Living the Adventure!

Zanzibar

veti — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:48:00 GMT

Zanzibar

Stone Town is a mishmash of Arabic/Swahili/Rustafarian cultures squished into a little portside town that constantly smells like fish. People are friendly, extra so if you’re a Mzungu girl, but everyone is made to feel welcome. We stayed at the Princess Salame Inn, a cosy little hotel with 10 rooms, so you really do get the personalised services. Breakfast is served on the rooftop terrace overlooking the harbour, pleasant once you get used to the smell of decaying fish. The staff, although a little forward when it comes to asserting their inclinations towards you, are sincere. I have a rather sweet souvenir from the receptionist, a note cut into the shape of a heart proclaiming his love for me, even though we had only just met. Sweet but a very African thing I have found.

I visited the ruins of the palace of the last Zanzibarian sultan, Although it had burnt down, and is now being rebuilt, the remains were sufficient in highlighting the lifestyle of the “Goodlife King”. It housed his 99wives/slaves on weekends and holidays, the remainder of the time they were split between any number of his various residences. The palace included 3 huge outside bathing pools, from which the sultan would pick 6 of his wives out of the 99 who were swimming naked, the six would feed and wash, massage and entertain the sultan before ’jiggy jiggy’. Hence the local men regarding him as the ’goodlife king’.

There are no beaches in Stonetown with the nearest being a number of kilometres away, so swimming during the first week was reserved for special occasions, even though temperatures were in the high 30’s.

“Sauti a Busara”, (the direct translation is ’sounds of wisdom’) the music festival I went to see while in Zanzibar was the most incredible thing. The venue, a somewhat dilapidated fort, encapsulated the spirit of the music and the people perfectly. Thousands of people from all over the world went to experience East africas best music and entertainment, the headlining act was an incredible woman aged 112, who sang and played the bongos. Her secret to a long and happy life, drinking and smoking weed everyday. A true rusta woman! The fort, located in Stone Town, housed the festival for 5 days, of which we were present for 4, before it moved to a beach on the northern end of the island, where we followed. Grant, my WYI travelling partner and I met so many people, among the most memorable were 2 aussie girls and a number of boys from Lamu (Kenyan Coast). We spent most of our time with this group and had a crazy time. The boys had interesting names… coconut, coffee, Jamaica, government, umy (Hahahah Shaz that ones for you) but they are the most interesting, genuine and beautiful people. I miss them all. Shaz and Gemma, both made a huge impact on our trip, Gem’s drinking games were a hit, Shaz’s “lets go swimming… lets swim… are u ready to swim now?… ok lets go… swimming now!” and the boys constant entertainment are dearly missed.

I spent Valentines day in Stone Town, Grant and I had only each other to console. We spent the evening wandering the night markets eating calamari and chicken and a big bread roll/small loaf of bread. Disappointing and uneventful but not unpleasant.

After four days in Stone Town we opted for the quiet beachside town of Nungwi, the most breathtaking place I have ever been. The water is crystal clear and resembles the colour of a swimming pool in the deep sections, and is the temperature of a luke warm bath at all times of the day and night.

Nungwi is the home of a million rasta men. Every second person has dredlocks and you can buy weed or gunja off every other person. Lifestyle is what counts there, nobody works too hard but everyone parties hard. Truly is paradise. We spent the days lounging by the ocean, sipping cocktails, having massages, and swimming. And the evenings strolling along the beach, eating dinner on the sand and sitting around bonfires. Zanzibarian beach parties are incredible. Many a nights we stayed out until sunrise then walked along the beach home.

