Gap Year

A Tanzanian Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Last week was the first time since I’ve been here in which I’ve felt any semblance of homesickness. All of my friends were discussing their upcoming plans to see each other during their Thanksgiving breaks, my extended family was getting ready to make the trip to Los Angeles, and everyone was preparing their Thanksgiving dinners. It made me miss home. But, Kim and I decided that even though we would not have access to our highly craved pumpkin pie, we would create our own Thanksgiving. We went to Katie, an American that lives in the same complex as us, and to Happy, the Tanzanian woman that owns the complex and asked if they would be willing to participate in Thanksgiving with us. Katie was excited to have a Thanksgiving dinner, and when we received permission from Happy to take over her kitchen for the day (we don’t have an oven), we set out to find the necessary materials to create a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Part One: Arusha

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Kim, Edward, Happy, and I all piled into the car and set off to Arusha, which is a slightly larger town about an hour and a half away from Moshi. During the drive, Happy remarked that she was excited to learn how to cook mzungu (white person) food, to which we responded that we were also excited to learn how to cook mzungu food, considering Kim and I both thought of ourselves as pretty much useless in the kitchen.

    When we arrived in Arusha, we first set out to find a turkey. Neither of us were prepared to take on the task of a cooking an entire turkey, so we decided to get turkey breasts. It turns out that turkey breasts in Arusha are quite expensive, so we were only able to get one two-pound breast. But what’s Thanksgiving without turkey? After arranging for our turkey to be ready by the time we were planning on heading back to Moshi, we went to the Masai Market.
    The Masai Market is quite an experience in and of itself. When you pull in, you are immediately assaulted by women sitting on the ground behind blankets of African crafts attempting to sell anything that they can. When you venture further into the market, people shout at you saying, “Karibu (Welcome)! Looking is free!” And when you pass by a shop without going in, they will go on to talk about how obnoxious it is that we didn’t stop at their particular stand (thank you, Kim’s Swahili). After purchasing a few token African crafts and gifts, we headed to an area of Arusha called Njiro, which houses a large, western supermarket.
    Walking into the Village Supermarket immediately prompted some culture shock. There were piles of imported goods--everything from Rice Krispies to Pantene shampoo to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (which were from Canada and were called Reese Peanut Butter Cups, which was slightly off putting) to Doritos. At first it was incredibly overwhelming to see all of these items in one place, but it quickly became fun to see so many things that I had not seen in so long. In addition to giving into a few of our cravings (ie: Reese Peanut Butter Cups), we left the supermarket with cranberry sauce and a few other things for our Thanksgiving meal.
    Following a delicious lunch, we headed to the Arusha food market, which was one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. Before even entering the market, you are immediately hounded by people trying to sell you various fruits and vegetables. One you get into the market, the hounding only worsens. When we finally escaped, we went to our car as quickly as possible with bags of fruits and vegetables weighing us down.

Part Two: Cooking

    Let me preface this section by saying that Kim and I do not cook. And prior to Thanksgiving, the one time that we cooked a legitimate meal (for three people) took at least three hours. So to say that we were anxious would be a bit of an understatement. We set out to make pumpkin soup, stuffing, and turkey. With no guidance other than Happy’s knowledge of Tanzanian cooking and the recipes that we found online (our initial search featured the words, “Thanksgiving for Dummies”), we started chopping and boiling and heating and baking and stirring. With the turkey in the oven and the stuffing ready to be baked, the pumpkin soup was our main concern. Spoonfuls of honey, tons of cinnamon, a cup of coconut milk, two boiled pumpkins, and one blender later, Kim and I tasted the best pumpkin soup that we have ever had. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m telling you, this soup was incredible.
    Everything came out well, and Kim and I were quite impressed with ourselves. Happy made vegetables and chicken (to make up for the fact that our Turkey would serve 3 of 15 people planning on showing up) and Katie came baring a sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes. When everyone arrived, Thanksgiving began.

Part 3: The Meal

After rushing home to shower, we were ready to eat. Everything was delicious. We made Edward carve the turkey, claiming that it was the man’s role, and had a great time introducing Tanzanians to one of our favorite American traditions. Everyone was impressed with what we made, and if you exclude the fact that we were not able to make a pumpkin pie and that a football game was not in the background, we had a traditional, delicious, eat-until-you-can’t-move Thanksgiving.
Even though I didn’t get to see my family, my own little Tanzanian family made Thanksgiving a great and unforgettable experience.

Juvenile Detention Centers and Tanzanian Flexible Time

2011-11-22T09:15:00.001-08:00

First, I would like to apologize for my extreme lack of diligence when it comes to updating this blog. If I had to come up with an excuse, I would say that it’s due to the fact that I’m having too much fun to write, but really, there’s no excuse.

I figured I would dedicate a part of this post to the place that I have been regularly volunteering at: Moshi’s Juvenile Detention Center, or Mahabusu ya Watoto.

When people from home inquire as to what I have been doing in Tanzania, the conversation normally goes something like this:

     Person at home: “Maya, what have you been doing in Tanzania?”
     Me: “Well, in the mornings I volunteer at a Juvenile Detention Center…”
     Person at home: “Oh my God! Is that scary?”

Because of this frequently recurring interchange, I would like to establish that Juvie is in no way scary. (This is not to say that when I was first informed that I had the chance to work there that I was not slightly anxious.) Part of this may be due to the fact that they are all incredibly small, most of them having suffered from malnutrition as small children. In fact, for my first month at Juvie, I had assumed that most of the boys were ten or eleven, but when I asked, I was informed that the youngest boys were thirteen. So, as you can probably imagine, it would take a lot to be intimidated by a sixteen-year-old boy that looks more like he’s ten.

At home, one often associates Juvie with people who have committed a legitimately serious crime. This is true, but at home, we have a (relatively) un-corrupt legal system, where in Tanzania, corruption is a common as a speeding ticket. This means that many of those who are sent to Juvie are there for reasons that would receive barely a slap on the wrist in the states. Boys in Tanzania are sent to Juvie for anything from homosexuality to talking back to a teacher, and even for being too far away from home. More often than not, boys are sent to Juvie because of theft, which frequently occurs when there is no other way for them to get food.

Everyday when I walk through the gate, I am swarmed by shouts of “Mambo (what’s up?), teacha Maya!” The boys are often playing a game of surprisingly intense soccer (many soccer balls have been lost over fences and popped by loose nails) with makeshift goals constructed out of scrapped wood that are constantly falling apart.

After they make themselves breakfast, we start the day by asking what the date is, and what the weather is like outside. In unison, they repeat after me or one of the other two teachers saying the date and then the weather, which frequently has them simultaneously chorusing, “Today, it is hot and sunny outside.” Next, we hand out their individual notebooks and they get started on a math warm up. Some boys are still mastering basic addition and subtraction, others who are working on algebra, and everything in between. We divide them into groups as best as we can to allow them to receive the most useful assistance.

When math is done, the boys have a break, or “breki,” as they fondly refer to it. Some will go into the courtyard to play soccer, and others will rush up to us begging to use our iPods, and will then spend the subsequent fifteen minute break playing a song of their choice on repeat.

The rest of the day differs—sometimes we’ll bring in a science experiment for the boys to conduct, other days we’ll teach them about different cultures. We’ve had them make paper airplanes and test to who’s flew the farthest. We dedicated a week to the five senses, and another week to colors. We normally end the day with a story.

Every Thursday, however, we show them a movie. Their favorite movies normally consist of overtly violent fighting scenes, they love all Jackie Chan movies, but they also love random Disney movies—Ratatouille is a favorite.
___________________________________________________________________________________

This past weekend, Knock conducted a Health/Wellness Seminar in a village just south of Moshi Town, called Kikavu. To prepare for the seminar, I made flip charts, typed out worksheets in Swahili (which, let me tell you, is no easy task—and I unsurprisingly made a decent amount of typos, which Kim fixed), checked expiration dates on condoms, created schedules, and, with Kim, assembled and stapled 800 packets.

Although the preparation was slightly tedious at times, the seminar went well and I was glad that I was a part of it. At 6:45am on Saturday, Kim, Max (Knock’s Tanzanian Managing Director), six teachers, and I all piled into a van and set off to Kikavu. The seminar was set to begin at nine, but people did not start to arrive until around eleven. This is partly due to what locals fondly refer to as Tanzanian Flexible Time (TFT) which means everything starts later than it’s supposed to, and partly due to the fact that at 10:30, some guy with a megaphone walked around the village announcing that we were serving free food, and that we were not conducting HIV/AIDS tests.

Nevertheless, by 11:30, there were about 200 people (which is still half as many people as we expected) congregated underneath the tents that Knock rented for the two day event. Once things finally got going, everything went seamlessly. Everyone was engaged and interested, and a lot of great questions were asked. The teachers helped the participants understand the issues that their community faces and everyone seemed genuinely happy to be getting this information.

It was an interesting day and I was glad that I had an opportunity to participate in it and experience it.

I have just under three weeks left in Tanzania, and I can’t believe how fast it has gone. I can’t wait for the next part of my gap year, but I’ll definitely be sad to leave.

Uganda, I Love You

2011-10-31T03:54:00.000-07:00

This past week, Kim and I went to Uganda. The primary reason for our trip was to visit the Abayudaya tribe, which is a small Jewish community located just outside of a town called Mbale. We decided that it would be slightly wasteful to go to Uganda and not take advantage of all that the country has to offer, so we spent some time enjoying some of Uganda’s tourist locations, too.

We flew into Entebbe, and went to directly to Entebbe Backpacker’s, the hostel at which we had arranged to stay. Kim and I were both looking forward to our brief stay in Entebbe, as Lonely Planet: East Africa had claimed that the small, lakeside town, was quant and enjoyable; we were also looking forward to it due to the fact that we had actually heard about the town (although the extent of our knowledge was limited to Israel’s 1976 “Operation Entebbe.”) Shortly after arriving at the hostel, we made the short trek to Lake Victoria (which, in case you were curious, is Africa’s largest lake and the world’s second widest body of freshwater). We had a nice, but grossly overpriced lunch overlooking the lake, before getting on a motorbike to bring us into town. Within less than an hour of being in Uganda, we quickly discovered that often, the sole mode of transportation is a motorbike, or a boda boda. With Kim’s frantic mutterings of “we’re going to die” in my ears, we were quickly whisked into town. Town, as we were saddened to discover, is comprised of one small strip of stores. After quickly exhausting all that Entebbe seemed to offer, we got onto another motorbike to take us back to the hostel.

The next morning, we were up bright and early, ready to go to Kampala, Uganda’s capital, to get on a bus to Mbale. After a later than expected start due to the torrential rains, and the restaurant’s unwillingness to start cooking breakfast until 8, we were finally in a car, off to Kampala.

Growing up and learning how to drive in Los Angeles has exposed me to some pretty crazy traffic situations. But the 405 at rush hour on a Friday night has nothing on Kampala. There are no distinguished lanes, there are millions of people on foot, boda bodas everywhere and cars that are so close to each other, that it’s surprising that I witnessed no accidents. Because of the intense traffic congestion, there were many times in which engines were completely turned off while waiting to move. When we finally pulled up to the bus company’s office, we were informed that the bus that we wanted to be on was pulling away about three cars in front of us. The men at the bus stop told us that they were going to call that bus, but that we should go chase it. One roundabout, 5 lane changes, and 30 frantic honks later, we quickly paid the cab driver and were herded onto the still moving coaster.

When we finally arrived in Nabugoye, the village in which the Abayudaya community is located, we were immediately thrust into what felt like some sort of warped dream. It was almost as if I was dreaming about Africa, with a little bit of Israel and camp thrown in. People greeted us with “shalom” and said “lilah tov” before we went to bed. Everyone had Jewish names—such as Aaron, Isaac, Rachel, Tzipora, and Maccabee. Each time we met someone else, it was incredibly difficult attempting to hold in our hysterics after hearing their names.

The morning after we arrived, we spent about three hours in the morning sitting with Tzipora, Rabbi Gershom’s wife, just talking. She was the quintessential Jewish mother; she was always trying to feed us and make us feel as comfortable as possible. She shared stories and pictures of the five years that she spent in Los Angeles with her family. She loved talking to us about the places that we all knew. She talked about her friends in Santa Monica, and how she and her family frequented the Galleria to see movies. It was a strange contradiction, we would hear a completely foreign language, and then we were asked about Shabbat or Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur.

Later that day, we met Naavah, the Rabbi’s five-year-old daughter. She was a very typical Rabbi’s daughter—she danced in front of the arc while her dad was davening, twirled around in the front of the synagogue, and was quite aware of how adorable and loved she was. It made me feel quite at home, but instead of Eva or Sami running down the aisle, it was Naavah. I guess some things are consistent across cultural boundaries.

That night was our first experience of Ugandan-Jewish prayer. In addition to the typical Maariv service, we heard a plethora of psalms sung in Lugisu, their local tribal language. There was no physical mechitza, but the men and women were required to sit on opposite sides of the room. Everyone was incredibly participatory. The men, women, and children all sang each and every prayer enthusiastically, and Kim and I were able to accompany them confidently.

The next morning at Shacharit, Kim and I were honored with an Aliyah and had the opportunity to experience Rabbi Gershom’s ingenuity first hand. At home, when we would discuss prayers for rain or harvest, it always seemed somewhat empty. In Los Angeles, rain is just a nuisance, and the idea of a harvest is inconceivable. But in Uganda, those things are real concerns. If there is no rain, there are real worries over whether or not there will be enough food to eat. Nonetheless, Gershom made sure that everyone understood that these prayers are meant to be directed to Israel, no matter how much they may need these things in Uganda. With that said, it did happen to start raining halfway through his sermon. Following services, Kim and I attended the community lunch. We secretly hoped for bagels, lox, and rugalach, but were met with a typical Ugandan meal—rice, matoke (which is plantains in the consistency of mashed potatoes), and meat. Once again, the juxtaposition of eating an African meal in a room filled with Siddurim and other Jewish texts was astounding.

Simchat Torah began that night. Hundreds of people were unceremoniously squished inside the small synagogue, ready to celebrate. The celebration was very similar to one that IKAR may have—everyone had the opportunity to hold the Torah, while everyone else danced around them. There was something incredibly comforting about singing the prayers that I grew up learning with an African grandmother and grandchild singing alongside me. I think Kim described it perfectly when she turned to me and said, “I think the reason that I love this so much is because it combines the two things I love most: Africa and Judaism. And that’s awesome.”

After a sad goodbye and promises that we would return as soon and as often as we could, we headed to Jinja, a small town on the Nile River for lunch. The Nile was beautiful and relaxing and a great way to spend our final day in Uganda. We then returned to Kampala and stayed there for the night, before getting on the plane to head back to Tanzania.

We both had an incredible time, but it was great to be back in Moshi!

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150297891008201.329492.642763200&type=1&l=d6cc451dbe

Settling In

2011-10-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

As the one month mark has come and gone, I have found myself settled into a relatively normal routine. Each morning, I rush out of the house by 8:15 and head straight to a dala dala, the Tanzanian version of a bus. A dala dala is essentially a 1980’s minivan, with 10 seats that often holds closer to 30 people. This means that, quite frequently, people are hanging out of the van, and you often find yourself almost sitting in the lap of another town-goer. On top of the intense heat that Africa is so well known for, when you find yourself in an over-stuffed van, often with the windows closed, with people who can't afford deodorant, that heat seems to triple. But I enjoy my dala dala experiences. When I finally get off the dala dala, I walk the short distance to Moshi's Juvenile Detention Home.

From 9am until noon, I work with the 25 boys who live at Juvie. Paul, my Swahili teacher, is a local volunteer for Cross Cultural Solutions (the program that my family and I did here in 2007) and he works at Juvie. He brought me with him one day, and I instantly fell in love with the work there. With two volunteers from CCS, I teach basic math and create a variety of other activities. Each week, we focus on a different theme. For example, one week we completed different science experiments every day--ranging from throwing different objects with one's right and left hand and measuring which went farther, to creating a makeshift volcano and showing mini explosions with baking soda and vinegar.

