian woman who works at the World Bank, and a German visiting physics professor lecturing at the Kigali University.

Our expectation was a relatively easy day, trekking 2 hours. As we hiked higher and higher, we still hadn’t seen any gorillas. Our guide kept telling us, Oh it’ll be 40 minutes. An hour later, we would ask, how much longer. The response? In another hour! We were trekking uphill the entire time and in the jungle, ducking under branches, getting stung by nettles, trudging through the mud….It seemed like we were going to trek all the way to the summit of the mountain we were on! It was quite surreal as there were 2 military men with machine guns guarding us, one in the front and one trailing behind. We were climbing higher and higher. I was sweating through all my clothes like I had never sweated before. I was getting scraped up with the branches and the nettles. As we were nearing the top, one of the military men was actually making a path for us, whacking at the bush with his machete.

At last, we were at the launching point to where the gorillas were. No food, water bottles, or our backpacks were allowed near the gorillas. We weren’t permitted to even throw banana peels on the ground as the bananas had been handled and touched by humans. Gorillas are susceptible to human germs. In fact, if you are sick, you cannot go near the gorillas.

Finally, after FOUR hours of trekking uphill, we had come to the point to see these creatures and it was…as I can quite honestly say, simply AMAZING. They were larger than life. It’s incredible to see them up close with no bars or a cage between us. I saw a mother and the baby she was carrying for; I saw a silverback gorilla yawn; I saw the younger gorillas playfully rolling on the ground; and then I witnessed a gorilla attack. I was scared completely shitless. So, the way it happened, the number 1 gorilla, the head of the clan, got uncomfortablely close to our group. If the gorilla gets too close, we were warned, you should squat and pay deference to the gorilla as a sign of respect to his dominance. We all got down as number 1 was behind a bush right in front of us! It was quite nerve wracking as I could have reached out and touched him!

Then suddenly, one of the gorilla trackers was backing up from number 1. The gorilla tracker fell on the ground and then he picked himself up and ran! The gorilla went after him and then all of us went running off to squat. The gorilla screeched and went after him. I thought for sure the man was a goner and that he was being ripped from limb to limb.

Luckily, he was fine, thank God! The story was that the other gorillas crowded around the man. Number 1 even grabbed his arm but he recognized him as a regular tracker and waved off the other gorillas who were circling him!

Our guide was laughing at the tracker’s stupid move because he showed the fact that he was scared by running off and the gorillas thought that he was a threat. I’m glad he could laugh about it as I was still catching my breath from being scared out of my mind!

This was certainly a memory that I will never forget! We had to leave because the gorillas found us a threat by being associated with the stupid tracker! It was unfortunate because we didn’t spend that much time with the gorillas and we had trekked forever to reach them! We turned back to go down the mountain and thank goodness, it didn’t take much time to go down although it was strenuous on the quads and the knees. I was dying with pain with all the pressure on the legs. We also didn’t bring enough water or snacks with us as we weren’t expecting to be trekking for long. Instead of 2 hours, it turned out to be nearly 8 hours! It was all worth it as we got the trek we wanted (and then some!) and got to spend time with these incredible creatures.

Venturing into the true Heart of Darkness, the Congo!

chicachan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:17:00 GMT

Joe, Niya, Laura, and I took the 3-hour bus to Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, by the DR Congo border the following weekend. It was absolutely beautiful and we stayed at this adorable bungalow hotel right by the lake. Best of all, it was only $40/night for a double. A wonderful treat is the breakfast. Served out by a dock in the lake, it consisted of an omelet, fresh fruit cup, crepes, and coffee/tea. The hotel also has amazingly, fresh tilapia. It also has it’s own private beach! It’s wonderful!

There’s not much to see or do in Gisenyi besides lounging around by the lake. We had decided and undecided to go to Goma in the DR Congo many times, going back and forth. The safety of Goma is always in question with the presence of rebels there. Fortunately for us, a co-worker was spending the day there and had connections. He said it was fine and safe since he had been there many times. So we ventured into the scary Congo with him. What little that we did see was enough to realize that it is dark, bleak, and depressing. A volcano had erupted there in 2002 and had decimated the town. Lava rocks are everywhere and there is hardly any greenery there whatsoever. There are many UN trucks and peacekeeping soldiers there that it was the closest thing that I have felt to a war zone. You could feel the oppression and tension in the air in Goma. It’s a good thing we went with Jean Mattieu as we would have no idea where to go in town. In fact, all we did was wait for his friend at a really nice hotel right by the border, drive through town, and then end up at a swanky restaurant and had a nice lunch by the water. We all crammed in a car with 3 in the front and 5 in the back! We would not have been able to do this in Rwanda as you are only allowed 6 in a car but in the Congo, anything goes. One man on the street screamed at Joe in Swahili, “I am going to beat you up!”. Joe just casually yelled back, “Don’t beat me up!”.