We stayed at Union Beach Bungalows, grant and I shared a room that was not much further than 10steps from the ocean. Gemma and Shaz stayed at the same place so the day generally played out as follows: sleeping til 8:30 (exceptfor Gemma who would generally sleep til midday), breakfast with Shaz and Grant in the beachside restaurant (by beachside I mean on the beach, it literally was on the beach… I struggled with getting the chairs stable on the sand), then a few hours of swimming and sun baking then by 11:30am it was time for cocktails/massages/a good book, then lunch in the local market place, (Gem waking up and joining the fun), more swimming/sunbaking/walking on the beach/more cocktails, sunset, dinner, drinks around the bonfire, then drinking till, a boat ride to a local beach party, traditional Swahili entertainment or a game of pool with the beach masai (which grant and I won!)

On my return to Nairobi, even though I was sick there was a rather large gathering… the drop off to the bus station when returning to Kisumu was rather embarrassing… the boys surprised me with roses for valentines day (a few days late but it was very sweet of them to do so) then we took photos… me with each one individually, then some wanted a do over, then groups photos with me then with out me, then each of the boys posing with the roses… very much a spectacle! But it was really lovely to have people around when your missing home. The bus ride was long and tiresome, the roads are so bumpy that even I couldn’t manage to sleep for very long.

And I have been sick for just over a month now… so my fear of public toilets is completely gone. And I have spent more time than I care to remember in and out of hospitals. Sickness has become part of my life. But I am getting tired of it. Home is looking more and more attractive.

Anyway I am off to do some washing. I have run out of cothes ad am at school tomorrow. Even though there is no dress code I think it would be a problem if I turned up naked.

Blink blink blink, I miss u and I love u.

Love love love, I miss u and hope you had a good birthday.

I miss everyone else and would love to hear from you all.

V xoxo

Life in Kenya!

veti — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:09:00 GMT

It has been a while. Sorry. I finally started at school… instead of teaching at Argwin’s where I had thought I would be going I have ended up at Mwadi Primary school. It’s about 40mins walk from the compound. But it’s a beautiful walk especially in the morning when the sun is fresh. The school is small and well resourced compared to many other local schools, it has concrete floors, a water pump and some text books. Not ideal but the kids are amazing and very willing to have a novice mzungu teacher! I have 3 classes a day, (according to the timetable but the other teachers seem to get lazy when I’m around so I end up with triple and double classes teaching stuff I know nothing about, but its kind of fun.) each class has about 65 students. Challenging but fun. Behaviour management… referred to as “oh that… take a stick into class and you wont have a problem with them” is problematic. Its uncomfortable but as yet I have only had to threaten 1 student with being sent to the mean teacher… who I have managed to palm off my behaviour management issues to! I am teaching English, social studies and creative arts. I have managed to get hold of the syllabus for 2 classes, as of yet the school cannot find the English syllabus… which is a little troubling. But I am enjoying it. Teachers are on strike at the moment. It is now the second week. The last strike lasted for a month. So hopefully I will be back from Zanzibar before school is even back. My principal warned me not to go near the school during the strike, it is taken very seriously here and he said I would very likely get beaten. And there have been protests, which are illegal in Kenya, even though the government is not paying wages to those teachers who are on strike, which is pretty much the entire population of public school teachers in Kenya. So the teachers walk down the street with placards and sing and the police come with tear gas and machine guns. No one has been killed yet to my knowledge but more than 300 have been arrested, countless numbers have been beaten in the streets and even more have been shot at. It is something that cannot be believed until it is witnessed. Tear gas is painful, even from 300m away. So I can imagine how it must feel when your in the centre of things. Its truly horrible to see teacher peacefully protesting for a grand total of AU$80 extra per year, then seeing the police open fire in the middle of town. Everyone scatters. The screams have stayed with me.

Obama’s inauguration is a big deal here. Obviously. Some of the group managed to get their photos in the paper, and some footage was given to channel 9 for their coverage. Overall it was a pretty amazing day. I haven’t seen so many people in the same t-shirts in one place before. Kogelo, Obamas fathers rural home was the place to be. Words cannot explain the reaction when Obama mentioned “the smallest village where my father is from” hahhahaha it was intense. Crazy crazy day. Anther interesting, obama related newspaper article has surfaced alleging that mzungu (white) women are now coming to Kenya in order to have an obama baby… fair enough assuption I guess, the interesting bit was the photo that accompanied the article was of one of the Australian volunteers standing with a Kenyan friend of ours and they appeared to be swapping numbers… the headline read something like “Mzungu women trying conceive an obama baby”. It has been a talking point here at white house headquarters for a while now!