We have found that many of the boys are in Juvie for unjust reasons, such as talking back to a teacher or as the result of being framed by adults who determined that a kid going to Juvie for a couple of months is not nearly as bad as an adult going to jail for much longer. We were even informed that two boys are in because they could not provide authorities with an accurate reason for their presence in town. The stories that we have heard all seem quite corrupt, but for the majority of the boys, we have been given no reason for their appearance in Juvie. The boys are all incredibly sweet and respectful, and seem to really appreciate our attempts at teaching--but they were particularly excited when they figured out that I was no more than a year or two older than some of them.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I spend an hour after Juvie with Paul learning Swahili, but I typically spend the rest of the afternoon with Kim, running various errands, visiting Matumaini (the orphanage), or going to the gym.

The gym is quite an experience. It is located at a hotel in town and is stocked full of various weight machines, a stationary bike, an erg, and a strange elliptical machine (while you're on it, it feels like you are falling forward). The gym equipment is not what provides the experiences, instead, it's those who frequent the gym. With a few other wazungu (white people), typically men, Kim and I frequently find ourselves seeing uncommonly large Tanzanian and Indian men flailing awkwardly on the elliptical. The gym also offers kick-boxing and aerobic classes that Kim and I have yet to try, but have watched. The classes are made up of mostly said Tanzanian and Indian men in 80's style aerobics classes. It is quite a sight to behold.

With our gym attendance providing the justification, we have had more cake this month than I normally have in a year. More often than not, the cake is from some sort of celebration, such as birthdays, or a graduation, but Edward also has been known to crave chocolate cake, and to come home offering 3 inhumanly large slices. While quite delicious, it has come to be slightly over-indulgent.

I am now able to get to, from, and around town confidently, which has allowed me (and Kim) to regain some independence. In town, I am constantly running into people I know, and I am slowly starting to understand what people are saying. (The other day I was able to successfully purchase onions and credit for my phone completely in Swahili!)

I miss everyone, but I am having an incredible time!

Tanzanian Traffic Laws, Bucket Showers, and Swahili Lessons

2011-09-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

I have officially been in Tanzania for more than a week. This week has brought many surprises and I've loved every second of it. (Excluding, maybe, the brief bout of sickness on Friday morning.) Last Tuesday, Kim had a meeting with the founder and director of The Foundation for Tomorrow, an organization that aims to "empower developing nations by educating their youth." Max, KNOCK's incoming Managing Director in Tanzania, Kim, and I set off on the journey to Arusha, which is a town slightly larger than Moshi, that is about an hour and a half drive away. The meeting went well, KNOCK and TFFT seem to have very similar values and everyone seemed happy with the connection; however, the most shocking part of the day, for me, was the drive. There are no traffic laws in Tanzania. And the very few laws that are in place, are more like suggestions than rules. People tend to drive on the wrong side of the street (which is especially confusing considering they're supposed to drive on the left side anyways), and they go ridiculously fast. Tanzanian speed bumps may be classified as one of the most annoying things I have ever experienced. To go over them, traffic actually stops. You have to almost stop your car if you don't want to scrape the bottom of it or fly 10 feet in the air. And, in true Tanzanian driving fashion, you always see someone fly over them while they're driving on the wrong side of the road trying to get around you.

Last Wednesday, I took my first, of many, bucket showers. One must resort to a bucket shower when the power is out. Although bathing oneself out of a bucket of warm water may seem incredibly uncomfortable, I have actually found it quite enjoyable. One, the water is always going to be warm. I don't have to worry about rushing through the first part of my shower to ensure that there is some hot water left at the end of my shower. Two, I control the water pressure. I don't have to stand under the shower head, with water barely coming out, to attempt to get the conditioner out. And three, I don't have to rush. I don't have to rush in fear of the hot water running out, I don't have to rush in fear of the power going out (considering it's already out), and I don't have to rush in fear of the water turning off, leaving me with unbearably, scalding hot water. So all in all, I have determined that bucket showers aren't bad, but I'm definitely not planning on taking one at home.

This past Monday marked my first Swahili lesson. Three times a week I meet with Paul, who is a 21-year-old who works for Pristine Trails (Edward's Tour Company) and as a translator for Cross Cultural Solutions (the volunteer program I completed with my family five years ago). For my first two lessons, we went over greetings and started on verbs, which all of the kids at Matumaini love to quiz me on. Mama Chapu, one of the women who cooks and cleans for Matumaini and one of my favorite people in the world, loved looking at my verb list and was very excited when I said, "Ninajifunza Kiswahili." (I'm learning Swahili).

I'm still loving my time here and I can't wait for all that I have yet to experience.

You can find pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150297891008201.329492.642763200&l=d6cc451dbe&type=1

See You Later, LA

2011-09-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

While I was preparing to leave, the surrealism that surrounded me was astounding. The combination of Aloni's (my grandmother's partner) tragic death and the seemingly insurmountable task of packing for Tanzania for four months was unreal. (Not that those things are even slightly comparable). My mom took off on a flight halfway across the world, and my dad, while incredibly well-meaning, didn't exactly know how to prepare me for this journey. Well, he claims that he would have been able to do so expertly, but I was a little bit more than slightly skeptical.

For my last night in Los Angeles, I decided that my farewell meal would be held at Monte Alban, a Oaxacan restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd, which, ironically, is the same restaurant that I stormed out of five years ago, angry tears and all, after my parents informed that we would be traveling around the world for seven months. I was devastated at the time (because missing the eighth grade Astro-Camp trip and my middle school graduation was clearly the end of my 13-year-old world). After about five minutes in Tanzania, I realized that my parents might have been right in taking us on that trip. Ever since the beginning of that life-altering trip, I have known that I would take a gap year, and that as part of the year, I would return to Tanzania.

After nearly 24 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in Kilimanjaro. I was greeted by Kim and Edward, with whom I will be living for the next three and a half months. As we got closer and closer to Moshi, even in the dark, the familiarity astounded me. When we finally turned into Rau Village, it was the unpaved, bumpy dirt roads that immediately brought me back to my prior experiences here. In true African fashion, when we got to Kim's house the power was out, which, as I was quickly reminded, happens 5-6 times a week.

My first full day in Moshi was spent, primarily, trying to get internet for my iPad. This was quite the adventure. After 2 atms, 3 phone stores and a guy at a kiosk with a pair of scissors, I finally got my ipad working.

When we finally determined that I had internet, we went to Matumaini (the orphanage) for the first time. Seeing the kids again was an amazing experience. While there are a lot of new kids, the kids that were there before remembered me, and were all very excited to see me.

The next day, we went back to Matumaini, only this time, we came bearing gifts. In addition to bringing them Kim's computer and "Tarzan" and "Tom and Jerry" for the kids to watch, I had an entire duffle bag full of games and clothes. We spent the afternoon taking ridiculous pictures, blowing bubbles, and completing puzzles. That day reminded me why I have so desperately wanted to return to Tanzania for so long--I have also decided that I really need to learn Swahili.

All in all, my first couple of days have been exhausting, but rewarding, and I am so excited to be here.

Pictures will be posted later!

"It's the End of the World as We Know It..."

2007-07-18T16:57:00.000-07:00

I don’t know how many of you know about the day that we left Los Angeles, but as we were pulling out of our drive way sobbing, the song “It’s the End of the World as we Know It” was playing on the car radio. It was so perfect for the time, but now that I look back at it, I think that the song should be playing as we leave for the airplane back to America. The trip has been such an amazing experience for our whole family, and there is not one thing that I would change (except for maybe my WaterFALL, and more time in certain places). Not only have I learned a lot about the world, but our family also has gotten much closer. My sister and I don’t fight as much, and we get to spend a lot of quality time with each other as a family. Ever since we arrived in Israel, we have started to see people we know, and just bump into them on the streets of Jerusalem, which is strange, but good since we are going to have to see people soon. As we finish this trip, we are all looking forward to seeing everyone at home, but we are also a little bit sad that this incredible experience is coming to an end; it is very bittersweet. I will never forget when we walked through security at the Israeli airport and I saw tears well up in my mom’s eyes. It was also such a bittersweet moment. The whole time that we were on the plane, I was imagining what it would be like to arrive home; we all had no idea.

When the pilot landed after the seventeen-hour plane ride there was applause from the passengers and then came the most astonishing words (for me, but probably not for anyone else on the plane), which were: “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Los Angeles International Airport.” Of course I knew that we were landing there, but it didn’t feel like it had already been six and a half months. It shouldn’t, it couldn’t be over! I was so surprised. When we walked outside of the airport, it felt so strange to be home after so long. When we finally got our taxi, we started making phone calls and we were all extremely excited to see family and friends again. The first person we saw was our cousin, Kiki. We were all so happy to see her. The next couple of days we saw more and more people. We went to a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday and it was fun to see those old friends again. As we are adjusting a little bit to the changes, we are also packing up to go to camp. Emma and I are really excited to go to camp and see all of our friends, but we are sad that we are not going to see our parents for one month. After spending six and a half months of 24/7 together, now it’s the opposite. When we got home, people started coming to visit, which was enjoyable. As we walk around Los Angeles, it is so weird to hear everyone speaking in English and buying things in English. It is also strange to be able to understand everything that people say. It is good to be home, even if we are sad that this amazing trip is over.

Ulpan Or: Hebrew at the Speed of Light

2007-07-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

For a month of our stay in Jerusalem, we did an Ulpan. An Ulpan is an intensive Hebrew class. Every day, (except Friday and Saturday) we went to class for two hours. We got two lessons everyday, each of them private, with a native Israeli Hebrew speaker. While we were with them, we learned new vocabulary and sentence structures, and then we went to speak to people. We are certainly not fluent, but this Ulpan was very good and we enjoyed it. Everyday we went and enjoyed learning and speaking. It was especially fun for me because when they ran out of teachers, the Ulpan director’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Meital, was my teacher. Her English wasn’t that good, so it forced me to speak Hebrew. For that week, I don’t know how much new vocabulary I learned, but I got really comfortable with my old words. When we arrive home, I want to keep studying Hebrew because I feel like it is an important language to know. We keep practicing our Hebrew by talking to each other and emailing our teachers in Hebrew.

My teacher’s name was Noga, and she is very nice. She is a really good teacher, and she forces you to try hard, but not in a mean way-- a useful and encouraging way, which makes it fun. I started the Ulpan already knowing how to read, which was very helpful. Since we’ve been here, I’ve learned how to read and write in script, and I have learned some verbs in the present and past tenses. I have also picked up some adjectives and nouns. I feel like I have improved a lot, but I still have a long way to go. I have found, that I understand a lot more then I can speak.

One thing that came as a little bit of a surprise, was that we had tons of homework everyday, which was a big change from no school at all. As with everything you want, you have to work for it, and we learned that if we work really hard, we can achieve something that we want. It was hard to get used to an hour or more of homework, but it was all for my benefit.

Tiulim Im Aloni (Trips with Aloni)

2007-07-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Part of the time that we have been here in Israel (other than traveling around) we have been “tiuling” (taking short trips) around with Aloni, the kind friend of my grandmother, who is letting us stay in his house. As well as being an Israeli citizen, his family has also been living in Israel for over 500 years. He is very informational and resourceful for everything. He has served in every war in Israel as a frogman except for the war of independence (which he was five years old for) and this past Lebanese war. He knows every single detail about Israel and it is so interesting to hear. He took us on a variety of tours around Israel, which are described below.

The Tomb of Samuel

One of our adventures with Aloni was to the tomb of the prophet Samuel, which is up in the hills of Jerusalem. It is up on top of a hill with a big Minaret, which is tower that is on mosques and used to call the other Muslims to prayer. On the bottom floor, there is the tomb of Samuel and a synagogue. The next floor has both a place of warship for Christians, and Muslims (which is why there is a Minaret). We walked up the Minaret and we were on the roof of this ancient building. We walked around the roof and Aloni showed us different parts of the area. He pointed out different trees, water cisterns, and ancient houses. It was a beautiful view of all of the villages and farms. Aloni pointed out to us where the land was green and the places where the land was fertile, and where it was not and the land was all desert. It was also interesting how this hill was the last place to get water before the border of the desert.

Ashkelon

The second place that we went was called Ashkelon. Our first stop was at the beach. We didn’t get to swim, but we waded in the water and it was beautiful and refreshing. Our next stop was a national park, which Aloni’s dad had helped landscape. As we drove along we saw beautiful sculptures and greenery and flowers. It was fun to see. In the park, there was a grassy field, with ancient columns. Aloni told us with great detail that the columns were from the time of Samson and Delilah. It was so beautiful to see and I was so amazed to be standing there. After we drove around that, we headed back to Jerusalem

Sobeq

The next adventure that we went on with Aloni was to a cave called Sobeq. One of the things that you have to know about Aloni is that everything is a surprise, so we don’t know anything about the place we are going until we arrived. He told us that this was going to be the most beautiful, and spectacular cave that we had ever seen in our lives, and he was right. After seeing a movie about it for an introduction, we found out that the cave had unbelievable stalagmites and stalactites. Stalagmites are icicle like things that grow out of the ceiling, because of water that gets trapped in the cave. The water drips down and after millions of years, it forms something that looks like an icicle made out of wax. (We didn’t get to touch it, so I don’t know what it feels like.) Stalactites are the same thing, except they grow from the floor, so they grow upwards. After a stalagmite and a stalactite have grown for a very long time, they can meet, to form a barrier like post. After that, they keep growing, and even at some point, it can look like a wall. It was an incredible sight. After the cave, we had to walk up many steps to get back to the car, and periodically, there was a sign saying how many more steps there were, and how many calories we had burned so far. For Instance: 35 more steps; 50 calories; 1 muffin. We were all highly amused by that.

Ramat Rachel

The next place that we went was to a kibbutz in Jerusalem. The kibbutz is called Ramat Rachel; the Kibbutz is very wealthy. They get their wealth mostly from renting out land, but also because of its olive orchard. The hills of their kibbutz over look Beit Lechem (or Bethlehem) and many other Arab villages. In fact, for many, many years, these surrounding villages were attacking them. At the end of the olive orchard, Aloni showed us different pieces of pottery that the people that lived there used. There were old forts and rocks, which once were army bases. It was very cool. The other unique thing about this, was that in the middle of the orchard, there was a statue. The statue had a cement base, with three layers—like stairs, but you have to have REALLY long legs to climb them. There are also three gray pillars that are about thirty feet high. On the top of those, there is a platform with three olive trees growing on it. It was an incredible sight. We went inside the kibbutz and Aloni showed us where the emblem for Israel (the Menorah) came from. It was on a carving that they found on the kibbutz. They picked it as the central symbol, according to Aloni, because you need light to study. I really liked that message.

Sh’fayim, Ein Gedi (the Dead Sea), and Masada

When friends of our family arrived in Israel, we (Aloni wasn’t there) did a little bit of traveling. We started at a kibbutz near Tel Aviv called Sh’fayim. It is a wealthy kibbutz right on the Mediterranean Sea. They have a beautiful beach and a water park. The water park reminded me of Disneyland, with water. Tons of long lines and crazy people, but the slides were tons of fun. We met up with some friends from LA while we were there. We went to the beach and swam in gorgeous, clean, water and we enjoyed splashing in the waves. After our stay at Sh’fayim, we drove down to Ein Gedi, which is another kibbutz right near the Dead Sea and Masada. When we arrived, we were all very hot, so we went for a swim in their beautiful pool overlooking the desert and the Dead Sea. The next morning, we woke up bright and early (5:30am) to go on our Masada climb. When we arrived at the base, we bought our tickets and we were on our way up. We took the snake path, which is a path with switchbacks. The hike was hard, but not impossible. We took about an hour to get up (it took a LITTLE bit longer than usual because Emma was not in the mood for hiking—you can hear more about that on my parents’ blog). When we got to the top, we had our breakfast while we waited for Aloni, my grandmother, and their friends, who were taking the cable car, which opened at 8:00am. When they arrived, Aloni gave us a tour of Masada. He showed us King Herod’s palace, the water cisterns, the mikveh, the school and, of course, the synagogue. The synagogue is said to be the world’s first synagogue, and it was an interesting experience to sit in it. We saw the other path up Masada (which was a ramp built by the Romans) and other glorious sights. After learning more information then I can remember, we went down the mountain by way of the cable car because we thought that they had closed the path due to heat. At the bottom, we got lunch and then we went back to Ein Gedi. While we were there, we floated in the Dead Sea, which was really fun, but really strange at the same time. You can actually sit there and read a newspaper. It stings a lot, but it is worth it. After that, we went to the hotel spa, which is free for guests, and we went in the sulfur pools and covered our selves in special mud, which was a cool experience. Overall, the Ein Gedi area was a very interesting place to be.

