Rafting the Nile

By far, one of the coolest things I've ever done is rafting the Nile. It was awesome! The rafting company (Nile River Explorers-awesome people) starts out be feeding you breakfast and then trucking you down to the river. You have a full day of rafting that includes lunch in your boat, and then you head back up the river for a nice cookout. It was one of the funnest days ever! It was by far the biggest rapids I've ever seen too. There were mostly class 4 and 5. Our boat flipped twice and on the last rapids of the day, I had to be rescued by a kayak....it was amazing!!! They are getting ready to build a dam on the river so the rapids will be no more....so you need to go do this soon!!


I'm in the middle holding on as our boat was flipping...

Africa Tour 2010

So I started out on the scenic route home by getting into Uganda 2 hours early. Yeah that has never happened on a flight before but I guess there's a first time for everything. The next day we headed down to Murchison Falls Game Park. We had lots of fun and got to see plenty of animals. A Cape Buffalo would even come by the window to our room every night....we would see the tracks in the morning. The trip included a river boat ride where I saw too many hippos to count.


Of course I had to get lots of pictures of my favorite animal....


Ok, we found this lion at the end of the second day. It was awesome and obviously we were really close. As we were watching her, she locked in on some antelope in a field near by, starting walking over there, and got in a crouch. I was flipping out because I just knew I was gonna see my first kill. I was so pumped....and I realize that this makes me sound heartless...but when you're right there in the moment...you want to see it happen. And I immediately began humming The Circle of Life. Well, she sat there for a minute, toying with my emotions and then decided she wasn't hungry and walked away. Come on!!! Eat already!

Things to Look Forward To

1. Seeing friends and family...obviously yall are the number one. Get
ready for me to get emotional and jump up and down
2. Fast Food!! I know it's not very good for me but I'm going to have to
say hey to Taco Bell, Sonic, Chic-fila, Zaxby's, Dairy Queen, and so
many more when I get back...it's gonna be amazing.
3. Grocery Stores....I'm probably going to tear up on the cereal aisle.
4. Constant electricity and running water WITHOUT a generator.
5. Driving...anyone want a road trip?
6. Sleeping in my bed with a lot of covers and not sweating or waking up
to an alarm...oh my goodness, it will be glorious
7. The beach.....one of the best things about living in Eastern NC
8. My puppy....ok he's more of a huge dog but I still miss him
9. Concerts....I used to go to them all the time.....Matt and Dave--here
I come!
10. Microwaves....rapidly heating food really is a beautiful thing
11. High Speed Internet!!! No more reading books while I wait for a page
to load.
12. Being cold....my first winter back is going to be awesome
13. Bring on the pants....I'm not wearing skirts for a very long time.
14. The NC State Fair...all I'm saying is ears of corn and deep fried
snickers!
15. Cable TV...no more watching the same seasons of TV over and over on
my computer.
16. iTunes...I need some new music.

The list could go on and on but here are the first things that come to
mind. See you in 37 days!!!

Wisdom from Hope Floats

So I'm getting a little pensive about my time in Africa since I'm getting ready to leave. It's almost impossible to process everything I've experienced here. I feel like it's something I'll be processing for a really long time. I could try to inadequately describe the lessons I've learned, or the most significant moments, but I feel like it would just turn into rambling. And who knows, there could always be a book in the future that explains all that in more detail. Ha! For right now I'll just try to explain it by quoting one of my favorite movies.
Now I need to preface this with a few comments about my movie preferences. I know this might sway some people's opinion of me, but the more predictable a chic flick is...the more I like it. I like all kinds of movies, but there's just something about knowing that the movie is going to work out in the end that just brings me comfort. Call it what you will, but I am NOT ashamed of my movies choices. One of the classics is Hope Floats. I love Sandra Bullock honestly feel like if we hung out we would have a good time. Anyways, at the very end of the movie there is a great quote:
"Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts."
So true! That's what the past 2 years has been like...as simple as that. It started out scary, but it's amazing what you can adapt to. I get really sad when I think about leaving and starting the whole "beginnings are scary" part somewhere else. But the middle has been what has counted. It's been where the lessons have come, where I have grown, and where I have changed.