World Youth International hosted a medical camp, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Maranda. We treated some where between 300-500 people. Each for the equivalent of 10cents for children and 40cents for adults. All the medicine was free. We had 7 doctors and 5 nurses. I took blood pressure and temperatures all day, with the guidance of Jen. Every person had to have their weight, age, name, BP and pulse, and or temperature recorded before they could see a doctor. It was definitely an eye opening experience. A woman aged 45 only weighing 39kgs, kids with temps over 41degrees Celsius and people so sick they could hardly talk/walk/breath. Frantically busy day, and one not to be forgotten. I took the people living at the Whitehouse out in Kisumu, it was a Sunday night but we all had a really good time. We spent the morning at the markets, bargaining up a storm then went swimming all afternoon. The girls had an interesting time at a dodgy salon before going out for dinner. Jen came off the worst after the salon and unfortunately with her accompanying black eye, she was definitely an attraction that night. Dinner was lovely at the Grillhouse, you can never go wrong with fish in Kisumu. Then we checked out tamiez then the Bottoms Up Club at Octopus. It turned into a good night, there were only a handful of other people around and we all danced up a storm… I think Renae was at home in front of the mirrored wall! Ahahahhaha it was a funny night. We were all in bed by 1:30am but it was a successful Sunday night. My tok tok, a motorbike with a cabin attached (sorry that’s a really bad description. I will try to put a photo up next week so it makes more sense.) collided with a boda boda, a bicycle with a seat on the back for a passenger on the way to dinner, I am bruised but otherwise fine. It was lucky the boda boda man had seen it coming or it would have been worse! Jen and I spent Australia Day at the salon having our hair braided, manicures and pedicures. I had forgotten how tiring being in a group can be and I think that we both just needed a break, so while the others went to meet the OAP team in Odede we came back to Mutumbu. The peace is refreshing.

The next few weeks is going to be insane. On the 30th we are all (20+ mzungus) going to Lake Navaisha for a few days, then on the 4th of February I am going white water rafting in Jinga then to Kampala for a bit of a look around then on the 11th I am off to Zanzibar and wont be returning to the White House until the 22nd. It is very exciting.

SO since I wrote (but did not post the last entry) I have been busy.

Navaisha was amazing. Despite the bus driver forgetting to let 25 people off the bus at the right spot and the walk along the highway until we could find enough vehicles to take us into town, I had an excellent time. Some of the girls and I, spent the morning walking the 20km to the lake to see the hippos, who were relaxing in the water about 2meters from where the local women were hanging out their washing, and the flamingos. It was a lovely walk we shared the road with cars, buses, motorbikes, boda bodas, monkeys, giraffes and zebras, as well as the occasional warthog family. It really is something to see baboons, babies as well, playing chicken with the cars and buses!! It was really uncomfortable being with so many mzungus, I guess I have gotten used to being the minority again, but it was really good to catch up with everyone. The second night we had a big one involving, tequila with a man named Cheg-ge, a bonfire, boisterous hippos, being caught skinny dipping and lots and lots of story telling. Over all we had a pretty good time.