Petra and Eilat

2007-06-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

When our grandparents (sadly) left after our week full of fun, we got in the car and drove down to Eilat; the four of us and Scott, the rabbinical intern at IKAR, our shul in Los Angeles. When we arrived at the Club In and we found our room (which we are staying in for free thanks to Poppy and Mana). The room had blue walls and the ceiling was painted as a sky. There was a great pool. The day after we got there we went to the beach. We went swimming and snorkeling—the fish and coral reefs were so beautiful. We were at the beach for most of the day, and then we went back to the hotel for a swim at the pool.

The next day was when our real adventure began. We drove to the border of Jordan and Israel and we went through the long process to get across the border. We were a little bit worried about the fact that we almost ran out of room in our passports, but it ended up being ok. After crossing the Israeli/Jordanian border (we literally walked across it) we found a taxi. There was a big discussion over which person was going to take us and if all five of us could all fit in one taxi. After the five-minute ride to Aqaba, we got into a second car that took us on the three-hour ride to Petra (not including the fifteen minute stop for (delicious) watermelon in a tent with five Arabic men in the middle of nowhere in the Jordanian desert). When we got there we did not have a specific place to stay, but our taxi-driver took us to a little backpacker’s inn called the Valentine Inn. It was not bad, but it seemed far from the ruins of Petra. We walked towards the center of the town and then we got in a taxi. We told the taxi driver that we wanted to go to the center of town. We also said that the first taxi driver had taken us somewhere else and he immediately knew the place that the first taxi driver had taken us was the Valentine Inn. Shortly after that, we found out that the Valentine Inn is where “very, very bad things happen”. When he took us to our hotel called the Candles Hotel, we were very happy. We were also very hungry, so we bought our tickets to the ruins and we ate lunch (we were very disappointed with the Arabic food in Jordan ☹). When we were full, we walked into Petra. The city was made out of caves and rocks. It had carvings and sculptures that were so elegantly carved. It was unbelievable as we walked through the caves. At the end we got to a section that was a cave with Roman structure and designs. It came as such a surprise when we saw it. After admiring that for a little bit longer, we went to visit the amphitheatre and saw other spectacular sights. We went back to the hotel after that and we took a rest. Before bed, we went out for pizza at a place called Mystic Pizza.

That night, which was a long night of not being able to fall asleep, I had time to think. This was my first time in an Arab country, so it was a little strange, since all that I had ever heard about Arab countries was the wars against Israel. I started to go back to thoughts that I had before we arrived at Petra- I was a little bit nervous with the fact we had no idea where we were staying, but I knew that it would be fun. Initially, crazy thoughts were going through my mind. At first, when we were in the taxi, there were no signs for Petra, so I was a little bit worried. The stop at the little hut with the delicious watermelon was a little bit worrisome too. When I got over all of my worries, and promised myself that everything was going to be ok, I FINALLY fell asleep.

The next day we took a hike up to one of the “high-points” in Petra. We climbed up the 800 steps and then we saw indescribable views. The place that we were standing on, was the rock that they used to make sacrifices. As indescribable as they were, I will try to describe them. When you looked down, there was a strait cliff. On one side there was a big flat cave with carvings on it, on the other side, there was a little village and a tomb. Straight ahead was the other high point of Petra.

When we walked down from that, we got drinks and ate lunch. During lunch, we compared Petra to Angkor Wat. We found that we all agreed with the fact that we loved them both, but that Petra seemed more impossible to have been built without power tools. While Angkor Wat had tiny little carvings, it looked liked (over many, many, MANY years) it could possibly be done without power tools, but Petra had so many strait lines, that made it seem impossible to make. We were so amazed with all that we had seen. After lunch and a beautiful morning, we got back into our taxi and took the dusty ride back to the Israeli border (I have to say that we were all a little bit relieved to be back in Israel). As we went through the border crossing back to Israel (we were all slightly amused when a big Arab security guard was looking through my brightly colored polka-dotted backpack) we were all happy to be back to Israel. The security on the way back to Israel was much tighter then it was on the way into Jordan.

When we were back in Israel, we went back to the Club In and we went for one last swim in the pool. After that we went out to dinner and the next morning we had an early start to get back to Jerusalem. We had a lot of fun traveling for the past two weeks, but I think that all of us were ready to head back to Jerusalem.

A Little Visit

2007-06-15T06:42:00.001-07:00

When I was squished between my Grandma and my sister in the taxi ride up to Yad V’Shem, which is the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, I was excited, worried and nervous at the same time. I was excited to be in Israel, I was looking forward learn about the horrendous event that happened to my people through a different source, since I have visit both the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. But, mostly I was excited because my grandparents had finally arrived for their visit and I was with them. I was worried and nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. Will I feel personally touched by what they show? Will the sadness that I feel be broader? How intense will this be? When we pulled up to the beautiful, contemporary, and triangular prism-shaped building, I thought (well, hoped) that I would be ready.

We got brochures and one of the audio guides that walks you through the museum, and we went in. I did get a little bit worried when the guard almost prevented Emma from coming in because of her age. When we entered the dark building, the first stop was a movie showing Jewish-European children before the World War II. They were playing like any other kids would and they seemed very happy. After the first part, the museum is set up so that you must zig-zag your way through, and there is no other way to go, which I think symbolizes the fact that the Jews also had no choices. It seemed to me that each part was worse than the section before it. We saw comic strips, board games, books, and many other objects that were made against Jews. One of the comic strips that we saw had a supposedly typical Jew on one side and a supposedly typical Aryan on the other side. The Jew was dark skinned, fat, bald, ugly, messy, and lazy, while the Aryan was light skinned, in good shape, handsome, neat, and strong. All of these things were so horrendous and I had a small sense of what it felt like to be a 13 year-old kid in that time even though I know I didn’t feel anything close to the sorrow that they experienced.

In one of the exhibits, there was a movie in which Holocaust survivors spoke about their experiences. One man said that there was a time when he couldn’t find his hat. He knew that the next day, in lineup, he would get shot in the head without it. He found someone asleep and he took his hat, knowing what the fate of the person would be. The next morning, he was lined up and sure enough, he heard a shot, not daring to turn his head, for he didn’t want this person’s face to remain in his head for the rest of his life. Hearing this, I was trying to hold back the tears (not just for that, but for other reasons too) and imagine what that would’ve been like, knowing not only that this person’s death was in someway, his fault, but also, that it could’ve been him. The same person said that he wasn’t as ashamed of taking the hat as he was when his father collapsed to the ground during line-up and he didn’t help him. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for all of the people to have to break the law just to get a tiny bit of food, or avoid being beaten or killed. I also can’t imagine what it would be like to be separated from your family, especially as a young child. These people went from normal people in Europe to losing everything, including their families.

As we were walking through, I was comparing my other experiences with this one. At the Los Angeles Museum, I felt more personally touched, for some reason. In D.C., it was my first exposure to the Holocaust, but Yad V’Shem was by far the most informational. Since it was the day before Shavuot, the museum was closing early, so at the end we were rushed out. The last part was a big room with tons and tons of shelves, most are empty, but a lot of them have binders on them with names of people who were killed during the Holocaust. They are still searching for names. We were all a little bit depressed when we left, especially with the bright and beautiful garden right out side that seemed a little bit too happy.

After the museum we went back to their hotel for an early dinner. As I said, the next day was Shavuot, so we woke up at 3am. Our parents dragged us out of bed and we walked over to the Conservative Yeshiva, to meet up with some people. From the Yeshiva, we walked over to the Wall. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people there, praying on Shavuot. It was insane. It was freezing cold, and I was really tired, but there was something magical about it. From everyone coming so early, to the beautiful prayer, and of course, the spectacular and historic Wall. As the sun rose over the old, and beautiful Jerusalem stone structures, I could feel the excitement of the ultra Hasidic men, and I could hear the songs of the birds, even through all of my get-up-at-three-in-the-morning grogginess. When it was all over and it started to warm up, we back to our grandparent’s hotel to catch up on some sleep.

For our last day in Jerusalem with my grandparents, we went to the old city and stayed around the hotel. The next day we went up to the North. Our first stop was Beit She’an, which is an archeological site that was excavated 20 years ago. We learned that the main street of each Roman city is called a cardo. At one end of the site, there is a Tel, which is a manmade hill that the Romans have in most of their ancient cities. My favorite part of the site, aside from the fake tree that they put in for some Jesus movie, was the Roman bathes. The bathes in those times were like country clubs. There was a part to get undressed, then you go from the cold water, to medium temperature water, and lastly to the hot water. After that, you go to the sauna room (which in those days was a room heated by the sun). Lastly, you can go to the massage room, where there was a little extra fee for a professional masseuse. Sounds like the country club, doesn’t it? After the amazing Beit She’an ruins, we went to Tiberius to visit Rambam’s tomb. It was cool to be there, but I could’ve lived without it. After that, we went to Kibbutz Nof Ginosar, which has a hotel right on the water of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret. The New Testament says that the Galilee was where Jesus walked on water. So, there were tons of people on what my mom calls “Jesus Tours”. We felt like we were the only Jews, which was a little bit strange since we were in Israel. But it was OK.

The next day we went on a day trip to Zefat. Zefat is known for its beautiful Judaica, so we bought some of that, and then we went to visit some interesting, old synagogues—most of which were Sephardic. I thought that it was so amazing to see all of these synagogues, that even though they are part of the same religion that I have been growing up in, they are so different. Our last stop before lunch was a candle store. The owners showed us how they made Havdalah candles. For lunch we went to an art gallery and had falafel. It was very good—and my grandparents purchased a Chagall print, which they were very happy about. Apparently, Chagall was a famous Jewish artist. Later that day we went to the Golan Heights. I was completely amazed with its beauty even through the many wars that have occurred there. While we were there, we saw a beautiful waterfall, but as I approached it, I was shaking a little bit. They rushed us out of there, because they were closing early for Shabbat. We went back to our hotel, and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Tiberias. It was delicious. After that, we went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

For our last and final day with our guide, Meir, we went to two different ruins. One was called Ceasaria, and the other one was Akko. Akko was a place that had seen many people. The building had many layers, because new groups of people kept adding to the existing buildings. The last and most recent (though not all that recent) of all of the people that Akko had seen were the Crusaders. They turned the basement into a jail. The jail had a dining hall and other things like that. The Crusaders also built tunnels through the entire area. We liked it a lot. Our next stop, Ceasaria, was on the on Ocean. King Harod (the dude who built the Second Temple) built it, and it was amazing. The starting point of it all was a lot like many of the other ruins that we had seen; it was beautiful, but not spectacular. There was also a wall, so we couldn’t see the water. After we walked through the gate, we were entranced. We were in these beautiful old ruins over looking the cool, blue Mediterranean Sea. Every single rock had a story. On one side of it, was a long amphitheatre that faced the Sea. At one point, it was used for horse and chariot races. We walked along the edge of it and then looped our way back through. We bought some ice cream and then exited the ruins through the big door with the moat around it. It was incredible. After eating lunch at a shwarma place, we went to Tel Aviv. On the way to Tel Aviv, we drove thru Haifa. We stopped at a viewpoint of the Bahai Temple. From the bottom of the hill, you can see beautiful gardens zig-zagging up to the top, where there is a spectacular gold dome and more colorful gardens. After that, our guide dropped us off at our hotel in Tel Aviv, and we said goodbye.

It was so great to finally see our grandparents after such a long time. We did so many fun things with them (and they let us do some things, like all grandparents, that are our parents wouldn’t of). When they left we were all tearful and sad to see them go.

Shalom, Jerusalem

2007-05-16T01:17:00.000-07:00

After flying all night, we finally arrived at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. We were all so excited to be here, but a little uneasy with the fact that we are on the last leg of our trip. As we were walking through the beautiful, brand new airport, we were drawn to the fact the almost everyone is Jewish. We went into the bathroom and said, “the janitor’s Jewish.” We walked outside to get our taxi and said, “the taxi driver’s Jewish!” We were so excited because I had never been in a place (except for Ikar) where the majority of people are Jewish. We drove past Tel Aviv and through checkpoints and we went to Jerusalem. After we got to the point when we could see the beautiful and spectacular city, I fell asleep, only awaken by our (Jewish) taxi driver asking for directions to the place that we were going. We were all very tired, so we went to get some food and then we took a nap.

After that we met up with Scott Perlo, who is a friend from Los Angeles. He took us around the city and into the old city. We went to visit the one, the only, the beautiful Western Wall. We walked up to it and we prayed (we didn’t have paper to write our blessings on and put in the wall, so we are planning on going back). When we had finished our prayers (there were tears in my mom’s eyes) we walked backwards from the wall, since you are not allowed to turn your back to it. It was an incredible sight. After that, we went to Ben Yehuda Street, which is in the downtown area. It reminds me of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. That was fun to see. Because the day after we arrived in Jerusalem, it was going to be the Day of Jerusalem, or Yom Yerushalayim, the day had lots of rally-like things going on. Yom Yerushalayim is the celebration of the reunification of Jerusalem. There was a lot of music and dancing and singing. It was fun to see.

For the past four months we had been learning about other people’s cultures, and now we get to learn about our own. As we walked through the streets we didn’t feel like such foreigners. I don’t speak Hebrew, but I can understand every couple of words. It is also nice and it feels very comfortable to be in a place that looks so familiar and to be able to read the signs. We were so excited to be here. It was like being at home, but totally foreign. Even though I had never been here before, it felt very familiar to me. I loved walking around seeing Jewish stars and the Israeli flag. After one day, I had fallen in love with the place. It was different then the kind of love that I felt for Tanzania. Here, the people aren’t as sweet and warm and welcoming as the Tanzanians, but in a way, it feels like home.

Delicious Hibiscus Tea

2007-05-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

The second that we arrived in the Denpassar airport in Bali, I knew I would love it. Even though we hadn’t slept for a long time, Emma and I had fallen in love with the place. When all four of our bags came out of the conveyor belt, we lugged all of our stuff outside to find a paper made sign saying in all caps and navy blue letters Adam and Melissa. The man holding the sign introduced himself as Nyoman and then we introduced ourselves. He took us to his car and loaded in all of our stuff. We paid the toll to get out of the Denpassar International Airport and we were on our way. Before Emma and I fell asleep for the hour long car ride to Ubud, we had our first Indonesian and Balinese language lessons. They have their own language in Bali, but Indonesian is the national language so they speak both. Hello in both is Hello. Thank you in Indonesian is Tarimakasi and thank you in Balinese is Matur Suksimo. When we arrived at what would be our home for the next three weeks we were not happy to see the stairs that we would have to go up to get there. After the walk to our cottage we were very pleasantly surprised. The house, along with other houses, is surrounded by tons and tons of rice fields. Outside when you first walk in there is a little Coifish pond and then there is a porch. On the porch there is a set of four chairs and a table, a bed, and a couch. We eat all of our meals on the porch. I also sleep outside. The bed is pretty comfortable with a mosquito net to keep the bugs out. It is normally pretty peaceful out there with the calming sound of the wind rustling the leaves and the Coifish splashing in the pond. We are woken up every once in a while with the occasional dog fight due to the fact that there are many stray dogs in Ubud. Despite that, we love it. Inside there is another couch and a bathroom. In the back there is a little kitchen. Upstairs there is a desk, a dresser, and another bed. After we got somewhat settled in, we took a walk to town. Since we hadn’t had real food since Vietnam, we were all starving. We found a little restaurant on Monkey Forest Road called Ibu Rai. We had a 4:00 meal that was it for the day. It was very good. After that we walked around a little bit and then we went back. Little did we know how dark it was going to be. After we climbed the stairs and we got to the beginning of the path, we realized that we would have to get there in the pitch dark. After a little bit of groping around, my dad pulled out his cell phone for light. We made it back, but we made sure to bring flashlights for the other times that we were out at night. The next day we were counting the seconds until our grandmother came to meet us. She was coming in at midnight that night, so we were planning on seeing her in the morning. We all woke up relatively early the next day and we walked across the rice fields to her hotel. My grandma and her boyfriend, Aloni, were sitting there eating breakfast. The second we saw her we ran up to her. We were so excited to see her. That day we went into town and did a little bit of shopping. After that we decided to get massages. They were very nice-our first massages! Before going to a carnival called Earth Day, we got lunch at a restaurant called the KAFE. It was delicious. After that we took a long walk to the Earth Day celebration. There was food and music and activities. After a little while there, we headed back to Ubud for dinner. After dinner we went back to our house. This time we remembered flash lights, luckily.