Things I'm Starting to Realize I'll Miss

1. The People!! I have a stand in for pretty much every member of my family here. The dad/uncle who does literally everything for us. The grandmother who visits regularly and tells us the same stories over and over. The older brother who is always looking out for us. Tons of sisters who share inside jokes as well as earrings. Many little cousins who always look for the candy they know I brought them and are too cute for words.
2. Sleeping outside during hot season. So the hot season part isn't that fun, but an African sky is pretty much beyond an adequate description, and a shooting star is a nightly occurrence.
3. Throwing water on the floor. I know this one sounds weird but I've gotten used to throwing water on the floor while I'm inside. If something is in my cup or the last bit of water has gotten too hot to drink, we just dump the rest of the floor. It doesn't matter because everything will be dry in less than 2 minutes anyways.
4. Reading...a lot!! I've read more books in the past couple years than I can even remember. I know this is possible back in the states too, but I'm pretty sure the distractions that come with living there will keep me from reading like I do here.
5. Speaking Arabic. As much as I complain about it (and believe me....I complain a lot), it makes me feel cool to speak another language, and it feels really good when people tell you you're improving...that doesn't happen a lot, but when it does...fireworks.
6. Getting really excited over fruits and veggies. Seriously...it's a great day when I can eat a fresh salad, or we find mangos in the market.
I hope not, but I kinda think the joy will fade when I get around Moe's and Coldstone.
7. Having "Is this Really my Life" moments. Crazy things happen here almost daily. There are times when I think...am I really here living in Africa....and did I just help my guard kill a chicken...or did I really just see someone carrying their goat on a motorcycle?? This list can go on and on but you get the idea.
8. Being forced to continually evaluate the Reason I'm here. In an uncomfortable and frustrating place, you have to always keep in mind why you haven't bought a ticket home yet. It drives you to stand firm in the Truth though which is really cool.
9. Free movie rentals. The community here is like a blockbuster without the membership cards, deadlines, or the candy at checkout (the last one is pretty unfortunate)
10. Working with what you have. There have been so many times where I don't have what I need, but I have to figure out how to make it work without Target a few minutes away. It forces you to be really creative.

Just Another Day

This past week some of our teammates and friends were in town to pack up their house and move on to their next adventure. They left today which means we all went out to the airport (paved air strip) to see them off. This involves several trips back and forth to take people and stuff to the plane because we only have a couple of cars. My roommates and I hung out under the shadow of the plane's wing while everything got loaded.
The goodbyes were sad...no getting around that. After everyone was loaded on the plane I had to drive one of the cars back. This doesn't sound like a very big deal, but it's manual and I get a little stressed about it because I don't do it that often. Me and the roomies piled in the Land Cruiser and moved off the pavement so the plane could make it to the runway. I stalled out once during this process but made it safely to my spot to watch them take off.
We watched the plane go to one end of the air strip, turn around and go to the other end, and then turn around again and stop. This was really abnormal and we were trying to figure out what was going on. The plane was a pretty good distance away, but we see the pilot waving us on to the runway. Great....why in the world does he want me on the runway?
Well I pulled onto the pavement (after a local man jumped into our car too because he wanted to see what was going on) and in front of the plane and then I saw why. On the far end of the runway were 2 donkeys hanging out. I do my best to not grind the gears while I'm heading to the donkeys. As we were closer, the local guy instructs me to go behind them to get them to move. Thankfully the donkeys got the message and moved pretty quickly without much maneuvering on my part. I pulled off the runway with the donkeys. By this time the other car caught on as to what was happening and took over chasing the donkeys well into the bush. As the plane was taking off right behind us, and I was watching this car enthusiastically chase two donkeys through bushes and trees I had to laugh. This was just another day in the desert.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I don't enough if I believe that title, but when it comes to my vacation in Jordan, it is definitely true. I've had an amazing time hanging out with friends, enjoying western food, and even seeing rain! I thank everyone who made me feel so welcome here. It was a great break. Here are some pictures of the fun.


I went to Petra one day. It is incredible that it was made so many years ago and stills stands today...truly amazing.



I floated in the Dead Sea. It is the saltiest body of water in the world...so salty that you automatically float. It's also the lowest point of the earth. It was so much for to get a day at the beach.




I got to see some great friends, including one of my favorite 2 year olds Micah. I also made some great friends and had great time experiencing community with the people here. Overall, an awesome vacay!!

A Taste of the Dub

It's no secret that I loved my college years and Wilmington, NC. There's just some great memories in that town. One of my fun hang out spots there was Port City Java. It's a great coffee shop chain that started in Wilmington. My college roommate, Mindy, and her husband Derek are my Port City Java Buddies. Derek actually got me addicted to the Mocha Shake....an ice cream drink that is way bad for you but so good at the same time. Most of the time Derek and I would beg Mindy to take us there so we could get one.
It completely made my day today that there is a Port City Java in Jordan!! I was so excited that I got to go there. It was like walking into Wilmington...it looked just like I remembered minus the surfers and studying college students. The Mocha Shake even tastes the same! Sorry Derek...I got one without you, but I had to take the opportunity while I had one. I hope you can see my joy in these pictures. Miss you Wilmington!!

How to Bond With People You've never met

Ok, I've just got back from a hiking/camping trip on vacation. I only really knew one person on the trip. I discovered some really good tips on bonding with strangers. I hope these help you connect with people you've just met.

1. Fall down a lot so people have to help you up
2. Start crying at about fall 45 because you're so embarrassed about falling all the time
3. Rely on other people's language skills to get you where you're supposed to be
4. Don't take any camping equipment so you have to use other people's.
5. Go to the bathroom in a line with 5 other girls outside while passing each other toilet paper.
6. Wear the wrong shoes so you get so many blisters that it gives you lots of pity attention.
7. Ask others for band aides because you have so many blisters.
8. Beg tennis shoes off of others because your blistered feet hurt so badly.
9. Rely on others to bring your food.
10. Beg people for a reward dinner after you get back from the trip

Thanks to everyone who put up with me on the camping trip. I promise I wasn't trying to be the needy one.