White water rafting in Jinga has probably been the best/craziest/scariest/most exhilarating thing I have ever done! I seriously nearly crapped myself when I saw where we would be going but I kept it together and had an amazing time! The first afternoon we where in Jinga we met some local kids aged between 6-10 who regularly swim in the rapids and give mzungu’s log rides, literally on a log. So after braving the cold water and finding my confidence I went for a whirl with some of the other volunteers, it looked scarier than it was and once I had done it I couldn’t get enough. The morning of rafting we were picked up early on a truck where I finally got to ride on the back, we were taken for breakfast and met the crew that would be looking after us for the day, fitted with safety gear (well we were supposed to be fitted but I wasn’t) then taken to the river. It was the river Nile I might add! So we jumped on the boasts and headed down stream where we did close to 40km of paddling/rapid surviving! Juma, our guide was a very funny man and thought it would be entertaining to do our practice run on an actual rapid, so instead of using the flat, open water to practice flipping, falling out and getting back in, like the other boats did we found our selves being thrown out on an actual rapid. Everyone of us thought we were going to die. I drank about a litre of the Nile in the first flip. Once we had all been dragged in alive it was hilarious but I seriously prayed to god because I thought I was gonna die! The day pretty much progressed the same way. It was so much fun that I cannot wait to go again and have already planned the next trip! Most rapids were insanely scary to look at but the only time I seriously questioned what the hell I was doing there was when Juma said hold on and don’t let go because if you do you could be sucked under for over a minute and there are crocodiles in the water! I don’t think I have ever held anything as tight in my life. There were numerous minor injuries, I got hit in the back with a paddle, there were cuts and grazes and bruises and lots of sunburn, but it was well worth it! I loved it!

As for now, I am off to Nairobi tomorrow night. Then to Zanzibar on Thursday. I am very excited!

That’s all I have right now.

Blink blink blink. I love u. And hope ur arm is ok now.

Love love love. I love u too. And hope the move is going well. I miss u. And for everyone else. I am missing you all terribly. V xoxox

The Holiday Season!

veti — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 17:37:00 GMT

So alot has happened since i last wrote....

Tina and Joe: Horrible home invasion involving being drugged and tided up but thank God that was it. Most things were stolen.... including my new GHD but the important thing is that no one was seriously hurt and that everything that was stolen is replaceable. They were both in hospital but were released and thankfully only felt tired. Although Tina doesn’t want to go back to her house... i don’t blame her, being woken in the middle of the night by strange men with pangas is pretty horrible and traumatising.

Christmas: Kenyan Christmases are very different to those in Australia... I’m glad i have experienced going out Christmas Eve with everyone from kisumu (ksm) and dancing till 5am then beginning to celebrate in line for a cab... well the Kenyan equivalent anyway. No presents are exchanged... except from me of course! But everyone is happy to spend time together and it was definitely fun! For most Kenyans the day revolves around food... dining times are referred to as ‘the main thing’, and people roam around looking for food. It was seriously like a pilgrimage from one house to another (it was all organised so we were expected) chasing food... not just a little food but a banquet, chicken, turkey, beef, goat, you name it, it was there. And it is considered rude to enter a house and not take anything to eat. So for the people who know me the best would know that I am very picky with my food, so this didn’t suit me at all, so I spent most of the day dodging plates of food and palming off ‘gifts’. The people here are the most generous people I have ever met. Even though most don’t have very much to give, they give without hesitation. It really is beautiful.

It was Ronnie’s birthday on the 25^th also, which involved the traditional Kenyan custom of washing... pouring water (or beer because we were in a club) over him until he was saturated... very entertaining to watch but dangerous to be around when everyone gets involved! Luckily I was far enough away from him to avoid the mess. Tina’s friend from Nairobi was also with us on Christmas Eve and it was her birthday too but instead of washing her she got a cake... which fell to the floor and exploded when she was trying to cut it. Luckily (or unluckily) someone scraped it back together and amazingly it was all eaten! Even though I'm sure it had bits of glass and dirt in it! Horrible stuff!