We spent a lot of our time swimming and relaxing. One night we went to see traditional Balinese dancing. The costumes were beautiful, but it was a little bit tedious. We sat right next to the instruments so we were able to see the exotic-wood-carved xylophone-like instruments. It was interesting to see, but it was a little bit too loud. After that experience, we went back to our house to go to sleep. For our various days in Ubud we did a lot of shopping and hanging out. We found a lot of cute restaurants in and around Ubud.

My mom and dad went away for a weekend to Seminyak Beach. When they were gone (it was a very sad goodbye after four months of not being separated) one day my grandma and Aloni took us to a place called Taro, Bali. In Taro they have an amazing elephant park. It had been raining all morning long and luckily when we got out of the car, it had stopped. We went in and grabbed a quick lunch and then we went on a ride through the park on elephants. The scenery was beautiful and it was nice to be on an elephant without a big black eye and stitches! After the ride we got back to the park and we watched an elephant talent show. There were three elephants. They climbed across a balance beam, they played soccer and basketball, they carried people in their trunks, they sprayed us with water and they did math. It was very cool. The next day we went to visit different temples and a hot spring. In order to enter a Balinese temple, you must wear a sarong. In front of the temple we bought a sarong. Inside we looked at the different carvings and spiritual sections. While we were there, they were preparing for a celebration, so we got to see their art. After that we went to see the hot spring. There were two warm pools and a cold pool. We swam and hung out there for a while and then we ate lunch. After that we left for another temple. The last temple that we visited was the Elephant cave temple. Inside there was a market and after we went down some steps we got to a place were there were three pools each one up to the middle of my calves. Our guide told us that it is holy water used to purify your soul. On one side of the temple there is an elephant cave. The cave was very dark. It had carvings in it, many of elephants. It was a very beautiful sight to see. I enjoyed it. When we left that temple we drove for about an hour to get back to Ubud. It was a fun day.

The next day we spent most of the morning sleeping in and hanging out. At about 11:30 we were picked up and we went to meet my parents in Seminyak Village which is very close to Kuta Beach. We were so happy to see our parents because it was the first time that we had been away from them for four months. It was very strange to be separated from them. After so long of not being able to get away from them, I thought that it would be nice but, it felt like something was missing. I love being with my grandma and the hot springs and elephant riding were SO much fun, but it was so different. It was really the first time in four months that my mom and dad had to say, “What did you do?” or, “How was it?” (I wonder what going away to camp is going to be like!) We had lunch there and then we went back to my parents’ hotel to swim in the pool and in the ocean. It was fun. Later, at about 4:00, we went to shop around Kuta. Kuta is mainly an Australian surf town, so it was full of big signs and western stores. After a little bit of shopping, we went to dinner. After dinner we went back to Ubud…happy to be with two more people then we came with.

The day after we returned from Kuta was when our REAL adventures began. The first one was a one day bike trip in the hills of Bali. It was all downhill and our hands probably got more exercise by braking all of the time then our feet did by pedaling, but it was fun. Along the way we stopped at a traditional garden, a temple, and a traditional Balinese house compound. The garden had many things: cocoa beans (my favorite!), coffee beans, chili peppers, pumpkins, and other various fruits and vegetables. It was very interesting. Our next two-wheeled stop was a temple. Our guide told us the every house compound has a temple and that every town has a bigger temple. They are made like human bodies. The head is the holiest part and the feet are the least holy. There are three courtyards within each town temple. The head is the first one, the stomach is the second one, and the feet is the third one. It was interesting to learn about. Our last stop before lunch was a traditional Balinese house compound. All compounds have various houses within them because all families live together. Normally a new married couple goes to live with the husband’s family. Within each compound there are cousins, siblings, parents, and grandparents. Each immediate family has its own house, but is only a few steps away from the other houses. As I mentioned earlier, each compound has its own temple inside of it and they also share a kitchen. Like temples, houses are also like the human body. The feet are where the animals are and the head is where the temple is. It was a very interesting to see. Another interesting thing about Balinese culture is that they make beautiful, colorful, and fruit-full offerings every morning for the Hindu Gods. They put these offerings in shrines that are dressed up with sarongs. Everyone wears sarongs-men and women alike. One thing that really fascinates me is that if you are the eldest child in the family, your name is Wayan, if you are the second child your name is Made (Maday), the third is Nyoman, and the fourth is Putu. If you have any more children you start over, but you add Bali to the end. The fifth child would be called Wayan Bali. Since so many people have the same name, we found that most people have been given nicknames. When we left the house compound we rode our bikes to the end and then a van picked us up for a delicious Balinese lunch buffet (which we felt like we didn’t really deserve due to the effortless bike ride). After that, we went back to Ubud for an afternoon swim.

The next day we continued our adventures. We decided to go river rafting. Emma was very nervous and I have to admit that I was a little scared too. We got to our starting point and we got our life jackets, our helmets, and our paddles. We walked down the 400 steps to the Agung River and were given simple instructions for the boat. We got into our raft, and we were off. As we bumped down our first rapid I was full of mixed emotions. Some were that “this is so much fun,” or “It’s so beautiful,” but others were “what happens if I fall out?” or “what if I don’t do it right?” or “what if I lose my paddle?” While all of these were going through my head we got to the bottom of the our first rapid and over the roaring water I hear our guide scream “FORWARD!” and we started moving. After that first rapid I was thinking more positive things. After two or three rapids I was pretty sure that I had gotten the hang of it. Our guide then told us to get inside of the boat because we were about to go down a one meter waterfall. I knew that I would just have to deal, but after my little mishap in Thailand, waterfalls have not been my favorite thing. As we got closer, my heart started beating faster and faster. When we got to it, I held my paddle the way I was told, closed my eyes, and screamed. A big wave of cool water splashed over us and I was so happy. I had made it! I didn’t fall out! After a couple easier rapids our guide announced that our next rapid is called ping-pong. He didn’t explain why it was called ping-pong, though. We paddled according to direction and then we were, well, like a ping-pong ball. We went back and forth until it got calmer. This one wasn’t like that waterfall that lasted for about one second. This one seemed to go on and on and on. At one point we hit a rock and my dad fell on me. I was almost positive that I was going to fall out, but luckily, I didn’t. We knew why they called it ping-pong! After a few more rapids, we made it to the end of the trail. I was so proud of myself. I had made without falling! We unloaded our helmets, life jackets, and paddles, we showered and then we ate lunch (which was almost exactly the same as the bike trip from the previous day because we used the same company). After the trip they drove us back and we stayed in Ubud for the rest of the day.

The rest of the time that our grandma was here, we spent hanging out and doing shopping. On of the days we went to a fabric store and we designed a bed spread for Emma and a jewelry box for me. (One of my Chanukah presents was a jewelry box in Bali.) That was fun. We got clothes and sarongs and jewelry and puppets (for my grandma) and other souvenirs. On our last night with our grandma we went out for a delicious dinner and then we had a tearful goodbye as we trudged up the stairs to our house.

We spent about four days doing a lot of work and then we took what we call a vacation from our vacation from our vacation. The whole trip is our vacation, Bali is our vacation from our vacation, and Amed, the beach town about two hours away from Ubud is our vacation from our vacation from our vacation. Amed is very quiet, but beautiful. We stayed at a Feng Shui Boutique hotel (if you know my mom, you would know how much she loves Feng Shui) that had a nice pool and was right on the ocean. It was a coral beach but the water was beautiful. We did a lot of swimming and snorkeling while we were there. One day we went to a Japanese ship wreck. There were beautiful coral gardens and the boat was spectacular. The boat was broken in half and spread out about 15 feet under the water. There was life in and around it and it was magnificent. The water was a little bit rough, but it was fine to just float around. The boat that we took in order to get there was like a little mini catamaran. The water is very shallow, so the boats have to be wide, not deep. The inside of the boat is long and skinny, like a canoe and we had to sit and stand in single file. We had fun in Amed but, as always, we were very excited to return to Ubud.

Our last couple of days in Ubud were exciting, but we were sad to go. We ended up having to move to the Honeymoon Cottages because my dad is allergic to cats. There, they serve Hibiscus Tea which we thought was delicious. From then on, our family joke was Delicious Hibiscus Teach. One of the things that Ubud is famous for is its Monkey Forest. There are tons and tons of monkeys that are very accustomed to people being there so if I was crazy enough I could have touched one. We spent about a half hour admiring the crazing monkeys and their human like activity. After our walk thru the monkey forest we walked down Hanoman Street. (The three main roads in central Ubud are the Main Road, Monkey Forest Street, and Hanoman Steet.) We did some shopping and then, while we were in one of the stores, they told that there was going to be a cremation. The Balinese celebrate everything including death because they believe in reincarnation. Some people buy tickets to these celebrations (though it is not necessary) to see them. Coming down the road was a big float-like thing carried by men on their shoulders. There is a priest on top and the villagers sprayed water on them. Followed by the “float” there was many musicians. The next “float” was the same thing, but the first one was more like a castle, and this was a giant black paper mache bull. They carried this all to a grave site, the first “float” was carrying the body. They cut up the bull and put the body inside with offerings, holy water, and blessings. When all of the body’s remains were in the bull with various blessings they closed it up. To light it up, they surprisingly used gas and within minutes in was in flames. It was an unforgettable sight to see this cremation. Everyone was so happy-there was singing and laughing. Not to mention everyone was in bright colors. After watching this we were very hungry but very happy with the sight that we had just witnessed. It was a good conclusion to our stay in Ubud.For out last day we took a long walk to the Maya Ubud, a hotel that we felt like we had to visit. It was beautiful. I got a hat and to my dismay, my dad got the same one. We did some last minute shopping and picked up our lunch. Then our taxi driver, Nyoman, drove us to the airport and watched as we left Ubud.

READERS NOTE: I POSTED THIS BLOG AT THE SAME TIME AS MY 'GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM' BLOG WHICH IS BELOW.

Good Morning, Vietnam!

2007-05-13T01:35:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon. Coming from Phnom Penh, it felt like a big change, especially because Ho Chi Minh City is one of the more developed cities in Vietnam. After settling in to our new hotel, called the Ha Hien, we set of to begin to explore the large and bustling city. First we wanted to plan our stay so we went to a travel agent. They helped us arrange the two day trips that we wanted to go on. After settling on all of the plans, we went to dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Pho 24 which is like the Subway of Vietnam. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle dish with different things in it. We ordered Pho Ga which is Pho with chicken. It was pretty good and it was interesting to learn how to eat it. You are given chop sticks and a spoon. We were trying to watch the locals eat it, but it was no use, we couldn’t do it. After that, we went back to our cozy little hotel room.

The next morning we woke up a little bit early to catch our tour around the Mekong Delta. We met at the TNK travel agency and then we all got on our little maroon colored tour bus. Our guide, who’s name is still a mystery to me, took our tickets and then he told us briefly about the Mekong Delta and that it is shaped as a triangle. The people on the tour with us consisted of two Americans that were doing a program called semester at sea. They were really nice. There was also one Danish family that was traveling around Vietnam for a couple of weeks. We really liked them too. Another person that was there was someone who was half Israeli and half American. He was very strange and negative. There were also three people from New Zealand. Two were married and one came on his own. They all seemed very kind. After the hour and a half drive to the boat port, we all got on to our boat and then we arrived about 30 minutes later at the coconut candy island. When we got there, our guide told us the process that the coconut goes through to become candy. First they drain the coconut of its juice, then they cut out the ‘meat’ and save the shell for handicrafts. After that they shred the ‘meat’ in to small pieces. Next, they compress the pieces of shredding together to make coconut milk. After that they melt it together forming a chewy, soft, and warm candy. Lastly, they rap it in two papers. The outer layer is wax paper and the inner layer is rice paper, which is edible. If they want to add other flavors they mix them in to the melting coconut shreds. They were delicious - especially when they were warm. After the coconut candy island we were on our way to another island that specializes in Honey Bees and honey making. They made us tea with their honey, but I personally thought that it was too sweet; it tasted like liquidy grass mixed with honey. Before we left the island, they took out their python. Some people held it; I passed on that part. After that we headed to another island which we stayed at for a delicious lunch. We had a mysterious watery soup and a very good and tasteful noodle dish that had chicken and tofu. After that scrumptious lunch, we got back on the boat on we were on our way to the last stop of the day. It was an island were they served us delicious fruit and sang traditional Vietnamese songs. After that the local village tried to sell us some of their handicrafts, then they had us get on to Vietnamese boats, which are like dugout canoes. Along with the boat they lent us typical Vietnamese hats for the ride. They are cone shaped hats made out of straw. They have a wide rim and a point on top. To keep them on, they have ribbons and different colored string that you tie under your chin. In between a lot of the Islands there are different canals that come from the Mekong Delta. We took a ride through them which ended right at our boat. From that, we went back to the port to get on our bus for the long ride home. We stopped at the bus station where my parents treated Emma and I to ice cream. (One of the few words of Vietnamese that I learned was So-co-la which means chocolate because it was on all of the ice cream.) After that we got back in to our bus and we were on our way back to the TNK travel agency.

That night we went to a spiffy little restaurant called the Temple Club. We had very good food there. After that we walked around the many markets of Ho Chi Minh City and then we went back to our hotel to get a good night’s rest for the next day of adventure in Ho Chi Minh City.

The next day after breakfast we were picked up in private car and we began our last day in Ho Chi Minh City by going to a Handicapped Craft Lacquer. Some of the people that work there are handicapped. We got a tour of the factory. We were told that there are many ways to make lacquer and many different steps to them all. The three ways are glass, painting, and eggshell. It was very interesting. When we were done with that, we got back into the car and we drove to the site of the Cu-Chi tunnels. The Cu-Chi tunnels are where the Villagers of Cu-Chi hid during the Vietnamese war (which is known as the American war in Vietnam). They run for 2,000 kilometers (1,242.7424 miles) and they end at the border of Cambodia. Different parts of the tunnel lead to different things. One part led to the health area, one to the kitchen, one to the weapon making section and different parts like that. For part of it, we actually went into the tunnels. It was very hot, dark, and stuffy. Around the area of the tunnels, there are many B-52 bomb imprints that the Americans dropped. They reminded me of mini-craters. When we were walking around, our guide pointed out many air-holes that were around the area. There are 15 meters between the entrance and the tunnel. Inside the tunnel you have to crouch, but it is not necessary in the entrances. Everything in the area is camouflaged with leaves and other things. Anther thing that the Vietnamese did to get the Americans was make traps. They showed us these and they are all very painful. Another trick that they did was put chili peppers around the tunnels so that the American’s dogs couldn’t smell them. When we were done there, our driver took us to the airport so we could catch our flight to Hoi An. The whole time that we were in Ho Chi Minh City, I was amazed by how recent they were in a dreadful war and much they have improved their county.