All By Myself

So I'm on vacation in Jordan which is amazing. On the way there I have a long layover in Paris so I braved leaving the airport. I was really stressing over it and looked all this stuff up on the internet before...and I prayed a lot because the last thing I needed was to miss my flight to Jordan. Amazingly enough I made it to the Eiffel Tower very smoothly. I was so proud of myself because the trip included finding a train station, switching train lines and actually finding the tower once I got off the train (which is a little more challenging than you might think).
The only problem was that is was freezing, and not just freezing to someone who is used to living in the desert, but freezing to everyone. Unfortunately, I did not have clothes for freezing weather so I couldn't hang out there long. My hands were so cold that I could barely hold the camera. Anyways, I have successfully left an international airport and gotten back in time for my flight. Amazing!

Pics of Life

Ok, I have just recently figured out to send pictures small in size so they can be put up here. I know, I know...if I had learned this sooner, my blog would have been a lot more interesting, but I'm not the best with technology so these are a little late.
There's one of our house. There are not many concrete houses in the area (most are made of mud), so we lucked out. It's surrounded by a big concrete wall too.
There's one of me getting my nose pierced....yes it DID hurt that bad. Refer to an earlier blog for the whole story.
The next is right outside our gate. Our house is right across the street from a huge mosque. We were walking home from work this particular day.
There's one of a typical meal. It is stew-like with meat and potatoes over macaroni noodles. The bowl gets dumped on the tray and everyone eats off it with your hands. It's messy, but you get used to it. It's better than is looks....promise.
The last one is just one of the many examples of doing stuff here I never thought I would do...like flying a plane. It was just for a minute but I did it nonetheless. Hopefully there will be more pictures soon.
Have a good day.

Always Kill the Man Chicken

Ok, so in order for us to eat a chicken dinner, we have to have our guard kill the chicken (only men kill chickens here), and our house help to pluck it and take the insides out. We get one chicken a week delivered to our house. Our delivery lady sometimes forgets that she's already brought us one during the week and we end up with a couple chickens running around the yard. This is usually not a problem unless we get a man chicken. There is a specific Arabic word for male chicken but we always forget it so how we say it in Arabic is literally translated as man chicken. Now a man chicken doesn't pose much of a problem unless you don't like getting woken up at 5am....which I don't!
Sometimes we haven't planned to eat the chicken for a couple days so we have a few early morning wake ups by cockadoodle dooing. Our guards have come to learn an important rule of the house. If we have a couple chickens, always choose to kill the man chicken first....we need all the sleep we can get.

Elephant Rock

Ok right after I finished that rather depressing blog, I thought of something fun that happened recently. On New Year’s Day (happy 2010 by the way), a group of us made the 2-hour drive to elephant rock. I had heard about this rock shaped like an elephant ever since I arrived here. I figured you could just walk up to the rock, take a few pictures, and head back. Like a lot of time…my expectations were completely wrong.
To get up to the elephant part of the rock…you have to climb. So I’m looking up at this rather steep rock face, and my first thought is how am I gonna do this in an ankle length skirt and flip flops. Right after that thought, I made myself rally like when you have a full count and runners on base, or when it’s game point, your serve, and you know everyone in the gym is thinking don’t put the ball in the middle of the net and choke on us now. So I begin the climb in my flip-flops and carrying a bag with my camera in it. A local boy starts the climb with me and about every 30secs asks me for money or a gift…not exactly what you need when you’re trying to rock climb. It didn’t take me long to see that my slippery flip-flops were not gonna help me out at all, so they had to come off and go in my bag. After all, I live in the desert of Africa...who needs shoes?? After some tense moments and heavy breathing I made it to the top, which is actually at the base of the elephant’s trunk. It was like reaching the end of any other summit…beautiful, rewarding, and totally worth it. I hung out at the top for a little while, still ignoring the kid asking for money. Unfortunately, there always comes the time when you have to go back down. The only way down safely is to sit down and scoot yourself along the steep parts, and remember…I’m in a skirt and it’s windy on top of a big rock. I’m sure the local kids ran home and told how much of the white girl’s legs they saw, but it was a fun day nonetheless.

I've Become a Blogging Slacker

So I looked at my blog today, like any other person would look at it. I went straight to the website. I realized that I hadn’t put anything up here since November…awful. I heard that happens….you get really excited about a blog and then before you know it, it becomes a chore that you ignore. Guess that happens with a lot of things in life. Well I guess apologies are in order to maybe the 5 people including my mom who read this. Those few people have probably given up even checking this, but I will try to do better…promise.
So life in the desert is becoming like life anywhere. It’s becoming normal, routine, and even mundane at times. It’s weird to think about living in the desert, running a generator, getting your guard to kill a chicken for dinner, fighting your way through the market to buy veggies, and speaking Arabic is becoming mundane. I don’t know if that means I’m really acclimating to the world around me, or if I’m just not paying enough attention.