Boxing day was a bit of a blur... there was food. There is always food. We travelled to Tina's rural home, out towards Maseno. The house is on an amazing piece of land, on the side of a hill looking over the valley. There was more food and alcohol. I spent the better part of the day chasing Sophie (Tina’s niece, aged 5) around the place and playing games with the kids. I was in my element. The difference in temperature is incredible. During the day in Ksm I seriously feel like I am melting, its disgusting, I sweat in the shower even if its a cold one, actually its worse if the water is cold because I feel hot when I'm out of it!, I sweat in bed, in the rain, all day and all night, everywhere I go I sweat! But during the night in the country it is freezing. I literally was wrapped in a woollen blanket and was still cold! But it is such a beautiful place!

The 27^th was pretty much a blur as well, the group attended a graduation party for Doreen, now a fully qualified lawyer. We travelled in a convoy from town out to her rural home where I met the whole community basically and a professional goat man slaughtered a goat for us. I nearly vomited and everyone thought it was a hilarious game trying to get me to look at the body roasting over a fire not even 100m away from me. Doreen’s daughter is beautiful , she is 7 and agreed to come back to Australia with me, much to Doreen’s dismay! We returned to town and headed to Tamiez, the local club... less western than the others around which is precisely why I love it! It turned into an early morning trip home to sleep for a few hours before heading out again.

The next 4 days were even more blurred, there were 3 trips to the swimming pool, a number of lunches in town and down by the lake- the local fish is the best I have ever eaten and although it generally comes with a head there is more often than not someone around to help me dispose of it! Ambrose had the best pick of dining venues during the festive season, a little shanty by the lake, it looked pretty horrible but it had the best fish and atmosphere of anywhere I have been this trip.

New Years eve was pretty awesome, we spent the morning in town planning the day then disregarded most of the plans and headed for Hippo Point with some Kibao (think of the cheapest, nastiest vodka available in Australia then halve the quality and double the quantity and you have Kenyas really cheap vodka), snacks and a soccer ball and spent the evening with good friends, good music and the company of a family of hippos! I broke my thongs playing with the ball, which sucked but luckily I had my heels with me and I was getting changed to go out anyway so it was ok! We saw in the new year in Tamiez which was definitely an experience then headed to Mon Ami which made for an eventful night! Overall it was enjoyed by most and I didn’t have that bad a hangover the next morning!

I have been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster lately. Probably a combination of nervousness because of what happened to Tina and Joe and because I have been missing home during Christmas. Regardless I must say I have been a mess, crying for no reason at all even when I am laughing it has often turned to tears... but luckily that has passed!

I spoke to my sister who sang to me to stop me crying. It made me cry more and for some strange reason it wasn’t because she can’t sing. Sorry sis I love u but neither of us were vocally blessed.... unless you count shouting!! I miss you and I miss the girls so much!

Every time i spoke to my mum i have cried.... even when i think of her saying “you’ve still got 2 legs and 2 arms so what are you crying about?” I miss you mum. I read some horrible jokes recently (my mum is the queen of finding the most terribly lame jokes on the planet and producing them at the perfect time so that they are kinda funny, a skill which I have not inherited!) These ones are for you mum!

Q: What did Adam say to his wife the day before Christmas?

A: Its Christmas, Eve.

And another care of my retarded brother-in-law

Q: What was the last thing that went through the grasshoppers mind before he hit the windscreen?

A: His bum.

I hope you enjoy them mum! I miss you and am looking forward to the stories about your cat in your letters! I love you!

I miss Jeff. It’s been so strange not seeing Jeff every day. He is my best friend so having to schedule phone calls doesn’t really make talking easy. But i miss him and I’m proud of him for coping without me.... almost. But i do miss him. Apparently he has been waterskiing lately, a sight which I cannot wait to see! And maybe even try... even though I struggle enough with walking! I love u hunny!

I miss Little Man. He has gotten so big since I left and I am really worried that he isn’t going to remember me. I have been playing with Tina’s little dog Jojo, kind of cute but mostly ugly and very hairy! But everyday he reminds me of Little!

I miss Cassie. That’s all I can say. I love you bitch.

And now I have finally unpacked my bags in the White house, mutumbu. Its been so long since I could just unpack and relax knowing that I am going to be here for a while. So I'm happy and relieved to be here finally!