When we arrived in Hoi An we got in a taxi to take us to our hotel, called the Hoi An Beach Resort. This is a very nice hotel with a good restaurant, a nice pool, nice rooms, and it is right on the beach. We first got settled into our room, then we went to the pool for a little bit. After Emma and I had a good and refreshing swim, and then we went to the restaurant for dinner. After we sent back our food about three times they finally got our cheeseburgers right. After dinner we checked e-mail and then we went to sleep. The next day we spent the morning in and around the pool and then we went to town. It is a very cute little town. First we took a little stroll, then Emma, my mom and I got dresses made because one of the things that Hoi An is known for is seamstresses. Emma and I got white dresses and my mom got a black one. After a delicious Vietnamese dinner, we went back to the hotel to go to have another night time swim and go to sleep. For our third and last day in Hoi An we went into town in the morning to pick up our dresses which we ended up being really happy with. We got some snacks to prepare ourselves for the 4 hour bus ride that we were taking to get to Hue at 2:00pm. We spent the rest of the day by the pool until we left to Hue. We really liked Hoi An. If we had known, we would have stayed in town, but we still had a lot of fun. It is a pleasant little town where the people are all so nice and generous. It was very small and charming. It was also right on a river, so it was fun to do walks on the river when we went to town. We all loved Hoi An and we were sad to leave, but excited to see a new place.

In Hue, we planned to stay at the Asia Hotel which reminded us all a lot of the Ha Hien, where we stayed in Ho Chi Minh City. It was a little hotel with seven floors and a cute little pool on the roof looking over the city. It was a very enjoyable stay hotel. The first night that we were there, we went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant (against my will) which ended up to be pretty good. After dinner, we went to the Mandarin Café and we got desert and organized a tour on the perfume river for the next day. After that we went back to the hotel to have a good night’s rest. We woke up the next morning and we were pleasantly surprised by the delicious rooftop breakfast-complete with chocolate croissants. It was very good. After that, we made our way over to the Mandarin Café and then we were redirected to the boat that we would call ours for the day. The boat was like a house boat in the sense that it was a square. There were two dragon heads on the front and a little balcony. Inside they set up plastic chairs for each person. We went to many different tombs, visited a pagoda, and went to a village. It was fun to see how the ancient Vietnamese tombs were built. They were built in Hue because it was the old capital. A lot of the tombs have Chinese characters on them because the Vietnamese used a dialogue very similar to Chinese before the Vietnamese language was developed. One of the pagodas that we visited was right on the river and it had many beautiful structures, but it was under restoration when we were there. For lunch we had rice with green beans and spring rolls. We ate it on the boat on mats on the floor. It was fun. One of the tombs that we visited was right near a conical hat (typical Vietnamese hat) and incense making village. We just rode motorbikes past the village, but of what we could see of it, it was beautiful. The incense was all different colors, so it was very beautiful to see, and the hats were also laid out in a lovely way. After a full day of adventure, we were ready to go back to our hotel and relax and swim for a little bit before dinner, but when we got to the Asia Hotel, they told us that it was booked, so we were going to have to find another hotel tonight. We had gotten some warning of this, but my parents seemed to think that we would be able to stay. After a lot of researching, thinking, sitting, and discussing, my parents decided to go to the five star hotel, called the Imperial Hotel, in Hue. It was very nice, but a big jump from the other places we were staying. One thing that I really liked about were how especially nice the people were. We ended up getting there around 5:00pm and we settled in to our room and then we went for a swim in the Imperial Hotel’s freezing swimming pool. After that we went out to dinner at a place called Little Italy where we had delicious pizza. After dinner we went on a walk under a beautiful bridge and then we went back to the hotel. The next morning we were VERY happy with the delicious breakfast and we spent most of the early morning in the hotel. After that we went to visit the old capital on the other side of town. It was beautiful and fun to see. There was a flag tower and a mote, many pagodas and temples. It was a lot of fun. We hung out in the hotel for a lot of the day and when it was time for dinner we went to a little French restaurant called Le Carambole. Emma and I got pasta and my parents shared Vietnamese dishes. After that we walked back to our hotel for our taxi to pick us up to bring us to the airport. When it was time, we got on our plane to Hanoi.

Our last stop in Vietnam was Hanoi, which is the capital city in Vietnam. We got in at midnight to our hotel called Hanoi Paradise. After we got to our dainty room, the first thing that I noticed was a cockroach. I said to my parents, “Look, it’s a rat!”. The towels were stained and the beds were dirty, but all I wanted to do was go to sleep (and get rid of the rat sized cockroach). When they finally got it, we went to sleep. It took me a while to fall asleep because the hotel crept me out. The next morning, breakfast was not that good and there were ants in the sugar bowl. We ended up walking around looking for a new place to stay for our remaining two nights in Hanoi. (which was hard because almost everyplace was booked) but then we found a travel agency called Exotissimo which my mom describes as a “fancy travel agency.” When we got there one of the agents told us about a new hotel. She said that she had never been, but her colleagues had and they all loved it. She told us that she couldn’t promise anything. When we arrived at the hotel we all ready really liked the vibe of it, so we asked to see a room. All of the rooms had wood floors with black lacquer furniture and white sheets. It was beautifully decorated and clean. There were no cockroaches! After a crazing morning of moving our luggage to the other hotel, we had worked up our appetite by running around the city all morning. Because my mom was also on a search for a good map, we found ourselves in another travel agency. They pointed us upstairs to a Vietnamese noodle restaurant. It was very good. After lunch we did a little bit of strolling. We walked around the main lake in the center of Hanoi, looked at the times for the water puppet show, and we figured out which of the tourist attractions we wanted to go to. After getting a little bit of a feel to the city, we headed of to dinner at a place called the Hanoi Gardens. We all shared different Vietnamese dishes.

The next morning we connected our laptops to the internet and we all had some good Skype, iChat, and AIM time that morning. When my parents finally made me go eat breakfast we went to the top floor for a delicious French toast. After breakfast we walked back into town to see if could visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum. It was closed, so we planned to go the next day. After that we walked to the Temple of Literature which is a temple that was also the first University in Vietnam. After visiting the beautiful and old structures, we went to a restaurant called KOTO. KOTO stands for know one, teach on. It is a program that was started by an Australian Vietnamese man for street kids. Its idea is to help kids that were living on the street with no family, reform their lives. The program gives them a place to live and a job to help them earn money. After a short training program they begin to work in different parts of the restaurant. They can be waiters and waitresses, or cooks, or hosts and hostesses. Not only was the program amazing, but the food was just as good. After the meal, we got two cyclos, which are like bikes with wheel chairs on the front. My mom and I were in one and Emma and my dad were in the other. We rode down a very nice street that my mom and I went back to shop on. When we arrived at our destination, which was the water puppet theatre, we bought tickets for later. Emma and my dad walked around and my mom and I shopped for a bit. When we met back up it was time for the show, so we went in the theatre. The show was very cool. It was puppets dancing and doing other things in a pool of water. It was worth it and fun to see, but I was glad when it was over. After the show my parents needed backpacks so we got those and then we went to the Stop Café for dinner. At dinner we all got burgers which hit the spot. After a long day of walking and schlepping around Hanoi, we went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. The next morning we got up to go to the Ho Chi Minh Museum and Mausoleum. The mausoleum was a big dark building with lots of stairs and security. In the middle is Ho Chi Minh’s (Uncle Ho’s) dead body. It was a little creepy to see it, but when in Rome…. After that we went to the museum which wasn’t as creepy but just as boring as the mausoleum, so we left quickly. We were in our hotel a lot that day after the Ho Chi Minh things. When we started to get hungry, we took a long walk and we found an Indian restaurant to my dismay. We ate a big, late lunch that would hopefully hold us over for our plane ride that night. It was time to say goodbye to Vietnam.

At home every time I heard the word Vietnam, it made me think of dark times and war. Before we went I was a little nervous to go because I am American. I wasn’t scared, I was just a little bit nervous, especially after what I saw in Cambodia. Both countries had been war struck not that long ago, so I didn’t know what to expect. Phnom Penh had beggars everywhere, but Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the other cities that we went to had some obvious poverty, but not

Cambodia

2007-04-16T03:57:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at the touristy airport in Siem Reap from Luang Prabang, we were all ready for our next adventure. Because Siem Reap is known for Angkor Wat and its other temples, everything here is very touristy. There are big, and fancy hotels everywhere. We stayed at a place called the Somadevi, it is nice, but a little tacky. The first thing that I noticed was that everyone reminds me of my aunt, Borany, and my cousin Kiki. It makes me miss them so much more then I already do. When our guide, Sam, picked us up from the Siem Reap International Airport, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and then we went to see the famous, the beautiful, Angkor Wat, which is one of the seven manmade wonders of the world. It was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen in my life. When we got out of the van, Sam told us that Angkor Wat with was built with Mount Meru in mind and in three layers: the mote, a wall, and the center temple. Mount Meru (which happens to be a mountain in Tanzania, but is an imaginary mountain to them) is where the Gods live and in order to make it like Mount Meru, they had to build the temple as high as possible. Around the temple there are carvings. Each carving tells a story. The most important one is the Hindu and Buddhist’s story of creation. The story goes that the Gods and the Demons are pulling a snake back and forth like tug-of-war. Doing so, they formed a very holy, milky substance that created humans. This carving is everywhere in all of the temples. We were so happy to have a guide because all of us thought that all of the carvings were beautiful, but they wouldn’t mean anything to us because if we did not have a guide explaining the stories. It was almost 6:00pm when we finally had climbed up all of the steep (and scary) staircases up to the God’s temple. We were planning on staying there for sunset, but the security people kicked us off, so we watched the beautiful sunset from the bottom after we walked down the stairs holding on for our lives (at least I was). When we pulled out of the parking area we were all convinced that Cambodia was going to be an amazing place of learning and discovery for us.

The next day we went to five other temples. The first one of the day was called Ta Prom. This temple is overgrown by jungle. We were told that birds dropped seeds on top of the temple, so there are trees growing out of them. They are big tall trees with amazing roots that sometimes are illusions of people and other things. For instance, there is one tree where it looks like two of the roots are a person climbing up the wall. The temple is such an unbelievable site because of its man made beauty and its natural beauty. It is an incredible site to see with all of the intricate carvings and beautiful greenery.
The next temple was called Ta Koa and it was nick-named “the unfinished temple”. It is called that because some of the carvings are not finished. Some people think that the king died while the temple was being built and the servants left. We climbed up lots of stairs in this temple. Another part of this temple that makes it different from all of the other millions of temples is that part of it was made of wood, and it was struck by lightning, causing the wood to collapse. People from different countries are trying to restore it so there are millions of pieces of ruins from the temples that are laid out just outside of the building. It was very interesting to see this temple because we were able to see the different stages of the carvings. First they draw the outline (we didn’t see this stage but our guide told us this), after that they carve the outline-this looks very plain. The third step is to add the intricate parts of the carving; they do this in sections. It was very fascinating to see. The next temple was called Bantaey Srei. It was one of the more elaborate temples, so professionals think that it was carved by females because females have more patience then males. The carvings are very deep and have many details that obviously took lots of time and patience. To me, it feels very grand and welcoming. This one we didn’t climb up. The next temple that we traveled to was called Bantaey Samm. This one is the farmers and commoners temple. Being so, it is much smaller that the other temples that we had seen. It also not very fancy, but just as beautiful as the other ones and a perfect place for the Buddhist commoners to pray. After a very long day, we had one temple left to see, we were planning on going there for the sunset. It was called Pre Rub. After we climbed to the top of this beautiful, smaller sized temple we sat up on a ledge and waited for the sun to set. As we were sitting up there, Emma, being the little Cal fan the she is, spotted a girl wear a Cal shirt. We met her and her friends and they were all friends from Cal that were traveling together. It was a lot of fun to meat them and the sunset from above the jungle was an incredible sight to see.

For out last day in Siem Reap we went to Angkor Thom, which is a walled in city. Inside the city, there is a temple called Bayon. Bayon is different from the other temples because the carvings here aren’t mythical stories, but real battles that have happened in Cambodian history. I found Bayon to be very welcoming and magnificent. Another temple in Angkor Thom is called Bapoon. We didn’t go into Bapoon because it collapsed and right now the French are restoring it. Not far from Bapoon, there is the old wall that was once the royal palace. The wall is stone, but the rest of the palace was made of wood, so it did not last. Behind where the palace used to be, there is the King’s temple and two pools. The larger pool is for all of the women in the palace to bathe, and the smaller one was for all of the men in the palace to bathe. On our way out of Angkor Thom, we stopped at the Terrace of Elephants, which is exactly as it sounds. It is a platform, or a terrace, with carvings of elephants all around it.

The sandstone that it is made out of is old and uneven, but beautiful. After Angkor Thom we went back to our tacky hotel and we hung out in and around the pool and did some work. After we ate lunch we were off again to go the Floating Village on Tonle Sap lake.

It was very sad to see all of the desperation in this village. It was so poor and many people were missing arms and legs. Their houses are little tiny boats for six people. They are about six square feet. It was so incredibly sad to see this part of Cambodia. That night we went to a performance for dinner. We saw traditional Khmer dancing and had dinner at this place. I am personally not a big fan of ballet, so I didn’t like it all that much, but it was an enjoyable evening.

The next morning, we got on our bus to Phnom Penh. I didn’t like the city that much the first night because it is so in your face. There are always beggars try to get money and it was a little scary to see them. On our second day, we took a tuk-tuk around Phnom Penh to dinner, the grand palace of Cambodia, the internet café, and the market. The way he took us, was through the nice part of town with the nice parks and buildings, so we all got a little bit of a better impression of Phnom Penh. While we were there we spent most of our time swimming and making travel arrangements, but I will not complain. The one part of Phnom Penh that I liked, was that it was not like Siem Reap in the way that it is all dependent on tourists, so we could see a little bit more of the real Cambodia. Phnom Penh had the feel of a big city, in the third poorest country in the world. One thing that I kept thinking about when we were walking around in the city, was how advanced it was before war. Before the war, Phnom Penh was bigger than Bangkok, and it was the biggest and most developed city in Southeast Asia. Without the Khmer Rouge takeover, this capital city would be a thriving capital of Asia, but sadly, it is not.

An Asian Passover

2007-04-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

After we parted from the Levine’s, my family made its way to Luang Prabang, Laos. People had been telling us that it was a magical city, but I didn’t know what to expect. When we first arrived we all knew that ‘magical’ was the correct term. There are little tiny French style buildings with friendly people and little tiny alleys. It is also right on a river, which just tops it all off. Because we arrived on a Friday afternoon, we explored that amazing and colorful night market and then, we decided to be good Jews, and went to Shabbat services at the Lao Chabad (Lao is what the natives call Laos). It was filled with mainly Israelis who were just out of the army and traveling. It was a lot of fun; we were singing songs and having Israeli food. It felt like camp. We talked with and met some of the Israelis (who, thank G-d, all speak English). When we were done with the delicious food, we took the walk along the river back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.

We spent most of our time in Luang Prabang hanging around the hotel. We walked around and visited some temples. It was all together pretty relaxing. One of the only things that we did while we were in Luang Prabang was go to the famous caves. (I wouldn’t let my parents take me to the waterfall.) We took a two-hour boat ride there and then we explored the caves. The caves are made up of hundreds and hundreds of discarded Buddha’s.

It was very interesting to learn about the different kinds of Buddha’s. One thing that we learned was that different Buddha’s in different positions, mean different things. For example, if both palms are out, it is the “stop arguing” Buddha. My mom likes that one. Once we had explored both caves we hopped back in the boat to make our way home.

When we were in Luang Prabang we also had our Passover Seder. It was a lot of fun. My family had seats at the English-speaking table. One of the people at our table was a Rabbi from Chabad in New York. His name was Saadia. He spoke English and Hebrew, so he was our translator, and he was a well-educated Rabbi and he taught us about Passover; it was all very interesting. Another group of people that was at our table was a 17 year old boy named Daniel, his mom, Shawna, and her seven year old son named Liam. They were a very strange family. Despite that we decided to meet up with them for lunch the next day. We ended up going to a little Thai restaurant that was on a pond. It was pretty good and I was trying to make last as long as possible because when we got back I was going to have to take my stitches out. The Surgeon that came to the hotel to take out my stitches did not have much of a bedside manner. I felt like Frankenstein was taking out my stitches. On top of that my mom was squeezing my hand so hard, that it was numb. I was so relieved to have the stitches finally out, even though I was in some pain to get there.