I’m glad we got to go into the DR Congo for a bit just to see what it was all about but I would not go back there, at least, not back to Goma. In fact, Goma is expensive. The presence of the U.N. and other expats jacks up prices. It was also strange that US dollars are more readily accepted than Rwandan francs! We actually had to pay more for visas since we didn’t have enough USD on us. In any case, it was a sigh of relief crossing the border back into Rwanda.

As mentioned in a previous post, getting by without cash is incredibly hard to come by with no international ATM’s and with not accepting credit cards. We really learned our lesson, as after the $40/each visa that we all had to pay, we had little to no money left. What a struggle and an embarrassment as we had to borrow money from Jean Mattieu! Our money became communal money with every last franc or dollar was already accounted and budgeted to get us back to Kigali. We couldn’t even hit the local club because we didn’t have enough money for transport. In the end, it worked out but just barely! We ended up taking a crowded matatu with incredibly uncomfortable seats. My ass was dying at the end but we were home, sweet, home =)

“Resting” in Kigali

chicachan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:30:00 GMT

I was happy to stay in Kigali the second weekend in Africa after multiple trips throughout Europe and then traveling to Uganda right after landing in Africa. The weekend wasn’t as restful as I had hoped as that Friday night we danced the night away at “The New Cadillac”. It’s always so interesting going out in a foreign country. It’s such a great glimpse into the local culture. This was no exception. The club was cheesy with its neon bright lights everywhere. Clubs don’t get hopping until midnight. Rwandese love to dance! They go nuts to every song. The music was interesting – a mix of dance songs that are familiar and then some fun, upbeat mix of local/African dance music. We saw the old, European men with hot, local women. One really interesting note is that men here are very affectionate here. And no, they are not homosexual. There isn’t that taboo of males touching other men that American men seem to harbor. You see men holding each other’s hands. You also see them grinding on the dance floor!

The following day was spent walking around town and exploring. At a bookshop, I learned through a children’s book, that diarrhea is a common cause of death among children in Africa and that is because of dehydration.

That night, we were then invited to a house party. Another great way to get to know the locals…well, that is, the local expats. I met a ton of Americans at the party that were working at the U.S. Embassy, USAID, and so many other NGO’s. I was amazed by how many Americans were in Kigali, of all places! I met a South African who was running a mine in Ruhengeri. He had never been out of Africa. His name is G. So, I asked him what it stood for. He said, nothing. His dad was just lazy and just decided to name him a letter. Wow, what a dad! To go along with ‘G’, I also met a man nicknamed ‘X’.

Rainy Sundays are perfect for visiting the museum! I visited the Kigali Memorial Center, a.k.a. the Genocide Museum. The definition of genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction of an entire people who belong to one racial, political, cultural or religious group." Before arriving in Rwanda, I knew next to nothing about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, except that the acclaimed movie, “Hotel Rwanda”, is based on the events. I strongly recommend this museum or visiting a museum of this nature. It was incredibly educational of how the events leading and during the genocide unfolded. Basically, the Rwandan genocide was the result of tribal divisions between the Hutus and the Tutsis. It stemmed from the Belgian colonization when in order to control the country, took advantage of tribal differences. Although the Hutus were the majority, the Belgians favored the Tutsi for top government positions. They enforced the Rwandans to note on ID cards to which tribe they were from. The resentment of one tribe towards the other built up over decades, even after independence, in which the Hutus felt the need to retaliate, unfortunately leading to a genocide of the Tutsi's and moderate Hutus. It's unbelieveable how brutal the killings were. It definitely is sobering being in Rwanda, thinking about what happened 14 years ago. Kigali has been a city of rebirth since then with new construction everywhere.