Blink blink blink. I love u.

Love love love. I also love u

And i miss everyone else. xoxoxox

Experiencing Sickness in Kenya... again

veti — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:09:00 GMT

There is seriously nothing like getting sick in a foreign country... especially when you are by yourself! On top of the tonsilitis i have managed to contract some sort of stomach bug that allows me to spontaneously vomit. It is certainly something that everyone should experience!

So tomorrow i have to brave a crowded matatau for a few hours in the hope of getting to Kisumu alive and not covered in vomit... or worse. On the upside once i get there i wont be feeling as lonely or as sorry for myself as i have been the last few days! And i get to see Princess Tina (as she is to be known from this point)! I am very excited about that!

This afternoon after managing to even vomit up the medicine designed to keep stuff down i had a moment. I miss my mum and my sister and i especially miss my nieces! I couldnt hold the tears in but i actually felt better afterwards. I wanted to ring everyone i know but i figured that most people would be asleep so i have resolved to make a few calls tomorrow!~

My diet has consisted, for the most part of gastrostop, anti malaria medication and vegemite. Although yesterday after not being able to stomach the vegemite off a spoon anymore i braved it to the local shops where i bought some bread and bananas (or banananananas in case amber is reading this~) mind you i havent been able to hold anything down today so it was a waste of money!

Since being sick i have managed to fit in some reading... i have finished all of the books i bought over with me and it has only just been a week! Worst of all i finished Twilight last night and seriously didnt know what to do with myself! It feels like i cant breath because my lust for the second book is killing me!! Luckily Jeff sent it in the post for me yesterday.... when it will get here i do not know. The suspence is making me crazy! I have been dreaming about vampires and trying to image what the movie is like!! I was so desperate i tried to read it again but its not helped any so far!!

I posted some pictures of the place i have been staying just now, it is a lovely facility and i am lucky to be here even if i am by myself! The OAP group staying in mutumbu came by t visit yesterday and i think that they may have been jealous... but i am jealous mostly because i dont have anyone around to talk to at the moment.

Next week when i am better it will be ok because i will be able to play with all of the kids... but my germs arent to be spread though the main house or i think i would be murdered by the sisters who look after the kids! Understandable i suppose! Any way i am alive... not well but i am alive and thats always a positive! I am missing everyone so badly and if anyone wants to ring and say hi please do so my kenyan number is +254715329572. My optus number still doesnt work here but i would love to hear from you all!