On our last night in Luang Prabang, we decided we would do all of our shopping and go to the Hindu/Lao ballet. I bought a colorful tote back, pants, and a skirt. After some shopping we went to the ballet. It was the story of a girl who was abducted by the demons and then the monkeys (the Gods) came to save her. She wouldn’t go with the monkeys, but waited for her husband who came to save her and battled off all of the demons. It was really interesting to watch all of the beautiful costumes and instruments. We grabbed a quick dinner and then went back, once again think about what our next adventure, Cambodia, would be like.

WaterFALLs, Buddhist Monks, and Motorbikes

2007-03-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

During our three hour layover in Bangkok, we grabbed some lunch (Emma and I shared a delicious pizza and a not so good salad) and then when we were able to check in, sent our bags to the plane and went to our gate. While we were half doing work and half worrying if the Levine’s would make it, we mentally prepared ourselves for our next adventure.

The Chiang Mai airport was a nice little airport with two baggage carousals and a couple of little restaurants and shops. We collected our bags and hopped in two taxi’s between the eight of us. When we got to our hotel, which is called the Riverview Lodge, we settled in and found both Chiang Mai and the Riverview to be very nice. We then went out to dinner at a charming place called the Riverside (if you didn’t get it all ready, we are near a river). It was very good. While some of us went back to the hotel for a night time swim, my mom, my dad, Wendy, and I went to Chiang Mai’s famous night bazaar. There were beautiful things there. There was Thai silk, beautiful jewelry, delicious food, spectacular clothes, and amazing bags and shoes. At 10:30 we headed back to the hotel because we were all getting tired and I really had to pee. We all slept pretty well (except for my mom, but then again, she never sleeps well) and we headed to the famous temple in Chiang Mai which is called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoraihara. It was beautiful. When you first get there, there is a bunch of little carts with jewelry on them. There are also 300 steps that you have to climb up. When we got to the top we bought our tickets and went inside. Inside there is a golden bell that you must ring an odd number of times. I rang it 13 times. We saw some Buddhist statues and rosewood trees and then we went into the real temple. It was pure gold. The first thing that we did was put wax in a bowl for the day you were born. For instance- I was born on Saturday so I put three spoons full of wax in the Saturday bowl. The next thing we did was go to the fortune telling section. You shake a cup of sticks until one and only one comes out. Each one has a number, and you take the piece of paper of the number that you got. My first one- number ten- told me that I was unlucky, so our guide told me to do it again. The next one was better. It was number eight. It says:

The 8th number tells that you are lucky in everything. Be careful in your speaking and acting. Immune from illness.

I was much happier with that one. After that, we went into the Monk’s sanctuary and he blessed us with luck. He put a bracelet on each one of us but because they cannot touch or make eye contact with women, he just dropped the bracelet on us to tie ourselves. It was a cool experience.

For the rest of our time in Chiang Mai, we hung out around the pool and we saw the different markets. After Chiang Mai, the eight of us headed up to Pai, which was about a three hour drive from the Riverview in Chiang Mai. In our bus we met two Israelis the are going to the same Passover Seder that we are going to in Laos. We made plans to get there the same way in the same car.

We got there around lunch time so we had lunch and then we went out to town. We organized our travel arrangements and then we rented motorbikes. We zoomed around the city, me with my dad, and Emma with my mom, until it was time for dinner. We ate at little Thai restaurant called Baan Benjarong and then Casey, the son of one of Ed’s patients who lives in Pai took us to see his girlfriend’s family dance in their beautiful outfits. After that, we went back to our hotel and we went to sleep.

The next day was a pretty crazy day. We decided to take our motorbikes to a waterfall. When we got there, I decided that I wanted to go and explore the rocks around the waterfall. I had noticed just then that the good luck bracelet that a monk gave me had fallen off and right after that, I slipped and I fell down about 30 feet, slipping and sliding on the rocks of the water fall. It was the scariest moment of my life. I thought that I was going to die. When I was falling, I was thinking of my friend Sarah who told me that she fell down a waterfall without getting one cut. That wasn’t the case with me. When I got to the bottom, I couldn’t see out of my right eye. Ed, who is a doctor, came down to help me and he told me that I would most likely need stitches (I can see now). We found our way out of the pool and we got back on our motor bikes and headed down to the Pai Hospital. They took me immediately in to the ER and we explained what happened. They stitched me up (eight in total) and Ed reassured us that they were doing a great job. We found a good Mexican Place and we ate there and then we watched a movie. After dinner (cheeseburgers) we went back to the hotel. That was one crazy day. (We did get Mexican food AND cheeseburgers though.)

The next day we rode on elephants. They took us through a trail with my mom and I on one, Emma, Jessica, and Wendy on another one, and Ed and Corey on the last one. My elephant’s name was Mai. We got to sit on a chair because I am not allowed to get my eye wet. The other two elephants went into the water and started knocking the other people off. The elephants sat down, causing all of them to flip and flop every which way. My mom and I watched and took video from above. When we were finished with the elephants, we met up with my dad, who had gone into town to change our plans because my parents didn’t think that two days on a boat would be such a good thing due to my water-fall. He arranged a car to take us back to Chiang Mai, made reservations to fly to Laos and he apologized to the Israeli girls, who were very understanding. We ate our lunch and then we headed back to Chiang Mai. We went to an ophthalmologist in Chiang Mai and they told me that I was 100% O.K., which was a relief. He gave me some ointment to put on my cut. We were all very relieved about that. After that we went out to lunch and then I got a haircut. After a while of doing some work, we went out to a pleasant Indian/Thai restaurant called Whole Earth for dinner and then we all got massages. Emma and I got foot massages, my dad got an oil massage, and my mom got a traditional Thai massage. We were all very happy after that. It was a good day of pampering for me=)!

Another New Adventure

2007-03-26T22:23:00.001-07:00

Just as I am starting to get to like Trang a little bit more, we have to leave but, luckily, the last day of Baan Na Non Daycare was a good day. My parents finished up their placement on Wednesday, so my mom came with me on Thursday. We did the normal routine of singing songs and drawing pictures, and then, instead of having the kids eat at 11:00am like they always do, they brought everyone outside to the eating area at 10:30. They sat me and my mom down at small table and gave us donuts, fruit, and some sort of weird tasting noodle dish. They also went out to get us fruit cakes (they were put into good use back at CCS). We had a lot of fun and I liked it even though we seemed to be sitting around more than usual. When we were picked up, it was raining and all of the kids waved goodbye to us and then, for the second time on this trip, I had to say goodbye to kids that I new I was never going to see again. I didn’t form as strong a relationship as I did in Tanzania, but it was still sad. Once we were pretty far away from Baan Na Non, I finally realized that night was my last night in CCS Thailand. It all went as usual and then the next morning we all piled ourselves and our massive amount of bags and we went were on our way to the Trang Airport. We said goodbye to everyone and then we checked in and boarded the Nok Air Plane. We were off to our next adventure once again.

Baan Na Non

2007-03-26T22:19:00.000-07:00

So I was wrong about getting more attached to the Nursing College, so CCS set it up for me to go to another Day Care. When I got there, I saw immediately that they needed more help then the Nursing College. It was the first time that I could compare Tanzania’s stupendous qualities to Thailand. It was the first time that the kids were fighting over holding my hand and wanting piggy back rides. There are three teachers and about 50 kids. There also aren’t any nurses that come in everyday. The kids are a little bit older, so there is not as much crying, but it is still a lot of work.

Emma, Corey, and Jessica like the nursing college better so they went back there, but I stayed here and one of the people that work at CCS, named Op, comes with me everyday to help me with the language barrier. Normally when we get there, the kids are watching an interactive DVD that they dance to. I do a few flashcards with animals on them and them we sing songs and play games. The songs that we normally sing are Mr. Clown; The Itsy, Bitsy Spider; Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes; Five Little Ducks; The Hokey Pokey; and The Wheels on the Bus. Today I taught them a variation of Duck, Duck, Goose. In Thai it is Pet, Pet, Nok. It took a little while to get the message across, but then they ended up loving it. In Thailand your head it the holiest part of your body so it is rude to touch it. You are allowed to touch young children’s heads but there were teachers playing to. I forgot about this rule so the children started touching their teachers heads. I felt really bad. I then taught it again, but told them to touch their shoulders instead. When I first got there, I had the idea of making them a tree with all of their names as leaves, but then I made them little paper frogs and they loved them. I changed my idea to making a pond with frogs and lily pads on it. They each drew a picture and then I made origami frogs with the pictures that they drew and put them on blue poster board. When I brought it in, they took down one of their posters and replaced it with the one that I made. I was so happy. Everyday I also help them serve lunch. They are always so cute when they eat and I am so happy that they changed my placement. They let me do things with them and play games with them that they seem to enjoy. I am so grateful that Thailand is starting to form into the experience that I was hoping it would be.

Placement

2007-03-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

Placement was very interesting. It is called the Nursing College and it has a day care for children ages 2-5, a hospital, and a College. The first day, the people that we needed weren’t there, but Emma, Jessica, Corey and I went to the Day Care. When we get there, they are normally eating their first of two meals, which is something along the lines of dim-sum, but we are going to go earlier, because we are told that they sing the King’s Anthem in the morning. After that, they play games and sing songs. One of the classrooms has a TV, where they all sing and dance with karaoke. After games and dancing, they go and have another meal, which is some kind of soup, rice, and fish. When they are all done with their meals, they get undressed. The first day really surprised me, because they took their clothes off and handed them to me. I was very confused. Once they are naked, they go into the bathroom and brush their teeth. Then, they shower and we put baby powder all over them. After that we helped them get into their pajamas and find their mattresses, which we set up while they are eating. Once they are all settled down, we take out our lunchboxes and eat. Sometimes we go back in and help the few kids that refuse to take naps. Soon after that, Cha, the driver at CCS, pick us up.
Everyday I look forward to going to the day cares (except for the fact that I have to wake up early) and I love to see the kids, who are extremely cute, each day. I always feel like the kids are very privileged to be able to brush their teeth and shower each day. When I think back to the kids at Matumaini and Kigangagoni, it shocks me even more, of how little those kids have. I love the kids in both places, but at times I feel like I am not needed here, due to the fact that there are only 40 kids with four trained teachers and 10 nurses that come in everyday to help. They say that they like having me, but I feel like I was making more of a difference in Moshi, then I am here. I am really enjoying it, but I miss Rau a lot. It is definitely not the same, but I know that I will grow into it and I will become more attached to it as we are here longer.

First Arriving at the New CCS

2007-03-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at the new CCS, we were expecting something open, a lot like what we had in Kilimanjaro. It is much different from Tanzania because it is more like a house then a compound. There are two doors; both doors go into the kitchenette/dining room area. One door goes into a little yard area, and one door goes to the restrooms (there aren’t restrooms in your individual rooms). There is a little table in the middle which is where they put all of the food. The dining room is just a table and a bunch of chairs. There is a living room area after you go up a couple of stairs. In the living room they have chairs and pillows, a phone, any books that you might need, and a TV with a DVD player and cable. There is one room there. When you go up a flight of stairs, there are three more rooms. The downstairs room is A4 and it has two sets of bunk beds, and upstairs there are three rooms (A1, A2, and A3) each with three sets of bunk beds. We are in room A3.
When I first got here I was full of mixed emotions. I didn’t know if would be as good as Tanzania or better or worse. I had such a wonderful experience in Tanzania, that I really didn’t know what to expect. The first person that we met was Maia (She spells her name wrong-it should be MaYa). I asked her what they did after placement and if there was anything like Matumaini. Since you get home anytime between 2 or 4pm, there isn’t really much time, and she didn’t seem to know of anything, and that made me a little bit upset. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t find anything that I connected to as much as I connected to Matumaini, but I thought that there might be something a little bit like it. Hopefully I’ll find SOMETHING.
So it was the first day at our new CCS that everyone (except for the two people that missed their flights) would be here. First we had a talk about Trang, the city that we are in, where things are and how to get there. After that we all got into groups went into Trang and we had to complete a task; in a way it was like a scavenger hunt. I was with my dad and two other girls, their names were Deborah and Corey. Everyone seems really nice. I am always up for meeting new people, but these people just seem so different. I will try to become friends with them. Our task was to go to a Batik place called Anda Batik, get two Thai dishes (take-out), and take a tuk-tuk home. We spent most of our time looking for Anda Batik. We looked everywhere for it and we asked everyone, but we just couldn’t find it. After almost an hour and a half, we gave up and we went to get the food that we needed. We were told that we needed one chicken dish and one egg dish. We bought the food really easily and then we grabbed a tuk-tuk. A tuk-tuk is a three-wheel car that is like a mini taxi. The tuk-tuk’s in Bangkok have one row of seats facing forward and a driver’s seat in front, and the tuk-tuk’s here in Trang, have two rows of seats facing each other and a driver’s seats in front. When we came back we were all a little bit disappointed, but we weren’t too upset about having not found the store. The other two girls went to sleep for a nap before dinner, and those of us who were pretty much used to the time difference, hung out and played cards. It was a fun day to start off our new CCS experience.
After attempting to learn how to speak Thai today, (March 4, 2007) which is extremely hard because one word can mean five different things if it is pronounced in different tones. The word khaaw (cow) can mean rice, white, very white, fishy, and news. It is extremely confusing and I think that Swahili was hard enough, even though it has the same alphabet. We danced and played games in our Thai class. Then we ate lunch. After lunch we went on a 45-minute drive to a pier where we got on boars and then we got off in this mud that was extremely thick. We just kept sinking in. When we got to the shore, we climbed up a rock and headed into a cave that was discovered just a year ago. We went all through it and we played on all of the rocks and climbed them. They told us not to bring shoes, so our feet hurt a bit. It was a lot of fun. When we got out of the cave, we got back on our boats and we went back to the dock. From there we were on our way to a little beach. The water felt glorious because it was really warm, but not too warm. We were having a lot of fun and we also found more caves to explore. My dad and Ed Levine were joking that they were going to buy a piece of land for a summer house. We were relaxing in the water while Emma and Jessica Levine were giving us mud treatments, luckily we didn’t have to pay, but we were told that it makes skin softer. I personally thought that it hurt. We saw tons of little crabs and their holes in the sand.
Overall, it was a good way to get introduced to Trang and get more acquainted with the other members of the group. I went in the van with all of the people that aren’t in families and everyone seems very nice. All of the Thai people are extremely kind. Everyone who works here and all of the people that we meet outside of CCS are always really welcoming and warm. So far, it seems like this will be just as good as Tanzania was. We will get to visit our placements for the first time tomorrow, I am very excited to see what it will be like.