The museum also did an incredible job of personalizing the events. I was left to tears at many points of the exhibit. It focused on the Rwandan genocide, but it also chronicled several other genocides, some of them my history classes never covered. I felt really ignorant of certain genocides, such as the Armenian genocide, at the hands of the Turks, at the beginning of the 20th century. Thousands were cast off into the desert to starve to death. It made me understand that governments can conveniently keep their populations in the dark about certain situations.

Today, one is not a Tutsi or Hutu but the emphasis is being Rwandan. With the memorial being an example, they accept the genocide as part of their history so that they and others can learn from it and not make the same mistakes in letting these atrocities occur again.

T.I.A.

chicachan — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:08:00 GMT

T.I.A. means “This is Africa”. When you stumble across some gross inefficiency or feel intense frustration with systems or processes, this is when you declare “T.I.A.!!”

The few things that I’ve been dealing with where I have felt ‘T.I.A.”:

CASH
• Not being able to use my ATM card here (plus you can only exchange US dollars, UK pounds, and EU euros, making Rwanda tourist-unfriendly)

ELECTRICITY/INTERNET
• The electricity going off at least once a day and you never know for how long. The office just recently got a generator so that should help things
• Or, like today, the electricity is on but the Internet service has been cut off because they think we didn’t pay the bill, even though we did. So now we have to prove that we did, in fact, pay. In the meanwhile, I’ve been doing squat waiting around for the Internet and for other people to finish up some stuff before going to the VolCon house to use the Internet there. Then, we also have to pick-up lunch because there isn’t enough food there. Anyway, by the time I actually get access to Internet, the whole day has been wasted. Today is soooooooooo T.I.A!!!! The funny thing is that I got more consistent Internet access when I was living in a remote village in Guatemala.

WEATHER
• It rains at least once a day and it is usually a downpour. But just like the electricity, you never know how long it will last
• The weather changing throughout the day. It’s usually cool in the mornings; then super hot and sunny during the afternoon; and then a bit chilly in the evenings.
• Two things that are essential: an umbrella and a scarf

LANGUAGE
• French and Kinyarwanda are widely spoken with some English so this has been challenging at times when trying to communicate with the taxi driver!

TRANSPORTATION
• I take a taxi EVERYWHERE I go. Usually I split it with a friend but it costs between $3-4

…and the most important…
FOOD
• I knew that adjusting to the food would be a challenge. It’s not so bad, really. The only this…
• SLOW service. It usually takes HOURS to get food. This is similar to “island time”. Sheesh! This is very painful when I am starving to begin with and by the time I actually get the food, I pounce on it!
• There is some tough, tough chicken so I’ve tended to stay away from chicken. I also had an allergic reaction to eating tilapia with mushroom sauce at the hotel restaurant. While I was eating it, my throat starting constricting and then I started sneezing like crazy!
• Between eating the tough chicken covered in a thick curry sauce and nearly dying from the tilapia, I’ve stuck to spaghetti Bolognese when I eat at the hotel
• Two things that are new to me: eating goat and Ethiopian food. Goat is a little tough but in a kabob it’s been pretty tasty. Ethiopian food is just delicious! I can’t believe I didn’t eat it before, knowing that there are a few restaurants in Chicago.

Before I got to Africa, I was worried that I would get deathly ill, contract a disease, get into a car accident, or any number of horrible things. I really didn’t think that I could face being in a deadly earthquake! Last Sunday, when I was at the lake, earthquakes struck the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Rwanda. I didn’t feel it at all as I was in a canoe on the lake. My friends that were on the island at the time felt some shimmers. It was sweet that I received a few concerned messages about whether or not I was OK.

Sunday night I was at a friend’s place, watching ‘Atonement’ (which was an excellent film by the way) when some of my friends received text messages to get out of the house at 10PM because there was going to be an earthquake. Shortly thereafter, we received texts saying that it was a hoax. It was humorous as we were thinking, uhm how can you predict an earthquake?? Anyway, a friend of Paul’s called him saying that her hotel was being evacuated and no one was allowed in the hotel between 10PM and midnight.

T.I.A. with a shoulder shrug.

Living as a Refugee

chicachan — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:55:00 GMT

The joke at the office is that the ones who are now in Kigali that was supposed to be in Nairobi are ‘refugees’. Haha.