Blink blink blink ~

Love love love ~

And my love for everyone else xoxoxox

Arriving and settling in ~

veti — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:36:00 GMT

Habari za asubuhi, (goodmorning in local speak!) Well hello, it has been a few days! From where i left off... i arrived safe enough in johannesburg, squashed in like a sardine next to a very annoying south african couple with the combined ages of about 200. The man snored and the the lady wouldnt stop talking to me... even when i had my headphones in and repeated ‘sorry i didnt quite hear that’ for an hour. I think that i must have been put in with all of the assisted travellers because of the 20 seats in the section i was sitting in ( i somehow ended up in the section between business and economy classes) there were 3 famililes with a total of 7 children under 4, seriously like 10 people aged over 100 who were constantly woken to see if they were still alive... well thats what it looked like!! Anyway i made it... found my way to the hotel, spent an hour on the phone trying to reach Oz to let jeff know i made it safe because my optus phone still doesnt work!!! Spent another hour crying then finally got through. Slept wonderfully, nothing kills an appitite more than guilt, and i felt so guilty leaving jeff! Made it through to Nairobi, straight to bed again without dinner. Couldnt speak to Jeff becasue it was a national holiday in kenya, a celebration of independance and nothing was open so i couldnt buy a sim or a phone card and the place i was staying has no phone or internet connection. So i cried to a stranger and borrowed an sms which turns out didnt even work so both jeff and i couldnt sleep!! Its always the way!! The flight to Kisumu was one of the scariest things i have ever done... the plane was the size of my bedroom packed to the rafters... my hand luggage bags didnt even fit in the overhead compartment but we made it. There was a kenyan football team on board who sang the whole way... they didnt mind me laughing at them, although if i wasnt a mzungu it may have been a dfferent story! Kisumu is horribly hot this time of year. I straightened my hair but you couldnt tell because of the humiditiy... so i think the 10kgs of hair care products and straighteners and dryers are a tad overkill... but they will come in handy in Europe! I ventured out into the Kisumu nightclubs on Saturday night to find that the 2 people i was looking forward to seeing most, Joe and Tina, were in fact in nairobi! But i got to catch up with manyof the local identities so that made me happy! I saw Joe on Monday and will be seeing tina this coming weekend which i am very excited about! Im now sitting my room at the Rangala babies home, one of the most luxurios places i have ever been in Kenya, i have 2 rooms to myself, a fridge, a cook top, a tv, a dvd player and an operational bathroom! Its amazing and the sisters who run the home are always fussing over me and checking if i am ok! Its like a holiday here with them!! I am looking foward to getting stuck into the school in january and until them helping out here at the babies home, on the upside i dont have very far to go while i am staying here! I miss everyone so much!! Blink blink blink ~ for those of u that it applies to. Love love love ~ for those of you that it applies to. And for everyone else, here is my love. I miss you all so much xoxoxo

The first leg is always the hardest!

veti — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:47:00 GMT

So i made it to Sydney almost without a problem! The extra luggage allowance that was supposed to be attached to my ticket on the QANTAS computers wasnt there and they had no record that i had even inquired about extra luggage and then i left my hand ba with passports and tickets at the screening point that you go throught before entering the terminal! But i made it onto the plane and up into the air with a huge number of tears and snotty tissues... half caused by the tonsilitis and the others by the tears!

I have spoken to jeff a total of 3times and i only left an hour and a half ago but it still doesnt seem enough! I miss him (you, incase your reading it hun) so much i feel like i am going to vomit! i have already used my quota of tissues for the whole flight and am going to have to buy more but that is ok!

I am not really sure what i was more afraid of... leaving jeff or getting on a QANTAS plane after their recent history! So i was pretty nervous and would have been a sight for the other passengers, i feel sorry for who ever i have to sit next to on the next flight... 14hours of sniffing coughing and snoring! I dont know who wouldnt want to sit with me!!

So i am sitting here looking out the window at the planes taking off in the rain... qantas is scary anytime but when it rains... all i can say is stay tuned for the next entry becasue if there is one i got the plane that wasnt broken!

The lastest from my trip is that i will be staying at the babies home in rangala because the white house (where i stayed last time and where i will be staying after christmas) is full for now so i will be a bit further up the road and living with all the gorgeous little babies! When Jess from WYI told me that all i could think of was george telling me about another Australain volunteer who took one of the babies home for the weekend... well there will be none of that this time because i wont be leaving! hahahaha on the upside it is a bit different and i am looking forward to picking the best room when all the othe volunteers leave!!

But for now I hope everyone stays in touch, i will be doing my best to up date this and write emails as often as i possibly can! Im not really missing any of my creature comforts yet but i know that i am definitely missing jeff and my mum! I wish they were both coming with me but i am looking forward to meeting jeff in Zurich in June... its going to be an awesome trip!!!

Blink blink blink (for you hun u know what it means! ♥ )

Love love love (you know who you are too... ♥ )

And for everyone else

Peace and Love xoxox

The beginning

veti — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:22:00 GMT

So the plan is to teach at Argwins Kodhek secondary high school in Mutumbu for the better part of six months with the occasional sprinkling of visits to Rangala Babies home. I am hoping to find time to catch up with my 'family' in Kisumu and get down to Zanzibar for my birthday! Im really looking forward to depending on myself and experiencing life! I'll be updating as often as i can!