Bangkok

2007-03-01T09:00:00.001-08:00

We got to Bangkok on Monday. I was really tired when we arrived, due to the fact the we had been traveling all night. We got to the apartment that we are staying in and we were really surprised. We are on the 33rd floor penthouse of the Four Wings Mansion. The apartment is two floors and it is bigger than my whole house! We keep finding bed rooms. We all love the apartment. In a traditional Thai house, you must remove your shoes, so when you first walk in, there is a little area where you take off your shoes and put slippers on. There is a half-wall with stained glass windows. When you go past the little wall, there is a living room with a couch, a coffee table, a couple of arm chairs, and a cabinet. Everything is in a plain tone of brown or gold or white. When I first walked in to this apartment, I wanted to explore, but I was extremely tired, so I crashed on the couch. Five minutes later, Emma told me about the bed upstairs. Although I wasn’t sure if I would make it upstairs in one piece, I headed up there and I found the bed that I claimed for myself. It is a double bed that has a gold-colored bed spread. The mattress is a little hard, but hey, it’s better than airplane and airport seats! I watched a couple of shows and then my mom and dad came back to the apartment from their outing to bring back lunch. They got themselves Pad Thai and they surprised me and Emma with Subway sandwiches. There was no complaining coming from me. To top it all off, they bought bread, bananas, cream cheese, and !NUTELLA! for breakfast! After eating and a little bit of chilling out, my parents forced us to leave the apartment for dinner. I wasn’t hungry, but the rest of my family ate at an Arab place with humus and falafel. I had some humus and it was good. After exploring for a little bit, I finally convinced my parents to take me home. I wrote a quick e-mail and then I fell a sleep (as poppy would say) in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. When I woke up the next afternoon at around noon, my mom and dad took us to a local mall called Central. We went upstairs to the food loft and I got sushi (I had been craving it for a really long time). It was delicious. The rest of my family got Thai food. When we left, my dad left his bag with all of our important documents, but luckily it was still there, passports and all, when we went back to find it. When we got home, Emma and I did some work and my parents went to try to go to the travel agent to figure out what we would do in Southeast Asia. After we did a little bit of math, one of the kids from downstairs invited us to go swimming with them. The mother’s name is Sally and is originally Thai, but grew up in America. The father’s name is David and he is a New Yorker. They have four kids ranging from ages 6-13. The six year old’s name is Sam, there is an eight-year-old named Sarah, an eleven-year-old named Jessica, and a 13-year-old named Aaron. Sam is really cute, and always seems to be having fun, Sarah is always really smiley, Jessica reminds me a lot of my cousin Kira, and Aaron doesn’t say much. After we went swimming, we went over to their house for dinner.

The next day we did a little bit of sight seeing. We took the SkyTrain to the river and then we went on a really pointless tour around the canals. On that tour we saw one temple and then we went by ourselves to the Grand Palace. We saw the beautiful structures and the amazing Emerald Buddha, which is, surprisingly, made out of jade. When you enter, you must remove your shoes. You are not allowed to take pictures or anything of the sort. When we were there, there were many people praying. You are also not allowed to point your feet toward the Buddha, so we had to sit with our feet under us. It was a very cool experience. We were all really hungry, but finally after an extremely long taxi ride, we were in another mall called the Paragon. It was the kind of mall that had tons of fancy stores. We got food and then we went to see a movie on the 5th floor. We saw Music and Lyrics with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. The movie theatre was a little bit like the Bridge in Santa Monica. When I got into the theatre, all of the previews were in Thai, so I was a little bit worried that I was about to see a movie in a language that I don’t even understand. It was also pretty interesting that before the movie starts, everyone in the auditorium stands up to sing the King’s Anthem. We were glad that we had our guide book to tell us that! When it went on, I was very happy to understand all of the Music and Lyrics. The movie was good and it was a fun little American outing. Then we went to get desert. Emma got a couple of Famous Amos cookies, and my mom and I went to a place that is a lot like Cold stones. It was delicious. When we got home we watched In Her Shoes on T.V. and then we went to sleep.

The next day my parents decided that they had enough with Thai malls, so we did some things that were a little bit more touristy. First we ate lunch at the local grocery store because there is a little restaurant there. It was pretty good. Then we went to a store and bought a cell phone to use while we are in Southeast Asia. Then, after a while, we found Jim Thompson’s house and we got a tour of that. Jim Thompson was the first person to introduce Thai silk to the world. Thai silk is beautiful. He disappeared when he was 61 and they still don’t know what happened to him. Later that day we went over to the family’s house again and we ate there, and the adults went out. We watched a movie and just chilled. It was fun.

We then decided to go to Chinatown. We saw the Golden Buddha, which wasn’t all that amazing, and then we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. When we got back on the train, we were all ready to go back to the apartment. My parents went off to their two hour Thai massages and Emma and I worked. At around 7:00pm, my mom and dad were back from their massages, and we went out for the dinner that we had been craving for such a long time-Mexican food. Being from LA, you can only have the best of the best Mexican food. Someone recommended this place so we decided to give it a try. I got tacos, they were DELICOUS! I was so happy. There was even a band singing Mexican music! When we were all finished, we went home. That day was a fun day.

I think that I have had the most culture shock here, in Bangkok. When we were in Moshi, I was prepared to see tons of poverty and people living horribly, but I wasn’t prepared to see what Bangkok is. Coming from seven weeks of a completely limited society, I wasn’t prepared for the huge apartment or the big buildings for as far as you can see or even the traffic. I just felt so overwhelmed that I was seeing 7-11 or Starbucks on every corner. As I am sitting here in this astonishing apartment thinking of the kids at Matumaini who barely have enough room to sleep, or the people who are just running around the streets in tid-bits of clothes. Even though this is exactly what I would picture Bangkok to look like-with the big buildings and the tiny street markets, the flying cars and tons of traffic, I just wasn’t ready for it all. I was too busy preparing myself for the extreme on one side of the chart, but not the other. Everything that you could ever want, you can get here. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to get what ever you want whenever you want it, but other times it’s nice to know that there is nothing that we don’t have, that we really need. There has never been a time in my life when I didn’t have something that I needed and Moshi and everyone there helped me realize that, but Bangkok showed me that I had realized it.

Zanzibar

2007-02-23T12:00:00.001-08:00

Later that day on the plane to Zanzibar we had a very strange snack box of a hot dog, an apple, and candy. The candy was the good part. When we stepped out of the plane, we could already feel the humidity. It is very different from mainland Tanzania, but beautiful. The hotel we are staying at is called the Maruhubi Beach Villas. It is absolutely beautiful. The rooms are like any hotel room with beautiful mosquito nets and beds and a bathroom. The pool is right on the beach. During high tide, you can’t even see the sand and when you’re in the pool, you feel like you are in the ocean. And, because Zanzibar is an archipelago, we also have an amazing view of the islands surrounding Zanzibar. We spent our first day hanging out in and around the pool/beach. The next day we spent the morning in Stone Town, and then we came back to the pool. We met a family from Spain and Australia that are now living in Malawi. They had a six year old boy named John, a four year old girl name Monica, and a one and a half year old girl named Ana. I gave Monica a hair wrap, which she seemed to like. We spent the rest of the day swimming and working.

On Tuesday, we went on a trip with a company called Safari Blue. They do a day trip to the Southern part of Zanzibar. We first got into our groups and then we got into our dhows, which is a traditional Zanzibari boat that is made out of wood from a mangrove. A mangrove is a tree that grows in salt water. The tree has a very thin, strong trunk that holds the boat together. In the middle of the boat there are benches on both sides, and a mast with the sail on it. They added a motor to the back of the boat also.

Once we were all on our dhow, which was called Kilwa, we headed to a sand bank. There, we re-applied sunscreen for the second time and we went out and snorkeled. We saw some beautiful fish! My favorite part of it all was seeing an octopus-our guide even got it to release its ink! After snorkeling and swimming for a little bit longer, we went back to the sand bank and we got coconuts and pineapple. There were two different kinds of coconuts, and I didn’t like either of them, but seeing them being cut was fun. The pineapple was delicious! When we all were done with our delicious fruit, and headed we headed back to the dhows. We saw some humpback dolphins flipping and having fun. They were beautiful. By the time we did all of that, we were ready to head to another island for lunch. On this island we had a delicious lunch of a fish buffet, chicken, beef, and rice. We also had a delicious desert. Our guide brought out tons of fruit and explained them to us. We had: jackfruit, mzugu bananas, mangos, watermelon, passion fruit, lychee, mandarin oranges, and a fruit bao-bob tree. Jackfruit is a fruit that grows on a tree here in Tanzania. We seem them everywhere. They can be as big as big as 1-3 kilograms which is 2.2-6.6 pounds. A mzugu banana is a red banana. It got that name because mzugu means white person and in the sun, wazungu turn red. Mangos, watermelon, passion fruit, and oranges are the same thing as they are back home. A lychee is a little gummy like thing that is in a red spiky shell. A boa-bob tree fruit is a little pink dried fruit looking nut. It was all delicious.

After that we went to a little mangrove pool which is a little bay-like area that is closed off to waves. It is about five feet deep with moss and rocks on the bottom. There are also big rocks that are dispersed through the pool. It is surrounded by mangrove trees. It is about as big as a larger swimming pool. It is beautiful. We were also all very surprised, because the water was extremely warm, it was almost not refreshing! Overall, the whole day was a lot of fun. We were all wiped out by the end of the day, but we went for a quick swim to clean off the sand. That was a really fun day that I will never forget.

Leaving CCS

2007-02-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

When we had to leave CCS on Monday, February 19, I was so upset. I went to Matumaini for one last time to see all of the kids. The worst part about leaving, was that the kids didn’t seem to understand that I was leaving. They said goodbye to me like they would any day with hugs and kisses and “Kwaheri, Maya!!” which means “Bye, Maya!!” So I was a little bit upset that they didn’t seem to notice that I was leaving. I think that some of them understood because one of them told me that they were going to cry because I was leaving and another one made tears going down his face with his fingers. That made me feel a little bit better. It is really upsetting to think that we will never see these kids again. The part about being with these kids that touched me the most, is that even as 3,4,5, and 6-year-olds, they are always really warm and welcoming to my mom and I. Everyday they would run into our arms. It would make me think about how much I have and how much I need to be happy. The kids that are living in orphanages with barely any food or not any food at all always seem happy, but at home people will not be happy until they get the new iPod. These kids taught me more than I could ever teach them.

After the sad goodbye, we headed to CCS for our last dinner. We had chicken, a dinner that I liked for once, we also made chocolate chip cookies and I discovered that pineapple is delicious. We ate dinner and spent time with everyone. When we went to sleep, all that I could think about is the next morning. I knew that I would be sad, but I didn’t know how sad I would be. We had to leave early, so we didn’t have much time, but after a short breakfast we hugged everyone through tears and then left our little Rau Village behind. We were all really sad. I have told everyone that I am going to come back when I am college age (the age that most people there are) and volunteer on my own.

When I left I was full of mixed emotions. I was sad to be leaving and leave all of the people that I have grown to be close to, but I was excited for everything that lies ahead. Under it all, I was ready to not be covered in dirt all the time and I was ready to try something new.

Some Extras-Time for Swahili Lessons!

2007-02-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

Along with doing our placements in the morning, some of us go to an orphanage in the afternoons. The orphanage that we go to is called Matumaini, which I recently learned is Swahili for hope. Some of my kids from my school live there. It is a lot of fun to play games with the kids. They love hand games. Their favorite one is called Amina. It reminds me a little bit of our hand game called lemonade. They also have Down by the Banks, which is a lot of fun to play with them. There are about 10 and 15 kids. I always look forward to going to the orphanage and seeing all of the kids.

One of the things that we did for them is we bought them mattresses, because the ones that they had were old and ratty, and most of the beds don’t have mattresses at all. A bunch of people chipped in and they are all really happy. The kids ages range from 3 to 15 both boys and girls. The orphanage is also somewhat new, so they need help putting it all together. Whenever we get there the kids always run into our arms and are so excited when we get there to visit them.

This week was another great week. We had a fun and hard time volunteering with one day off. That day, we went to Arusha (which is the biggest town closest to us) for a very crazy and unlucky day. We took the early van that left at 9:00am because we had to take care of some things. The first thing on our list was to set our next set of plane tickets strait. We wanted to be able to get from Zanzibar to Nairobi instead of some other crazy plan. That worked out HORRIBLY because we had a power outage for twenty minutes while we were trying to get the tickets and we couldn’t get our refundable tickets refunded and we had to use ALL of our cash. All that we had left was about 5,000 Tanzanian Shillings, which is equivalent to a little under 5 dollars. After that ordeal, we finally went to our lunch spot at a museum and ate our not-so-good lunch boxes. After that we went to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UNICTR). We went up and down the to the different floors before we found the right one. While we were there, we were told that we had to wait for another court hearing to finish. After waiting for a really long time, we got in a got our translators and then, we were told that we had to leave because of some problem that I couldn’t understand. Overall, that was a pretty unsuccessful trip.

We finished up the week with an overnight near the Maasai Tribes. That was fun, but a little bit disappointing. We enjoyed the experience of seeing the village (which is called a Boma) and the cattle coming back, and them milking the cows. We saw some of the warriors do a dance and the Maasai children were ADORABLE. We all had fun and then, after a while of being there, we headed back to the campsite. We sang songs around the campfire, they weren’t all Tanzanian songs either! Our guide had his guitar, it was a lot of fun. It got late really fast, so when we were all ready to go to bed, we all headed to our separate tents. I shared my tent with Sarah. We talked for a little while and then we attempted to go to sleep. None of us slept very well because of the hard bottoms. The next morning we woke up and went on a long hike to visit the place where the men went when they were sick. They made this disgusting beef stew that I would never ever eat. After that, we went back down to another Boma, and we saw a traditional Maasai healer. It was disappointing because I felt like we didn’t get immersed in the Maasai culture as much as we could have, but despite that, the weekend was a lot of fun.

This week we volunteered again on Monday and Tuesday as usual, but on Wednesday (Valentines Day) I went to another nursery school called Step-Up Nursery School with another volunteer named Mattie Liebgott. It is much different than the volunteering that I have been doing at Kigangoni. It is in a pretty nice building with floors. There are real teachers and supplies. There also are 33 kids instead of 50. That was fun. We made Valentines for all of them and it seemed like they were having fun. We gave them cookies and then headed home.

Today we tried again in Arusha, and we made it to the Tribunal, but it was so boring (people over the age of 17 seemed to find it interesting). We watched one section, got a snack, read our books and then we had another no-so-good lunch box. We all slept practically the whole way home.

Today (February 16, 2007) was our last day of placements. My mom and I went to Kigangoni Nursery School as usual, but this time we prepared something special for them. We took individual pictures of all of the kids. We printed them and put one of each child in an envelope with a new exercise book, stickers, and a pencil. We also gave them a little treat of cookies, which they seemed to love.

I know that you are not supposed to pick favorites, but you just can’t help it, right? There are two little girls and two little boys that I really love. The girls are Dyaki and Sharifa, and the boys are Clement and Alexi. Both Sharifa and Alexi live at Matumaini, but Clement likes to play there. We call Clement, Clemente kitcha, which in Kiswahili means Crazy Clement. Dyaki was one of the first little girls I met at school, she is so adorable and kind. It is so sad that I will most likely never see these kids again, which just kills me. The worst part is, that because of the language barrier, it is hard to communicate, so they don’t know that I am leaving. I really hope the kids are as sweet in Thailand as they are here. I will miss being called mzugu (white person) as I walk down the streets here, but I know that my next stop will be just as, or more, fun.

SOME KISWAHILI VOCABULARY THAT YOU WOULD KNOW:

Hakuna Matata: No Worries

Simba: Lion

Rafiki: Friend

Shenzi: Stupid (Lion King Hyena)

OTHER IMPORTANT WORDS

Jambo: Hello Ndiyo: Yes

Mambo: What’s Up? Hapana: No

Poa/Safi/Dole: Cool/Nothing Nzuri: Good

Habari: How are you? Sana: Very

Asubuhi: Morning Baadye: I’ll see you later today.

Chana: Afternoon Mbaya: Bad

Gioni: Evening Jina laco ni nani?: What is your name?

Mama: Mother Mimi ni: I am

Baba: Father Mimi: I

Dada: Sister Wewe: You

Kaka: Brother Kwaheri: Goodbye

Karibu: Welcome

Numbers 1-10: moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi

Trips Around Rau

2007-02-04T07:35:00.000-08:00

This weekend (February 3, 2007) we decided to take a weekend trip to the Mount Kilimanjaro View Lodge. After a little bit of rain, we headed to the horrible road that would take us to the lodge, which is at around 8,500 feet. The ride was going just about as smoothly as anyone could go on the road, until it started drizzling. We kept going for a little longer, but then we slid and hit the side of the mountain. It was a little bit scary, but, as my mom says, it was an adventure. We walked up the rest of the road, which was 0.2 kilometers (0.12427424 miles) and then arrived. The lodge was beautiful and it had an amazing view of Mount Kilimanjaro and everyone was extremely nice. The food was good and they danced beautiful Chagga (which is a Tanzanian tribe) dances. The dances were circle dances that reminded us of the Horah. They wanted us to join in the dancing. My mom went first, then my dad, then my sister, and then after a while of nagging, I finally joined the circle. We were all dancing and they were singing. We enjoyed our time there, even though the hike the next morning was extremely long and strenuous. We left the lodge at 9am and arrived at the waterfalls at 10:30am. The falls were amazing and beautiful. They were really big and beautiful, the mist felt really good. We took tons of pictures and we were all relieved to finally to have made it to the falls.