I’ve been in Kigali for almost 2 weeks and it’s been a whirlwind! The first day at the office and within literally, FIFTEEN minutes, the following occurred:
• Introduction to everyone in the office
• Found out I’m going to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, for a conference
• Asked if I wanted to go away to Kabale, Uganda for weekend….I had no idea what that was but who cares? I had barely arrived in Rwanda and now, I was already going to another new country. Hell yeah, I’ll go!
• Then…I was whisked away to go with a group to the countryside to visit farmers
• WHOA!!

Since I arrived the night before, I didn’t see squat. But driving 2 hours to the countryside, it was thrilling to see the beautiful landscape, the villages, the houses, the people. We went to visit some land right by the Tanzanian border. I got to meet the local farmers who were super friendly and very curious about seeing ‘muzungu’ or ‘foreigner’. The kids were adorable as they hammed it up for our cameras. Check out the pictures.

The next day, I was actually in the office, learning about all I had to do in the next few weeks. It was quite overwhelming! I don’t think I’d been in this kind of working environment, like ever. The week was over as Friday was a holiday ☺ Not bad -- after 1 full day in the office, I get to go off on a weekend getaway already!

Kabale was a few hours across the border which entailed a taxi to the bus station, a ‘matatu’ or ‘public mini-van’ to the border; then a taxi to a dock; and then a motor boat ride to the island. The island?! We were staying in rustic cottages on an island in the middle of Lake Bunyoni. It is exceptionally spectacular and after seeing how my pictures turned out, extremely photogenic. The water is incredibly clear. So much so, that the water would reflect images of the landscape.

The food on the island was pretty good but since supplies were reliant on transport from the mainland, there was always some ingredient missing for the meal.

I hadn’t gone camping in awhile and we were a bit ill-equipped. We fumbled in the dark without flashlights trying to get back to our cottage. We did have playing cards though. One night we played Cheat which is a version of BS and quite fun. The kicker is that you don’t have to go around the circle in order; you can put the same card, 1 up or 1 down. Our group was notorious for cheating and no one could win after several hours.

Saturday night, we took 2 dugout canoes and paddled our way to the shore. A guide took us for a hike through various hills. It was a beautiful, pleasant day. Children from all the villages would come running up to us, screaming ‘How are YOU?!’. It was fun seeing the fascination on their faces. One of our teacher friends in the group taught a group of kids ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ song. That was quite fun to watch.

By mid-day we were back on the island and after lunch, I lounged by this dock with this AMAZING view. I didn’t dare jump into the lake because who knows what’s in there, ready to bite or borough into you?!

After an alcohol-filled night, playing ‘Psychiatrist’ and ‘I Never Ever…’, I spent the next morning, trying to navigate a canoe. It was quite a struggle but we finally managed to get to Punishment Island. It’s a tiny, desolate island with one, singular tree. In the past, single pregnant women would be cast-off to this island. How torturous!

All in all, it was a great weekend, especially being the first weekend in Africa! I can’t wait to see what other adventures await!

Briefly in Brussels

chicachan — Tue, 5 Feb 2008 05:35:00 GMT

I had to stay in Brussels for one night before catching my flight to Rwanda the next morning. How I loved TAP Portugal when they told me I could check-in to my Rwandan flight from Lisbon and check my bags all the way to Rwandan. I have to say, the food and drinks on TAP Portugal are great and you don’t even have to pay for it! Good stuff!

Luckily, I have another business school friend who lives in Brussels that I could crash with. Yay! I could probably not afford to jet off to this many places without having places to stay at. Oriol has been living in Brussels since last April. I was going straight to his flat where his landlord was going to let me into his flat as he had a Dutch class. Great, no problem. I took the train and metro easily to his place. Yet when I arrived no one would answer any of the buzzers. Darn it! I managed to get in and figure out which one was Oriol’s flat but I figured I would have an hour and half before Oriol would arrive. Thanks to a really nice Ecuadorian woman who lived in the flat below, I stayed in her flat reading Oriol came. I was really at her mercy!

Finally Oriol arrived looking for me, confused as to why I ended up hanging out with this woman. We went off to a restaurant to get dinner and drinks. It was perfect meeting up with Oriol as he had lived in Kenya for 2 years. He shared his experiences from living there. He loved it so much that he really wanted to return to Africa. It was comforting to hear about his feedback on Africa in preparation of my trip the next day!

I was freaking out a bit as the moment had finally arrived! I was going to catch a plane to Rwanda! There were no more stops left in Europe and the reality of going to Africa was here! I still can’t believe the surreal feeling! It was the same feeling I had before I moved to Barcelona or before going to Guatemala for an internship – the fear of the unknown; the excitement of traveling somewhere completely new and different; the anxiety of starting something new.

Here we goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Gallery: Hen Party in Lisboa!

chicachan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:54:00 GMT

A Sloth in Portugal

chicachan — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:26:00 GMT

The next stop was Lisbon, Portugal where I celebrated good friend from business school, Claudia’s impending nuptials with 8 other chicas. Besides partying it up with some of my really good friends and eating excellent food, the best part of my stay was The Sheraton Hotel & Spa. I made full use of the hotel. I luxuriated in the beautiful rooms; indulged in a massage; relaxed in the sauna and whirlpool; and napped in the cabana rooms by the outdoor pool. I was in heaven. Between checking in Friday at 1PM and checking out on Sunday at 4PM, I hardly left the hotel except for going out in the evenings! Other amenities included a breakfast buffet in their lobby and a wonderful panoramic bar at the top of the hotel. If you are going in Lisbon, you must stay in this hotel!!! The other girls did walk around and see Lisbon. Luckily I had been to Lisbon already and between hangovers and jet lag, I was more than happy to skip the tour and fully enjoy the hotel. I was, after all, going to Africa for 3 months! I felt it was justly deserved :). It was an amazing deal, too – 145 euros for a deluxe double when normally the rate is 400 euros!!

Ok, I’ll stop gushing about the hotel for a moment to mention highlights from the trip. Friday night we went to this awesome restaurant called Olivier’s. You have to tell them to stop or they will keep coming out of the kitchen with plate after plate of magnificent food. I can’t remember what I ate but whatever it was, it was excellent. Then it was into Barrio Alto in search of a karaoke bar at the bachelorette's request. Mission accomplished. Amidst the teenagers, Claudia sang her heart out to Shakira. She had some stiff competition from a skinny teenaged boy who shook his hips in a way that Shakira would be proud of. The next Portuguese Idol can seriously be found at this bar!!

Saturday evening, Ana had the fabulous idea to surprise us all with a pole dancing class! The teacher broke out the 5-inch silver stripper platform heels and then proceeded to show us the way to sensual dancing. It’s a lot harder than it looks! We had too much fun as the class culminated into a whole choreographed scene that starts from the wall, on to the pole, and finishes off spectacularly on a chair. We had a chance to show off our moves at the Lux nightclub where we drank and danced the night away!

It was time to say good-bye to all of the girls on Sunday evening =( Ana was kind enough to house me for an evening and we had dinner with her brother and his family. On Monday I had a couple hours before catching a flight and I FINALLY got to walk around Lisbon. The sloth had to come out of hiding at some point ☺

But first, a few European stops

chicachan — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:53:00 GMT

En route to Rwanda, it is impossible to not pass over Europe so of course I had to make a few trips. Boy, am I packing it in! First off, I went to London for 2 days for a quickie visit. I got to see my former flatmate in Barcelona, Lindy!! Yippee! I got to see her lovely pad which is really Francisºs house. Itºs so cute by the Clapham Common.

I digress for a bit...I find it so funny the different way we Americans pronounce words from the Brits. In the U.S., Clapham would be "Claph-am" versus the Brits´ way of "Clap-ham". Or, "Streath-am" versus "Streat-ham". It is so funny how much better sounding the Brits say things and then also how often we misunderstand each other because of little nuances like that! My Chicago friend Chris, who has been living in London for the last 2+ years, and I giggled last night over how differently we say various words like "water" (Brits : wha-tah). I will never ever know how to pronouce "Leicester Square". ARGH!

Anyway, so the real reason I was in London was that I had an interview. Yes, a real live interview! So exciting because the few interviews I have had in the last year have been really few and really far between! My good friend Joanne, the crazy Irish, called me up one day last month and cries, "I got you a job!!!". She works at Credit Suisse and there was a position working with being this charity´s champion at the bank, motivating employees to donate and to set up activities. So why did I go to an interview when I´m already committed to going to Africa for 3 months?? Good question. I wanted to check things out to see if I would be interested in this type of position in the future and to see if this organization would like me, too. In the end, it was a great experience. I got to practice interviewing and they really asked some tough questions. Face to face time with the CEO and the head of marketing. It also felt nice to defend my skills and experience. In the end, I didnºt get it. They said I was very capable but I didnºt have the 2 central skills required out of the job, namely fundraising and event planning. Iºm glad I went. As I now I know what kind of charities are out there, what they are looking for, and what I can offer. Itºs tough out there when you donºt exactly match what they are looking for! But I never have to wonder what-if.