After staying there for a couple of minutes, we were off back to the lodge. Because we took at short cut, the way back was straight up hill. We were all so exhausted when we got back, but luckily, it was time for lunch. I was really proud of myself for doing the whole hike, with some complaining here and there. We ate a short lunch and we were on our way to our home away from home, CCS.

We got in the van and the bumpy road wasn’t very much fun. This driver seemed to be a little bit gutsier than the other driver that we had on the way up to the lodge. We kept slipping and sliding which even my mom and dad admitted was scary. Once we got through the bad part of the road our driver told us “We are safe, now.” It was scary to think that before, we weren’t safe. When we were on the “safe” part of the road, the driver started going really fast, we were also right next to the ledge of the mountain. I didn’t think that I would ever be so happy to see Rau Village.

Along with going on weekend trips to places like the Kili Lodge, or other overnights, CCS takes us on day trips. The first (and only one so far) one was a trip to a Chagga blacksmith, Chagga Market, a Chagga hut, and a hike at Marangue Falls. The blacksmith sold Chagga spears, which were beautiful. They have beaded covers and absolutely amazing carvings and designs on the spear itself.

After a little bit of buying, we headed to the cave that the Chagga built that goes from Kilimanjaro, Tanzania to Mombassa, Kenya. It was really small and really dark, but apparently, people lived in the cave for months and months. We could barely last for 5 minutes!

Next, we headed to the breathtaking Chagga market. There was beautiful fabric, fresh fruit, and many other souvenirs. We bought a bunch of bananas for one of our neighbors, named Mama Chenge, who was going to teach my mom how to cook them correctly. After spending time at the beautiful market (which, sadly, we couldn’t take pictures of) we headed to lunch at a little garden, which was very close to the Chagga hut. We ate our lunchboxes of grilled cheese sandwiches, vegetables, a muffin, a hard boiled egg, a banana, and an apple.

When we were done, it was starting to drizzle and off we went to the Chagga hut, which was a beautiful little dirt side and straw top house. Inside there was a kitchen, a living room, and a bedroom all in a space that would be the size of an average American bedroom. Outside they had cattle.

Then, we were on our way to the start point of the hike to the waterfalls. We were all really pumped and ready. We had our walking sticks in hand and all, but then we were told that it was too dangerous and slippery because of the rain. We walked back to the vans, all of us soaking wet, and we went back to Rau village, with a stop at a boutique called Unique Batik, an art store, and a coffee shop, we were on our way back to the home base. That day was a lot of fun.

Tanzania Volunteering

2007-01-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

On the way to the home-base here in Rau Village, and on the way back from the safari, I didn’t know what to expect. I had grown to love the safari and I was a little bit nervous that I wouldn’t like Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS) as much as I liked the Safari. As soon as I got there, I knew how amazing it would be. Sara, a local Tanzanian that works at CCS showed us around the complex, told us NOT to touch the electric fence from 7pm-6am, showed us where the phone was, where we eat, and the basics of what goes on daily. When we arrived at our room, complete with two sets of bunk beds, a little closet like wall, bed side tables, mosquito nets, and a bathroom. It is a nice little cozy room. Once we all were settled in, we went outside into the common area, which is where we eat, talk, do work, and do many other things like that. We met some of the volunteers that were leaving and some
volunteers that would be with us for the next couple of weeks. We were the third group of people there, and the first two people were Sarah and Irene. Kim, Erin, Zack, Charlotte, and Barbie (Barbara) had already been here for a while. We all hung out that first day and over the next day or so, more people started coming. We spent the next two days (felt like two years) having orientation.

The next day was the first day of placements. My mom and I work at Kigangoni Nursery School, which is a nursery school with 3 to 6 year olds. It was a little bit frustrating because the classroom is a church with only benches. There are no desks and only one little black board that they bring in everyday. On top of that, they have no chalk. It is a dirt floor. On Sundays, it is used as the church. Instead of Kigangoni being a government school or a private school, it is a community school that was started by local families that need a cheap place for their kids to go. While it is frustrating, it is also a extremely good experience for my me and my mom. In the last few days, my sister started working with us. This is both good and bad. I love being with my sister, but it is a little hard because even after only a couple of days, I had already gotten into the swing of things and had figured out how to do some of the things in my way. It was great to have an extra hand because there are about fifty kids and one teacher who doesn’t speak English. Later two seventeen year old boys named Steven and Farahad came to help us out and translate for us. That made it a little bit easier. I am really happy that this is my placement, but I know it will be a challenge. I am really excited to be able to help as many people as possible and I know that this will be an amazing opportunity for me and my family. I know that I’m not going to change the world, but there are individuals that need help, and that is what I’m here for.

Since we’ve been here, we have done some pretty crazy and fun things. We went swimming at a surprisingly nice pool at the local YMCA, we bought fabric and we took to a tailor to have clothes made. Last but definitely not least (but craziest) I got my hair braided, extensions and all! It certainly hurt while we were getting it done, and it is extremely heavy to have so much hair. You’ll see a picture of it soon. I ‘m starting to get used to it, but it hurts. It looks funky, but it blocks the rooster’s cock-a-doodle-doo that wakes us up at 3am every morning. That’s always a plus!

One day after we spent the morning in town, we went to a women’s group called Kiwodea and painted all of the walls to fix it up for a meeting place, an orphanage, and a school. That was a lot of fun. We played with a little boy named Jafari, who was thought to have worms in his stomach, but he was just tested and he doesn’t have worms, HIV, or malaria which is really exciting. He was the cutest little boy that I have ever seen. After one day of seeing me, he ran into my arms, which I thought was the sweetest thing.

Overall I have loved Rau Village and Moshi. The whole experience is amazing.

I am really sorry for taking so long to post! I love hearing your comments and I’ll talk to you soon!!

Safari

2007-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Before I left I was really nervous about the Safari. I always pictured it with lions sleeping next to me and sleeping on the ground in very uncomfortable places, but I was really wrong. I not only love what we are doing, but I love all the people and the places we stay. I feel like I have seen almost every animal I can possibly imagine. I have seen wildebeests (which I have never heard of until now), tons of zebras, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, mongooses, baboons, river monkeys, water bucks, hippos, lions, hyenas, beautiful birds, crocodiles, ostriches, buffaloes, many different types of antelopes including dick-dicks, impalas, topi, and gazelles. Not to mention all of the bugs. There is a statistic that all of the bugs in the Serengeti plains (which is as big as Holland) weigh more than all of the animals of the Serengeti Plains. My tour guide/driver, Mrosso, is also an amazing person. He is really nice and speaks English really well. He knows every single animal in Tanzania, and sees the animals while driving before anyone else does. He is always really helpful and does not risk anything. My whole family trusts him to keep us extremely safe.

When we were at our first lodge, Kirurumu Tented Camp, our whole family was really tired from almost 48 hours of traveling, but the lodge was beautiful. It was a little bit scary at night because of all of the animals making unfamiliar noises and it was much darker than I am used to. There were mosquito nets on the beds and everyone was really nice. The next place we went, which is one of my favorites, was by Lake Eyasi called Kisima Ngeda Tented Lodge. Everyone there was very welcoming and the food was really good. On the first day there we took a little walk around the campsite, which is really big. We saw lots of little monkeys on that walk. Before the walk, we went to a spring of freshwater which they built a wall around to make a semi-natural pool. The pool was really nice and warm. It was kind of scary with fish swimming around us as we were swimming. I slept better that night, because there weren’t as many animals.

The next morning we woke up really early with a wake up call of one of the people telling us to wake up with Hot Chocolate and Coffee waiting outside our tent. The reason we woke up early was because we were going to visit the Hadzapi Tribe, which is very close to Kisima Ngeda. We went early in time to watch them eat, and hunt breakfast. We walked pretty far until we came across the smallest antelope, called a dik-dik. When they caught it, they killed and carried it back over their shoulder with blood dripping out of its mouth. IT WAS SO GROSS!!!! When they brought it back to where they lived, which was a little straw temporary hut, they cooked over the fire for a couple of minutes and ate it. The whole entire thing. The Hadzapi didn’t used silverware or plates. They even offered my sister the heart; they weren’t kidding. They thought that we brought them good luck. After they ate it they sang songs and danced around the fire. It was really fun watching them dance, but not watching them eat; in fact, I even stayed in the car for the parts I didn’t like. At the end, they sold us beautiful handmade jewelry made out of beads and porcupine quills. It was so different from our life at home. The tribe never knew for sure if they would be able to eat each and everyday. The men only wore pants and shirts if they were lucky. The women wore Tanzanian cloth that didn’t cover them all that much. They didn’t keep track of ages, which my whole family thought was kind of strange.

After the Hadzapi tribe and before going on our next outing, we had a day at the camp. There were kids there for part of the day, which was fun, except they were much younger than us. They were really cute and fun to play with, and it was kind-of fun to think that I was playing with Chris Rock’s kids. We were playing next to the lake and waiting all day for their mom to

The next outing that we went on that day was to the Datoga tribe. This time, we were looking forward to going to the tribe, but not seeing something being killed. After the short drive we arrived at a clearing under an umbrella acacia tree that gave us shade. We sat on hand made benches and watched the Datoga make magnificent things out of used metal. They lit a fire and kept it going by pumping on bags that led to the fire. They melt the metals until they were liquid and poured them into a mold. It dried almost instantly and forms long metal strips. They used everything from old pad-locks to used nails. We watched them make the end of an arrow, which later, they would most likely sell it to a hunting tribe, like the Hadzapi. The arrow, which was created in front of our eyes, took less than ten minutes! It wasn’t simple either. There were spikes on both sides going along the whole thing. We didn’t get to watch them make these, but we bought beautiful bracelets. Mine is gold with little carved lines around the whole thing. It is a soft metal that is somewhat bend-able. We then visited the women, who were making Ugali, which is a Tanzania corn meal that has a texture of mashed potatoes. It is like tofu in the sense that it tastes like what you eat it with. That day was fun.

The next day was the first day that we were able to go on a game drive. We drove off the extremely bumpy road, and after fifteen minutes, we entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the very first thing that we saw were tons of baboons. They were everywhere. They were the first real game that we had seen on the Safari. They were so amazing!!!! The cute little babies on their mothers’ backs, climbing up trees, and drinking from all of the little rivers that are there from the rain. We drove on from the amazing site soon, to see the crater. Some people think that it is the Garden of Eden. The view of the Crater was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful; I thought that I was dreaming. We worked our way further up into the Conservation Area.

After seeing tons of animals in the conservation we passed through the gate on the way to the Serengeti. We saw millions of animals there too. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. After a couple of hours of giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, and much more, we slept at Ikoma Bush Camp, which was a tented camp in the middle of the Serengeti. It was definitely my least favorite camp. It rained and thunder-stormed both nights we were there. I also got tons of mosquito bites there. The food was o.k. The next day we woke up and after a short breakfast, in which my sister and I did not eat our eggs (again), departed on another game drive. We saw female lions from afar, and antelopes, elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, and tons more animals. We went back that night to the camp and met four-year-old girl from Germany. We once again had an o.k. dinner, and then went of to bed. We slept well and woke up to a beautiful sunset. We then departd to Speke Bay, which is part of Lake Victoria.

After a wonderful day of seeing more animals, we arrived at Speke Bay Lodge. It was more like a hotel room then the other lodges, but we didn’t like it all that much because they wouldn’t let Mrosso, our tour guide, stay at the lodge, when all the others did. We had a good dinner and then went to sleep. The next day we relaxed. We did a lot of writing and work. We also ate breakfast with hippos. (They were in the water and we were at the restaurant.) Hippos make the funniest noises. It was a fun day, a day at the beach. We had a good lunch, it was a hamburger, a little different, but good. After lunch we read our books for a while and then went to dinner. We watched a T.V. show on my computer called “Freaks and Geeks” and then we all went to sleep.

We then went back to Ngorongoro and after another beautiful day of game drives we arrived at Ndutu Safari Lodge. About a mile or so away from the lodge, we saw a mother lion and her two cubs. That was our first close up experience with Lions. It was amazing. We got so close to them and I just wanted to snuggle up to them, not that it would be safe or anything. When we got to the lodge, we were really excited to find out that we could use Internet. We all took showers and enjoyed my parents favorite meal of the safari. We then went to bed after a great day and ready for another one.

We woke up the next day and went on a game drive after breakfast. We saw an entire pride of lions- nine of them!!! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life. There were two male, three female, and four cubs. It was so amazing. We then saw my favorite animal of the whole safari, a cheetah. We were so close; it was amazing! When were there, I started to get a headache and it was starting to get blurry to see. We then went back to the lodge for lunch. I was feeling horrible so I didn’t eat. I slept on the couch while the rest of my family ate (I was told, delicious) lunch. While I was on the couch sipping my ginger ale, I was dreading the long ride that we were about to take in the jeep. When we left, I wasn’t feeling any better, but I slept on my moms lap the whole way (she won the award for the best human pillow) and by the time I woke up, I was feeling much better.

A little while later, we made it to the next lodge, called The Plantation Lodge. When we arrived, we got a really nice room that fit all four of us. We went swimming in a nice, but cold, pool. We had a nice afternoon-with more Internet access-and then we enjoyed a nice dinner. The next morning we woke, ready for an exciting second to last day at the Ngorongoro crater. We drove for a pretty long time until we started the decent. We saw a couple of elephants and then millions of wildebeests and zebras less that a foot away from us. There were also warthogs on herds of buffalo. None of them were scared of us. They were so close! We drove on and saw more lions and some rhinoceros’ from very far away; we also saw two more cheetahs. We saw many flamingoes. It was like a sea of pink (Leah, you would love it!). After lunch with trying to dodge the birds that were stealing lunches, we headed back to the Plantation Lodge and swam some more.

The next morning we woke up early so we would make it to Lake Manyara National Park. We drove through and saw hippos and an amazing herd of elephants. There was a little baby elephant underneath his mother. There were about twelve elephants three feet away from me. When we left that incredible sight, and we were off to Mount Meru game lodge for our last safari meal. It was a delicious meal of Tanzanian food. After lunch we took off, and headed to Rau Village to begin our volunteering.

Before Leaving

2007-01-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

When I found out that I was going on this trip I was really mad at my parents. It was horrible. While everyone else was jealous and really excited for me, I was really upset. I was going to miss my friends, my school, my family, and so many other things. On January 2, 2007 I spent the day with my friends. I knew, that by the end of the day, I would be crying. I was so upset. My friends gave me a scrapbook, and letters to open each month, but I was still really upset. That night, we went to my grandma’s house for dinner. My friends came and so did the rest of my family. I hated saying goodbye, but somehow, after crying the whole way home, I managed to fall asleep. I was nervous and a little bit excited. I was excited for my friend’s Bat Mitzvah, and to see Wicked on Broadway, but I was really upset to miss my other friend’s Bat Mitzvah, and getting back to school over winter break. I had mixed feelings about school.

I am looking forward to Israel the most because I know that there will be people there that I know, including, possibly, my friend Zoë. I am hoping that I will be able to learn Hebrew and be able to communicate in other languages.

I am least looking forward to the toilets. I have had the experience of non-Western style toilets, and do not, personally, find them very pleasant.

I am also kind of nervous about the Safari because I don’t really know what to expect or how to expect it. I am worried that it will be risky and that animals could come get me. I am scared of catching malaria, even with my medicine.

2006-12-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody,
I hope that you can follow me as I go around the world!
I'll talk to you soon and I'm soooo excited to see your comments.
Maya W.