Oh, the charity is called The Place 2Be and I think they are doing a really great thing. They set up these centers at schools for kids to drop in whenever they feel like it to talk about anything. Itºs basically counselling without the stigma associated with it. How great! The U.S. really needs this sort of thing so that there arenºt so many damn shootings! The point is to get to at-risk kids before the damage is done later. Brilliant!

It was a whirlwind 2 days where I was pretty much out of it most of time, trying to get over jet lag. Now, Iºm in location #2 completely destroyed. I stayed up all night, having dinner and drinks, and hanging out all night until my early morning flight (6AM!!). Now I canºt get into my hotel room so I canºt have that desperately needed shower and SLEEP. Wahhhhhh!!!

What Was Cool:

Fish! by London Bridge. Has fantastic, oh so yummy fresh seafood!! And a great toffee pudding! A really beautiful modern structure and a great view of a beautifully lit cathedral.
OXO Tower in the South Bank of the Thames. Great view for drinks!
Green Tomato Cars is an environmentally friendly private car service. Better for the environment AND it costs less than those black cabs.

Trip at Risk

chicachan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:20:00 GMT

I love to tell people where I am off to next. I pause ever so slightly for dramatic effect and then quite excitedly, I say "....AFRICA!". I await the stunned silence and shock, "Um...huh? What?".

Me: "Yes, I am going to Africa!"

Stunned person: "But..why?"

I was quite stunned myself when I first got the e-mail this past November about going to East Africa. Whoa, that is serious biz-nass! I didn't know anything about Africa. Quite honestly, I am scared shitless about the idea of going there. I knew I would make my way there eventually but this soon, like in January?! Soon I realized that the idea of it made me incredibly nervous, scared, but excited at the sametime. I knew I had to go for it. I am not one to pass up on an opportunity like this!

So, what is this opportunity? It is with this organization called TechnoServe (check it out http://www.technoserve.org). It's been around since the 1960's. It used to focus on technology on helping the poor. Since then it has evolved into utilizing business solutions. A lot of what they do is agricultural focused (e.g. coffee, tea, cashews, etc) and recently, business plan competitions. The projects have been in Latin America and Africa mostly. More to come about what I'll do exactly later.

Well, I was suppose to go to Nairobi, Kenya. I was actually suppose to be there already - January 14th in fact. If you've been keeping up with current news, you'd know that Kenya has broken out into disarray with ethnic violence between tribes because of a disputed presidential election held on December 27th. It is such a shame because it had become known as one of the most stable countries in East Africa and it was enjoying economic growth. I was quite stunned, again, but for a different tragic reason, in how quickly that peace had deteriorated.

I was in Vancouver following the news everyday, hoping that there would be some magical resolution that would quickly erase what had been happening in Kenya. Surely, Kibaki and Odinga would realize that their conflict was putting the present and future state of Kenya at risk and they would do something about it!! Alas, 2 weeks later, attempts at international mediation have been unsuccessful and new violence has broken out. I'm really sad about it. A country with so much promise had just fallen prey to the same corruption and violence that its neighbors had.

I was really looking forward to being in Nairobi and Kenya. I had either made contacts or had potential contacts there that I was excited about tapping into. It's amazing how far networking can reach in this world. I had the link, the portal to jump right in and really learn about the local culture!!

What was to become of my project and my trip to Kenya?! The plan of diving into the heart of darkness was seeming less and less likely. Was it going to get canceled? If so, what was I going to do?! Panic, uncertainty, and worry just invaded my thoughts.

The senior manager from Nairobi called. Oh, this is a good sign. Or, is he calling me to cancel the project??

Then....relief!! The project is still on but as a precautionary measure, all new "VolCons" (a.k.a. volunteer consultants) will go to Kigali, Rwanda while the project monitors Nairobi and Kenya to determine if it is safe enough to go.

Me (gulping): RWANDA?!!